The Cult Love (Vinyl LP) * * *

Beggars Arkive offer up a vinyl LP reissue of The Cult's second album Love, originally released in 1985. It was their breakthrough and produced many singles including "Rain", "Revolution" and the epic anthem "She Sells Sanctuary" - songs that still resonate today - in fact "She Sells Sanctuary" was recently featured in Season Two of the hit TV show Euphoria. The album eventually defined their career, but at the time, it flew in the face of everything that was going on in music. Their previous album, the moody and psychedelic Dreamtime gathered plenty of critical praise, but they made a decision to take a complete left turn for the follow-up. In their story of the Alternative 80s, Metal Hammer summed the album's lore up well... "Proof that instinct and conviction are far more powerful and worthwhile artistic tools than cynicism or puritanical tyranny, Love continues to resonate because it dared to be a balls-out British rock album at a time when such values were routinely viewed with suspicion. Above all, Love is an album of great and ageless songs played by one of the greatest bands of this or any age."