Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams

In 1985, the band was signed to Slash/Warner Bros and traveled to Los Angeles to begin work on their debut record shortly thereafter. The album was recorded at Sunset Sound with T-Bone Burnett along with engineers David Tickle and Tchad Blake. Due to his in-demand role as a producer, Burnett was often absent for days at a time during tracking and would return to check the band's progress and give direction. There was some tension during the sessions over how elaborate the production should be. Burnett believed that some of the band's ideas did not fit the simplicity of their songs.[4] In addition, the band was running up high studio costs and was forced to complete the album before they felt it was finished. Despite this, the band was happy with the album and it has often been regarded as their finest work.

Music critic Mark Deming, writing for AllMusic, wrote of the album: "While this music was simple at heart, the BoDeans' passion and sincerity gave it strength, and T Bone Burnett's production allowed this band to sound as big as all outdoors. The BoDeans would enjoy greater success down the road, but they never made an album as powerful and satisfying as Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams, where their hearts and their guitars were in perfect sync."[1]

All songs by Kurt Neumann and Sam Llanas unless otherwise noted

1. "She's a Runaway" – 3:36
2. "Fadeaway" – 4:25
3. "Still the Night" (Neumann, Llanas, Guy Hoffman) – 4:02
4. "Rickshaw Riding" – 4:55
5. "Angels" – 3:35
6. "Misery" – 4:38
7. "The Strangest Kind" (Neumann, Llanas, John Sieger) – 3:40
8. "Say You Will" – 4:04
9. "Ultimately Fine" – 2:18
10. "That's All" – 3:25
11. "Lookin' for Me Somewhere" – 3:02

• Kurt Neumann – vocals, guitars
• Sam Llanas – vocals, acoustic guitar
• Guy Hoffman – drums, (vocal-track 3)
• Bob Griffin – bass