Love - Love

1988 Issue of the 1966 Psychedelic Classic Album from Arthur Lee and Company. The Printed Side of the CD is in the Fabled "Target" Format, as the Master Used for this Issue was Taken Directly from the Two Track Mixdown, Valuable to Many Collectors. Album Details

One of the greatest debuts and garage rock albums

Up there with the early Who, there are not many garage rock albums better than this. The guitars chime and drive strangely and Arthur Lee writes...well..Arthur Lee lyrics, and every song is great. Especially their version of "Hey Joe" which is as good as Hendrix's, but in a completely different way. Check it out as it's a shame this band isn't more well known. August 19, 2008

"Orange, sugar, chocolate, hot cinnamon and lovely things and you..."

If nothing else, Love's debut is probably the group's coolest album. For one thing, its cover is a wonderful addition to the "mid 60s sneering rock star" sweeps (the mid 60s were a great time for sneers). Of course, Dylan and the Stones still have a lock on first and second place, but these guys are still up there. On top of that, the album's aesthetic is just wicked awesome: It's a combination of disaffected garage punk, dreamy proto-psych, Byrds influenced folk rock, and smart, soulful pop. Arthur Lee's vocals are perched somewhere between wildcat and wise man, while John Echols' and Bryan MacLean's guitar runs jangle and scream. Combine that with the suitably loose `n' ready rhythm section of Ken Forssi and Alban Pfisterer (oh, of only I could pick my last name!), and you've got yourself a hipper-than-hip li'l rock outfit.

The songs are cool, too. "My Little Red Book" makes the grade by virtue of being a garage punk cover of a Burt Bacharach tune, but authorship and style aside, it's still a great tune. It's got this great throbbing bass/drum/rhythm guitar thing going, and Lee's throaty bellow is just about perfect. Elsewhere, we've got a haunting drug addiction ballad with a melody that's vaguely reminiscent of "House Of The Rising Sun" ("Signed D.C."), as well as the poignant rumination of "A Message to Pretty." There's a suitably rollicking version of "Hey Joe," and a similarly rollicking, suspiciously familiar tune by the name of "My Flash On You." Best of all is Bryan's eerily beautiful "Softly To Me."

This probably won't be your favorite Love album- people tend to prefer Forever Changes- but it's still a great debut, and a wonderful rock album in its own right. May 12, 2008

Love At First Sound

Love's 1966 debut album was an excellent sign of things to come. Arthur Lee and company were always an inspired bunch, and it was clear from the get-go that they would be more than just another band from L.A. Most of their first album consisted of uptempo rock 'n roll numbers inspired by blues of The Rolling Stones and the vibrant, chiming guitars of The Byrds. However, Love had some tricks up their own sleeves. While these would be more fully realized on their second and third albums, they were sufficient at the start to make their debut an interesting - if not classic - album of the late sixties.

The Love album does show some signs of youthful unoriginality. "Can't Explain" is obviously a re-working of The Stones' "What A Shame", with seemingly only the faster tempo to distinguish it from the original. (Of course, the Stones would return the favor by borrowing a lyric from Arthur Lee's "She Comes In Colors" for the song "She's A Rainbow".) The cover of "Hey Joe" feels like filler, even though it offers a nice vocal by guitarist Bryan MacLean and superb bass work by Ken Forssi, who shines throughout the record. Finally, the opening track and their first single was a cover of a Burt Bacharach/Hal David tune. Fortunately, and very much to their credit, they transformed "My Little Red Book" into a sturdy, staccato rocker, and arguably an early punk song.

Love's uniqueness shines through most clearly on the album's several emotive ballads: "A Message To Pretty", "Mushroom Clouds", which gives a hint of Lee's political mindset, and especially "Signed D.C.", presumably a tribute to Love's first drummer Don Conka, whose drug addiction prevented him from ever appearing on record. (He is also mentioned by last name on "You I'll Be Following".) "My Flash On You" also has an anti-drug message, which is more tragic than ironic considering the struggle with substances that Lee himself would face throughout his life. Bryan MacLean's contribution is the elegant "Softly To Me", which reveals a personal songwriting style that would culminate in what is perhaps Love's greatest song: "Alone Again Or", from Forever Changes. Lead guitarist Johnny Echols, for his part, offers "Emotions", a spooky mid-album instrumental.

One might be skeptical of the praise heaped upon Love's first two albums, given that their third is considered by many to be one of the greatest ever recorded. One could easily think that critics don't want Forever Changes to seem like a fluke, and thus they speak more highly of Love and Da Capo more than they should. It is true that Forever Changes is their best album, but it certainly shouldn't over shadow it's predecessors (nor its successor, Four Sail, for that matter). Love was justly one of the most popular bands on the Sunset Strip in the late 60s, garnering respect of peers who would become much more popular. Their eponymous debut was enough to earn them such acclaim at the time, even if it was hardly predictive of the masterpiece that was in the not-too-distant future. August 1, 2007

What's not to LOVE?

The answer is....hardly anything. Despite the somewhat dated production,
the music in this album does not(for the most part)seem dated and still
conveys the energy of a group that was--like many of the best--eclectic.
If I knew it at one time, I had forgotten that their driving proto-punk
"My Little Red Book" had been written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach
(Although you would be hard-pressed to guess it from the presentation that
it gets from LOVE). They then proceed to provide the listener with a
stylistically varied and rewarding batch of original songs, including
several that were not on the original version of this reissue of their
first album. Even the inclusion of yet another version of the now classic
"Hey Joe" (the only other song that is not written by the group)is
tolerable. It is interesting to speculate that they may have inspired Jimi
Hendrix to do this song, as they were in contact with him just prior to
his going to England and returning as a "guitar hero". They also promoted
another band--THE DOORS--that was just starting to get a reputation in LA.
In addition, they were reputed to have had connections with yet another
fantastic band--THE BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD--that had also come together in LA
at that time. Further rock trivia includes the fact that their engineer,
Bruce Botnick, also worked on albums by both "The Doors" and the "Buffalo
Springfield". Well, if I haven't made it clear, I strongly recommend that
you get this album to hear some of the early explorers of the sounds and
styles(folk-rock to proto-punk)that went on to influence some of the music
of the next four decades. In retrospect, you can hear the elements, both
verbal and musical, that would reach thier fruition in LOVE's third album,
the classic FOREVER CHANGES. Don't buy this album solely for its
"historical" interest, however, buy it because it is still just good music
to listen to. July 4, 2007

Love Burns Eternal

In 1966 I had hoped to evade the war draft to Vietnam. Went to college.
Asked for a deferment of active duty. But. It didn't happen. So ?

Found myself doing active duty on an aircraft carrier in Portsmouth,
Virginia preparing to go to Vietnam. On the weekend before deployment,
managed to get a weekend leave that I spent walking around record stores
- going to night clubs to hear live music. That's went I found the vinyl music
album that would be - has always been a critical emotional positive part of
my life - the first album by Arthur Lee - LOVE !

This album - Arthur Lee's music kept me being me !

I own aproximately 4500 recordings. This will be the only one I keep -
take with me to the grave - an incredible album! April 20, 2007

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