LOVE - "Alone Again Or"

Love
"Alone Again Or"
Single / B-side: "A House Is Not A Motel" (USA), "Bummer In The Summer" (UK)
Released: January 1968
Album: Forever Changes (Released: November 1967)
Writer: Bryan MacLean
Label: Elektra
"Alone Again Or" is a song originally recorded in 1967 by the rock group Love and written by band member Bryan MacLean. It appears on the album Forever Changes, and was released as a single in the USA, UK, Australia, France and The Netherlands.

Love's single: "Alone Again Or" (1968)

 Love - "Alone Again Or" 

Versions have subsequently been recorded by an eclectic variety of bands and singers including UFO (1977), The Damned (1986), The Oblivians (1993), Sarah Brightman (1990), The Boo Radleys (1991), Chris Pérez Band (1999), Calexico (2004), Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs (2006), Les Fradkin (2007). Two demo versions by MacLean himself were released in 1997 on his album Ifyoubelievein.

MacLean originally wrote the song, then called "Alone Again", in 1965 for Love's debut album. He wrote this as a tribute to his mother, who was a Flamenco dancer. However, he did not complete it until the recording of "Forever Changes" in the summer of 1967. The song was inspired by his memory of waiting for a girlfriend, and the melody drew loosely on Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije Suite. The essence of the song is the contrast between the positivity of the tune and the bleakness of the lyrics, with the chorus "And I will be alone again tonight, my dear" finishing with a lone acoustic guitar, closing the song with the opening melody that sounds anything but ecstatic, ending with an E-minor plus 2 chord.

Love's single, French: "Alone Again Or" (1968)

Love - "Alone Again Or"

For the recording session, arranger David Angel worked with MacLean, adding a string section and a horn part for a mariachi band whom co-producer Bruce Botnick had recently used on a Tijuana Brass album. MacLean later said "That was the happiest I ever was with anything we ever did as a band - the orchestral arrangement of that song." However, Botnick, with co-producer and band leader Arthur Lee, remixed the track to bring Lee's own unison vocal to the forefront of the song, at least partly on the grounds that MacLean's own vocal lead was too weak. Lee also added to the mystery of the song by changing the title to "Alone Again Or".

With Lee now on co-lead vocals, "Alone Again Or" became the opening track of "Forever Changes." It was the sole single released from the album to reach the Billboard singles chart. (Its 1968 B-side was Lee's "A House Is Not A Motel," although the 1970 reissue of the single featured "Good Times" from the 1968 Four Sail album as the B-side.



Love's "Alone Again Or" (Vinyl Single)

Love - "Alone Again Or" (lyrics)
Critic Billy Altman, wrote the following of “Forever Changes” for Amazon.com: "One of rock's most overlooked masterpieces, this third album by the L.A. folk-rock outfit led by inscrutable singer-songwriter Arthur Lee sounds as fresh and innovative today as it did upon its original release in 1968. … (it features) songs that are as sonically subtle and lilting as they are lyrically blunt and harrowing. Add two gems by Love's secret weapon, second guitarist Bryan MacLean ('Alone Again Or' and 'Old Man'), and you've got one of the truly perfect albums in rock history."

 "...the aforementioned weird mix of gossamer psych folk and itchy LSD musing. MacLean's Alone Again Or with its Southern Californian mariachi frills is a disarmingly pretty opener. But Lee’s lyrics are exactly on the cusp between blessed out surreality and bad trip paranoia..." (BBC music review by Chris Jones) 

 Line-up / Musicians:
Arthur Lee: lead vocals, guitar
Bryan MacLean: rhythm guitar, co-lead vocals
Johnny Echols: lead guitar
Ken Forssi: bass guitar
Michael Stuart: drums, percussion
With
David Angel: arranger, orchestrations
Strings: Robert Barene, Arnold Belnick, James Getzoff, Marshall Sosson, Darrel Terwilliger (violins); Norman Botnick (viola); Jesse Ehrlich (cello); Chuck Berghofer (string bass)
Horns: Bud Brisbois, Roy Caton, Ollie Mitchell (trumpets); Richard Leith (trombone)

 Link / Review:
wikipedia: Alone Again Or
Posted by Tidak ada komentar:
Labels:

THE BYRDS - Turn! Turn! Turn!

