A Spy in the House of Love

I'm still pretty new to a lot of rock/pop, having spent most of my post-teenage years shunning it in favor of punk. Since embracing it a few years ago, I've stumbled upon a handful of excellent bands that I now consider some of my all-time favorites. Visiting Rebel Rebel - a great record store in NYC's West Village - I recently found another gem to add to the list, the House of Love. Though largely forgotten about these days, the HOL gained a lot of attention and a few top 40 singles during their heyday in the late 80's - early 90's. Fronted by the poetic and somewhat odd-looking Guy Chadwick, this band rose from a few influential singles in the mid 80's to a powerful self-titled LP on Creation, before signing onto major label, Fontana for a second self-titled LP that is equally as good. After that, the band, as Chadwick puts it "lost the plot really badly," releasing two less-than-stellar records before calling it quits in 1993 or so. The early stuff, however, is first-class - somewhere in between Johnny Marr's beautiful guitar rock and the more atmospheric/dreamy shoegaze sound that followed. Both are available from the UK re-issue label Renascent, and while pretty pricey for US fans paying import prices, I think they're totally worth it.