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In the community of pop music critics and historians, it’s common to find Love<\/b>‘s Forever Changes<\/i><\/a> cited as one of the great lost albums of the 1960s. Under-recognized at the time of its release, Forever Changes<\/i> has in recent years taken its rightful place among musical treasures of its era. There it joins The Beach Boys<\/b>‘ Pet Sounds<\/i><\/a>, Moby Grape<\/b><\/a>‘s debut and a select few others that fared relatively poorly (critically and\/or commercially) upon their initial release.<\/p>\n It could be argued that one of the reasons Forever Changes<\/i> and those Moby Grape and Beach Boys LPs took awhile to earn their due is the fact that the albums that followed from those acts were decidedly less impressive. The Beach Boys found their resident genius Brian Wilson<\/b> slipping away. Skip Spence<\/b> of Moby Grape developed psychological problems that precluded his active involvement in the band. And the admittedly mercurial Arthur Lee<\/b> broke up Love, reassembling the band with new personnel that gave the group a very different sound than they had showcased on their early albums.<\/p>\n And so it is that those post-breakthrough albums have been largely ignored. The Beach Boys’ Smiley Smile<\/i>, Wild Honey<\/i>, Sunflower<\/i>, and Surf’s Up<\/i> eventually benefited from a more measured re-assessment that found worthwhile tracks within their grooves. Moby Grape ’69<\/i> and Wow<\/i> had some ace tunes, as the 1990s compilation Vintage<\/i> showed. And while the mid-1990s compilation Love Story<\/i> positioned itself as a survey of Love’s entire output, the 2CD set included only one cut from the1974 LP Reel to Real<\/i>, the track \u201cEverybody’s Gotta Live.\u201d<\/p>\n Reel to Real<\/i> was out of print for many years, and in fact has never been released on compact disc until now. Originally released in December 1974 on Robert Stigwood<\/b>‘s RSO Records, Reel to Real<\/i> didn’t even reach the lowest positions of the album charts, and would in fact be the last album from (any configuration of) the group until the 1990s.<\/p>\n But Reel to Real<\/i> deserves a better fate than obscurity. It would be foolish to suggest that Reel to Real<\/i> is any kind of successor to the light classic that is Forever Changes<\/i>, and the 1974 album bears little if any sonic similarities to the album of seven years prior. But Arthur Lee’s voice is in fine form, and the tunes are strong. The eleven tracks on the original Reel to Real<\/i> are solid examples of what r&b-inflected rock music sounded like in ’74. Analog synthesizers show up occasionally (most notably on \u201cWith a Little Energy,\u201d where they spar with a Muscle Shoals-flavored horn section). A soulful weeper, \u201cStop the Music\u201d bears the influence of Otis Redding<\/a><\/b>, a quality listeners would be hard-pressed to divine on Forever Changes<\/i>.<\/p>\n \u201cWho Are You\u201d features a kinetic horn chart and some ultra-funky Clavinet and guitar work. Again, it’s miles removed from the Love sound of old, but taken within the context of the mid 1970s, it’s quite impressive. \u201cGood Old Fashion Dream\u201d is another sincere slice of Southern soul, replete with female vocal chorus backing. The acoustic guitar work on \u201cWhich Witch is Witch\u201d is nothing short of cinematic, though the tune itself is a tad ordinary. It’s enlivened by some tasty backward guitar, a sonic trick that was decidedly out of vogue in 1974.<\/p>\n Soaring electric slide guitar is a highlight of \u201cSinging Cowboy,\u201d and though the production vibe (courtesy Skip Taylor<\/b>) is a bit flat, it’s an appealing tune that sounds reasonably commercial. The understated shuffle of \u201cBe Thankful for What You Got\u201d suggests that Arthur Lee would have had the goods to survive in the disco era. The three-chord garage stomper \u201cYou Said You Would\u201d hearkens back to Love’s earliest songs; it wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Da Capo<\/i>. And \u201cBusted Feet\u201d sounds like the kind of thing one might have found on a Johnny Winter<\/b><\/a> LP of the era. The original album closes with the aforementioned \u201cEverybody’s Gotta Live,\u201d wherein Lee displays the Johnny Mathis<\/b> side of his vocal abilities, set to a singalong campfire melody.<\/p>\n