Flesh For Lulu - Baby Hurricane

Before Flesh For Lulu found a wider American audience, “Baby Hurricane” caught them at their most gloriously disheveled: part gothic rock, part glam, part punk, and entirely built around swagger.

Released in 1984, “Baby Hurricane” belongs to the earliest chapter of the London band’s career, arriving during the same period as their self-titled debut album. Led by Nick Marsh, Flesh For Lulu emerged from the UK’s post-punk underground but never fit neatly into the increasingly codified goth scene around them. Their music carried the darkness and atmosphere, but mixed it with the ragged guitars of punk, the decadence of glam rock, and an instinct for big, immediate hooks.

“Baby Hurricane” is a perfect example. Marsh delivers the song with equal parts romance and menace while the guitars churn underneath him, creating something that feels more dangerous and unruly than the polished alternative rock Flesh For Lulu would explore later in the decade. There are traces of the New York Dolls and early punk in its DNA, but also the nocturnal mood that made the band natural companions to the Batcave-era British underground.

This original 1984 UK 12-inch pressing on Polydor expands the single into a three-track EP. Alongside “Baby Hurricane” are “Seven Hail Marys” and “Death Shall Come,” making it a particularly strong snapshot of Flesh For Lulu before their eventual move toward the larger-scale sound heard on records like Long Live the New Flesh.

That early incarnation of Flesh For Lulu remains fascinating precisely because it resists easy classification. They could be dark without becoming solemn, theatrical without losing their punk grit, and romantic while still sounding slightly dangerous.

Baby Hurricane captures that balance beautifully: sleazy, melodic, gothic, and swaggering rock ’n’ roll from one of the more distinctive bands to emerge from Britain’s early-’80s alternative underground.