Diary
UK Tour 1975

This is a transcription of a handwritten diary I have in my collection. I don't know who wrote this, but thanks to him anyway.
Thanks to John Anderson for the transcription.
Some of the words couldn't be read and are market *illegible*

Photos from the collection of John Anderson (B & W) and Mike "Dukie" Anderson (Colour. From Salisbury)

LOVE – Birmingham Town Hall – 2nd May 1975

Audience size – 1/3 – 1/2 capacity (approximate – probably *illegible*)

Numbers:
1. Stand Out
2. Alone Again Or
3. 7 & 7 Is
4. Nothing
5. Signed D.C.
6. A Jam
7. Ezy Rider
8. Andmoreagain
9. My Little Red Book
10. Who Are You?
11. Keep On Shining
12. August
13. (encore) Happy Me, Happy You

My journey to see the opening night of Love’s 1975 U.K. tour at Birmingham on May 5th covered about 300-350 miles, and I came away from the Town Hall feeling very elated; having witnessed what I, and a lot of other members of the audience, considered to be a good, if not excellent, concert.
On Thursday 4th May, I caught a bus to London and during the (later) hours of the afternoon, I attempted to gather some Love facts and figures together from, initially, Elektra. However, no file of this nature has been retained. I then tried to get an interview with Arthur arranged through R.S.O., but found that an appointment *illegible* with someone from the Press Office *illegible* Helen Walters, was necessary, and I didn’t really have time to arrange an appointment.
However, next morning I phoned R.S.O. and contacted Helen Walters and she took my name and agreed to forward it to Bruce Reilly, who was at the R.S.O. office with Arthur, because Arthur was doing an interview for his record company.
When I arrived at Brum Town Hall, I was shown backstage and introduced to Bruce, who, as you know, is quite a cordial fellow and he agreed to let me interview (or ‘have a chat’, as he put it) Arthur after the show.
I went away for a coffee and did some more work on the interview, returning to the hall around 6:30 p.m. as Love were running through ‘7 and 7 Is’ as part of their sound check for the evening’s performance.
The criticism for the *illegible* of the audience from the hall when the concert should have begun, and which was leveled at Love (the “Sounds” review) is unjustified. It was Doy Soldier who caused the delay.
To my mind, both the “Sounds” & “MM” reviews of the Birmingham gig show where the heads of these 2 critics (and quite a few other Love critics) are at. Sounds: “Then the legendary band of the hippie era, Love, came on stage… (cynical?) The Sounds’ reviewer then criticizes the band’s performance and the sound (particularly the mix) but from where I was sitting (3 rows from the front – straight in front of Arthur) the sound was as good as that of most rock concerts that I’ve attended. And to say that: “The remaining numbers were generally distorted in the loud, heavy up tempo morass”… really goes too far. They were loud, yes, but not particularly/badly distorted, and yes, quite a few numbers were up-tempo. I wouldn’t be surprised if you feel the same way towards the Sounds’ review as I do, and you didn’t see any of the concerts. Look at the last paragraph of the review and you’ll see evidence of Phil Holt’s bias.
This bias of wanting Love 1975-style to do Love-1967-68 style numbers on stage with their ‘original clarity and harmony’ (Sounds) is also very *illegible* to the fare in Dennis Detheridge’s “MM” review. I saw Mr. Detheridge backstage at Brum (he was asking Bruce for some information on the current Love) and being about 50 (by the look of him) – and in his case, age probably did make a difference – he had ‘Forever Changes’ on the tip of his tongue more than once.
Love can surely hardly be blamed for the hall’s apparently notorious acoustics (about which I heard from a few fellow Love freaks before the gig i.e. if you’re more than a few seats away on the grand floor, forget it!) or for the mix – although they should employ a capable sound-man, of course – and on the other 2 gigs, the sound was better – but a few mishaps did spoil things.
As far as I know, a number called ‘Trip Over The Other Side’ does not exist, but these words are included in Love’s version of ‘Ezy Rider’ (about which, more later). Mr. Detheridge was correct about Arthur’s ‘new direction’ as expressed through ‘Happy Me, Happy You’ (see Bruce Reilly “interview”)…

