The Lovemakers

The Lovemakers’ debut album, Times of Romance, really isn’t as sexy or interesting as you would think it would be, what with the suggestive album art and a band name like that and all. Listening to Times of Romance is like listening to a glossed-up, flattened-out version of 80’s New Wave music. And sure, The Lovemakers sound authentic enough to have been around in 1985, but unfortunately they don’t exactly pack the punch you would expect from a band who claims to “make electronic/rock dance music with a passionate, sexually charged fury.”

Starting off with a dance-rock number entitled “Prepare for the Fight” (which is also the first single by the way), The Lovemakers don’t make a bad first impression – it’s one of the more infectious songs on the disc, and so I applaud them for at least having the smarts to debut with one of their better songs.

The next few tunes, “Is It Alright?”, “Dance”, and “Shake That Ass” are predictable, but not profoundly awful. The awful, however, comes a few songs later with the title track, “Times of Romance.” I’m almost offended by The Lovemakers’ use of the word romance… lyrically I hear nothing that even remotely resembles romance. A superficial, surface-dwelling, materialistic tone pervades this album, making it of course, very 80’s, but trite and nonsensical nonetheless.

“We Should Be Taking Our Clothes Off” isn’t half bad melodically, but from a lyrical perspective it’s more than a little bit ridiculous. It’s not that I don’t get what The Lovermakers are trying to achieve with songs like this… it’s more the fact that I can actually hear exactly how hard they’re trying right through my speakers. Effortlessly cool, The Lovemakers are not. “Runaway” and “Fashion” redeem Times of Romance slightly, but not enough to make me forgive a song like “Hypnotised”, which is utterly atrocious.

I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way to properly describe The Lovemakers, that being that they are the poor man’s version of The Killers. The melodies are at times catchy, the synth-pop is indeed passable, and almost every single track is danceable enough… but still, you’d be better off just purchasing Hot Fuss (that is, if the 80’s are your thing).  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. Prepare For The Fight
02. Is It Alright?
03. Dance
04. Shake That Ass
05. Set Me Free
06. Falling Apart
07. Gonna Find
08. Times of Romance
09. We Should Be Taking Our Clothes Off
10. Hypnotised
11. Runaway
12. Fashion
13. Prepare For The Fight (Dummies Club Mix Edit)

Run Time: ??:??