XS & OS REVIEWS....
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Xs And Os reviewed late- diskant.com ....
THE LOVES - Xs And Os/She'll Break Your Heart... Again (7", Fortuna Pop!) ....
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Lovers of the Sixties, take note: there are some new kids on the block. But no copyists these, The Loves put an up-to-the-minute spin on The Velvet Underground and The Monkees, by way of garage rock and Creation Records.
For their pains, the ....Cardiff.... band received The Sunday Times LP of the week for Technicolour, released on Fortuna Pop in February, and including tracks mentioned here. The band have been through many reincarnations since they formed in 2000.
'Xs and Os' is a singalong ode to a friend in trouble; like The Archies meets Jan and Dean with a psychedelic bluesy twist. 'She'll break your heart again' begins like Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders 'The Game of Love' crossed with the Beat's 'I Can't Get Used To Losing You', then the percussion whizzes you back to The Troggs' 'Wild Thing'. By then, it's full-on sixties bubblegum, complete with keys, chimes and huge beats. Simon and Jenna duel on vocals. Her seductive intrusive refrains remind you of Jane Birkin or Nico, against his nasal tone. The song ends abruptly with a single note.
'My Sweet Drunken Blues for You' is a chaotic jam on a four track that sounds like an early Stones demo. On 'Nao Va Se Perder Por Ai' we get another change of style - The Bees meets the Magic Numbers, if they sung in Brazilian with backing vox that rattle along eccentrically in the background.
With their revolving door membership policy this band have cleverly picked a name that inspires adoration, and they've toured with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Rapture. What's not to love?
The Loves
Review by Mandy Williams....
http://www.yellowmelodies.com/e-zine/numero9/7/L.htmlloves ....
New simple of this fantastic Welsh band, that the same remembers to THE MONKEES and the most luminous face of THE VELVET UNDERGROUND, with that sound between beat and the bubble-gum, and a delicious one finished to the Phil Spector. By the face to we have those two gems of pop ("Xs and You" and "She' ll break your heart again"), that will comprise of their second album; and by the expensive b, we have an exclusive piece for this single, "My sweet drunken blues (for you)", recorded in house in 4 tracks; and also a version, "Nao goes to lose itself by ai", of OS MUTANT, with that retro and so so charming air with which they impregnate this group to each one of his recordings.
My favorite: Xs and You.....
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http://www.tohellwith.co.uk/html/display_selection.php?section=2&contentID=1557 ....
the latest offering from the welsh mark e smith, simon love (25 members and counting...), and they have some pedigree having toured with the yeah yeah yeahs and the rapture. it's all a fairly lo-fi affair, that's strong on melodies and choruses, 'x's + o's' is a short (under 2 mins) blast of rock pop and great fun to boot. 'she'll break your heart...again' could be a lost 60's gem, all echoes and lush backing vocals harmonies, very phil spector, not forgetting the
wonderful pounding drums. of the b-sides 'nao va se parder por ai' (a cover of brazilian's os mutantes), is a great bouncing bit of fun which threatens to outshine the a-sides....
www.vanityproject.co.uk ....
The Loves - Xs and Os/She'll Break Your Heart Again EP (Fortuna Pop!)
Twinkly, yet snottily lackadaisical, fuzzy-pop from the Welsh nasal-blues-meet-60s-beat crew. 'She'll Break Your Heart Again' meanwhile has been remodeled to almost Spector-esque proportions, and genuinely sweeps you up of your little feets. All too briefly. 'My Sweet Drunken Blues (For You)' matches its plain raison-d'etre, with Sunday morning groggy aplomb. To finish a short and very sweet EP is a sprightly, trouser-tugging cover of Os Mutantes' 'Nao Va Se Perder Por Al'. Skif. ....
French Review ....
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.bside-rock.com/Xs-and-Os-She-l-Break-Your-Heart.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=5&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DThe%2BLoves%2B%2522Xs%2BAnd%2BOs%2522%2BFortuna%2BPop%26start%3D30%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN....
Here's a French review of Xs And Os as translated by Virginie.......
Emerging from the deepest vaults of the 1960s it is useless to hide that this Loves EP is the best thing that we've heard in - alas - a very long time. That's because it's simply perfect. Fans of the Velvet Underground, followers of the Nuggets garage bible, fans of excellent music, The Loves are maybe THE proof, apart from the Brian Jonestown Massacre galaxy, that our era has now got something inherited from the sacred decade that it can take into the future.
