The Flowers of Romance (album)

The Flowers of Romance is largely focused on drums and percussion , and Leven described the album as "probably ... the least commercial album ever recorded." In the same way, one of the magazines stated that “the music is so serious as to lend credibility to the statement of the head of the record company that“ The Flowers of Romance ”is one of the most non-commercial albums ever made - at least within the“ popular context ”. . "

Drummer Martin Atkins played three songs, while band members Leuven and John Lydon played all other possible instruments. The songs “Under the Horse” are played only by Atkins and Leuven on two drum lines. The more processed drum sound was created under the influence of Peter Gabriel 's third album, on which engineer Hugh Padham processed the drums of Phil Collins . Collins , in turn, was so impressed with the sounds on “The Flowers of Romance” that he hired an album engineer, Nick Loney, to play the sound for his own projects.

Throughout the album, you can hear various sounds, such as the amplified ticking of a wristwatch, a completely reformed piano and opera television programs, all of these sounds intertwined, creating different sounds on different songs. Singer John Lydon played the Stroh violin and the saxophone (although he was not known to learn to play any of these instruments), and, according to the Rolling Stone article on the album, he just drummed into anything convenient for a beat, including the front side of a banjo. on the song "Phenagen".

Keith Leven's innovative guitar style was stretched even further with the help of completely reversed parts and triple distortion, and the hum of its synthesizers and chatter throughout the album. A few songs, like “Four Enclosed Walls” and “Phenagen” have a Middle Eastern feeling.

Ja Wobble left the band before the album was recorded, so Keith Leven played the bass on some songs, such as “Track 8” and “Banging the Door,” only on two songs.

The song “Hymies Him” was originally written by Leuven as the soundtrack to the film “ Wolves ” by Michael Wadley.

Lydon 's Francis Massacre was inspired by a stay in Mountjoy Irish Prison (“Sit for a lifetime, Mountjoy is fun”).

Recording began in the studio Manor, which was filmed for two weeks, in early October 1980 . Only one song of the album was recorded by the end of these sessions - “Hymies Him”. The band also recorded a cover for the songs “ Twist and Shout ” and “Johnny Remember Me”, which remained unreleased.

Drummer Martin Atkins , who joined the band by the end of these sessions, recorded the drums for the song “Home Is Where the Heart Is”, which was written during the 1980 American tour, and released as a b-side single “ Flowers of Romance ”. The song was mixed at the Townhouse studio, during this mixing, session engineer Steve Lillywhite was fired and replaced by Nick Loney, who also participated in songwriting.

The rest of the album was registered at Townhouse Studios, in London for two weeks, in late October / early November 1980 . Drummer Martin Atkins also joined this session and also contributed to songwriting. He left on October 31, 1980, to give a concert in New York with his solo group Brian Brain. Unreleased songs that were not included in the album were “Vampire” and “Woodnymphs”.

The final session was held two weeks later, in early December 1980 , also in the Townhouse studio. At this session, the band made a remix of the single “ Flowers of Romance ”, and also recorded some overdubs.

• Keith Leuven : "The Flowers of Romance is very rare. The album has almost no guitar parts, mostly it's just cello and drums . The only song on which I played the guitar is“ Go Back ”, on which I also played drums . I I made the accompaniment soundtrack, picked up the guitar and started to play, John started to sing. With the material like on The Flowers of Romance we made the accompaniment soundtrack, then we started to do various computer mixes that John still has, he did the saxophone solo, although I did not know how to play, but this is not his About worried. I told him: "Great, we can use it." It was all very experimental. "
• John Lydon : "During the recording of The Flowers of Romance, Martin had to go on tour with his band Brian Brain, and he only had two free days, so we started to install many different drums, we didn't have time to make real sound. The Townhouse Studio on Goldhok Road was rebuilt, so the drum set was mounted on a wooden frame above a huge deep pit in a room made of stone, and this is exactly what created that incredible sound. When we heard this sound, I exclaimed, "Oh, let's do just the top for this echo, and no equalizer is needed. "
• Martin Atkins : “At the time we recorded The Flowers of Romance, Nick Loney and I experimented in the studio. During the American tour, I bought a Mickey Mouse watch in Disneyland , and so I brought this watch to the studio and recorded their ticking. And this ticking sounds in the song “Four Enclosed Walls.” Once I stopped to drink Perrier water, the tape continued to record, and I recorded this sound, then I slowed down this sound, and it was like dinosaur sounds. used for an unreleased song called "Vampire". "

All songs are written by John Lydon , Keith Levin , except * John Lydon , Keith Levin and Martin Atkins

1. "Four Enclosed Walls" - 4:44 *
2. "Track 8" - 3:15
3. "Phenagen" - 2:40
4. “Flowers of Romance” - 2:51
5. "Under the House" - 4:33 *
6. Hymie's Him - 3:18
7. “Banging the Door” - 4:49 *
8. “Go Back” - 3:46
9. "Francis Massacre" - 3:31
10. “Flowers of Romance (Instrumental)” - 2:51 bonus CD track (taken from the single “Flowers of Romance” 12 ")
11. “Home Is Where the Heart Is” - 7:34 bonus CD track (taken from the single “Flowers of Romance”)
12. “Another” - 3:51 bonus CD track (taken from the single “Memories”)

• John Lydon - vocals , Stroh violin , saxophone and percussion
• Keith Leven - guitar , bass guitar , synthesizer , cello, piano, drums and percussion
• Martin Atkins - drums on the songs "Four Enclosed Walls", "Under the House" and "Banging the Door" and an unpaid session on "Flowers of Romance", synthesizer on the songs "Banging the Door"

• Album information on fodderstompf.com (English)