Listen: My Little Red Book / Love
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Listen: 7 And 7 Is / Love
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Above: Jukebox Tab filled out by Arthur Lee
Listen: Stephanie Knows Who / Love
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Listen: She Comes In Colors / Love
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Listen: Orange Skies / Love
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Listen: Que Vida / Love
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Listen: Alone Again Or / Love
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Listen: Softly To Me / Love
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Listen: Your Mind And We Belong Together / Love
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Listen: The Everlasting First / Love
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What do Love have in common with The High Numbers, JJ Cale, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Mose Allison and Rockpile? Well, in this case, Tom Petty. He played them all, and more, on his Sirius/XM radio show (and obscure tracks to boot), which I heard for the first time on the red eye from Seattle to NY Saturday night. I don’t own a satellite capable device – been so disinterested in American radio for decades, and very bitter that it’s dummied down music as being a big part of culture in the US. Therefore figured it was more of the same. A few friends have, to be fair, tried convincing me otherwise. The very first time I heard it, on one of the now partnered networks, was in Kimberly Boley’s office at Sony. I asked her what she was listening to and she said satellite radio – and that she loved it. I said sure but do they play The Cramps, just to throw a real wrench into the moment. She dialed up their station that most likely would, and The Cramps were playing that very second. SWEAR TO GOD. I guess I should’ve taken it as a sign.
The flight was meant to be a time to finally get some rest. I’d been on Matt & Kim’s tour for a few days and it was a non stop stay awake. But this flight I’d earmarked as a sleeper. That was not meant to be. Spent the whole time flipping round these channels, then started jotting down some of the things I’d heard and kinda liked (The Soft Pack, Titus Andronicus), and some records I needed to look up once in the house to be sure I had (Chuck Jackson & Maxine Brown, Titus Turner, Bobby Womack). It was a noticeable change hearing so much variety: Lemon Jelly, Roxy Music (two stations playing two different songs simultaneously), Mott The Hoople, Eurythmics, LCD Soundsystem, Joan Armatrading, Nick Drake, The Nice – it was endless. There’s room for everyone. What a democratic concept.
One of Sirius/XM’s channels is BBC’s Radio 1. It’s the fastest moving, youngest targeted demographic station the BBC has. The delivery, I’m afraid, dwarfs all the other satellite choices. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed: the tired, lazy, hokey US DJ presenter. Does a building need to fall on these people? So with the luxury of access to BBC stations (Radio 1, 2, 6, Radio London) via internet streaming – and my new discovery of satellite, I think things are pretty tolerable out there. I’d get subscribed up if I ever drove anywhere.
Back to Tom Petty’s program. He played Love’s ‘7 And 7 Is’ on this particular episode. Interestingly named, I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with Love. Many times, I crave hearing the music and thoroughly enjoy it – other times it sounds so lame, and twee, and overrated. Some strong opposing opinions out there about Arthur Lee too. Met him the one time, and he was cool about doing the jukebox tab, but I was with Gary Umbo, a Love hardcore who I’m pretty sure Arthur knew and was friendly with. Undeniably some great singles though, and if you’re like me, it’s hard to forget the first time hearing ‘My Little Red Book’. It was a pretty big hit everywhere rightfully. Then ‘7 and 7 Is’ came out – and that was the loudest cut record I’d ever heard. You can’t turn it down – just try.
When I worked at Elektra in ‘85, our mailroom guy Mark Cohen came down to my office telling me there was a closet that was about to be part of the renovation underway to create more office space. It was full of old chairs, cabinets, typewriters AND some boxes of old 45’s. Was I interested, they’ll be tossed otherwise. It was a treasure trove. About 200 singles in all, and a virtual history of Elektra’s early 7’s. So many amazing things, I never separated the lot – kept them as they were. Loads of Tom Rush, Voices Of East Harlem, Butterfield Blues Band, Beefeaters, Tim Buckley, plus a mixture of US and UK presses. Every Love single was there – promos and stock, and some UK copies as well. Many are pictured here. Note the withdrawn copy of ‘Stephanie Knows Who’ / ‘Orange Skies’ (EK 45608). The catalog number was re-assigned as EK 45608 (REV) – I’m guessing to indicate ‘revised’, replacing the A side with ‘She Comes In Colors’. I knew of the switch but wasn’t aware original copies had been pressed until that day. Also, for some reason unknown as it wasn’t an Elektra master, the pile included a UK pressing of ‘The Everlasting First’. It was originally released in the US on Blue Thumb, Bob Krasnow’s label. Although he was our chairman and boss at Elektra – he had no idea why the record was included there either “maybe I gave Holtzman a copy then, and yeah that is Jimi playing the lead”. Thankfully he didn’t reclaim it.
Not long after, the front desk somehow decided to forward through an irate Arthur Lee to my line. I pick up and he launched into a rage about unpaid royalties and how Elektra, and even I myself, were stealing from him, so much so that he had to move in with his aunt in Nashville or some such place. I was very unequipped to handle this one, so politely sent him through to Gary Casson in business affairs, where I’m sure the rampage ended abruptly.
