Monday's Long Songs

 

From the ashes of Bauhaus, Love and Rockets rose in 1985 with some members of this band. They shed their goth attitude and focused more on psychedelic-inspired longer pop songs. I liked their music back then, even though it was neither fish nor fowl. Maybe that's why I haven't listened to their songs in a long time. Looking back, they're not so bad that they should be forgotten. Their eclectic mix of post-punk, folk, psychedelic rock, and a little bit of glam are forgotten gems from a time when so much other great music was being released.

Love and Rockets - The Dog-end of a Day Gone By

Just under ten years later, they reinvented themselves once again on Hot Trips to Heaven, having obviously listened to a lot of The Orb and Orbital and developed musically in the direction of ambient with psychedelic influences. The result was definitely worth listening to, but it obviously scared their fans away too much, because after that, things went very quiet around this band.

Love and Rockets - This Heaven

The Four Elements

 

When I recently went for a walk through the countryside with a friend, we came across the philosophical topic of being. We were discussing the extent to which the four-element doctrine created by the Greek philosophers - that all existence is made up of a certain mixture of the four basic elements ‘earth’, ‘water’, ‘air’ and ‘fire’ as the principles of solid, liquid, gaseous and red-hot - can still be applied today. I disagreed with the thesis that the balance of the elements is necessary for well-being, as modern science breaks the world down into ever smaller particles, which in turn make up an element as a whole. 

In the end, we were unable to finalize the topic and discussed where the four elements are reflected in the music. Here are a few examples that came to us spontaneously, which are probably well known. We'll see if they become a series.

Ball Of Confusion

 

It is almost 40 years ago when Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins formed from the ashes of Bauhaus formed Love And Confusion, a band that tried to transform the energy of post-punk and underground rock into another kind of popular music. That they hadn't the possibilities for a greater career was in the fact that they weren't able to write great pop songs. Nevertheless, they have a place in history because they covered a song covered a Motown classic by The Temptations and transported it into a gothic-style mood and a song that was massive inspired by glam-rock kings T. Rex. I came back to them when I played a CD the recent days I got as a gift to my 30th birthday and I enjoyed listening to this after decades. All in all another band you should remember from time to time.

Love And Rockets - Ball Of Confusion

Love And Rockets - So Alive

Automatic

Automatic is a new fascinating all female post-punk trio from Los Angeles and they made me listen to their debut album several times during the last days. Their roots and influence are in the early 80's best shown by singer Lola Dompé because she's the daughter of Kevin Haskins, the former drummer of Bauhaus and Love and Rocket. They borrowed their name from a song by the Go-Go's but their sound combines more than catchy vocals. They create a compelling sound over an anxious mood filled with slow driving beats and New Order-like basslines

Understanding Jane

Last weekend I was searching for a CD in my collection that I wanted to listen and a compilation of Beggars Banquet came to my appearance. I didn't listen to this double CD for ages and was surprised to how much songs I was familiar. There are long forgotten songs on this compilation and listening to the various and very different artists they took me back to 1991 and the mood I was in at this time. You might know that I listen to a lot of new stuff that was released and often I am pleased but I will never forget the music that was a big part of my life way back in time.

The Icicle Works - Understanding Jane
Love And Rockets - Ball Of Confusion
The Go-Betweens - Streets Of Your Town

Labled

Like many other British independent labels Beggars Banquet were formed under the influence of the punk-rock movement. During the years they released a lot of records with quality and taste. Their first release was a classic punk single by the Lurkers. With the subsequent singles the hit the nerve of the time and bands like Tubeway Army and Gary Numan reached high positions in the charts. But Beggars Banquet had also open ears for gothic and new wave. Further along the line the released the records by The Go-Betweens and records by MES's The Fall at his best times. This could be an endless list if I would feature songs by Robert Forster or Grant MacLennan. Anyway, good to look back at the disclosures of this record label with a smile.

Love And Rockets

Thank you SA for starting my Sunday with your fantastic post about 'Love and Rockets' a comic series I've never was able to read or follow because in the times when it was printed in Germany you could only buy some comics from Mickey Mouse or others. Comics from other ones we could barley by a sample comic called ZACK in the late 70s/early 80s. But none of the issues showed me to Jaime Hernandez and his co-creation 'Love and Rockets'. I'm just a little bit of sad that I wasn't able to join - but it's never too late to search some of this issues. Jaime Hernandez is not unknown to me. I think he did some artworks for Michelle Shocked and Los Lobos.

The band' name was taken from the comics series and was formed from a former member of Bauhaus in the early 80s. They were an British alternative band that combined influences from punk and psychedelic to their own sound and got a big hit with their cover version of the Motown classic 'Ball of Confusion'. For me they were still a good band and worth to get them remembered.

Love and Rockets - Ball of confusion

Love and Rockets - Haunted when the minutes drag

Love and Rockets - Kundalini Express