Saturday, July 19, 2008

As the first post of Twisted Tales of Tunes I want to talk about a couple of bands not really recognized through huge sales, but some critical acclaim and and are couple of my favorite bands. They are Love and Guided by Voices. Love is one of the best unknown bands from the recent past. The force of the music was ready made for hit status but suffered from lack of tour support and personal conflicts.

“…indescribably essential.”
- Dave Marsh

“…one of the most distinctive masterpieces in that era of masterpieces.”
- Rolling Stone

Courtesy of Rhino.com: With Rhino’s new 2-CD FOREVER CHANGES (COLLECTOR’S EDITION), Love’s definitive 1967 masterpiece is expanded with over 77 minutes of bonus material, most of it previously unreleased. A groundbreaking orchestral mix of rock, folk and psychedelia that the New York Times has called, “a milestone of pop ambition,” the album is fueled by Love co-founder and legendary front man Arthur Lee’s enigmatic lyrical poetry and haunting lead vocals. Inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 2008, FOREVER CHANGES is #40 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums Of All Time,” where they evocatively liken its sound to “elegant armageddon.”

The third and final LP by the original Love line-up, FOREVER CHANGES was produced by Lee and longtime Doors producer/engineer Bruce Botnick (Lee championed The Doors and helped influence their signing to Elektra). Highlights include the Love classics “Alone Again Or,” “Andmoreagain,” “The Red Telephone” and “Live And Let Live.” The COLLECTOR’S EDITION’s bonus material boasts a previously unissued alternate mix of the entire album plus ten bonus tracks, including previously unreleased outtakes of “Wonder People (Do I Wonder)” and “Wooly Bully,” a mono remix of “Alone Again Or,” tracking session highlights from “The Red Telephone,” the Jac Holzman-produced demo “Hummingbirds” and more.

Pioneering in more than their sound, Love was one of the first interracial bands in rock. In its 2006 obituary for Arthur Lee, who was born in Memphis but made his mark in Los Angeles, where he moved as a young boy, the New York Times wrote, “Mr. Lee called himself ‘the first black hippie,’ and his band pushed boundaries…Love took the Sunset Strip rock scene by storm in 1965 with catchy but shifty songs, as playful as they were dark. Even in their sweetest moments, disorientation and nightmarish paranoia were never far away.”

The next band is more recent and still about as a solo project for band leader Robert Pollard. Formed in Dayton, Ohio in the early 1980s, Guided by Voices.The Band sows influence from post-British Invasion, garage rock, psychedelic rock, progressive, punk and post-punk. Guided by Voices also garnered much attention for its prolific output, with a seemingly endless stream of releases. Most songs are in the two-minute range, but many are even shorter; often they end abruptly or are intertwined with odd and homemade sound effects.Here is a list of some of the realeses

Studio albums

Robert Pollard continues on releasing music under his own name and I will do a post on his solo stuff at some future date.
Thats all for now!!