Customer Reviews

Express

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful record, probably the best Love & Rockets album ever. But this CD edition was mastered around 1987, and sounds thin and faded - it has no bass punch. Spend the extra cash and buy the UK remastered import. You'll get all of these tracks plus a great cover of Syd Barrett's "Lucifer Sam." The UK version sounds much sharper, revealing bass lines you'll never notice with this thin edition. Still, if you're on a budget, this is a marvelous album regardless.

In 1986, many people who were in high school at the time were grabbed by this album in a way that no other form of artistic expression ever had. Express raised the bar of what we could reasonably expect in the way of brilliance from those artists we supported with our scarce dollars. The lyircs all had something to say, and it was said in an elegant and compelling way. Having cut their teeth in Bauhaus, they were saying "And now for something completely different....". Their musical ability had grown greatly during the Tones on Tail and Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven days. This came to fruition with the diversity of styles on Express, with "Holiday on the Moon" contrasting well with "American Dream". Many of those who first met Love and Rockets with Express have since been hoping for L and R to do work on par with that album, to no avail. While there have been a few bright spots, many of us have found ourselves merely hopeful and nostalgic. At least Express stands as a gift to mankind to enjoy.

When this album came out, Ball of Confusion became my favorite song. Boy was I surprised when I heard the song at a Temptations concert with my parents. Now, a little older, a little smarter, this version sounds somewhat silly compared with the power of the soulful original. However, this album still sounds great, particularly in headphones. It moves nicely from start to finish, covering lots of sonic territory. While most will listen for nostalgia these days, it still sounds fresh enough for newcomers.

Recently, I ran into a friend I had grown up with, but don't see very often. She made a comment about how I used to a Love and Rockets Express t-shirt all the time back in the 80's. She also said that I was right back then when I said that Express would be one of the greatest albums of all time. With all the new music that revolutionized music in the early 90's, I had forgotten about Express and hadn't listened to the CD for at least 5 years. When I returned from my vacation I put the CD on and was amazed at how good the album truly is. Start to finish, Love and Rockets will amaze you on Express. It could have come out in the 90's or the 70's - you would never guess it came out in the 80's. It hasn't left my CD rotation since. A must have for any true music collection.

Raw charisma, an aggressive demeanor, a strong personality, a deep baritone, attention-grabbing stage presence, and male-model appearance made Peter Murphy the center of attention in Bauhaus, which also contained guitarist Daniel Ash, bassist, David J. (Haskins), and drummer Kevin Haskins. After the dissolution of Bauhaus, Ash and the Haskins brothers, whose love for creating psychedelia was not indulged while producing gothic music with Murphy, came together over a year later to form Love and Rockets in 1985, releasing "Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven" in late 1985, an often intriguing hybrid of neo-psychedelia and quasi-industrial music. "A Private Future" and "The Dog-End Of A Day Gone By" represented the former, while the majestic tone poem "Haunted When The Minutes Drag", the rapturous "If There's A Heaven Above","Saudade", a nostalgic instrumental piece, and the title track best illustrated the latter. "Seventh Dream"'s lyrical content was reflective of the band's restless search for spiritual elevation and transcedence.

"Seventh Dream"'s hybrid tendencies are narrowed down to two tracks (the opening instrumental "Angels and Devils", combining bliss and dissonance, and the out-of-left-field dance floor hit/ cover of the Temptation's "Ball of Confusion") on their late '86 follow-up, "Express" a much more cohesive release centering around Ash's heavily- amplified, frequently-overdubbed guitar work, and lyrics that probed again for significance of the place in the universe man should inhabit, spiritual enlightenment, and the importance of connections forged on a personal level. No scale-bending heavy metal technician, Ash's guitar-playing is suggestively textural and atmospheric, kept simple, yet highly expressive. Raw, somewhat aggressively accelerating, and churning toward a sustained explosiveness, his riffing mimics the sound of a locomotive in "Kundalini Express" , while "Yin and Yang The Flower Pot Man" bends sustained explosive riffing in an entirely acoustic direction from the outset of the track, soaring just ahead of the expansive, centrifugal, beamed-through-the-universe lead line coaxed through his effects rack in the middle of the song. David J's heavily resonant fretless basslines and Kevin Haskin's lively, propulsive drumwork lend a loping, percussive force to both tracks, and on "Yin and Yang" J.'s basslines slip into a nearly-hypnotic eastern modality. Another reviewer has complained that this particular pressing of "Express" sounds "...thin and faded with no bass punch.", but I've never gotten that vibe from this release. "It Could Be Sunshine", "Life in Laralay", and "Holiday On The Moon" all showcase Ash's ability to craft tuneful, heavily amplified cuts using rhythm and dynamic tension, bringing to bear heavy modulation, including (in no particular order) reverb, delay, echo, flanger, chorus, and a seemingly ubiquitous E-Bow. Both J. and Haskins complement him well as lockstep timekeepers( and trailblazers of melody in their own right(s)), with fretless basslines resolving themselves into in-the-pocket grooves, the drumwork somewhat lively, always crisp, intutitive, fluid, and at times even tribalistic.

