Luxuria: Discography 1988 - 1990

 

Luxuria were a British duo made up of vocalist Howard Devoto (formerly of Buzzcocks and Magazine) and instrumentalist Norman Fisher-Jones, a.k.a. Noko  and Luxuria is a fantastic band that flew way too severely under the radar. They were active in the 1980s and early 1990s. Devoto

began working with the Liverpool musician a few years after the release of his solo album, Jerky Versions of the Dream. The duo eventually released two albums on Beggars Banquet, which ranged from sparse acoustic accompaniment to involved dance beats. Unanswerable Lust was released in 1988 to lukewarm reception, followed two years later by the improved Beast Box. A number of singles were released off each record to little effect on the U.K. charts. Shortly after the duo split, a Japanese box set was issued, combining both CDs with a VHS containing videos for each song off of Beast Box. 
                                 

Sound: A nasty young man of unsavory interests and a flair for purple prose that brings Baudelaire to

mind, Devoto explores various naughty intrigues of the heart that unfold in a fictional universe that combines the perverse formality of an 18th-Century salon with a sordid back alley in London. Howard’s head seems to live in a strange place, which was no doubt shaped by the literature he ingests; references to Proust and Rimbaud crop up on Luxuria’s debut LP, while one particularly beautiful cut titled “Flesh” shimmers with the delirious sensuality of a Paul Bowles story. 
                         

Singing in a lugubrious voice evocative of John Lydon, Devoto frames his literary rants with the sort of lush arrangements he mastered as front man for Magazine. Luxuria’s music seems fairly

conventional given a cursory hearing, but something chilly and vaguely evil lurks behind this velvet curtain of sound. “For me, Luxuria is a land–a sort of Sodom and Gomorrah,” says Devoto in explaining the group, while guitarist Noko describes himself as “someone who lives in sin and artifice with a diamond-encrusted cat and a collection of religious icons.” The glam-rock crowd should eat this stuff up.
                                             

Luxuria – Unanswerable Lust / Beast Box
Label: Cherry Red – CDTRED 512
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Compilation
Country: UK
Released: 2011
Genre: Rock
Style: Post-Punk, New Wave
                                     

CD1. UNANSWERABLE LUST 1988

                                 

            
01. Redneck    5:29
02. Flesh    4:41
03. Public Highway    5:04
04. Pound    5:14
05. Lady 21    3:57
06. Celebrity    4:26
07. Rubbish    3:58
08. Mlle    4:05
09. Luxuria    4:17
10. Sickly Thug And I    3:44
11. Redneck (Single Edit)    3:55
12. She's Your Lover Now (# 1)    3:36
13. She's Your Lover Now (# 2)    3:46
14. Public Highway (Short Cut)    3:55
15. Luxuria (Wilderness Mix)    6:36
16. Sickly Thug And I (Live)    5:14
17. Luxuria (Live)    4:40

LINE - UP

                              

Lyrics By [All Lyrics By], Vocals [Uncredited] – Howard Devoto
Cello – David Sinclair 
Keyboards, Programmed By [Additional Programming] – James Gardner, Leroy James, Pete Gleadall
Saxophone – Clare Hirst
Trombone – Ashley Slater
Trumpet – Barbara Snow
Vocals [Additional] – Alexandra Jackson, Julia White, Sarah Partridge
Voice Actor [Albertine] – Claudine Arendt
Voice Actor [Ghosts] – Birrer
Voice Actor [Marcel] – Claude Bessy
Written-By – Adamson (tracks: 5, 8), Devoto, James (tracks: 6, 9), Noko

Flac Size: 402 MB

CD2. BEAST BOX 1990        

                           

   
01. The Beast Box Is Dreaming    4:19
02. Stupid Blood    2:47
03. Against The Past    4:48
04. Our Curious Leader    3:13
05. We Keep On Getting There    4:11
06. Ticket    4:05
07. Animal In The Mirror    4:39
08. Smoking Mirror    3:56
10. I've Been Expecting You    5:22
11. Karezza    1:49
12. Beast Box    3:44
13. Jezebel    4:34
14. Useless Love    3:15
15. The Beast Box Is Dreaming (12" Edit)    4:07
16. Smoking Mirror (Instrumental)    3:50
17. Jezebel (Single Edit)    3:34
18. Beast Box Is Dreaming (Single Edit)    2:52

LINE - UP

                               

Vocals, Keyboards, Programmed By [Programs] – Howard Devoto
Guitar, Bass Guitar, Viola, Banjo [Banjolin], Backing Vocals, Keyboards, Programmed By [Programs] – Noko
Lyrics By – Howard Devoto (tracks: 1 to 12), Jessamy Calkin (tracks: 8), Wayne Shanklin (tracks: 13)
Written-By – Devoto (tracks: 1 to 12), Calkin (tracks: 8), Noko (tracks: 1 to 12), Shanklin (tracks: 13)

Flac Size: 424 MB

CD3. LIVE AT LEICESTER 1988            

                          

01. Public Highway    6:16
02. Celebrity    4:48
03. The Light Pours Out Of Me    5:14
04. She's Your Lover Now    3:44
05. Lady 21    5:03
06. Flesh    4:06
07. Sickly Thug And I    5:26
08. Parade    6:50
09. Redneck    5:44
10. Pound    5:24
11. Rubbish    4:13
12. Mlle    5:14
13. A Song From Under The Floor Boards    4:09
14. Luxuria    5:42 

NOTES

                               

Written-By – Barry Adamson (tracks: 1-5, 1-8, 3-5, 3-8, 3-12, 3-13), Bob Dylan (tracks: 1-12, 1-13, 3-4), Dave Formula (tracks: 3-8, 3-13), Howard Devoto (tracks: 1-1 to 1-11, 1-14 to 2-12, 2-14 to 2-16, 2-18 to 3-3, 3-5 to 3-14), Jessamy Calkin (tracks: 2-8), John Doyle (tracks: 3-13), John McGeogh (tracks: 3-3, 3-13), Leroy James (tracks: 1-6, 1-9, 1-14, 1-17, 3-2, 3-14), Noko (tracks: 1-1 to 1-11, 1-14 to 2-12, 2-14 to 2-16, 2-18 to 3-2, 3-5 to 3-7, 3-9 to 3-12, 3-14), Pete Shelley (tracks: 3-3), Wayne Shanklin (tracks: 2-13, 2-17)

Flac Size: 444 MB