10 Great Comebacks

Some artists go under the radar for years after being dumped by a fickle record label or are victims of current trends. Some of the artists listed below also had their own personal battles to deal with, but came out at the other end with these killer comeback albums. Craig Stephen presents ten of the finest comebacks …

Tina Turner - Private Dancer (1984)

How low did she go?

After the breakdown of Ike and Tina - both the act and the marriage - Turner became something of a nostalgia act, playing in small venues and Vegas-style cabaret shows to pay off her debts. She’d released two solo albums under her own name since leaving Ike and that last one was in 1979. Love Explosion was a disco-tinged funk album which was not even released in the United States. There followed five years of dead air.

What happened next?

Turner was in her 40s but in an era of Madonna copyists and other young female artists, a major record label took a chance on her. The end result was Private Dancer. It was a team effort with eight producers including Martyn Ware of Heaven 17 credited, and Mark Knopfler and Jeff Beck also on board. There are several covers but Turner’s vocal talents stand out and several singles from it became mega worldwide hits. Commercial radio continues to pound their listeners with ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ to this day.

Morrissey - You Are The Quarry (2004)

How bad was his shit?

Dropped by his record label following 1997′s dismal Maladjusted, Morrissey retreated to the Hollywood Hills, where he would become a bit of a recluse. His devoted fans sat twiddling their thumbs but no one else seemed to be bothered if Morrissey released another record.

What happened?

In 2002 Morrissey went on a world tour parading new songs and a year later signed with Sanctuary. A single, ‘Irish Blood, English Heart’, heralded a beefier sound and the album was along the same lines. Sales of You Are The Quarry on both sides of the Atlantic were excellent and critics generally gave it a thumbs up. The missing years had been dispensed with; Morrissey was a rock star again.

Johnny Cash - American Recordings (1993)

Where are we at?

Like many stars of the 60s and 70s, such as Dylan, Johnny Cash was rejected and neglected in the 1980s. Columbia dropped him and his next label, Mercury, didn’t care much. Health problems, drug issues … yep those too.

Yeah … so?

Cash was offered a deal by producer and American Recordings head Rick Rubin. His label specialised in rap and metal so this was a bizarre sideways move. The recordings were just Cash and a guitar but the critics loved it. The NME said it was "uplifting and life affirming because the message is taught through adversity, ill luck and fighting for survival". In the end of year best album reviews, American Recordings was up there with the best pop, rock, rap and metal albums around, including being rated No.4 in the British monthly Mojo’s annual round-up.

 Elvis Presley - The Comeback Special (1968)

Down the toilet?

By mid-1968, Presley was at a personal and professional low point. He had gained weight, his musical career had been taken over by a series of mediocre movies, and pop music had changed with all the ‘super’ bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Doors. He had been left behind.

What did he do next?

Collaborating with NBC Television, and sidelining his conservative and controlling manager, Colonel Tom Parker, The King appeared on his own show, Singer Presents …. Elvis, but more commonly known as The ’68 Comeback Special. It was a one-hour concert that aired in early December. This was the old Elvis, the leather-jacket wearing rocker and he played hits and new songs. The watching public loved it and the following year Presley released singles such as ‘In The Ghetto’ and ‘Suspicious Minds’ and he was back as pop star rather than a bad actor. 

David Bowie - Black Tie/White Noise (1993)

The lowdown:

Bowie’s solo career had slipped with the disappointing Never Let Me Down in 1987. His next move was surprising: a four-piece called Tin Machine was his attempt at being part of a band again. The self-titled debut was reasonably well received but Tin Machine II is generally considered a poor cousin and received some rather abrasive reviews. The band split due to personal issues.

The comeback:

Bowie’s first solo album in six years was presaged by the brilliant single ‘Jump They Say’ about the tragic life of his brother Terry. Bowie was in Los Angeles at the time of the 1992 riots and Black Tie/White Noise is about that and a plea for racial unity. It isn’t one of his best post-80s albums but it kick started a more productive period.

