Love [Omnibus Edition] [Box]

Performer: The Cult
Engineer: Mark "Spike" Stent; Steve Brown
Producer: Steve Brown
Distributor: Distribution Select

Notes: The Cult: Ian Astbury (vocals); William H. Duffy (guitar); Jamie Stewart (keyboards, bass). The Cult: Ian Astbury (vocals); William H. Duffy (guitar, background vocals); Jamie Stewart (keyboards, bass, background vocals). Additional personnel: Mark Brzezicki, Nigel Preston (drums); The Soultanas (background vocals). Principally recorded at Jacob's Studio, Farham, England in July & August 1985. Includes liner notes by Pat Gilbert. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Personnel: Ian Astbury (vocals); Billy Duffy (guitar, background vocals); William H. Duffy (guitar); Nigel Preston, Les Warner, Mark Brzezicki (drums); Jackie Challenor, Lorenza Johnson, Mae McKenna (programming). Photographer: Andrew McPherson . The Cult's 1984 debut, DREAMTIME, proved to be an intriguing, if sometimes muddled, combination of early U2 and the Doors, topped off with Ian Astbury's ongoing lyrical fascination with Native American mythology. The immediate follow-up, LOVE, was a notable improvement. Ditching the most overt Doors references in favor of moody neo-psychedelia that sounds like a harder-rocking version of Echo & the Bunnymen, LOVE includes "She Sells Sanctuary" and "Rain." These driving singles introduced the UK band to the American college-radio market and laid the foundation for the group's mainstream commercial breakthrough later in the decade. The rest of the album is nearly up to the level of the singles, with Astbury's less-mannered vocals and Billy Duffy's powerful guitar riffs offering a much more assertive musical presence than ever before. The Cult's 1984 debut, DREAMTIME, proved to be an intriguing, if sometimes muddled, combination of early U2 and the Doors, topped off with Ian Astbury's ongoing lyrical fascination with Native American mythology. The immediate follow-up, LOVE, was a notable improvement. Ditching the most overt Doors references in favor of moody neo-psychedelia that sounds like a harder-rocking version of Echo & the Bunnymen, LOVE includes "She Sells Sanctuary" and "Rain." These driving singles introduced the UK band to the American college-radio market and laid the foundation for the group's mainstream commercial breakthrough later in the decade. The rest of the album is nearly up to the level of the singles, with Astbury's less-mannered vocals and Billy Duffy's powerful guitar riffs offering a much more assertive musical presence than ever before. Wow. England's Beggars Banquet imprint and the Cult have been in full stride in 2009. One has to wonder if it's merely to celebrate the release of what is considered to be a classic and influential album, or if they are trying to convince the rest of the world that this is so. For starters, in North America, where the band actually cracked it, the album has achieved platinum status, and world-wide totals make it at least twice that. The band was a turning point for songwriter/vocalist Ian Astbury and songwriter/guitarist Billy Duffy, and Love was one of the first albums of the period from England to move outside of the entire post-punk/positive punk realm and instead look back to the big-name hard rock bands of the '70s (Led Zeppelin being the primary one), and it created a sound that influenced many acts in its wake. Love has become a classic album. But here is the amazing thing: in March, punters saw a killer 180-gram, limited-edition vinyl reissue of the single "Love" b/w "She Sells Sanctuary." September saw an expanded edition of Love released; it included the original album in remastered form with a bonus disc totaling 11 cuts that included all the tracks that appeared on the band's singles from the period, A- and B-sides, as well as a full-length mix of "Revolution," the long version of "She Sells Sanctuary," and the "Howling Mix" of the same track. Then, to top it off, October, 2009 saw the "Omnibus" edition of Love. This box contains four CDs: the original album in a gatefold sleeve, as well as a separate disc for the singles just as in the previous package. In addition, it includes a full-length disc of demos. The demos include not only the sketched versions of the songs themselves but instrumental versions of "Nirvana," "Revolution," "Waltz," and the original rough mix of "She Sells Sanctuary." (Fans who bought 2000s limited-edition Rare Cult box have this stuff already). As if this weren't enough, there is a very solid live disc from 1985 included as well, recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in October of 1985. The book inside this package contains all of the contents form the expanded edition, plus photos and additional text with snippets from reviews by British rock journalists at the time. In all., it is the ultimate fetish package for a classic album. Neither Beggars nor the Cult have to convince anyone that this recording belongs in the rock pantheon. ~ Thom Jurek

CMJ (1/5/04, p.18) - Ranked #5 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1986" Q (Magazine) (p.124) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]ime has proved The Cult's second album to be a minor masterpiece, a psych-rock epic laced with a bad-trip paranoia..." Record Collector (magazine) (p.99) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The Cult reached a pinnacle with this release....A mixture of goth with hippy, trippy psychedelic vibes..." Record Collector (magazine) (p.82) - "[LOVE] is largely a work of genius..."

The Cult began life as a British post-punk/goth outfit in the early '80s called the Southern Death Cult. In due course, Ian Astbury trimmed down not only the band's name but its sound, embracing '70s-style riff-driven hard rock with the help of former Theatre of Hate guitarist Billy Duffy. In the late '80s, Duffy played Page to Astbury's Plant as the band rose to arena rock stardom and tracks which melodically combined powerful rock with goth underpinnings, such as "She Sells Sanctuary," became rock radio staples.

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