House of Love: unjustly neglected?

I can't help but feel that Chadwick's occasionally rather odd and even more occasionally rather shite lyrics had a little to do with why they never got their props, as it were.

God knows that didn't stop, say, Spiritualized from getting popular.

I loved them at the time -- the one time I saw them live in 1990 opening for Peter Murphy (yes it's true) was a very good show, and I could happily listen to the first album and the butterfly album over and over again if I were so inclined. At their best they captured a certain deep blue melancholy mixed with energy that I greatly enjoyed.

HOWEVER: "Yer' Eyes" as the absolute motherfucking perfect (if actually a tad too early) pinnacle of that living breathing oxymoron: anthemic indie. Discuss.

(yes, even more than "Shine On")

*cries* I try to have fun and this is what I get.

("Your Eyes" is good too, but it's no "Promenade", "I Was Right", "Recognise" or "Put Me In Your Movie", now is it?)

Or an "East Side Stories" or "Holiday," yes. But it's still pretty damn good, indeed.

Chadwich was what, pushing 60 when the first House of Love record came out? That might've hamstrung their ability to be popular darlings. They would've been more popular if he had kept the Nick Rhodes look he was sporting prior to HoL.

"Love in a Car" is a beauty and a half, but "Man to Child" and "Salome" rank just as high from that album. Oh yeah, and that "Christine" song, was that popular? ;-)

Still, I saw Guy Chadwick live a few years ago, playing to a small but adulatory crowd. On that night I felt that I was watching a man unjustly robbed of fame and fortune.

The Dave Cavanagh book about Creation is fascinating on the rise and fall of the House of Love. You could almost imagine turning their story into a film, with the whole thing as a morality tale about corruption and hubris.

Shine On ('87 vers.)
Nothing To Me
Christine
Hope
Sulphur
Salome
Happy
Destroy the Heart
Blind (b-side vers.)
Mr. Jo
Safe (single vers.)
Hannah
The Beatles and the Stones (album vers.)
Shake and Crawl
I Don't Know Why I Love You
In a Room
Love II
Glorify Me
Love IV
Love V
The Girl With the Loneliest Eyes
Feel

(totally ignores 'Audience', but covers most singles and some unbelievable b-sides. 80:11)

http://www.infinitemonkeys.co.uk/agno3/terry_and_guy/terry_and_guy%20-%2012.jpg

here are more: http://www.infinitemonkeys.co.uk/agno3/terry_and_guy/01.html

I have never heard them before: this old 'Destroy the Heart'; the tremendous riff that starts 'Nothing To Me'; and now 'Plastic'.

Don't you just hate it when a band decides 'do an acoustic session'? I can't stand it, it's as if they're trying to prove they're real musicians. It sounded shit. Electric instruments are the business.

Never had a chance to see HoL with Bickers, at least back then. Whether the reunited band can fully do the business on that front is another question.

Then the Stone Roses made it cool to get off an indie label and if you were on one you were an indie "saddo". (Not "on one" in that sense).

I remember seeing Chadders on Rapido arguing about this, and he made a sensible case; trouble was, he did it in the style of Prince Charles.

Babe Rainbow is a great record, which despite getting I think record of the month in Select was straight to bargain bin territory. The record after that, can't remember when it came out but it was the same day as the first Verve LP was total rubbish; the best track on it having been one of the B-sides from one of the previous record's singles.

I remember they sounded (and looked?) strangely obselete when that The Stone Roses album started getting big.

Actually the sleeve says it's reproduced with kind permission of Peter Blake and PETE TOWNSHEND.

I should know, being a massive W!H!O! fan.

and "Marble"

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-House-of-Love-She-Paints-Words-in-Red.jpg

The brand-new album from The House of Love will be titled She Paints Words in Red and is expected to be released in March or April on Cherry Red Records, according to an announcement on the band’s Facebook page that also revealed the cover art for the group’s second post-reunion effort and fifth record overall.

Last week, the House of Love’s page made the surprise revelation that a new album had been completed and delivered “fully mastered and mixed.” A firm release date for She Paints Words in Red has not yet been set, nor has a tracklist been revealed.

