Product Description

This self-titled debut by New York based group Hercules AndLove Affair is the musical brainchild of DJ/producer AndrewButler. Co-produced with Tim Goldsworthy (DFA), this is thesound of modern disco. Taking their cue from late 1970s underground dance culture - an era unfairly maligned and dismissed - it recalls the panache, individuality and grooves of Salsoul, Chic, Arthur Russell and Inner City. Hypnotic rhythms preside over melancholic melodies with enthralling results. Includes the single 'Blind' featuring Antony Hegarty (Antony And The Johnsons).

Track Listing

1. Time Will
2. Hercules Theme
3. You Belong
4. Athene
5. Blind
6. Iris
7. Easy
8. This Is My Love
9. Raise Me Up
10. True False/Fake Real

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1760 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Amazon.co.uk Review
Effectively the solo project of New York based DJ and producer Andy Butler, with the help of some interesting friends, Hercules and Love Affair is , unlikely though it sounds, the point where classic disco meets classical myth--the title apparently refers to the legendary hero's fondness for his own sex. Although co-produced by LCD Soundsystem's Tim Goldsworthy, Hercules and Love Affair is a flightier, more hedonistic proposition, filled with echoes of long gone clubs and ghosts of the pre-AIDS glory days of New York's gay scene. Yet it celebrates rather than mourns the past as a series of guest vocalists leave their mark, Antony Hegarty the most familiar. The terrific, irresistible single "Blind", reportedly some four years in gestation, stands out but the wistfully positive "Raise Me Up" isn't far behind, Hegarty's inimitably sad tones incongruously juxtaposed with a gleeful arrangement. Though even his voice has a hard battle with the lift from Frankie Knuckles's classic "Your Love" which underpins the opener "Time Will". The spaced out jazz of "This Is My Love", sung by Butler himself, the dizzily ecstatic house of "You Belong", the purest of flashbacks, and Kim Ann's vocal turn on the elegant "Athene" are other highlights on a remarkably assured and entertaining first effort. This year won't see a better example of danceable melancholy than Hercules and Love Affair. --Steve Jelbert

NME
"all the sparkle and naughtiness that made disco oh-so-special"

Vogue
"Brilliant...if Ziggy Stardust made house music, it would sound like this."

Customer Reviews

Don't Believe the Hype; Don't Believe the Backlash Either.
Whatever impressions you may have gotten from lead single 'Blind', its best to approach this album with an open mind (as with most things). Whilst Hercules & Love Affair do take their lead from disco music, the scope of the songs is much broader, embracing minimalistic techno and torch-balladry to creating a heady and eclectic tracklist. They might not always produce up-tempo, dance-floor friendly hits, but to criticise Hercules & Love Affair for such a thing would be unfair, not to mention small-minded.

If there is a fault with the album, it is in the sequencing. The penultimate tracks, 'This is My Love' and 'Raise Me Up' sound uninspired and formulaic in comparison to all that comes before, contributing to a distinct second half-lull. This a minor complaint considering that the run of tip-top tracks runs uninterrupted from opener 'Free Will' through to the sublime 'Easy'. Each song has its own stylistic flavour that should keep the restless happy. To pick two examples: 'Hercules' Theme' starts off with a slinky keyboard and grows from there into a steam-rolling behemoth as the violins, trumpets and bass begin piling on top of one another; 'Athene', on the other-hand, cruises on a bed of crisp percussion and cartwheeling keyboards with unflappable cool, finding its groove and riding it until its five minutes are up. Even after this, there's still much more to explore.

Antony Hegarty of Antony & the Johnsons fame is a soulful presence on the album and leaves an indelible mark on tracks like 'Blind' and 'Easy'(his talents are wasted on the workman-like, 'Raise Me Up'). Antony might be the star here, but the whole menagerie of musicians and singers deserve credit, and its in thanks to this fluid-line up that Hercules & Love Affair can be seen as a banner for pioneering pop.

Of course, you might have problems with the group's genre-tourism and find nothing beyond 'Blind' that spins your propellor - but you could do worse than buy the album and give it a try. Don't let the bad reviews put you off.

Not an album to please from start to finish, but where it's good it's very good.
I would give this 3.5 if i could, but i'm giving it 4 because some people reviewing it seem to be overly critical.
I think the first half of the album (1-5) is excellent, with the obvious peak being that of Blind. It's a disco 'influenced' album which means a move from the really harsh dance music sounds that seems to be considered music at the moment. Some tracks are purely instrumental which makes parts of the album seem slightly one dimensional. It's rhythmical without being incredibly creative, but overall it's a pleasant listen. The second half of this album lets the project, as a whole, down a bit. As a continous piece of work the album feels all back to front. They should have put the quieter, almost laid back stuff first, and built up to the dancier stuff later in the album.
I'd recommend Blind to any music lover, but i guess, in time, you can take or leave the rest, as it's not really a grower (but then, not much these days is). Because of the changes in tempo this album will struggle to please anyone entirely. You'll most likely only like some of it, or only like the single from it. So....it comes down to whether you want to take a punt and buy it for £8, knowing it won't be total value for money.

Don't judge any book by its cover, let alone a record
I'm really surprised by many reviews here mentioning the supposed disco influence on this record. To me, it's rather more paying tribute to early Vince Clarke stuff, Visage or even Soft Cell than to any late 70's disco act... And please, to the reviewer who thinks disco SHOULD be uplifting, I advise you to listen carefully to "There But For The Grace Of God", "Born This Way" or "Is It All Over My Face" (that are mostly incendiary, politically charged records, rather than po-faced whitey dancey stuff for Saturday nights...) instead of Bee Gees or Abba's greatest hits. It's about as relevant as if you reduced rock music to "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "We Will Rock You" and "I Love Rock'N'Roll"...

For the record itself, now, I really think the best tracks here are the ones when Antony Hegarty gets in ("Free Will", "You Belong" and the single "Blind" standing heads and shoulders above the rest to me); if you knew what the guy was all about, you'd probably agree he's paying homage here to his very close heroes such as Boy George, Marc Almond or even (to a lesser extent) Jimmy Sommerville. The music itself is really more synth-oriented than the pale imitation of those legendary Salsoul classics that some other reviewers suggest.

To sums things up, if you want to understand how this release relates to disco, expect something closer to Arthur Russell's seminal experimental dance tracks than to Gloria Gaynor's straightforward singalong approach.