Customer Reviews

Blast The Human Flower

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this on cassette back in 1990 or so, after I saw the video for "Tomorrow Never Knows" on MTV of all places. I liked what she did with it, and I thought she was sexy... Sooooo, I bought the cassette. Best impulse buy ever. I must have listened to it over and over and over. Seriously, I know now this is supposed to have been her big 'commercial' album, but its one Ill always have. Then I lost the cassette a couple years later. Not happy. I immediately went out and found it on CD, as CD's were now the modus operandi of the music listener. (I believe its out of print now) I did a little research on her, and I have to say she is smart, funny, extremely creative and individualistic...And yes, sexy. I think she would probably raise an eyebrow at me saying I bought the album because she looked hot in the video... But I think shes also cool enough and would take it more as a compliment, especially since I went below the surface, so to speak. Back to the album. The cover is OK, but I prefer the one inside the lyric pages of her covered in muck, holding a gun. I refolded that pic out to be the 'new' cover'. I do this frequently with my CDs. ALL the songs are strong. No filler, no crap. All great. 'Daisy', 'Jehovah's Precious Stone', and especially the last track, '16 Candles'. '16 Candles' is my absolute favorite song on the disk. "...and still the girl he had left behind, keeps his memory strong. For she hopes in vain for her love's return, now 16 candles gone." Really beautiful. Thank you for that album, Danielle. I heard she was doing landscape architecture, or garden design, or something. I wish her all my best, and should you happen to come across 'Blast The Human Flower', get it.

Back in the day, the local college radio station played "The Id Parade" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" a few times. Found out who did them, and took a chance buying the cd. It paid off.
A lot of hardcore Danielle Dax fans hate this; allegedly she sold out (How dare she work with Stephen Street?!?). Well, I've heard some of her other stuff, and I love this disc best of all. I'm a pop head, what can I say?
'Blast the Human Flower' (what does that MEAN?) opens with the hard charging "Id Parade", followed by "Tomorrow Never Knows", the Beatles song with a sly sample of the Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime" thrown in at the end. Next up is "Big Blue '82" which would not have been out of place on a Cyndi Lauper album. And then... things get dark, darker with each song. But, they're all still catchy. "Bayou" is still baffling to me after all these years (heck, I'm still trying to fathom all these songs!). "King Crack" is the most menacing 2 1/2 minutes you'll ever hear. "Daisy" is a twisted love song... and from there it's all hopeless: "Dead Man Chill" (with the doomed lyric "As I sit in my gilded cage/you've thrown away the key), "The Living and Their Stillborn" (which reminds me of Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale'), "Jehovah's Precious Stone", and the dirge like "16 Candles" are relentless... and after it's all over, you'll want to hear the cd again and again.

From before the "Blast The Human Flower" days, this concert has some crazy-headhurtin' editing (pre-videoeffects 80's) but the sound quality is better than I expected. I was a little put off by the fact that almost every song has a backing track, (essentially the records being played minus the main vocal track), so the band gets second status, but it's a small club, Dani is in fine form, and this is the only place to hear some of these tunes since the CD singles-collection is out of print and therefore very $. Definitely worth the ten-spot it took for me.

It fun to read A.N. Matalon's review because it nice to hear about when anyone discovers a great band - glad you and other enjoyed it! However A.N., this WAS considered by we Dax fans at the time to be her big mainstream sellout album. It is of course a good record with a handful of nice songs. "The Id Parade" was the lead single and it is the most metal that Dax ever got. It featured a jolting riff and a very direct, un-Dax-like drive. "Tomorrow Never Knows" was another single and in case you don't know it's a Beatles' cover that been done by many bands including the Mission UK; she does a great job with it. "big Blue '82" was the dance track and it's OK but lacks the creativity you expect from her. "King Crack" is very good but a bit to obvious for the normally obscure Dax. "Daisy" is one of my favorites here, a stripped down acoustic marvel that lets her voice stand out.

Toward the end comes the most definitive Dax-type song on the album, "The Living and Their Stillborn". It's mysterious and intentionally disjointed. The last 2 tracks "Jehovah's Precious Stone" and '16 Candles" are both very good. Ok so I like most of the songs, but the reason it only gets 4 stars is that this is clearly more mainstream and somehwat dumbed down for a wider audience that wouldn't really get the old Danielle from 'Inky Bloaters' and 'Dark Adapted Eye'. DAE is one of my picks for Top 20 in 80's alternative... and that was THE decade for real postpunk/alternative. Oddly though, for those of you who've never heard Dax, this may be the best starting point and if you like it work backward chronologically with DAE coming next.

What can I say? Danielle Dax is simply the best alternative music available. I bought Dark Adapted Eye when it first came out and Blast when it came out. DAE is "better" in many ways, but Blast is also great. Buy this album and DAE and you'll have many many replayable hours of aural stimulation & enjoyment! If you like early Kate Bush, very early Eurythmics (In The Garden or The Tourists albums), Act, or Propaganda, you'll probably like Dax.

CD was sold in cheap digipack that was received damaged and this way you can not replace it....
Mailed it to Amazon, but until now no reaction at all...

This is a full length concert of Danielle Dax who had just departed from the early post punk/noise group, the Lemon Kittens. On her own she takes a post punk/goth/psychedelic sound with aspects of world music similar to a more pop take on Siouxsie and the Banshees but utterly musically substantial and a highly under rated artist. The footage and sound are excellent but as with many television broadcasts from that time, the psychedelic light effects are a bit cheesey and frankly detract from the performance which otherwise is a rarity from a company offering archival post punk footage that would generally not have been otherwise available with excellent remastering.

Bought this album for one flashback song,'Daisy'. Love the quality of her voice in that. Very high creative and production values throughout the album. Before buying this I checked DD out on YouTube and discovered she has many songs I liked but didn't realize she was the performer. Same goes with this album. There are other songs on this album I've enjoyed in my club days but didn't realize they were hers. A very pleasant surprise! I'm going to enjoy getting familiar with this album and I have a feeling I'll be picking up additional works of hers. Check out her videos on YouTube and you'll be hooked, or at least intrigued.

With the albums Pop-Eyes and Jesus Egg that Wept, Danielle Dax demonstrated to be the biggest genius of her times. With Inky Bloaters and Dark Adapted Eye only demontrated her need to sell something, to find a wider audience, but still with inspiration and intelligence. This last title is just market-oriented disco music, where she gave up all her artistic fancies...

This is an excellent CD but I want to clarify that it is a studio recording not a "live" recording as mentioned in the title of this page above. This is a re-issue of the 1990 Sire release and you can read other reviews of this CD for more information. I do recommend it highly along with the prequel to this, "Dark Adapted Eye". Ms Dax is delicious as always.