So why don't LOVE & ROCKETS have their own thread?

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And they weren't bees. They were BUBBLEMEN. Ha-hem.

"bubblemen," eh? they can call themselves whatever they like, but they still look an awful lot like bees if you ask me :-)

http://members.tripod.com/heylownine/images/bman1.gif

Tad (llamasfur), Friday, 6 June 2003 16:23 (twenty years ago) link

I still maintain that Hot Trip To Heaven is one of the great lost 90s albums. I miss them and their goofiness.

Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 7 June 2003 06:28 (twenty years ago) link

And Daniel Ash's hair is till astonishingly bad. And what's worse is he's kept that SAME astonishingly bad hair for two decades!

Not true. By the Sweet F.A. era, he'd abandoned the spikes in favor of just slicked long hair and pointy sideburns. I always thought his hair looked fuckin' great, I mean....it just made'im look like more of an alien, it was perfect. His sharp angular features matched with a maroon halo of spikes? What's not to like?

Maybe they were "middle class wankers" etc., but they had their own damn sound and style,....you can't take that from them.

Bless Love & Rockets.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 13 June 2003 06:28 (twenty years ago) link

i was bidding (and won) for Hallowed Ground by the Violent Femmes on eBay and saw in the seller's list he was also offering Love & Rockets'"Express". Remembering this thread I decided to buy that one as well ($1.99). So I guess in a few weeks time I'll be able to judge whether L&R actually deserve their own thread ;)

willem (willem), Friday, 13 June 2003 06:42 (twenty years ago) link

You'll like it, it's better than the Femmes record (although that is the best VF record). More fun anyway. It probably does sound pretty dated though.

Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 13 June 2003 06:48 (twenty years ago) link

Even more fun than "Country Death Song"? ;) I don't have a problem with datedness, though...

willem (willem), Friday, 13 June 2003 07:11 (twenty years ago) link

pretty big band in my adolescence in retrospect, though I probably weren't that aware of it at the time, owned the "No New Tell to Tale", the Love and Rockets album, paid considerably more heed to the Cure, but none of them Cure singles send 'I'm back in eighth grade' chills like catching a Love and Rockets video on VH1 Classics. Did alotta kissing at summer camp to "So Alive" (and "Social Security" - a Fine Young Cannibals b-side!) with a girl whose name I promised to never forget and now can't remember. That first paragraph of that first ned review captures a big part of what summer 89 was for me (throw Madchester, "Fight the Power", and Prince's Batman sndtrk in and you've got it all) - good job Mr. Raggett!

James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 13 June 2003 07:12 (twenty years ago) link

would any of the characters in Love & Rockets listen to Love & Rockets?

Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 13 June 2003 07:21 (twenty years ago) link

Ha ha, no, they referred to them as "some pussy Limey band who have stolen our name" when Hopey's band read about them in some paper.

kate (kate), Friday, 13 June 2003 07:32 (twenty years ago) link

This prompted me to pull out Express. God I haven't listened to this in 10 years, no joke. I'm enjoying it well enough but it is a bit spotty. The good songs are great - "It Could Be Sunshine" (with a sax intro that - haha - sounds like the one sampled on "Show Em Watcha Got" by Public Enemy), and especially "Yin and Yang the Flowerpot Man". But it points it tends to plod. Just like Bauhaus I guess! That's the problem with a rub rhythm section.

Actually I couple months back I pulled out the self-titled record for a reason I can't remember, and I really wanted to like it, but yeah while it was enjoyable it didn't really move me. Not like it did back when it was released, anyway. But, like James I have some pretty poignant teenage memories linked to that record... so I suppose I'll always have a place for their records.

I always thought Earth, Sun, Moon was their best record. At least the one most overtly hearkening the psychedelic era - even though it may have seemed like a "move" at the time, that's probably why I liked it the most and I'll bet it remains so. I'll play that one next...

Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 13 June 2003 07:39 (twenty years ago) link

But it points it tends to plod. Just like Bauhaus I guess! That's the problem with a rub rhythm section.

::sputters::

You are so wrong that I am surprised you can figure out which shoe to put on which foot in the morning!

The rhythm section is probably one of the greatest reasons that I love L&R/Bauhaus!

kate (kate), Friday, 13 June 2003 09:38 (twenty years ago) link

???? yeah, what kate said.. and Express is by far the best record they made... (OK, I never really liked 'Life in Laralay' ..)

dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 13 June 2003 10:27 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, David J's "I hate LA so much I'm gonna go live there" songs never quite scanned...

kate (kate), Friday, 13 June 2003 10:29 (twenty years ago) link

good job Mr. Raggett!

*bows* It is one of those periods in my life where I can pretty much pin down everything in the air as opposed to floating randomly through it all.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 13 June 2003 14:02 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...
"The Dog End of a Day Gone By" is great, you spooge-gargling saps!

