For the most part, my wife and I are entirely simpatico when it comes to our musical tastes, with one major exception: she pretty much has to leave the room whenever I'm playing an Altered Images record, because Clare Grogan's voice just drives her positively bugfuck. Me, I think it's one of the all-time great pop voices, a weird, needling, hiccupy squeak of a voice that manages to be endearing and slightly irritating at the same time. "Dead Pop Stars" was Altered Images' first single, and it features the band in their first incarnation (with lead guitarist Caesar, soon to decamp to form his own band, the indiepop stalwarts the Wake), produced by Siouxsie and the Banshees' Steve Severin. Severin produces this song in his own band's image, and there's no denying that the group sound like a junior Scottish Banshees clone here, but "Dead Pop Stars" is such a fabulous, bizarre record in its own right that it's no mere imitation. It's surprising to think that in less than a year, they were the brightest, bubblegummiest band in the land on the back of singles like "Happy Birthday," "See Those Eyes" and "Don't Talk To Me About Love," all of which are just as wonderful as this, but in an entirely different musical style.

-Stewart Mason