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sometimesmylifeissoeerie
Fourth Love
198 Posts |
 Posted - 05/08/2010 : 03:31:45
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All I know is that ONLY Arthur Lee could have written those great (if shorter) melodies, chords and psycho lyrics of the first four songs on side two of "Four Sail", and that's enough for me.
The other songs are okay, but just don't have that special melodic magic that his best songs have, IMHO.
IMHO, most songwriters have just a few great songs in them, and then write stuff that is good, but not on the same level as their really great stuff.
This is all very subjective, and I'm not looking for anyone to agree with me on this.
After Four Sail, it was over.
One thing that struck me as weird in the book was when it was claimed that AL wrote BOTH "Neil's Song" and "I'm With You" for their late road manager.
Neil's Song, obviously, but "I'm With You" sounds more like a love song. |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3485 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2010 : 04:26:18
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Whens the last time you listened to the album
I really don't listen to it much, personally. The only song on it that doesn't have all the juice squeezed out of it is "Nothing"
Maybe "I'm with you"
How many times did Arthur rerecord "Singing Cowboy" anyway ?  Didn't that turn up on Real to Reel? |
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gatemouthmoore
Fourth Love
202 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2010 : 06:04:59
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Neil's song and Singing Cowboy are both drug songs."What about the time when you took my arm and said come along you don't have to be strong." "Gonna shoot a little taste of me and my boy." Boy is the slang name for heroin.
Neil Rapaport Aka. Neil Gannon, was the group's road manager. He was also the one who first turned the guys on to intravenous drugs. Strange to be writing songs about him.
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GMM.  It's better to have what you don't want, than to want what you can't have. |
Edited by - gatemouthmoore on 05/08/2010 06:53:33 |
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rocker
Old Love
USA
3606 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2010 : 14:42:08
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You know all of us here have our "fav" song from the group and we've been listening to the band for a long while so naturally things stick with us. I've noticed that I play " I'm With You" very much in "rotation". I love that song and it's in my top 3 from the band......and it comes from 4 Sail. I personally find it so inventive and it just m-o-v-e-s with the great riffs going on with the guitars. The drums and guitars are in perfect sync. I always wonder where did Arthur get that "sound" from to make that particular song? Just a beautiful creation from a rock genius... |
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John9
Old Love
United Kingdom
2154 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2010 : 15:22:04
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| Absolutely, Rocker! I'm With You is classic Love ....superb melody, delicate instrumentation and with Arthur in fine voice. When it was released as a single here, one magazine reviewer compared it to the best of The Byrds' work. Nothing, I think is another of the album's jewels....and of course one that remained a live favourite for quite some time. One shining quality that scarcely ever gets a mention is Frank Fayad's resonant bass.....I think especially of the drive it gives to fine songs like Dream and Robert Montgomery. |
Edited by - John9 on 05/08/2010 15:26:01 |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3485 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2010 : 15:23:42
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| Neils Song is rather a jolly old song - "who passed away maybe its better this way" - la la la |
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sometimesmylifeissoeerie
Fourth Love
198 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2010 : 19:42:41
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That line has been cracking me up for 40 years!
Only AL could have had the psycho-ness to write that.
Even a song with barely any lyrics like "Good Times" had a psycho edge to it- he's practically ordering her to have a "good time"(!)
He's got to tell her to get up on the floor and dance.
But Arthur made an art form of it, rather than just screaming it out like the punks might do, he made a hip,jazzy/bluesy melody out of it, and gave it some jazzy diminished seventh chords and an Em9, and voila- small masterpiece. |
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kdion11
Old Love
USA
552 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2010 : 20:57:47
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quote:
Originally posted by Joe Morris
Whens the last time you listened to the album
I really don't listen to it much, personally. The only song on it that doesn't have all the juice squeezed out of it is "Nothing"
Maybe "I'm with you"
How many times did Arthur rerecord "Singing Cowboy" anyway ? Didn't that turn up on Real to Reel?
KD: And LOVE: STUDIO / LIVE. Where the live version is
the DEFINITVE version IMHO. That seems to be the version
that BL were playing during the last few tours.
Free the cowboys ! |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3485 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2010 : 01:33:28
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Yeah, Good Times ... whats up with that?
is that even a Love song
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free the love (and Arthur Lee)! |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9866 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2010 : 14:57:33
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STUDIO/LIVE puts the best of OUT HERE together and edits out the long solos to give us a most enjoyable set...with one of a kind live numbers. I can only think Jac missed some great ones here!
Doggone is a favorite.
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Everything you do returns at last to you,
so why don't you...do...love.
-Tom Rapp |
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bob f.
Old Love
USA
1308 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2010 : 03:31:48
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hi, gatemouthmoore, to piggyback on your heroin reference above, I was at one of Arthur and Love's L.A. 2000s shows, and in , " The Red Telephone" , when Arthur sang, " ...the fifth's to fix..." , he pointed to his inner arm (mainline).
I'm not suggesting he shot dope, 'cause I respect his denial of that. Just saying he was making reference to shooting dope, as he did with 'signed dc'. just an observation, 'cause I was there, and thought it meant something.
...what the world needs now... |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3485 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2010 : 17:40:17
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you know, the first Love album I had was on a cassette, Studio/Live (MCA)
wasn't as brilliant as Forever Changes of course, or side 1 of da capo(Which I was just listening to in mono)
but there are nice songs: Nice to be, Willow Willow; and of course Keith Dion's fave "Singing Cowboy"
So there was something there to make me want to have a friend record his vinyl da capo, and for me to buy a cd of Forever Changes to have another friend record that for me to tape
I think I had the Best of Love cassette for decades, although I doubt if audio cassettes are still even being made |
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Joe Morris
Old Love
3485 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2018 : 16:17:44
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so Jac took the best of what Arthur had recorded to fulfill his contract with Elektra and missed gems like "I Still Wonder" and "Willow Willow"
Go figure! |
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Innocent Words magazine book review
