Customer Reviews

Stateless Plus

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Originally released in 1979, Stateless is an album of the absolute cream of late 70s post-punk pop from the famous Stiff Records label. Most songs are written by Lovich and Les Chappel, including the quirky Lucky Number, which was a huge hit. Not all are bright, happy numbers: Home, Too Tender (To Touch) and Momentary Breakdown are sad but beautiful torch songs, and there's a great version of Nick Lowe's Tonight and the old standard I Think we're Alone Now. This music has aged well and in retrospect, the following could also have been chart singles: Say When (equally quirky!), Telepathy, and One In A Million. Although welcome, the additional (Plus?) tracks add nothing spectacular since this album has always been perfect as it was. With such talent, it's a pity Lene faded into obscurity.

You cannot go wrong with this CD. The musicality of Lene Lovich and the originality of her tunes are very hard match when compared with other music releases of the time or even presently.

Lene Lovich has perfect pitch and her voice inflections and intonations are complex and reveal a high level of skill and soul. The reinforcing music is tight and solid. A strong beat and a very clean mix on the engineers board are also apparent.

There are only a few weak numbers on the entire CD.

Debut album by vocal wizard Lene Lovich. Ms Lovich began her vocal career by dubbing screams in many horror films which accounts for her strong vocal ability. This album serves up delicious 80's flavor new wave with superior recording and production.

This album is one of my all time favorites and a joy to own it on CD, as my scratchy old vinyl album had just about had it.

One thing not clearly mentioned in the reviews of either Stateless Plus or Flex Plus is that the additonal material (the "plus") are selections from Lovich's "No Man's Land", from the early 80s. A good but not great album, a little less focused than her first two.

The absolute ideal would be to have all three albums reproduced as they were originally but "Stateless Plus" is a treasure anyhow.

Yep, count me in among those of you who still harbor their old vinyl copies of "Stateless" (I must've been in the 8th. grade back when I bought it--yikes!) It's still in good playing condition, thank goodness; I have been playing it quite a bit since last Christmas when I got a new turntable! I remember when I first heard Lene Lovich on the radio--the DJ didn't know how to pronounce her name and kept calling her "Lenny Lo-vich" until some other listener finally called him on it, LOL. That was about the time I first saw the album in stores and noticed right off the phonetic spellings underneath both "Lene Lovich" and "Stateless", so why did the DJ keep mangling her name when his station started playing cuts off of it?!? That was a little strange, LOL.
As far as the extra tracks included on this CD version, really only her version of "Be Stiff" piqued my interest, so I may wait on buying another copy of "Stateless" unless after all these years I've managed to maintain my old vinyl copy I end up carelessly tripping over it in the dark and breaking it, or (even worse) I leave the thing out in direct sunlight and melt the sucker, LOL.
BTW, I have that Japanese version of "I Think We're Alone Now" on an old compilation LP Stiff Records put out in 1980 called "The Last Stiff Compilation..." As a promo gimmick, the song was simply used as a surprise unlisted track at the end of side 2 after the Dammed's "Smash it Up"--I thought that was pretty clever of them to do that, but looking over much of my collection of Stiff artists, I've noted tacking on extra liner notes or in the case of Ian Dury's 2nd. LP, "Do it Yourself": marketing it in a choice of several colors, seems to be par for the course with that label anyway. What fun!
Another old band I've loved since the '80s is Throwing Muses...a while back I had read an interview with their frontwoman, Kristin Hersh, and got quite a pleasant shock after learning that Lene Lovich was a major influence in Kris' vocal style--there is that similar manic wailing quality in much of Throwing Muses' material that eerily mimics Lovich's. A definite "aha" moment! Nice to know other musical gals beside me have been that much inspired by Lovich's music--beside Rachel Sweet, Lovich has always been a major player for Stiff Records as one of their best female artists, IMO. "Stateless" itself certainly proves it!

Gad, remember when pop music was fun and not stupid brainless fun or trendy fun but entertaining and often ironic fun! Maybe I'm biased but late-Seventies and Eighties pop, punk, and New Wave often reached peaks of combined fun, musicality, and intelligence that we haven't seen since. I've played stuff like Eno and Wire and Lene Lovich to young 'uns who had musical asperations and in one case I got tears. "How can we ever hope to do anything this cool?" Wire alone is a humbling experience for moderns who never hear brilliant experimentation combined with tight structure, inspired lyrics, and memorable melody i.e. great non-commercial songwriting. Grunge ruined everything, especially our standards of excellence. Well at least we have Pram and Magnetic Fields.

I once saw Lene lovich live and in the raw and you know what? She was even better sounding and cooler acting in person. Let's see that happen with any artist today. The concert was an absolute joy. I could rave but sample the samples. This is a tight album full of great material.

If you like Lene, check out Rita Mitsouka (a band name, not the lead vocalist's name. That's Catherine Ringer). More pop than Lene but just as unique and great.

I got "Stateless" on vinyl when I was 16 -- I still have that copy. Last year, I finally caved and got the CD. I don't think the bonus tracks on the CD really add anything, but after all these years, I still enjoy listening to Lene's unique vocal style. This is a solid, catchy disc.

Lene's STATELESS is fantastic. A quirky (but not overly-so) cross between new wave and intimate cabaret with all sorts of other stuff thrown in for good measure. I could go on and on. I'll just limit myself to saying that "Too Tender" is an absolutely lovely and moving classic where all the Lovich trademarks come together. And who could not be roused by the closing "DO IT EVERY TIME!" of "One In A Million"? The songs are so strong that this doesn't have the dreaded "dated" feel of SOME 80's releases. Transport yourself back to a time of true pop inventiveness!

Lucky Number was her breakout song in the Americas! The entire album is a feast for the ears, although like many fine wines she is an acquired taste as well as Nina Hagan!!

And it's as fresh, and creative today as it was back then.

A real treat. I remember hearing this AND the B-52s "Planet Claire" for the first time on the same afternoon. I still enjoy both.