[.ca] Express

another wonderful love and rockets album:
i love this band. they made good music from day one until they broke up. this album is fabulous. david daniel and kevin make beautiful music together. they have beautiful voices and stimulating melodies that have at times drove me to singing into the handle of my brush. if you are wondering whether to buy this album....stop reading and get buying!

This cd is proof that used cd bins sometimes bear treasure:
I'm not an expert on L & R. They were apparently most popular a few years before my time. I picked this cd up from a used cd store a few months ago, and now it has become one of my favorites of all time. I was tempted into buying the cd despite never listening to any L & R records before because Noel Gallagher listed "Kundalini Express" as a major influence. This cd is very solid but not perfect. "Kundalini Express," "It Could Be Sunshine," and "Life in Laralay" are all incredible tracks and should be appreciated by those listeners who like psychedelic, new wave, and noise pop. If you love the early work of bands like Oasis, The Cult, Jesus and Mary Chain, and The Mighty Lemon Drops, you will probably love these tracks and find some other goodies on this record also. The acoustic tracks, the b- sides, and the last track fall flat in my opinion.

The best Love & Rockets record - you need THIS version!:
This is the high point of Love & Rockets' career. Although I love 'Hot Trip to Heaven' and 'Lift', this is the record where quality met commercialism perfectly. It's also the record where David J's (weird) folk slant matched Daniel Ash's guitar Epics just as perfectly. There's a great chemistry throughout this catchy CD, a band working together. Sadly, that would change. Technical stuff: Besides the original UK album, this CD includes 7 bonus tracks. Two of them ("Angels & Devils" & "Holiday on the Moon") are already available in the U.S. edition. There are 2 USA remixes of "Yin and Yang" and "Ball of Confusion". The USA mix of "Yin" is better than the original, with a really dynamic rhythm section. "Ball of Confusion" is no better or worse than the version you'll find on the '7th Dream of Teenage Heaven" remastered UK edition. But Love & Rockets' cover of Pink Floyd's "Lucifer Sam" is an excellent 'lost' track that all fans should hear, with really great bass and compact poppy excitement, faithful to the fun spirit of Syd Barrett's original. The rare "B-Side #1" and "B-side #2" are only 3 minutes combined, and really don't offer much ("B-side #2" is actually very aggravating). Still, the sound on this wonderful CD is so improved, this is the version you should own, galaxies better than the US late-'80s CD master. My only complaints: the CD doesn't include the tight UK 4-minute version of "Ball of Confusion", despite promises from Beggars Banquet. And sadly, the CD doesn't include the very rare 'The Bubblemen Are Coming!' EP, a joke record where L & R loosen up and take on the fat kooky persona of those Bubblemen (bee-men?) who miraculously showed up at L & R shows in the '80s. None of that is here, and I'm afraid it will slip through the CD cracks.

Solid late 80's rock album:
Seeing as there are 2 different album versions out on here, I still have a different one, but it's closest to this one... but it doesn't have the b-sides. I have heard the excellent Pink Floyd cover, & suggest getting this album version esp. for that one rare track. My version begins with "Angels & Devils", which sounds more like Tones on Tail, & I always skip over cuz I wanna go right for the songs that really get me going. Not quite goth, not new-wave, this album defies rock categorization because there are so many different influences going on. You have the Pink Floyd cover, & also a cover by the Temptations!! How cool & different is that? "It Could be sunshine" starts with a catchy sax hook that goes into an even catchier beat with the rhythm section that will have your feet & hands tapping in no time. If you look at the liner notes, there seems to be a good mix of song-writing by Ash & David J individually on different songs, but this song is the perfect example of them collaborating together... starting w/ a more laidback intro (Dave J), & then kicking into a more in your face Ash-rock feel. After seeing Ash live a couple months back, much of the solo material he played was edgy like this track. "Kundalini Express" is also very catchy, if not just for the "hoo-hooo"'s. "All in My Mind" is one of the strongest songs on the album, I think. The lyrics actually made me ponder with the lines "but if you look into your mirror you'll see that nobody/has ever ripped you off it's all in your mind". The first time I heard "Life in Laralay", I instantly thought of Bauhaus "She's in Parties"... it's even in the same key!! But hey, it's ok to rip off yourself ;-) This is prolly my 2nd fave song on the album just cuz I liked "Parties" so much. It makes me wanna sing along, & who cares what David J's lyrics are trying to say. And then the well known "Ball of Confusion (Special Mix)".... great cover, even take a listen to the original, which makes an interesting comparison. "Holiday" slows the pacing of the faster songs (on my cd), & has a cool slight guitar delay that gives it a mysterious vibe... & a way cool guitar intro. The pace picks back up with the fun "Yin & Yang" remix, an instant foot tapper. "Love Me" & "All in my Mind (acoustic)" are the other 2 slower ones... love the acoustic version, very dreamy. "An American Dream" ends the album nicely, starting like another acoustic track, but moves along midway. It was delightful to see Ash play a really long version of this at the show too. And of course, the other added bonus, the double vocals... either solo, haromonizing, & or in sync. It almost drove me nuts sometimes guessing who was singing (like with Depeche Mode), but then after a while you can distinguish who's who. It just sounds like these guys had fun with this album, cuz those are the vibes I get from listening to it. I wish more bands would just have fun & rock at the same time like this!! I've only had this album a little over a year now, & I've heard it MANY times in a short time. It's already gone up my "I-would-cry-if-I-lost-these-albums" list... & I certainly can't say that about all the cds I own. And yes, used cd bins do hide some goodies!! One more thing: BUY THIS!!

• It Could Be Sunshine
• Kundalini Express
• All in My Mind
• Life in Laralay
• Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man)
• Love Me
• All in My Mind \oAcoustic\c
• American Dream
• Angels and Devils \o*\c
• Holiday on the Moon \o*\c
• Lucifer Sam \o*\c
• B Side #1 \o#\c\o*\c
• B Side #2 \o#\c\o*\c
• Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man) \oRemix\c\o*\c
• Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today) \oUSA Mix\c\o*\c