The Sun Is Shinin' But It's Rainin' Now

During a period in the late 80s, before The Stone Roses came along (Behind the Music UK's "And then Nirvana came along..."), I was in love with The House Of Love. I think I owned *everything* they produced. B-sides & 7"s ordered via mail correspondence out of the back of Goldmine magazine (this is before the Internet & EBay, mind).

Their first album was a genius mix of Echo & the Bunnymen and The Jesus & Mary Chain. Singer Guy Chadwick sang about The Big Questions. There was hurt and longing and vulnerability and honest naked emotion in equally large quantities. Sound familiar?

Back then, I read NME and Melody Maker religiously, and Guy gave great interview. In one of his later interviews, he mentioned that one of the reasons that he was so fucked up and in such pain was due to something that his parents recently told him about his early childhood. Know where I'm going with this?

From a review of the book "The Primal Wound":
"As an adoptee, I could not have written this book better myself. It is an extremely insightful book which opened up a world of understanding to myself and also to my loved ones. It helped me understand why I am the way that I am, why I do some of the things that I do, why I struggle with love in my life, and why I have this subconscious fear of abandonment and trust."

Shine On, Guy.

The reason that I'm getting into all of this is that The House of Love have reformed and will release a new album next week. The two new songs are posted at Teaching The Indie Kids To Dance Again.

Love You Too Much is destined to be my new Played Too Much Song.

The sun is shinin' but it's rainin now.

The House of Love - Love You Too Much - Yesterday, I promised to explain my house of Love post. But someone in the comments beat me to it. They're back together. Not only that, but in a few weeks, they'll be releasing their first album in 11 years. Their first album with the original lineup in 15 years. Needless to say, for the microscopic group of demented cultists who understand the gravity of this news, it's huge. For the rest of you... well, when "Love You Too Much," the lead single of Days Run Away hits streets on Valentines day... well, hate to say we told you so. This track is infectious, with cowbell bubbling up from out of nowhere, and a singalong chorus that might be what it finally takes for the House to get some long overdue respect.

The House of Love - Gotta Be That Way - The album isn't entirely a departure into Beatlesesque pop though. Gotta Be That Way is a bit more classic HoL. Terry Bickers almost humed vocals communicate a perfect mix of acceptance and despair. It's an optimistic song about the end of optimism. Faith in the loss of faith. We'll even contemplate prayer at this point. And the guitars ring out in hallelujah.