Customer Reviews

Fontana Years

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Caught halfway between the Smiths and the Stone Roses, but without reaching the heights of either, the House of Love were(and they've reunited recently) nonetheless a very interesting cusp of the decade band that created darkly romantic tunes that, even though briefly, caught the attention of the british audience with songs as beautiful as "Shine On" or"Beatles and the Stones".

This follows, as the title says, the later period of the band on Fontana records. When Terry Bickers was still in the group, as he was for perhaps half of these non-chronologically ordered recordings, the band crackled well in post-Smiths, pro-glum style. The sound of the layered textures Stephen Hague captured on the "butterfly" album (titled, third in a row, as "The House of Love" unhelpfully--the first two are now paired on the Creation anthology) works magically to stimulate the mind and the body. and remains one of my all-time favorites for its fantastic production; Hague also produced Pere Ubu's "Cloudland" around the same time, another tour-de-force if unexpected match-up.

After Bickers left to found Levitation, the remaining trio stumbled on with "Babe Rainbow" and "Audience with the Mind" less. The best moments from both are found here, and BR especially has many decent moments excerpted here, but AwtM barely registers, even on the selected cuts collected here.

Still, in lieu of hearing the original "Butterfly" Fontana 1990 release, this helpfully gathers the legacy of in my opinion a very-overlooked band that deserved a better fate. Check out, if you want a lively one-disc overview, their Peel Sessions as well.

Most of the stuff here will be review for the hardcore HOL purist, but there are a surprising number of lost tracks, b-sides, and alternate mixes to chew on. Yet another solid collection, and further evidence that The House Of Love is one of the most underrated, underappreciated guitar bands of all time.