Anyway, on to the gig as I saw it…
Arthur appeared first on stage looking rather stoned and carrying his flying V (not a Gibson, though) followed by John Sterling, an unknown (to me) bass player, and a drummer I immediately recognized as George Suranovich (about which I was very pleased, because I’ve always wanted to see him live).
After a few moments of checking guitar sounds, etc, off Love went into a very energetic version of ‘Stand Out’ (a good song in my estimation) which they performed in a manner very much akin to the version on ‘False Start’. A good opener. Straight into ‘Alone Again Or’ (greeted by applause, of course) done in quite a ‘heavy’ fashion, but not played heavy-handedly. It was performed with power, not over-kill. Suranovich’s drumming accentuated the breaks. John Sterling joined Arthur on vocals for this, but his hasn’t much quality, reall (when compared with Arthur’s, at least).
‘7 & 7 Is’ was next. Played at the same pace as the original, it was a very exciting number – the sequence that always sounds (to me) like a simulation of a storm, at the end, was extended and Arthur and George sang an ‘I Belong To You’ coda (see Lyceum ‘review’ for words).
Things quieted down then with a performance of ‘Nothing’ and a comparison between this and its predecessor would illustrate how good (and versatile) a lead guitarist John Sterling is. Whereas he expertly recreated the rousing guitar part on ‘7 & 7 Is’, on ‘Nothing’ he was shown to be equally at homer playing more subtle runs behind Arthur’s rhythm playing.
The fifth song of the set was ‘Signed D.C.’, one of Love’s heaviest recordings (on ‘Out Here’), live it was ever more chilling, and heavier. Here Arthur played those epic chords (F minor – D) as an intro and sang the song as only he can. An epic harmonica solo followed and the song reached its climax, part of the feeling of which *illegible* into a John Sterling ‘freak out’, where he again showed his heavy-rock leanings : Hendrix-like runs, etc. That guy can play.
With no pause Sterling developed a riff over which Arthur played a more extensive harmonica solo. I noted that it sounded like just a jam, but based loosely on ‘Revelation’. Arthur’s harmonica playing was great and he almost fell off stage as he blowed that ‘harp’ of his.
As occurred on all 3 gigs that I saw, ‘Signed D.C.’ and the jam were followed by a version of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Ezy Rider’. Arthur must like this song a lot – musn’t he? He did it on the 1974 tour and he’s said that he and Hendrix cut a version in 1970 which may one day be on the long-lost Jimi Hendrix – Arthur Lee album (if it ever appears).
Next: ‘Andmoreagain’ – Arthur’s eyes tightly closed as he sang an exceptionally sad vocal on a very sad song (even if I don’t really know exactly what it’s about). To me, Arthur looked on the verge of crying, but who knows?
Back a further 2 years, (1966) for Bacharach-David’s ‘My Little Red Book’, a number that might seem a little out of place in the *illegible* of Love, but really it does fit (as you probably know).
Love 1974-75, was then brought to mind as they broke into ‘Who Are You’ from ‘Reel to Real’. This was extended by the inclusion of an excellent Suranovich solo (even his ‘bad’ solos are better than those of most other drummers).
One aspect of the Arthur Lee philosophy was contained in their next song: ‘Keep on Shining’. A great sing-along performed well, and followed by a rather remarkably accurate version of ‘August’ – I never thought I’d hear anyone but Donnellan playing those runs but John Sterling managed to hold his own – playing his own runs, and also *illegible* some of Donnellan’s.
‘August’ was their final number, but they were brought back by the audience for a ‘new song’ ‘Happy Me, Happy You’, which was a very naïve-sounding song, but was nevertheless infectiously happy.
And that was it. The new Love’s first ever gig anywhere (see ‘Bruce interview), and a good one too.

Backstage, Bruce was quite happy, relieved, chatty, etc. but explained that Arthur wasn’t into doing an interview – which I gathered from the rather stoned appearance that he projected (most of which I believe was genuine, but there is an element of projecting to his audience).

Outside the dressing room, as I was chatting to Bruce, I could hear John Sterling playing back the tape he made of the gig, and despite the fact that he just placed his cassette in the middle of the stage, the sound wasn’t at all bad and the performances were good, although I really only heard sections of ‘Stand Out’, ‘Alone Again Or’, and a few others.