A cheeky voice, a variable formation (already more than 25 members) and four gems for this new recording by the Welsh band who in six years of existence has had time to record two Peel Sessions. So yes, 'it sounds like' since these days that's what you have to tell people - and most of the time it's appropriate and true. So this record sounds like the Monkees and the previously mentioned Lou Reed band, a double influence proudly displayed on everything that the band releases. Well, since nothing really innovative has pleased our ears for ages, we won't be fussy.
What you have to understand with this record is that you will play it from beginning to end - that's about 10 minutes, the songs hitting their target without flapping around blindly for ever - and undoubtedly in a loop. They have a garage sound, which is a hip way to say that it is deliciously dirty and that the melodies are simple. Consequently we love every corner of this dark and falsely dusty basement: the military snare on She'll Break Your Heart... Again, the little bluesy guitar notes on My Sweet Drunken Blues (For You), or the whole of the opening masterpiece XS + OS (big fat guitar, little backing vocals, almost irritating voice).
Nao Vas Se Perder Poi Ai, a high-grade cover, recalls T-Rex' Jeepster in his brilliant use of country rhythms, here slashed with violent electricity, the whole highlighted by ridiculous little voices in the background. That's what is so great about these four gems: The Loves never play the same thing but the bar remains at the high level introduced by the first chords of XS + OS. An essential buy if you've got taste, a no less essential present to give if you want people to think that you do. ....
talian Review ....
These people LOVED "LOVE".......
http://www.indiepop.it/articoli/singles1206.htmloves....
Forgive the wonkiness of the translator though....
Garages and psichedelia acida dealt English, that is with great attention to
the harmonies, the tendency to the simple and one rigorous ortodossia
sixties. Returned in track with a formed EP seven inches that the sophomore album anticipates, band ago the point of the situation rieditando "She'll Break Your Heart" (already on the album "Love"), and facendola to play like a mix between the Music Machine and the fiendish Stones, with vocal echos Frenchmen to complete the dish. A passage of deliveries between old persons and new Loves not even very necessary, because the group that we loved is still under our in all eyes its colored brightness. In staircase also the stomper piacione "Xs and Os" condito from soft coretti, the cloying bluesettino and Stonesiano "My sweet drunken blues (for you)" and above all "Nao Goes If Perder Por To The", cover fumettosa of the Os Mutantes that dries the saudade between the fog (or is the smoke of the cigarettes?) of Cardiff and then plunges it in an acid sea of guitars and organ. Down the hat facing one of the little groups with the courage of to inspire itself to the Creation rather than to Creation. PS: Ah, does not matter what you will read in turn: the Weezer here do not there enter nothing.
www.theloves.org....
http://www.sohostrut.co.uk ....
The Loves – Xs + Os CD Single (Fortuna Pop)'Xs + Os' is glammed up T-rex style bubblegum pop from The Loves. 'Xs and Os' is a superb rampage with a big chugging rhythm and a catchy melody; raunchy rock'n'roll with a sugary twist. A sample of The Game OF Love at the start of 'She'll Break Your Heart' opens up this massive collision of Phil Spectre pop and 60s party nuggets garage romps, utterly magnificent, this is this kinda tune I wanna hear. The easy going ' My Sweet Drunken Blues (For You)' is drunken acoustic spacey pop and is another ace tune, it's like the kind of the thing The Faces used to do so well. Final tune is one madcap bonkers demented cover of Os Mutantes' 'Nao Va Se Perder Por Ai', where a sleazy greasy rock'n'roll riff is pulverised together with some big grin pop, an outrageous tune to finish this excellent single with. The Loves are a band I'm not overly familiar with, but by 'eck, I'm going a get familiar with this band because they are great. Jonny Magus....
2 mo' reviews ....
The 1st is from http://www.mapsmagazine.co.uk....
The Loves make ever so slightly off-kilter pop music. They are unabashed in there dedication to making it clean, sweet and simple whenever possible. They sing about love mainly; sound like The Ramones, The Beatles and Weezer and are goddamned brilliant at what they do.....
There is very little more you could ask of a band such as this and this EP, 'X's and O's' (noughts and crosses? Not a bloody clue) is more of the same. This is a good thing.....
The title track idles along, doused in casual relationship problem musings from Simon Love, while Jenna Love's female accompaniment provides the perfect backing vocals. 'She'll Break Your Heart. Again' is as pure as 60's surf-pop gets these days, and is a friendly warning to - yes indeed - not get back with your ex-girlfriend.....
