Love and Rockets

loved this song back when!

Just an observation, the album version and the 12" of No Big Deal are at a faster speed than the single version (which is on 'Sorted! - The Best of Love and Rockets') Any idea why? I know that iTunes has a very sped up version of of a Queen Live album as well. Just look out before you buy. - 4 stars is strictly for the content of hte album.

It works for me. Love the beat and fun to dance to.

Love the way they placed the two versions of (Motorcycle/I feel Speed) back to back.

So Alive would be a really good song to put on True Blood

I understand how some of the folks who were early fans find this a commercial sell out. However, the only constant in this world is change and as far as albums go this is the only L&R album that I can put on and listen to the whole way through. You can tell that Ash and David J have different writing styles, which I think makes this a stronger album. Their individual styles/songs mesh well, yet remain unique. Saying that this makes the album schizophrenic could be a label just as easily applied to Lennon/McCartney or CSN. Besides, there is nothing better than cruising on a weekend with "So Alive" blasting through a great sound system (you must have bass). Mark in Rives Jct.

Wrong Dr Hep....

Ok I don't really have any hang-ups about this album...I was not so attached to L&R's early work, so I was not bitter that this album was more "commercial", and I am not so attached to top 40 music that I couldn't handle the more "alternative" elements of the album...and honestly I don't care how this album affected the band's internal politics... It's just great pop/rock, simple as that. A solid, hard rocking but psychedelic effort. Yes, 'I'm So Alive' is almost too slick, and 'Rock and Roll Babylon' falls flat, but the rest of this album is a great jolt of adrenaline filtered through a crazy, trippy lens. Contemporary pop-rockers should take note, this is a great listen 20 years after the fact. Just enough weirdness but not to the point of pretense, and just enough solid rock without going all mullet on us....among the better rock albums of the 80's.

The sad irony of this self-titled fourth Love and Rockets record is that while it may have propelled the band into the forefront of the college rock/alternative scene in the late 1980's, it also served to push the band apart. "So Alive" lured a lot of new fans, many of whom were immediately confused by the rest of the record. Eschewing the folky, slow psychedelia of Earth Sun Moon, the band favored a heavier sound here, incorporating distorted vocals, fuzzed out bass, and jarring guitars. Standouts like "Motorcycle" and "No Big Deal" fit the band's biker glam aesthetic, but with "So Alive" being the only remotely commercial piece, the album polorized both fans and newcomers alike. Longtime fans weren't too happy about the Top 40 appearance, while Top 40 fans sold the album back to record stores in droves. Even at its laziest, this eponymously titled record reveals a band that can sound vital even when its spinning its wheels. After extensive touring, including stadium shows with The Cure and the Pixies, Love and Rockets took years off to recover and pursue solo endeavors. The band returned five years later in an unrecognizable form, hiding its dark psychedelia underneath layers of electronics.

if ya stopped to grab "so alive" i suggest giving the rest of the hits the itunes 30 second tasters test