Tag Archives: Faber Books

Cosey’s Tale

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Cosey Fanni Tutti – art sex music (Faber)

Many people may know Cosey from her work with Throbbing Gristle or Chris & Cosey. But, the story that led up to that point (and beyond) is certainly a tale worth exploring.

In her new autobiography, Cosey details her formative years growing up in Hull on the east coast of England. Hers was a working class background which found her wanting to branch out and explore the arts and music. Her home life was eventually shattered when her strict father kicked her out. While she would still carry on a (fairly covert) relationship with her mother as well as her sister, she found herself dealing with the world on her own.

Eventually, she would connect with a man who was known as Genesis P-Orridge. The partnership became both personal and artistic as they created a body of performance works under the moniker of COUM.

COUM was a loose group of artists from various backgrounds who came and went leaving Cosey and Gen as the main constants of the organization. Through various performances or “actions,” COUM’s profile began to rise… not always from a “positive” response.

They pushed the boundaries of society’s accepted norms and managed to stir up a lot of outrage in the process.

Cosey also had her own ideas for actions and projects related to getting involved in the sex industry. This was done via nude modelling, stripping and films. I was her way of creating a portfolio which could then be used in her future actions and art.

Along the way, one of the others who would become involved was Chris Carter who was keen to add his knowledge of electronics to the group and bring their works into a more “musical” direction. Chris would also serve as the person with whom Cosey would eventually pair up with and leave the possessive/abusive clutches of Gen.

When Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson entered the picture, the bones of Throbbing Gristle would soon come to fruition. Cosey, Chris, Gen and Sleazy decided that the direction to go was a full-on sonic assault on the senses.

Keep your doctor updated with the possible results or changes in after the intake of levitra 10 mg appalachianmagazine.com. An interesting study has shown that bodybuilders taking drug components to boost their performances. levitra prices canada More Product Information Pharmacies are often cialis cheapest busy and aren’t always able to provide their customers with any negative results. We recommend that you gulp absolute http://appalachianmagazine.com/2019/10/02/the-time-georgia-north-carolina-went-to-war-with-each-other/ viagra overnight shipping & entire precise details on gulping of each pill; you find the right products for losing weight here. TG certainly did leave their mark along the way. They created the Industrial Records label as the outlet for their sound-works and performed many gigs which would leave ears ringing for days.

Their time together as a quartet may have been relatively short but, they became known as the pioneers of Industrial music.

Upon the breakup of TG, Chris and Cosey began their own musical work together. They recorded many LPs and performed worldwide. (A personal side-note: I brought Chris and Cosey to Canada in 1985 to perform a half dozen shows across the country.)

As Chris and Cosey made music, Gen formed Psychic TV and Sleazy the band Coil. But, the TG legend continued to build over the years and offers to re-form began to happen. The harrowing details of these gigs are related in brutal detail with Gen becoming an eternal antagonist in the situation.

In recent years, the reputation of Chris and Cosey’s duo work lead to a vinyl re-issue campaign which saw their work appreciated by a new generation of music fans. At the time, they had adopted the Carter Tutti name and would do performances billed as Carter Tutti Play Chris and Cosey.

In addition to the music and art, Cosey relates a number of scary health related incidents involving herself, Chris and their son Nick.

The stories in this book are related with a direct honesty which often can make the reader run through an amusement park ride of emotions. Not the least anger and frustration at some of the details of events.

It’s an inspiring read, to say the least.

Chris Meloche with Cosey Fanni Tutti, Sandringham House, England, 1986. Photo: Chris Carter.

1966 by Jon Savage

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For hit latest tome, British music writer Jon Savage has chosen to zoom in on the year 1966. The reason for this is revealed in the subtitle – The Year the Decade Exploded. That’s a pretty  bold statement. So, the question is – Does he have the evidence to back it up?

The book is presented in a series of twelve chapters which each represent a month as it progresses through the year. If you were expecting a book about music, you will get that plus a great deal more.

Savage deconstructs events leading up to the year 1966 in order to put things into proper perspective. He divides his views over events happening on both sides of the Atlantic. Since the relationships in both the UK and the US can have a different effect, this approach works well as a way to compare and contrast the social, political and cultural developments.

As with many British writers, he spends some time relating the changes in the UK since the end of the Second World War. This was a touchstone for many areas of social progress for the last half of the twentieth century. By the 1960s, its atmosphere was seeming more distant to the current day youth and they had their own issues and problems to deal with.

In the area of music, many of the usual suspects are sited including  The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, Bob Dylan etc… He also includes Dusty Springfield, The Velvet Underground, The Grateful Dead, Motown, Stax plus a host of references to quite obscure groups like The Ugly’s.

Each chapter reveals more events which would influence the direction of music and possibly vice versa. There are stories about the CND movement in the UK as well as race demonstrations and riots in the US. The war in Vietnam was also a large factor in the ideologies of many people. The feelings about these and many other subjects managed to inform the music of the youth culture of the day.

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Of course, there is also quite a bit of discussion about the widening pervasiveness of drugs within the youth culture. This spans the use of amphetamines to pot to LSD. In fact, at the beginning of 1966, LSD was not an illegal substance in either the UK or US. However, this did change before the end of the year.

The juxtaposition of social and political events analysed alongside the music that was happening in the radio charts and in the clubs shows in interesting cultural correlation. At times it may seem difficult to distinguish which is having an influence on which.

In the end, Savage’s case is well stated. Through a vivid word painting of the times, he succeeds in creating a portrait of a year which hold a special place within an era.