Love of Life Orchestra was created by Peter Gordon (sax, keyboards, composition) and David Van Tieghem, a talented, smart-aleck avant-garde percussionist with ties to new music composer Steve Reich. Both have gone on to greater fame as elder statesmen of the downtown music scene in New York, but these early works stand as an important developmental chapter.
Extended Niceties debuted LOLO’s avant-disco in fine form. “Beginning of the Heartbreak”/”Don’t, Don’t” is quite powerful, pushed along by a vividly colored piano and the distinctive, kinetic rhythm guitars of guests Arto Lindsay and David Byrne.
Geneva succumbs to blandness as Lindsay and Byrne are supplanted by less-inspired fulltimers and Gordon attempts to spread his clichéd writing over a longplayer. Exceptions: “Revolution Is Personal” and “Lament,” which offers the rarity of a truly interesting drum solo.