Description

2013 re-issue on blue vinyl

The Godfathers second album for Epic, 1989’s More Songs About Love And Hate, lacked an instant classic single like “Birth School Work Death” from their 1987 debut, but otherwise it came close to matching that album’s muscle and fury and confirmed the band had plenty of offer. Producer Vic Maile gave these sessions just a dash more polish than their previous work, but for the most part the small differences in the sound of the two albums seem to come from the band; two years of hard touring made the Godfathers even tighter than they were before, and their tough, meat-and-potatoes sound had picked up a bit more heft and precision along the way. The guitar work by Kris Dollimore and Mike Gibson fuses the concision of punk with the grand scale of hard rock, and lead singer Peter Coyne brings a streetwise sneer to the young mod’s forgotten stories that inform his lyrics, lacking the posturing of second-wave punk but matching it for working-class rage. And while the songs on More Songs About Love And Hate aren’t always as memorable as the group’s debut, there aren’t any outright duds either; “She Gives Me Love” is solidly anthemic, “How Low Is Low” is a bitter look at the trials of a Catholic upbringing, the music hall swing of “Life Has Passed Us By” is surprisingly effective, like Village Green Preservation Society-era Kinks on a mean drunk, and “Walking Talking Johnny Cash Blues” is rollicking and wickedly funny. The Godfathers didn’t strive to be cool; they aimed to write good songs and rock hard as they played them. They hit that target with a bull’s-eye on More Songs About Love And Hate, and it’s fine work from an underrated band.

Track list:
1. She Gives Me Love
2. Those Days Are Over
3. How Low Is Low?
4. Pretty Girl
5. This Is Your Life
6. I’m Lost And Then I’m Found
7. I Don’t Believe In You
8. Life Has Passed Us By
9. Walking Talking Johnny Cash Blues
10. Halfway Paralysed
11. Another You