Customer Reviews

Lift

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Anyone who wants the good-old goth stuff will be slightly disappointed, but anyone who appreciated good music will enjoy it. It is a new direction in music combining good lyrics, techno, electronica, ambient, gothic, (insert cool word here). In an age when everything is starting to sound the same this album breathes life back into multiple genres.

As sacreligious as it may seem, this may quite possibly be my favorite L&R cd. Then again, I loved Hot Trip To Heaven, so feel free to ignore the rest of this review if that's the kinda person you are. Still reading? Sweet. Okay, now, I LOVE LOVE LOVE all my other L&R cds, and I can't get enough of Danny's fuzzy/crunchy guitars, but I listen to this one the most. It's some of the sweetest, juiciest most delicious triphoppytechno-ness there is. On top of that, killer lyrics. I'll warn you, though, there's no happy, whimsically trippy Bubblemen-ness, here. However, there is a gratuitous amount of icky old porno theaters, c*m shots, oral sex and the like. Fun fun for everyone!! Who knew David J was such a perv? :) Yes, well, incase that just alienated you, there's the wholesome, oaty goodness of...oh, wait, nevermind. They're all like that, with the exception of "Ressurection Hex", which doesn't really have lyrics (but DOES sample Bauhaus and...yes...ADAM ANT!!), and probably a few others, I can't really remember...but yeah, the music is totally eargasmic techno, and I can say from experience that I've been playing it almost nonstop for a loooong time now and I'm still not tired of it. Unfortunately, this was their last studio album. (Sniff). Well, at least Peter Murphy's making his groovy Turkish industrial world beat goth music....I think. Jeepers, why haven't either of these guys put out any new stuff lately...?

Love and Rockets' Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins recently rejoined goth god Peter Murphy for a pointless (although no doubt lucrative) Bauhaus reunion tour-so listeners could have been forgiven for expecting the trio to be equally backwards-looking (and pointless) on their newest album, "Lift". Surprise, surprise, surprise: the Love and Rockets guys must have gotten all of nostalgia (and pointlessness) out of their systems during their on-the-road love-in with Murphy, as "Lift" is easily the best record in the group's erratic, but always irritatingly promising, fourteen-year long career.

Love and Rockets have often dabbled with electronics (most obviously on their Orb-influenced 1994 album, "Hot Trip to Heaven"), but with their latest release, the nominal bass-drum-guitar trio have tackled techno with a vengeance. "Lift" truly lives up to its name as a dance album for the ages, not only for its big beats and hot hooks but also for deftly capturing the aggressive hedonism that permeates dance culture. It's somehow refreshing to hear a group throwing such nasty, drug- and sex-friendly songs in the face of the scary, up-tight times in which we live.

Vocalists Ash and J both possess whispery, hashed-out voices that perfectly complement their subject material, while drummer Haskins and producer Doug Deangelis concoct the sorts of killer bottoms that make your hips want to do all the ugly things your ears are hearing about. Toss in a guest appearance by three-quarters of the divine Luscious Jackson on the better-be-a-hit "Holy Fool" and you've got a disc that evokes a palpable physical response of decadence and desire, even when it's heard in the safety of your own living room. I just shudder to think what "Lift" can do to a crowded dance floor.

Love and Rockets seem to have always aimed for surprising themselves and the public (with switching trends and styles, like early J & M Chain for example). With Lift, Love and Rockets just seem to hit a jackpot of artistic ephiphany. This is a landmark album, that weaves together the most diverse array of styles and structures that L & R have ever dabbled in. Best of all, it's strength comes from its cohesion. Most everything they did before seems like it was a smart assemblage of the contrasting Ash stuff and David J stuff. This one really goes way beyond that. From start to finish, it is a solid tour de force. The instrumental "Lift", in it's opening and closing versions, makes a powerful statement, and is staggering in its ambient atmosphere. It seems to me that Ash's interest in electronica peaks right here, and will be hard to surpass in his solo work. Fans of Tones on Tail should be content with Lift's overall interplay of electronic and acoustic sounds.

