For me at least, the name The House of Love immediately conjures images of either extreme cheese or unforgiveable pretension. It’s kind of moniker you’d expect from one of those trying-too-hard synth throwback outfits or maybe some misguided spoken-word side project by Noel Gallagher. The actual House of Love is none of the aforementioned, but rather a top-notch English guitar pop band from the late eighties along the lines of The Smiths, Echo, Church, etc. That the band never made the kind of splash stateside those other groups did is a crime worthy of prosecution. Exhibit A: “Salome,” off their self-titled debut (not to be confused w/ their self-titled sophomore effort—also amazing!). The last few days, I’ve taken to listening to the album while driving to work, and turns out I have this Pavlovian response to the over-before-you-know-it guitar solo midway through the song where my foot just automatically pushes the pedal to the floor. Sorry, officer, but Terry Bickers was absolutely shredding it…