Love and Curses [Vinyl]

It's been a long time since Reigning Sound released a proper album, and that wait has only raised my expectations for "Love and Curses." Sadly, this is a pedestrian effort that sounds like a band trying to recapture what made it great. With a few exceptions (Call Me, Debris, Is it True) the songs lack any individuality or spark. The whole record just kind of coalesces into an uninspired mush of the stereotypical "Reigning Sound" sound.And speaking of sound, I know this is a lo-fi garage record, but this mix is horrible. The organ does little more than play filler chords, and it dominates and washes everything else out, while Greg seems to have forgotten there is a "treble" dial on his amp.I love The Reigning Sound, but they haven't produced a decent album of original material since "Too Much Guitar." I'm getting worried that Greg has run out of inspiration and ideas. Hopefully we wont have to wait five more years for another release and he will prove me wrong. Until then, this will do. Barely.

Love and Curses may be the Reigning Sound's finest studio achievement to date. Prior releases such as  Time Bomb High School  or  Too Much Guitar  contain many fine songs and moments, but don't hold together as well as a "whole album" (all 14 songs in 37 minutes of it) as this one.Greg Cartwright and his ferocious band can tear it up mightily, as demonstrated here on such cardio-workout, garage-rock ravers as "Call Me", "If I Can't Come Back", "Stick Up For Me" (featuring, count `em, just three chords) and "Debris". They don't just melt the speaker cones here, though. They spend a fair amount of time in mid-tempo/quieter territory in such songs as "Something To Hold Onto", "Love Won't Leave You A Song", or "Polly Anne". There's even a genre-bending closer, "Banker And A Liar", that throws a dash of Tom Waits, a generous helping of Dylanesque lyrics and a dollop of the eastern European territory covered by Devotchka into a blender together.Though Mr. Cartwright is not doing an impression of Bruce Springsteen, the shouted, Boss-like vocal inflections and the spirit of Bruce's rave-up songwriting circa 1979 seem to manifest themselves a few times, as on prior releases as well. Here, if you squint a bit, you may be able to hear songs like the opener, "Brake It" and "The Bells" as outtakes from  The River . No wonder Little Steven likes this band so much.This release is living proof that straight-up, well-crafted, retro-influenced-but-not-just-rehashed-oldies, actual Rock-n-Roll(or maybe Garage Rock)played by humans and sung without pitch correction technology is still alive and thrashing out there somewhere, even if you have to look far beyond the major label mainstream to find it.

These guys are already the undisputed kings of the garage. It's a dark garage full of heartfelt, scratchy r&b, soul, psych-pop, rock'n'roll and punk 45's. This album took awhile but it doesn't disappoint at all. No lemons or throw away tunes. The tunes run the full gamut of RS's previous efforts (power-pop/punk bashers, dark brooding ballads, R&B ravers)Greg Cartwright is probably the only feller on earth that can write and sing songs that are filled with the darkest melancholy and lovesick pain and not sound the slightest bit sappy. His voice is a unique gift/weapon.

This is a wonderful album. As a huge music fan who is easily bored and jaded, it takes a lot for an album to totally blow me away. I have been listening to this album pretty much constantly since I picked it up. It's soooooo good!