Love and Rockets - "Express" (1986) [Expanded]
Audio CD - Beggars Banquet BBL 2031 CD
Original Recording remastered with bonus tracks
Release date - November 6, 2001
Original release date - September 15, 1986
Total time - 70:18
Track listing:
1. It Could Be Sunshine 4:58
2. Kundalini Express 5:52
3. All In My Mind 4:42
4. Life In Laralay 3:31
5. Yin And Yang (The Flowerpot Man) 5:56
6. Love Me 3:54
7. All In My Mind (Acoustic Version) 5:04
8. An American Dream 6:09
9. Angels And Devils 6:09
10. Holiday On The Moon 6:07
11. Lucifer Sam 3:21
12. B-Side No.1 1:17
13. B-Side No.2 1:31
14. Yin And Yang (The Flowerpot Man) (Remix) 5:29
15. Ball Of Confusion (Usa Mix) 6:16
Personnel:
Daniel Ash — guitar, saxophone, and vocals
David J — bass and vocals
Kevin Haskins — drums and synthesizers
Express is the second album by the British band Love and Rockets, released in 1986 on Beggar's Banquet.
The band continued in the same musical direction as their first album, Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven, with a strong psychedelic and glam rock sound. Although still retaining a bit of their gothic rock sound, the band continued to distance themselves away from their previous work with Bauhaus.
The album contains two versions of "All in My Mind", one of which is labeled as an acoustic version. Although both feature similar lyrics and chord structures, the songs are clearly distinct from each other.
In 2001, the album was remastered and expanded to include two single remixes and several contemporaneous b-sides, including a cover of Pink Floyd's "Lucifer Sam". Two short experimental pieces that had been found on the studio tape masters labeled as "B Side #1" and "B Side #2" were also added. Note that "Ball of Confusion" was released before Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven, but since the USA mix could not be fit on the reissue of that album, it was appended to the Express reissue.
Review from All Music Guide:
Rich in sonic detail, the neo-psychedelic Express offers a listening experience like no other album -- guitars spiral to dizzying heights from beds of sound, arrangements swirl, songs change and mutate. "Kundalini Express" typifies Love and Rockets' approach, chugging along for several verses before breaking open and ascending into the heavens; Anglo-fied Eastern religious imagery and philosophy predominate lyrically, and in tandem with the psychedelic music, offer an almost quasi-religious experience. John A. Rivers (who also co-produced Love and Rockets' first album) outdoes himself with the sound on this disc, offering a huge, unique canvas for the band to paint its sound on: crystalline acoustic guitars cut through thick, distorted tones, and the bass is an equal player to the guitars and drums. "Yin and Yang the Flower Pot Man" is ecstatically upbeat, offering a propulsive rhythm, flailing guitars, and insistent bass -- a compulsively danceable and bliss-inducing track. "An American Dream," meanwhile, is an anthem of sorts, with distinct sections setting apart the moods of hope, disillusionment, and acceptance.
~Jonathan Ball
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