By request: the best Killing Joke post, ever (part 1)

Never dreamed I had so much stuff by these guys, they haven't really been a huge favorite over the years,enjoyable enough, but they came along at just the wrong time, for me, the early 1980's, when I was thinking (correctly) that rock n roll was headed into a huge slump to say the least.....but today, in reviewing the muisc of Killing Joke, we can see that their gloomy, synth-alt-post punk stuff would certainly be influential on MANY acts of the later 80's and 90's.....there have been dozens of personel changes, but the constants have been keyboardist/singer Jaz Coleman and guitarist Geordie Walker.

Mind you, this is a band that eveidently tredges on today....I often have difficulty knowing where to draw the line on such bands, certainly I haven't heard any Killing Joke work since, what, 1995-6? So my knowledge of their latter day work will be non-existant, and I highly doubt that they were one of the few bands to stay off the downhill road to Suck City......so we'll focus on the 80's-90's, with ome live/rare/stuff thrown in, and if the original requestor wants something different I'll see what I can do.......as I said before, my familiarity with this band is not as great as it might be with others.

Earliest thing I can find here (other than a sludgy live tape which I will put up) is the 1980 debut "Killing Joke". It is a very good album, rocking and filled with intellectual, topical lyrics......"Wardance" and "Requium" were fine rockers and there are more. Good album.

1981's "What's THIS For?" is not quite as good, never really liked it that much, in fact I may have listened to it only once or so until starting this project....I kind of remember "Butcher" and "Follow the Leaders", but just vaguely......the third album "Revelations" (1982) sported a bit more gothic-sound, and I like it a bit better....."Chop Chop" and "Empire Song" being highlights.

"(Let's All Go to the) Fire Dances" and "Feast of Blaze" highlight the next studio LP "Fire Dances"....this band knew their formula for sure, I assume they had a serious hard-core following. Wish I'd have known a big fan of them to grab a bit more info, but just one of those things, never knew a HUGE fanatical obsessor of the band, as I do with so many other bands.....I must have downloaded a Pirate Bay Discography Torrent at some point to pile up so much material!

Next came "Night Time", with a fact I never knew, the song "Eighties" is similar enough to Nirvana's "Come As You Are" that at one point there was talk of legal action against Nirvana, until Kurt Cobain's death. It's quite a good album, one of their better, as "Eighties", "kings and Queens" and "Love Like BLood" are all quite good tracks.

1986's "Brighter Than A Thousand Suns" changes the sound quite a bit towards a more standard rock sound and way from the trademarked gothic-post punk noise sound....to me it doesnt work at all, but as I said, som fan of the band may hold it sacred. .....apparently searching hard for identity, they came up with 1988's "Outside the Gate", an album with VERY little guitar, almost a pure-synth record, which, a least to my memory, was timed fairly poorly as well. This closed out their 1980's efforts......lot o albums here, we'll hit the 90's tomorrow and maybe the live rare stuff too, don't know if it'll take 2 parts or 3, we'll see.......hope you guys like this one, NOT really one of my faves, but good enough, and something I haven't listened to in some time. See ya tomorrow.

KILLING JOKE-Requium/02 Wardance/03 Tomorrow's World/04 Bloodsport/05 The Wait/06 Change/07 Complications/08 S.O.36/09 Primitive

WHAT'S THIS FOR?-01 The Fall of Because/02 Tension/03 Unspeakable/04 Butcher/05 Follow the Leaders/07 Madness/08 Who Told You How?/09 Exit

 

REVELATIONS-01 The Hum/02 Empire Song/03 We Have Joy/04 Chop-Chop/05 The Pandys Are a Coming/06 Chapter III/07 Have a Nice Day/08 Land of Milk And Honey/04 Good Samaritan/05 Dregs

 

FIRE DANCES-01 The Gathering/02 Fun and Games/03 Rejuvenation/04 Frenzy/05 Harlequen/06 Feast of Blaze/07 Song and Dance/08 Dominator/09 Let's All Go (to the Fire Dances)/10 Lust Almighty

 

NIGHT TIME-01 Night Time/02 Darkness Before Dawn/03 Love Like Blood/04 Kings and Queens/05 Tabazan/06 Multitudes/07 Europe/08 Eighties

 

BRIGHTER THAN A THOUSAND SUNS-01 Adorations/02 Sanity/03 Chessboards/04 Twilight of the Mortal/05 Love of the Masses/06 A Southern Sky/07 Wintergardens/08 Rubicon

 

OUTSIDE THE GATE-01 America/02 My Love of This Land/03 Stay One Jump Ahead/04 Unto the Ends of the Earth/05 The Calling/ 06 Obsession/07 Tiahuanaco/09 Outside the Gate