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John9
Old Love
United Kingdom
2154 Posts |
 Posted - 10/08/2007 : 23:07:41
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"Keep on rollin" - I remember reading more than once in interviews with Arthur Lee that this had become his guiding philosophy. It has often struck me how in two of his later classic songs he seemed to have an instinct for hitting upon profound ideas about the human condition that (I would think unkown to him) had first been visited by great writers and thinkers long ago.
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'Time Is Like A River'http://love.torbenskott.dk/lyrics/time_is_like_a_river.asp
Isaac Watts in his hymn 'Our God Our Help In Ages Past'includes the line:
"Time like and ever rolling stream
Bears all its sons away." This itself reflected Isaac Newton's theory from some years before that time is something that flows smoothly and constantly.
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'Everybody's Got To Live' http://love.torbenskott.dk/lyrics/Everybodys_Gotta_Live.asp
In 'Auguries of Experience' by William Blake (who gave Love's greatest rivals their name!) the following line appears:
"Man was made for joy and woe
And when this we rightly know
Then through the world we safely go."
These songs of course both appear on 'Reel To Real' - there must surely be a case now for giving that album a cd release.
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Edited by - John9 on 11/08/2007 07:41:50 |
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wendywhen
Second Love
United Kingdom
36 Posts |
Posted - 14/08/2007 : 01:38:49
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I couldn't agree more. While I have to agree with the opinion that it is more like a solo album than a Love album, the same must be said for all the albums after FC. It was all AL. I know many here don't like R2R because of it's shift away from rock and into Blues and RnB it surely is the best recorded and clearest sounding record AL made after FC except for maybe Vindicator. Whether you like the style or not the singing and playing on those 2 records is wonderful. I do love some of the songs on those Blue Thumb records though they always sounded frenetic and a bit slapdash to me. Just my opinion . What do you think?
I am British as well but I do know that Americans read William Blake too. We are not the only readers John9  |
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myoungish
Fifth Love
USA
264 Posts |
Posted - 14/08/2007 : 04:13:51
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In the book Forever Changes (part of that scholarly 33 1/3 series) the author is absolutely convinced that Arthur had read much of the work of the Marques De Sade, and the complete Gnostic Gospels too. This is all based on his obsessive analysis of the lyrics of FC, both cryptic and obvious. Also, Arthur has admitted to being a huge Fellini fan (especially Satyricon). Arthur obviously had a big appetite for literature and art that he never really advertised. Makes him even more intriguing and complicated...
Michael Young |
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rocker
Old Love
USA
3606 Posts |
Posted - 14/08/2007 : 14:07:43
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| You know I think he (Arthur) would've liked the book I managed to pick up about the origin of various nursery rhymes. I think it's well known that he had a thing for those nursery rhymes that probably morphed into "they're lockin' up today they're throwin' away the key I wonder who it'll be tomorrow you or me?"...... |
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John9
Old Love
United Kingdom
2154 Posts |
Posted - 14/08/2007 : 23:02:24
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| wendywhen - thanks for your reply. For me 'Reel To Real' was a return to form as it featured some good songs and performances. During the 1974 tour which preceded its release, I remember taking a train down from Leicester to London (at no little expense) to try to see Love at The Speakeasy - but because of some insane membership requirement, they wouldn't let me in! Of course I was bitterly disappointed, and I could not then get the time off work to travel down to The Rainbow gig a couple of weeks later. However, twelve months later I was a student in Liverpool and was thrillled to see the Lee-Sterling-Kesterson-Suranovich lineup when they dropped by - they were like all the different incarnations of Love rolled into one - and they did four cracking songs from 'Reel To Real'. As for Blue Thumb, with me it depends on the album - much as I have always tried to like 'False Start' I think that it pales alongside everything that went before it. But for me the best tracks on 'Out Here' (songs like 'Willow Willow', 'Nice to Be' and 'I Still Wonder') rank amongst Arthur's very finest. I remember sometime in the early 90s, Record Collector revisiting what they thought were the best albums from EMI's 'Harvest' label. 'Out Here' was included and they described it as having "an eerie beauty". |
Edited by - John9 on 15/08/2007 00:14:18 |
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Keep On Rollin On!