There is no bullshit, no flab, no hidden meanings or metaphors with this lot; and I love them for that. 'My Sweet Drunken Blues (For You)' sounds like a b-side from the coolest 70's band you never heard and is, naturally, about love. Nao Vs Se Perder Poi Ai would have possibly contradicted everything I just said about hidden meanings (it being in Portuguese and all, although that hardly warrants 'hidden meaning', rather just 'a different language') until I found out it's a cover of psychedelic Brazilian's Os Mutante. PLUS, the riff is so darn cool it makes me want to cry.....
"Love is all you need" sang Mcartney and crew. This is probably not true, but getting into The Loves will certainly provide much sustenance for those with bedraggled, heart-broken bodies and brains tired from working out what the fuck Joanna Newsom is going on about on her new record.....
The 2nd can be found here-....
http://www.tinyvoices.co.uk/cgi-bin/display.pl?reviewid=mat_TheLoves_single_24899....
I can't c+p that one for some reason.......
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Xs And Os on thisisfakediy.co.uk ....
An odd one.......
'Xs And Os' is the truest mix ever of Weezer-meets-The Beach Boys-meets-The Magic Numbers on helium. It's the drums which set The Loves apart from these however, their familar-sounding vocal and musical arrangement sounding perfectly pure as a combination of the female vocals laid over the male's very carefully.
'She'll Break Your Heart Again' shows The Loves have a clear formula, but 'Nao Va Se Perder Por Ai' proves it's not all the same, a cover of Brazilians Os Mutantes' track, it harks back to Johnny Cash-style rock 'n roll, albeit still with the Beach Boys influenced vocals.
The Loves are good, their only fault being that it's far too easy to list bands with a similar idea: The Magic Numbers, Hal, The Mamas And The Papas...
'Xs and Os' is released as a single through Fortuna Pop on 30th October 2006.
Caroline Charles ....
The Loves "Xs and Os EP" (Independent 2006)....
Welsh Contenders for Inclusion on Dirty Dancing Soundtrack
With its playground chant of a chorus, the new 'Loves' ep kicks off with 'X's & O's'. A fuzzy chug-a-long not far from the surf pop of Weezer. Imagine a sleaze free Dandy Warhols via garage band land where the guy always gets the girl. A suprising choice of first track particularly when up next is 'She'll Break Your Heart....Again'. Infectious marching drums and retro guitar production provide an overall sound not a million miles away from a distorted 'Hang On Sloopy'. The main riff can't quite decide if it'd rather be 'Louie Louie' or 'Get Off My Cloud' so goes for a combination of the two. Female spoken word responses a la Nico / Serge complete the sunglasses at night, bohemian feel. If only it lasted longer ! In keeping with the Keith Richards homage 'My Sweet Drunken Blues (For You)' is a catchy, country sing-a-long with all the delicate swagger of 'Exile' era Rolling Stones. This track should soundtrack many a drunken Jagger impersonation. Acoustic guitar, harmonica and (joy of joys) a whilstling intro combine with bluesy piano to make 'Drunken Blues' a pleasing experience. Last track on the ep is an 'Os Mutantes' cover, a brave move which 'The Loves' pull off with much aplomb. ....
Date review added: Monday, November 20, 2006
Reviewer: Jason Walnut
Reviewers Rating: <!--[if gte vml 1]>.. .. ..<![endif]--><!--[if !vml]-->..<!--[endif]-->
Related web link: Band website....
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from http://www.americana-uk.com/auk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=2382 ....
Neonbuzz.net review ....
Another one look.......
Look another Xs And Os review from the good folks at http://www.neonbuzz.net....
The Loves:
Xs and Os / She'll Break Your Heart Again EP ....
The first track 'Xs and Os' is a catchy pop tune filled with complimentary male/female vocals that provide a fluffy start to the EP. It's bound to have you swaying as you pick up the lyrics and attempt to sound as pretty as they do. ....
'She'll Break Your Heart Again' sounds like it would be perfect when accompanying a car in an advertisement with its western twang and bluesy guitars. 'Drunken Blues' is a slower, intoxicated, dreamy tune with its whistles and slow paced strumming along with a deep pounding bass. Each track has something a little different to offer. Putting this psychedelic EP on can help shake off those Sunday blues . ....
Stacey Evans ....
Gigwise.co.uk Review ....
See hear.......
