no-man’s debut album Loveblows & Lovecries – A Confession is released as a double CD and single vinyl for its 30th anniversary.
Unavailable as a standalone release since 1993, this edition includes Steven Wilson’s 2023 Housekeeping remaster on disc one and an assortment of extras, b-sides, radio sessions and unreleased edits on disc two.
The line-up of Tim Bowness, Steven Wilson and Ben Coleman are joined by Japan’s Jansen, Barbieri & Karn on the sweeping Sweetheart Raw, whilst Steve Jansen adds percussion on Beautiful And Cruel.
The album is also available from Burning Shed as a single vinyl, presented in a replica of the original cover with a poster.
Sometimes you listen to love cry
Loveblows & Lovecries – A Confession was no-man’s first full length studio album, and my entry point to the band (and also to the music of Tim Bowness & Steven Wilson that flourishes outside of the band). My interest was piqued whilst I was perusing the CD shelves of Chatham’s Our Price Records. Reading the Billy Baudelaire (a Bowness alias) notes on the cover were enough to make me take a chance before I had heard a single note of the music, and within weeks I was on a quest to buy as much no-man as my meagre wages allowed, including directly from the bands PO Box address.
The album remains one of my favourite releases of all time, even with the wonderful, very different music that was soon to follow. Remember kids, no-man is for life, not just for Christmas.
You can read my full review of the main Loveblows & Lovecries album in the Housekeeping review on this blog, and this is the same remaster, but I want to point out some of the highlights for those who have not heard the album before. Only Baby remains a wonderful piece of dance infused pop, and Housekeeping is one of no-man’s finest early songs, and is a breakbeat driven, melancholic late night masterpiece, built on raw lyrics and vocals from Tim and brutal guitar from Steven, sounding all the more powerful on this recent remaster.
Sweetheart Raw (resurrected live by Tim Bowness in recent years) is the track featuring the sadly missed Mick Karn on fretless bass, with drum programming from Steve Jansen and keyboards from Richard Barbieri (who later joined SW in Porcupine Tree). This would have been the track that drew a lot of early listeners into the band’s orbit, and it remains as powerful today as on its first release in 1993.
Ben Coleman shines brightest for me on Lovecry, and the remaster of Break Heaven, with its languid groove, hits the mark perfectly.
The album version of Painting Paradise is the definitive recording, and has more room to breathe than the shorter re-recording that features later on in this reissue. Heaven’s Break hints at the direction the band would start to explore on subsequent releases.
I love having Loveblows & Lovecries as a standalone release, as it makes for a better listening experience for me. Of course, I am a collector (someone should write a song about that!), and so I am hanging onto my original release versions, including the 90s OLI vinyl and CD singles as well as happily buying these new iterations on CD and vinyl.
This 30th Anniversary edition includes the lyrics for the main album and fascinating recollections from Tim about how the album was put together and tweaked prior to release, as well as the tracklisting for the August 1992 rejected by OLI version, of which apparently only two copies exist in the wild, and I don’t have one of them!
How to see the magic in the streetlamps and the cars
The second disc (on CD) features era singles, sessions and elements of the rejected original August 1992 sequence (including Walker and the full version of Tulip). It works so well as an album on its own, rather than just a mix of non-album tracks. The sleeve-notes (from Tim in 2025 and Steven in 2001) shines a light on the seeds of the recordings and how the album came together, with and without the record company’s help.
The previously unreleased version of Ocean Song improves on the Housekeeping box-set version, which was 3.13 in length. This unedited take runs for 4 and a half minutes, and heads off into unchartered territory from 3.30 with some chilling post-punk guitar from SW.
Back to the Burning Shed is a short, ambient instrumental that went on to inspire the name of one of the finest music retailers, where you can buy this very release.
