Sixties Rebellion, Vol. 8: Mondo Mutiny #1: Love

Here's an unusual album concept for you: yet another LP of rare '60s garage singles, the twist being that every single one of them is a cover of a song by famed L.A. psychedelic-folk-rockers Love. If you suspect the source pool is kind of limited, you're right. The compilers managed to come up with 20 tracks, with many multiple versions: four of "Signed D.C.," three of "My Flash On You," three of "Little Red Book" (not written by Love, but popularized by them), three of "7 and 7 Is," etc. And these singles were damned rare and obscure: even the most famous of these groups are known only to specialist collectors (the Sons of Adam, the Other Half, the Rising Storm, the Haunted). But if you're in the rather small sub-group of major Love/'60s garage rock fans, this is kind of a nifty item to have. There's more variation than you might expect, and listenability is maximized by the thoughtful decision to create as much space between multiple cover versions as possible. The arrangements are pleasingly raw, and sometimes done very well indeed (the female folk-rock singer on the Flower Power's "Orange Skies," the apocalyptic crashing folk-rock "Signed D.C." by December's Children Ltd., the Haunted's slowed-down reading of "Message To Pretty"). It also includes a good composition ("Feathered Fish") by Love's principal songwriter, Arthur Lee, that Love never recorded (in versions by both the Sons of Adam and the Other Half). Be aware, though, that the Velvet Underground cover of "She Comes In Colors" is not the famous Velvet Underground, but an unknown Australian pop-rock group that used the same name.