Lyrics --------------

I called it familiar, I caught its lizard grin
In the heat of its lazy lust I felt the end begin

Its skin is a diamond sweat, its eyes a drowning pool
A split tongue spits, no love, no hate, no pain was ever so cruel

A beautiful monster……

Claws scrape the velvet skin, stripes so red, so white
And now with death behind me, this new skin fits so tight 

Animal object of desire stirs amongst the ash
The dirt is cold, the beast is old, fingers scratch the rash

A beautiful monster……

So beautiful

Folk Devils : Beautiful Monsters

Folk Devils "Beautiful Monster"

Lyrics ------------

I’m Brian Jones’ bastard son, the end product of all he’s done
Idiot bastard son of a gun, I’m Brian Jones’ bastard son

I sat and watched the water run, witnessed all the sad sick fun
My mother was a faithless nun, I’m Brian Jones’ bastard son

I never wanna stand alone, you’ll never understand 
I never wanna stand alone, you’ll never understand 

The pool was glistening in the sun, daddy sank, the others won
He might as well have weighed a ton, I’m Brian Jones’ bastard son

And I never wanna stand alone, you’ll never understand 
I never wanna stand alone, you’ll never understand 

You’ll never understand

Folk Devils "Brian Jones' Bastard Son"

Lyrics -------------

Well someone dies in a crowded street
In a painted desert, bones bleach in the heat
Got blasted by the last train, sticky in my seat
Well it grumbles and roars beneath my feet

The taste of too much fun, the smell of burning meat
Well I’m choking on lies and I’m sick of deceit
Got to walk away, maybe admit defeat
I’m not the kind of people that you wanna meet

Gold dust sticks in the greasy shit
Nice people like us don’t know

Well it’s so hard you might hear, the sound of pain
You can’t record it, cos they’ll say it again
As words gets twisted, it’s gets hard to explain
Doors keep slamming and there’s nothing to gain

In the land of the living, nothing remains
Just a scrap of paper and a big blue stain
Persistence is useless, they’ll just call you insane
Like if what you hear is no sacred claim

Gold dust sticks in the greasy shit
Nice people like us don’t know

I’m not the kind of people that you wanna meet

Folk Devils "Nice People"

Lyrics -----------

My heart’s a pit, with blood it pumps
Twisted out of shape, observe my stump
Pushed by lust, on guilt impaled
Moaning in darkness, I just wail

Wail!

Now I caught the virus and I named it love
I was wrong, it’s just not enough
Meat on a plate, is that piece for sale?
Now I’m cheaper than free, I just wail

Wail!

The storm that boils must appear calm
So I carve L into my arm
A vision of her, sad and pale
And I throw back my head, I just wail

Wail!

I listened to reason and reason lied
I finished the bottle and it gave me pride
I tried treachery but it failed
Now love crucifies me I just wail 

Wail!

Folk Devils "Wail"

Lyrics -------------

Such an evil eye, it’s such an evil eye!

My evil eye is a cracked-up lens
If I had some you could ask my friends
There’s no percentage in you asking why
I eat what I see through my evil eye

Such an evil eye, it’s such an evil eye!

I sleep in a hole under the sky
I get mistaken for your average guy
Stalk him to his comfortable home
I see it all I see the fire and chrome

Such an evil eye, it’s such an evil eye!

Cold is the hunter, warm is the blade
The ground is hard, so is the spade
We live like garbage, stinking high
Don’t you put no pennies on my evil eye

Such an evil eye, it’s such an evil eye!

