THE HOUSE OF LOVE

The House Of Love (reissue, 1987) 8/10 A Creation classic is fattened up for its 30th anniversary There aren’t many albums of this era that can stretch to five discs without getting spread too thin. But the combustible energy that The House Of Love possessed through the band’s first two years is abundantly clear throughout Cherry Red’s super-deluxe 30th-anniversary edition of 1987’s most revelatory debut. Even on the scratchiest live recordings here, Guy Chadwick and Terry Bickers are shooting off sparks in all directions. A punchy take on “Never” at Top Rank in Brighton and a scorching “Touch Me” from a night in Groningen are two bursts of glory surfacing here for the first time, Cherry Red having added two more discs to the label’s own three-disc set of six years ago. The most essential supplementary material remains the early studio recordings with guitarist and covocalist Andrea Heukamp, whose departure at the end of ’87 heralded the storms to come. As fine as their first album would be thanks to the likes of “Christine”, “Sulphur” and many further mergers of nervy psych and pop songcraft, the hard, sharp brilliance of the original “Shine On” and “Real Animal” were hard to top during and after The House Of Love’s Creation tenure. Listeners daunted by the set’s enormity will find a more concise primer on what made the band so exciting in the full disc of Peel Sessions of 1988-’89. The upcoming gigs to mark the birthday will hopefully provide further elucidation. Extras: 8/10. The super-deluxe CD and LP edition come with four discs of rare demo, studio and live tracks, plus a hardback book.