Customer Reviews

Love

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(0)
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While U2 often gets credit for creating some of the rare meaningful musical moments of the 80s (and rightfully so), Love by the Cult is perhaps the most overlooked album of greatness from that decade. But let's not be time-constricted. When this 1985 opus was produced, it was lightyears ahead of its time and still stands true to any test in the new century. The fact of the matter is, just about every rock interest has tried to lay claim to this album and this band. Alt rockers claim it, metal heads claim it, goths claim it. It's all testiment to the fact that no one has ever been able to pin down the Cult to any label and Love demonstrates that better than anything. She Sells Sanctuary and Rain obviously lean toward the alternative flair. Big Neon Glitter may have some Goth although I always thought the goths were out of line for claiming this album. Then there's The Phoenix... WOW! a molten deluge of psychadelia laced with incantations and mysticism. The title track of the album is clearly the defining moment. Enigmatic, hypnotic, powerful, Love, the song, cannot be dismissed by any true rock fan. Is it metal or alternative? Sabbath or Smitherines? The lyrics to the song Love are equally elusive, "Gonna drive away in a big fast car, gonna drive away won't get too far, gonna drive away don't know how far, gonna drive away in a big fast car... don't you love those sweet times..."
What the hell is lead singer Ian Astburry talking about? I don't know, but it sounds damn good. This album also launches and hallmarks the talents of guitar journeyman Billy Duffy. While Duffy has made strides and vaunted efforts since Love, he has yet to repeat the tight-wired sound and pin-point accuracy as has been captured on this work. Duffy is a guitar virtuoso who has been woefully overlooked in the random and subjective discussions among rock fans and critics alike.
Love, the album, also demonstrates the will to advance and evolve. The previous effort in album by the Cult, Dreamtime, is infantile in comparison. It's hard to believe this is the same band that spat out Dreamtime in some makeshift Duran Duran poser mistake only one year prior to the production of Love. Love lifts this band to levels few others have even thought about. It's a lofty level that even The Cult has not repeated. As Ian Astburry says in the title track, "I believe in love, I believe in my visions. I'll travel far." To not have this album in your collection is akin to having a missing link in the armour of any rock warrior.
Your most humble and loyal servant,
Dixonator
Adventurer/patriot extraordinaire

This album was grunge when the word still meant the sticky stuff you can't get off the bottom of your shoe. When alternative music was still mired in heavy keyboards and weird hair, this album by the Cult came out of nowhere and still ranks as one of the most powerful guitar-rock albums of all time. This is the album I had been waiting to hear all through my high school years in the early to mid-eighties. I had forgotten about it until I saw Ian Astbury singing lead for the Doors on VH-1 yesterday. "Love" was so good that even the Cult could never match up to it. There isn't a misstep on here musically. "Revolution," "Nirvana," and "She Sells Sanctuary" still send chills through me. Unlike the other ham-handed hair band rock of the 80s, Billy Duffy's guitar work is just from another planet. Nothing moved me as much as this album until I heard the first notes of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" six years later. The Cult's next album, "Electric," was a major disappointment after this, what with Rick Rubin's overly clean arrangements. "Sonic Temple" was better, but by then they had taken on more of the heavy metal element and less of the alternative. Nevertheless, "Love" is a shining moment.

This is the best recording of rock I've ever heard. I got this CD in '87, a few years after it was released. Actually, I bought it and "Electric" at the same time, as the latter was just released. I was lucky enough to pick up the original "BEGA 65 CD" (Beggar's Banquet) version, with the gold lettering on the front cover. It had two extra songs on it ("Little Face" and "Judith") as well as liner notes--lyrics to all the songs on the CD, inscribed in that odd, neo-egyptian script that you see on the front and back covers of the CD. In 1990, I saw this same CD on a website of RARE recordings going for $60, so if you see it anywhere and its affordable, pick it up.

The songs contained within are incredible. Unfortunately, there are a few mellow tunes ("Brother Wolf..." and "Black Angel") that will really make you want to cry or sleep, depending on your mood. They are good, and the lyrics are well crafted, but they are too long. There are a couple of Euro-Pop tunes ("Nirvana," "Rain" and "Revolution") which sound kinda 'blah' now, but they are listenable. The true treasures on this Cd alone make it a 5-Star purchase: "Big Neon Glitter," "Love," (so good, they used the same riff later for the ELECTRIC version of "Wild Flower"), "The Phoenix," (no 80's song rocks this hard or well--not one...it still gives me goose bumps), "Hollow Man," (I heard a band cover this a few years ago...a buddy at the show asked me, 'is that a Foo Fighters song?') and "She Sells Sanctuary." Though I mentioned it as a negative, "Brother Wolf..." is a great song, too. It's 7 minutes long, though.

There will never be another rock CD like "Love." Ian and Billy saw to that--they scrapped the follow up album (to be titled, "Peace") and rerecorded all of the songs with a new sound ("Electric"). In a strange, dysfunctional way, this CD reminds me of Queens of the Stone Age's "Rated R," (not the way it sounds) in that it's innovative, it's a little ahead of it's time despite borrowing from earlier genres, and it rocks in so many different ways, and on so many different levels.