The Loves are The Fall of the ....Cardiff.... indiescene - having seen 25-odd members come and go since they started up in 2000. Band leader Simon Love must have trouble remembering all their names, but he doesn't seem to have any trouble getting the latest incarnation to turn out sixties-tinged pop songs. The EP's lead track happily bobbing along like a cross between Teenage Fanclub and the Super Furries, whilst 'She'll Break Your Heart Again' is better still - pushing 'Louie Louie' and 'Wild Thing' up against a Spectoresque Wall Of Sound for an invigorating knee trembler.....
ORGAN Single Of The Week! ....
SINGLE OF THE WEEK
THE LOVES – XS + OS / She'll Break Your Heart... Again (Fortuna Pop) - Classic pop, classic classic pop, classic authentic 60's pop (that does not sound like it was made in Cardiff – it was, Cardiff is clearly the new black this week) sounds like early Beach Boys and psychedelic bubblegum and surf boards and harmonies and sing-along choruses and doo-whoop blues and breezy breezy sunny catchy early sixties teenage Americana in a cherry red 57 Chevy and maybe just the hint of a drop of Velvet Underground / Monkeys acid and just so right right right. Second track sounds like it's going to be Louie Louie Self preservation Society until it turns in to some other brilliantly authentic/long lost Kingmakers/Shangri La's/Standelles treasure that the Brian Jonestown Massacre would kill to make happen, far more pop than the BJM could ever hope or indeed dare to be – classic classic. There's an undercurrent though, there's maybe a little more acid in here then that first listen had us believe, and a slight lo-fi edge of danger, a little bit of dirt under those clean looking nails and smiles and pet sounds and everything is so so right with this perfect little four tracker – track three sounds like a stripped down early Stones thing, fourth definitely is soaked in the finest Monkeys acid.... ....
Why do people spell The Monkees as Monkeys? Unless they mean The Arctic Monkeys?....
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Another Xs And Os Review ....
From- http://www.musicomh.com/singles6/loves_1006.htm
Having spent the previous week dissecting the tomes of cinematic Russian Constructuralism, a brilliant, sweeping musical relief comes in the form of Cardiff's The Loves, who's epically dooh-whopping new EP on Fortuna Pop takes you tripping the indie light fantastic.....
I saw The Loves late last year when supporting Darren Hayman in their hometown's Clwb Ifor Bach. From back then, I recall singer Simon having the awkward, Fraggle-Rock cool of a spaceman who's just returned from a heady venture to the stars, and, backed by a keyboard-tickler with the camp vivacity of a German soft p*rn star (specifically that distinguished blonde from numerous films whose titles escape me) and a dreamy brunette on co-lead vocals, they were utterly, fun-time fantastic.
Straddling the borders between indie and rock 'n' roll with fuzzy, loved-up glee, Xs and Os is the undisputed bubblegum Daddy here, but the EP throws up an accompanying trio of gems to die for. The retro rock 'n' roll fun of the title track evokes abstract images of The Beatles being fed through The Monkeys' pure pop machine, while the country ebb of My Sweet Drunken Blues For You fulfils the most perverse dreams of a spaghetti-Bob Dylan. The cover of Brazilian psychedelic crusaders Os Mutantes' Nao Va Se Perder Pro Ai meanwhile bounces with brilliant obscurants' ebullience.
Possessing that quintessential, multi-faceted indie curiosity, The Loves are pure pop poetry in motion. Embrace them soon, if it's the last thing you do.
- Neil Jones....
Kittenpainting review ....
.. | .... | The Loves – Xs and Os (Fortuna Pop!) .... Look! Here come The Loves dressed in polka-dot glam with bubblegum breath, spraying sugar sprinkles over your world with the lazily rolling fuzz-pop sweetness of 'Xs and Os'. A perfect pop collision between The Archies and Marc Bolan that'll have you seeing day-glo stars for daze..... |
| .... | Next, a genius Spectoresque make-over has turned oldie Loves song 'She'll Break Your Heart' into a pop wonderland that begins with a skinny ska-beat before sweeping you along on triumphant majorette drumming, soary keyboards and chimey chimes backed with impenetrable Jane Birkin style muttering. If she doesn't break your heart then this'll do it for you..... By way of contrast, 'My Sweet Drunken Blues (For You)' sees Simon Love cutely indulging his Dylan craving with loping guitar strummage, bar-room ivory ticklin', and whistlin' that make for a pleasingly tousle-headed country ramblin' blues..... Then sprawling around the room on squelchily buzzing guitar and whacked out organ is an endearingly demented cover of Os Mutantes' 'Nao Va Se Perder Por Ai', sounding like it's being sung by a cabal of evil pixies. Peachy indie tropicalia, like dropping tabs decorated with Miffy in a bikini..... |
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Rocking Radio 2 ....
