Search - Love Tractor :: Black Hole

Respectfully, " Warspite " is all wrong

JABEZ | Florida | 08/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been an LT fan ever since they were three guys and a drum machine doing wacky sort of ' Donna Summer meets the Ventures at an acid party ' instrumentals at the original 40 Watt in Athens, and Bill Berry and Peter Buck of REM were talking about joining the band; and I can tell you straight out that "Warspite" is, with all due respect, being narrow minded and unfair in his reveiw of " Black Hole ". First of all, LT always could ROCK - that's nothing new - they were one of the few 80's arty farty Athens bands that had the chops to break into 'Tumbling Dice' or something and slay it. 'Jangle Pop' was just ONE of the things the band does - it isn't their signature sound. Their signature sound is Mike Richmond's slightly quirky writing and voice - and music which ALWAYS had a 'progressive rock - neo classical ' element to it: a thing called COUNTERPOINT !!! Tractors guitar lines were, and are INTRICATE and DEVELOPED whether the beat is disco or rock or whatever. The lyrics were always etherial - this is one of several tying threads that an OPEN MINDED listener hears throughout all their records.

It boggles my little ex - trendy mind that some people think that 'Black Hole ' is more PROG than ' Sky At Night ' too.

" Sky " is chock full of the same type lyrical references as

"Black Hole" and has far more mellotron and analog synth sounds, odd time signatures and other 'prog' type things in it. Black Hole is more of a grungy early seventies hard rock record. The last tune does sound a little like YES Relayer, but hey - Whats wrong with THAT? Its a beautiful sound, and a nice way to end an album with a concept. Of course SKY AT NIGHT is great - Its the result of TWENTY years of Mike, Mark, and Army playing together and is LT's masterpiece to date IMHO -But Black Hole is not that far behind - how unfair to rag on a band because the new lineup ( that has only been together for a few months ) only puts out a record NEARLY as good in some peoples minds as the former longtime linups BIG HOORAH !

Quite frankly - Some people only like Athens bands if they are composed of gay art students who can barely play their instruments and look like Elvis Costello! Wake up! 1985 was a long time ago. The EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES, dude ! Give poor Mike a break - Black Hole is just like every other LT record: Its DIFFERENT from the LAST one - Is COWS COME HOME anything like OUTER SPACE SHIP? and more power to M.R. for it ! He OBVIOUSLY had a bunch of darker songs in his system, and like a true artist, he didnt give a damn what guys like WARSPITE and others (who want to put him in a box) think, and he wanted to get some things out of his system , and did so. He apparently thought that a 'Deep Purple meet Uriah Heep in 1971 ' kind of sound was what suited the lyrics of this catharsis. Well - hey - WORKS FOR ME ! I dont hear people slagging on Fripp because Crimson is always totally different. Nobody is giving Mick Fleetwood a hard time because " Bare Trees " and 'Tusk' are worlds apart! Give Mike and his new pals a shot. He's a great guy, a fine writer - and his new band members are all well known cats in Athens, and deserve a little respect too. Tom Lewis is, next to John Keane ( REM , WP, Indigoes, etc ), the most revered recording engineer in Athens and has worked with almost everybody. Billy Holmes is considered by many to be the best musician in Athens, and young gun Ben Holts has an amazing resume for his age.

MIke Mills of REM thought enough of this record to include a cut on his ' best underground rock in America ' compilation CD in UNCUT magazine - so it must not be too bad !"

Theme for great concentrations

Old Turveydrop | Chapel Hill, NC | 03/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Many of my favorite bands have evolved their sound with great success. It is always a risky strategy, especially when a band is associated with a certain sound "Judas!" But this is a great album from Love Tractor, showing great songwriting confidence and musicianship. The songs are varied stylistically, but it shares themes with previous albums and the sound is unmistakably Love Tractor. Not a bad track from start to finish.



Black Hole is the result of major personnel changes - only Mike Richmond remains from the early 80's line-up. The new band members are all great players, and seem to have brought a lot of equipment to the table! The Fundamental Records web site suggests Black Hole was a conscious attempt to make a progressive rock album. It does have progy touches with slower tempos, heavier guitar parts and more complex time changes. The use of classic 70's instruments including moog, mellotron, rhodes, tubular bells and sitar by Bill Holmes adds to the effect. Richmond has said that Love Tractor would have been a progressive rock band, they just didn't have the chops to pull it off. Apparently he has made the record he always wanted to.



Georgia Rain is a great song to open the album. It should be the first single. Do they still make those? A classic LT track with guitar sound taken from "Themes from Venus" and nice lilting keyboards. Richmond's high register vocals sound confident and up front in the mix. Other favorites are Epidemic, an uptempo number, Electric Chair, Dragonfire and Wizards in the Sky.



I urge you to part with your hard earned rock coin now and give this disc a few listens. It requires a few to take it all in, but LT fans and newcomers will find it time and money well spent. Athens rocks again!"

Knives and guns

nathan collins | athens, ga | 11/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"bLaCK hOlE iS tHe bOomb - here's to "knives and guns"... what a cool song, lol. ignore the critics, guys... this one will last long after the morning comes, so be humble and modest :)



peace and pills."