You wanna now how this CD rocks?!?! Ask Ian: "Like a kiss from the lips of Ra that burns on....rising ever higher....a Phoenix from a pyre...my eternal desire....FIRE!!!"

I was never a fan of the Cult and had no idea who they were when I mistakenly bought the "She Sells Sanctuary" record single back in 1985. I had figured I might as well listen to the record before returning it. I ended up buying the record at least two more times from the damage that playing the song over and over again did to it.

Years have since passed and it is still my all-time favorite song. The song is simply hypnotic and is as close to a "visual" experience as I have ever had listening to music. The decievingly simple lyrics call out against the complex layers of sound that surround them. Together, they fuel the hearth in the album's central theme and climax, Love.

Love is a tribute to what can be accomplished when musicians submit their mind and soul completely to their craft, creating a sound that is pure in its cause and poetry most of all. If such was not the case in the production of this album, then greatness simply sprang forth of its own accord and for its own purposes.

Once in a very short while, an album comes along that is required listening. Don't miss this one!

For those of us who discard the Dreamtime/Southern Death Cult material as not worth mentioning, 1985's 'Love' was the first major release by The Cult. At the time, they were considered a Goth-Alternative band (1987's 'Electric' would change that), and songs like "Brother Wolf, Sister Moon" and "Black Angel" definitely echoe that imagry. To be sure, the vocals and guitars are much more subtle and effect-laden than their latter records, as songs like "Nirvana" sound much like early U2. Nonetheless, it was the get-up-dance tunes like "She Sells Sanctuary" and "Rain" that put this record on the map, and the wah-wah guitar of "The Phoenix" that placed The Cult firmly outside the genre of Goth and more appropriately in the category of Alternative-Rock. Still, the record has a major weakness that many first records have - that is, some of the songs suffer from lyrical blight ("Love" and "Rain" being the most obvious examples).

HINT: It's worth the extra money to track down and purchase the import version of this record, which features two additional tracks, "Little Face" and "Judith", one of which cannot be found even on the rarities collections.

"Love" was the first stylistic change for the Cult and the band's breakthrough record in Europe, spawning a series of superb singles and being one of those albums that truthfully deserved the success it had (although in America, it would take another album before any real success manifested).

So what makes "Love" so good? It really is a sense of synthesis of both the band's gothic roots, punk aesthetic, and '70s psychedelia-- the album presents the darkness of gothic but without the bleakness that can often come along with it ("Nirvana"), the sense of space and looseness of the best of psychedelia ("Revolution") and the sense of anger and immediacy of punk ("Phoenix"). Along the way, the band presents their pinnacle acheivements in the gothic/new wave arena (moody ballad "Brother Wolf; Sister Moon" and single "She Sells Sanctuary") anda rock masterpiece that points the way for what would be to come ("Rain"), and throughout the band's performances are top notch with both singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy beginning to really develop the sense of swagger that would be brought way out on their next album ("Electric"). Truthfully, there's not a bad cut on the album.

It can be argued, perhaps honestly, that The Cult never did anything as good as "Love", certainly it is the best of their early work. Highly recommended.

I cannot understand why I do not hear about this album in the press or on the net more. This is an absolutley amazing album - The Cult never really got back to this standard. 'Love' appeals to both goths, metallers, alternative fans, everyone! Even the pop charts couldn't get enough of 'Rain' or 'She Sells Sanctuary'. The guitar on this album almost swirls, and all the tracks have a dreamy, undulating quality to them ('Big Neon Glitter', 'Love'), with some stormy moments ('Phoneix'). The ballads are amazing 'Brother Wolf, Sister Moon' especially. The only slight problem with this album is the lyrics, which sometimes repeat too much ('Rain') but personally, this does not, in anyway, affect enjoyment for me personally. The album may be too gothic/alternative for some mainstream fans, but I would definitley reccomend this album over any of The Cult's other recordings, but still 'Electric', 'Ceremony' etc. are brilliant, just more mainstream.

The Cult are quite the enigmatic band, aren't they? Despite roots steeped in Goth as the amalgam of Ian Astbury's old band Southern Death Cult and Billy Duffy's former band Theater of Hate, the Cult's post-DREAMTIME sound seemed to call on a musical influence that even pre-dated Goth. Dare I say it, Metal? No, not the cheesy hair metal of the 80's or death metal or speed metal, but instead the the classic prototypical metal of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Uriah Heap, and of course Led Zeppelin. The path towards this musical direction starts with LOVE. Despite the swirling, heavily echoed & flanged guitar work of Billy Duffy, the trippy lyrics of Ian Astbury, song titles like "Nirvana", and the paisley-tinged artwork, LOVE is still essentially a heavy rock album. The latest remaster is much more bottom heavy, punchier, and of course LOUDER than the earlier versions. It thus finally comes across as the heavy rock masterpiece that it is. Billy's Gretsch White Falcon through Roland JC-120's of the era sounds more like Billy's Les Paul Custom through Marshall stacks of the Cult's latter era. The original Beggar's Banquet LP and CD masters were a bit thin-sounding, and the Sire-released US version was thinner still. As such, one must have gone to a Cult show live back in 1985 to see that they had much more in common musically with AC/DC than with their compadres Love & Rockets or the Bolshoi.

