Love Sucks

Performer: Various Artists
Producer: Mason Williams (Compilation)
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Audio Remasterer: Dave Schultz. Liner Note Author: Cory Frye. Photographer: Hugh Brown. Every mid-January or so, the music industry pumps out enough love-themed compilation albums to fill the annual Valentine's Day endcaps of every music retailer in America. It's a bit nauseating, frankly. In January 2006, however, Rhino ever so slightly countered this sort of holiday marketing with Love Sucks, a decidedly bitter, dejected, and often downright rotten compilation of anti-love songs. It's a fun idea, for sure, and as is customary for Rhino, the label has done an excellent job compiling this collection. The packaging is colorful and glossy, graced with long, witty liner notes written by Cory Frye that encompass every song here. And yes, the songs are worth mentioning, as all of them are fairly recognizable -- if not the song itself then at least the performer. Every song comes from the rock canon, spanning 1971 (the Velvet Underground's "Who Loves the Sun") to 1992 (Ugly Kid Joe's "Everything About You"). If those two cited songs seem like an odd coupling, that's because they are. Indeed, that's the sort of compilation this is, one that pulls together punk (the Buzzcocks, the Ramones) as well as country-rock (Linda Ronstadt, Gram Parsons), for instance. The odd, sometimes jarring transitions from track to track are half the fun here -- that is, assuming you have a broad taste in rock music. But at only 12 songs (a grand total of 45 minutes), Love Sucks seems brief for an album like this. One well might wish that Rhino would have stretched this CD out to its technological limits, adding another 30 to 35 minutes of music. Another ten or so songs that likewise careen wildly through the rock canon, with only their lyrical themes in common, would certainly add to the fun at hand. Then again, this is a novelty collection, so perhaps it's best to keep the disc brief. In any event, Love Sucks is a fun listen, albeit one that probably only warrants a couple close listens at most and, as a result, isn't a tremendous value, especially considering its brevity. But it is fun, which alone makes it a welcome contrast to the myriad Stan Getz for Lovers-type CDs you're liable to see promoted ad nauseam in the run-up to V-Day. ~ Jason Birchmeier

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