The Lovetones - Albums Collection 2003-2010 (5CD)

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The Lovetones - Albums Collection 2003-2010 (5CD)

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The Lovetones was formed from the ashes of guitarist and songwriter Matthew Tow’s previous band, Drop City. In the aftermath of Drop City’s demise, Tow headed to the United States where he made the acquaintance of psychedelic savant Anton Newcombe (Brian Jonestown Massacre).

Tow embraced the kaleidoscopic sounds and textures being explored in the psychedelic underground and blended it with his own pop sensibility to create The Lovetones’ distinctive sound. The Lovetones released its first album, the critically acclaimed “Be What You Want”, in 2002. In 2003 The Lovetones supported the Brian Jonestown Massacre in the U.S.A, with Tow joining the Brian Jonestown Massacre in the same year. Tours of the United States and Europe followed, before The Lovetones released its second album, “Meditations” in 2005. Conceived as the first part of a musical trilogy, Meditations was succeeded by “Axiom” in 2007, displaying once again The Lovetones’ mastery of psychedelic pop. In 2008 & 2009 the band released the critically acclaimed “Dimensions” LP – charting via CMJ in the USA.

In 2010, The Lovetones released - the fabulous nine track LP “Lost”. The album continues the band’s exploration of radiant, ethereal psychedelia. Tow’s masterful songwriting shines throughout. The album’s opener - “City Meets The Stars” is an excellent fusion of mid 60’s era Moody Blues meets 21st century psych rock. In contrast, the beautifully arranged “Coming Home” ( a lovely duet with Miranda Lee Richards) swirls with strings and harpsichords. Bassist/Keyboardist Matthew Sigley contributes to the mix with the fine jangly waltz of “This Great Romance.” The rest of the album takes flight with a variety of sonic landscapes: the groove driven “Hurricane”; the Beatlesque splendor of “Chinatown Bus” & the title track “Lost”. “Come Dance With Me” and the concluding track, “Earths Great Sleep” invokes the band’s darker side - in all of it’s Bowie-like/psychedelic overtones.

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The Lovetones - Albums Collection 2003-2010 (5CD)

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The Lovetones - Albums Collection 2003-2010 (5CD)

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Be What You Want is a striking debut for Sydney, Australia's the Love-Tones, a trio led by singer/songwriter Matt Tow, that manages to keep its balance on that difficult path between the past and the present. Tow is clearly a major fan of '60s U.K. pop from Revolver-era Beatles to the Move in their early days to the gossamer pop of the Zombies to David Bowie's pre-stardom mod phase (the anthemic, powerful opener "The Sound and the Fury" would have been a killer follow-up to Bowie's 1966 single "Can't Help Thinking About Me"), but unlike a lot of his contemporaries, Tow knows the difference between homage and thievery. Think Neil Finn or Allen Clapp, not Oasis. Songs like the dreamy neo-psychedelia of "Guiding Star" or the passionate title track are mature, literate pop with thoughtful, non-clichéd lyrics and sturdily memorable hooks. Be What You Want is a small, intimate record that proves that it's no longer enough to simply churn out third-rate Todd Rundgren and Badfinger imitations in the pop underground.

Review by Stewart Mason, Allmusic.com

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The Lovetones - Albums Collection 2003-2010 (5CD)

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If you're looking for an ultimate half-and-half fusion of John Lennon with early-'70s David Bowie, the Lovetones' second album is one of the closer approximations that's apt to appear. They credibly recall both of those figures in the arching vocals and earnestly penetrating vocals, and (at least as far as Bowie goes) in a vague sort of launching-into-the-cosmos ethos. As with many efforts that bring to mind icons of decades past, half and half don't necessarily make a whole on par with the whole of any single one of their inspirations. There's a slightly lazy, drifting feel to lyrical preoccupations, and a similarity of approach throughout most of the tracks, that the masters of these kinds of forms transcend with greater eclecticism and vision. Keeping your expectations realistic, however, it's a pleasant listening experience, with an effectively psychedelic-tinged, full but not densely cluttered blend of electric and acoustic guitar and keyboard textures. The keyboards in particular recall early Pink Floyd on "Genius" and the dramatic closing instrumental, "The Color and the Cut," which builds to an opus-like piece after a comparatively modest beginning. Among the highlights are "Inside a Dream," with its gently sliding guitar glides; "Come Home," which sounds a little like the Beatles' "Free as a Bird" as done by an indie band; and "Across the Sea," whose chorus can't fail to recall the melody of Buffalo Springfield's "Broken Arrow."

