Archive Review: Love’s Reel-To-Real (2016)

By 1974, Arthur Lee had left Love’s psychedelic roots in his rear-view mirror, forming a version of the band that had little in common with its 1960s-era origins. Love’s Black Beauty – unreleased until 2011 – displayed the talents of Lee’s new musicians, essentially the line-up Lee took into the studio to record Reel-To-Real.

Fans expecting another Forever Changes will be disappointed. Lukewarm criticisms aside, Reel-To-Real is a fine record in itself, Lee flexing his soul and funk muscles, resulting in performances that blend Sly Stone with Frankie Miller. “Who Are You?” is a red-hot slab o’ funk while “Which Witch Is Which” is a jarring trance-blues tune. The rootsy “You Said You Would” is raucous fun and, of the bonus tracks, “Graveyard Hop” stands out as a throwback rocker. Reel-To-Real provides another intriguing piece to the puzzle that was Arthur Lee. (High Moon Records, reissue released 2016)

Review originally published by The Blues magazine... 

Archive Review: Love’s Forever Changes (2008)

One of the most beloved and enduring albums in the canon of rock music, Love’s Forever Changes was initially released in 1967 to yawns and commercial indifference. The third and final album released by the Los Angeles band’s original line-up, Forever Changes barely slipped into the Billboard Top 200 albums before sinking back out of sight…until it was rediscovered by eager rock fans during the alt-rock daze of the ‘90s.

Love’s Forever Changes

Love was formed by the brilliant singer/songwriter Arthur Lee in 1965, Lee’s artistic vision often supported and complimented by underrated guitarist Bryan MacLean. In any other band, MacLean would have been the primary talent, but in Love he often toiled beneath the long shadow of Lee’s genius. After leaving the band in 1968 in the wake of Forever Changes’ release, MacLean would tinker away at songs and solo material before leaving the music biz altogether. The rest of the band provided an incredible cohesion and chemistry to Lee and MacLean’s original material.     

Love’s first couple of albums – 1966’s self-titled debut, and the following year’s Da Capo – featured a guitar-driven, folk-rock sound with waves of psychedelic candy-coloring and washes of electric-blues and jazzy flourishes. Neither album particularly lit the world on fire, but both were strong artistic statements. Originally, the label wanted session players to back Lee and MacLean, respectively, on their songs, due to the band’s growing personal problems and drug use; indeed, two tracks on Forever Changes were recorded with studio pros. When all the members of Love finally got together to make the album, nobody could have imagined what would come out of the sessions. 

A grand collection of baroque-pop with elements of psychedelic-rock, folk, and R&B with uncharacteristic horns and strings, Forever Changes is a masterpiece of musical composition and lyrical brilliance. The songs crafted by Lee and MacLean were years ahead of their time, deep tapestries of sound with lush threading of various colors. The Spanish, flamenco flavor of MacClean’s enchanting “Alone Again Or” stands in direct contrast to the trebly guitarwork of the psyche-rock naildriver “A House Is Not A Hotel.”  The gentle hippie soundscape of “Andmoreagain” is supported by a lilting melody and gossamer orchestral flourishes while the overtly cynical “Bummer In the Summer” is an old-fashioned garage-rock freak-out.

Summer of Love

Lyrically, Forever Changes provides a signpost of storm clouds on the horizon. Largely written and recorded during the “Summer of Love,” the album’s poetry frequently portrays a society undergoing change. Portending a long, dark night ahead, songs like “The Red Telephone” and the surrealistic, anti-war “Live And Let Live” deliver a forceful, sometimes frenzied message despite their lush backing soundtrack. Lee had stated in interviews that he literally felt that his life was coming to an end at this time, and his sub-conscious reflections on race and society have taken on a timeless quality.  

So, what’s the difference between this Forever Changes “Collector’s Edition” and the last time around, when Rhino reissued the album in 2001? Well, to begin with, this one is a whopping two-disc set, the first presenting the original album in all of its pristine glory. The second disc offers an “alternative mix” of the album, eleven songs, only one of which was included on the 2001 CD. To these ears, the “alternative mix” of the album sounds inferior, lacking the same texture and depth of the originally released recordings. 

Another ten “bonus tracks” replicate those on the last reissue, adding previously unreleased versions of “Andmoreagain” (instrumental backing track) and “The Red Telephone” (tracking sessions highlights), neither of which are essential, or even add much to the experience save for the hardcore believer. The lively, rocking obscure B-side “Laughing Stock” is a welcome addition, while a boisterous, unreleased cover of “Wooly Bully” is a bona-fide album outtake, and a heck of a lot of fun. A mono single remix of “Alone Again Or,” with dynamic sound and warmth, makes a strong case for taking rock back to its (mono) roots. Informative new liners notes from Andrew Sandoval are complimented by a handful of photos.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Should you spring for the “Collector’s Edition” of Forever Changes? If you’re a fan of the band, you probably already have. If you’re unfamiliar with Love, mildly curious, or haven’t heard this landmark work, you should give it a listen. After all, hundreds of rock critics couldn’t be wrong when they voted Forever Changes as one of the best albums of all time, could they? (Rhino Records, reissue released 2008)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine...

