Love and Rockets are one of the underrated bands of the ’80s and ’90s, often overshadowed, unfairly or not, by their gothic forebears Bauhaus. But the space-rocking trio still had plenty of juice after head vampire Peter Murphy left for solo pastures. And it was recently celebrated in a nostalgic tribute album from some musical legends and talented upstarts. I reviewed it for Metromix, and blasted off.
Various artists, New Tales to Tell: A Tribute to Love and Rockets
Although a mixed bag for loyalists, “New Tales to Tell” is still a faithful repurposing of Love and Rockets’ songcraft for the new millennium. Maynard James Keenan’s Puscifer drags the psychedelic guitar anthem “Holiday on the Moon” into the digital age. The Dandy Warhols turn “Inside the Outside” into a synthetic thump, while the Flaming Lips funk up the single “Kundalini Express” using vocoders, synths and spare drum programming. Thankfully, Black Francis amps up the proceedings with a bouncy version of “All in My Mind,” while new-school shoegazers Film School and A Place to Bury Strangers bring back the dirty spacetracking that Love and Rockets were known for on “An American Dream” and “The Light,” respectively.
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