Nick Lowe: Pinker And Prouder Than Previous (1988)

Allmusic -- despite having some good things to say bout this record - complains that there is some average material here, but I like it. It's not Rockpile, but it's good.

Nick Lowe: Nick The Knife (1982)

Anything that Nick releases is worth checking out. I've always loved is voice. This record, while perhaps not as good as the preceding records, is very good.

Nick Lowe: Labour of Lust (1979)

There are some songs that I have heard way too many times. Cruel to be Kind is one of them. I think I would have paid a substantial amount of cash to never hear it again, way back when. Now, after all of these years, I appreciate that it is a really fine song, and I can once again listen to it. But, it does beg the question of why certain radio stations ruin some songs by overplaying them. Another song I heard too many times was Another One Bites the Dust, by Queen. In that case, there can be no redemption, for that song truly sucks.

Labour of Lust is a really great record, packed with gems.

Lowe produced Elvis Costello's first five records, and I think we can argue that those are the best Elvis records.

Love and Rockets: No Big Deal (1989)

Here we have three tunes: No Big Deal (Extended Club Version), No Big Deal (Single Version), and No Words No More. The Spanish and UK pressings had a picture sleeve, but we Canadians got a boring sleeve with a big sticker. My copy is sealed. I remember buying it after i got rid of my turntable, and I have yet to crack the seal. Maybe I should.

Love and Rockets: Motorcycle (1989)

Motorcycle is a tune from the fourth record. The 12" contains four tracks:

Motorcycle
I Feel Speed
Bike
Bikedance

For some reason, the CD single, which I also have, is worth more than the vinyl. I wonder why.

Love and Rockets: Love and Rockets (1989)

For the band's fourth record, they decided to give it the title Love and Rockets. I wonder why. I think we can state that So Alive was the band's biggest success. It's a good tune and this is a good record, but I prefer all of the prior albums to this one.

Oddly, they did not release another record until 1994, and that record was a total surprise because the band replaced its former gothic sound with an electronic sound.

Love and Rockets: No New Tale to Tell (1988)

The UK pressing of this 12" contains four tracks:

No New Tale to Tell
Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven (live)
Love Me (Live)
Earth Sun Moon

I suspect that I might have paid $1 for this.

Love and Rockets: Earth Sun Moon (1988)

This is a limited special edition of Earth Sun Moon that is bundled with a mini-album of five bonus tracks.  The Obi strip says:

"Special limited edition double pack 2x LP.
Includes "Earth • Sun • Moon" and free mini LP.
Over 70 minutes of music for the price of a single LP.
Mini LP also available independently on CD-EP."

Awesome.

Love and Rockets: Earth Sun Moon (1987)

The third album from Love and Rockets produced a genuine hit with No New Tale to Tell. It's a good song, but I wonder why there wasn't a hit from either of the first two records. Also, there are better songs on this record than the hit, but that is usually the case.

Love and Rockets: Kundalini Express (1986)

This single seems not to have been released in Canada. This UK pressing contains the title track, plus Lucifer Sam (again), and Holiday on the Moon.

It looks as though the band loved the cover art for All in My Mind so much that they simply recycled it here.

Love and Rockets: All in My Mind (1986)

I'm not sure if this is an EP or a 12" single, for it contains six tracks. There are two version of the title track, Inside the Outside (once again), Angels and Devils, Holiday on the Moon, and a cover of Syd Barrett's Lucifer Sam. It's a cool record.

Love and Rockets: Express (1986)

I have a bit of a Frankenstein copy of this record. The jacket on my copy is from a Canadian pressing, but the vinyl is the US pressing. As such, the pressing contains Ball of Confusion, a tune that is not on the Canadian pressing, and not listed on my jacket, probably because that track was included on the Canadian pressing of Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven. So the US pressing of the LP has nine tracks, while the Canadian has eight. I have no idea how or why the jacket or record was swapped with another. I guess these things happen. This LP also came with a two foot by three foot poster.

My favourite track from this record has always been Yin And Yang The Flower Pot Man. I've always loved that song. The LP version clocks in at over six minutes. The single version is two minutes shorter. I also love Kundalini Express, but all of the songs are great. Even Allmusic agrees.

Love and Rockets: Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven (1985)

The word that would best describe this feeling
Would be haunted
I touch the clothes you left behind
That still retain your shape and lines
Still haunted
I trace the outline of your eyes
We're in the mirror hypnotized
I'm haunted
I find a solitary hair
Gone and still I reminisce
I'm haunted

I have two pressings of this LP. The first is the original UK pressing, which lacks the first single, Ball of Confusion. That UK pressing contains only seven tracks. On the Canadian pressing, which I also have, Ball of Confusion was added as the first track on side two. This is a really great record. I especially like Haunted When the Minutes Drag. This track is also included on the soundtrack to She's Having a Baby. Oddly, that mediocre film has a pretty good soundtrack.

