Strange Kind Of Love [CD]

It pains me to say that this gem of an album housed some of the best peices of music from the late eighties that was barely heard by the masses.

True music fans heard the single 'Halleluiah Man' and then set about finding this album. Released in 1988 it was the follow up to 1986's 'All You Need Is..Love and Money' which spawned the much played singles 'River Of People' and 'The Candybar Express'.

This set was obviously more sophisticated, a top producer in Gary Katz was drafted in to bring a more produced sound rather than the raw edge of the debut.

The songs were more melodic and the lyrics more attuned to everyday people's experiences.
'The Shape Of Things To Come' is a beautiful ballad of the highest quality, heartfelt lyrics which depict the absolute helplessness of the heart when without the object of its desire.
'A Strange Kind Of Love', another single is a cracking dance track, not that my local DJ ever played it, he was far too scared that he'd clear the dancefloor, better to stick with the boring manufactured drivvle that was around!
'Axis Of Love' is a clever use of words to describe the turbulence surrounding the struggles of keeping a relationship. On to another single
'Jocelyn Square' where we get the best lyrics " I still think about you, but only really when it rains" In Scotland it rains a lot!
'Walk The Last Mile' is another slow, moody ballad where we find songwriter James Grant in absolute awe of someone, " In your light I crumble" "Your at the centre of everything I do, wherever I go, I'll walk the last mile with you" A modern day poet indeed!

I agree with the previous reviewer, this reissue should have included the rather great b-sides that are not so available now, especially 'Love Is A Million Miles Away' 'Wanderlust' and 'Set The Night On Fire'.

There was a 4th single released 'Up Escalator' which was aimed at the Christmas market, showcasing three brand new songs, the best of which was 'Soon'

This was the band's most successful album, selling over 250,000 copies if I remember correctly gaining it a silver disc. It deserves to be triple platinum, more people should be aware of this album, Buy it now in your thousands!!

Strange Kind Of Love was one of my absolute favourite CDs of the late 80's and I still have the original CD release on Fontana. It's nice to see it get a well-deserved re-release, but it's a shame that some of the tracks from the album's singles were included too. More on that later.

Onto the album itself. There are just so many great tracks that's it's difficult to know where to start. The album is certainly helped by the discipline instilled by Gary Katz, who was also Steely Dan's producer. James Grant's voice has never sound sweeter than on this album and I think that has a lot to do with Katz's style.

"Halleluiah Man" kicks the whole thing off and is a superb, swaggering thing of beauty - this was the first single from the album way back in 1988 and it really deserved to be an almighty hit. As with the rest of the album, the lyrics are superb and would stand up on their own without music, which you can't say about too many songs: "I'm the back sheep while the shepherd sleeps, I'll do anything to bring the government down".

There were quite a few singles culled from this album, the aforementioned "Halleuiah Man", the title track, "Jocelyn Square" and "Up Escalator", which I think was one single too far.

These singles featured songs which were absolute corkers and for some reason were left of the album. Tracks such as "She Carved Her Name", "Set The Night On Fire" and "Saint Henry" would have set quite nicely along with "Inflammable" and "Avalanche", which are the two best tracks on the album for me. Both are sparkling tracks with Grant's usual clever lyrics.

I can't recommend this album enough. One of the best "lost classics" ever.

LOVE and MONEY had popped out their debut album "All You Need Is..." on Mercury Records in 1986 to critical acclaim, but only slight public interest. All of that changed for the Scottish soul rockers with their sophisticated and smart 2nd album.

"Strange Kind Of Love" was UK released on LP, MC and CD in October 1988 on Fontana SFLP 7, SFMC 7 and 836 49-2 respectively. In keeping with the times, both the cassette and the CD carried a lone bonus track - "Scapegoat" - to entice people away from the 10-track vinyl version. It was also produced by GARY KATZ of STEELY DAN fame and carried the then desirable DDD code on the rear (a Full Digital Recording). I picked up on the title track's CD single and have loved the album ever since - even hoping it might one day get Universal's 2CD DELUXE EDITION treatment...but alas.

Which brings us to this Cherry Red April 2010 reissue on CDMRED442. It's the 11-track CD version with a further 6 bonus demos added on (79:21 minutes). This new version features involvement from two principal members of the original band - lead singer and songwriter JAMES GRANT and Keyboardist PAUL McGEECHAN. The booklet's not bad (Halleluiah has been properly spelled as Hallelujah), but disappointingly its 12-pages excludes the lyrics and a few pictures that came with the original issue and although both of the boys and Katz have provided new comments on the album, they're short and strangely uninformative.

But the really great news is the SOUND...

Paul McGeechan has handled the remaster himself using the original tapes and he's done a fabulous job. The original CD (despite being DDD) used to sound ever so slightly subdued - clinically clean even... Well now it has real muscle and on some tracks is hugely improved to a genuinely thrilling level. The punch out of the slinky "Shape Of Things To Come" is just brill, while "Axis Of Love" has huge guitars and drums now. It's a massively improved remaster and makes the aging original redundant. Guests included Jeff Pocaro of Toto on drums and Timothy B. Schmidt of The Eagles on backing vocals.

The big letdown is the extras. Ok, the six demo tracks are new, but they just sound like lesser run-throughs to me and aren't really that interesting or even different. The pick of the crop is a more brass/harmonica version of "Up Escalator", but the others sound way too much like INXS rejects. Which brings me to what could have been on here...

In the UK Fontana released 4 singles off the album - "Halleluiah Man" (September 1988), "Strange Kind Of Love" (January 1989), "Jocelyn Square" (March 1989) and finally "Up Escalator" (June 1989). As well as CD singles there were a plethora of 7" and 12" single versions - almost all of them with exclusive non-album tracks and extended remixes. Some were truly fantastic songs and have remained firm fan favourites ever since. There's the original 1988 version of "Looking For Angeline" from "Strange Kind Of Love", the lovely "Wanderlust 2" from "Halleluiah Man" and "Saint Henry" from "Jocelyn Square" - it's these that I would have preferred to see on here in upgraded remastered form. Like Deacon Blue, The Silencers, Kate Bush, Lies Damned Lies and Prefab Spout - Love And Money B-sides were always worth collecting. Pity Cherry Red chose not to use some of them here.

To sum up - a fantastic remaster then, disappointing extras and an adequate booklet.

The third member of the band Bass Player BOBBY PATERSON (ex Primal Scream) died in 2006 in Glasgow and he is recalled in the liner notes as their 'absent friend'. It's great to see both him and the album he was involved in remembered so well after all these years in the wilderness...

What a great little band Love And Money was - I remember them with such affection. From here, it was on to their true masterpiece - "Dogs In The Traffic" from 1991 and hopefully Cherry Red will tackle that too.

Recommended.