Cherry Red [Release date : 22.03.24]

For those geography lovers among us, LA’s Laurel Canyon Boulevard snaked up through the hills from Hollywood then down into the San Fernando Valley (as in “Valley Girls”), with little avenues branching off left and right, like tributaries flowing into a stream.

Property was cheap. The perfect spot for penniless musicians to call home. It created a chain letter interconnection of artists, songwriters, musicians, producers and labels, where everyone seemed to live next door to everyone else.

And it seemed, in 1964, when the Beatles played the Ed Sullivan Show, that all the artists ensconced there – most of whose art was rooted in folk music – went electric.

Jim Morrison, singer and songwriter of The Doors, lived opposite The Canyon Store, the Laurel Canyon equivalent of the local Spar. It was there that the song ‘Love Street’ was born. “I see you live on Love Street, there’s this store where the creatures meet”. And so this 3 CD Boxset gained its title.

74 tracks, 4 hours of sublime music, some of the best the sixties and the seventies had to offer.

It was the Byrds, whose transition from folk to powered up pop and rock who led the way. And who then later reversed into a Country Rock siding with their album, Sweetheart Of The Rodeo in 1968. ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water” with Gram Parsons on vocals, is here. It’s an absolute peach. Arguably, the pick of the 74 tracks, and there’s a lot of competition.

All 3 CDs open with a flurry of powerful, 1-2-3 punches.

CD1 kicks off with The Association (one of the best harmony bands of the Sixties) and ‘Come On In’; ‘Tighter’ by Paul Revere and The Raiders (one of the decade’s most successful guitar/keyboard pop bands) and ‘The Good Humor Man…’, a neglected gem from Love’s classic album, Forever Changes.

CD2 opens with ‘Love The One You’re With’, Stephen Stills’ first single from his first solo album, post Buffalo Springfield (Graham Nash, David Crosby and John Sebastian guest on backing vocals).

And that’s followed by Poco’s ‘Pickin Up The Pieces’ and Tim Buckley’s ‘Buzzin Fly’.

CD3 has JD Souther, Little Feat and Linda Ronstadt in positions 1,2 and 3 of this 22 track, third and last CD. We’re clearly in the seventies now. Effectively, a second wave of artists have now descended on Laurel Canyon.

High calibre material pops up almost at stick-a-pin-in random, Carly Simon, Fleetwood Mac, Crazy Horse, Rita Coolidge, Ned Doheny, Harry Nilsson, Kenny Logins and ‘How Much I’ve Lied’, a Gram Parsons’ “solo” effort from his 1973, GP album… “infusing the material with a maturity that was not as evident on his previous recordings”. And these are just from CD3.

CD2 is the “in between” disc, chronicling the transition from freefalling sixties pop and rock to the new, sleeker sound of the seventies.

‘White Light’ from ex Byrds, Gene Clark’s 1971 album of the same name. Allmusic: “it has established itself as one of the greatest singer/songwriter albums ever made”.

Jimmy Webb (Glen Campbell’s hit songwriter), Warren Zevon and Canned Heat loom large on this CD2 collection, along with Dave (Traffic) Mason and Cass Elliott, carry overs from the Sixties, UK and USA.

Stepping back in time to CD1: The Mamas And The Papas, Barry McGuire and Scott McKenzie were at the sharp end of 1967’s “Summer Of Love”. All three appear here, sitting right beside the 75 million selling “manufactured” band, The Monkees, and the artist commonly regarded by critics as one of rock’s true originals, Captain Beefheart.

The package is blessed with detailed liner notes from the label’s expert, Dave Wells. They are an entertainment in themselves, full of fascinating facts and informed comment.

…Love Street compiles a faultless collection of tracks from a unique era in the history of popular music. And hearing it now, much of it seems just as relevant today as it did then. *****

Review by Brian McGowan

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 1 December 2024.

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)

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