Swirl shifts up the gears, and is one of my favourite no-man non-album cuts, with some intoxicating Wilson rhythm guitar and a powerful Bowness vocal, as the breakbeat wrestles with one of Ben Coleman’s most electrifying performances for the band. The end section to Swirl (from around the 5 minute mark) has always been a performance of extreme beauty from all of the band members, and this remaster will hopefully rekindle interest in this era from more recent converts to the music of no-man. If you are new to Swirl, prepare to have your mind blown.
“There’s too much love and understanding…”
Taking It Like a Man is a single that was released in the US in 1994. Whilst apparently not a band favourite, the track is a fine piece of dance-pop, and is worthy of its inclusion here.
Long Day Fall is from the Only Baby single, and is a slow-burning piece, that reminds me of the Speak era. The heavily chorused guitar and dripping with reverb vocals evoke the hazy summers of our youth. An inventive backing vocal leads to a period of delicious guitar and violin interplay, as the song, and the day, comes to its inevitable conclusion.
The extra version of Tulip (full length version – previously unissued) on disc two is different to the unedited master on the Housekeeping box-set, with a longer opening section, hitting 1.20 before the familiar arrangement punches through the mix, as it then follows the format of the unedited master, becoming one of the longer no-man tracks at 8 minutes in length. If you remember this track from the early 90s, this unreleased version will make you fall in love with it all over again.
Painting Paradise on disc two is the OLI requested re-recording, that along with Taking It Like A Man, is not a band favourite. Of course, I personally enjoy this version that zips along at pace and is an excellent early 90s single.
Walker was due to appear on the early version of the album, and is a breakbeat driven, quite minimal in arrangement dark performance, with explosions of power that knock you off balance when they burst out from the mix.
Bleed was originally released as part of the Sweetheart Raw single, and later appeared on the Heaven Taste compilation in 1995. The track has always been one of my favourite early no-man songs. The production (feeling a little bit influenced by Trevor Horn to me) and arrangement is stunning, with gritty percussion, dry bell chimes and a blood-curdling, deep Bowness howl as the visceral end section kicks in, to see the track to its finish.
The final two tracks on this reissue consist of two radio session performances of Loveblows & Lovecries tracks. Break Heaven (a Nicky Campbell BBC session), with an altered piano line and guitar solo, and finally (love and) ending with an acoustic take on Lovecry, from a GLR session, round off the album. The strength of the vocal melody of Lovecry shines bright in this stripped back environment.
If you missed Loveblows & Lovecries on its first release back in the early 90s, this is the perfect opportunity to discover an early gem in the no-man catalogue.
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Buy Loveblows & Lovecries (30th Anniversary) CD & Vinyl from Burning Shed
Buy Loveblows & Lovecries (30th Anniversary) on CD from Amazon
Buy Loveblows & Lovecries (30th Anniversary) on Vinyl from Amazon
2 CD version
CD1
Loveblow (1:24)
Only Baby (3:47)
Housekeeping (5:29)
Sweetheart Raw (6:04)
Lovecry (4:52)
Tulip (3:56)
Break Heaven (4:59)
Beautiful And Cruel (4:48)
Painting Paradise (7:32)
Heaven’s Break (4:01)
CD2
Ocean Song (full length version – previously unissued) 4.30
Back to the Burning Shed 2.47
Swirl 8.32
Taking It Like a Man 7.41
Long Day Fall 5.21
Tulip (full length version – previously unissued) (8.00)
Painting Paradise (re-recording) (3.55)
Walker (3.30)
Bleed (6.53)
Break Heaven (Nicky Campbell BBC session) (5.00)
Lovecry (GLR acoustic session) (4.00)
Vinyl
A
Loveblow (1:24)
Only Baby (3:47)
Housekeeping (5:29)
Sweetheart Raw (6:04)
Lovecry (4:52)
B
Tulip (3:56)
Break Heaven (4:59)
Beautiful And Cruel (4:48)
Painting Paradise (7:32)
Heaven’s Break (4:01)
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