Loves - One-Two-Three

by Sarah Maybank

published: 7 / 10 / 2007

Label: Fortuna POP!
Format: CDS

intro

Catchy glam-rock spiced with punk-rock aggression from 60's and 70's influenced Welsh group, the Loves

Try all the ECT you want, hapless punter. Attack your cerebral cortex with shards of broken glass if you must. But by cannily utilising the Jackson 5 hypothesis – that one-two-threes stick in your brain as easily as ABC – Simon Love has ensured there’s nothing in the entire spectrum of medical science that’ll get this one out of your head. A football-chant simple glam-rock stomper so catchy it makes Rhianna’s 'Umbrella' sound like free jazz performed on out-of-tune instruments by tone-deaf chimpanzees. This one will be bouncing around your frontal lobes long after you’ve been admitted to the Sunset Home for Elderly Indie Popsters. It sits alongside the country-punkish revenge fantasy 'When I Get My Gun', a revved-up cover of Jonathan Richman’s proto-punk classic, 'Pablo Picasso', and a chiming live version of 'Chelsea Girl', taken from the band’s first album, 'Love'. Like a raucous family reunion in EP format, the songs are all different but clearly share the same DNA – melody in spades, spiced with punk rock aggression, and bristling with teenage energy. “My favourite album is the Velvet Underground’s 'Loaded' because all the songs sound so different to each other. We try to do that and I think that’s why people don’t understand us; we haven’t got an overall sound,” explained Simon Love recently. Prepare to carry on being misunderstood, Loves. And, on this showing, long may it continue.

Track Listing:-

1 One-Two-Three
2 Chelsea Girl (2007)
3 When I Get My Gun
4 Pablo Picasso

Band Links:-

http://www.simonlove.org
http://www.facebook.com/simonloverules
http://www.twitter.com/simonloverules

Label Links:-

http://www.fortunapop.com/
https://twitter.com/fortunapop
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fortuna-POP/202756739792517

Have a Listen:-

interviews

Interview (2007)

Simon Love, the front man with bubblegum punks the Loves, has hired and fired nearly 30 musicians since forming the Loves in his parents' garage in 2000. Sarah Maybank speaks to him about this and his group's much acclaimed second album the Loves

Interview (2002)

live reviews

Toynbee Arts Cafe, London, 21/2/2003

With their debut album out shortly, Cardiff's the Loves are one of the great hopes of British indie pop. Gary Wollen finds their "crash, bang, wallop concoction of the coolest 60's underground chic" and "Bubblegum accessibility" to be irresistible

London Betsey Trotwood, 24/5/2002