The Temple of the 13th Tribe

The first full-length release by The Royal Family and the Poor, 1984’s The Temple of the 13th Tribe found Michael Keane, assisted by a variety of fellow Factory types such as Peter Hook on production and Stockholm Monsters keyboardist Lita Hira on backing vocals, creating a series of dreamily involving songs. Akin to the murky electronic psychedelia of the 1980s as heard in acts like the Legendary Pink Dots – Aleister Crowley samples appears more than once – its core element is Keane’s high singing, effortlessly conveying a range of moods and emotions.