| Fire of Love | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | the Gun Club |
| Cover: | GC Fire of Love.jpg |
| Released: | August 31, 1981 |
| Studio: | Studio America, Pasadena, California; Quad Teck, Los Angeles, California |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 40:03 |
| Label: | Ruby |
| Producer: | Chris D., Tito Larriva |
| Next Title: | Miami |
| Next Year: | 1982 |
Fire of Love is the debut album of the American rock band the Gun Club, released in 1981 on Ruby Records.[2]
The Flesh Eaters' singer Chris D. produced five tracks on the album ("Sex Beat", "Preaching the Blues", "Fire Spirit", "Ghost on the Highway" and "Jack on Fire") at Quad Teck with Pat Burnette engineering. Tito Larriva produced the album's other six tracks at Studio America with Noah Shark engineering. Chris D. was also credited with the cover design for the original release. Judith Bell was responsible for the bottle label illustrations on the rear of the cover.
The album is considered groundbreaking in being the first of its kind to combine the hard, stripped-down sound of punk rock with American roots music.[3] In turn, this innovation helped to create the punk blues style as well as inspiring countless garage rock musicians. Several musicians have cited Fire of Love as an influence.
In a 1982 Trouser Press review, Jim Green argues that the band "have wrought nothing less than a mutation of the blues." He says the band "extracts from the blues those elements (anger, frustration, vivid imagery) most resonant with the disaffections of a modern young white [man]. Songwriter Pierce adds his own cynicism and wildness for a heady and often compelling combination." Green concludes, "[t]he Gun Club relies on no strict formulas yet it is undeniably the blues that is being transmuted into a medium for Pierce's dark visions and neuroses."[4]
The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[5]
In 2006, "Sex Beat" appeared on the soundtrack to the video game .
All songs composed by Jeffrey Lee Pierce; except where indicated