Wednesday, April 13, 2011


The House of Love- S/T "Butterfly Album" (1990) MP3 & FLAC


"In a garden in the house of love, sitting lonely on a plastic chair, sun is cruel when he hides away. I need a sister, I'll just stay."

A lush, stunning, overwrought masterpiece of an album, The House of Love's second consecutive self-titled LP (the first long-player born of their ill-fated relationship with Fontana Records) stands as one of the great indie releases of the nineties, even though its status as the missing link between Post-Punk and Brit-Pop has all but assured it of a slow descent into relative obscurity. Legend has it that the recording sessions for the album were a nightmare, as the band was not only quickly fragmenting, but was also saddled with an artistically unsympathetic producer. Despite all this, House of Love is both cohesive and dynamic. The album opens with "Hannah," a song built around some lovely echoing guitar parts, which are cut through by Guy Chadwick's measured vocals until the chorus, where things are kicked up a sonic notch- overall, an outstandingly constructed song. The next track, a re-recording of the pre-album single "Shine On," is just as good; though the lyrics are obscure, melodically, this is one of The House of Love's most memorable songs. The final part of the opening trilogy, "Beatles and the Stones," is a shimmering, gorgeous ballad, whose theme is more about isolation than sixties nostalgia. Criminally out of print, this is, nevertheless, an album not to be missed.

House of Love (aka "Butterfly" or "Fontana" Album)
 1. Hannah  (5:42)
 2. Shine On  (4:00)
 3. Beatles and the Stones  (5:42)
 4. Shake and Crawl  (3:40)
 5. Hedonist  (3:36)
 6. I Don't Know Why I Love You  (3:30)
 7. Never  (3:44)
 8. Someone's Got to Love You  (3:40)
 9. In a Room  (4:05)
10. Blind  (3:44)
11. 32nd Floor  (4:06)
12. Se Dest  (5:02)



Pubblicato da voixautre at 3:16 PM
(La) luna Lexicon: , , , , , , , , ,

14 comments:

  1. scurfieApril 13, 2011 at 4:35 PM

    I have the 1986-88 Creation recordings and it does not have the first track from this one, "Hannah", which is one incredible song. Thanks for this post!

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  2. voixautreApril 13, 2011 at 4:50 PM

    scurfie, none of these versions are on that comp. This was recorded for Fontana after they left Creation

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  3. DKApril 13, 2011 at 5:49 PM

    Very nice - many thanks!

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  4. leakingwaterApril 13, 2011 at 8:45 PM

    The previous s/t is much better than this one imo. There was just something missing after Terry Bickers left the band.

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  5. voixautreApril 13, 2011 at 8:50 PM

    leakingwater, Bickers contributed some to this album. Most people agree with you about the previous album, but I've always liked this one best. I'd kill for a decent remaster of this.

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  6. DaveApril 14, 2011 at 4:27 AM

    I have heard many good reviews of this band. I will take the opportunity to listen to this record.
    Thanks for posting, man!

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  7. scurfieApril 14, 2011 at 5:49 AM

    I was thrown because Creation has "Shine On". After reading up I understand what happened.

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  8. Ralph DodgerApril 14, 2011 at 6:07 AM

    This is one of my fave albums of all time. Classic after classic - Shine On, Beatles and the Stones, I Don't Know Why I Love You, Never,
    Blind - I'm getting shivers down my spine just thinking about it, let alone listening to it.

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  9. voixautreApril 14, 2011 at 9:36 AM

    El Lovecrafto, I also posted their earlier recordings which are just as good if not better:

    http://killingmoonmusic.blogspot.com/2011/01/house-of-love-1986-1988-creation.html

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  10. voixautreApril 14, 2011 at 9:37 AM

    scurfie, few bands have a more confusing discography than THOL in the early days. They started out with three self-titled albums!

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  11. voixautreApril 14, 2011 at 9:41 AM

    Ralph, I'm with you on that- one of my absolute favorites. It never fails to transport me to the summer of 1990 when I was doing the Thoreau/Walden thing and living alone in a cabin on the side of a mountain. I'd return to civilization once every ten days or so. The only downsides were that I lived on peanuts and pepsi and the damn cabin was haunted

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  12. AnonymousApril 14, 2011 at 1:32 PM

    Just what I requested for. Thank you so much, voixautre!

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  13. iggy1April 14, 2011 at 1:52 PM

    'Fontana' album is really classic album of indie music. As someone stated in amazon comments, it appeared in wrong time, somewhere between madchester and brit-pop!They could have really been huge! You can hear influence of THOL in Coldplay, Keane and many other brit bands from 00's.I still remember when I bought this vinyl and the thrill of my first listening.
    Also I had a luck to be at their concert in Zagreb in 1991 and somewhere I still have black T-shirt with white butterfly on front side and number 90 on the back. Thank you for bringing such priceless memories to my life after so many years...Wonderful album!

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  14. voixautreApril 14, 2011 at 2:12 PM

    iggy1, thanks for the great comment. I really agree about this band appearing at the wrong time, but then again, it's also what makes them special

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