With no shortage of power-chords, among this classic album's highlights are the radio & club faves "She Sells Sanctuary" and "Rain", and there are treasures like "Big Neon Glitter" and "Phoenix". You can tell that the band was just itchin' to totally rock out, but they had to subdue themselves. Why? Was it because of producer Steve Brown, who once produced Wham? Is it mere coincidence that they were finally allowed to rock out to their collective hearts' content on the post-Manor Sessions Rick Rubin -produced ELECTRIC? I think not. I am sure that most die-hard Cult fans, myself included, would have loved for Beggar's Banquet to have included a bonus cut or two from a pool of selections such as "Little Face", "No. 13", "Assault on Sanctuary", All Souls Avenue", and "Judith" just to galvanize these rarities from this era with the album on which they would have appeared if they had made the final cut.

LOVE is the first step taken toward the "Sonic Temple", forward or backward depending on how you look at it. Whether you consider it Goth, neo-psychedelic, or whatever, there's no disputing that LOVE is pure power-chord magic!

Originally released in 1985,this was the follow-up to their stunning debut effort 'Dreamtime'.I remember when this lp first came out as I knew several patrons that went nuts over the record.In my opinion,this is The Cult's BEST album,period.They have like three others that are good,like the previously mentioned 'Dreamtime',the fantastic 'Electric' and 'Sonic Temple'.Part British metal and part neo-psychedelic.When I saw The Cult the first two times,I thought to myself,that vocalist Ian Astbury was like Jim Morrison's long lost love child and then light years later,he toured as frontman for the 21st Century Doors.Ironic?Every tune here rocks,like the title cut "Love","Brother Wolf,Sister Moon","Rain"(love seeing the video on VH1 Classic),"Revolution" and "She Sells Sanctuary".A must-have.

The Cult's Love album was the soundtrack to my senior year in high school and my first year of college. Unlike alot of other albums that were important in my youth, I still find this one as relevant and enjoyable as I did in 1986.(Out of the over 600 cd's I own, I probably have played this one the most) Most people my age (37) know and love the albums bell cow, "She Sells Sanctuary", but Love offers so muxh more.
Love was the Cult's second full release. Dreamtime showed a glimpse as to the direction the Cult were heading with its spiritualistic, gothic, psychedelic, swampy soundscapes, but it never achieved the fullness of their second release. The mid 80's were full of teflon bands making disposable music that in the end left you less than filled up.And then you had the Cult, who were making music to LISTEN to. What a fresh approach in 1985-86.
The first song that turned me on to the Cult is the albums opener, "Nirvana". (I remember my best friends big brother had it cranked) A song that stands the test of time ( was still in their live set before their second split). Great lyrics that either reminded me of people I knew or lyrics that made me think. "I float through day and night life, well most of the time; till I hung up my blues on a nail in your wall" Classic Cult. "Big Neon Glitter" could have fit comfortably on Dreamtime. It opens with a chiming riff, 3 note bass line and a bass drum before going in to its psychedelic blues on growing city life. "sex on the hip at the crack of a whip, oh yeah" The third track, "Love", truly showed that the Cult were shaking off the goth-post punk label and headed into full on blues rock, with searing lead guitar lines from Duffy that punctuate verses throughout. The fourth track "Brother Wolf, Sister Moon" gains back the goth title that the Cult so successfuly shed on "Love". I find that this is many peoples least favorite track, but I dig it for its atmospheric sound and the passionate lyrics. A dirge type mumber with another impassioned vocal. "embrace the wind with both arms, stop the clouds dead in the sky, hang your head no more, and beg no more, brother wolf and sister moon, your time has come" The storm in the background add an epic feel to it. "Rain" is the other "hit" off of the album. A great rocking tune with a great atmosphere to it. Also for the first time, backing vocals from the other members that fit the track nicely. A dance club and fan favorite.
Side two opens with the wah wah scream and feedback that introduce "The Phoenix". This, up to that point in time was the heaviest Cult tune recorded with more great lyrics. "Hollow Man" is another Dreamtime era like number with a goth feel, that works well sandwiched between "Phoenix" and the 3rd side two track "Revolution". Released as a single, the down tempo song is perhaps the only cut on the album that I think sounds a little dated today. It is my least favorite cut on the album. "She Sells Sanctuary" is the next track and in my opinion is the best song recorded in the 80's. It is timeless and is a cross genre song that all types like, from metal heads to punks, goths and new wavers. It is just that good. The closer is the sister to the side one goth track, "Black Angel". A slow mumber with a heavy feel to it. A fitting close to a timeless album.