I hung around backstage, met Arthur, took photos that never came out, etc. Had a quick chat to George, and then left. Arthur was almost totally incoherent when he spoke, which wasn’t however, often. George was stoned but together.

(Sheffield)

A later gig on the tour was cancelled because it was moved, or the bad publicity given to the Brum gig.
Steve Samuels (of ‘Omaha Rainbow’ fame) said in a recent letter to me that John Sterling told him that he (Sterling) was willing to take his tape of the Brum gig to court to verify the quality of the gig. Steve saw Love at Reading (I nearly made it, but that’s another story) and really enjoyed them. He ‘interviewed’ Sterling and said Arthur was really jovial (as at Brum) but was a bit more together at Reading (‘He wandered around the dressing room singing ‘The Long & Winding Road’!!)
Sterling’s attitude perhaps justifies the errors of the reviews of the gigs given in the weekly media; more so than I can express, I should think.
Oh yes, as you know, Arthur has a great sense of humour and this was much in evidence on all the gigs I attended. I can’t recall any of his cracks at Brum but will mention a few from Salisbury and the Lyceum later.

LOVE – Salisbury City Hall, 7th May, 1975.

Audience size – ½ to ¾ capacity.

Numbers
1. Alone Again Or
2. Stand Out
3. My Little Red Book
4. Who Are You
5. Andmoreagain
6. 7 & 7 Is
7. Time Is Like A River P.A. ceased working
8. August midway through
9. Nothing ‘Time Is Like A
10. Every Time I Look Up I’m Down / White Dog River’ – the following
11. Good Times 3 numbers done as instrumentals.
12. Signed D.C.
13. Jam
14. Ezy Rider
15. I Do Wonder
16. (encore) The Everlasting First
17. Everybody’s Gotta Live
18. Keep On Shining
19. Singing Cowboy

Again, I made quite a long journey (pilgrimage) to see Love at Salisbury, five days after the Birmingham gig.
This time their opening number was ‘Alone Again Or’, which wasn’t greeted with as much applause as at Brum; mainly I think because the proportion of ‘Love freaks’ at Brum was greater at Brum. At Salisbury it seemed to be more of a general loon for the locals, than going to see Love.
‘Stand Out’ was next and I noted (on an R.S.O. handout for ‘Reel to Real’) that there was an extra bass set-up for Kim Kesterson, the sound was better and George’s drums seemed to be more ‘up-front’ than at Brum.
‘My Little Red Book’, ‘Who Are You’ (another good Suranovich solo), ‘Andmoreagain’ and ‘7 & 7 Is’ followed – all good versions – then just after they started ‘Time Is Like A River’ the P.A. cut out completely, so they brought the number to a quick ending. Arthur was only slightly put out, however and made several jokes about it.
Whilst repairs on the P.A. were being carried out they did an instrumental set consisting of ‘August’, ‘Nothing’ and ‘Every Time I Look Up I’m Down’.
Bruce then asked Arthur what he wanted to do – continue or take a break. Luckily, they took a break. Ten minutes later they came back and opened with ‘Good Times’ – Sterling excellent on his wah-wah solo.
Into ‘Signed D.C.’. Most numbers were linked together, if possible, sometimes however Arthur wandered around, mumbled to microphone etc. On this number, Arthur included the lines:
“but I ain’t going by myself,
I’m gonna take you with me”, after the lines –
“I’ve got one foot in the graveyard.”
No harmonica solo here, but a guitar solo from John Sterling.
Again, this was followed by a jam before proceeding into ‘Ezy Rider’. Then, a new number: ‘I Do Wonder’, for which John Sterling changed from his customized Telecaster to his customized Stratocaster. This sounded like (as Bruce noted) a number of great promise.
That was the end of the set, but the audience by this time was really won over, and were going quite mad. Back they came for ‘The Everlasting First’…
‘and you killed Martin.
you killed Abraham too,
you killed Malcolm,
now what you here to do?’
Arthur, realizing how well the set was going down, then introduced ‘Everybody’s Gotta Live’ and got a lot of audience participation, as with the following number – ‘Keep On Shining’.
This gig was really being well received and Arthur was well pleased. Off they went again but were brought back for ‘Singing Cowboy’, with Arthur on maracas not guitar.
Sometime during the set Arthur commented about now bad the gig at Manchester had been the night before (“never go to Manchester” he said). I asked a roadie and apparently it was mainly Arthur’s fault, so I’d like to hear from anyone who saw that gig.