MARK RADCLIFFE....
WEDNESDAY 11th OCTOBER....
TITLE: GET ME TO THE WORLD ON TIME
ARTIST: THE ELECTRIC PRUNES
ALBUM: PSYCHEDELIC YEARS
TITLE: LDN
ARTIST: LILY ALLEN
ALBUM: NEW SINGLE
TITLE: PRETTY GREEN*
ARTIST: THE JAM
ALBUM: THE SOUND OF THE JAM
TITLE: ASHES
ARTIST: KT TUNSTALL
ALBUM: ACOUSTIC EXTRAVAGANZA
TITLE: SAD EYES
ARTIST: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
ALBUM: 18 TRACKS
TITLE: WENDY
ARTIST: ATTIC LIGHTS
ALBUM: SHIVER THE TREES EP
TITLE: Xs AND Os
ARTIST: THE LOVES
ALBUM: NEW SINGLE
TITLE: JUMP
ARTIST: VAN HALEN
ALBUM: DRIVETIME
TITLE: CELLPHONE'S DEAD
ARTIST: BECK
ALBUM: NEW SINGLE
TITLE: YOUNG AMERICANS **
ARTIST: DAVID BOWIE
ALBUM: BEST OF BOWIE
TITLE: TAKE A CHANCE
ARTIST: THE MAGIC NUMBERS
ALBUM: NEW SINGLE
TITLE: RED RIGHT HAND
ARTIST: NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS
ALBUM: BEST OF NICK CAVE...
TITLE: WONDERFUL WORLD
ARTIST: JAMES MORRISON
ALBUM: NEW SINGLE
TITLE: SHAPES OF THINGS ***
ARTIST: THE YARDBIRDS
ALBUM: GREATEST HITS
TITLE: CHANGE MY MIND
ARTIST: THE BLUESKINS
ALBUM: NEW SINGLE....
.. | .. .. | Another review part 2 .... From losingtoday.com.... About bloody time. It's been way too long since our hi-fi got to getting jiggy with a spot of ....Cardiff....'s finest doing their stuff on the turntable. The Loves are another ensemble that are part of a small select number of bands who if I had anything to do with it I'd make it compulsory by law that they hammered out at least one song a week even if it did mean the playing spoons, pans or whatever other tune forming implement came to hand. With a second full length entitled 'Technicolour' in the can and slated for February release this rather dandy EP of sorts quickly re-establishes and reaffirms their unnerving knack for turning their multi faceted talented tune craft to any style you care to name and making it their own. Opening with the title cut - 'Xs and Os' is a fuzzy soft psyche pop wet dream of sorts that decamps in the kaleidoscopic warping mindset of the Elephant 6 Collective - principally that of Essex Green and Olivia Tremor Control and plugs it into the mains for some seriously off kilter like infectious T-Rex boogie as though rewired by the Dandy Warhols with Alex Chilton overseeing the DNA cross fusion. The humungous sounding 'She'll break your heart' plays home to the kind of sweetly soured aching majesty that's more becoming of the very wonderful Camera Obscura and is laced with a seriously meaty and stripped to cool authentic 60's beat pop vibe that sits between the Standells and Jones era Stones and is bled through with a seductive wash like treatment that has the handiwork of classic era Phil Spector's fingerprints about it and strangely just like the Panda Bear release reviewed elsewhere here possesses a disarming festive feel amid its grooves. Flip over for the kooky half cut campfire waltzing 'My sweet drunken blues (for you)' replete with some sadly seldom heard on record - whistling - and an irrepressible cover of Os Mutantes 'Nao va se perder por ai' which to these ears sounds like a wilfully impish Zappa lost in some wickedly acid fuelled 70's kid TV thematic nightmare and you have yourselves quite possibly the most entertainingly lovable 10 minutes of pristinely worked pop you'll hear for a fair old while..... 17:16 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove .... |
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.. | Another review .... .. | http://www.tangents.co.uk/index2.html
Now I'm as much a fan of angular guitar 'post-punk' as anyone, but you know it can get a bit wearing to have a constant bombardment of such sounds generated by a million chancer boy bands who really have no clue. This is one of the reasons I loved the likes of The Pipettes to begin with. Their frame of reference was so much cooler, going back to the roots of Pop'n'Roll and neatly sidestepping the obvious avenues being exploited by those whose brains struggled to conceive of anything outside the terrifyingly narrow scoope of the trend du jour. So it is similarly rewarding to hear Cardiff's The Loves, whose 'Xs and Os' is a terrific one minute fifty slab of rollicking good fun that blends The Monkees with The Seeds. Play it again, and again, and again, and look out for the forthcoming (and aptly titled) second album Technicolour. The Loves are a slinky, sleek (but not too sleek) conflagration from the garage underground with laser beams aimed at your heart. .... | .. .... |
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Another review ....
