August is all that I know: Love Four Sail poll

"August" is such a dazzlingly perfect racket that I fear I've not adequately absorbed most of what lies between it and "Always See Your Face". Time for another listen...

Arthur was still living high up on Kirkwood with his girlfriend Suzanne and his dog Self. "Self would stray from home quite often. Sometimes, usually late at night, we neighbours would hear Arthur calling out, 'Self, Self... Self', into the hills of Laurel Canyon. It was pretty eerie.”

one of the most classic three star albums ever

Out of how many? How do you rank the first three? I certainly find this more consistent than Love and Da Capo.

out of how many stars? five, because i'm an obsolete entrenched slab of decaying cracked concrete. first two albums are around the same, but all of their albums not titled forever changes are inconsistent. (checks tracklist) nevermind, first album is a solid 4 stars/8.5-ish.

i'd rank their initial run as such—

s/t= 4
da capo= 3
forever changes= 5
four sail= 3
out here= 3
false start= 3
reel-to-real= 2.5

for what i consider one of my favorite bands of that era, they certainly weren't very dependable. of course, the wily unpredictability is part of the fun.

also thank you for posting this poll. prompted me to listen to four sail for the first time in a long while and i enjoyed it so much that i'm not sure what to vote for!

(also nag is right— highlights are the bookends and surrounding stuff. i had forgotten how much i love "nothing." arthur was capable of creating such a unique isolated vibe. reading that anecdote about self and then hearing that song it just all makes so much sense and i mean ... sheesh, when the guy had a clear vision in mind, he knew wtf he was doing. really great stuff.)

I’m curious how Drachen Theaker (Crazy World of Arthur Brown) came to be on this album. A gothic named mysterious drummer.

According to Jay Donnellan's interview in the John Einarson book Forever Changes, from which I have been extracting my quotes, Theaker was hired in the middle of the album sessions either because Lee thought he had a better sound for those songs or because George Suranovich was arguing with Lee over money. Suranovich was back as full-time drummer by the time the record was done.
Theaker must have been based in L.A. by 1969, he played on Warren Zevon's debut the same year.

I'm still thinking about how to vote.

I've listened a few more times now. My mind still wanders after about 3 tracks and then remembers it's playing again around track 7 or 8. I'm prepared to believe I'm just a bad listener but "August" is still streets ahead of the pack for me. I see that Sp*tify traffic certainly doesn't suggest that it's the no-brainer I seem to think it is. :)

"Singing Cowboy". Not a massive fan of "August", to be honest!

I think this album flatters to deceive, with an interesting start suggesting that they are playing really well together, but ultimately only has handful of good tracks. These being: August, I'm With You, Singing Cowboy, Dream, and Always See Your Face. The standout is Dream, I think.

I remembered I have an interview with Drachen Theaker (Friends/Frendz No. 21, Jan '71), and checking back it pretty much confirms that he was jobbing drummer in LA for a while. Frustrating he doesn't offer any comment on his time with Love other than "I could be a straight pick-up drummer. You see why working with Love was no particularly big deal. But it's not for me, unless it becomes totally necessary.'

I like "Your Friend and Mine" and "Robert Montgomery" too.

The strangest disconnect about this record is that although Lee had the desire (and the band) to start making heavy rock, the actual songs he was writing (in terms of melodies and chord changes) don't always support that goal. It's most obvious here on "Talking In My Sleep", where the band goes into a heavy bridge that's incongruous with the bouncy arrangement and whimsical vocal of the rest. "August" works a lot better, but it's still an alternation between heavy riffs/solos and a sweet, melodic verse. He really takes it to a comedic level on the next album, where, called upon to write a song to spotlight a George Suranovich drum solo, he produces "Doggone", an ambling waltz-time ballad totally unsuited to be the next "Toad" or "Moby Dick". Post-garage era, I don't know if Lee really wrote straightforward "rocking" songs until Vindicator.

One thing that this record shares with Forever Changes is the dark aura around even the songs that seem cheerful. I'd heard this record years before I knew that "Your Friend and Mine" was about the overdose death of the road manager who enabled most of the band's heroin addiction, but I knew even then that the genial melody and music-hall rhythm covered up a world of bitterness. "Robert Montgomery" is like an indictment of the idea of anyone, anywhere ever changing themselves:

"Although they looked different
They still were the same."

That said, I think I will vote for the most 1967 song on the record, "I'm With You", though "Nothing" is a close runner-up.

Yes, "Your Friend and Mine" is so cold it give me the shivers.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Agree re: the characteristic “dark aura”. Not sure however about the “disconnect” mentioned: I suspect he wanted to mix styles rather than make a ‘heavy rock album’. Or maybe it’s just that the ‘disconnect’ works for me.

didn't have time to re-visit this in full before the closes, but wanted to briefly comment because it's one of my favorite records. giving "talking in my sleep" a vote because it's great and doesn't get enough love.

briefly flipping through the songs on spotify ... idk, i think "good times" and "singing cowboy" are the only filler here, and those two aren't even that bad. the highs are so high though, that i have trouble thinking of this as an "inconsistent" record.

Or maybe it’s just that the ‘disconnect’ works for me.

exactly.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.