Customer Reviews

Love Live: Whisky a Go-Go 1978 (Original Recording Remastered)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This live reunion of Arthur Lee and remnants of the original Love band of the 60's at Whisky a Go-Go, has some very high and unique moments on it worth hearing. For me, the high point was Brian MacLean's singing on the song he wrote for Forever Changes, Old Man. As Arthur said 25 years later on the Forever Changes Concert CD in London after he sings Old Man, "I wish Brian was here to sing this", you now can go to the Whisky A Go-Go CD and see what he was talking about! It is this sing-songy melodically free vocal version by Brian that connects Love's and Arthur Lee's journey over 40 years and brings tears to one's eyes! For me, the rest of the Live album is icing on the cake. It is like Arthur was so excited to be playing again with Brian that at times this excitement bursts through the songs. For me Seven and Seven Is (with Brian's superb lead), And More Again, and Orange Skies stand out as my other favorites. Except for the poor sound quality of an older day tape recorder, this concert is unique, gratifying, and shows Love at their rawest best!!

Love Live at the Whiskey is frigging excellent! The versions of the songs live are so different from the studio recordings. My favorite on the cd is "Signed D.C.". This live version is very alive with amazing guitar licks, cool harmonica work and just dramatic. It's not the softer subdued version you normally hear. Every song on this cd is worth having. I highly recommend "Love Live: Whiskey a-go-go" to all Arthur Lee & Love fans and anyone who loves some kick a*s music!

`Love: Live At The Whiskey A Go-Go 1978' captures Arthur Lee and Bryan Maclean reuniting and performing some of Love's more incendiary numbers on this remastered bootleg. `Love Live" is important as a document that showcased Maclean's guitar skills outside the studio and how Arthur Lee once commanded the stage. `Love Live' lacks the high fidelity of their studio recordings and sounds like an audience recording, but the performances are spot on and worth the effort to forget about the audio quality.

Arthur Lee and Bryan Maclean perform three songs from the classic `Forever Changes' album and the live takes are impressive. The performance of "7 and 7 Is" features a white-hot guitar solo from Maclean. One of the best tracks of the performance is a sober reading of "Signed D.C." After listening to this album, it's not hard to imagine what could have been had Love toured outside of Los Angeles in the 60's. `Love Live' is a great document for long-time fans and serves as a suitable introduction as well to the world of the late great Arthur Lee.

This is way better than I expected, having heard it was captured on cassette technology. Yes it's low-fi, but the magic breaks through.

The highlight for me was finally hearing Bryan Mclean sing lead on his amazing "Alone Again Or". Bryan takes it home, he owns this song, and here he shows it. "Old Man" is another gem that makes one wonder what kind of things Bryan & Arthur could have done together. Overall great versions of Signed D.C., 7 & 7 Is & other Love classics. This band is damn good with Arthur, Bryan, John Sterling (lead guitar), Kim Kesterson, & the remarkable George Suranovich on drums.

Yes, the album is historically significant for being the last time Arthur Lee and Bryan Maclean performed onstage together, so that alone makes this an important piece in the Love catalogue. However, the recording itself is rather poor, having been recorded on a portable cassette recorder, and what we ultimately get here is a glorified bootleg. And while in no way unlistenable, the sound quality does detract a bit from the enjoyment of an otherwise great performance.

If you love Love and must have everything there is to have from them, go ahead, this is a recording you must own. If on the other hand, you're just a casual fan of the band's music, you can safely pass this one up. If live Love is what you want, by all means check out the excellent Forever Changes Concert.

MY HEART GOES RUM PUM PUM ------ WITH ANGER, HOW CAN YOU GIVE THIS 5 STARS. IT MIGHT BE A RARE RECORDING, BUT IS SOUNDS LIKE IT WAS RECORDED WITH A CASSETTE WALKMAN FROM THE BACK OF THE ROOM. THE WOO,WOOS AND THE WHISTLING FROM THE CROWD ARE RECORDED WELL ENOUGH ,BUT THATS ABOUT IT. STEVE FROM AUSTRALIA XXXX