Customer Reviews

False Start

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This album is criminally misunderstood. It is the Anti-Forever Changes. Short songs, tight musicianship, the most controlled screaming in all of rock 'n roll, meaningful/meaningless lyrics, nasty attitude (when not buoyantly hopeful), & Love's best guitarist ever! Takes everything slick & punks it up, and then vice versa. It's brilliant and, 30 some years out, still way ahead of the curve. Defiantly alternative - refuses every mold,label, & classification. Lighten up & enjoy!

p.s. "Stand Out" would be equally at home in a youth mass or a mosh pit.

This album was a follow-up to Out Here and was recorded mostly in Hollywood in 1970, though a couple of tracks, including one fantastic work-out with Jimi Hendrix, The Everlasting First, were recorded in London.
The songs are simplistic when compared to the majesty of Forever Changes, but then what isn't? I suspect Arthur Lee was undergoing something of a writer's block while simultaneously exploring more closely the black music of the day, and the album as a whole is short and somewhat patchy by his standards.
More funky than melodic, but still eminently worthwhile

this is easily the worst of the 6 albums love released from 1966 to this one in late 1970. there are a few gems- the everlasting first in particular.this brief (29 minutes) album isn't anywhere as good as four sail ( probably their most underrated album in my opinion) and out here, never mind the 3 classics they put out earlier.its very disjointed and lacks the first rate songwriting that arthur lee was so capable of in earlier works. this is not a bad album: just bad by love's standards.

It needs to be stressed at the outset that this album is NOT in any way a sequel To 'Forever Changes'. With its minimalist titles and lyrics, it is the very antithesis of the much loved existential masterpiece. And yet 'False Start' does have a charm of its own. The Jimi Hendrix contribution to the opening track ('The Everlasting First') is well known and leaves the listener gasping for breath. But Hendrix was not the only lead guitarist on the record. In 1972 Jay Donnellan (Love's brilliant guitarist on 'Four Sail' and 'Out Here') was interviewed about his own dismissal from the band. He told how he had turned up as usual at the studio one day only to receive the following greeting from Arthur Lee: "Hullo - another cat's playing your licks today." The "cat" in question was Gary Rowles- whose pyrotechnical guitar work helps to give such a gloriously raw and ragged feel to this album. Add to this Arthur's fine 'Seven and Seven Is' style vocals and the soulful harmonies from half member Noony Ricket and you have a piece of work that is unique in the Love canon. When I first bought this album in 1971, I was appalled. Now I wouldn't be without it - not least because it serves as a document of Love's historic 1970 visit to the UK - their first outside the States. The BGO CD issue is fine - but the harder to find MCA version is more faithful to the colouring of the original Blue Thumb and EMI Harvest releases.

Let me start by saying i'm a huge love fan. but a earlier reviewer called this love's second best album. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. this is love's worst album, by far. the album is around 30 minutes. the lyrics seem like they were made up on the spot. the songs sound like they were thrown together very quickly, not developed after the initial inspiration. if not for the everlasting first and keep on shining, this would be totally worthless.
after hearing this i'm glad love called it quits after this album.
(i'm not counting reel to real, because its really a solo album, with about 20 musicians on it. if you realy want to hear love at their best, get their first 4 albums.

I thing reviewers were wrong about the the "Four Sail" album which I really liked, so I decided to go a fewer albums deeper into the post-Forever Changes lineup. This time the critics were right, this album is incredibly bad. It reminds me of the movie Best Defense with Dudly Moore & Eddie Murphy, which Murphy did just to fulfill his contract. The songs are very flat as if he's composing on reserve fuel. It has a really generic funk/soul thing going on which sounds like Sly Stone on an off-off-off day, or the last line of filler that stands between the artist and the completely unusable material. Maybe I missed the "gems", but the whole album seems like filler. Also doesn't benefit from the "Eternal Drum Solo" (not the name of the song, but thats what I would call it).

I really enjoyed this album!! Arthur Lee's songs are great. The album is different than other Love releases, but I think that's just Arthur being bored of doing the same old thng.

OK, so this isn't the best Love album, but it's still a must have for Arthur Lee fans. Hendrix fans should check this out for "The Everlasting First"(lead guitar). Stand Out has always been one of my favorite tunes although the best version of that song is on the very rare Live/Studio album. "Keep on Shining" is good too and "Slick Dick" is quite amusing.

As good as I remember it back in the day. Especially the Jimi Hendrix solo on the first cut.

"The Everlasting First","Gimi A Little Break",and "Keep On Shining" are some of my favorites.