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 16 April 2005 07:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh, I love me some L&R. (The band and the comic). In retrospect though, I think they were trying to do a more chart-friendly version of Tones on Tail, which was simply cooler and better. After Express, especially, they were just aiming for radio play (with some success). They were pretty restrained when I saw them live a couple times. Just holding back, not giving it their all. But the first two L&R albums do hold up very nicely.

Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Saturday, 16 April 2005 07:33 (nineteen years ago) link

two months pass...
I just (re)-bought "Express" and have the first album coming to me in the mail - a rekindling of my interest due to some serious re-playing of "Earth, Sun, Moon" over the last few weeks. I've never thought they were particularly goth-y, apart from wearing all black the music doesn't seem to have the obsessions of most other goth stuff of the period - its quite a bit brighter and catchier, hazy and gentle as opposed to morose and creepy. Lookin forward to hearing Kundalini Express for the first time in probably a decade when I get home tonight...

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 23 June 2005 23:38 (eighteen years ago) link

"You have let go of ego...
Ego is no longer youuuuuuuu..."

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 23 June 2005 23:43 (eighteen years ago) link

"Saudade" is so classic, one of my top 10 all time songs.

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 23 June 2005 23:44 (eighteen years ago) link

Lookin forward to hearing Kundalini Express for the first time in probably a decade when I get home tonight...

"Kundalini Express" rocks so fuckin' hard I can hardly stand it.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 23 June 2005 23:46 (eighteen years ago) link

I remember eagerly snatching up my copy of Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven the nanosecond I spotted it (at Schoolkids Records in Columbus, Ohio) and being amazed at how unlike their cover of "Ball of Confusion" it was. I'd first heard "Ball of Confusion" on the dancefloor at Danceteria (a moment of silence, please) and thinking it was quite possibly the greatest thing I'd layed ears on since "Eighties" by Killing Joke, and immediately because an obstreporous fan. Seven Dream..., however, was a lush, largely acoustic, psychedelic affair that owed little or nothing to "Ball of Confusion"'s glorious electric stomp. That said, it quickly became a late night favorite....its languid tones spilling out of my dorm windows, drowning out yawnsomely umpteenth airrings of Little Creatures plopping out of my peers' windows like sonic feces. Then, a year or so later, Express came out, turning the tables back to electrified squall (though with lots of acoustic bits as well).

Anyway, blah blah blah blah...LOVE AND ROCKETS WERE GODLIKE. For a little while, at least.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 23 June 2005 23:52 (eighteen years ago) link

and immediately because an obstreporous fan

BECAME an obstreporous...blah blah blah.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 23 June 2005 23:52 (eighteen years ago) link

ah "Saudade" - I know that's a great song because I've probably only heard it twice in my entire life, but can remember hearing it for the first time very clearly and can still recall how it goes. That's a mark of serious tunesmithery...

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 23 June 2005 23:55 (eighteen years ago) link

And don't get me started about "Motorcycle".

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 23 June 2005 23:56 (eighteen years ago) link

"Saudade" is truly inspired for living up to its name. It's an evocative, strange word from an English perspective; from a native Brazilian perspective it must be perfectly powerful.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 24 June 2005 00:49 (eighteen years ago) link

They were certainly more enjoyable than Bauhaus. Especially when they were really propulsive ("Kundalini", "I Feel Speed", etc.)

Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 24 June 2005 11:04 (eighteen years ago) link

Uh, "I Feel Speed" is actually one of their most *ambient* tracks. ;-)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 24 June 2005 11:15 (eighteen years ago) link

burning from the inside, 7th dream, and thr british version of pop are three of the greatest albums i have ever owned. and NOT just cuz they remind me of all the acid i used to do when i was 16/17. though they were great for that. i never stopped playing them.

scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 24 June 2005 11:38 (eighteen years ago) link

five months pass...
And god bless their sense of humor.

"So I'd need a million dollars
To sit on mountaintops
To see the stars surround you
Is to see an awful lot..."

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 17:31 (eighteen years ago) link

They rocked. Anyone who disagrees should be pulled apart by jackals and made to listen to ceaseless airrings of solo acoustic demos by Natalie Merchant.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 18:16 (eighteen years ago) link

I was into them in high school. The first thing I heard by them was the song "No New Tale to Tell", which got a fair amount of airplay on KROQ around 1987-88 when I was living in Southern California. It reminded me of my dad's Jethro Tull records. So I bought Earth Sun Moon, which turned out to be quite different than I was expecting. Most of the songs were mellow acoustic folkie strumming stuff, not at all like the hit single, but I still kind of liked it. A couple of years later I got their self-titled album with "So Alive", but I was living outside the country, so I missed the bizarre spectacle of them reaching the Top 10. "So Alive" was not one of my favorite songs on the album anyway - I much preferred the distorted, compressed stomp of the faux-blues tracks like "Bound for Hell".

o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 18:33 (eighteen years ago) link

Sigh. I got the reissue of [[express]] with all the bonus tracks recently. Swoon.