The House of Love - Days Run Away (2005)

Where were they at?

When guitarist Terry Bickers famously spat the dummy mid-tour in 1989, the band was left without its talisman. By 1993 the band had run itself into the ground and Audience With The Mind, was by far the poorest of the four albums they recorded to that point. They split soon after and didn’t lay a glove on the world for more than a decade.

What happened next?

The troubles of the past seemingly resolved and with Bickers back in the gang, the House of Love got its groove back with the result being this excellent collection. The Guardian was happy with the result. “Their sound is back to its subtle best, all Velvet Underground rhythms and guitars swooping over gentle melodies.”

Dexy’s - One Day I’m Going to Soar (2012)

Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ main man Kevin Rowland was suffering from financial problems, drug addiction and depression following the dismal reception to his first solo album The Wanderer in 1988. Over the next few years he was in and out of rehab and signing on the dole.

What happened next?

There was a band reformation in 2003 but little activity until 2012 and the release of One Day I’m Going to Soar. They were now called simply Dexys and featured old hands like Pete Williams, Mick Talbot, Big Jim Paterson and a new, female vocalist, Madeleine Hyland. Mojo wrote of the album: “Intense, painfully frank, hysterically funny, and in the end, exultant... ODIGTS isn't always an easy listen, but it does offer a fearless experience that invests pop with more theatricality than the form can usually tolerate.”

 Wanda Jackson - The Party Ain’t Over (2011)

Jackson was the Queen of Rockabilly, a massive star in the 1950s and early 60s. But once rock’n’roll became passe so did all those great stars, and Jackson then recorded country, blues and gospel albums. She had never retired and her most recent prior record was in 2006. But as numerous as they were, those albums couldn’t release her from the tag of the former Queen of Rockabilly.

What happened next?

White Stripes’ Jack White offered to produce … and who says no to him? White looked to reconnect the 73-year-old Jackson with her teenage style, resulting in frantic horns and White's fuzzed-out guitar. The result was the surprise return of rockabilly in the 2000s with an album that stood on its own.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono - Double Fantasy (1980)

Please explain:

In early 1975 Lennon released an almost forgotten collection of 1950s and 60s standards, and followed it later that year with a compilation, Shaved Fish, which sold moderately. Lennon spent the next few years as a house-husband.

What happened next?

In 1980, Lennon was inspired by the 2-Tone and new wave scenes that spawned the likes of Madness, The Pretenders and the B-52s. The album he and Yoko Ono made, Double Fantasy, was the ideal comeback, a fresh start for a couple ready to greet the world again. Alas, it turned out to a sad farewell as three weeks after its emphatic release, Lennon was killed by a lone gunman.

AC/DC - Back In Black (1980)

Which ditch were the band in?

Scots-born singer Bon Scott died of acute alcohol poisoning in early 1980. The end seemed nigh for the band with the remaining members considering closing this chapter. Instead, they roped in Brian Johnson, ex of British rock band Geordie. 

And then?

Back In Black was recorded over seven weeks in the Bahamas and released in July 1980. It had the signature guitars and hard rock of AC/DC. The album's all-black cover was designed as a "sign of mourning" for Scott. It sold 50 million copies worldwide and is regarded as one of the best heavy metal albums of all time.

Please Release Me … Top 10 potentially great unheard albums

Nostalgia is a niche sales opportunity in the music industry and labels have become adept at tapping into fans’ desire to have as much music as they can by the artists they adore. I’m thinking of David Bowie’s Toys or Neil Young’s Homegrown which were released about 20 and 40 years after being recorded.

Critical acclaim was unlikely to be foisted upon either album if they were released in 2001 or 1975 respectively, but the focus now is giving the punters what they want.
In the blog’s latest line of compilation lists, Craig Stephen lists a mere 10 albums that never saw the light of day at the time – and probably should have. These include completed albums, works in progress and even just album ideas.

