TITLE: "Rubber Glove Seduction"
ARTIST: PTP
ALBUM: Rubber Glove Seduction e.p.
RELEASE DATE: 1990
I'm right in the middle of Chris Connelly's bio, Concrete. Bulletproof. Invisible + Fried: My Life As a Revolting Cock, and I have to say, I'm entirely loving it. Yes, the "warts n' all" rock memoir is indeed a battered cliche these days (from Hammer of the Gods through The Dirt, you'd imagine every ludicrous base has been covered by now), but Connelly's rapier Scottish wit truly redeems the re-visitation of such well-travelled ground. The layperson might have a hard time appreciating it, but if you were ever a fan of the whole Wax Trax/Ministry/RevCo/Pigface mob back in the late 80's and early 90's, you will assuredly get a massive kick out of it.
In all candor, I was never a great fan of Connelly's. His contributions to Ministry and the Revolting Cocks and the myriad Wax Trax side-projects were all well and good, but when he was drafted to sing for Murder Inc. (essentially Killing Joke minus Jaz Coleman as produced by Steve Albini), he really scuttled an amazing opportunity (to these ears) by dampening the otherwise promising proceedings with an undercooked Bowie croon. A number of years later, he cast a similar pall over The Damage Manual, another Martin Atkins-helmed project. The Damage Manual might've been the second coming of Public Image Ltd. (with Killing Joke's Geordie Walker on guitar!!!), but when Lydon refused to participate (shocker), Atkins gave Connelly the nod. I was acutely underwhelmed at the time. In retrospect, however, that first Damage Manual e.p. is quite good.
In any case, in reading Connelly's impressions of the whole Wax Trax era, I feel I may have underestimated the man. He refreshingly cuts some of the larger-than-life characters down to size with a healthy degree of insight that is comical but never needlessly nasty. His general observations regarding the inanities of touring middle-America are also entirely entertaining. It's a very fun read.
Inspired by the book, I've been motivated to re-visit some of Connelly's work. This particular track, "Rubber Glove Seduction" is from a collaboration between the ever-morphing Ministry cast (of which Connelly was an ever-rotating member) and Cabaret Voltaire. Dubbed PTP (which, I've just learned after all these years, stands for "Programming The Psychodrill"), the collaboration only birthed a single...er...single under said moniker, "Rubber Glove Seduction" being the a-side. Connelly provided the vocals and austerely vague lyrics. This single came out around the same time as "No Name, No Slogan" by the equally enigmatic Acid Horse -- which was essentially the same thing as PTP (and equally grooving). Years later, Ministry mainman, Al Jourgensen culled all the side projects together and released them on a single disc (which meant my prized original copies lost a bit of their collector value). Oh well. But regardless of whatever they were calling themselves at the time, it's some of the collective's best work.
In any case, I loved this track for its punchy beats and pugnacious lyrics. I was working at a tiny, independent music mag at the time called The New York Review of Records. I think I first heard this track throbbing out of the speakers at a long-since-closed club called The Building off 6th Avenue, and I bounced about accordingly. A lot of the music from the so-called "industrial" era (despite the fact that the progenitors of said sub-genre like Throbbing Gristle, Einsturzende Neaubauten, SPK et al. have precious little in common with these acts) has dated irreparably by this point, but as far as I'm concerned, "Rubber Glove Seduction" still holds up. Fetch thy dancing pants and hit play.
Hats off to Chris Connelly
ADDENDUM: Apologies to Connelly et al. I seem to have confused my facts regarding the players in this instance. This single, unlike "No Name No Slogan" by Acid Horse, does not feature any contributions from the Cabaret Voltaire gents. See the full details here on Chris' site.
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