A Blue Dahlia, A Black Tulip

I finally scored an affordable vinyl copy of the 1993 gem Dirty Pearl by Anita Lane that's alluded me for far too many years. For those unfamiliar with this overlooked classic, it was the first musical output by Lane, whom is supported here by her then boyfriend, Mr. Nick Cave, and his gang of compatriots (Barry Adamnson, Blixa Bargeld, Alexander Hack, and The Birthday Party). It's a collection of songs she'd put together with the aforementioned pack over the course of 10 years. Stylistically, its influences are all over the place thanks in large part to the varied interests of the contributors.

(Anita Lane and Nick Cave)

While the overall album has a cohesion to it, thanks to Mick Harvey's production, the specks of experimental pieces shine brightest compared to the more traditional pop structure of other songs. The standout piece being the creepy-cool slither of “Blume”, which is literally more of an Einsturzende Neubauten track (as it also appears on their own Tabla Rasa LP) featuring Lane on vocals. It's ping-ponging harmonic notes deliver an icy, industrial chill while Lane purrs out sultry floral poetry. Bargeld lends his own German-tongue to deliver section titles between passages, giving the song a male/female contrast that only adds to its appeal.



Other highlights include “Jesus Almost Got Me”, a country-tinged ballad that brings to mind Mazzy Star's warm-haze filtered through an Ennio Morricone landscape, “Subterranean World (How Long?)” a dreamy, shoegaze-like shimmer that was penned by Die Haut and appears on their own Head On album, the slurching racket of “The Fullness of His Coming”, which is what you'd expect any Birthday Party-related tune to be akin to - loud, primitive and punishingly good, and “Picture of Mary”, another Bargeld mind-morpher that sounds like a lost contribution to a David Lynch production.





I'd highly recommend snatching this up if you ever see it, as its vinyl edition is most certainly long out of print and fetches quite a dollar on the Internet. Any and all Birthday Party or Einsturzende Neubauten enthusiasts pretty much need this for their files too, as its a key piece in the history of that whole incestuous Melbourne-Berlin-London post-punk scene. If format isn't your thing, then you can easily scour the web for a quick and easy version. The CD release came with the bonus Dirty Sings EP tacked onto it, which some could say makes a good case for the that version. I'm a vinyl guy at heart, and quite content with the originally intended format - even moreso now that this has finally landed in my possesion.