 The Who: Lifehouse (recorded 1971/1972)

After Tommy, The Who intended on doing a science fiction proto-environmental catastrophe rock opera. Sadly, as exciting as this idea sounded, the project was abandoned in favour of the traditional rock delight Who’s Next. Very little of it has not been released (elsewhere) with half a dozen tracks, including ‘Bargain’ and ‘Baba O’Riley’, appearing on Who’s Next and others popping up on Odds and Sods or other albums. But fans still want the album as it was supposed to be recorded and released.

House of Love: Untitled (recorded 1989)

After the burning success of their phenomenal self-titled debut and following their signing to Fontana, the House of Love hit the studio to record what was due to be their second masterpiece. It didn’t quite work out, however. The band was disintegrating and the recording sessions are said to be below par. What is certain is that two singles, ‘Never’ and ‘I Don’t Know Why I Love You’, would have been at the forefront of the album. As would ‘Soft as Fire’ and ‘Safe’, both B-sides but certainly album material. In 1990, after the official second album, Fontana or the Butterfly Album as it is sometimes dubbed, the label issued a collection of B-sides and outtakes called Spy In The House of Love. Among these were four tracks that would have been on that now mythical album. The standout was ‘Marble’, but the other three do hint at the issues the band were experiencing.

The The: Pornography of Despair (recorded 1982)

This would have been Matt Johnson’s debut album under the moniker of The The but was considered too oblique. Several tracks were released as B-sides and some of the album landed on the cassette of Soul Mining, the incredible album that was released in 1983 to massive acclaim and chart success. It is logical to see the merits of this decision as tracks such as ‘This Is The Day’ and ‘Uncertain Smile’ are among the best tracks The The have ever recorded.

 Clare Grogan: Trash Mad (recorded 1987)

When Altered Images broke up in the mid-80s it was only natural that lead singer Clare Grogan be set free on a solo career that capitalised on her beautiful voice and photogenic appearance. Trash Mad was written and recorded and all set to sail in 1987. But … the opening single ‘Love Bomb’, ahem, bombed despite a number of TV appearances. It certainly wasn’t a stinker, in fact it’s a near perfect pop song. Its follow-up ‘Strawberry’ was subsequently shelved and London Records also pulled the album, causing distress to millions of schoolboys. Surely Cherry Red will have eyes on issuing Trash Mad for the first time ever, ending nearly 40 years of hurt.

The Clash: Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg (recorded 1981/1982)

There was the double album (London Calling) and the triple album (Sandinista). How could the Clash possibly follow these lengthy meisterwerks? The original idea was for another double. This was Mick Jones’ baby, but sadly he was outnumbered and outgunned. Fort Bragg was shelved, and instead CBS issued Combat Rock, which is not a bad album to have in your cannon. Jones distilled various elements and influences that The Clash had used previously into a 75-minute, 18-track beast. Fort Bragg would’ve included all of the tracks that made up Combat Rock, and plenty more besides. But ‘Rock the Casbah’ et al would’ve sounded so very different. Various bootlegs have appeared over the years, but the full, unedited and mastered version NEEDS to be given a proper release.

The Bodysnatchers: Untitled (some tracks recorded 1980)

The Bodysnatchers only issued two singles, ‘Easy Life’ and ‘Let’s Do Rock Steady’, eager takes on the ska revival sound that 2-Tone mastered so well. As well as their B-sides, there’s a track that was recorded for John Peel and a version of ‘The Boiler’ which was later covered by singer Rhoda Daker and the Special AKA. In 2014 Dakar recorded an album entitled Rhoda Dakar Sings The Bodysnatchers. You can imagine that the 10 tracks were set to form The Bodysnatchers’ debut album, but it is still a solo effort.

Space: Love You More Than Football (recorded 2000)

Space were everywhere in the 1990s with supernova global hits like ‘Female of the Species’ and ‘The Ballad of Tom Jones’. After the latter, a top five hit in the UK no less, the public’s interest waned and when a single, ‘Diary of a Wimp’, flopped like an octogenarian in a brothel, the Edwyn Collins-produced Love You More Than Football (an impossible construct, of course) was scrapped. Promo copies popped up at the time and the odd track subsequently came out on compilations. It wasn’t till 2019 that a remixed version of the album was included on a boxset of all the band’s material. Is that a proper release for an unissued album? Don’t be so daft, lad.

