With his long-running band the Loves, it was always hard to pin the irrepressible Simon Love down. His group’s albums veered from style to style – bubblegum to girl group, punky romps to glammy stomps – all topped off with Love’s offbeat lyrical bent.
Now out on his own, Love’s debut album It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time travels a similarly crooked path, but with a bit more style and savoir-faire this time out. Bringing in strings from A Little Orchestra and brass provided by the Voluntary Butler Scheme’s Rob Jones, the album has a lush sound and the songs are built to match. He still swerves all over the place, from a Nilsson-esque cover of Paul McCartney’s “Dear Boy” to the swinging ’60s groover “Wowie Zowie”…
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…which could have been lifted from an unmade funny Austin Powers movie. He also dishes out some good-time rock & roll on “You Kiss Your Mother with That Mouth?” and classic rock piano balladry on “Motherfuckers,” and lays down some very pretty chamber pop on “Elton John.”
It makes for a great-sounding record with something interesting happening at all times, musically and in other ways too, as Love pulls no punches lyrically, whether cursing out love in no uncertain terms on “**** (Is a Dirty Word),” lamenting the damage a certain appendage has done on “My Dick,” or detailing his explicit plans to restart society on “The New Adam & Eve.” It’s quirky for sure, but Love pulls it off by actually being witty, and because of how catchy the songs are. One can forgive a fair amount of lyrical tomfoolery if you can sing along happily, and that’s certainly the case here. He’s been making really fun music for a long time, but on his solo debut Simon Love takes it a little deeper and a little weirder, and in the process has created an intriguing little oddball album that’s well worth checking out if you’re a fan of that kind of thing.
01. **** (Is A Dirty Word) (2:14)
02. The New Adam And Eve (2:41)
03. Dear Boy (2:21)
04. My Dick (3:01)
05. Motherfuckers (4:13)
06. Wowie Zowie (5:02)
07. Sweetheart, You Should Probably Go To Sleep (2:33)
08. Don’t Get The Gurl No More (4:37)
09. The Meaning Of Love (featuring Stewart Lee) (4:07)
10. You Kiss Your Mother With That Mouth? (2:43)
11. Elton John (4:25)
12. It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time (5:17)