Rocktrospectiva: Love And Rockets Succesful Self-Titled Album Turns 35

 

Released on 4 September 1989, "Love And Rockets" was the fourth studio album by English Alternative Rock band Love And Rockets, the album dismissed the folk sound of its predecessor "Earth, Sun, Moon" in order to create a stronger rock sound influenced by the bands psychedelic and gothic rock, mostly of the songs were created by Daniel Ash and David J, both parts had begun concentrating strictly on their own material rather than writing together on Earth, Sun, Moon. 

 

The album spawned four singles "Motorcycle", "So Alive", "Rock And Roll Babylon", & "No Big Deal", indeed the album featured Love and Rockets' biggest hit,"So Alive". The song was a surprising number 3 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and stayed at number 1 for five weeks on the US Modern Rock chart, and the video had heavy rotation on the MTV back then. Because of the popularity of the single in the United States, Love and Rockets became the band's best-selling album in America. It did very well in Canada as well.

 

In order to capture the succesful of the album and the single, the band embarked on a long worldwide tour. Afterward, instead of recording a new album and a follow-up single to "So Alive", which would be the most accurate choice to increased band's popularity. David J and Ash both focused on their solo careers, continuing in the directions represented on this album. They each released two solo albums after the break with drummer Kevin Haskins working primarily with Ash, before returning as a band to record Hot Trip to Heaven in 1994. 

 

This album still divides the band's fans to date as usual, some parts accuesed them of sell-out because the unexpected success of the brilliant single "So Alive", While Ash and David J were clearly dividing their songwriting efforts, resulting in a rather schizophrenic album, what they were writing and performing were some of the best songs of their collected careers. David J gets to indulge rock & roll and blues traditionalism on a number of his tracks, beginning with the opening "**** (Jungle Law)," a radical reworking of the old "Signifying Monkey" standard with compressed production and an almost industrial beat from Haskins. Another redone oldie is "Bound for Hell," a tale of the Devil driving a train to down below; David J runs his vocals through crackly distortion, playing harmonica while Ash plays a huge, thrashy guitar line. Perhaps his best number is his most atypical but ingenious: "Rock and Roll Babylon," a barbed study of fame with Ash's sax and a string quartet fleshing out the sound beautifully. Ash's songs do some roots revisiting as well, in their own ways. "No Big Deal" and especially "Motorcycle" has a certain Jesus And Mary Chain vibe, but Daniel Ash's vocals change the concept.

 

Despite the unusual succes of "So Alive", many critics back them considered the album as a disappointinf follow up to its predecessor Earth Sun Moon. The sound were straightforward, there were certain tracks worth about it "Motorcycle" a finest one, "So Alive" was like a game-changer for the band, this propelled the album to become the band's best selling album, even thought the album have its good pints, the vocal mixture of David J and Daniel Ash, the driving drumming by Kevin Haskins, the delivers standout tracks such a "Motorcycle", Teardrop Collector", and the rhythm and blue "Bound For Hell", so practically the album was pretty good, especially for the newcomer listeners and fans but not for the original fans.

Love And Rockets Track List: 

 

1. ****(Jungle Law)

2. No Big Deal

3. The Purest Blue

4. Motorcycle

5. I Feel Speed

6. Bound For Hell

7. The Teardrop Collector

8. So Alive

9. Rock And Roll Babylon

10. No Words No More