2002 remastered reissue of the West Coast folk-rock/psychedelic band's 1969 album for Elektra includes three previously unreleased bonus tracks, 'Robert Montgomery' (Alternate Vocal Version), 'Talking In My Sleep' (Alt... more »ernate Mix) & 'Singing Cowboy' (Unedited Version). Updated liner notes include contributions from frontman Arthur Lee. Elektra.« less
2002 remastered reissue of the West Coast folk-rock/psychedelic band's 1969 album for Elektra includes three previously unreleased bonus tracks, 'Robert Montgomery' (Alternate Vocal Version), 'Talking In My Sleep' (Alternate Mix) & 'Singing Cowboy' (Unedited Version). Updated liner notes include contributions from frontman Arthur Lee. Elektra.
CD Reviews
The most underrated love album
Stephen F Mulcahy | United States | 11/19/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"for some reason this has been the hardest love album to find. now it has been remastered and released with some fine liner notes and cool photos. it's not a great album, it should really be given about a B if you could rate it as a report card. some of the tracks , like talking in my sleep, are pretty weak, despite the fine guitar playing of jay donnellan. nothing is kind of boring, too. and i'm with you, while a pretty good cut, sounds like other songs from their catalogue. like bob dylan, arthur lee occasionally recycled the same riffs and ideas- like on the first album, when love used the same arrangement for both their rendition ofhey joe and their original track my flash on you.
songs by the later version of the band were not as good as the first three classic albums, and this is their 4th best record out of the 6 the band made from 1966-70.in contrast, the instrumental skills of the latter members were actually , in my opinion,of a higher degree. donnellan was a superb guitarist, just listen to the smoking leads he plays on AUGUST. ROBERT MONTGOMERY is another classic cut, one of the great tracks in the arthur lee repertoire. SINGING COWBOY also features some killer riffs from lee and donnelan. YOUR FRIEND AND MINE is a catchy, bouncy, old-timey, bluesy ,track dealing with the decesded former road manager of the band, who'd apparently ripped off the band's equipment for drugs. despite this somber subject, it is a likable and cool track. GOOD TIMES is a jazzy number with some more fine guitar work. ALWAYS SEE YOUR FACE is a pretty, orchestrated song that is quite reminiscent of the earlier incarnation of love. and DREAM is an inspirational and spiritual tune with heartfely lyrics and a memorable melody, bassist frank fayad and drummer george suranovich make fine contributions to this gem of a song.
i really think that this album doesn't get enough credit. by no means is it a masterpiece, but it displays a talented, often hard rocking aggregation. the lyrics aren't as awesome as forever changes, which is simply one of the greatest albums of all time, but this stuff is still quite good. i think the later albums do have their moments. as an aside, i saw arthur lee and love perform in cambridge mass. last august, and he's still in fine form. his new band is also good. catch them when and if you get a chance..."
Love: Reincarnated
leopardskinpillbxht | Cherry Hill, NJ | 01/31/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"After having loved their debut, Da Capo, and Forever Changes I was a little skeptical when I first popped Foursail into my cd player. How could Arthur Lee possibly reform Love after coming off of an album that many consider one of rock 'n' roll's greatest? After listening to Foursail, I realize that the acoustic symphonies of Forever Changes are long gone, but replaced by a much more powerful, dynamic rock sound, reminiscent of Cream and Zeppelin at times. In strong contrast with Forever Changes, which was Arthur Lee's death letter to the world, Foursail abandons the longer lyrical patterns for shorter, yet equally witty lyrics. Jay Donnallen shines on lead guitar; every solo just booms with intensity and originality, which almost makes you forget the abscense of Johnny Echols. Still present are the complex rhythm changes that Arthur Lee loves so much, and shows that he can still execute to perfection. While Foursail is not the masterpiece that Forever Changes was, and not as experimental as Da Capo, there is still something to be said for just putting out an exceptionally "cool" album. The track listing does not contain anything of the magnitude of "You Set the Scene" (which I personally consider one of the greatest songs in rock n roll), yet songs like "August", "Robert Montgomery", and "Singing Cowboy" boast excellent guitar riffs, and lyrics that you just can't help but sing along to. "Good Times" is another song off of the album that really just stuck with me. Although the band is different, songs such as "Neil's Song" and "Dream" remind us that Arthur Lee is still at the helm, which means the lyrics are dark and mysterious, despite the campy, sing-songy feeling evoked by "Neil's Song". To cap off the album, Lee ends with "Always See Your Face", a beautiful song that blends the horn sounds of Forever Changes with his newer rock sound characteristic of the rest of the album. Foursail is not the experimental delight that Da Capo was, nor the everlasting classic that Forever Changes is. Keeping this in mind, Foursail is an essential for any Love fan, or any fan of late 60's acid rock. Lee still proves that he is more than just another psychedelic rock band with Foursail, putting his newly-formed band on the top of the rock pedestal of 1969. This album has been unfairly forgotten, and deserves (in my opinion)to earn recognition in the top 50 or so rock albums. Please explore this album and other works by Love so we can all experience the musical genius that was and still is Arthur Lee."
