Music Review: Love, Reel to Real

By Melissa Bratcher

Love’s 1974 album Reel To Real doesn’t sound how you might expect Love to sound. It lacks the psychedelia and heavy rock of their best known work Forever Changes, and instead could be considered an Arthur Lee solo record. It’s funky. Super funky. And it’s fascinating.

Reissued for the first time in 40 years on vinyl (and digitally for the the first time), Reel To Real ahas all the bells and whistles; remastered, beautifully packaged with a 32-page booklet and essay fromRolling Stone‘s David Fricke, photos and bonus tracks. There are enough bonus tracks, outtakes, alternate takes, and electric takes, that it’s the equivalent of a whole other album. There are covers of Lee’s own songs (“Singing Cowboy,” “Busted Feet,” and “Everybody’s Gotta Live”), Stax horns, and a reasonable facsimile of Jimi Hendrix. It’s an uneven album, but Lee’s wild exuberance is an incredible thing to witness, at least aurally.

Reel To Real  marks the last time Arthur Lee made an album with a band, rather than Arthur Lee plus sidemen, but make no mistake, Reel To Real also marks Arthur Lee doing exactly what he wanted to do, musically. Coincidentally, it’s the last album he would record for a major label. That’s not to say that Reel To Real should have been a career killer. If it had been recorded under Arthur Lee’s name rather than Love, it could have potentially launched his career on a new trajectory (though that would have to presume that some of his Arthur Lee-ness would be discounted and ignored).

Reel To Real is a mishmash of styles. The opener, “Time Is Like A River,” begins with murmured words a la Barry White, before bursting forth with Stax horns and shoulder-shaking funk, prodigious guitar, a hit of falsetto, and a soulful chorus of ladies backing Lee up. That magical, 1970s funk feeling (not as funky as Parliament, mind you, but funky funky funky just the same) is all over Reel To Real, like on “Who Are You,” with its electrifying bass line and wah wah guitar. “Good Old Fashion Dream” has a great Joe Tex-like vibe down to the horns and a dirty groove of a performance. Drummer Joey Blocker is tight, with perfectly in-pocket playing on “Do It Yourself (Outtake).” With Lee’s preacher-man proselytizing vocals, it’s rambunctious and wonderfully groove-filled.

Reel To Real isn’t flat-out funk, however. “Stop The Music” is straight-up blues, with wailing harmonica and a bar room start/stop shuffle. It’s raw and stellar with a blistering, throat-shredding vocal performance and punctuated by horns. “With A Little Energy” is exuberant with bubbling bass (Sherwood Akuna is a monster of the bass), bright horns, and spacey keyboards. “Busted Feet” is grungy and heavy with Lee doing his best Jimi Hendrix that immediately slides to an acoustic singalong “Everybody’s Got To Live,” with some fantastic harmonies and an incredibly relaxed vocal from Lee. “Which Witch Is Which” is smartly stripped down with an acoustic guitar played percussively, setting up a laconic groove that gives way to a melty guitar solo. “Be Thankful For What You’ve Got” is driven (in its easy groove) by vibraphone and a prominent bass line. It’s catchy and a little weird, extolling the virtues of “diggin’ the scene / with a gangster lean” on an ear worm chorus. The studio rehearsal of “Graveyard Hop” is a rambunctious delight where Lee shreds his vocals and the band lets rip.

Is Reel To Real a lost masterpiece of the Love pantheon? Well, probably not. It’s got some excellent playing and more funk than one might want to shake a stick at, and it’s often surprisingly delightful. There are moments of excellence and moments of… curiosity, but it also holds up quite well for an album from 1974. It’s definitely worth a spin or 24.

Reel to Real was released on November 27 from High Moon Records.