Down in the City of Heartbreak and Needles (Edward Ka-Spel)

_-*-noiSe frOm tHe spleeNs Of spaCe_-*-

Do you think there have been enough LPD/Ka-Spel releases and re-
issues this year? This makes the fourth or fifth I think, and
happily brings us "Eyes China Doll", "Laugh China Doll", and some
other goodies that would have otherwise been almost impossible to
find anymore, for a reasonable price. I picked this up at an LPD
show, and talked to Ed about it, I mentioned that I missed Elke's
cover art on this release and he said that they had just broken up.
So, foot in mouth, I changed the subject. Ka-Spel solo would
probably be indistinguishable from regular Pink Dots albums to
anyone who wasn't as neurotically obsessed as I am, but he seems
more able to delve into his weirdness on solo releases and tell
longer tales about his pageant of characters. There are more
installments in the saga of Lisa and Joey on these albums, and a
"Hotel Blanc" to complement the Pink Dots' "Hotel Noir". "Eyes"
was originally released in 1985, around the same time as "Asylum"
and there is a similar synth-heavy sound (good synths! not bad
ones!), perhaps not as complex as LPD works of that time because
there are fewer musicians working on his solo albums with him. The
Silverman's contribution, for example, is only violin on one song,
as "Patrick Q. Paganini", but Lady Sunshine is very much in
evidence on these releases. I think of these solo outings as being
a little more playful than regular LPD albums...and they've almost
all been re-released finally. [sarada]

Rex <richwill@xsite.net>

Down In the City of Heartbreak and Needles

This compilation, released in 1995 by Soleilmoon Recordings, gathers onto
one CD most of the first two years of Ka-Spel's solo output. Overlooking the
Dance China Doll 12" of 1984, it includes half of 1984's Laugh China Doll
(which, since the master tapes were destroyed by the weather, was mastered
off of clean vinyl) and the entirety of 1985's Eyes China Doll, plus an
unreleased track and three selections from a 1989 miscellany compilation
entitled Perhaps We'll Only See a Thin Blue Line. Of all these odds and
ends, the Eyes material is the strongest, as it contains more dynamic songs
and memorable vocal performances, including the aggressive, mockingly-gothic
"Avengelist," the powerful three-part symphony about "Hotel Blanc," and the
only waltz in the world that celebrates explosive destruction, "The Char
Char." It is interesting to note how often Ka-Spel references himself over
the course of his output. In some cases, he re-records LPD tracks and
vice-versa. Laugh's "Suicide Pact" is found here in its definitive version,
but can also be found on the LPD's Stained Glass Soma Fountains. (It
contains the refrain, "We're only faces in the fire!") The rhythmic "Lisa's
Funeral" is one in a string of Lisa songs that started with LPD's "Lisa's
Party" on Curse and continues through later Ka-Spel albums to appear for the
last time (so far) on LPD's The Golden Age ("Lisa's Separation").

Joemarciano1229@aol.com

i wanted to write a review on this album simply because the others that
have reviewed this have spent more time talking about were each song has come
from and all the albums that brought it to be. don't get me wrong they have
given very important knowledge to all but i want to talk about this album as
if it had no history. i for one love this album the sounds are so odd yet fit
perfectly for an example the song "hotel blanc" has a sample of people
playing tennis only an insane man would think to put that into a song only a
genius could make it sound at home. this i think is my favorite Edward
Ka-Spel album it has everything. it is very creepy and disturbing it starts
out with a very psychological and erie "eyes china doll" it plays with
paranoia and at the same time has samples of airplane flaying over and sounds
of a garden and an outside world it gives you a free feeling and forces your
mind to create images then it comes in with the religious satire "evangelist"
he never pushes his beliefs or thoughts on you only exaggerates the truth of
religions this i love. it give all those beautiful cathedrals and statues a
deviant twist. as if they were vampires draining the life from you and making
you one of them so that you may run out and do the same. one of my favorites
is "six cats on a dead mans chest" this is my favorite kind of story telling
were he sounds so peaceful and innocent talking about childish things with a
slight twist of deviation. towards the end you hear a child struggling to
sing along and then Edward laughing sinisterly. it gives you the feel that
something isn't stirring the kool-aid, that something very leaky is going on.
it is wonderful this album is a great reflection of the pure deviant, insane
aspect of the human mind. this album is truly "noir" dark and obsessive. i
listen to it and in vision a man struggling threw society. his fears are
justified yet his thoughts are dark and he lives with a void that isn't so
much a hole but an abyss sucking everything into it, including all that he
is. and if "they" knew then they would incriminate him. it gives you the feel
that a child's story is haunting you with red eyes. you begin to forget that
there is a real world out there were people work and kiss their spouces
quickly and grab a to-go cup of coffee from a fast food restaurant and then
sell themselves behind a desk. yes you forget all of this and begin to smell
the roses and inhale the sweetness of all the insects that they hold. this is
the album were you wonder where the minds of most would go after listening to
it. i laid back with a friend and he was shocked at all the odd sounds and
the samples. he was disturbed into a laughing trance at the twisted stories
that Edward had to tell "im plunging pins as uncle plunges in". this to me is
the most important album that Edward has ever put out including all that the
dots have to offer. this is that kaleidoscopic look into the mind of a mad
man into the mind of us all.

sleep well and dream of drunken angels dancing around candle pillars in
candy plazas

joseph m lewi