The House Of Love - The House Of Love

Mixed bag of reissues from recently reformed indie unit

Guy Chadwick’s group always seemed too overwrought, far too melodramatic for this writer’s formative years. Compared to the shimmering codas of The Wedding Present and the autistic surrealism of The Fall, the troupe from Camberwell seemed too damn gloomy, without the emotional payback of, say, The Smiths. Listening again after all these years to their self-titled debut, originally released on Creation in 1988, there’s not much to sway one from that opinion. Apart from the pomp and majesty of opener Christine and the passionate Fisherman’s Tale, there seems little to distinguish the music here from that of many an indie also-ran.

Renascent | REN CD 23

Reviewed by Spencer Grady
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