House Of Love, The
Deluxe Vinyl Edition

Listening notes

Released in 2013 on Optic Nerve Recordings (catalog number OPT4.010), the House of Love's Deluxe Vinyl Edition is a box set spanning five double-sided records — ten sides in total, running from A through J — and encompassing 52 tracks across the alternative rock, Britpop, and rock genres.

The set's scope is considerable. Sides A and B present a core sequence of ten tracks, including "Christine," "Hope," "Road," "Sulphur," "Salome," and "Touch Me," among others. From side C onward, the program expands to take in further album material before giving way to an extensive archive of supplementary recordings. These include demo versions at various stages of development — among them a Guy Chadwick solo demo of "Shine On," a 16-track demo of "Christine," and a piece listed as "Modern World (Demo – Alias Welt)," which explicitly links an earlier working title to the finished track "Welt." Live recordings appear on sides E and F, including an unreleased live performance of "I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do" and a cover of "I Wanna Be Your Dog." A track listed as "Shine On (Fuck Version)" also appears on side F. Sides H through J are devoted entirely to alternative versions and further demo material, with nearly every track from the main program represented in at least one earlier form.

The tracklist itself functions as a partial documentary record of the songs' development, with alias titles and version designations providing points of comparison between different stages of the same material. Whether that documentation will satisfy casual listeners or primarily appeal to those already invested in the band's catalogue is a question the tracklist alone cannot answer, though the sheer number of variants — more than 30 tracks across sides E through J — suggests the set is oriented toward the latter audience.

This is an unreviewed draft. Personnel, pressing details, and reception have been omitted pending verification.