Gene Loves Jezebel
VIII
Robison
Michael Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel
Love Lies Bleeding
Triple X
First came the Everly Brothers. Then the Reids. Then the Gallaghers. But lost somewhere in rock’s hierarchy of sibling rivalries was that of the brothers Aston, Jay and Michael. In 1982, the Welsh twins formed Gene Loves Jezebel as a vehicle to sport their finely primped pouts and to shake to all things gothic and sensual. And, for a time, it worked well – very well.
Along come the late ’80s – y’know, the time when whatever “alternative” was/is was called “modern rock/cutting edge” – and along goes Michael, reportedly dissatisfied with the hard rock direction GLJ was flirting with on 1987’s House of Dolls . (This direction would come to its fullest fruition on the subsequent and subpar Kiss of Life .) Needless to say, the inherent brotherly bickering was all too frequent, so Michael decided to take action, in turn leaving Jay all the responsibility of keeping the band sane, which didn’t take long for that to unravel in 1993. Four years later – you guessed it – the Astons reformed the band for an American tour that – you guessed correctly again – ended with them parting ways yet again.
Warp ahead to the present, 1999. Instead of futilely reforming the band again , Jay and Michael decide to simultaneously commandeer their own respective Jezebels – and you thought the whole competing-Christian Deaths thing was a farce! Well, by comparison, the Astons make off much better than Rozz (R.I.P.) and Valor did, and, thankfully, very little between the twins’ respective albums smacks of moneymaking filler (hello, Valor?).
Superficially, Jay’s VII would appear to be the definitive/”official” Gene Loves Jezebel, seeing that longtime members James Stevenson (guitar) and Pete Rizzo (bass) are present, and most superficially, that the album bears the familiar and ever-stylish GLJ logo. On the contrary, Jay and crew depart considerably from previous efforts with a plaintive guitar-pop sound that owes a significant debt to Echo and the Bunnymen’s recent work. But stripped of all the pretension that polarized opinions in the ’80s, the band makes such convention – and derivation – work effectively, each syrupy melody as endearing and catchy as the next, each choked lyric pulling that much harder at the heartstrings. Simple yet rewarding, VII is proof that, alas, time moves on.
Or does it? A cursory spin of Michael’s Love Lies Bleeding (scope his portrait on the cover, as well as the subtle reminder that it’s his Gene Loves Jezebel) would reveal quite the opposite. Using GLJ’s first two albums, Immigrant and Promises , as a collective spring board, Michael and his crew of newies resurrect all that made the original band so sly: goth-inflected art-rock with a fractured dance rhythm here, a tribal one there, club-ready dynamics, and chorused guitars spiraling home those never-too-dark melodies; all this, amazingly, without a trace of irony or a step lost. Michael has tempered his characteristic warble a bit, but not as much as Jay has, the latter reaching something of an Ian McCulloch-esque centrisim. Within the confines of Love Lies Bleeding , however, it somehow just makes sense, and isn’t that all that matters?
Past or the present – it’s your choice. With options as these, let’s pray the drama continues. Jay’s site: www.genelovesjezebel.com. Michael’s site: www.genelovesjezebel.net
Triple X Records, P.O. Box 862529, Los Angeles, CA 90086; http://www.triple-x.com