From the good folks at Fat And Confused....
The Loves – Xs and Os / She'll Break Your Heart Again (Fortuna Pop!)....
I can remember the day I logged onto www.thelovesloveyou.co.uk only to find this domain name was up for grabs, what had happened to this loveable bunch, the band responsible for one of the most danceable, whistleable, bone shaking, floor filling tracks of recent times Boom-a-Bang-Bang-Bang? So imagine my joy to hear of the return of the Loves, and you should be happy too 'cos they're back and as great as ever. ....
We already know they're capable of creating great sixties sounding beatnik classics, dig out the Love album if you've forgotten, and Xs and Os (that's text speak for Kisses and Hugs should you be looking at the cover thinking this is some kind of ridiculous marketing ploy from OXO) is up there with there best, making Status Quo sound cooler than ever, taking you back to the sixties, but not the sixties you hear on GEM AM the cool stuff you have to dig and find (Michel Polnareff, The Confusions etc) just like in forty years time when your watching I love the noughties on a Friday night there'll be no Deerhoof or Dressy Bessy.....
On the flipside is a reworking of She'll Break Your Heart Again, the press release tells us its far superior to the original, I wasn't sure at first cos I love the slow burning original, all fragile delicate like a broken heart, here we get what sounds at first like Brimful of Asha played at 78rpm, but I'll admit that each time I hear it it grows a little more on me the way a girl can get prettier the more you find out about her. The sound is now super cool French garage pop/ Velvets, reminiscent of many a track from the excellent Pop A Paris compilations. You also get a new track, a more mature sound on My Sweet Drunken Blues (for you) and a cover of a band I never get round to checking out Os Mutantes, maybe this will give me the kick I need.....
Get your leather jacket, flowery shirt and shades on, lets celebrate The Loves are back!....
www.myspace.com/lovetheloves....
www.fortunapop.com ....
When we played in Nottingham (100 years ago) they (I think's it they) turned up and danced at the barrier (we had a barrier) and when the opening bass drum bit of "Boom-A-Bang-Bang-Bang" happened they all went mental. ....
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.. | www.soundsxp.com.... The Loves Xs and Os / She'll Break Your Heart... Again
Fortuna Pop.... | Article written by Paul M
..Sep 16, 2006... .... |
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The merits of Anglo-Welsh popsters The Loves have long been pushed by this site. Like any cherished item though there's always a fear that one day the fondness will pass when confronted by a realisation that the cuddly little ted on your bed no longer has soft fur and shiny black eyes but is now a bald smelly Cyclops. So, imagine my dismay when the first two tracks I spin on this EP fail to stir my loins or get my hips a swivelling like the old days. Verily the bear appears to be no longer hirsute and lawks, it has a hole below its brow... But wait… I'm playing the record at the wrong speed! And, I've put on the B-side! Bloody cryptic labels! Spinned at the right speed, the two tracks are unsurprisingly improved somewhat but still they're not quite the peaks of yore... Has ted got alopecia and an ocular infection? Luckily, track 1 over on the A-side, Xs and Os, is much better, a singalonga slab of harmonic blues… but the real gem is track 2, the b-side of their 1st ever single She'll Break Your Heart. It's given a glam make-over here and sent tottering onto the catwalk as She'll Break Your Heart… Again. And my God, Mrs Perkins, you're beautiful! Where before it was sweet but plain, a somewhat sparse little number carried along on Simon's nasally vocals, here it's been all Spector-ised, a huge wall of sound production engulfing soaring keys, military percussion, chimes and a terrific Louie Louie-esq 60s riff. A transformation beyond any gurning TV fashionista, I'm telling ya, and yes, ted's as fine and dandy as ever.......
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