by drakula63 » 05 Nov 2018, 17:44
It's still a favourite of mine - after 40 years!
Great performances all round and the highly unusual move of giving the lead melody/melodies to keyboards. Adrian Lee does a great job on the piano and the synths. Whilst Hank did play the Roland guitar synth live on stage for this song, I'm not convinced he uses it on the single. Mind you, I think he does use it on the b-side, 'Sweet Saturday Night', which I also rate highly.
A great and powerful vocal performance from Bruce and distinctive syn-drums from Brian just add to the appeal. I can understand why a lot of older and maybe more traditional Shads fans were unsure about it, but as a 14 year old, seeing it on 'Get it Together' and hearing it on the radio, I was blown away. A shame it wasn't a hit, but as Marvin, Welch and Farrar proved, the general public don't really want the Shads' singing for their supper. This was more or less proved a couple of months later with a certain single called 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' which, by all accounts, they were crying out for the band to record.
Anyway, back to Love DeLuxe - and I played it for a friend a few years back and he said that he thought it was the Moody Blues. A compliment I'm sure. Also, a few months later, summer of '79, Alan Hawkshaw released a single 'Here Comes That Sound Again', under the name of Love DeLuxe. Probably no coincidence.