Debut LP - Review

Love Spit Love - LP Review

Love Spit Love 72787 21055 2 (imago)
"I get two steps closer/don't move/don't ask why"

Codeine - Richard Butler

Being a long term Furs fan I eagerly awaited this, Love Spit Love’s eponymously titled debut LP. Hoping also that the format of the band was as compatible with Butler’s lyrical wisdom and insights as The Psychedelic Furs were. I am glad to inform you that, if your a Butler fan, you are in for an undeniable treat! This LP is positively brimming - no overflowing - with lush acoustic layered sounds. There are songs with both subtle (‘Am I Wrong’) and passionate melodies ("Codeine"). There are frequent instances of seraphic beauty ("St. Mary’s Gate’).Overall the LP is a mixture of hypnotic and trance inducing sounds but this occasionally gives way to paroxysm of harder guitar sounds (‘Superman", "All She Wants").
The opening track "Seventeen" has this belting guitar and drum introduction (is Butler’s reminding us that he hasn’t yet been "counted down and shouted out"?). This song, essentially, is a protest against apathy and disbelief at the speed of the passing of time. Butler’s quizzing lyrical outpouring drifts you into moods of yearning, angst and in the end an uneasy and awkward feeling of motivation - if such a feeling is possible! As the song progresses the guitar breaks into a loose solo - using flange effect - and Butler breaks back into the era of "Talk Talk Talk" as he rasps his way through a conclusive rap….

"…never stop / never mind / can’t get good time /summer day / sunshine / feels like anodyne / fun jumps / grid locks / standing at the bus stop/ ten o’clock tick tock / look at what the world’s got / be surf / be clean / gonna make a big scene / here comes faith comes banging on a tin drum / can’t try can’t fail…..gone when you can’t pay / ten o’clock tick tock / look at what the world’s got…"
Then "Superman" creeps in with lazy defeatism but again the tempo suddenly changes and explodes into a torrent of sarcasm and rebellion - a rebellion against the constant nagging that goes on in his head? Or is it a vote against society’s pathetic manufacturing of what the desirable person ought to be like?
Lush acoustic guitar and mandolin accompanied throughout with organ transports us into the netherworld of Butler’s melancholic visions….. "Half a Life" is slightly reminiscent of REM’s "Losing My Religion".
The rather eclectic "Jigsaw" is perhaps the most unusual and diverse track. It’s full of fragments and cross wording. One could almost imagine it being played in a 1940’s German music hall! This is the most un-Psychedelic Fur-like sounding track - its madcap and whimsical but quite brilliant.
Next up is "Change in the Weather" - this is a more rocky sounding track with rhythm and lead guitar keeping in beat with the drums - Frank Ferrer pumps out a pretty mean and meaty drumbeat! Lyrically Butler’s preoccupation about the unevenness of time and peoples moods is evident.
Upon hearing this next track - "Wake Up" - I knew that "Love spit Love" had definitely arrived. The structure of the song makes one’s mind oscillate in time with the lush strings and cello. This is my favourite track of the LP - one for the list of my all time favourite songs. Meditation has given Richard clearer and more focused thoughts but no real answers as we soon find out in "Am I Wrong". Fate conspires and again the philosophical lyrics ring a bell on human understanding…. Richard! - When are you going to write a book?
Richard Fortus’s guitar work on "Green" is so unique and original - if anyone has any doubts about Fortus as a guitarist then do yourself a favour and check this one out - the true strength of this track will soon become apparent. Another masterpiece way up there alongside "Book of Days", "All of This and Nothing" and "Highwire Days".
"Please" is perhaps the track most reminiscent of The Furs sound albeit the later Furs sound. You’ll soon be leaping around to this one if you ever hear it on a dance floor - which, unfortunately, is most unlikely - well especially in the UK where the music press choose to almost totally ignore Love Spit Love!
In the next track "Codeine" the lyrics ‘Time in itself is blind’ repeat a vague, underlying theme which encompasses Richard’s vision of a depersonalised society, the ever passing of time and our own built in restraints and reflections. Another to write home about.
"St. Mary’s Gate" is a difficult song to describe. Let’s just say that I could not stop myself from over indulgence by giving this track repeated listenings. It was my favourite song on the LP for weeks - I still can’t work out if it really is as good as I think it is. It has everything in it….layer upon layer , wave followed by wave of magnificence. It’s got an exotic and mystical feel (check out the sitar sounds)… You won’t be able to stop yourself from singing along with Butler as he sings "Who’s got what God is on? - Who turned the light out on all I wanted?" and "WE GO ALL THE WAY ..ALL THE WAY…."
"All She Wants" has guitar similar in sound to that of the Cocteau Twins. Its about people having to live up to other peoples wants, desires and expectations.
In the Psychedelic Furs final LP "World Outside" the track "Get a Room" has Butler saying "Don’t want order / It won’t count". But, in the final track "More", he has changed his view. He now sings "I want more / than I thought I’d ask / I want hands to wave goodbye". This song has Butler singing great backing vocals and Tim Butler's bass is full of optimistic notes.

America bought this LP - UK didn’t. UK - Wake Up!

I beleive it is deleted in the UK - so be quick and try and get a copy before its too late!

Dave FurNo