Sadly, I only got to know Anita Lane after her sudden death in spring (people you do not know can, too, die suddenly). She had some presence in my life - but only marginal. For instance, she gets metioned in the recent autobiography by Robert Forster where she is featured as Nick Cave's girlfriend residing in the squalid apartments of London in the 80s. Most importantly, though, she was the one who co-wrote "From Her To Eternity" and provided those gruesome, heart-wrenching vocals for "The Kindness Of Strangers". Also, she sang on Mick Harvey's albums of Serge Gainsbourg interpretations.
This was, however, without me having any idea that this was Anita Lane and that Anita Lane was an artist in her own right. With two full-length albums of largely self-penned material that have sadly disappeared without a trace. A shame, really, because both are excellent.
The first one, Dirty Pearl, was released in 1993 and featured the usual suspects like Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey and members of Die Haut. It is a difficult album, and sometimes a tough listen - but ultimately a rewarding one. Einstürzende Neubauten-inspired stuff like "I'm A Believer" and "A Prison In The Desert" feels ominous and a little off-putting next to the timeless classic "The World's A Girl" and the beautiful and blasphemous country ballad "Jesus Almost Got Me". Later, however, once you start seeing the beauty in sensual experimentations such as "Blume" (Blixa is brilliant on this one), "Picture of Mary" and "If I Should Die", Dirty Pearl becomes an unforgettable and a very special listen all the way through. Anita may slightly overdo those erotic undertones but then you have to wonder if that would still be Anita Lane without a hushed whisper and an orgasmic sigh.
Sex O'Clock, her second LP, was released in 2001, and it was every bit as good. The sexual energy was still there, in spades ("Do The Kamasutra", "I Love You, I Am No More"), but there was also maturity in the songwriting. "I Hate Myself" was an absolute classic, with some of Anita's greatest singing and that brilliant bass-line you may confuse with something from a great Nick Cave song. "The Petrol Wife" was a wonderfully tense ballad and the Mick Harvey duet "Do That Thing" is like a superior Serge Gainsbourg composition sung in English. The odd move was to end the whole thing with "Bella Ciao", the 19th century Italian protest song, but she gives it an unmistakable sensual edge - something the world had never done before. Or since.
You hear lots of stories about those unjustly forgotten classic albums by unjustly forgotten artists. Dirty Pearl and Sex O'Clock are not those albums. But Anita Lane certainly created a world there, and the personality is intriguing enough for you to care. Besides, the songs are good. The songs are sexual and mysterious, and you sometimes have to wonder if there is more to art than that.