 Department S: Sub-stance (recorded 1981)

Named after a 70s television series, this English outfit had a surprise UK hit at the end of 1980 with the rather eerie but beguiling ‘Is Vic There?’. Subsequent singles, ‘Going Left Right’ and ‘I Want’, both excellent ditties, flopped and the band have now become known as one-hit wonders rather than the indie stars some liken them to. The album recording sessions were iffy and with poor sales from the two follow-up singles, Stiff Records dropped them. A version of the album has since been released, albeit a very low-key release. Somebody do the proper thing eh!

David Bowie: The Gouster (recorded 1974)

Sometimes there’s a thin line between an unreleased album and the one that came after. The Gouster is one such item. The question is whether it was a bona fide album, or an early version of Young Americans. By 1974 Bowie had become infatuated with American soul and funk. His 1972 single ‘John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)’ was updated with the sound of Detroit and New York for The Gouster. The opening three tracks clocked in at 20 minutes, so only seven tracks would fit onto the vinyl. Four of them, ‘Young Americans’, ‘Somebody Up There Likes Me’, ‘Can You Hear Me’, and ‘Right’ were re-recorded for Young Americans which came out in 1975.  That leaves the abovementioned ‘John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)’, ‘It’s Gonna Be Me’ and ‘Who Can I Be Now?’ as discarded waste. The Gouster appeared as part of the Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976) boxset. 

The Clash: Cut The Crap (1984-ish)

Yes, Cut The Crap was released and I retro-reviewed it [here]. But the version that appeared in 1985 was a travesty, a record that only really involved Joe Strummer and band manager/wannabe producer Bernie Rhodes. Paul Simonon was sidelined, and guitarists Nick Sheppard and Vince White and drummer Pete Howard weren’t even playing. Rhodes used an electronic drum machine instead of Howard. Nevertheless, when the new songs were played live in 1984 they sounded fresh and the demo versions made that year were the sound of a proper band. Rhodes takes all the blame for the dismal final effort and that is fully justified. But there is an album in there, it just needs someone to take the original demo tapes and rework them.

Words Fail Me: A former fanzine writer recalls his days writing fanzines

Craig Stephen on a love of fanzines …

Bored, in between college courses, and with a desire to be noticed, this writer hammered at his keyboard to come up with a string of entertaining fanzines in the heyday of the format.

These A5 wonders were once an important part of the underground media. They were a source of information for music fanatics with music coverage restricted to the weekly newspapers which often bypassed certain bands or genres to the annoyance of many.

In Britain, the black and white paper frenzy began in earnest during punk, with titles such as ‘Ripped and Torn’ and ‘Sniffin’ Glue’, which have virtually entered the mainstream as reference points, and have been compiled into glossy books. As punk was overtaken by post-punk, indie and a myriad of sub-genres, fanzines blossomed, often particular to certain bands or the trend of the month.

In New Zealand, the likes of ‘Empty Heads’, ‘Push’, and ‘Anti-System’ appeared while the Dunedin-based ‘Garage’ fanzine is generally regarded as the daddy of them all, and has recently been compiled in a big fat book costing $59.

My own experience of writing/editing fanzines began while studying at university and with the hopes of having something to add to my rather thin CV. They were an outlet for my writing ambitions as well as my angsty, generally left-wing opinions. And they were also a vehicle to gently annoy people, people who needed to be annoyed. Of course, those people would never have actually read my zines, but that wasn’t the point.

 The first zine was dedicated to the House of Love, and was called ‘Se Dest’ after one of their album tracks. It was a straight-down-the-line band-focused fanzine, with the emphasis on fan. It was short and to the point. While it was strictly a one-off for me, I am pleased to say that ‘Se Dest’ continues as an online publication in the hands of one of the first people to buy that initial edition.

