Love Songs | The liner notes for first album, All Branches No Trunk, by Northern California East Bay punk band Love Songs on New Disorder Records and 625 Not So Fast Records.

love songs - all branches no trunk cd cover Love Songs - All Branches, No Trunk
Released: June 2004
New Disorder & 625 Not So Fast

Recorded by Craigums in the Dutch Oven last Thursday between the hours of 3 and 5 P.M. Mastered under mild duress by Kris Ziakas at The Institute of Hi-Fidelity. All songs © 2004 Music of Manville/ASSCRAP.

Inside art by: Jethro Wall [#’s: 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12 - jethrowall@hotmail.com], Dug Belan [#’s: 4, 8, 9, 13 - iliketodrawpictures@hotmail.com], Craig [#’s: 2, 11]. “Shark Attack Tommy” polymer sculpture by Skot [www.skotleach.com]. Layout by Bradley [www.lowdiameter.com]. Photos by: Pete, Jackie, Bug. Alan played bass on 8. Joe Nothing and Alex Koll sang on 4. Jason Newsted does not appear on this CD.

Love to: Aaron and Keri and Lydia Probe for putting up with our noise on a regular basis, moms and dads and brothers and sisters, Jackie, Ernst New Disorder, Max Lazy-Ass Ward, Elliott Lange, Alan and Mikey and Joe and Alex and YOUR MOTHER, Toddles, Jethro Wall, Dug Belan, Bug, the fine city of Manville, Devon and DannyB and Myron and All You Can Eat, Danny Angel, High Speed Scene, WHN?, Mission Rex, Sean and Eli and Ryan and Meris, Corky4, Green Angel, Dean Davis, Pete-sa, Jon Bermuda and Weird Al, Microcosm Press, Laura and Dara, S.H.A.T., Local Legend Scott Jones, the Great Muglini, Scott Baio Army, Steve Schultz, Hank, This Is My Fist, Magicool Doods, Nick Simich, Chloe, Lifes Halt, 924 Gilman St, Mike Park, Rebecca Snoonian, Toys That Kill, Joe Reno and Everyone Else Reno, Ron Guensche, Karoline and Robert, Dawn, Bart Thurber, Dave Danville, S.P.A.M. Records, Arabella, Bafabegiya, Smurph and Mike and KZSU, Sharp Knife, The Bananas, KDVS, Four Eyes, Chris Gumshoe, EBI and the Hans’es’s, Speed/Lab, Sharp Knife, Blood Party, Vena Cava, Civil Dysyntery, Arica, Monster Friend, The Brothers Kifle, Aesop, Hal McClean, Shirtless Bro Mob, Black Metal Josh, Nicole and Alternative Collective, BlackBox, Eskapo, Deadfall, DAN SMITH, Hang on the Box, Brain Failure, Muffin, Pidgeon, Short Round, David and his microphones, Secret Janet, The Frisk, Mike Thorn, Fleshies, Usa and the Fucking Faeries, SweetTooth, Abi Yoyos, Best Pals, Tommy Lasorda, Grabass Charlatans, Me and My Ego, You’re Fucking Fired, Lucia, Sephim, The Kramers, The Fuzz, Evergreen, Transcendents, Amber Eugene, them Berkey’s, Nate and Jeff and Rachael - the Manville town drunks, Tony Ass, Rick and Simon, NY Pizza in Pleasanton, Todd Morgan, Maximum RocknRoll, Sacto Ken, Rob Coons, and introducing Mick Mucus as...The DJ.

