This is the third part of my series called "A VISIT TO THE DARK SIDE".
- The band THE JANITORS OF LUNACY was founded in 1983 in Worms, Germany, as a dark experimental industrial band and soon moved to Berlin. Most of their songs have a real sinister atmosphere full of angst and depression and despair.
- In the beginning the JANITORS were heavily influenced by THROBBING GRISTLE, but soon moved on to a greater variety of sounds. Of course there is a strong NICO and VELVET UNDERGROUND influence (the band is named after a NICO song), but one can also hear traces of SUICIDE or BAUHAUS. "We All Want To Be Loved" could easily be an early EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN track, and "L'etranger" sounds like a JOY DIVISION instrumental outtake.
- The singer sometimes resembles a sedated late JIM MORRISON (e.g. on "Back to the 50ies"), while the girl singer most of the time sounds EXACTLY like NICO. Really amazing!
- My personal favourite tracks are "Stanley Kubrick's Diaries" and "The Sweat of Fear in Lying Beds".
- In late '87 the band simply vanished from the German Underground scene, and guitarist Maxim Engl later went on to ORANGE and EPHEMEROL in the Frankfurt/Rhein-Main area.
The Janitors of Lunacy - 1984-'87
(mp3 zip, 14 songs,100,4 MB, 73 min)
01. L'etranger - 4.01
02. Twenty Three - 2.39
03. Today (version 1) - 3.04
04. We All Want to be Loved - 6.30
05. The Long Tomorrow - 8.34
06. Back To The 50ies - 4.37
07. Stanley Kubrick's Diaries - 7.11
08. Catholic Girl - 3.10
09. Today (version 2) - 2.26
10. The Sweat Of Fear in Lying Beds - 11.16
11. Stormy Weather - 7.50
12. Won't You Try - 3.23
13. When A White Swan Meets A Black - 4.42
14. Alia - 3.20
Get it here or here (new links March 2012)!