Temporal

Love Spirals Downwards | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 11, 2000)
• Original Release Date: January 11, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Projekt Records
• ASIN: B00003OP8Q
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #295,508 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars whoa, trippy..., March 28, 2000

By 

Patrick W. Moore (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Temporal (Audio CD)

Love Spirals Downward, what a great band, debuting in the early 90's their early form of "shoegazing" music, light acoustic guitars with angelic floating voices... set them apart from most of the artists that have debuted in the 90's. Their first release was Idylls, which is comparable to recent `Cranes' stuff, minus Alison Shaw's little girl voice. Vocalist Suzanne Perry's heaven sent vocal style is the greatest in current music. I mean that, without hesitation. Ryan Lum is the mastermind behind the music, the earlier stuff being flowing acoustic guitar moving to their last release Flux which is more drum and bass... it's all good. Flux took a while for me to warm up to, having moved from the shoegazing to the trip-hop sound was interesting and has proven to be a positive move as Flux is their best selling album to date.

Temporal, the newest release is as says on the album "a collection of music past and present". It is a collection of what they view as their "best of", along with some new, previously unreleased songs. If you have never heard anything by this group, buy this as your first one. It is a great collection of mood music. The fact that it starts with their most recent music and moves back to the older stuff is a nice change from other "best of" collections. Especially since they don't really have any singles... which are never really a bands best, the odds are high that if you like the stuff on this album, you will love the actual releases.

It starts off with a remixed track from `Flux', a beautiful song that starts with Suzanne's voice only, and then flows into a nice near-dance number. I've never been a fan of the `remix' for an artist's collection, but I have to make an exception here. The remixes are done well and actually compliment the original. The best thing about this is the previously unreleased stuff, it alone is worth the price of the disc. As I mentioned before, this is a great introductory CD for LSD. Ambient, Dance, mood music, it's all there, an all around great investment.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A nice overview of a unique band, January 4, 2000

By 

Anji Bee (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Temporal (Audio CD)

Love Spirals Downwards marked the new millenium with the release of 'Temporal', a collection of songs spanning their 8-year history on Projekt Records. From their hauntingly beautiful acoustic beginnings to their later atmospheric electronica sound, this compilation covers the entirety of LSD's career with 13 tracks arranged in groups of 3 songs from their 4 major recording periods.

'Temporal' begins at the end, with a set of remixes from their final studio album, 'Flux.' "Alicia" is a flamenco spiced drum 'n' bass tune with lovely acoustic guitar melodies provided by special guest, Rodney Rodriguez, of the Von Trapps. With the remix, Suzanne Perry's Spanish/nonsense-word vocals have been downplayed, while the rhythm pumped up, and ethereal pads are subsituted for the original analog keyboards. "Misunderstood" - a remix of "I'll Always Love You" - has been almost entirely revamped with zippy breakbeats and the addition of moody saxophone played by special guest, Doron Orenstein, of Monkey Bars. These 2 tracks are unavailable elsewhere.

Also included on the album are several songs from various compilations or EPs, such as the heartbreaking instrumental, "Amarillo", from the 'Sideways Forest CD-Single.' LSD's sole musician, Ryan Lum, is a master at extracting a maximum amount of emotion with a minimal guitar melody, and this composition of acoustic, electric and ebowed guitar is a masterpiece of subtle, melancholic beauty. "Asleep" is a near instrumental from the period between 'Ever' and 'Flux' which appeared on a small-run compilation by Precipice Recordings. This early attempt at drum 'n' bass production clearly shows the influence of Good Looking Records on Ryan's musical thinking. For vocals, he ran a sample of Suzanne backwards, lending a very strange effect to a simple, fairly upbeat track. Of course, there's always an undertone of sadness in LSD's songs, and "Asleep" is no exception.

There's also a live track from one of the rare performances given by the duo. A simple arrangement of Ryan's melancholy acoustic guitar and Suzanne's ephemereal reverb-laden vocals, this live rendition of "Subsequently" (a song from the 1994 album, 'Ardor') gives you a fair idea of the magic of their early days.

To fill out the ensemble, there's a nice array of tunes taken from each release -- not the songs I would have thought of as the "hits" but they are presumably Ryan's favories, since he compiled this collection. All in all, "Temporal" is 66 bliss-filled minutes lovingly selected as a body of work as unique as the journey of Love Spirals Downwards musical career.

For those who have never heard Love Spirals Downwards before and want some band comparions, let me offer the following: Everything But the Girl, Perfume Tree, Massive Attack, Siddal, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, and Mojave 3.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Subtle pleasantries., September 30, 2000

By 

Adam Carroll - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Temporal (Audio CD)

This CD slows my world down. Or maybe it just softens the edges a little; I'm not really sure which. The soft, echoing guitars and vocals are conducive to writing; even after the CD's finished playing, the melodies remain in my head, helping to coax new descriptions out of the things around me.

Two paws up for the track arrangement, too; the drum 'n bass tracks in the beginning transition very nicely into the more ethereal-sounding tracks at the end. All together, the 13 tracks are more like one big, lavender, 66-minute mass. Kind of like the album cover, now that I think about it.

I'd compare Love Spirals Downwards to the Cocteau Twins, since that's what I'm most reminded of here, but I don't really see the point. LSD are similar, sure, but by no means derivative. Take my advice and appreciate this album for what it alone is... oh yeah, and for what it'll do to your mind. Trust me; you'll like it.