Arthur Lee...
Photoscribe | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA | 10/09/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Another casualty of the Summer of Love's excesses. This is the man behind the seminal sixties' group Love, dead of leukemia at 61 on August 3, 2006. Now John Echols is the only original member of the group left alive, if my information is right. Bryan MacLean, along with Echols, Lee's main songwriting partner and co-leader of the group, died somewhat earlier.
This album featured the last of any serious incarnations of Love and it rocks, but very differently from "Forever Changes" or "Da Capo". There's no angry venting, as in "7 and 7 Is" or "Stephanie Knows Who"; no comments on the world at large, as in most of "Forever Changes"...just rocking, stream-of-consciousness tunes that stick with you after you put the album back in its case. "August" is the first cut, and it's a good one, with a snap-out guitar jam at the end reminiscent of the ending of "A House Is Not A Motel". "Your Friend And Mine" is one of two songs on the album that are very similar, with ruminations and promises concerning long-term friendships. "Dream" dwells on this to a degree, too. Apparently friends were very important to Lee, who wrote everything on the album, collaborating on only one, "Singing Cowboy", which has a vaguely homo-erotic tinge to it. "Robert Montgomery" is one of the few songs Lee or Love had done that actually has a character title or subject matter for a whole song, telling the tale of a bourgeois cipher who has trouble communicating with his friends. It has EXCELLENT guitar work! "Nothing" is rather reminiscent of "Forever Changes" in that it has a lyrical, pretty lilt to it, and some wizard guitar work, (not to mention good drumming!) It will put you in mind of "Orange Skies". but does the same thing a lot better. It's almost MOR in flavor, it's so nice! Then there's my personal favorite of the piece "Talking In My Sleep", a song where he lays down the law after being irked by a lady friend. Very country-flavored, with a Hendrix-like vocal by Lee, who sounds like he's trying to imitate Mick Jagger on the rest of the album, especially as the songs trail off. Finally, of the non-reprieves, there's "Always See Your Face", the OTHER "friendship" song. A fitting closer, it runs down what's important to Lee, as he tries to remember important people, places and things, taking care to remember his friend of the moment.
Lee and his incarnations of Love were perhaps the most undervalued and estimated groups in Rock, and his passing will make it impossible to see them live ever...I always missed him when he came to my town.
MAN, I hate mortality!!
Highly recommended."
Approaches the greatness of Forever Changes, from a differen
Elliot Knapp | Seattle, Washington United States | 01/08/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Four Sail rocks pretty hard--Arthur Lee's new Love lineup is essentially a power guitar rock quartet. Most of the songs consist of Lee's electric rhythm backed by a pretty tight bass/drums groove, and some up-front, bluesy and often psychedelic lead from Jay Donnellan. Gone are the intricate string, horn arrangements and subtle acoustic textures sharply contrasted with screeching electric guitar that typified the sound of the classic Forever Changes (which probably everyone visiting this page owns). Don't fear--despite the fact that the baroque folk rock sound of Forever Changes isn't present on Four Sail, it's still a really strong album. Overall, it's not the group's instrumentation and the production techniques used that hold the album back from being 5 stars, it's the songwriting, which is uniformly good, just not as transcendently brilliant as Forever Changes (which is a pretty tough set of shoes to fill).
