LOVED UP

I haven’t written to RC since 1988, so I reckon there must be a pretty good reason for me to do so now! In June’s copy, Jamie Atkins’ review of Love’s Forever Changes album (recently re-issued by Rhino as an expanded double CD) was, I feel pretty out of order. He accuses it of being an unnecessary and exploitative release and dismisses the second disc of the set as merely a superficially interesting collection of alternative mixes and previously collected outtakes. In fact the second disc is nothing short of a full blown revelation, certainly to me and to anyone who has pored over every nuance of the original LP for twenty odd years or more.

Knowing the original master tapes of that final mix have been long since lost, we cannot expect much more enhancement of this original work by way of re-mastering without that source material. This then makes the alternate mix of the album presented here absolutely fascinating. Every track yields countless new dimensions to explore, some to jaw-dropping effect. I’m sure you didn’t mean any harm Jamie, any other band you might be right, but with Love, well they’re pretty sacred.

by Roger Anglezarke Turer
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