The
Ambassador, Dublin
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My Little Red Book |
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Thanks to Tony Lyons for ticket scan and review from Irish Times
Review from Irish Times 18-6-2002
Arthur Lee and Love The Ambassador, Dublin
Kevin Courtney
Love were the quintessential West psychedelic combo, mixing hippydippy lyrics
with hard home truths and fusing gentle folk with raucous rock on such legendary
albums as Da Capo and Forever Changes. More than 30 years later a mostly
twentysomething crowd was getting impatient after waiting nearly an hour for the
lost legends to make their first Irish appearance. The band's leader Arthur Lee,
hasn't done much since the 1960s, and spent half the 1990s in jail on firearms
charges, so no-one really knew what to expect. Would this be a cheap nostalgia
trip from a burnt-out old lag, trying to cobble together some cash out of his
tattered career? Or would it he a wondrous return to past glories, a fiery,
superbly entertaining celebration of freedom, and a timely realignment of Love's
legacy? The latter, actually. From the opening bars of Little Red Book, it was
apparent that Lee was fit and able, and determined to reclaim those stolen
years. Backed by a hand of young guns another multiracial lineup in the great
Love tradition, Lee tore through his back pages, reigniting the spark of genius
which had infused songs like Orange Skies, Your Mind And We Belong Together and
Alone Again Or.
Forever Changes is an acknowledged classic, but it often seems like a relic from
a long- buried musical Atlantis. Right here, right now, though, songs such as A
House is Not A Motel, Andmoreagain and Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or
Between Clark and Hilldale make perfect sense despite their somewhat
impenetrable lyrics. And Bummer In The Summer was a suitable theme for a rainy
Dublin night in June when Ireland have just been knocked out of the World Cup.
Lee's four piece backing band consisted of just two guitars, bass and drums; the
absence of flute, acoustic guitar and organ made for a tougher, more resilient
delivery. It worked beautifully on Live And Let Live, Seven And Seven Is and She
Comes In Colours. Even a new song (sic), Everyhody's Gotta Live, sat comfortably
with the classic tunes, helped along by a snatch of John lennon's Instant Karma.
Welcome back, Arthur - it was well worth the wait