Folk Devils "Evil Eye"

Lyrics --------------

Here where apes in suits hold sway
It’s happy hour and we’re glad to take your green stuff
The gross features of a magazine vendor
Switches to a bleeding straw hat
Disgracefully no lack of conceit
A taxi rank, that’s brandy in the back seat son

Don’t you feel the ebb and flow? 
Don’t you feel the ebb and flow? 
Don’t you feel the ebb and flow? 
Illiterati, illiterati, illiterati, oh yeah 

Sucks you in and spits you out
Sucks you in and spits you out
Sucks you in and spits you out

Soon sweat sticks to nylon shirt back
Ratchet heads swivel in unison
I’ve drunk my fill of bitter, bitter
I’ve drunk my fill of bitter, bitter
I’ve drunk my fill of bitter, bitter, bitter, bitter
The shivering dump of a decibel dawn
Illiterati, illiterati, illiterati, oh yeah 

He’s prone to drone, but I bet that he means well
He’s prone to drone, but I bet that he means well
He’s prone to drone, prone to drone, prone to drone, but I bet that he means well
He means well

How can you face yourself this way? 
How can you face yourself this way? 
How can you face yourself this way? 
Illiterati, illiterati, illiterati, oh yeah

Folk Devils "Illiterati"

Lyrics ------------

His glass is empty, but the belly’s full
A big jaw, slackened muscle, will not pull
He turns a corner, a turn for the worst
Talk about a drunk who died of thirst
Not this one!

Crawled into his ear and there it laid its eggs
A mumbled, stumble on three fractured legs
Ah you’re never young with a bleeding lung
The angels swore he never sung
Not that one!

A mass of tape, watch it backwards roll
There’s no such thing as too deep a hole
Well I fall in love and then fall apart
Stitched up tight with a leather heart
Not this one!

Buddy love, sister hate

Folk Devils "Broken Head"

Lyrics -----------

Albino in the road, blind and fumbling
A pink-eyed wonder in voluntary exile
He got a white tap stick
And sunglass eyes
All the ticket reminders
Cartoons on the ceiling
For Albino

I tell you Anglo-Saxon sex is best
It’s cold as a priest’s breath
Cat sees rags piled high
On charity counters
For Albino

(Kill the head and the body will die)
Stale white bread

Folk Devils "Albino"

Lyrics -----------------

It’s torture for you, it’s too much for me
Still it drags on relentlessly
Now we kick it around, but it won’t kick back
The sky is blue and the sun is black, the sun is black, the sun is black

It drags on, it drags on, forever

Now the pain we inflict is the hate we love
Deny it till there’s nothing left to prove
If I could cut out my heart and eat it cold
I would live forever with this hole, with this hole, with this hole 

It drags on, it drags on, forever

Preserve it forever, freeze it on ice
If I could go through it once, then why not twice?
I remember once, I think I once smiled
And then I hung it in a cupboard and after a while, after a while, after a while 

It drags on, it drags on, forever

Folk Devils "It Drags On"

Lyrics -------------------

Made it this far so why stop now?
When everything’s possible but nothing’s allowed
Hate we embrace and love we spurn
The lesson’s simple, you never learn

Once I had visions, once I had hair
I lost them both in this paradise of despair

He opens the door, she closes her eyes
As night winds down deep in her thighs
Turn to god when the end is near
In pain, in bed, in fact in fear 

Once I had visions, once I had hair
I lost them both in this paradise of despair

Belly up (in my paradise of despair)

Folk Devils "Belly Up"

Lyrics ---------------------

Well I prayed too much so my knees are sore
A stained glass sunset throws shadows far
But not far enough for my taste
Not dark enough to hide this happy face

Well I looked inside, I don’t like what I see
But once it’s found it can’t be lost again
And I think of the agony, and I think of the waste
Too long spent behind this happy face

Her velvet eyes are bright with pain
I can’t stop myself from twisting a knife
Tattered and torn, whatever happened to this place
Now it’s just a frame for a happy face

Well my shoulder aches but I can see the hill

Now I look down on my empire of sand
I had the world but it slipped through my hands
This field of stone will be my resting place 
Finally wiped the smile off this happy face

Folk Devils "Happy Face"

Recorded 1987, produced by Richard Mazda. Ian Lowery - vocals, Nick Clift - guitar, Robert Paul Mune - bass, John Hamilton - drums, Saul Taylor - sax

Unreleased track from 'The Best Protection' session.

Folk Devils on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Folk-Devils/208548442489586

Contact: nicholasclift@gmail.com

Folk Devils - Sailor On Horse

Folk Devils "Forever"

Folk Devils "Ink Runs Dry"

Folk Devils "My Slum Soul"

Rock 'n' Rail from 1983-1987. RIP Ian Lowery 1956-2001.

