Love spits out blah 'Trysome'

Love Spit Love

If you're a die-hard Psychedelic Furs fan then you'll probably like this sophomore effort, "Trysome Eatone," from ex-Furs front-man Richard Butler and the rest of his latest band, Love Spit Love. Richard Butler's raspy voice immediately brings you back to the collars-up days of the mid-to-late '80s Psychedelic Furs, "Pretty in Pink" and other asymmetrical hair hits. But, the rest of you may not find enough sonic dip for your listening chips to stay at this party for long. If you weren't into the Furs back in the day, you may not understand the emotional connection or the retro-sentimentality here.

Love Spit Love is definitely pinned in by Butler's trademark Tom Waits-without-testicles voice, but that may not be such a bad thing. Richard Butler could sing "Row Row Row Your Boat" and it would sound like a Psychedelic Furs tune. Oops, I mean a L

Love Spit Love can't seem to find its niche with its latest, "Trysome Eatone."

ove Spit Love tune. Anyhow, "Trysome Eatone" has a 50/50 mix of keepers and throwaways. Songs like the band's first single, "Long Long Time" and "Well Well Well," can probably be skipped without much grief.

It's not that these tunes are all that bad; they're just bland. "Well Well Well" starts off with cliché-slash-taboo-slash-faux-slash-annoying lyrics: "This little piggy's got more than anybody's got / He's been struck dumbstruck / What about me / Mirror man mirror me."

News Flash! If you want to start a band and make a good song, don't start your song with a nursery rhyme rip-off.

"More Than Money" tries to be a techno-thrashy song, but it just doesn't come off as genuine. These chaps are searching real hard, but seem to have come up short. "Little Fist" sounds like Richard Butler entered and won the "Sing with the Stone Temple Pilots (or their ersatz spin-off band Talk Show) contest." Beware! Love Spit Love tries to find its sound somewhere in "Trysome Eatone," but it can't come to a consensus. I thought that's what over-priced b-side singles where all about.

OK, so the picture painted so far has been drab, but there are a few swatches of brightness and color on "Trysome Eatone." The tracks "Fall On Tears," "7 Years," and "All God's Children," breathe a little life into "Trysome Eatone." "Fall On Tears" sounds more like Love Spit Love's last album.

The melodies swoon and skip around Dick Butler's gravely vocals like electronic gyroscopes on pendulums of bliss. Love Spit Love aches for a niche, yet it can't find one.

If Love Spit Love sticks with tasty aural platters such as "Fall On Tears," and "7 years," it might have some better recipes to give the musical world; but until that happens save your cash and buy an old Psychedelic Furs album.

- Chris Felax

09-22-97