Review by Richie Unterberger, Allmusic.com

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The Lovetones - Albums Collection 2003-2010 (5CD)

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The Lovetones' third album is less explicit in its '60s and '70s reference points than its predecessor, Meditations. At times it sounds like a rather average singer/songwriter album dusted with late-'60s/early-'70s quirks in the production and the arrangements, particularly with Mellotron sounds, mildly distorted vocals and instruments, and organs that seem as if they might have been airlifted in from a different era. While it doesn't give pleasure to point this out, the best moments are those that are most reminiscent of past work by the greats. That's particularly the case when songwriter Matt Tow reaches for the kind of expansive grandeur projected by David Bowie in the early '70s, when Bowie seemed at his most sincere – a similarity that's never greater than in "Ordinary Lives," one of the record's highlights. If you always lamented that the ever-changing Bowie abandoned that phase of his development fairly quickly, some of these songs are the kind of thing that can give you a quick fix of more of the same, though Tow isn't as far-reaching (or pretentious) in his scope. If you also lament the lost art of writing decent melodic mid-tempo songs that use keyboards as well as guitars, it's recommended as well, sometimes specifically recalling John Lennon's knack for doing such material in the '70s.

Review by Richie Unterberger, Allmusic.com

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The Lovetones - Albums Collection 2003-2010 (5CD)

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Four albums into their career and the Lovetones have managed the hard-to-do trick of finding a new pace and style for their engaging approach without losing the spark they had to start with – if Matt Tow and company are still happily worshipping at the altar of post-Beatles psych/pop that prioritizes melody over shadowy freakouts, the Lovetones have nonetheless found their own niche and, even more importantly, developed it. The soft kick of a song like "Two of a Kind," with an engaging verse and a great solo break, and the wedding of an understated melody with a winning title like "A New Low in Getting High" are two of the highlights that show both the boundaries of their style, and their abilities with it. (Then there's "Love and Redemption," which might actually be more of a Byrds crossed with Michael Nesmith salute, and why not?) If any more recent band might actually be their role model, it would be fellow Australians the Church – not so much in terms of sound as in finding ways to approach familiar music and sonics in new fashions suitable to where the bandmembers are at the time (and, perhaps, their audience as well). On this level, it's perhaps telling to hear the Lovetones start off with what might be one of the best mid-'70s Pink Floyd tributes around, "Moonlit Suite (Her Room)," all open-ended guitar soloing and steady drumming and whooshing keyboards. Meanwhile, other songs like "Look at the Waves," with a careful, majestic flow accentuated by just the right amount of Mellotron on the break, and both versions of "Journeyman" (the second being a bonus remix by longtime Lovetones ally Anton Newcombe), keep all the good feelings going as they should.

Review by Ned Raggett, Allmusic.com

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The Lovetones - Albums Collection 2003-2010 (5CD)

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It’s impossible to write about The Lovetones without mentioning the 1960s or the Brian Jonestown Massacre (BJM), so let’s get that bit over with. Yes, they are heavily influenced by 60s psychedelia, and yes, their main songwriter Matthew J. Tow is a former bandmate of Anton J Newcombe. But there’s so much more to The Lovetones than that.
On Lost, the Sydney four-piece have gently steered themselves in some new directions. ‘This Great Romance’ is a wide-eyed love song, gilded with pretty little melodica and xylophone flourishes. The folky ‘Coming Home’ is sweeter still, infused with harpsichord and featuring a mesmerising duet between Tow and guest vocalist Miranda Lee Richards (herself also a veteran of the BJM circus).
You could almost be forgiven for thinking that, five albums into their career, The Lovetones have suddenly discovered a fresh innocence. But that would be to ignore the heroic hedonism elsewhere on the record. ‘Come Dance With Me’ is a woozy waltz, describing a near-hallucinogenic encounter with a mysterious woman. ‘City Meets The Stars’ is mind-bendingly awesome, boasting a Rickenbacker guitar soaked in luscious organ; and final track ‘Earth’s Great Sleep’ is a kaleidoscopic voyage of discovery, swept along by a slow, hypnotic rhythm section.
So, if anyone ever tells you that The Lovetones are just 1960s enthusiasts, stuck in thrall to the BJM, give them a copy of Lost. They’ll soon change their mind.
Forget their influences. Forget their infamous friends. The Lovetones have just delivered their fourth consecutive album of consistently outstanding music. And that’s all that matters.

Review by Andy McLean