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Saturday 10 September 2011

Random Review #108 Love And Money - Littledeath

C3S11CD13 The late Eighties early Nineties saw a number of Scottish bands emerge and obtain chart success, some was fleeting, Hipsway, Goodbye Mr McKenzie (soon to become Garbage) The Blue Nile and some would bring bands to our attention that would stay in the public eye for many years (Texas and Deacon Blue). Love and Money fall into the first category. Love and Money’s chance came between 1989 and 1991 when their single Strange Kind Of Love hit 45 and their album Dogs In The Traffic made it to number 41, after this dalliance of sorts with the charts Love and Money retreated back to Scotland and although they continued to produce music as Love and Money or solo (main man James Grant) they were never to threaten the mainstream ago.

This album was their fourth and last as a band I believe, and I’m trying to work out where I got my copy as it is stamped as a promotional copy. James Grant who fronts the band and writes all the songs is a song writer that deserves to be heard, he has honey smooth vocals and a knack for writing a grown up tune with pop sensibilities. The album opens and closes with Littledeath the opening track being a reprise of the final track and it’s a wonderful instrumental of sorts (minor backing vocals) which reminds me of the Godfather films, it’s atmospheric and feels very Italian for some reason. We are firmly back in Scotland with track 2 with The Last Ship On The River, although the track is lamenting the end of shipbuilding on the Clyde it’s very upbeat in tempo. The pace is mixed on the album the quality never dips other than Bitched Breach which comes over as The The outtake, but I’ll forgive them for that track. Highlights for be other that the tracks mentioned are Don’t Be Afraid of The Dark, and the Gospel tinged Keep Looking For The Light.

I’m not sure if this is my favourite Love and Money album but it does contain some of my tracks by the band and if you can get your hands on it (currently £35 on Amazon) it’s worth a punt, but if you’re new to the band Cheap Pearls and Whisky Dreams a low budget Best of Collection would be a great starting point.

I notice that Love and Money are back together and placing a one off gig in Edinburgh, I’m not sure but I hope this is the shape of things to come.

Mark 7/10

In the absence of any official video and also any decent live footage I have posted Love & Moneys nearly hit


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