Additional information
Personnel includes: Lene Lovich (vocals, saxophone); Les Chappell, Bobby Irwin, Don Snow, Ron Francois. Producers include: Lene Lovich, Les Chappell, Roger Bechirian, Alan Winstanley, Bazza. Includes liner notes by Jim Green. This newly remastered version of STATELESS...PLUS contains 4 bonus tracks, including non-LP singles as well as tracks from the "No-Man's-Land" LP. A total of 35 tracks, originally released by Stiff Records (UK), are divided between this re-issue and that of "Flex". Originally released on Stiff in 1978. STATELESS contains 14 tracks. 1979's STATELESS was the first album release by the American-born artist Lene Lovich. A masterpiece in many ways, it was a curiosity at the time, with its pop sound in the middle of the first wave of British punk. With her partner, guitarist Les Chappell, Lovich carved out a niche for herself which hasn't really been duplicated since. Lovich's persona was part east European and part Morticia Addams, but the instrumentation on this album and the maturity of the songwriting is as impressive as it is quirky. Opening with the slow burner "Home," the album weaves between piano-based torch songs and electronically enhanced new wave oddity. The huge hit "Lucky Number" is a danceable gem, while "Too Tender (to Touch)" is a beautiful love song with a hands-off sting in its tail. "Say When," written by Jimmie O'Neill of fellow new-wavers Fingerprintz, is practically speed punk, and Lovich makes an almost spooky version of Tommy James' "I Think We're Alone Now" her own. For those looking for the best of British proto-punk label Stiff Records, this release will more than satisfy.