The Byrds
"Turn! Turn! Turn!"
Single / B-side: "She Don't Care About Time"
Released: 1 October 1965
Album: Turn! Turn! Turn! (Released: 6 December 1965)
Writers: Book of Eclessiastes, Pete Seeger
Label: Columbia
"Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" — often abbreviated to "Turn! Turn! Turn!" — is a song written by Pete Seeger in the late 1950s. The lyrics, except for the title which is repeated throughout the song, and the final verse of the song, are adapted word-for-word from Chapter 3 of the Book of Ecclesiastes, set to music and recorded in 1962. The song was originally released as "To Everything There Is a Season" on The Limeliters' album Folk Matinee and then some months later on Seeger's own The Bitter and the Sweet.

The Byrds single: "Turn! Turn! Turn!", 1965

The Byrds - "Turn! Turn! Turn!"

The song became an international hit in late 1965 when it was covered by the American folk rock band The Byrds, bowing at #80 on October 23, 1965, before reaching #1 on the Hot 100 chart on December 4, 1965, #3 in Canada (Nov. 29, 1965), and also peaking at #26 on the UK Singles Chart.

The song was first released by the folk group The Limeliters on their 1962 album Folk Matinee, under the title "To Everything There Is a Season". The Limeliters' version predated the release of Seeger's own version by several months. One of The Limeliter's backing musicians at this time was Jim McGuinn (aka Roger McGuinn), who would later work with folk singer Judy Collins, rearranging the song for her 1963 album, Judy Collins 3. Collins' recording of the song was retitled as "Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season)", a title that would be used intermittently by McGuinn's later band The Byrds, when they released a cover of the song in 1965.

"Turn! Turn! Turn!" was the third single by the American folk rock band The Byrds. The song was also included on the band's second album, Turn! Turn! Turn!, which was released on December 6, 1965. The Byrds' single (b/w "She Don't Care About Time") is the most successful recorded version of the song. This was the second #1 hit for the Byrds, their first was "Mr. Tambourine Man".

The Byrds single: "Turn! Turn! Turn!", 1965
The Byrds - "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (from the album Turn! Turn! Turn!, 1965)

The song's plea for peace and tolerance struck a nerve with the American record buying public as the Vietnam War continued to escalate. The single also solidified folk rock as a chart trend and, like the band's previous hits, continued The Byrds' successful mix of vocal harmony and jangly twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar playing. Pete Seeger expressed his approval of the Byrd's rendering of the song.

During 1965 and 1966, the band performed the song on the television programs Hollywood A Go-Go, Shindig!, The Ed Sullivan Show, and Where the Action Is, as well as in the concert film, The Big T.N.T. Show. Additionally, the song would go on to become a staple of The Byrds' live concert repertoire, until their final disbandment in 1973. The song was also performed live by a reformed line-up of The Byrds featuring Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Chris Hillman in January 1989.

The recording has been featured in numerous movies and TV shows, including 1983's Heart Like a Wheel, 1994's Forrest Gump, and 2002's In America. Following Joe Cocker's cover of "With a Little Help from My Friends", the song was the first to play on the first episode of the television series The Wonder Years. It was also used in a Wonder Years parody, during The Simpsons episode, "Three Men and a Comic Book". In 2003, it was used in the closing sequence of the Cold Case episode "A Time to Hate" (Season One, episode 7).

The Byrds - "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (live, stereo edit)

The Byrds' TV performance 1965
Allmusic: "..."Turn! Turn! Turn!" remains a familiar song, it is closely linked with McGuinn's masterful arrangement and the Byrds' unforgettable." (Review by William Ruhlmann)

Line-up/ Musicians:
Jim McGuinn - lead guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
Gene Clark - rhythm guitar, harmonica, tambourine, vocals
David Crosby - rhythm guitar, vocals
Chris Hillman - electric bass (backing vocal)
Michael Clarke - drums

Link / Review:
wikipedia: Turn!_Turn!_Turn!
Posted by Tidak ada komentar:
Labels:
Langganan: Postingan (Atom)