Love – Reel To Real (1974) {Deluxe Edition 2015} [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Deluxe reissue of the final studio album from one of rock musics most gifted and enigmatic legends. Reel To Real captures Arthur Lee and Love at the peak of their rock/funk/soul powers. Originally released in 1974 on RSO Records, this deluxe reissue features vibrant, remastered audio from the original tapes, a 28-page booklet with an illuminating essay by Rolling Stone’s David Fricke, and a trove of candid, unpublished photos.

Arthur Lee had every reason to feel disenchanted with his career in 1974, as his harder rock moves on 1970’s False Start and his 1972 solo debut Vindicator didn’t please critics or fans and his deal with the fledgling Buffalo Records label left him with an unreleased album, Black Beauty, when the company abruptly crashed and burned. Lee had started dipping his toes into material with a stronger R&B edge on Black Beauty, and when RSO Records gave him another chance at a major-label deal, he dove in headfirst: in a Rolling Stone interview, Lee said Reel to Real was his effort to get “as black and funky as I can, man, on my music.” If folks hoping for another Da Capo or Forever Changes weren’t pleased with False Start or Vindicator, they were simply confused by Reel to Real’s funk grooves and banks of horns and keyboards (not to mention a lineup that featured no previous members of Love but Lee). However, while the album has often been written off as a failure, Reel to Real is an album with more than its share of great moments, even if it’s inarguably uneven. Lee’s vocals are tough but eloquent on these tunes, and though the music is often rooted in deep funk (especially on the percolating “Who Are You” and “With a Little Energy”), blues (“Which Witch is Which”), and vintage R&B (“Stop the Music”), the fierce guitar work from Lee, Melvan Whittington, and John Sterling makes it clear Lee hadn’t cut his ties to rock & roll. Psychedelia doesn’t really play a part in this music, but the introspective twists of Lee’s lyrics confirm he still had plenty to say about the world around him and the universe inside his mind. And the closing acoustic version of “Everybody’s Gotta Live” (which first appeared on Vindicator) offered a brief glimpse of the sly, thoughtful hippie who had recorded Forever Changes just seven years earlier. Reel to Real plays more like an Arthur Lee solo effort than a Love album (and was blighted with a singularly ugly cover), but it’s a good Arthur Lee album, with a tighter focus and a more thoughtful perspective than Vindicator, proving Lee still had a great deal to say even if his audience didn’t care to listen.

Tracklist:
01 – Time Is Like A River
02 – Stop The Music
03 – Who Are You?
04 – Good Old Fashion Dream
05 – Which Witch Is Which
06 – With A Little Energy
07 – Singing Cowboy
08 – Be Thankful For What You Got
09 – You Said You Would
10 – Busted Feet
11 – Everybody’s Gotta Live
12 – Do It Yourself (Outtake)
13 – I Gotta Remember (Outtake)
14 – Somebody (Outtake)
15 – You Gotta Feel It (Outtake)
16 – With A Little Energy (Alternate Mix)
17 – Busted Feet (Alternate Mix)
18 – You Said You Would (Single Mix)
19 – Stop The Music (Alternate Take)
20 – Graveyard Hop (Studio Rehearsal)
21 – Singing Cowboy (Alternate Take)
22 – Everybody’s Gotta Live (Electric Version)
23 – Wonder People (I Do Wonder) (Studio Rehearsal)