Nevertheless, my mind was more interested on the broader music scene so I did a zine dedicated to the Festive 50, the end-of-year chart of the year’s standout tracks which were aired on the John Peel show during the Christmas break.

It appealed to the list-making side of my brain, and while it was a straight compilation of annual charts from 1976, it had a great title ‘The Recreant Cad’, and a cover star in Kenny Dalglish in a Celtic strip. He wasn’t a cad, just my favourite player growing up. Dave Gedge of the Wedding Present was a buyer.

But the real deal were a series of zines that expanded my musical interest. The first of these, ‘Words Fail Me’, featured a cover drawn in the shape of a whisky bottle and had the words “established in 1997”. The back cover had a map of Angus with my home town Montrose snap bang in the middle.

The emphasis was on not taking myself seriously and to write about subjects that mattered to the still young self. “There is basically no limit to what can be discussed,” I wrote in my introduction trying to entice would-be contributors.

 So, the first article was entitled “Burn the NME” and was a critique of the best-selling music weekly of the time. Just to consolidate my dislike of the owners, editors and writers of that esteemed publication, there was an article called Morrissey versus the Music Press in which I both defended and pilloried the artist, and accused the music press (and that being mainly the NME) of having a vendetta against Mozza. Clearly, I had some internal issues with the music media at the time. Far more constructive was the obituary for Billy MacKenzie of The Associates, a cribbed interview from another fanzine of punk revivalists ‘S*M*A*S*H’, and some record reviews.

The enthusiasm was there, though it’s debatable about the quality. There is certainly a refreshing sense of dry and dark humour throughout, and some of it couldn’t possibly see the light of day in the current climate.

The second edition of ‘Words Fail Me’ is something I am far more prouder of. There are interviews I conducted myself – of Travis before performing one night in Sheffield, of Topper over the phone, Dave Gedge, and Euros from Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, who wasn’t in the mood to talk after the band’s soundcheck but gratefully did so anyway. I stuffed up the recording of the Topper interview, and after writing up what I recalled of the chat almost immediately, made some stuff up based on what I knew of the band.

There were live reviews of acts performing in Sheffield and Hull, and a piece on French arthouse movie Battle of Algiers. Mates contributed short stories and there was a feeling that this was what a fanzine should look like. It was still stapled together, the font types and sizes are all over the place, and it contained several cut and glue pictures, but it was a move forward.

 The third of these zines was issued when I had moved to Croydon in south London. It was not a suburb renowned for producing great bands nor contained any venues of note, but had several excellent record stores including Beanos, which was apparently the biggest independent record store in Europe at the time. The best thing about it were the trains heading to central London or in the other direction to Brighton.

Unfortunately, I can’t locate my own copy of this so I’m unable to offer judgement on it, but I recall it being a continuation of issue 2. It contained one of my own short stories (which I never want to read again!) and a piece on American gangsta novelist Iceberg Slim.

But at this point, the work involved for modest sales was draining, and a career in journalism was taking precedence. Meanwhile, fanzines were being taken over by the phenomenon that was the internet.

In 2023, there isn’t much need for printed music zines with so many avenues online. The DIY cottage industry still exists, and recent Zinefests in Wellington have been dominated by those focused on identity or other personal issues, or comics.

Some music fanzines exist in the UK where the football zine is surviving via veteran publications such as ‘Not The View’ (Celtic) and ‘City Gent’ (Bradford).

You hear that? That was this writer giving himself a firm pat on the back, not due to an out-of-control ego, but for having the motivation and commitment to do something that took an awful lot more work than the finished product would suggest. I put it down to a start in a career that has taken me to New Zealand, into radio and several quality publications, as well as being a published author.

Long live the fanzine. If you know what I mean.

Classic Album Review: Guy Chadwick - Lazy, Soft & Slow (1998)

Craig Stephen looks at House of Love frontman Guy Chadwick’s all too easily overlooked solo debut …   

“Is it today I’m going crazy, come and help me lose my mind, who knows what we might find, maybe ourselves.”