When the songs on Four Sail are good, they're REALLY good--the opener, "August" is ethereal and spacey, rocking in a way that Love's earlier lineup would never have attempted, with some wicked, spiraling lead guitar. Lee's voice is a comfort--despite the difference in musical style, those signature vocals casually drawl out the mysterious, dark lyrics. On first listen, I felt pretty good about the new Love after the first track (I admit it, I was unsure whether I'd be into it). The highlights continue, especially on the hard rockers--"Singing Cowboy" is a well-known Love classic with a stormy ending sequence, and the guitars on "Robert Montgomery" cut with surprising force. A couple of the midtempo tracks are also pretty great--"Talking In My Sleep" is an interesting stylistic detour, and the closer "Always See Your Face" contains some of Lee's classic ironic lyrics.
There are two things that hold this album back from getting 5 stars from me. The first is the lyrics. They're usually pretty good, especially on the aforementioned highlights, but many of them just don't have that magic spark. On Forever Changes, it seemed like Lee was cutting down the curtains that obscure the workings of the world we live in with every ironic, bitter line he spat out of his mouth. With such transcendent, revelatory, and clever lyrics to be compared to, Four Sail's lyrics often don't hold up--where Lee sang about questioning the nature of society's laws and factored mortality into human beings' place in the world on Forever Changes, on Four Sail he sometimes sings about much less compelling (for me) topics like having fun ("Good Times") or friendship and the good old days ("Your Friend and Mine - Neil's Song"). While these are identifiable subjects that most people have experienced, they're pretty pedestrian. Countless people have written these kinds of songs, some better (some much worse, though). Very few people manage to reach the clarity that results in the kind of writing that Arthur Lee produced on Forever Changes. I guess I expected a little more out of the same guy on the next album and was slightly disappointed. However, this is just in comparison with the phenomenal Forever Changes, so it's not a serious problem with Four Sail by any measurement.
The second thing that holds me back from giving Four Sail 5 stars is the relative lack of stylistic diversity. It's mostly blues rock (identified strongly by the lead guitar style), with a few forays into some more psychedelic hard rock (would have liked to hear more of those) and some strutting grooves. Eventually though, a lot of it sounds the same. A lot of "I'm With You" sounds pretty similar to "August," and several of the midtempo jazzier numbers sound like slight tweaks of the same song. I realize that it's unrealistic to expect the cosmopolitan diversity of Forever Changes, I just wish the individual songs on Four Sail sounded a little different from each other.
For all these minor gripes (most of them are in comparison to the incomparable Forever Changes), Four Sail is a strong album and a repeatedly enjoyable listen, and I recommend it to fans of earlier Love. Just keep an open mind--it sounds a fair bit different. Anybody who tells you Love never produced any worthwhile music after Forever Changes is clearly turning a blind eye to some really great material."
Four Sail is a underrated piece, and should be given more at
Daniel Hayes | Clermont, FL. | 01/12/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"By 1969 Lee was the only constant from the original line-up, and pretty much put this out to fufill the contract to Elektra as relationships probably got strained. It starts out with a rather nice jazz-rock song called "August" that is the longest track on the album at 5 minutes flat. There is also "Your Friend And Mine" which hints at some country rock, and this can be a wonderful album to listen to. Forget what the dj's try to tell you what's good and what's bad. If you have an open mind then use it, and listen because there's some tasty little numbers on here. "August" and the song with the line "I'll be with you my love" are my 2 favorites. Love just never got the breaks that the Doors, or other artists got because Lee stood his ground, and played with whoever he wanted, did the music his way, and anything else. If anything perhaps the group was too much of a free spirit, and that's why they didn't get more recognition. We will never know as Lee died at the age of 57 in 2003. Love would attempt to release "False Start" off the Blue Thumb record label in 1970, but it quickly disappeared, and the on the RSO label with Reel to Real in 1974, but pretty much Love never got back to the creativity of the first 4 albums."
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1