Love (Love album)
| Love | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Studio album by Love | ||||
| Released | March 1966 | |||
| Recorded | December 1965, January 24–27, 1966 | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock, folk rock, baroque pop, garage rock, protopunk[1] | |||
| Length | 33:53 | |||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Producer | Mark Abramson Jac Holzman |
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| Love chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Love is the eponymous debut album by the Los Angeles-based rock band Love.
Recording
Twelve of the album's fourteen tracks were recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood on January 24–27, 1966. The remaining two tracks ("A Message To Pretty" and "My Flash On You") come from another, undocumented session.
One of the first rock albums issued on then-folk giant Elektra Records, the album begins with the group's radical reworking of the Burt Bacharach-Hal David song "My Little Red Book", the title of which is likely a tongue-in-cheek reference to Mao Zedong's Little Red Book (which was first published by the Communist Party of China in April 1964), and which features a guitar line that Syd Barrett altered considerably (although not unrecognizably so) in writing his own "Interstellar Overdrive", released on Pink Floyd's album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. The album also features "Signed D.C." (allegedly a reference to one-time Love drummer Don Conka), and the poignant "A Message to Pretty". The stark instrumental "Emotions" is used uncredited in Haskell Wexler's 1969 film Medium Cool as a recurring theme.
"My Little Red Book" was featured over the final credits of the movie High Fidelity in 2000, and the Beverly Hills, 90210 episode "Alone at the Top" in 1995.[2]
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Arthur Lee, except where indicated.
| Side one | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 1. | "My Little Red Book" | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | 2:38 |
| 2. | "Can't Explain" | Lee, John Echols, John Fleckenstein | 2:41 |
| 3. | "A Message to Pretty" | 3:13 | |
| 4. | "My Flash on You" | 2:09 | |
| 5. | "Softly to Me" | Bryan MacLean | 2:57 |
| 6. | "No Matter What You Do" | 2:46 | |
| 7. | "Emotions" | Lee, John Echols | 2:01 |
| Side two | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 1. | "You I'll Be Following" | 2:26 | |
| 2. | "Gazing" | 2:42 | |
| 3. | "Hey Joe" | Billy Roberts | 2:42 |
| 4. | "Signed D.C." | 2:47 | |
| 5. | "Colored Balls Falling" | 1:55 | |
| 6. | "Mushroom Clouds" | Lee, John Echols, Ken Forssi, Bryan MacLean | 2:25 |
| 7. | "And More" | Lee, Bryan MacLean | 2:57 |
2001 CD reissue
The 2001 CD issue presents both stereo and monaural mixes and adds as bonus tracks an alternate take of "Signed DC" and "No. Fourteen", the B-side to the "7 and 7 Is" single.
Personnel
- Arthur Lee: Lead vocals, percussion, and harmonica. Also drums on "Can't Explain", "No Matter What You Do", "Gazing", "Mushroom Clouds" and "And More".
- Johnny Echols: Lead guitar
- Bryan MacLean: Rhythm guitar and vocals. Lead vocals on "Softly to Me" and "Hey Joe".
- Ken Forssi: Bass
- Alban "Snoopy" Pfisterer: Drums
with:
According to the box set Love Story, the tracks "A Message To Pretty" and "My Flash On You" may feature John Fleckenstein on bass and Don Conka on drums in place of Forssi and Pfisterer.
Singles
- "My Little Red Book" b/w "A Message to Pretty" (Elektra 45603)
- "No. Fourteen" (from these sessions, B side of "7 & 7 Is" - Elektra 45605)
- "Hey Joe" (B side to rare "Que Vida!" single - Elektra 45613)
