Listen: Monster In Black Tights / Screaming Lord Sutch
Monster In Black Tights / Screaming Lord Sutch
Pictures of this guy frightened me, given I was a really little kid. It was exactly summer 1963, stumbling on him, still spooked by monster movies, Dracula and dead people. My Mom and Dad took me along to Ireland for a visit with the family, and there he was, in the Ballymoney County Antrim Sunday Paper. I guess the lure of that other world was in me early, because I certainly wanted to hear him quite a lot. In hindsight, this was a time when both novelty and monster themed records were welcomed on Top 40, but I wasn’t even listening to records then.
As it turned out, hearing Screaming Lord Sutch was not to be for more several years, by which time I was a growing Joe Meek appreciater. He had coined the extra terrestrial production sound of creepy outer space and graveyards by ’62. What a logical fit then that he produced most of Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages’ output.
Always bugged me that the label copy never credited Screaming Lord Sutch’s band The Savages, unlike the photos, posters and writes ups. Why leave off such a spot on name tag?
As for ‘Monster In Black Tights’, it really has dated. Which makes me like it even more, a nice reminder of what technology has done, good and bad. I do wish I’d been old enough to see them live, the group turning up to shows in a hearse and all.