Burn Down The World

This most-welcome 8CD box gathers together all of (or most of) everything this UK band released on a major label (Fontana/Mercury) from 1989-1993...and it shows how important & influential the House of Love were & actually still are...there are the 3 albums, self-titled (Butterfly), Babe Rainbow, & An Audience With The Mind, an expanded version of their odds & sods compilation Spy In The House of Love (now 3 discs) & 2 unreleased live discs, one from the UK & one from a venue near me, the Malibu in Lido Beach, on a long barrier island separate from & across the bay from Long Island, NY... the 3 albums are still fresh & songs classic...moody & tuneful Britpop before it became Britpop in the 90s...commercially at the time, these records were deemed failures because their chart positions in the UK did not reflect the quality of the music or their cultlike & growing fanbase, and this response puzzled & depressed Guy Chadwick because he felt he was only giving his best & the songs themselves were great, and in 1993, the label dropped the band & Guy threw in the towel as he felt totally defeated!! BUT NOW in hindsight, the HOL are deemed important because they fill the hole in UK guitar rock between the Smiths & Stone Roses...besides that, for me, the HOL are parallel to the fellow feedback-flavoured Scotsmen the Jesus & Mary Chain, using noise & close harmony to flavour their tuneful guitar pop songs...my first exposure to the HOL was "Christine", from their first album, the self-titled (Faces) in 1986, the arguably first success for the fledgling Creation label...been a fan ever since...Cherry Red reissued that first album as a killer 5CD set a few years ago in a nice classy hardcover bookbox, and this 8CD set is chapter 2 in their saga, and sizewise, the 2 sets go well together on a shelf or a CD rack or tower, nice & compact, and the booklet is good reading...one thing I found out on one of the live concerts, their gem of a song "Shine On", Guy Chadwick said was about Jesus...I am an atheist, so I was like oh jeez/oh no, but it didn't take away my enjoyment of the song, the band, or their catalogue, to my amazement, it can just be interpreted in a myriad of ways, which is that with all the best music really...also, 1993 was not the end cuz Guy, after many years of depression & a much-needed break from music, he got himself together & formed a new lineup which got people excited...his new record, the 2nd with the new lineup, 2022's "A State Of Grace" on Cherry Red, is just superb...it's a great time to both appreciate the HOL, with a reappraisal of the classic work AND new music, and to BE Guy Chadwick...I hope he feels both appreciated and vindicated...he deserves it...

Finding individual House of Love recordings in the United States takes a lot of time and patience, so it’s a blessing to see the band’s entire Fontana era here, including the four albums, earlier versions, some live recordings, etc., in a handsome slip case. Since information on the band is scarce in this country, the enclosed booklet helps fill in the story of the band in the early nineties.

If you like House of Love, don’t miss this box set. Great price!

Just as the description. Thank you for the fast shipping and perfect condition box set.