Reviews of the CD:

Jersey Beat Says:
Every now and then a CD passes across the Reverend's desk that just begs your humble critic to sit up and take notice. Most disappoint immediately when slapped on the old stereophonic device. Not so with All Branches, No Trunk by California punks Love Songs. At least I think that they're punks - actually, it's kinda hard to tell by the tunes herein. From the hideously dismembered figurine on the cover to the band's musical mix of three-chord punk, hardcore and Smashing Pumpkins-styled art-punk, it's difficult to pin Love Songs down to a single description. For instance, take "ISPN Day" which starts off like a metal-edged HC punter only to change into a harmony-drenched grungefest before devolving into a mutant pop radio playing scraps of the B-52s and Chumbawumba. "Sweet-ish" offers wicked guitar riffs married to spoken-word vocals while the title cut starts off like an arena-rocker with big riffs before diving off the stage into a feedback-driven, chaotic primal therapy session backed by martial beats. When everything is considered, All Branches, No Trunk rocks like a motherfucker, mixing equal parts Tom Waits and Fugazi, Eugene Chadbourne and the Offspring. As a band, Love Songs is electric and eclectic, invigorating and irreverent...all admirable traits for a rock and roll band. Check 'em out for yourself.

Razorcake magazine:
Don't let the name fool you, unless your idea of a love song is an ode to shaving your balls. Various Bay Area punk rock miscreants, including that guy from Your Mother, join forces here for a goofy, fun album that sounds like punk rock without falling into a predetermined musical niche. It's a lot like Toys that Kill, but less skewed and with lots of little guitar parts that make me think that somebody in the band is REALLY into Iron Maiden. I love the artwork too. Good stuff.

"All Branches, No Trunk" Review From Man With Pet
A couple of years ago, after living with Alan and before moving back to downtown San Jose, I shared a third-story apartment with a girlfriend in San Francisco's Sunset District. It was sorta like "Three's Company," especially considering the way said girlfriend treated me more like a "friend" after I had spent time and money moving in. But that's another story. The resident housecat, a righteously lazy, sweet-tempered creature, ate and slept. And ate and slept. And sat. This at times was irksome, especially after spending god knows how much on a state-of -the-art scratching post (he sat on it); toys were given similar treatment: being too lazy to bat them out of the way, he sat on them (apparently having a miniature likeness of baby Mickey Mouse up one's posterior was not quite as uncomfortable as I'd previously imaginied).

Simon was also known for his aversion to musical sounds, especially the thunderous boom of my upright bass and anything by Slayer. When the stereo powered up, into the bedroom he went. Apparently he had trouble hearing himself sleeping. The ex's Sara McLachlan Power Hour, on the other hand, caused Simon and myself to fall into an instant coma, this state being my only impediment from hurling the stereo out onto Taraval St. and kicking it a few blocks more into the Pacific Ocean, to be joined later by the ex's similar dispatch of the Slayer and Metallica recordings; such was the apparent difference in our musical temperament.

Craigums' collection of Love Songs, however, became the one recording that caused momentary peace between all parties. At Craig's first utterance, Simon would traverse from one of the aforementioned locations, sit (what else?) and lean the side of his head on the speaker, allowing those peans to matters of the heart resonate through his fuzzy head. I of course could not help but marvel along with the rest of the household:

"Isn't that cute?" Rest assured this was no passing fancy nor, as near as I can figure, any abberation of atmospheric pressure that causes momentary deafness in mammals. Every time I put that tape on, it elicited a pilgrimage to the stereo, a date with Love Songs.

I have not lived in that apartment for a couple of years now (ah, the present day, away from bad memories-- soon to be saturated with alcohol) and have not seen Simon for the same length of time. The new CD, "All Branches No Trunk," is quite an eye-opener, with great new songs (I love "Chico y Chica"). In addition to the requisite rocking out, it features MULTITRACKED CRAIG of Queen proportions. Since I have thus far only played the CD in my car, I often wonder how Simon would react to the new record. I have visions of finally playing it in my home stereo, detecting a faint noise outside in the summer night air, and opening the front door to discover legions of felines from all walks of life, desperate for the chance to be at one with the OM eminating from my stereo speakers; a pilgramage to Craig's voice. The new, improved Love Songs.

I'm sure Simon would love it.

Rick Silvestri 6/11/04