Without question, this John N submission is super exciting to me......Arthur Lee/Love is one myall time faves without question, Lee was a genius pure and simple, and Love (the original version, MUCH more than simply "the Arthur Lee band") created my absolute, no question about it favorite album of them all "Forever Changes"......there is NOT a ton of good Love concert recordings from their peak era, they rarely left LA and the shows from that era that I have are not the greatest, sound wise. There are some (surprisingly good) later recordings with Lee and various session men recording sometimes as "Love", sometimes as "Arthur Lee".......those are really quite good, as is the video "Forever Changes" concert, I've posted it before, it's NOT the "real" Love of course, but it sure does sound great, as did everything the late, great Lee put out there for us. He was an odd, reclusive dude, and, as such, perhaps, the most under appreciated of all of the musical geniuses of the rock era.......and the genius label is NOT something I throw around casually.....So what we got here? Well, four discs of concert recordings of various incarnations of post-"real" Love, but, at the end of the day, I, well, "love" Love, and would be happy with anything I could dig up.
The first disc is "The Seventies"....ok, to be frank, Love was pretty much a done deal by the time the 70's rolled around, however, what we can hear is what we can hear, and I am as grateful as can be for these recordings. Most taken from a UK tour (I wonder if it was Lee's first trip abroad?), it contains some classic Love tracks ("Bummer in the Summer", "My Little Red Book"), while surprisingly, for better or for worse, AVOIDING most of the classic-era material, and instead giving us versions of (technically) post-Love Lee, such as "Good Times" and "Slick Dick", for example, as well as perhaps the only live version of the stunning "August" that I've ever come across (you may recall "August" from the first edition of my "What is Heavy Metal?" project).....The second disc is compiled of 1990's recordings from various locales, lots of classics, acoustic versions of "A House is Not a Motel", "Hey Joe" (Love did the best (IMO) of the 1000 versions), and the chilling "Signed DC", a disc ending version of the amazing "7 and 7 Is", and I of course wanted to also mention a version of "Five String Seranade", so brilliantly covered later by Mazzy Star.......
The third disc is culled from appearances in the decade of the 2000's......again, various locales, and lots of "Forever Changes" material on this one......hell, you know em all (or you SHOULD), "Live and Let Live" (don't think I have another live take of that one), "The Good humor Man He Sees Everything Like This", "Between Clark and Hilldale", "The Red telephone"......oh GOD I can't wait to listen to these.......and if those weren't enough, there are other classics here such as "A Message to Pretty" and "Stephanie Knows Who"........like I keep saying I haven't even listened to this yet, and I'm already salivating.
The Fourth and final disc is entitled "A Fan's View", which works out to audience recordings....I am not a HUGE fan of such, however, citing the lack of live Love/Lee material, I guess we should be grateful and deal with however the sound quality is, maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised.....interesting, at least, are the fairly high number of tunes from "Four Sail", an almost unknown and stunningly underrated LP......"Robert Montgomery", "Singing Cowboy", a version of "Little Wing" (I've heard Lee sing it before and he at least previously has owned it), "Que Vida", another fave of mine, appears on this one, as does the classic "The Everlasting First".....
Arthur Lee was a musical genius and Love was a tremendous band, as I've said, one of my VERY faves, and, despite what many think, they did NOT fall off the earth after "Forever Changes" ("Four Sail" is in the running for the honor of the most underrated rock album of the era.)....as I said, there is, relative to other bands, at least, stunningly little live music available, and basically NONE from their total slammed out, ahead of their time era.......these will have to do. Thanks to John N....ANYONE else with ANYTHING unusual from Lee/Love, SEND IT IN STAT! This is a favorite band of mine, a favorite musical persona of mine, and I, well, "Love" them, (ha ha).....
Cannot wait to listen to these, tomorrow at work is going to be awesome!
DISC 1-01 Nothing/02 Bummer in the Summer/03 August/04 My Little Red Book/05 Gather Round/06 Love Is More Than Words or Better Late Than Never/07 Product of the Times/08 Keep On Shining/09 Doggone/10 Good Times/11 Slick Dick/12 Stand Out/13 Find Somebody/14 Always See Your Face
DISC 2-01 01 Five String Serenade/02 Ninety Miles Away/03 Passing By/Hootchie Cootchie Man/04 Alone Again Or/05 Hey Joe/06 Somebody's Watching You/07 La Caloca/08 That's the Way it Goes/09 Signed DC/10 A House Is Not a Motel/11 She Comes In Colors/12 Can't Explain/13 Everybody's Gotta Live/Instant karma/14 Signed DC/15 Orange Skies/16 7 & 7 Is
DISC 4-01 Applause/Arthur harp/02 Mr. Lee/03 time Is Like a River/04 I'll Get Lucky Some Sweet Day (My name Is Arthur Lee)/05 Down Street/06 Little Wing/07 The Everlasting First/08 Five String Serenade/09 Que Vida/10 Arthur Lee Audience Chat/11 Listen to My Song/12 My Anthem/13 Robert Montgomery/14 Smokestack Lightning/15 Rainbow in the Storm/16 Singing Cowboy
You GOTTA "Love" this submission, at least I do.....thanks John N, 10000000 times over!