30 years later, former Philly musicians are still writing their Book of Love
Electropop favorites Book of Love, who started out here as Head Cheese in the '80s, come home to celebrate their 30th anniversary.
When Book of Love vocalist/lyricist Susan Ottaviano and multi-instrumentalist Ted Ottaviano (no relation, honest) released their first, eponymous album, Book of Love, in 1986, the electronic-based musicians had long been hanging around fellow art school pals Lauren Roselli and Jade Lee (Book's other members) in Philadelphia's punk scene. If you attend their 30th anniversary show this weekend at World Cafe Live, yell the word headcheese and see what happens.
"Everyone's life is more complicated than it was," Susan says of her friends Lee and Roselli, whose participation in Book's anniversary tour will be limited to occasional surprise appearances, though both are still band members and are on new tracks "All Girl Band" and "Something Good" from Rhino's MMXVI - Book of Love: The 30th Anniversary Collection.
"Ted and I - we're the spring-through-autumn ensemble," Susan says with a laugh.
This makes perfect sense as, throughout their long relationship ("We actually knew each other from high school in Connecticut," Ted says of Susan), it has been the two Ottavianos who wrote the majority of songs for both Book of Love and the scraggly band that spawned it, Head Cheese.
"I named that band," says Ted, who was the fifth, often unseen, Cheese, as he commuted from New York while Susan attended the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts) with friends and fellow Heads Lee and Celeste Ries. Crate diggers, look for their seven-inch release on Burn Potential Records - "Teenage Idol," "Non-Melodic," and "Jungle Jam," the latter a love song to downtown Philly circa 1979.
"The Elks Club, David Carroll's Hot Club - that was it - with only like 200 people who would go to every show," Susan says.
"Philly's subculture was really our first exposure to all that. The shows we saw, the clubs witnessed," says Ted. Book of Love's new song "All Girl Band" is a tribute to Head Cheese and the intensity of the post-punk era, with lyrics referencing a Slits gig at Emerald City in Cherry Hill.
"The scene and my time in Philadelphia was great," says Susan. "I don't always know that it carried into Book of Love, though."
Says Ted, "What made Book of Love Book of Love was our interest in melody and our feelings for keyboards."
Early British electronic albums from bands such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark inspired him and the Bookers to roll with the tenor of the times. "Head Cheese had post-punk energy and form," says Susan. "Book of Love was different."
A quirky, mid-tempo remix of Book of Love's "Boy" was a NYC club smash and Billboard dance hit when it was released in 1985. "Right then, everything changed," says Ted, pointing toward MTV-era sensations such as "I Smell Roses" and a tour opening for then-grand masters of synth-wave Depeche Mode.
"We didn't set out to be a synth-only band, but Ted's songs fit that orchestration, and we developed a very real voice," says Susan.
Book of Love's lyrical outlook took on gender identification, sexual orientation, and a general questioning of traditional roles and mores. "We were just singing about our lives, our friends' lives, what was affecting our immediate lives and what was happening in our backyard," Susan notes of lyrics that explored the AIDS crisis and transgender issues before most acts dared.
Book of Love released four albums between 1986 and 1992, then slowed its roll. As the subculture of synth-wave became part of New Wave, industrial-techno and house music by the mid-'80s and early '90s - to say nothing of grunge-guitar's rise - Ted and Susan diversified as artists. The former moved into production work while the latter focused on food styling and photography. Yet Book of Love continues, as they poke their heads out every few years, with new songs and compilations.
"Not a week goes by that Susan and I don't speak," says Ted. "The four of us together still sound cohesive and clicking. We can really ... smell the roses," he chuckles.
Susan finishes the thought: "This one is my favorite reunion," she laughs. "I'm impressed."
Book of Love 30th-anniversary show, 7 p.m. Saturday, World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., $20-$30 (VIP event 6:30 p.m., $25), 215-222-1400, worldcafelive.com.