So begins Lazy Soft and Slow, and with it the start of Guy Chadwick’s solo career, a project that promised so much but petered out rather abruptly and would ultimately be a one-album adventure.

The story up to this point is this: the House of Love fizzled out following the underwhelming Audience With the Mind in 1993, and Guy attempted new projects in The Madonnas and then Eye Dream, neither of which managed to take off. However, The Madonnas’ gigs had featured a number of new songs, which would later find a new lease of life on the solo album, notably ‘Crystal Love Song’ and ‘One of These Days’.

The logical next move for Chadwick was to establish himself as a solo artist. Could he become a Julian Cope who’s post Teardrop Explodes career was startlingly successful for a decade-and-a-half, or would the project go the way of Ian McCulloch’s?

Just getting to this stage had taken a considerable effort with Keith Cullen of Setanta Records instrumental in prompting the evidently reticent frontman to record an album.

So, over four years after the band split, Chadwick was ready and motivated to do his own thing. Country music and Leonard Cohen were on the speakers in the house at the time and inevitably rubbed off during the writing and recording sessions.

Suitably, an acoustic guitar was used for the demo sessions. The intention was to go back to a more mellow, softer sound - as the title testifies. 

Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins was roped in as Chadwick’s producer and mixer, with Giles Hall the engineer. Guthrie was the perfect choice: Chadwick didn’t want to make a House of Love record, while Guthrie didn’t want to make a Cocteau Twins record. Two birds, one stone, as it were. Guthrie would also play bass on the new album.

The first fruits of Lazy, Soft & Slow was the single ‘This Strength’, released in November 1997, backed by ‘Wasted In Song’ and ‘Faraway’. The latter B-side also featured on the album, re-recorded and slightly shorter.

A few months passed, bypassing the traditional compilation and big star albums for Christmas and the January fallow period. Then, in February 1998, Lazy Soft & Slow was piled onto record store shelves. Since this was a period when CD was king, there was no LP version. Sadly, that remains the case.

It is not an album that jumps out of the speakers on first listen, or even the second. It’s for those moments when you don’t want robust vocals, or amped-up guitars. It requires the kind of mood as you would be in for a Nick Drake album. ‘Close Your Eyes’ and ‘One of These Days’ fit very much into the aura of the album; languid and beautifully written songs with final track ‘Close Your Eyes’ taking the listener into a hypnotic state.

There are, however, some more athletic tracks, notably ‘You’ve Really Got a Hold of Me’, which celebrates a strong relationship as Chadwick paints a picture of that special someone. “I’m a passenger on a ship of dreams, on a course of love, I think I’m going down.”

There’s a surprise version of Iggy Pop’s ‘Fall In Love With Me’ which first appeared on 1977’s Lust For Life. The original is upbeat, captures the essence of 1970s decadent west Berlin, and has the magical Bowie touch – he co-wrote it after all. Chadwick strips it back by a more than two minutes (gasp!), and turns it into a campfire and toasted marshmallows type of song.

With such ravishing words throughout Lazy, Soft & Slow, Chadwick was reminding the world that he was one of the most talented writers of the era. Of any era, in fact. The entire album displays his knack for lyricism, and despite perhaps not having the dry humour of Morrissey, Chadwick matches the moody, and sadly now conspiracy theorist extraordinaire Mancunian, for captivating vernacularism.

If I’m honest, Lazy, Soft & Slow is an album I have jumped into less regularly than the House of Love albums. Partly due to it needing a certain state of mind, but also because vinyl is now played more commonly to my cat and child.

This is something that needs to be rectified. Many CD-only releases of the 1990s and noughties have been given the vinyl treatment. So should LSS.

Yes, it’s an odd one and it may not be to everyone’s taste, but with it being out of print since 1998, surely someone in the world of music can give it another airing, complete with outtakes, B-sides and what-have-yous. It deserves nothing less.     

