"Love Vigilantes" is a bizarre opening track that sounds like a pub band playing John Denver. The lyrics could be considered naive at best and the delivery is almost laughable. And yet, you can't help continuing to listen with the same morbid fascination that drives people to watch a car crash - we're intrigued to see just how bad things turn out. We instantly jump from the ridiculous to the sublime with the introduction of lead single "The Perfect Kiss". This track is fantastic eighties synth-pop and is head and shoulders above everything else on this record. The lyrics are nonsensical and I know purists bemoan the fact that the album version is heavily edited from the original; but for the more casual fan like myself, this still hits the spot. "This Time Of Night" is fairly standard indie/dance fare which is nice enough without really setting the world on fire. There's some overly long post punk rock in the form of "Sunrise", but it's not one I enjoy.
On the flip side we have instrumental "Elegia" which is a sombre tribute to former band mate Ian Curtis. As the track plods along in a fairly skeletal fashion, it is easy to tell it was intended to accompany visuals where it would have benefited from some added stimulus. "Sooner Than You Think" recycles the sonic palette used on "The Perfect Kiss" and sounds pretty good despite Bernard's best efforts to scupper it with inept vocals. The version of "Sub-Culture" presented here is far superior to the slightly kitsch disco versions John Robbie created for the single release. I think a good part of the reason I don't like this song is because I have always been more familiar with the single remixes where everything sounds forced and disjointed. The the album version is better as its raw energy sounds honest and less contrived. Things finish off with "Face Up" which seems to have set out to be a hi-energy stomper, but as Hooky and Bernard are playing and singing in completely different keys, things turn out as a real mess. 2/5