This album also really captures its time (Y2K, Bauhaus reunion, etc), and yet endures the passing of time since. I have never objected to a L & R album. I actually championed Hot Trip to Heaven's spirit of departure. If you have made objections to certain gestures made by the band, then you may well run into problems with Lift. But if your appetite is as open as the L & R muse, then you will find this listen to be like a nearly flawless diamond (and a possible swansong for a band that spent 20+ together). Too bad their concert touring for Lift was a bit worn out.

I have had this one in my collection since it came out in the stores, and was not expecting a techno-influenced album at all. Not like that is a bad thing....it is actually like a breath of fresh air. I really enjoyed the techno beats mixed with the unmistakable sound of Daniel Ash's voice, it was very pleasing to the ears and kept the mind alive. Many people tend to get annoyed by artists changing their style, but it in fact does not change as much as it evolves. And that is exactly what this album is, it seems like an expansion of their style and interests, very kept up to date and not overly exploited. Just like it should be.

SEEING L+R BACK IN 86 AND COUNTING MYSELF A LONGTIME FAN I GRADUALLY LOST INTEREST (AFTER SO ALIVE WENT TOP 10) IN MY SECOND FAV TRIO(THE JAM BEING FIRST). WHAT A SUPRISE TO HEAR THIS GREAT MIX OF TRIPHOP AND DOWNTEMPO. IN ADDITION TO THE ACOUSTIC GUITARS AND PINK FLOYD AMBIENCE YOU GET A STRIRRING LUSH MIX- THIS IS KIND OF LIKE EARTH SUN MOON REMIXED INTO A MORE MODERN UPDATED SOUND. THERE ARE A FEW FASTER TRACKS THAT DONT BODE WELL BUT AS A WHOLE THE RECORD IS VERY COHESIVE AND FLOWING. ITS A SHAME MOST FANS PROBALLY LOST INTEREST AND WITHOUT MAJOR PROMOTION THIS SANK FROM SIGHT. FOR FANS OF HOOVERPHONIC-PORTISHEAD-PINK FLOYD- AND FOWARD THINKING MUSIC. ITS GREAT THAT THESE OLD CODGERS ENDED ON THIS HIGH NOTE!

I'll admit that "Earth, Sun, Moon" is my favorite Love and Rockets album, but this is good in another way. Nothing punk or acoustic here, just a very dreamy, lush, and techno cd. It still has the L+R vibe to it, but it's smooth, with only a couple tracks that break the flow. I took the chance and was pleasantly suprised. You may be too. Now if you're looking for "So Alive", that should be on their new "best of" album that finally came out.

This is a fantastic album. If you like "alternative", dance-based electronica, you will probably love this album.

This is a much better album than L&R were given credit for. It's very hypnotic and involving. I don't normally listen to music this saturated with technology, but L&R's songwriting is so strong that I was willing to give it a shot.

I was disappointed to hear that the band broke up, especially after producing such a strong trio of albums.

Electronica fans would get the most out of "Lift," Love & Rockets' most ambitious effort to date. That the digital revolution has yet to take hold on the American music-buying public lends to this album's credibility--this is no simple ploy to grab the success these guys once had with the top 10 hit "So Alive." If anything, underneath all those beats and blips, you'll find the boys are back into the groove they forged on their earlier albums with songs like "Bad For You" and "Pink Flamingo." The real treat for long-time L&R fans are tracks like "Ghosts of the Multiple Feature" and "Resurrection Hex," which flat-out channel the boys' first band, Bauhaus--"Hex" even samples the goth legend's songs "Stigmata Martyr" and "In the Night."

While the sound isn't all that new, whatever genre L&R trips through always sounds fresh thanks to the boys' ability to impose their Pink Floyd-ish, atmospheric sound. Themes of drug abuse and disconnection are carried ironically throughout the entire album, giving it more weight than many, unfortunately more commercially successful dance albums out there. I'm sure L&R--a band that already suffered a studio fire and not one but TWO major label drops--will keep on keepin' on because of the adventurous spirit behind their pop experiments and their ability to make a musical style sound like they invented it.