'BEAUTIFUL MONSTERS (SINGLES and DEMO RECORDINGS 1984-86)' Release date: 30th September 2016 - Optic Nerve Recordings

“Folk Devils gigged (and lived) hard, establishing a fearsome live reputation while sharing stages with Nick Cave and Spacemen 3” – RECORD COLLECTOR

“Folk Devils were a staple of John Peel’s legendary radio show in the mid-80s...twisting ancient blues and rockabilly riffs into hot-wired post-punk” – LOUDER THAN WAR

“Folk Devils took a torn leaf from swamp delta blues and married it to a measured Fall-like frenzy” – VIVE LE ROCK

“This excellent, feral compilation draws together on CD and vinyl their first three singles and B- sides plus eight previously unreleased demos” – UNCUT

-- First time ever on CD. Digitally restored audio. The complete Folk Devils singles collection plus bonus unreleased demo recordings.
-- Limited edition 180 gram double vinyl. Digitally restored audio re-mastered for vinyl includes 4 page insert with exclusive lyric sheet.

Named after Stanley Cohen’s book on youth subcultures “Folk Devils and Moral Panics”, this highly underrated British band was as far as one could get from ‘folk music’ at the time. They were formed by Co. Durham native Ian Lowery (formerly of The Wall and Ski Patrol) in late 1983 with a line up that consisted of Whiteley (Bass), Kris Jozajtis (Guitar) and Alan Cole (Drums). Throughout their short lifespan, the band released several acclaimed independent singles including “Hank Turns Blue”, “Beautiful Monster”, 1985’s intense “Fire And Chrome” EP, and recorded three sessions for BBC Radio’s John Peel Show.
 
By early 1984, their heady brew of swampy rock on a bed of bastardized blues had created a vehicle for Lowery’s increasingly misanthropic worldview. A well-honed gutter poet since the early days of punk, Ian developed an idiosyncratic style, fusing a natural gift for sly wordplay and a well-turned snarky phrase with his often vitriolic and poignant lyrics channeled through an explosive onstage persona. By 1985, their sound was becoming sharp, ominous, brooding and urgent, and had taken shape with the help of producer Richard Mazda, with whom they collaborated several times. The band moved label and management duties to Nick Jones’ KARBON operation, gigging constantly, most memorably sharing bills with the likes of The Fall, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Gun Club and Spacemen 3. They also toured extensively throughout Europe and were featured prominently in the UK music press. Sadly, by early 1986 frustration within their ranks had created a point of no return, and the band imploded.
These newly digitally re-mastered recordings have been painstakingly restored from the original master tapes, which had spent 30 years languishing in Nick Jones’ archives. Never before released on CD, the re-mastered sound captures the ragged fury and adrenalized energy that uniquely characterized the Folk Devils oeuvre. Also included here are eight demo recordings that feature some of their best unreleased material, both musically and lyrically.
Listening again to the ferocious sonic snarl of Whiteley’s Rickenbacker, Kris Joz’s rhythmic wall of sound and sparse, blues-inflected guitar figures, Al’s crisp, metronomic drumming, and Ian’s artful, grimy tales of love, loss, loathing and libation, one can’t help but think it was becoming a sound unto itself, an insatiable and yes, beautiful, monster. We hope you enjoy these resurrected gems, and in doing so, join us in honoring the band’s legacy and paying tribute to the twisted genius of Ian Lowery, who died in 2001, age 45.
Tracklisting:
01. Hank Turns Blue
02. Chewing The Flesh
03. Beautiful Monster
04. Art Ghetto
05. Brian Jones’ Bastard Son 06. Nice People
07. English Disease
08. Where The Buffalo Roam 09. Wail
10. Evil Eye
11. Illiterati
12. Tight Sleep
13. Broken Head
14. Albino
15. Nicotine Tan
16. It Drags On
17. Belly Up
18. Happy Face

Folk Devils (UK)

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