The current House of Love lineup features original members Guy Chadwick (vocals, guitar), Terry Bickers (guitar) and Pete Evans (drums), plus new(er) bassist Matt Jury. That lineup recorded and released Days Run Away in 2005 and has toured sporadically in the intervening years, playing, most recently, its only 2012 concert at a festival in Poland last summer.

is it my imagination or is this new HoL album a staggeringly dull piece of work?

reading between the lines thats kinda what the mojo review said.
shame as i thought 'days run away' was not half bad ...

A band that, by all logic, going by my established taste, I should love.

And yet, every time I hear them, it's just uneventful.

And I've tried at least three times, wholeheartedly to appreciate them.

Alas, no.

I thought Days Run Away was great. This new one is not as good.

I thought Days Run Away was great. This new one is not as good.

i agree. there was easily half a classic album there ..

and reading between the ever so polite review in mojo recently, i kinda guessed re the new one.

shame.

oh look, i'm repeating myself ..

I quite like the new one.

So I took a little look back...

http://thequietus.com/articles/13828-the-house-of-love-debut-album

i noticed that! looking forward to reading it later

I saw them (25 after I last saw them) last week at the Lexington in Islington - they were terrific.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3778/10860718564_7f9c40e5a4_z.jpg

25 years, that is.

Only ever saw them play just once back in 1987 when they supported the Mighty Lemon Drops at Southampton Uni - it was just after the release of Shine On the first time round and they still had Andrea in the band (had heard the single on John Peel a few nights before). They were pretty good but I really wished I'd managed to catch them a bit later on too.

Only saw them the once on a US tour opening for Peter Murphy in 1990, so Bickers was already out -- still a good show, though, and I know a lot of folks there for PM who became fans afterward.

I still think that the shows of theirs I saw in 1988 were among the best I've ever seen.

Interviewed them last year. Chadwick is a very prickly fella.

I must be listening to the butterfly album for 25 years now and it never grows old. I cant understand the complaints (besides the odd crap lyric, perhaps) about it upthread

I never dug "Babe Rainbow" tho except for "Feel"

Chadwich was what, pushing 60 when the first House of Love record came out? That might've hamstrung their ability to be popular darlings.

So what is he now, 85?! Cmon.

'Shine On' remains an absolutely killer single.

Is there any truth to the story of one member of the band being thrown out of a moving car circa their initial breakup?

That's Terry Bickers. November 30, 1989. After a gig at Bangor University the previous night, the group were travelling back along the M48. Bickers had been off his tits on mushrooms the previous night, and the rest of the band and crew were sick of him. In the van, Bickers was shouting dialogue from the Exorcist, then started setting fire to banknotes. When they stopped at Aust services, Pete Evans punched Bickers six times in the face, then announced he was leaving the House of Love. He was persuaded to stay only when assured Bickers would be left at the services, and was no longer in the band. But no one was thrown from a moving vehicle.

did you guys see this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG-W4JZXUz8&t=45s

The House Of Love: The Making Of 'The House Of Love' [Album Stories]

No, but I can't wait to watch it! What a lovely band that no-one I know knows.

it's not wildly exciting tbh, but it's good to see them alive and well and it's nice that there's enough interest in them to warrant such a thing. apparently there's like a 5-disc version of the s/t coming out to mark the 30th anniversary, which is probably way more HOL than i really need. and they toured the uk earlier this month, which i totally missed

Well this'll do:

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/the-house-of-love-burn-down-the-world-8cd-box-set/

DISC ONE
THE HOUSE OF LOVE (PLUS)
1 Hannah
2 Shine On
3 Beatles And The Stones
4 Shake And Crawl
5 Hedonist
6 I Don’t Know Why I Love You
7 Never
8 Someone’s Got To Love You
9 In A Room
10 Blind
11 32nd Floor
12 Se Dest
BONUS TRACKS
13 Never (Chocolate Factory Demo)*
14 Beatles And The Stones (Chocolate Factory Demo)*
15 In A Room (Chocolate Factory Demo)*
16 Se Dest (Chocolate Factory Demo)*
17 Someone’s Got To Love You (Chocolate Factory Demo)*
18 Waiting In Water (Chocolate Factory Demo)*
19 Man To Child (Live)*
20 Nothing To Me (Live)*
*previously unreleased

