With his long-running band
the Loves, it was always hard to pin the irrepressible
Simon Love down. His group's albums veered from style to style -- bubblegum to girl group, punky romps to glammy stomps -- all topped off with
Love's offbeat lyrical bent. Now out on his own,
Love's debut album
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time travels a similarly crooked path, but with a bit more style and savoir-faire this time out. Bringing in strings from A Little Orchestra and brass provided by
the Voluntary Butler Scheme's Rob Jones, the album has a lush sound and the songs are built to match. He still swerves all over the place, from a
Nilsson-esque cover of
Paul McCartney's "Dear Boy" to the swinging '60s groover "Wowie Zowie," which could have been lifted from an unmade funny Austin Powers movie. He also dishes out some good-time rock & roll on "You Kiss Your Mother with That Mouth?" and classic rock piano balladry on "Motherfuckers," and lays down some very pretty chamber pop on "Elton John." It makes for a great-sounding record with something interesting happening at all times, musically and in other ways too, as
Love pulls no punches lyrically, whether cursing out love in no uncertain terms on "**** (Is a Dirty Word)," lamenting the damage a certain appendage has done on "My Dick," or detailing his explicit plans to restart society on "The New Adam & Eve." It's quirky for sure, but
Love pulls it off by actually being witty, and because of how catchy the songs are. One can forgive a fair amount of lyrical tomfoolery if you can sing along happily, and that's certainly the case here. He's been making really fun music for a long time, but on his solo debut
Simon Love takes it a little deeper and a little weirder, and in the process has created an intriguing little oddball album that's well worth checking out if you're a fan of that kind of thing. ~ Tim Sendra