Love and Rockets Albums (8)
What The Critics Say
Lift was the follow-up to Sweet F.A., Love and Rockets' poorly received return to guitar-based rock, but is more closely related to their previous album, the electronica-oriented Hot Trip to Heaven. But where Hot Trip to Heaven, though flawed, boasted strong songwriting and an intriguing mix of electronics and old-fashioned instruments, Lift suffers from a dearth of good material and an overreliance on techno clichés. Ash, J, and Haskins were doing their best to change with the times, but it's telling that the highlights of this album either sound like outtakes from earlier Love and Rockets albums ("Pink Flamingo," "Delicious Ocean") or invoke the memory of Bauhaus. "Party's Not Over" is a haunting and grandiose lament that would not have sounded out of place on Burning From the Inside and "Resurrection Hex" samples the Bauhaus songs "Stigmata Martyr" and "In the Night." Approaching the turn of the century, Love and Rockets sounded like a spent creative force, their best moments far behind them. ~ Bill Cassel, All Music Guide
'Hot Trip to Heaven'
Release Date 1/1/1994
Tracks 10
Label Beggars Banquet
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What The Critics Say
As the band's breakthrough record in the U.S., riding high on the left-field success of the slinky T. Rex homage "So Alive," this album still divides the band's fans to the present. Charges of sell-out are incredibly curious, because aside from "So Alive," absolutely nothing here sounds like it would have gotten anywhere on the airwaves. 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: "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" show that the man's been listening to some Jesus and Mary Chain, but his wonderful vocal purr marks them as his own songs. An unexpected addition to everything is "The Purest Blue," a radical reworking of Earth Sun Moon's "Waiting for the Flood" which leaves almost nothing of the original. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
'Earth, Sun, Moon'
Release Date 1/1/1987
Tracks 13
Label Beggars Banquet/Big Time
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What The Critics Say
Love and Rockets' Earth, Sun, Moon reins in the rampant excesses of Express while remaining psychedelic; the near white-out of the cover gives a clue to the music, as many of the songs emerge from a soup of white-noise guitar distortion. Much of the record addresses, in its nebulous fashion, hope and disappointment; the title track and "Youth" are two of their most simple, yet most affecting songs. Not a "normal" pop record by any means, it's more straight-ahead than their previous work and includes the upbeat single "No New Tale to Tell," a college radio hit that set the stage for the band's popular breakthrough a year later. ~ Jonathan Ball, All Music Guide
'Yin and Yang (the Flower Pot Man)'
Release Date 9/8/1986
Tracks 2
Label Beggars Banquet
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'Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven'
Release Date 1/1/1986
Tracks 9
Label Beggars Banquet
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Though the years have deadened its impact somewhat, there is still a visceral thrill to be drawn from replaying the first Love and Rockets album, a sense of the first step taken towards a brave new world, and a miasmic whirl of psychedelic intent that masks intents even darker than the preceding Bauhaus ever envisioned. Recorded and released in 1985, riding to club acclaim on the back of the "Ball of Confusion" remake, and aligning its makers with a destiny and fame that no one could ever have predicted, Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven ranks among the most deceptive debut albums of the 1980s. The keys to the album remain the same, of course -- the churning guitar soup of "The Dog-End of a Day Gone By," the sibilant glam sexuality of the title track, the chilling nursery rhyme pendulum of "The Game." But the opiate atmosphere that chokes the wide open spaces leavened within every song only thickens by the time you hit the closing acoustics of "Saudade," and Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven emerges as profound an experience as any of the lauded trips of the original psychedelic era. It rounds out the experience with dramatic flair, pinpointing the sheer creativity that was sparking around Love and Rockets at the dawn of their decade-long career -- and reminding you that that decade was over all too quickly. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Rich in sonic detail, the neo-psychedelic Express offers a listening experience like no other album -- guitars spiral to dizzying heights from beds of sound, arrangements swirl, songs change and mutate. "Kundalini Express" typifies Love and Rockets' approach, chugging along for several verses before breaking open and ascending into the heavens; Anglo-fied Eastern religious imagery and philosophy predominate lyrically, and in tandem with the psychedelic music, offer an almost quasi-religious experience. John A. Rivers (who also co-produced Love and Rockets' first album) outdoes himself with the sound on this disc, offering a huge, unique canvas for the band to paint its sound on: crystalline acoustic guitars cut through thick, distorted tones, and the bass is an equal player to the guitars and drums. "Yin and Yang the Flower Pot Man" is ecstatically upbeat, offering a propulsive rhythm, flailing guitars, and insistent bass -- a compulsively danceable and bliss-inducing track. "An American Dream," meanwhile, is an anthem of sorts, with distinct sections setting apart the moods of hope, disillusionment, and acceptance. ~ Jonathan Ball, All Music Guide