Kate Classic (kate), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 18:36 (eighteen years ago) link

We're - - - going - - - - to stay awake...

Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 19:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Coincidentally, I listed to the reissue of Love And Rockets last night.. the one with the Swing! bonus disc (holy shit, "Bad Monkey"!).

While i think the self titled album is grossly underrated, the second disc is far more interesting, if not for the completely absurd KCRW interview that takes up the last half of it. Deidre O'Donahue, the radio show host, is just being "OMG you guys are ROFLing me.. you're derailing my radio show lol" and the band are obviously either a) REALLY tired, b) on acid, or c) both a and b. In any case, Daniel and David are being extremely funny and uncooperative, and they request all sorts of weird stuff to play, and Daniel randomly blurts out sax noises occasionally.

dali madison's nut (donut), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 19:56 (eighteen years ago) link

recently got a cassette of the s/t album... I think there's some serious drop-off in quality around that time, sadly.

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 20:01 (eighteen years ago) link

the completely absurd KCRW interview that takes up the last half of it

"STEADY....EASY...!!!"

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 20:02 (eighteen years ago) link

two years pass...

They're back! (Playing Sunday at Coachella.)

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 00:50 (sixteen years ago) link

The way out of date official page might have to update now:

http://www.loveandrockets.org/

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 00:51 (sixteen years ago) link

One of the few I'd go to see at Coachella -- if I were going.

stephen, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 01:00 (sixteen years ago) link

Well, now that Bauhaus is well and truly out of the way, I guess we should've seen it coming.

Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 01:59 (sixteen years ago) link

burning from the inside, 7th dream, and thr british version of pop are three of the greatest albums i have ever owned. and NOT just cuz they remind me of all the acid i used to do when i was 16/17. though they were great for that. i never stopped playing them.

-- scott seward (scott seward), Friday, June 24, 2005 11:38 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark Link

I'M STILL ON THE MONEY!

scott seward, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 02:17 (sixteen years ago) link

They were certainly more enjoyable than Bauhaus. Especially when they were really propulsive ("Kundalini", "I Feel Speed", etc.)
-- Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, June 24, 2005 11:04 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark Link

Uh, "I Feel Speed" is actually one of their most *ambient* tracks. ;-)
-- Ned Raggett (Ned)

I really should learn to read, shouldn't I? Or at least attempt to ascertain titles...Anyway, the two transportation-odes that surround it are plenty propulsive.

Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 06:35 (sixteen years ago) link

As heavy as Bauhaus could be it's pretty amazing how seriously rocking L&R could bend things and how delicate and, well, pretty they could sound. And then, to take all the bombast (a good thing) and squish it into the confines of the relative minimalism of Earth, Sun, Moon. That they were also responsible for the simple effervescence of Tones on Tail and the kitsch-hop of The Bubblemen is all the more sauce for the goose. Brilliant -- Express is nearly a soundtrack for a generation in its seminal standing and regard. When I think about how just a few years later how Nirvana would create their landmark record, I can’t help but feel a little sorry for the impressionable fans of the latter and how self-loathing a pool they would have to set in. Yeah, yeah, I hear you all groan – but really, who the hell cares what the goddamn lyrics say; L&R friggin’ rock!

christoff, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 15:05 (sixteen years ago) link

one year passes...

They rocked. Anyone who disagrees should be pulled apart by jackals and made to listen to ceaseless airrings of solo acoustic demos by Natalie Merchant.

Bahaha. I slay me.

Listened to some vintage L&R today. "Kundalini Express" still has the power to make me very happy during even the grimmest moments.

Alex in NYC, Thursday, 30 April 2009 21:42 (fourteen years ago) link

Awesome revive. I actually just pulled out the Seventh Dream reissue a couple days ago, listening to it again now and goddamn if this isn't one of the most perfect albums I've heard in my life.

I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Friday, 1 May 2009 03:52 (fourteen years ago) link

"Haunted When the Minutes Drag" is my jam.

tevin "ratt" campbell (Pillbox), Friday, 1 May 2009 03:57 (fourteen years ago) link

Yes!!! Haunted is my jam, too! Definitely my fave song of theirs. I still have Seventh Dream on vinyl and do pull it out every once in awhile.

Earl of Gothington Manor (Bimble), Friday, 1 May 2009 04:00 (fourteen years ago) link

That's what I'm talkin'bout.

