David J and Kevin Haskins

Daniel Ash

Kevin Haskins

David J

The show was incredible. We arrived really early and security let us in even before doors technically were supposed to open so we scored a spot right up front at the rail, exactly in front of David J’s spot on the stage. Until now I never truly appreciated his massive bass talent – phenomenal! They played mostly old stuff (I mean, they kind of had to since all of their recordings come from the 80’s and 90’s) so I was in heaven. My top moments were the huge crowd sing-along to “No New Tale to Tell,” the hard-driving “Mirror People,” the frenetic chugga-chugga bass+guitar race of “Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man),” the gothic beauty of “Haunted When the Minutes Drag” and most especially the swirling psychedelia of “Kundalini Express.”

We were supposed to see a reunited Bauhaus play in Detroit this past fall (2022) but a few weeks before the show, they canceled due to Peter Murphy having to go to rehab. We were super-bummed about that but thrilled that the rest of the band decided to tour without him as the original Love and Rockets. In 2018 we caught Poptone, which was Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins, along with Haskins’ daughter, in Minneapolis where they played what were essentially industrial goth remixes of Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets songs. But having David J back in the mix was absolute perfection.

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Love and Rockets “Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man)“ and “Kundalini Express” from Express, released 35 years ago today, September 15th, 1986. Beggars Banquet. Express is one of my favorite albums from the 80′s, combining the best of industrial dance, post-punk, goth and neo-psychadelia sounds, and these two singles are among my top tracks from the LP.

“Kundalini Express” was the first single from Express; it’s also my all-time favorite song Love and Rockets song: lyrically clever with a train-chugging industrial dance beat. The 12″ single has two non-album tracks on the b-side: the rich and darkly swirling “Lucifer Sam” and the gothy-industrial “Holiday on the Moon.”

“Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man)” is also excellent. It was the second single from Express (there was one more single: “All in My Mind” which charted at #49 on the US rock chart). The 12″ has two versions of “Yin and Yang” – Side A’s the “remix” (it’s longer) and Side B the single/album version. Both high energy breakneck speed. Side B also has the industrial-goes-goth-goes-free-jazz instrumental “Angels and Devils.”

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I’m a pretty big Love and Rockets fan but this song – and the album if I’m being honest – completely escaped my notice. “Body and Soul” is trippy and hypnotic, but definitely danceable. The three remixes include “Body and Soul (Out of Body)” (remixed by Secret Knowledge/Kris Needs, part of a house/techno group) which is pounding techno, “Body and Soul (Delta Lady), ” (also remixed by Secret Knowledge/Needs) which has more of a nod to Love and Rockets prior industrial dance sound, and “Body and Soul (Dark Side of the 12th Moon)” (remixed by Higher Intelligence Agency) which is as spacey and proggy as the remix title suggests. “Coyote” is a non-album track (there IS guitar but it’s acoustic and twangy, spaciously relaxed) and the 12″ closes with “Body and Soul (Part 2)” which is less than half the length of the album version.

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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.

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In concert and on Poptone, Ash and Haskins focus on revamps of previous material – most even darker and heavier than their unique industrial goth, which was pretty heavy and dark to start with – with lots of Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets tracks. I was in heaven! Tones on Tail songs they played that appear on Poptone included “Movement of Fear,” “Lions”  “Performance” and “Go!”  The Love & Rockets selections were “Mirror People,” “No Big Deal,” “Ball of Confusion,” “Love Me” and “American Dream.” Not on Poptone, their First Avenue set had a ton of other Love & Rockets’ selections:  “Motorcycle,” “Haunted (When the Minutes Drag),” “All In My Mind,” and “Yin and Yang The Flowerpot Man.” The last time I saw Love and Rockets was in 1989 when they were on tour for their 1989 album Love and Rockets. That fall, either right before or after that concert, a friend of mine and I took the Greyhound bus to Minneapolis from Madison, WI to visit her sister and see a guy I was dating who went to the University. Her sister’s boyfriend drove us around town at full speed while blasting Love and Rockets, so it just felt right to be hearing those songs again at First Avenue.

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The songs on the 12″ single are, not surprisingly given Ash’s style, sinister waves riding on dark romanticism. “This Love” has an industrial flavor that is punctuated with a locomotive rhythm and Ash’s “dry Bolanesque purr.” “Heaven is Waiting,” the second song on Side A, is a shoe-gazing swaying instrumental. Side B has just one track, “Coming Down (slow version)” which differs from the album version, “Coming Down Fast.” It is beautiful, sultry yet vampire-cold, using guitar effects that evoke flickering candles in a dark gothic cathedral.

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