DISC TWO
BABE RAINBOW (PLUS)
1 You Don’t Understand
+2 Crush Me
3 Cruel
4 High In Your Face
5 Fade Away
6 Feel
7 The Girl With The Loneliest Eyes
8 Burn Down The World
9 Philly Phile
10 Yer Eyes
BONUS TRACKS
11 Burn Down The World (Eel Pie Reference Mix)*
12 Cruel (Eel Pie Extended Reference Mix)*
13 Feel (Eel Pie Extended Reference Mix)*
14 Yer Eyes (Eel Pie Reference Mix)
15 Crush Me (Demo)*
*previously unreleased

DISC THREE
AUDIENCE WITH THE MIND (PLUS)
1 Sweet Anatomy
2 Audience With The Mind
3 Haloes
4 Erosion
5 Call Me
6 Shining On
7 Portrait In Atlanta
8 Corridors
9 Hollow
10 All Night Long
11 Into The Tunnel
12 You’ve Got To Feel
BONUS TRACKS
13 Train Song*
14 Into The Tunnel (Alternate)
*previously unreleased

DISC FOUR
A SPY IN THE HOUSE OF LOVE (PT 1)
1 Safe
2 Marble
3 D Song ’89
4 Scratched Inside
5 Phone
6 Cut The Fool Down 7 Ray
8 Love II
9 Baby Teen
10 Love III
11 Soft As Fire
12 Love IV
13 No Fire
14 Love V
15 Shake and Crawl (Demo Version 2)
16 No Fire (Demo)
17 Hannah (Demo)
18 Destroy The Heart (Live 1989)
19 Christine (Live 1989)
20 Man To Child (Live 1989)

DISC FIVE
A SPY IN THE HOUSE OF LOVE (PT 2)
1 No Fire (Promo Mix)
2 Safe (B-Side Version)
3 Secrets
4 I Can’t Stand It
5 Clothes
6 Rouge
7 Phone (B-Side Acoustic Mix)
8 Scratched Inside (B-Side Mix)
9 Marble (B-Side Mix)
10 Never (12″ Version)
11 The Spy
12 I Don’t Know Why I Love You (7″ Version)
13 Rosalyn
14 Allergy
15 Glorify Me
16 Beatles And The Stones (Single Mix)
17 Purple Killer Rose
18 Tea In The Sun
19 Pink Frost
20 Let’s Talk About You

DISC SIX
A SPY IN THE HOUSE OF LOVE (PT 3)
1 It’s All Too Much
2 Strange Brew
3 Sweet Anatomy (Alternate Version)
4 Kiss The Fountain
5 Third Generation Liquid Song
6 The Last Edition Of Love
7 Love 10
8 Skin 2 Phase 2
9 Shine On (Acoustic)
10 Hope (Acoustic)
11 Hannah (Acoustic)
12 I Don’t Know Why I Love You (Acoustic)
13 Crush Me (Acoustic)
14 The Girl With The Loneliest Eyes (Acoustic)
15 Phillyphile (Acoustic)
16 Fade Away (Acoustic)
17 Baby Teen (Radio Edit)
18 I Don’t Know Why I Love You (7″ Drip Of Rockman Mix)
19 Who by Fire
20 Rock Your Baby
21 Fall In Love With Me

DISC SEVEN
LIVE IN LEICESTER (1990)
1 Hannah
2 I Don’t Know Why I Love You
3 In A Room
4 Beatles And The Stones
5 Nothing To Me
6 Road
7 Plastic
8 Love In A Car
9 Se Dest
10 Never
11 Hope
12 Salome
13 Shine On
14 Christine
15 Man To Child
16 Destroy The Heart
17 I Can’t Stand It
All tracks previously unreleased

DISC EIGHT
LIVE IN LONDON AND NEW YORK (1991-1992)
1 Phone (London)
2 Hannah (London)
3 Love 2 (London)
4 High In Your Face (New York)
5 You Don’t Understand (New York)
6 Burn Down The World (New York)
7 Christine (New York)
8 Feel (New York)
9 Hannah (New York)
10 Shine On (New York)
11 The Girl With The Loneliest Eyes (New York)
12 Cruel (New York)
13 I Don’t know Why I Love You (New York)
All tracks previously unreleased

Also touring in the US again, might have to catch them once more after, what, thirty plus years...

