Day After Day #220: No New Tale to Tell

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

No New Tale to Tell (1987)

In 1987, things were getting interesting for music fans. Sure, there was a lot of goofy pop and hair metal happening, but there was also a rising tide of so-called alternative rock that was having a big commercial impact for the first time. U2, Peter Gabriel and INXS absolutely blew up, but there were also notable albums from the Cure, Midnight Oil, R.E.M., XTC, the Cult, Pixies, Husker Du, Replacements. 

Another act that got some attention in the U.S. that year was Love and Rockets. The band was formed in 1985 by three former members of Bauhaus, with Daniel Ash (vocals, guitar, sax), David J (bass, vocals) and Kevin Haskins (drums). Named after the comic book of the same name, the band steered clear of the goth rock sound of Bauhaus and opted for a brighter alt-rock sound, mixing in some psychedelia and assorted weirdness. 

They had an initial minor hit with a cover of "Ball of Confusion," but started to get noticed with their second album, 1986's Express, which featured "All in My Mind" and "Kundalini Express." 

Love and Rockets' third album was 1987's Earth, Sun, Moon and it saw the band add more folk-rock influences into the mix. This was evidenced on the band's hit "No New Tale to Tell," which had David J taking lead vocals while Ash played an acoustic guitar intro.

"You cannot go against nature/Because when you do/Go against nature/It's part of nature, too/Our lives are complicated/It's a simple thing/Simple as a flower/And that's a complicated thing/No new tale to tell/No new tale to tell/No new tale to tell/Ahhhhhhh."

The anthemic song builds and gets louder as it goes along.

"My world is your world/People like to hear their names/I'm no exception/Please call my name/Call my name."

The song then goes into a bit of a psychedelic freakout, complete with a Jethro Tull-esque flute solo. The video got plenty of play on MTV's 120 Minutes, featuring the band in black and white intercut with the band members dancing in bee suits (they called themselves the Bubblemen and actually released a single later) and a monkey playing a pan flute. 

"When you're down/It's a long way up/When you're up/It's a long way down/It's all the same thing/No new tale to tell."

The song reached #18 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. Love and Rockets followed it up with a self-titled album in 1989 that featured the huge hit "So Alive," which got all the way to #3 on the Hot 100. That was their American peak.

After the tour, the band members went their separate ways to work on solo albums. They got back together for 1994's Hot Trip to Heaven, which had an electronic sound. They went back to a guitar-based sound on 1996's Sweet F.A. and released one more album before splitting up in 1999. The three members got back together with Peter Murphy for some Bauhaus tours in between. Love and Rockets reunited for performances in 2007 and 2008, and then again last year; yesterday, they began a tour opening for Jane's Addiction.