Customer Reviews

Love & Rockets

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

 

 

These guys have a way of making very basic songs (often just standard blues runs at their core) sound very cool. They do exactly that on much of this self-titled album, which is an unfortunate title in my view. Unless a band is truly capturing its essence, a self-titled album usually indicates a classic sell-out bid for mainstream popularity and $ (ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN, METALLICA). While that doesn't seem to be the case with LOVE AND ROCKETS, it's certainly not their strongest or most creative album. Still, it's a good listen, despite the fact that certain words have been edited (I abhor all forms of censorship).

The breakdown:

"**** (Jungle Law)" - The sound this song has is actually cooler than the song itself. It's a neo-psychedelic sounding riff souped-up by sampled percussion and a stomping, almost plodding drone. The title stands for the "F" word which is also the name of the main character in the song, apparently a real loser. ***1/2

"No Big Deal" - another basic blues run cranked out with background guitar antics and more fuzz bass. ***1/2

"The Purest Blue" - an art piece featuring multitasker Daniel Ash on sax. Ash takes the lead vocals on the songs he writes, about half of them. Equally versatile partner David J writes and sings on the other half including this one. ***1/2

"Motorcycle" - great rocker propelled by 2 basses, loaded with guitar and bass feedback and a thudding beat full of riding cymbals from drummer Kevin Haskins. Towards the end, guitars evoke a motorcycle from hell accelerating into the stratosphere. ****1/2

"I Feel Speed" - a sort of coda or continuation of "Motorcycle" (and the last song on the 1rst side of the original LP), this song is gorgeous and soothing save for the reemergence of the demonic motorcycle. ****1/2

"Bound for Hell" - Probably the most fundamentally blues-based tune on LOVE AND ROCKETS, with David J blowing harp and cool lyrics about, well, going to hell. David J starts out confessing his lack of faith and desire for something to believe in. He then relates a harrowing, darkly comical dream that wakes him with a start and sends him to his knees to pray. ****

"The Teardrop Collector" - a 50's style finger-snapper with a subdued, dreamy quality. Ash lays down those trademark L&R acoustic guitars and overdubs electric guitar and "ghost" keyboards that perfectly portray the rather downer "that's life" sentiment. ****1/2

"So Alive" - A fun classic that deserves the wide airplay it got. Ash sings the words, "I'm alive, so alive" like a 300 year old vampire in need of a blood fix. In contrast, the background singers are angelic. "I wish I could stop/ Switch off the clock/ Make it all happen for you." *****

"Rock N Roll Babylon" - a real switch after "So Alive," this tune is dominated by an acoustic guitar sound that hearkens back to SEVENTH DREAM OF TEENAGE HEAVEN. Makes adventurous use of a miniature string section and more great sax from Ash, but seems to end rather abruptly. ****

"No Words No More" - Once again Daniel Ash confesses to being lazy as he did on "Lazy" from EARTH SUN & MOON. It seems to be a personal issue with him. Here he longs for, "No words, no reasons why." The song also illustrates another common L&R theme: a desire for paradise as a blissful, burdenless state. "No Words No More" is a fabulously dreamy song, largely aided by heavily processed vibes played by Kevin Haskins. It's a cool way to close the album. *****

foregoing Bauhaus's spooky dark rock, Love And Rockets created a glammy street rock goth with some Elvis worship and a hint of psychadelia. there's a delicious buzzing drone throughout these songs that give it a nice slippery trashy appeal. as a whole, this album is skittery and off balance, but it contains some great little singles like "No Big Deal", "Motorcycle", and the surprise hit of "So Alive."

Actually, I'd give this album a 7.5 if I could. It's not bad, but it's not great...some of the songs, like "Motorcycle" and "Teardrop Collector" are very cool; at first, I really liked "Jungle Law," but now I just find it annoying; and I never really liked "The Purest Blue". I would like to listen to some other Love and Rockets stuff, though.