All new lineup for the tour though (no Terry Bickers)

Most unjustly neglected song by this unjustly neglected band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpcY9QyEi10

xpost Pity. Guess that'll never happen for me!

"Guy Chambers"?

Guy-Guy Chadwick-Chambers-Featherstonehaugh

I'm still making my way through Burn Down The World - the live tracks aren't doing much for me, but the new master of the Butterfly album and Babe Rainbow justify pulling the trigger. Current generation a/d converters are so much better now and whoever at Cherry Red managed this made sure to do it right.

When it works on their end they do top class work. The rarities alone on this one.

My 16 year old son plays bass and recently took part in a local thing for young bands where they all got to perform three songs each in front of a crowd at a proper venue. They all did a rehearsal the week before and when I asked him how it went, he said some older guy asked him if his bass needed tuning, and he did that typical teenager 'i dunno' shrug so the guy just grabbed it off him and tuned it up anyway.

When we went to the gig, my son pointed to a guy sat at the side of the stage who was being kind of a guitar tech/accompanist, and said that's the guy who tuned my bass. and I looked at this man who was probably 5 or 6 years older than me, just sat there looking really calm and gentle and just enjoying helping out all these young bands, and he looked naggingly familiar like I'd seen his face a hundred times before, but I just couldn't place him at all. Well, not until the organiser walked up to the stage to get his attention and shouted 'hey terry!'

Wow! Amazing story.

I'll check out the remasters, but the Butterly CD I have (and the streaming versions) sound pretty amazing already - the album has always shimmered.

Babe Rainbow is the one for me… they’re not issuing these individually tho, right?

Pete Evans punched Bickers six times in the face, then announced he was leaving the House of Love.

They should have changed their name to House of Blows.

Anyone catch them in New York? I'm psyched for the show here Sunday.

Also, sad news, just learned that Andrea Heukamp, original HoL rhythm guitarist/singer, recently died. I guess after she left the band she moved back to Germany and lived somewhat as a recluse, reportedly spending the last several years cleaning houses. She was found dead at 57. RIP.

jesus, that's sad news

aw that sucks
rip

Wow that is rotten.

Is there any particular article or source for that? I'd like to be able to share the news further.

This would be very sad. Andrea Heukamp had been contributing backing vocals to a band in Münster called Loving the Sun.

There was an obituary published in Münster earlier this month for a 57-year-old employee of the city called Andrea Heukamp, so that could well be her.

She sang vocals on what is probably my favourite House of Love track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lut2wm-qtdk

I think I saw it on a Steve Hoffman forum thread, and it came by way of a post from someone claiming to be her cousin in a German Rolling Stone forum:

https://forum.rollingstone.de/foren/reply/11898217/

Google translate says:

Rest in peace Andrea Heukamp. (guitarist and background singer of The House Of Love and girlfriend of Chris Groothuisen)

Andrea is my cousin, lived in Munster after she left the band. She started with music in a shared apartment here in Münsterland, that's where she met Chris and they later went to London, founded House Of Love and recorded songs and played concerts. The music business and drugs bothered her, she became seriously ill and withdrew. In Münster she lived a secluded life and in recent years has made a living doing housekeeping jobs. My younger brother was in contact with my her right up to the end, he now arranges everything necessary with a friend/partner of Andrea's.
Andrea didn't get in touch last week as agreed, she was found lying dead in her room. A heart attack was probably the cause of death. Andrea was only 57 years old.

Take care up there, Andrea. It wasn't so nice for you down here. Bye.

So I guess there's a chance it's not accurate, but at the same time, no reason to believe it isn't, sadly.

perhaps they are unjustly neglected in 2023. I splurged for the Fontana box and yes it sounds wonderful. I like the butterfly album a lot more now, except for “never”.

I don’t really know what to say about this music. I think their records sound fabulous and guy had a real unique sensitive middle aged guy voice. The guitar playing is exquisite and vividly colorful, lush like fresh fruit, the drums hit just right in that British anthemic way…

“shine on” really is sheer perfection, whichever version

unjustly neglected perfection!