Love – The Lyceum, 15th May, 1975

Audience size – capacity (I think – very crowded, anyway).

Numbers
1. Alone Again Or
2. Stand Out
3. Who Are You
4. My Little Red Book
5. Everybody’s Gotta Live
6. Nothing
7. Time Is Like A River
8. 7 & 7 Is
9. Andmoreagain
10. Signed D.C.
11. Jam
12. Ezy Ryder
13. August
14. Good Times
15. Keep On Shining
16. (encore) The Everlasting First
17. (second encore) Signing Cowboy

I had been planning to see the Leicester gig on the 17th but I was getting eager to see Love again, particularly in London, so headed towards the Lyceum on the 15th. It was a lucky move as well because the fella on the mixer informed me that it was the best gig on the tour.
I saw Bruce by the backstage area but my request for the interview was met with a slightly uptight: “No way. Arthur’s not doing any interviews”.
As Max Bell put it: “Arthur Lee and his lads stumbled on and played the proverbial shit-hot set”. However, I would like to say that I thought the Salisbury gig was better. At the Lyceum Arthur seemed to be more aware that it was the London gig, or maybe it was my imagination.
The audience was pretty enthusiastic – the only gig where I found difficulty – getting to the edge of the stage (although the Salisbury fans were more interested in dancing, looning, etc).
As I’ve got a tape-recording of the gig which I can send you, I won’t say too much about their performance because you can judge that for yourself (allowing for the limitations of the sound). I don’t know exactly what Max Bell means when he says: ‘Apparently as some kind of snub to their record, they only did one genuinely new number….’ or if it’s true. But ‘Stand Out’ was particularly good, as was ‘Signed D.C.’.
Max Bell is also right about Arthur’s ‘presence’. He’s a great hero of mine even so… he was great to watch as well as hear. At the end of ‘Nothing’, for instance, (which I’m listening to now) he just kept the notes going as Sterling played wah-wah fills over the top. He just stood, motionless, and played those few notes.
On ‘Time Is Like A River’, Sterling and Suranovich supplied background vocals; Suranovich kept a nice hi-hat unintelligible going; Sterling played the lead runs as on ‘Reel to Real’. With a hardly pause they went straight into ‘7 & 7 Is’. A very good version too. George playing well; Arthur sounding almost exactly the same as on ‘Da Capo’. The song ended with George and Arthur singing:
“I belong to you
For as long as you want me too-
I belong to you.”
Over Sterling’s lead guitar.
Arthur then sang one of his best known songs: “Andmoregain”. As with ‘Alone Again Or’, applause greeted his strummed introduction. A very good performance.
Arthur then began running his harmonica up and down the strings of his ‘Flying V’, as his group looked on. He giggled. So did the audience. He began playing the harmonica (to applause), and mumbling through the harmonica. He was enjoying himself. The audience joined in on the beat, but he played the intro to ‘Signed D.C.’ on his guitar – again to applause.
“I’ve pierced my skin again, Lord
and it felt so good.”
“I said my soul belongs to the dealer-
he might as well go to hell…
he thinks I’m just a part-time drug addict.”
Great harmonica solo over 12-bar phrase played by group. Sterling’s playing particularly good on here (again). As I hear it now, this is quite a performance.
“you thought I had one foot down in the graveyard,
but I was the gravedigger…
what’s the use of me dying?”
Quick wah-wah solo by Sterling before he launched into his guitar ‘freak out’. The rest of the band joined on the riff as he started and my first impression that night was of how I’d imagined Love playing at the Fillmore West back in 1967 doing ‘Smokestack Lightning’ or just jamming any as they were doing here. Only Arthur could say if there were any similarities, and I couldn’t get near him. It was during this number I noted how loud they were. Arthur played his harmonica again as the number stopped, but soon Sterling set up another riff and off they were again.
“well I love my baby…
I’m telling you.”
Arthur continued his harmonica solo, shouting out as he took another breath: ‘Yeah!’ He was enjoying it too.
