NEW YORK — Once upon a time, Courtney Love wasn't considered a total disaster.

Sure, she was a mess, but she was a charismatic mess, as daring as she was disruptive, a punk rock diva party-crasher who made just as many fans as enemies with her antics. But instead of making a comeback, Love is on a losing streak, with her record sales plummeting as her arrest record grows, and almost everything she does lately being viewed as proof of her unraveling.

Yes, her show Thursday night at the Bowery Ballroom started an hour and a half late. And yes, she stripped down to her underwear. And yes, she was hoarse. Yet losing her voice may have helped her win back a few fans — not because it shut her up (it didn't), but because it lent her a moving emotional eloquence.

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