Several other cuts are driven by "Yin and Yang's" electro-acoustical dynamic; "Love Me" , with its heavily-phased, infinitely-delayed electric drone complemented by a cyclical, semi-acoustic passage presents as a highly melodic yet massive wall of swirling, atmospheric sound; "All In My Mind" works its way from a lightly-strummed query of concern to a levitational, cyclonic whirl of fragmenting notes dismissing the apprehension of its intended audience, while its acoustic version is rife with plaintive vocals and meditative longing; and "An American Dream" is an ambitious, buoyantly-plucked mini-suite with wistful overtones that brings a close to the CD. Finally, enough can't be said about the warm, expressive richness of David J's vocals or the way they're complemented by Ash's slightly crisp delivery, especially when they blend their vocals together, a frequent occurrence on "Express", especially.

My wife and I have worn out several copies of this CD; we've literally listened to it over a thousand times since '93 ( and I clocked in at several hundred more , beginning shortly after this version was released). It's definitely desert island disc material, still reveals nuance, has a rich sonic feel, and is well worth getting in this format especially.

Peter Murphy, Bauhaus, Tones on Tails, whatever, these guys recorded alot under different names. Easily the strongest lineup was the Love and Rockets lineup, and this CD is about as good a CD as one could ever hope to buy.

Try to find a bad song--not possible. My wife loves this album, and she listens to total crap. I remember the day I bought it (Sept. 1986)--I was looking for their first album ("Seventh Dream..." but was totally blown away when I first heard it, and it still stands up 15 years later. None of their later albums even remotely holds a candle to this, and this CD adds two tracks not found on the album release.

If you have even the remotest love for music, this is great stuff. Other bands may have been better over their careers (The Clash, Husker Du, Sonic Youth, The Jam, etc.), but few albums are strong from the first to last cut. This is one of the rare ones--get it NOW!

This is a classic in every sense of the word. An 80s version of pyschedelic pop from 3/4 of the Goth band Bauhaus. Best known for the remake of "Ball of Confusion", the album also contains the bouncy and bouyant "All in my Mind", the rhythmic like a locamotive "Kundalini Express", the lite ballad "Love Me". Introspective lyrics such as "but if you look in the mirror/you'll see that nobody/has ever ripped you off/It's all in your mind" give us cause to reflect on our own personal demons. "Holiday on the Moon", a bonus cut on the CD version only, is another example: "you can't get a suntan on the moon/but I wouldn't mind a holiday there", showing the band has a sense of humour. "It could be Sunshine" and "Ying and Yang the Flower Pot Man" are out and out rockers with drum and bass that kick. "Life in Laralay" sneers at the LA scene of phony and shallow plastic people. A better mid 80s album of psychedelia is hard to find.

I first purchased this tape the year it came out. I still have the cassette and I can't believe how great it still sounds. Love and Rockets took the psychedelic melodies from their album "Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven", and added some great guitars, melodies and lyrics. Some of the best songs include American Dream, Ball of Confusion, All in my Mind, Yin and Yang ... A wonderful album from start to finish.

After memorizing the first Love and Rockets album backwards and forwards I was anxious to put this one on the turntable (yup, I am that old). Much to my amazement, Express was a departure from the trance-like mood of Seventh Dream but by the second track this one had me hooked. The guitar grinding songs on this CD are unbelievable, I recently purchased the CD to replace my worn out LP and it holds up beautifully. It's aggressive as all hell and new bands should stop and take a listen, not a mention of beating the crap out of people in the entire album..humm? They may learn something. They still had all of the great poetic "art-house" lyrics but they backed them with raw in your face guitar and bass! All Aboard!!

When plowing through the various artists of the 80's, Love and Rockets has a special place in my heart due to this particular release. From the first track with it's fantastic transition, through the final "An American Dream", each song creates a mood and an ambiance unique and entertaining. While some may argue the merits of "Seventh Dream..." as a followup, the switch to accoustic based melodies lacks the diversity found in the debut.