Don't Be Afraid of Love (feat. Sleeping Faster)

Don't Call it a Comeback
by: peter naldrett - uk correspondent

It's been an odd four years for the Lo Fidelity Allstars. Band members walked out on the eve of an important US tour, new ideas prompted a shift in direction and there was no chance of putting out the follow-up CD to How To Operate With A Blown Mind that they needed to.

The years of disruption have taken their toll on their comeback CD, Don't Be Afraid of Love, which is an unfulfilling collection of teenage dance tracks, splattered with the occasional moment of sub-brilliance. The fringe hits of 1997 and 1998 (can you remember "Disco Machine Gun" and "Battleflag"?) haven't been enough to sustain interest in the Lo Fidelity Allstars, and Don't Be Afraid of Love certainly won't be thrusting them to the forefront of the dance scene.

It all starts off with "What You Want" (which just isn't) and the "Deep Ellum...Hold On", the vocoder crazed "Lo Fi's In Ibiza" and the simply terrible "Don't Be Afraid of Love" long for the band to go their separate ways once more.

But there is an attempt to rescue things towards the end which stops from completely denouncing the comeback of the Lo Fi's. "Feel What I Feel" is passable, while there's better to come with "Tied To The Mast" (see Apollo Four Forty) and "Sleeping Faster" (the first single).

A CD, though, genuinely needs to get you addicted to it way before track nine, and that's something that Don't Be Afraid of Love stands no chance of doing. Still, fans who got into them back in 1998 may want to check out this second album. 12-Feb-2002 3:45 PM