Although _Express_ is also a decent entry into the goth canon, this is the only L&R album I own on disc. It's much more well-produced, well-arranged, and doesn't contain nearly as much of the tuneless amateurish nonsense that earmarked Bauhaus and earlier L&R. One moment it rocks with reckless power-chord abandon - "Motorcycle", "Jungle Law" and "Bound For Hell" are almost heavy metal, if they weren't so cold and mechanical - the next moment it's pure soundscapes and bliss. "The Purest Blue" is a beautiful atmospheric cut, more successfully capturing the psychadelic side of this band than anything I have heard from them before or after. There is also the big hit (tm), "So Alive", a fine late-80's entry into the one-hit-wonder canon. The remaining songs the listener may be tempted to overlook because of the intensity of the first half of the album. "Teardrop Collector", "No Words No More" and "Rock n' Roll Babylon" are surprisingly gentle, wistful and sentimental, sometimes they remind me of perhaps The Church or MCA-era Damned, sometimes they approach smoky lounge-jazz.

This self titled release from them, though it may have been their best selling, is not their best album. However it's still really good of course, just not as excellent as what came before it. It's still the best soundtrack for biker guys that are cooler than normal biker guys, and nice cover too. It does include their biggest hit "So Alive", and who doesn't like that one. Other sweet tracks are "No Big Deal", the dreamy "Purest Blue", "Motorcycle", and the last two songs, which would fit well on their "Earth Sun Moon" album. In many ways this is as good as any other release from them, and it's a must for fans. Newcomers might just want the "Best Of".

This album has its ups and downs and each song is like its own individual mood. i really liked this album becuase its soft one minute and the next minute it's in-your-face. The high of the album are "No Big Deal" and "****Jungle Law" and you can come down to "The Purest Blue" and "So Alive". This is the album that started it all for me... Daniel Ash and the rest of L and R have truly come a long way since Bauhaus.

"So Alive" is without question the most universally recognizable track the band ever recorded, and it's not just my opinion, it's a quantifiable fact. It nestled in the Number Three position on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the spring of 1989, and claimed the Number One spot on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Newly minted fans of that cut flocked to this self-titled release, perhaps operating under the impression that the eponymous CD contained a number of other tracks with seductive crooning, a pulsating, fluidly progressing lockstep groove driven by a somewhat heavily throbbing bassline, percussive flourishes augmenting the level yet insistent tempo.

And boy howdy, were they ever in for a shock. Raw, churning, and aggressive guitar work dominates on tunes such as **** (Jungle Law), "Motorcyle", "No Big Deal", 'I Feel Speed" and "Bound For Hell". Love and Rockets didn't so much pull a bait-and-switch as once again shift their musical direction, this time toward a sound rooted in repetitious droning guitar. This isn't as monochromatic as it might seem; there are variable shifts in the arrangement of each of the previously name-checked songs and shifts within the dynamic tension created by each cut's tempo.

And the level of intensity is dialed down on "No Words No More", "The Teardrop Collector", and "Rock and Roll Babylon", formatted largely around stripped-down acoustic and organic instrumentation, the formative structure reminding veteran listeners of their more pastoral work from "Earth Sun Moon". "Love And Rockets" was initially a very frustrating listening experience for me, as "Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven" and "Express" had whetted and sharpened my appetite for overdriven, heavily modulated highly melodic guitar passages channeled through Daniel Ash's effects rack. In fact, it took several years before I could fully appreciate the evolution they brought to bear on their sound on this release. Although I gave it 3 stars, it deserves 3.5, and with a little more cohesiveness, would have easily rated a 4. Amazon is pricing these to move, and you don't have to be a rabid completist to snag a copy; there's enough that really works well on here when taken individually to recommend buying it.

For me, their best ever yet, wild, free, NOT ONE SONG is like the rest.

i bought this cd because i used to have them all back in the day. lately i've had motorcycle in my head. listened to it today (it's been at least ten years since i last) and i enjoyed the whole albumn. the music is their own, not trying to impress anybody, i dig it. so cheap you can't go wrong.

a classic worth re-visiting time and time again. Haunting lyrics, swirling guitars and that unmistakable voice. You must see Daniel Ash live!