Love and Rockets “Express” 1986. Big Time Records/Beggars Banquet. Today, July 31st, is singer/guitarist Daniel Ash’s birthday (b. 1957). This is one of my favorite records of all-time: it’s a record I’ve really never stopped listening to since ‘86 and I still love every single song. My favorite of favorites is “Kundalini Express” (released as a single but did not chart) which is lyrically clever and has a killer industrial goth dance beat. Also fabulous: the breakneck chugging “Yin and Yang The Flower Pot Man” (released as a single, also didn’t chart), their grinding industrial cover of “Ball of Confusion” (written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and performed by The Temptations in 1970 when it hit #3 in the US), “All in My Mind” (released as single, it charted at #49 on the US Rock chart) and “It Could Be Sunshine.”

I saw Love and Rockets perform in ‘89 and then got to see the sort-of Love and Rockets redux group Poptone two years ago. I have no idea what songs were played in ‘89 (probably mostly tracks from their ‘89 LP Love and Rockets) but at the Poptone concert Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins played a few tracks from Express including “An American Dream,” “All in My Mind,” “Ball of Confusion” and “Yin and Yang The Flower Pot Man.” Pure bliss.