THE EXPLODING HEARTS - "GUITAR ROMANTIC" LP

LULU'S:

I can’t be the only one whose first real introduction to Power Pop was this album? Thanks you Portland punks. Where to start with this one… The title! Guitar Romantic is a perfect album name. The lyrics? Absolutely stellar; heartfelt, stupid word salad from young minds beginning to navigate their way through life and love – life and love tragically cut way too short. The music? Are you kidding me? Pentatonics and gin & tonics, baby! This new remaster is smooth as butter. Every single track is a hot’n’heavy love affair more memorable than your first kiss (hi Holly).

The Exploding Hearts have had me licking my wounds and bags for the better part of fifteen years, through the mad times and the bad times. Guitar Romantic wiped the floor with the majority of records that tried their strumming hand at this style around the same time (and since). It’s hard to muster anything new to say about this album after all these years that hasn’t already run through your mind a million times if you’ve heard it before. All I can say is that I still need to spin it at least twice in a row and any floor becomes a dance floor when Throwaway Style kicks in. Thanks again, you Portland punks. I’ll be pouring out gin & tonic. Three for you, three for me.

TUFF BREAK: In the twenty years since its release – and the subsequent tragic deaths of three of the four band members in a van accident later that same year – Guitar Romantic has outgrown its onetime “cult” status to become an immortal touchstone of the genre. Adored the world over for its vivid depictions of young love and reckless abandon, alongside its effervescent combination of influences like the Buzzcocks, Undertones, Nick Lowe and more, Guitar Romantic is an undeniable statement from a band gone entirely too soon. The expanded & remastered reissue brings a welcome dose of new life to an album all-too-often associated with death, and with it, plenty of old favorites and unheard gems for fans to rejoice about.