New Music Monthly: February 2017 Releases

It may be  cold outside, but February's "New Music Monthly" offers up some scorching hot sides for the music lover's rock 'n' roll gratification! Black Star Riders' hard-rockin' third album Heavy Fire arrives this month, and roots 'n' blues veteran Elvis Bishop delivers joyful noise with Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio while new albums from the Sadies, Son Volt, Otis Taylor, and the Feelies are sure to please. Here's the music you'll be spending your hard-earned coin on in February!

FEBRUARY 3
Black Star Riders - Heavy Fire   BUY!
Communions - Blue   BUY!
The Soul of John Black - Early In The Moanin'   BUY!

FEBRUARY 10
Elvin Bishop - Big Fun Trio   BUY!
Arthur Lee - Arthur Lee   BUY!
Chuck Prophet - Bobby Fuller Died For Your Sins   BUY!
The Sadies - Northern Passages   BUY!

FEBRUARY 17
Merrell Fankhauser - Things   BUY!
Son Volt - Notes of Blue   BUY!
Otis Taylor - Fantasizing About Being Black   BUY!

FEBRUARY 24
The Feelies - In Between   BUY!
Eric Gales - Middle of the Road   BUY!
Wesley Stace - Wesley Stace's John Wesley Harding (w/the Jayhawks)   BUY!

(Album release dates are subject to change without notice and they don't always let me know, so there...)

Album of the Month: The Feelies' In Between, the band's first album in six years. The Feelies reformed in 2016 in celebration of the band's 40th anniversary and the reissuing of their classic albums Time For A Witness and Only Life. The new LP promises more of the same avant-pop genius that inspired bands like R.E.M. and Yo La Tengo, among many others. Get a taste of the new Feelies album below.

High Moon Reissues Love’s Reel to Real on CD & LP

Psychedelic folk-rock pioneers Love have continued to pick up fans decades after their mid-to-late 1960s artistic peak. The band’s 1967 magnum opus, Forever Changes, is widely revered as one of the most creative and influential albums in rock ‘n’ roll history, and Love frontman Arthur Lee has since become a cult idol heralded as a genius, a status that has only grown since his death in 2006.

While copies of Love classics like Forever Changes and Da Capo are readily available and easy to find for even the novice collector, copies of late-period Love albums, as well as Lee’s infrequent solo albums, have become increasingly more difficult to dig up. Thanks to the good folks at High Moon Records, Love’s previously-unreleased 1973 album Black Beauty was finally made available some 40 years after its recording. The boutique label strikes gold again with its plans to reissue another long-lost Love effort, Reel to Real.

On November 27th, 2015 High Moon Records will reissue Reel to Real on CD and digitally, with a vinyl LP reissue following on February 19th, 2016. Featuring eleven red-hot tracks, Reel to Real was originally released in 1974 by RSO Records. High Moon’s deluxe CD package offers re-mastered audio from the original tapes and a dozen bonus tracks, most of which are previously-unreleased, and includes a full-color, 32-page booklet with an essay by Rolling Stone magazine’s David Fricke as well as rare, unpublished photos. The label’s LP reissue will be pressed on high-quality RTI vinyl and will include a full-color, 28-page LP-sized booklet as well as a download card for the full album and bonus tracks. The digital download will include a full-color, 26-page PDF booklet.

Arthur Lee

A major label follow-up to the indie-produced, ultimately unreleased Black Beauty, Love’s Reel to Real featured the same band as its predecessor: guitarist Melvan Whittington, bassist Robert Rozelle, and drummer Joe Blocker – a talented lineup that Lee referred to as “cats who can play funky and rock” – who were joined by guitarist John Sterling. The album also included guest appearances by guitarists Harvey Mandel (former Canned Heat guitarist and solo artist) and Howard “Buzzy” Feiten (who had played with Paul Butterfield and Bob Dylan).

Availed of a larger budget courtesy of RSO, Love recorded an underrated collection of blues, rock, funk, and soul that is a timeless representation of Lee’s immense musical vision. The bonus tracks provided the High Moon reissue of Reel to Real are sourced from the original sessions for the album and include alternate takes and mixes, live in-studio rehearsals, and four previously-unknown Lee originals: “Do It Yourself,” “I Gotta Remember,” “Somebody,” and “You Gotta Feel It,” the first three of which are said to be fully-produced rockers.

I tracked down a copy of Black Beauty on CD a few months ago and was pleased by the effort that went into the production and packaging; working from original tapes, I expect Reel to Real to sound even better. Reel to Real is available from the High Moon Records website.

Reel to Real - original album tracks:
1. Time Is Like A River
2. Stop The Music
3. Who Are You?
4. Good Old Fashion Dream
5. Which Witch Is Which
6. With A Little Energy
7. Singing Cowboy
8. Be Thankful For What You Got
9. You Said You Would
10. Busted Feet
11. Everybody’s Gotta Live

CD bonus tracks:
12. Do It Yourself [Outtake]
13. I Gotta Remember [Outtake]
14. Somebody [Outtake]
15. You Gotta Feel It [Outtake]
16. With A Little Energy [Alternate Mix]
17. Busted Feet [Alternate Mix]
18. You Said You Would [Single Mix]
19. Stop The Music [Alternate Take]
20. Graveyard Hop [Studio Rehearsal]
21. Singing Cowboy [Alternate Take]
22. Everybody’s Gotta Live [Electric Version]
23. Wonder People (I Do Wonder) [Studio Rehearsal]
     
All Reel to Real bonus tracks previously unreleased except for the "You Said You Would" single mix