“well I love my baby”
Sterling wah-wahed the number along. Arthur began a riff which is hard to make out. Suranovich kicked up the beat a bit.
‘I’ve got a secret,
I’m gonna turn in over to you
You live your love right
It’s gonna come right back toyou.’
The number ground to a halt. Arthur, harmonica in hand, tried to play the opening chords to ‘Ezy Rider’ – unsuccessfully; dropped the harmonica to the floor, played the chords again. The band joined in immediately. Sterling plays those Hendrix runs very well. I was really enjoying the number, singing along.
‘If I trip I can slip to the other side,
looking here, looking there, looking everywhere,
woman here, woman there, woman everywhere.’
With barely a pause, into ‘August’ – where the first side of the tape ran out. (and as I’m going to see Donovan tonight, I’ll have to go for now)
Again, a good version of this song. John Sterling showing his guitar chops and Arthur sounding very much as he does on the ‘Four Sail’ original. ‘Thank you. Thank you very much. We appreciated it’
It was here that Arthur was informed that (apparently) half of the P.A. had cut out, and it was up to Arthur if he wanted to carry on or not…
‘We’re going to do a song which’ll make everyone have a good time. The song’s called ‘Good Times.’
Here the overall sound has declined in quality, but it was such a good version, no one really noticed… we had a good time’, as Max Bell put it.
Arthur: “I think the clock on the wall says it’s time to sing a couple more songs then get out of here, but I wanna tell you it’s always a treat for me to come to London ‘cos I like to play for people who like to hear me play.” (applause)
‘Keep on Shining’ followed and Arthur really was enjoying himself. He coaxed the audience into singing ‘Keep on Shining’, John Sterling pulled off a nice bottleneck solo; and Arthur extended the number for a sing-a-ling, winding the song up with the line “roll one time for me”.
He then did a very erratic count-in for ‘The Everlasting First’ (despite quite a few calls for ‘Singing Cowboy’). For this number he laid down his guitar, picked up a pair of maracas and took off his hat. He must have been feeling quite energetic because he was dancing about the stage, imitating the Roger Daltrey antics with the microphone, but only managing to tie himself up in knots.
Despite the roughness of that song, there was great applause and back came Love for the second time.
‘This is our last song ‘cos half the P.A. system’s blown out and they think that ‘cos half the the P.A. system’s blown out, you’ve blown out one of your ears… just think of half the song… are you ready?… give me my hat somebody…sort out the P.A. system, get your government straight…hah!’
Another rough count in and into another rough rendition of an old Love classic: ‘Singing Cowboy’. And that was it. Loud applause again as the resident disk jockey announced: ‘Arthur Lee and Love. Arthur Lee and Love. Please come back very soon’. And after a few announcements the d.j. played, what else but ‘All Along The Watchtower’, by Jimi Hendrix.

List of numbers as displayed on Arthur’s amp.
(written by John Sterling according to one of the roadies).

1. White Dog
2. Alone Again Or (American spelling of ‘Agin’)
3. Good Times
4. Who Are You
5. The Everlasting First
6. 7 & 7 Is
7. Red Book
8. Time Is Like A River
9. Signed D.C.
10. Ezy Rider
11. Andmoreagain
12. Keep On Shining
13. Everybody’s Gotta Live
14. Good Old Fashioned Dream
15. Energy
16. August
17. Nothing
18. Singing Cowboy
19. Stand Out
20. Orange Skies
21. Busted Feet
22. Happy You
23. Young and Able
24. Can’t Stop Trying (?)
25. Midnight Sun
26. I Still Wonder (this should be – I think – ‘I Do Wonder’)
27. I Belong To Me
28. Going Home
29. You Set The Scene

Bits ‘n Pieces

1. Apparently, they had rehearsed a total of about 40 numbers for this tour – but this all that appeared on the sheet of paper on Arthur’s amp (which he never consulted, as I recall).
2. You will notice 7 were new numbers. ‘I Belong To Me’ is, I think, the bit they added on to ‘7 & 7 Is’ and ‘I Still Wonder’ should be ‘I Do Wonder’.