Brian Baker, Amplifier
"It is no act of misguided hyperbole to declare Love Tractor one of the most influential bands of the past twenty-five years. As one of the inadvertent architects of the Athens, GA scene and sound, Love Tractor, along with Pylon and R.E.M., was essential in staking out the jangly and dancey folk rock that would, andstill have, a huge influence on subsequent generations.
Of those, Love Tractor always stood out as the most artistically brave - willing to fail in order to succeed. Love Tractor has grown and matured in the intervening years, and in the vein of its early work, has absorbed the sounds that it's heard and refractedthem through their own sonic prism to arrive at something truly unique."
Biography by Jason Ankeny ALLMUSIC
Along with luminaries like R.E.M., the B-52's and Pylon, Love Tractor helped establish the college town of Athens, Georgia as a mecca of alternative music in the early '80s. Comprised of guitarist Michael Richmond, multi-instrumentalist Armistead Wellford, drummer Kit Schwartz and guitarist Mark Cline, the band's earliest material was instrumental, if for no other reason than that they could not afford a PA system. However, the approach set them clearly apart from other acts on the crowded Athens scene, and helped win them a deal with DB Records.
1982's Love Tractor documented their formative approach, which touched heavily on fusion and even cocktail music. By their 1983 follow-up Around the Bend, Richmond was taking the occasional stab at singing; after the 1984 EP 'Til the Cows Come Home, Love Tractor resurfaced in 1987 with This Ain't No Outerspace Ship, a full vocal exercise which also found the group tackling a cover of the Gap Band's "Party Train."
The quartet enlisted Mitch Easter to produce 1989's Themes From Venus, which, while comprised largely of vocal tracks, did contain the instrumental "Nova Express," effectively bringing the Love Tractor story full circle. Accordingly, in 1991 the group decided to take a break from the music business; they reformed periodically, and began writing and performing new material for a projected album.
During their hiatus, Wellford played in Gutterball with Steve Wynn, Bob Rupe, Sparklehourse, and the House of Freaks. Cline travelled, studying Italian opera and ancient languages, while Richmond studied art history. After several failed attempts at completing their "comeback" album, Love Tractor returned in 2001 with The Sky at Night
Rolling Stone - Denise Sullivan
In Athens, Georgia in 1980, you could walk into to one of the town's clubs or a house party on just about any night and find one of the defining "Athens Sound" quirky pop bands at work: The surf-rock and B-movie-inspired B-52's were still local; the rhythmic and noisy Pylon were readying themselves for a recording debut and the jangly R.E.M. were still developing their sound, bashing out covers like "Hippy Hippy Shake."
And then there was Love Tractor, the ethereal pop band that was just as influential in drawing attention to the sleepy college town's storehouse of talent with college radio hit albums like 1983's Around the Bend and '87's This Ain't No Outer Space Ship. They've kept it pretty quiet over the last twelve years, but now they're back with The Sky at Night, their first album since 1989's Themes From Venus, and founding members Mark Cline and Mike Richmond find themselves reflecting on their life and times as ambassadors for the little college town that could and did.
"It is no act of misguided hyperbole to declare Love Tractor one of the most influential bands of the past twenty-five years. As one of the inadvertent architects of the Athens, GA scene and sound, Love Tractor, along with Pylon and R.E.M., was essential in staking out the jangly and dancey folk rock that would, andstill have, a huge influence on subsequent generations.
Of those, Love Tractor always stood out as the most artistically brave - willing to fail in order to succeed. Love Tractor has grown and matured in the intervening years, and in the vein of its early work, has absorbed the sounds that it's heard and refractedthem through their own sonic prism to arrive at something truly unique."
Biography by Jason Ankeny ALLMUSIC
Along with luminaries like R.E.M., the B-52's and Pylon, Love Tractor helped establish the college town of Athens, Georgia as a mecca of alternative music in the early '80s. Comprised of guitarist Michael Richmond, multi-instrumentalist Armistead Wellford, drummer Kit Schwartz and guitarist Mark Cline, the band's earliest material was instrumental, if for no other reason than that they could not afford a PA system. However, the approach set them clearly apart from other acts on the crowded Athens scene, and helped win them a deal with DB Records.
1982's Love Tractor documented their formative approach, which touched heavily on fusion and even cocktail music. By their 1983 follow-up Around the Bend, Richmond was taking the occasional stab at singing; after the 1984 EP 'Til the Cows Come Home, Love Tractor resurfaced in 1987 with This Ain't No Outerspace Ship, a full vocal exercise which also found the group tackling a cover of the Gap Band's "Party Train."
The quartet enlisted Mitch Easter to produce 1989's Themes From Venus, which, while comprised largely of vocal tracks, did contain the instrumental "Nova Express," effectively bringing the Love Tractor story full circle. Accordingly, in 1991 the group decided to take a break from the music business; they reformed periodically, and began writing and performing new material for a projected album.
During their hiatus, Wellford played in Gutterball with Steve Wynn, Bob Rupe, Sparklehourse, and the House of Freaks. Cline travelled, studying Italian opera and ancient languages, while Richmond studied art history. After several failed attempts at completing their "comeback" album, Love Tractor returned in 2001 with The Sky at Night
Rolling Stone - Denise Sullivan
In Athens, Georgia in 1980, you could walk into to one of the town's clubs or a house party on just about any night and find one of the defining "Athens Sound" quirky pop bands at work: The surf-rock and B-movie-inspired B-52's were still local; the rhythmic and noisy Pylon were readying themselves for a recording debut and the jangly R.E.M. were still developing their sound, bashing out covers like "Hippy Hippy Shake."
And then there was Love Tractor, the ethereal pop band that was just as influential in drawing attention to the sleepy college town's storehouse of talent with college radio hit albums like 1983's Around the Bend and '87's This Ain't No Outer Space Ship. They've kept it pretty quiet over the last twelve years, but now they're back with The Sky at Night, their first album since 1989's Themes From Venus, and founding members Mark Cline and Mike Richmond find themselves reflecting on their life and times as ambassadors for the little college town that could and did.
