Search - Love & Rockets :: Love & Rockets / Swing Ep (Dlx)

My, you've aged well!

01/24/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Even though I had been a fan of Bauhaus and L+R before this came out. I wrote this record off. First off, (and it seems surreal in retrospect), SO ALIVE wasn't just a hit. It was everywhere, on every radio station, even soul music stations constantly spun it. Every jock, knucklehead, and cheerleader in the world was humming a song made by 3/4 of the band that wrote "Bela Lugosi's Dead." Do I smell sellout?On top of that, this record doesn't have the epic numbers that some of their previous records had--a "Haunted When the Minutes Drag", or "Kundalini Express."What you do get is great on its own grounds. This record has some alterna-metal "Motorcycle", some distorted old-school rock and roll "No Big Deal", some dreamy pieces "No Words No More", and, of course, So Alive. As you'd expect of anything involving Daniel Ash, the production is unbeatable.Hats off to Beggars Banquet for remastering this with all the extra tracks. It must be a labor of love (pardon the pun), because they certainly can't expect to make much $ on the endeavour. The only thing that would push the nostalgia factor more completely through the roof would have been a sappy bio on this records massive influence of the world of pop, with teary reminisces by the band on their salad days.If you like your rock and roll British, inscrutable, diverse, and well produced, then this record is for you. I also recommend "Seventh Dream of a Teenage Heaven," and, by Bauhaus, "The Sky's Gone Out." Peace"

Swing......and miss

Christian Buckley | Washington State, United States | 08/06/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I was really hoping for something grand, but what I got was more of a side project that was cut straight from the board, and with minimum post-production. Don't get me wrong - the singles "Dreamtime," "1000 Watts fo Your Love" etc are great, but the second CD was just not up to the quality that I expect from L&R. The swing tunes lack the creativity of the eponymous album it is packaged with. True fans will enjoy the tunes -- and I always love hearing new L&R material -- but its just not a standout release."

A swing and a Miss

Christian Buckley | 05/03/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"While this was my 2nd least favorite of their 7 albums when it was originally released, it probably had the best crop of B-sides on it's accompanying singles. With this release you get most of that material in one convenient place. The only exclusions being a few remixes of No Big Deal (similar to the one included here), Rock N Roll Babylon, and a few live cuts still floating around out there somewhere in the 2nd hand bins of your local record store.If you're a diehard Love and Rockets fan and have an established collection, you'll be pleased to know that it's now on CD. That bad news is you're only gaining 3 songs with this release that were not previously available in any format: Wake Up, CuckooLand, and Early Worm. The rest can be found on various B-sides and other editions which you probably already have.If you're new to Love and Rockets or have never collected them on vinyl, you're in for a treat. Bike, BikeDance, and Dreamtime are good tracks from the MotorCycle single that display the trio's quirky side talents reminiscent of their Bauhaus days where they'd pass the mic around and just make stuff up as they went along. Bike will catch your ear first with it's quick jazzy pace. BikeDance is quite long, but better and a quality precursor of what was to come on later albums with it's trip out deconstructionism - absolutely perfect for when you need to flop on the bed, stare at the ceiling, and unwind from your stressful day. DreamTime is primarily vocals with minimal instrument starting with Daniel's ode to his love and followed up with the much stronger indian campfire-ish tale by David J. While good tracks in their own right, I wouldn't have tacked them onto the end of the album as was done here - they don't blend well with the 10 preceeding songs and are probably a better match for the swing material on disc 2.The Swing EP is actually part EP, part random additions. The latter tracks taken from the No Words No More single. It's an appearance on live radio performing stripped down versions of a few songs. 1000 Watts of your Love plays on Elvis Presley's Jailhouse Rock melody, and No words no more is reduced to simple accoustic guitar and piano which gives it a more personal feel. Unfortunately, Bad Monkey should've been left on the cutting room floor as it sounds like a bunch of outtakes from the song Jungle Law hastily pasted together without a vision. You can here it's uninspired electronics on the Glittering Darkness EP (1995) if you don't want to spend the money here.I'd buy the album for the B-sides and new material as it's a novelty, but don't expect it to get too many listens other than as a change of pace when in a rut with your regular music."