Love and Money

The Scottish ensemble Love and Money ultimately secured neither romantic fulfillment nor commercial reward. James Grant, who had occupied a supporting position in Friends Again, departed that group in 1984 and assembled Love and Money the following year to showcase his emerging songwriting voice. The band issued the single “Candybar Express” in 1986; its blend of jazz, soul, and funk earned rotation on American new-wave stations, yet the debut album All You Need Is… passed virtually unnoticed. Grant leaned further into R&B territory for the 1988 follow-up Strange Kind of Love, where his blues-inflected vocals and reflective lyrics sat alongside the group’s buoyant funk grooves and thereby secured college-radio attention. Extensive touring and widespread critical acclaim still failed to generate a broader listenership. Mounting dissatisfaction with Phonogram colored the subdued atmosphere of 1991’s Dogs in the Traffic, on which Grant abandoned dance-oriented rhythms in favor of blues and country textures. The label severed ties before the 1993 release of the country-tinged littledeath, after which Iona in the U.K. and Mesa/Bluemoon in the U.S. stepped in to issue the album. littledeath proved to be Love and Money’s last recording; the group disbanded in 1994. Grant embarked on a solo career, while keyboardist Paul McGeechan and guitarist/vocalist Douglas MacIntyre later joined Sugartown alongside former Hipsway singer Graham “Skins” Skinner.