Love and Rockets: If There's a Heaven Above (1985)

Oddly, there is a Canada Mix of this tune, but my Canadian 12" pressing contains the US Mix. Oh well. The video is the album version. The flipside, as it was with Ball of Confusion, is Inside the Outside, once again.

Love and Rockets: Ball of Confusion (1985)

In May, 1985, the remnants of Bauhaus delivered a new record under the name Love and Rockets. Love and Rockets is really Bauhaus without Peter Murphy and without goth, or most of the goth. The band is comprised of Daniela Ash, Kevin Haskins, and David J. They explored more pop territory, but with an interesting approach. This single, which was released a few months before the band's first full-length LP, contains Ball of Confusion, a Motown classic, written by Norman Whitfield and Barret Strong. Old people might know the Temptations version or maybe even Tina Turner's version.

The flipside of this UK 12" single is Inside the Outside.

Ball of Confusion was not included in the original UK pressing of the band's first LP, but it appears on some regional pressings, including the Canadian release.

Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill (1985)

This is a tribute record to Kurt Weill, and it contains an interesting array of artists, like Sting, Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Stan Ridgway, Van Dyke Parks, Marianne Faithful, Chris Spedding, Richard Butler, John Zorn, Todd Rundgren, Aaron Neville, and a few others I know far less about. It's quite a cast. To me, the highlight has always been Lou Reed's version of September Song.

Loscil: Sketches From New Brighton (2012)

Loscil is really Vancouver's Scott Morgan's ambient/electronic project. This LP, spread over 2 LPs,  was released on the Kranky label. As a note, I pretty much love anything released by Kranky, so I love this record very much. That's all I will say.

I just happened to note the current sale prices on Discogs. Recent copies have sold for between $23 and just under $50, but there are four currently for sale ranging from $31.90 to $77.55. I paid less than $10.

Los Campesinos!: Hello Sadness (2011)

This is the fourth LP from the band. This band likes to change members. Try to understand this statement., from Wikipedia: 

It is the band's first release to feature new drummer Jason (formerly of The Ghost Frequency) and the first full-length release to feature new members Rob and Kim, who had previously first appeared on the All's Well That Ends EP in 2010. The album is also the group's final release to feature violinist Harriet, who left before the album's release, and bassist Ellen who left the band in December 2012.

Got it? 

Los Lobos: By The Light Of The Moon (1987)

I've never studied Spanish, but even I know that Los Lobos means The Wolves. It' s too bad that the band's major breakthrough came well into the band's career with La Bamba. It's also too bad that the collaboration with Paul Simon on Graceland ended in a lawsuit that Los Lobos ultimately lost. It seems that they should have won.

Los Campesinos!: We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed (2008)

 

Is this the second album? Is this an EP?

The band initially did not consider We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed to be their second album, instead considering it a mini-album or an "EEP" (Extended EP).By 2017, the band's members had relented to calling it their second album. Frontman Gareth Campesinos explained to Noisey that "I myself get annoyed when long term fans say "Actually, it's an EP," because I want to be able to say that "my band has released six albums" not "my band has released five albums" because it makes us seem like we've been more important for longer." [source]

Whatever the case, I like it. I paid $7 for this record, which is an incredibly good price. 

The Lords [aka, Lords of the New Church]: The Method to our Madness (1984)

On the cover of the Canadian pressing, the band's name was shortened to The Lords; however, on the spine, it reads: Lords of the New Church. I guess they could not decide. I suppose you could call this band a goth supergroup. It features Stiv Bators (from The Dead Boys), Brian James (from The Damned), Dave Trgunna (from Sham 69), and Nick Turn (from The Barracudas).

The Look People: Small Fish, Big Pond (1990)

"I won't squelch on a loan shark."

This band was always good for a laugh. I think there were generally unknown, but respected: "Look People also attracted many notable musicians as guest players, including Dave Bidini, Ray Montford, Colin Linden, Richard Underhill, Bob Wiseman, Holly Cole and Nash the Slash." [source]

This is a fun record.

LNZNDRF: LNZNDRF (2016)

LNZNDRF, pronounced Lanzendorf is a sort of supergroup. Well, it is if you are fans of the people who formed it. It features two members -- the twins Scott and Bryan Devendorf -- of The National, one of my current favourite bands, plus, Ben Lanz, of Beruit. The first LP is self-titled. the most fascinating thing is that Lanz is, among other tings, a trombonist. Perhaps I gave up too soon. I love this LP. I love it even more because I paid less than $10 for it. Evidently, it's a limited edition on clear vinyl, but I have no idea how many copies there are.

LL Cool J: G.O.A.T. (Featuring James T. Smith) The Greatest Of All Time (2000)

I have a promotional copy of this double LP. It comes in a plain black sleeve. About G.O.A.T., Allmusic said:" It's like listening to the confessions of a horny 14-year-old teenage boy in the girl's locker room." I guess we all knew what we signed up for. I kinda of like parts of the video for Imagine That.