There have been numerous threads about both the band Love and Arthur Lee. A lot of people here already know what an unabashed fanboy I was, am & always will be for Arthur's genius.
I also always loved Bryan's Love contributions. There were only 4 that made it to Love albums ("Softly To Me", "Orange Skies", "Old Man" and "Alone Again Or"). Genius though he was, Arthur was also meglomaniacal and dictatorial when it came to the band. A democracy it wasn't. Arthur even took over the lead vocals on both "Skies" and "Alone Again". Bryan at the time acquiesced because he was having too much fun being a drugged out rock star to rock the boat.
After all these years, I finally got Bryan's 2 solo albums in the mail yesterday. They are like musical gold for any fan of Love. ifyoubelievein, the earlier of the 2, contains mostly songs that Bryan wrote for Love that never made it to their albums (the exact same tracks that he played for Arthur back in the 60s), as well as the original versions of Skies, Old Man & Alone Again sung by Bryan. Candy's Waltz is 19 tracks that Bryan wrote & recorded after he left Love, as well as a 13 minute interview recorded w/him in 1998 just months before he died too young at 51.
ALL of the tracks on both albums are just Bryan's voice and acoustic guitar, and imo they both are absolutely brilliant! As much as I've always revered Arthur's music, it was Bryan who imo technically was the better singer, with amazing range. Half of Arthur's appeal was his delivery imo.
I feel like a kid in a candy store listening to these 2 albums for the first time. Any other fans?
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