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John9
Old Love
United Kingdom
2154 Posts |
 Posted - 25/11/2010 : 10:14:30
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Given that all Love's definitive work is now available in remastered, expanded and fully documented packages, it is easy to forget just what a landmark and extremely welcome release Love Story was upon its release back in 1995. The 2CD set was essentially an expansion of the classic 1970 compilation, Love Revisited....to the extent that the dreamy group shot on the reverse side of that album features on the slipcase.
Love Story's considerable merits
1. The first really good stereo mix of Forever Changes on CD
2. The first opportunity for many of us to hear mono recordings from the first two albums
3. The first inclusion on any CD of the Your Mind and We / Laughing Stock single (apart from on the Australian She Comes in Colours compilation)
4. Six tracks from the (then) unavailable Four Sail album....and in their pre-Elektra mixes as well!
5. A decent representation for the band's overlooked post 1968 work
6. A wonderful booklet containing pictures of all the albums, flawless session information and a superlative essay from Andrew Sandoval...and probably the best piece of literature /collection of photographs that had appeared about the band up to that point.
Minor disappointments felt at the time
1. Several favourite tracks from the debut album were not included - one thinks especially of And More and Mushroom Clouds
2. Two of Four Sail's finest tracks, I'm With You and Nothing (soft rock ethereal masterpieces, both) were also missing
3. Neither was there was to be any place for the 1970 single, Stand Out....it had been quite popular on juke boxes in the UK and was a concert favourite
All in all, this anthology set the standard for the complete overhaul of Love's catalogue that we have seen in recent years. And of course that went hand in hand with a renaissance of interest in the band's work that would have been beyond our wildest dreams during the early 90s. 
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Edited by - John9 on 25/11/2010 11:22:09 |
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myoungish
Fifth Love
USA
264 Posts |
Posted - 19/12/2010 : 08:23:07
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Great analysis , John9. I totally agree. After all these years I find it dangerous to keep Love Story in my car, because I never, ever end up listening to any other cd's if I have Love Story on hand. Friends send me cd's, and it can take months before I listen to 'em, because I've gotta hear that crunching guitar and Arthur's majestic near-falsetto in Robert Montgomery again, or the rush of My Flash On You, or the lilting bossa mind-bend of Que Vida, or Arthur's soulful wail in The Everlasting First....Yes, they should have included the tracks you mentioned from the first album and Four Sail, along with Dream too. That song is a real grower (Don't you think you oughta come on home!") They also should have included the haunting Gather Round from Out Here, and I've always preferred the Reel To Real version of Everybody's Gotta Live.
Michael Young |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
Posted - 19/12/2010 : 16:52:14
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Probably should've focused on the Elektra period, not including all four of the albums ...
More of the 1st album in mono would've been nice
Although I understand them putting on the Hendrix/Lee track, as that was something of a rare bird!
I guess we can be thankful they left "Revelation" off!
Also, cutting Forever Changes in 2 was a huge mistake. Usually I'll wanna play that all the way through!
the best thing about Love Story was the video press package, which saw the Your Mind and We film available on video
when most people hadn't seen it
Or the Iceworld video for that matter...
Now of course theres Youtube, so you can see that color film, or you can listen to outtakes by Lee/Hendrix (one assumes theres new stuff on the recent Hendrix box)
and you can probably find "Mushroom clouds" in mono on the site as well
Shame that the 1st recordings of the 1st album never surfaced - Hopkins must have those pre-Elektra recordings
Apparently Jac Holzman forced Love to change the lyrics for "Mushroom Clouds".. |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
Posted - 19/12/2010 : 16:54:47
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Probably should've focused on the Elektra period, including all 4 of the albums I mean on the LS double set, I mean
(what with Four Sail not being available on cd save an OOP Thunderbolt release - and this being pre-eBay of course - I had to get a tape of the album b/w Five String Serenade (the album) on tape from someone in Wales!) |
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LeeRob
Fifth Love
397 Posts |
Posted - 19/12/2010 : 20:24:36
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I never understand all of the negative bits about Revelation. I was a young adult when I lived in L.A. and Da Capo hit the streets, even though the A-side gathered me and my friends up to listen, we were already being weened from the AM radio side of things by FM jocks playing cuts from albums. We learned to play the songs on the A-side, but we listened to Revelation more. It was extreme and facinating. I think time always deadens the excitement of dynamic, artistic impressions on a cultural scale. Revelation; maybe you can't dance to it, but you can groove to it. It was hip man, when the A-side was quite rung of the mill, in the best standards of course.
Da Capo (both sides) is the album I listen to the most.
It's all the same day. |
Edited by - LeeRob on 20/12/2010 16:57:41 |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
Posted - 19/12/2010 : 20:35:13
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I think "Revelation" was the point where Love just didn't care anymore
its noteworthy too that Forever Changes was originally gonna be a double, undoubtedly due to all the songs that had gathered up from before
I see the album as a missed opportunity. They were just getting lazy. Echols talks about songs from around the first album that they never finished up (like "Andmore")
Who knows? maybe even recorded live
da capo was a good album but could've been SO much better. The 1st side is undoubtedly the best album side they put together
The second side though... thats damn near unforgivable |
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bob f.
