I really, really miss The Long Blondes. Massively. I can take a bit of solace in the fact that Kate Jackson is now properly starting to come back though. She’s been drip feeding tracks for a while, playing the odd gig here and there and now she has a video. It’s all filmed at the recent Hoxton Bar & Kitchen gig. Brilliant. I won’t lie though. It does remind me of something else.
after my recent posts about kate jackson and the kills i felt the need to talk women. my favourite frontwomen of all time. before we start, i need to bring two parts of that last sentence to your attention. firstly the word “favourite”. i will have missed out loads (i’ve only done my top five after all) and there are ladies that i am sure are better than the five below, but these are my favourites. secondly, i’m not counting solo artists. this is all about those that women that take the lead of a band. sorry pj harvey. sorry lykke li and natasha khan. i’m not counting solo artists in this.
5: alice glass
have you ever seen her live? she is actually mental. it’s fucking brilliant and it is her energy that makes up a big part of why crystal castles are so exciting.
4: kate jackson
nobody epitomises library cool like miss jackson. not only did she lead he band on stage and off stage, but she even painted the cover art for their albums. the long blondes may be no more, but she frontwomaned (real word) them with such style that they’ll be present on my ipod for a long time yet.
3: karen o
with her unique look and powerful recognisable voice, karen o was made to front a band. she complements the sound of yeah yeah yeahs and you can’t imagine anybody else in her role.
2: debbie harry
do i really need to explain this one? she’s the mother of all frontwomen. she has the songs. she had the looks. blondie were debbie harry.
1: alison mosshart
pipping blondie to the post, alison mosshart is perfect. sexy, strong, edgy. she has everything. not just that but she fronts two bands. the kills and the dead weather. she is equally amazing in both and fully deserves her top spot.
many more could be here. shirley manson and nina from the cardigans were considered. stevie nicks only just missed out but i imagine would make it onto most lists. there are new challengers as well. elizabeth sankey, for example, has everything in place to join the list.
that was fun. expect more lists coming up soon.
i loved the long blondes. i remember writing a very long post all about just why they were so great on the old version of this. i no longer have access to that article thanks to google deciding to delete me, but the sentiment remains. now when i play ‘giddy stratospheres’, ‘appropriation’ or (my personal favourite) ‘once and never again’ i know that i will never hear any new material from them. and that makes me sad.
i saw them live several times and you couldn’t help but fall in love with kate jackson and her natural stage presence. there are many top quality frontwomen in music, but jackson stood out. she was up there with debbie harry and alison mosshart. effortlessly cool and with real talent. jarvis cocker in female form.
she started recording as a solo artists early last year, aided by the genius that is bernard butler. over the past month or so there have been a few songs dripping through to soundcloud. i can tell you right now that she has not lost it. other the the amazing ‘homeward bound’ they may not be quite up to the heights of the long blondes greatest, but the signs are there. i personally cannot wait and had to get this anticipation off my chest. enjoy ‘homeward bound’ and keep an eye on the kate jackson soundcloud account for more tracks. excited.