Album Review: The House of Love - A State of Grace (2022)

Craig Stephen waited such a long time for the latest House of Love album to arrive he started to fear it never would …

It had been a long time since House of Love released She Paints Words in Red (2013), but in that intervening period gig-goers were teased with some new material that they rightly expected to form a new studio album. It would have been the third LP featuring Terry Bickers since he returned in the early 2000s following his acrimonious departure in 1989. But in 2021 Bickers was off again. This time there wasn’t the friction or enmity of the initial split, with a band statement blaming the pandemic for Guy Chadwick’s decision as he prepared for rescheduled dates in the United States. In a later interview the frontman suggested Bickers declined his invitation as he was loyal to Matt Jury and Pete Evans who had been sacked from the band because Chadwick didn’t want to work with them anymore. It seemed that the new album was in jeopardy.

 But, then, Chadwick announced a new line-up with ex-Idlewild man Keith Osborne on lead guitar, Harry Osborne on bass, and Hugo Degenhardt on drums. Degenhardt had previously worked with, ahem, Rod Stewart and Robbie Williams. These guns for hire would appear with Chadwick on the UK tour of autumn 2022 and the US tour soon after.

The album with the new line-up is a radical departure from the comeback album Days Run Away (2005) and its morose follow-up She Paints Words in Red. I’m actually being quite diplomatic about the latter, it was a stinker, very pastoral, placid and far removed from previous House of Love albums. Chadwick was keen to return to the sound of the band in its earlier days.

State of Grace was recorded in Hastings on England’s south coast and among the guest musicians are John Pilka, who was in Chadwick’s first significant band, Kingdoms, in the mid-80s. The cover is somewhat grainy and industrial and it looks suspiciously like a goth album with its font and monochrome style.

If Chadwick’s intention was to return to the band’s past sound he has largely achieved that, especially on the guitar-driven single ‘Clouds’ which is a call to someone to “Get your head outta the clouds”, a refrain that is repeated ad nauseum for the final minute and 40 seconds in majestical rock’n’roll style. The accompanying video features a greying Chadwick walking around a seaside town including along a pier and through a games arcade. There’s little in the way of politics or diatribes on the way of the modern world on the dozen tracks – that’s just not Chadwick’s style – and love and how it spins a web around our hearts and minds are instead front of house.

Any suggestion this might be a solo album is augmented by the resurrection of a song from Chadwick’s brief turn as a solo artist in the late 1990s. ‘Laughter and Honey’ was a beautiful, mainly acoustic B-side; as the renamed ‘Into the Laughter’ it is a full minute shorter but has electric guitars and a full band. That clearly is the intention: to turn a very much one-man effort into a team endeavour. And it certainly benefits from four pairs of hands working in unison with Keith Osborne’s guitar playing very much to the fore. Another highlight is the album opener ‘Sweet Loser’ which begins with harmonica playing which is superseded by a drone riff that builds into something quite stunning.

‘Melody Rose’ is quite grungy. If there is a past reference in this song, it is to the critically panned Audience With the Mind (1993), an album that probably should have been re-recorded or released as an EP. Nevertheless, like that particular work, I have come to love this in its own way. The bassline parties with the drums in a manner I never thought possible.

It is certainly a ubiquitous album, and there’s a couple of numbers in ‘Queen of Song’ and ‘In My Mind’ that suggest Chadwick has been listening to authentic Americana music. The former has touches of blues; the latter a tinge of country music. Curiously, Chadwick’s languid vocals on ‘In My Mind’ remind me of Nigel Blackwell of Half Man Half Biscuit. Without the deadpan humour.

State of Grace is a varied album that takes the listener on a trip across the Atlantic. Yes, it certainly sounds like peak House of Love from 1987 to 1993 but there’s traces of more recent work at times. It has the sound of four people gelling fairly quickly, but also of one man in charge and make no mistake this is a Guy Chadwick-fuelled project. How this record would have eventuated if Terry Bickers and his two mates were on board is impossible to determine. I suspect it would have been different in good and bad ways. But we have an album I think the House of Love can be proud of.