Customer Reviews

Love Stinks

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

OK, I admit it: this takes me back to the high school days of crack a few cases and turn the tunes up really high. In those pre-CD days, you had to be careful to mount your turntable out of the way of the pulsing speakers and the out-of-control dancers who got off on the music. This one was a standard. Peter Wolf manages to sing like he's got a joke that he's just dying to share with you except when he's pulling out the soul on Desire. Magic Dick on the harp blows energy to match the great guitar leaps and bounds of J. Geils (himself) and the Steve Winwood-esque manic accuracy of Seth Justman on keyboards. If you go through life without hearing "No Anchovies Please" then you've had a sad, miserable and partially empty existence. I am desperately hoping that the Coen Brothers eventually film it. Bottom line: rock and pop and dance and all the genres that music has divided into nowadays used to exist in a sort of frenzied detente and this album represents the best of what can happen when it happens.

For me, this one was the original J. Geils Band's last unqualified sucess of an album, though a case could be made that the radio-friendly FREEZEFRAME, which came after LOVE STINKS, was the bearer of that honor. Maybe so, but it's hard to argue with the good-time holler of the title tune, the garage rock of "Just Can't Wait" or the "we're-still-live-and-kickin'" spirit of "'Til The Walls Come Tumblin' Down." Peter Wolf is a singin' man possessed here, the band backs him to to the hilt all the way through, and when you've got album where even the comedy filler kicks in ("No Anchovies Please"), that's not half bad. A nice end to the Seventies that nurtured this group.

I agree with the reviewer that said the bad boys from Boston entered the 80s in style with this album...yes, we all know what they were capable of with live classics like Full House and Blow Your Face Out...this is a band who had nothing to prove in 1980 and they were just having a great time doing what they were doing, and it shows. The fact that 26 years later, their version of the Strangeloves' song Night Time is being used in a TV ad says to me this was the definitive version, with Peter Wolf's confident strut all over it. The other-worldly comic bit No Anchovies Please is just a break in the action, and the boys step it up right afterward with the mighty drum-accented title cut...from the new-wavish opening track Just Can't Wait to the harmonica-soaked bluesy closer Till the Walls Come Tumblin' Down, this is classic Geils all the way. The reviewer who thinks it's the album that stinks just doesn't get it. The band knew they couldn't just do the same album over and over and get anywhere. This was one of their finest, and most fun!

This was released right before they completely busted out into the mainstream with Freeze Frame. As a whole, this is a great release, not a lot of strong songs, but all songs are very listenable...you won't find yourself skipping through the songs as you listen to this. Overall, a must for any collection.

The J. Geils Band recorded 15 albums (not counting compilations) over 28 years.

LOVE STINKS
Released some two years after the band's EMI debut, Sanctuary, the Love Stinks project would see the J. Geils Band going in an even more commercial oriented direction than its predecessor. Keyboard player/main songwriter, Seth Justman now assumed the main production duties. Justman set out to better the band's gold-plus-selling Sanctuary. And to some degree, he succeeded. Although not as consistent or diverse as Sanctuary, Love Stinks would feature two of the band's most recognizable FM songs ever -- the album's infectious title track "Love Stinks" and the catchy up tempo "Come Back".

The transition that the J. Geils Band made from gritty r+b/soul to all-out pop with a new wave tinge remains a rather jarring one, but thankfully, there is still a lot of good music here. The title track is a classic, "Come Back" has a killer groove, and "Till the Walls Come Tumbling Down" shows they could still rock with the best of them. And check out the revved-up version of the Strangeloves' "Night Time". Nevertheless, all of these pale beside the band's magnum opus, the immortal and deeply profound "No Anchovies, Please".

Love Stinks is a very entertaining collection of songs from the venerable Boston band. The group by the time of this release was a well-oiled machine and they touch on everything from the soul music stylings of "Desire" to the new wavish "Come Back" to the frat rock of the title track and "Just Can't Wait". The title track shows the bands humorous side, but "No Anchovies, Please" is classic Peter Wolf. The "song" isn't sung, but rapped in an almost an evangelical style and sums up Mr. Wolf's life philosophy. Love Stinks was the most commercial of the band's output to date and set the stage for their biggest commercial triumph, Freeze Frame.

Another great album from the "bad boys from Boston" that everyone should own (IMHO). It's just fun to listen to. Every track (all written by Seth Justman) is strong - no filler! This album will bring you back to a time when rock and roll was still FUN. Both "When the Walls Come Tumbling Down" (Peter Wolf really outdoes himself here), and "Trying Not To Think About" It simply rock. The more poppy "Just Can't Wait" and "Come Back" we're my favs when this album first came out. I still love Seth Justman's synthesizers on "Come Back." "No Anchovies" may be strange to some, but a lot of people at the time thought it was great (lighten up people!). "Love Stinks," the title track and best known song, is still a great party song to this day. This album is the precursor to their smash album Freeze Frame. The J. Geils Band should be credited for taking risks and trying something new, not blasted for going "commercial." After all, their commercial success is what got them to the top, finally getting them the attention they so richly deserved. You should add this one to your collection - you won't be sorry!

"Love Stinks" broke J. Geils Band into the BIG TIME. You'd expect that they would have compromised to make it and while they did add some arrrangement flourishes typical of the time, the songwriting and performances continue to be as uncompromising as all their other albums.

The original EMI master has some problems--while it has a good dynamic range it also has little to no bottom end--bass and drums sound extremely thin so you might find you have to add a bit of bass (+3db for me and/or subtract some treble as it sounds a bit "thin". I'm not sure if this is due to the way the master tape sounds or if EMI just used the LP tape master prepared for this release (or even the tape although usually they are a bit more compressed sounding).

That said, the songs themselves and performances are terrific with the band even jumping into one of their concert favorites--a cover of "Night Time".

The packaging, of course, sucks. There are no liner notes (in fact the "booklet" all of two pages on the inside is a waste of space--it's blank when the least they could have done was include additional credits or include the credits from the back of the LP pictured on the booklet). I suspect this will end up in one of the twofers that EMI has been doing lately. Usually those aren't remastered either just using the existing CD masters.

This is a highly recommended album but if a deluxe edition (probably isn't likely) or a remaster (given EMI's shape financially I don't think that likely either and with CD sales diminishing the only remaster we'll probably see will be in the mp3 format)rolls out you may want to check it out.

By the way, BGO also did a remaster of this album which I've only heard once and while it did have some improved bottom end I can't give a fair assessment since I can't compare it head-to-head. Usually BGo does a good job with their reissues so it might be worthwhile. It also comes with some nice liner notes. I have heard the Japanese remaster and it appears to improve on this one in some areas but is weaker in others (dynmaic range and some shrill EQ choices).

Don't look for most of the songs on this cd on any of the band's greatest hits compilations because they aren't there. And that is sad since this is still in my opinion the best album that J.Geils Band put out. Love Stinks is a classic ode to the way we all have felt at one time or another. And if you really want weird--order a pizza with anchovies and listen to this cd.