| Love & Hate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Section 25 | ||||
| Released | 1988 | |||
| Recorded | 1986 | |||
| Genre | Alternative, Electronic, Techno | |||
| Length | 40:36 | |||
| Label | Factory | |||
| Producer | Larry Cassidy | |||
| Section 25 chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
Love & Hate is the fourth and final album by Blackpool band Section 25, released in 1988. Despite being recorded and finished by 1986, Factory Records didn't release the album until 1988, by which time the band were virtually forgotten. Factory also mis-handled the launch of the album's first single (quoting from the Section 25 biography):
"The single (FAC 157) did not appear until May 1987, and was marred by further disaster. Priming a joke that misfired badly, Factory's publicists informed trade paper Music Week that the new SXXV single was a cover of a 1965 hit - "Good News Week" - by industry pundit Jonathan King. King's publishers Jonjo wasted no time in claiming that the Section 25 composition was an unauthorised pastiche of the earlier song, and that the first five lines of the lyrics infringed the copyright. The dispute was swiftly settled by the MCPS, but not before all copies of FAC 157 had been recalled by the distributor, and Section 25 obliged to sign over 100% of the publishing to Jonjo Music and Jonathan King. New Order slipped in similar fashion two years later, having apparently borrowed chunks of "Leaving on a Jet Plane" by John Denver for their own song "Run...". Truth is indeed often stranger than fiction."
Angered by Factory for numerous reasons, the band included '17 Alternative Titles' on the album's sleeve (however, there are only 14).
The album itself is a culmination of the band's experiments in electronic music, but rather than rely solely on this for the album, the band fell back on a more folk and acoustic formula for some of the songs, and combined the two in others. The result is a highly pleasant listen. Highlights include "Crazy Wisdom", a confident synth-laden stride, which sounds like New Order whilst being superior to their output at the time; "The Guitar Waltz", a gentle stroll of a song along with "Conquer Me"; "Sweet Forgiveness", which is the album's excellent opener and features some excellent vocals over an almost punishing drum track, and finally the single, "Bad News Week" which is a fast-paced song more reminiscent of their 1984 material.
Fans will find much to like in this album, especially if they appreciated From the Hip. However, to non-Section 25 aficionados it will sound nothing more than a mediocre outing by an obscure '80s band unless they listen carefully. Section 25's swan-song is their most refined, and in many ways their best work.
LTM Recordings reissued the album in 1999 with a number of bonus tracks. It was also renamed Love & Hate (In the English Countryside), but the album is still referred to by its original issue name. The whole package came with extensive liner notes and was digitally remastered. The sequencing of the album was altered to better flow with the new tracks, and "Tim Lick My Knees" was retitled to "Gymnopedies".
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