Wendy James of Transvision Vamp fame is back (again). Part of their appeal, as much as the punk-tinged pop songs was Wendy herself: the platinum blonde bombshell’s trashy look was attention-grabbing, but knowingly executed.
‘Indigent Blues’ is a nicely crafted slice of sixties-infused pop, vaguely wistful and whimsical and melodic, with some sweetly chiming guitars, while flipside ‘Bad Intentions and a Bit of Cruelty’ calls to mind ‘Honey’s Dead’ era Jesus and Mary Chain crossed with The Fall circa 1984. It’s a gloriously scuzzy rough ‘n’ ready garage workout that is not the sound of an artist who’s mellowing with age or taking a safe musical path.
The fact the album (which sees Wendy backed by Glen Matlock, Lenny Kaye and James Sclavunos) has been funded by crowd-funding through Pledge Music is evidence enough of how loyal her fan-base is, even after all these years. But I suspect that much of this will be eclipsed by the fact that she’s spragged topless on the cover of her album. In fairness, she’s looking good by any age-standards, let alone the fact she’s now 50. But one woman’s empowerment is another’s cheap degradation, and it’s hard to know where to sit with this.
But I guess that ultimately, a brace of decent tracks plus tits is an all-round win.