Lene Lovich

4-20-09 Lene Lovich

10" 1980 GLOBAL ASSAULT (10") STIFF/EPIC US AS 769
1980 6 TRKS Live, London & Boston, promo-only

LP FLEX STIFF UK SEEZ 19
1979 10 TRKS

CD FLEX...PLUS RHINO US R2 70521
1979 18 TRKS 8 x bonus tracks

12" NEW TOY STIFF/EPIC US 5E 37452
1981 6 TRK EP; with pic sleeve

12" NEW TOY pic label STIFF JPN VIP-5908
1981 6 TRK EP; with large pic labels, insert

LP RADIO PROMO ALBUM STIFF UK LENE 1
1979 21 TRKS interview, promo-only

LP STATELESS STIFF/EPIC US JE 36102
1979 11 TRKS autographed

LP STATELESS STIFF UK SEEZ 7
1979 11 TRKS red vinyl, UK version

CD STATELESS...PLUS RHINO US R2 70520
1978 17 TRKS 6 x bonus tracks

I did not start out as much of a Lene Lovich fan. When her stuff made it’s debut, she was one of several acts on Stiff that I only had a sideways glance at. It was probably that she was older than I was, and I didn’t totally ‘get’ the thrift store look or wound-up (fake?) hair. At the time, she was ‘typical’ of what KROQ-FM would blindly play (as in, they’d even play album cuts – if the artist was “new wave” enough). I didn’t understand her feverish fans, and it certainly didn’t help when “New Toy” got to be such a big hit – around here anyway. That should’ve been her entrance into eth mainstream, but…never on an album at the time, and never really ‘followed-up’. Then, >> poof << - she was gone!

The years come and go, and I now find “Stateless” to be a rather charming collection of songs. I believe there is involvement from an old mate of Peter Hammill, Chris Judge Smith. I was amused to find an autographed copy of “Stateless” in a $1 bin in Oakland / Berkeley. Also amused to find her Japanese 12” with large picture labels, as well as the promo-only records “1980 Global Assault” and “Radio Promo Album”. Both of those would’ve gone for some big bucks, in their day – but I got both of those titles inexpensively, somewhat recently!

And she has some nice music videos on “Stiff’s Greatest Hits” – “Lucky Number” and “Say When” being particularly memorable. I’d love to find 45’s of those two songs. Both of the Rhino CD’s I have on her came from the bargain bin. And I’m no longer so totally “Anti-Stiff”, recently converting to Jona Lewie!

I last wrote about her in 2005, before I found some of the records:

“And what about her appearance in “Cha Cha”, the Dutch movie with Nina Hagen and the late Herman Brood? I didn’t care about any of them at the time, but I have since become a huge Herman Brood fan – good thing I have a nice copy it on videotape!”