Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa 1975-1980s)

[WWWhatsup <joly AT dti.net>]

http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/features/display.var.1197357.0.0.php

The Long Blondes, The Liquid Room, Edinburgh
NEIL COOPER     February 16 2007

If Top of the Pops ever makes a comeback, the Long
Blondes are the perfect introduction to its future. Kate
Jackson is a sassy, utterly watchable frontwoman who
shares a name with the actress who played the clever one
in the original Charlie's Angels, and whose voice flits
between Siouxsie Sioux, Debbie Harry and the Yeah, Yeah,
Yeahs' vixen Karen O. Backed by two boy/girl couples with
a working knowledge of the past 30 years of New Wave
Power Pop tempered by Eurovision oomph, it is no
coincidence that they have a song called Appropriation
(By Any Other Name).

This Valentine's night 14s-and-over show is a text-book
study in plundering. One minute they're coming on strong
like a less strung-out Elastica, the next, on Separated
By Motoways, they sound like they've been hanging out at
their record label Rough Trade's old shop on Ladbroke
Grove, only circa 1977 rather than 2007. They even go so
far as to reference Cabaret Voltaire's twisted electro
anthem, Nag, Nag, Nag, sprinkling it with some disco-
dolly sugar en route.

For all the musical nous and abundance of tunes, however,
as with Sophie Ellis-Bextor's first band, the Audience,
Jackson is the band's star in waiting. Yet, for all the
libidinous strut, shimmy and wiggle, the gushing between
song thank yous spoil the image somewhat, giving her more
of an air of a home-counties debutante than the sex
goddess pin-up she's destined to become.

If the encore-free ending is an anti-climax, new single Giddy
Stratospheres sums it up. The Long Blondes are about to have
their moment, and it's a joy to watch them grabbing it. 


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