A relatively unsung gem from the Britpop era. Love and Other Demons kicks off with the gnarled, discordant guitar squall of "Living with the Human Machines", before settling on a noire, string-laden sound to accompany the album's themes of addiction and alienation. If that description reminds you of Suede, it should: Strangelove opened for Suede on their Dog Man Star tour, and Brett Anderson sings backing vocals on a couple of tracks here. They also opened for Manic Street Preachers just before Richey Edwards' disappearance, and for Radiohead on one of their first major tours. So clearly, they were in rarified Britrock company, and they had the tunes to back up the hype, but vocalist Patrick Duff chose wellness over rock stardom -- he'd been struggling with serious addiction and mental health issues -- and ended the band shortly after their next album came out.
Track listing:
1. Living with the Human Machines
2. Beautiful Alone
3. Sway
4. 20th Century Cold
5. She's Everywhere
6. #1432
7. Casualties
8. Spiders and Flies
9. Elin's Photograph
10. The Sea of Black
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I remember a live show in Pordenone: they came out, these good songs, Great guitars and all then they start to kiss each other on the mouth... End of the show for me.
ReplyDeletema che cazzo di commento .......................................
ReplyDeleteAlex Lee (Strangelove keyboardist) ended up joining Suede when Neil Codling had to leave the band for health reasons.
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