Search - Love & Rockets :: Express

Skip this - buy the UK remastered version

Winthrop Harrison | Seattle, WA United States | 11/20/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a wonderful record, probably the best Love & Rockets album ever. But this CD edition was mastered around 1987, and sounds thin and faded - it has no bass punch. Spend the extra cash and buy the UK remastered import. You'll get all of these tracks plus a great cover of Syd Barrett's "Lucifer Sam." The UK version sounds much sharper, revealing bass lines you'll never notice with this thin edition. Still, if you're on a budget, this is a marvelous album regardless."

No Ball of Confusion

Scott Lindholm | Davenport, IA USA | 03/29/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Peter Murphy, Bauhaus, Tones on Tails, whatever, these guys recorded alot under different names. Easily the strongest lineup was the Love and Rockets lineup, and this CD is about as good a CD as one could ever hope to buy.Try to find a bad song--not possible. My wife loves this album, and she listens to total crap. I remember the day I bought it (Sept. 1986)--I was looking for their first album ("Seventh Dream..." but was totally blown away when I first heard it, and it still stands up 15 years later. None of their later albums even remotely holds a candle to this, and this CD adds two tracks not found on the album release.If you have even the remotest love for music, this is great stuff. Other bands may have been better over their careers (The Clash, Husker Du, Sonic Youth, The Jam, etc.), but few albums are strong from the first to last cut. This is one of the rare ones--get it NOW!"

Still my favorite CD of all time.

Brent A. Anthonisen | Alpharetta, GA, USA | 08/03/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm waiting for this CD to get the re-release treatment given to this band's debut release ("The Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven"), although I'm not certain how many alternative tracks exist for the songs on this collection. This album is a first rate sonic psychedelic experience that strikes one's aural receptors like a tidal wave, beginning with the buildup of "Angels and Devils", with Daniel Ash's saxophone playing surely being the influence for the sax pieces from David Lynch's "Lost Highway" soundtrack. Ash begins "It Could Be Sunshine" with the same instrument, its soft tone belying the steady, evenly-paced bludgeoning drumbeats well-followed by David J's fretless bass. Ash switches to lead guitar and gives his tremolo bar a workout for a crunching rhythym. The song switches tempo midway through, and at this point IT'S ON. The remaining tempo is fast and rewarding, proof that two chords is more than sufficient for this band to work some powerful magic. The next song, "Kundalini Express", awash with eastern mysticism, chugs along with the best US-influenced heavy metal 4/4 rhythym, building to then shrinking from climax before fading out with a magnificent ascension scale played by Ash (possibly on twin harmonizing guitar tracks). "All in My Mind" follows as a lighter departure, using acoustic guitar effectively as a rhythym track with an understated electric guitar drone, augmented well by David J's bass and Kevin Haskins' drums (note: The reason this albm sounds less dated than this band's almost equally impressive debut is Haskins' reduced reliance on Simmons drums and expanded use of an acoustic kit). "Life in Laralay", with its sardonic look at the LA scene features an uneast, on-edge electric guitar intro and a return to the heavier percusion found on "It Could Be Sunshine". Not one of my favorite songs from the album, but the harmony vocals are impressive. "Ball of Confusion" comes up next, a song that helped develop an underground following for the band in the States. It sounds most like the work from "Seventh Dream..." (and was included on that CD when it was released in the US, actually), and I don't rate it that well (Tina Turner's version of this song is still my favorite), but the next track "Holiday on the Moon" is one of the standouts on this recording, featuring some of Daniel Ash's seamless (and among his finest) lead guitar work. "Yin and Yang (the Flower Pot Man)" is thrashed out at a breakneck pace with acoustic guitar supplying the rhythym track (this song was aptly featured in a "Miami Vice" episode during a speedboat chase, actually). It cuts off abruptly, leaving an echo by which the listener tries to catch his or her breath. "Love Me" is another example of a perfectly written and recorded two-chord song. The acoustic guitar break after the 2nd verse never fails to lift me to a higher place. The "slow version" of "All in My Mind" follows, a comedown track of soul expansion, and we begin to feel that the storm is winding down. The final cut, "An American Dream", with its Picardy 3rd final chord, is the most satisfying end to an album I've ever heard. "Closer to Nirvana", indeed...anyone who thinks the term applies only to a band from Seattle whose singer topped himself REALLY needs to hear this CD to get a better understanding of the term...and of music itself, for that matter."