Love & Money | pmcgeechan.co.uk

"The Devils Debt"

"Strange Kind of Love"

LOVE & MONEY

Just over 16 years after their swansong gig, at the Barrowlands on December 23rd 1994, Glasgow cult heroes Love and Money are back for one night only. This follows the Scotsman’s ranking of their 1991 third album, Dogs in the Traffic, at No. 30 in the all-time top 100 Scottish albums, and last April’s re-release of their second, 1988’s 250,000-selling Strange Kind of Love. “I’ve always tried to make music that you can keep going back to and keep finding things within it,” said frontman and chief songwriter James Grant in a recent interview, a comment abundantly borne out by Love and Money’s mercurial, edgily literate amalgam of soul, rock, jazz, funk, blues and country: songs sure to sound as fresh as they’re familiar when sung again tonight.

Performing both albums in their entirety tonight and joining Grant are fellow co-founder Paul McGeechan and ex-members Gordon Wilson and Douglas MacIntyre, plus bassist Ewen Vernal, ex-Thrum vocalist Monica Queen and harmonica ace Fraser Spiers.

THE DEVIL'S DEBT.

After their triumphant sell out show at Scotland's Celtic Connections in January 2011, Love And Money now felt the time was right to revisit a forgotten element of their past.. The Mother's Boy was an ambitious double album which for various reasons was abandoned, with some of the songs surfacing on the classic Dogs In The Traffic. The band have completed and re-recorded some of these songs, which, allied to some completely new songs has resulted in their first album for 20 years..

The lead track is This Is The Last Time. Put simply; this is a classic Love And Money song.

Featuring the elements which they became renowned for; pristine production; learned from the masters the band worked with - Tom Dowd and Gary Katz..soaring vocals, guitars and strings and the impeccable lyricism of writer James Grant.

Biography

Love and Money was a rock/soul/funk band formed in 1985 in Glasgow, Scotland. The band consisted of three former members of the band Friends Again (band) (singer-songwriter and guitarist James Grant,drummer Stuart Kerr and keyboardist Paul McGeechan) along with bassist Bobby Paterson, who replaced Friends Again's Neil Cunningham and who had been a member of Set The Tone, a band previously signed to Island Records in 1983. In their nine years together they recorded four moderately successful albums, three of which were released in the United States, and had six chart hits in the United Kingdom.

Debut album

Signing to Phonogram's Mercury Records in the United Kingdom, they recorded "Candybar Express" withproduction from Duran Duran's Andy Taylor, and this recording became their first hit receivingconsiderable airplay in the U.S. and reaching number 56 in the UK Singles Chart in the spring of 1986. Shortly afterwards they released their debut album, All You Need is Love and Money produced by Tom Dowd. Follow up singles "Dear John" and "River Of People" were released to modest success. In September 1986, the group played an Artists Against Apartheid concert at Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, alongside acts such as The Big Dish and Lloyd Cole. The band also had a high profile support slot with U2 at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh.

Strange Kind of Love

The 1988 follow-up album Strange Kind of Love (which featured Toto's Jeff Porcaro on drums following the departure of Kerr) was overseen by Steely Dan producer Gary Katz and featured the minor hit "Halleluiah Man" which helped to establish a sizeable following for the band. The more restrained production and the band's refined and tight funk sound made the album almost unrecognisable from their

earliest work. Further singles "Strange Kind of Love" and "Jocelyn Square" charted in the UK.

The band toured extensively to promote Strange Kind Of Love, including support slots with Tina Turner, Simply Red and BB King. Part of the band's performance at the Eden Court Theatre in Inverness was filmed for BBC Scotland's "Sounds of Eden" programme. A half hour set from the band also featured onthe "Night Network" television show and they performed the "Strange Kind Of Love" single on Wogan.

The Mother's Boy and Dogs In The Traffic

The band, now supplemented by permanent drummer Gordon Wilson and rhythm guitarist Douglas MacIntyre, returned to the studio to record the follow-up, to be entitled "The Mother's Boy", but the songs met disapproval from Phonogram. The release was scrapped and the band returned to the studio. Several of the tracks including proposed album opener "Hubcap to Blue Town" would reappear as bsides to the singles from the eventual follow-up Dogs in the Traffic. Dogs in the Traffic is considered by many to be Love and Money's greatest achievement and was included in the All Time Top 100 Scottish Pop and Rock albums in The Scotsman newspaper (at number 30). The album reflected Grant's growing maturity as a writer and the stripped-down arrangements allowed greater emphasis on his lyrics and melodies. The band gave a pre-release performance of the album at City Halls in Candleriggs, Glasgow which included an encore featuring Tom Waits' "Clap Hands" and Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere". Three further singles were released, "Winter", "MyLove Lives In A Dead House", and the "Wishing Waters" EP on which live favourite "Looking For Angeline" was lead track.

Littledeath

Love and Money's fourth and final album, Littledeath (1993) was released independently on Iona Gold records and featured what would be the band's last single, "Last Ship on the River". Due primarily to lackof promotion, "Littledeath" sold 25,000, one tenth of the sales for "Strange Kind of Love" and the group were subsequently released from Mercury.

Bassist Bobby Paterson split from the band to form a career in bar management and did not feature on this album, Grant himself taking on bass duties. The remainder of the band went their separate ways in 1994, although they did regroup for one final gig at Barrowlands, on 23 December 1994 entitled "Love and Money: RIP" where older hits "River of People", "Halleluiah Man" and "Candybar Express" were dusted off, alongside newer material "Pray For Love", "Johnny's Not Here", and "Pappa Death" and a cover of Bowie's "Ziggy".

Albums

All You Need Is..Love and Money (1986) Strange Kind Of Love (1988)

"Candybar Express" "Halleluiah Man"

"River of People" "Shape of Things To Come"

"Twisted" "Strange Kind of Love"

"Pain is a Gun" "Axis of Love"

"Love and Money" "Jocelyn Square"

"Dear John" "Walk The Last Mile"

"Cheeseburger" "Razorsedge"

"You're Beautiful" "Inflammable"

"Temptation Time" "Up Escalator"

"Avalanche"