Old Love
USA
1308 Posts |
Posted - 20/12/2010 : 00:54:51
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I've always loved "Revelation"!
....so goood! yeah!....make me feel s.s-s so good yeah...ALRIGHT!
...what the world needs now... |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
Posted - 20/12/2010 : 01:28:47
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seems to be the only track they trusted Echols to sing!
Imagine (if you will) a 2nd side full of songs the group made up in the studio
Rather like "Coloured Falls Falling" on the 1st album, where they were just taking it where it went
Granted side 2 of Love is not their best album side, but "Revelation"s a bore - 5 minutes its tolerable, but EIGHTEEN MINUTES?! HOLY YIKES!!!! |
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John9
Old Love
United Kingdom
2154 Posts |
Posted - 20/12/2010 : 12:20:15
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quote:
Originally posted by myoungish
Great analysis , John9. I totally agree. After all these years I find it dangerous to keep Love Story in my car, because I never, ever end up listening to any other cd's if I have Love Story on hand. Friends send me cd's, and it can take months before I listen to 'em, because I've gotta hear that crunching guitar and Arthur's majestic near-falsetto in Robert Montgomery again, or the rush of My Flash On You, or the lilting bossa mind-bend of Que Vida, or Arthur's soulful wail in The Everlasting First....Yes, they should have included the tracks you mentioned from the first album and Four Sail, along with Dream too. That song is a real grower (Don't you think you oughta come on home!") They also should have included the haunting Gather Round from Out Here, and I've always preferred the Reel To Real version of Everybody's Gotta Live.
Michael Young
Thanks Michael - and I agree with you absolutely about Dream. It is a fine song that combines poignant lyrics with an excellent melody. And I've always loved the delicate interplay between Jay's and Frank's guitars during the instrumental break. Gather Round is one of Arthur's finest - I was delighted to see that this was the one chosen to close the Love Story film.
It is interesting to see, again in the movie, Arthur say that Revelation was the worst song he ever wrote. I can think of a few of his early 70s songs more deserving of that accolade. I still enjoy listening to it from time to time and I think that it was quite a brave piece of music to release in 1966-67. There is just too much going on, on so many interesting instruments, for it to be dismissed out of hand.
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Edited by - John9 on 20/12/2010 12:34:36 |
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rocker
Old Love
USA
3606 Posts |
Posted - 20/12/2010 : 14:39:17
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| LS is always up next to FC on my shelf. Those discs present a band with not one but a few musical styles and they come off playing them real well. It simply shows the sheer talent of that band when it came to creating beautiful songs. And as LeeR noted during that time we were all being taken away from the am stuff and introduced into free-wheeling fm so looking back I can see them doing something like "Rev" during that time. I don't think Arthur and the band went into many 15 minute plus songs but I think they knew on what side their bread was buttered on and that was with more tightly constructed songs. |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
Posted - 20/12/2010 : 16:38:37
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Early Love shows lived on playing "John Lee Hooker" (Revelation"), and sometimes would play nothing else for a whole set. More than an hour. That was likely when conka was still their drummer. The audience loved it and it was somethimg no one ever had done before....playing one song, all night. But it was never the same, always changing each night....more of a jazz/improv Coltrane kind of thing. It must have been a beautiful thing to hear.
I love Revelation, if for nothing else, for its brave new world. The Stones, and many others did too, of course. It just wasn't made for the studio. It fed off the audience and was made for small venues like Bido Litos. It was a worthy effort and worth the space if only as a "first" on an LP,
But the LP format wasn't ready for Revelation....it needed to be recorded live and have room to wander for an hour if needed. And the times. Love, and the audience had finally moved on to a new kind Love.....by the release of Da Capo, the moment had passed already for Revelation--they had moved on to new heights.
The only other artist who changed so radically with each new album was Tim Buckley and he had to find a whole new audience with each album....genius stuff, but sometimes, for fans, radical is just something they don't want. Too bad.
_____________________________________________
Letting your freak flag fly is a state of mind,
not a fashion statement.
-lk |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 20/12/2010 20:32:54 |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
Posted - 20/12/2010 : 16:52:41
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its rubbish Scott! its rubbish!
worst track they ever did (which includes "Bend Down"
"Beep beep" and "LA Coloca" COMBINED
"I will not go back to your FROWNLAND!!!  |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
Posted - 20/12/2010 : 20:33:46
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quote:
Originally posted by Joe Morris
its rubbish Scott! its rubbish!
worst track they ever did (which includes "Bend Down"
"Beep beep" and "LA Coloca" COMBINED
"I will not go back to your FROWNLAND!!!
_____________________________________________
Letting your freak flag fly is a state of mind,
not a fashion statement.
-lk |
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rocker
Old Love
USA
3606 Posts |
Posted - 20/12/2010 : 21:43:01
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The only other artist who changed so radically with each new album was Tim Buckley and he had to find a whole new audience with each album....genius stuff, but sometimes, for fans, radical is just something they don't want. Too bad.
I think that has to be real tough on an artist. On one hand you get accolades with your previous work but then if you leave it and try another road will they follow? What's important? The work itself or perhaps feeding the "machine"? |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3491 Posts |
Posted - 20/12/2010 : 23:02:42
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| I'm not goin back to your FROWNLAND!!! |
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Love Story 1966 - 72: (15 years on)