Alex in NYC, Friday, 1 May 2009 11:45 (fourteen years ago) link

i've listened to that album a thousand times and i could never get sick of it. just so perfect.

scott seward, Friday, 1 May 2009 12:08 (fourteen years ago) link

I think they were pretty grand up through Hot Trip to Heaven, which was still pretty damn good... and I won't even comment on the last two albums, I haven't heard them yet.

I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Friday, 1 May 2009 13:46 (fourteen years ago) link

two months pass...

Oh hey tribute album:

---

1. All In My Mind - Black Francis
2. Holiday On The Moon - Puscifer (MJ Keenan) (Tool & A Perfect Circle)
3. Love Me - War Tapes
4. No New Tale To Tell - Blaqk Audio (Davey & Jade of AFI)
5. I Feel Speed - Dubfire
6. Inside The Outside - The Dandy Warhols
7. Life In Laralay - Sweethead
8. An American Dream - Film School
9. The Light - A Place To Bury Strangers
10. Mirror People - Monster Magnet vs Adrian Young (No Doubt)
11. Fever - The Stone Foxes
12. No Big Deal - Frankenstein 3000
13. It Could Be Sunshine - VEX
14. So Alive - Better Than Ezra
15. Haunted When The Minutes Drag - James Hall
16. Lazy - Chantal Claret (Morningwood) vs Adrian Young (No Doubt)
17. Sweet F.A. - Lossy Coils with Ian Moore
18. No Words No More - Snowden
19. Sweet Lover Hangover - Charlie & The Valentine Killers
20. Yin And Yang & The Flowerpot Man - Halloween Jack (Stephen Perkins & Gilby Clarke)
21. Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven - The Manichean
22. Bound For Hell - Johnny Dowd & Billy Cote
23. Saudade - Halls Of The Machine
24. Kundalini Express - The Flaming Lips
25. Mirror People - The Invisible Humans
26. No New Tale To Tell - Astra Heights

http://www.loveandrocketstribute.com
http://www.myspace.com/loveandrocketstribute

Ned Raggett, Saturday, 25 July 2009 16:51 (fourteen years ago) link

The AFI spinoff thing covering "No New Tale to Tell" is better than I expected, though.

Ned Raggett, Saturday, 25 July 2009 16:56 (fourteen years ago) link

(And Shepard Fairey cover art = nice.)

Ned Raggett, Saturday, 25 July 2009 16:57 (fourteen years ago) link

Actually the more I'm listening to the randomized stream the more I'm surprised, so far this has been pretty good to great! No real major reworkings per se but at the least enjoyable takes on the originals. Then again I haven't hit the Better Than Ezra track yet...

Ned Raggett, Saturday, 25 July 2009 17:14 (fourteen years ago) link

one year passes...

David, why?

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151971474841352

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 20:30 (thirteen years ago) link

two years pass...

Oh hi Love and Rockets box set out of nowhere

http://archive.beggars.com/releases/206/love-and-rockets-5-albums

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 18:32 (ten years ago) link

two years pass...

Annnnd I took a little time here to talk about Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven.

http://thequietus.com/articles/18758-love-and-rockets-seventh-dream-of-teenage-heaven-review

Ned Raggett, Monday, 14 September 2015 15:11 (eight years ago) link

Very nice piece Ned - enjoyed it!

BlackIronPrison, Monday, 14 September 2015 16:27 (eight years ago) link

Listening to it for the first time in over 25 years because of that well-written piece, Ned. Thanks for reminding me of it! It's a better album than I remember it being.

hardcore dilettante, Monday, 14 September 2015 16:38 (eight years ago) link

The drum sounds are still abysmal, though.

hardcore dilettante, Monday, 14 September 2015 16:42 (eight years ago) link

He came much more into his own with Express, I think you can pretty audibly tell the band was starting to think of themselves as a band rather than a tentative project. J posted the other day that his own favorite L&R album remains Earth * Sun * Moon, which is definitely the most straight up 'musicians in a room' effort. Anyway, thanks all!

Ned Raggett, Monday, 14 September 2015 16:45 (eight years ago) link

this is great Ned! i have just listened to most of their debut album because i'm getting ready to poll Love and Rockets and Bauhaus here real soon. i think i will need the votes so i should email everyone on this thread. i will wait to talk about recent stuff when it is open.

Reminder: Bauhaus/Love and Rockets-Tones on Tail poll is going to open up very, very soon (this month or Oct 2015). wish i could get Ned to vote.

Bee OK, Wednesday, 16 September 2015 13:54 (eight years ago) link

I'll submit one ballot for myself, then one for Ned by proxy.

hardcore dilettante, Wednesday, 16 September 2015 16:37 (eight years ago) link

seven years pass...

The new tour is on.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpxfR2EOR4A/

Still pondering it.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 15:47 (one year ago) link

Recorded: classic. A step beyond Bauhaus.

Live: dud. Dreadfully dull. That said, I'll definitely go see them again.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 16:42 (one year ago) link


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