Just In Time For Halloween High Moon Records Releases Love’s “Graveyard Hop”
Second Single From Love’s 1974 Album Reel To Real
In just under two minutes of macabre mayhem, Arthur Lee howls and raves as if possessed, the band careening along at breakneck speed like a runaway train full of exploding fireworks. With it’s raw and wailing Chuck Berry guitars, raise-the-dead drum thunder and proto-punk intensity, Arthur summons, then mocks death with a delirious blast of rock ‘n’ roll catharsis – screaming “shove him in a casket, fit him in a hole, someone at the funeral home said that’s the way it goes” and later boiling it down to a growl – “everybody let’s…die”. “Graveyard Hop” will be released as an iTunes single tomorrow, October 23, as well as appearing on Halloween-themed streaming playlists. It will also be available as an immediate download with all digital pre-orders of the full album, along with the first single “Time Is Like A River”.
Reel To Real
CD & Digital – 11/27/15 • Vinyl – 2/19/16
– David Fricke, Rolling Stone
“Lee was perfectly at ease stretching the boundaries of his music to
encompass the sounds of the world at large.” – NPR Music
Reel To Real captures Arthur Lee and Love at the peak of their rock/funk/soul powers. Originally recorded and released in 1974 on RSO Records, this beautifully packaged, deluxe reissue features remastered audio from the original tapes, a lavish, full-color book with a trove of candid, unpublished photos, and an illuminating essay by Rolling Stone’s David Fricke.
What Arthur Lee began on Love’s Black Beauty (released by High Moon Records to wide acclaim in 2013), he brought to fruition on Reel To Real. Armed with a major label budget, and a powerful, intuitive band, he dug deep into the blues, soul, and rock grooves that first inspired him, reaching out to a new audience with his fierce and forward-thinking personal vision.
The album features Arthur’s beloved Black Beauty band: drummer Joe Blocker, guitarist Melvan Whittington, and bassists Sherwood Akuna and Robert Rozelle — who Lee referred to as “cats who can play funky and rock” — augmented by guitar-ace John Sterling and cameo appearances by legendary guitarists Harvey Mandel and “Buzzy” Feiten. To a palette of stinging guitars, explosive brass (arranged by Arthur Lee), deep funk bass and clavinet, splashes of spacey synthesizer, and dream-team female backing vocals, Arthur Lee brought his funkiest and most soulful collection of songs, channeling the most visceral vocal performances he ever committed to tape.
High Moon Records has unearthed 11 revelatory, previously-unreleased tracks from the original sessions, including alternate takes and mixes, live-in-studio rehearsals, and 4 newly-discovered Arthur Lee originals: “Do It Yourself,” “I Gotta Remember,” “Somebody,” and “You Gotta Feel It.” These songs (three fully-produced rockers, and a spare, jaunty, Imagine-era John Lennon, by-way-of Sly Stone studio sketch) were previously unknown to all but their original participants, and present a major addition to Arthur Lee’s catalog. This ultra-rare bonus material fills out the picture of a fearless, agile and very funky ensemble, led by a masterful singer-songwriter at his feral, exultant best.
Original Album Tracks
1. Time Is Like A River
2. Stop The Music
3. Who Are You?
4. Good Old Fashion Dream
5. Which Witch Is Which
6. With A Little Energy
7. Singing Cowboy
8. Be Thankful For What You Got
9. You Said You Would
10. Busted Feet
11. Everybody’s Gotta Live
Bonus Tracks
12. Do It Yourself [Outtake]
13. I Gotta Remember [Outtake]
14. Somebody [Outtake]
15. You Gotta Feel It [Outtake]
16. With A Little Energy [Alternate Mix]
17. Busted Feet [Alternate Mix]
18. You Said You Would [Single Mix]
19. Stop The Music [Alternate Take]
20. Graveyard Hop [Studio Rehearsal]
21. Singing Cowboy [Alternate Take]
22. Everybody’s Gotta Live [Electric Version]
23. Wonder People (I Do Wonder) [Studio Rehearsal]
All Bonus Tracks Previously Unreleased Except 18
• CD packaged in a deluxe custom Digipak with a full-color, 32-page booklet.
• LP pressed on high-quality RTI vinyl with a 24-page, magazine-sized booklet.
• LP includes download card for 16-bit WAV files of complete album & bonus tracks.
• Digital Download includes full-color, 26-page PDF booklet. Pre-order includes immediate download of ‘Time Is Like A River’ and ‘Graveyard Hop’.
Pre-order the CD & LP from High Moon Records
Pre-order digital download from iTunes
The Planet Of Sound 