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While I delighted in the release of Illegitimate Spawn<\/a>,<\/em> that 2007 Fuzztones<\/strong> tribute album gave me pause. The venerated garage-revival group hadn\u2019t turned out a lot of new material recently; was this a marking-time effort to keep the band\u2019s name in the public\u2019s mind while they searched for new direction? The music \u2013 covers of Fuzztones originals as well as remakes of some of their<\/em> remakes — was great. When the Fuzztones did<\/em> release an album of new material, Horny as Hell<\/em><\/a> raised additional questions: Was the group abandoning its sound? Lots more Hammond organ was in evidence, and horns<\/em> ferchrissake! Thank goodness, their latest, 2011\u2019s Preaching to the Perverted<\/em><\/a>, shows that there\u2019s still plenty of life left in the group, and in their traditional approach.<\/p>\nA lot of the credit goes to keyboardist Lana Loveland<\/strong>; her songwriting prowess has breathed new life into the Fuzztones. And as it happens, Lana has a pedigree in the genre. Prior to the Fuzztones, she handled organ duties for Sean Bonniwell<\/strong>\u2019s band, keeping that group\u2019 sound firmly within the double yellow lines (as it were). Prior to that, in the mid 1990s she led a group with her brother (guitar Lenny Svilar\/Silver<\/strong>) called Cox Orange<\/strong>. That group recorded a four-track demo, but the group (according to the press kit) \u201ccame and went.\u201d<\/p>\n Fuzztones front man (and now bandmate of Lana and Lenny) Rudi Protrudi<\/strong> heard that demo and encouraged them to re-record those songs, and he offered his services on bass guitar. The resulting recording has been released as Order to Love<\/em>, credited to Loveland<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Those familiar to the Fuzztones sound will feel right at home with Order to Love<\/em>. But there\u2019s one important difference here: Loveland handles all of the lead (and harmony) vocals. The resulting record recalls Stop Pretending<\/em>-era Pandoras<\/strong>. Loveland\u2019s Vox organ is up front in the mix, and Lenny\u2019s snaky guitar leads run a tad longer than they might on a Fuzztones record.<\/p>\n But don\u2018t get the idea that Order to Love<\/em> is a jammy record. It\u2019s full of verve and spirit. \u201cBlack Glove\u201d would be right at home at a mid-60s Los Angeles go-go club. \u201cMissing Illusions\u201d captures the Music Machine<\/strong> vibe so well that one suspects Loveland might well have auditioned the tune for Bonniwell to display her kindred spirit. The song\u2019s carnivalesque midsection even threatens to go reggae for a few seconds; Loveland clearly has lots of ideas, and works them into these songs quite well.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a complexity, a willingness to explore, on the Order to Love<\/em> songs that suggests Loveland has a lot on her musical mind. Fuzztones songs don\u2019t generally switch time signatures; Loveland songs, it would seem, often do. And on Order to Love<\/em>, the band is unafraid to stretch out a bit; witness the tasty solos on \u201cTheater of Dreams,\u201d which nearly breaks the four-minute(!) mark.<\/p>\n Even within the relatively tight confines of pop song convention, a song like \u201cNervous<\/p>\n People\u201d is built around a catchy organ riff, and some dissonant vocal harmonies; there\u2019s a nice mix of traditionalism and ambition on Order to Love<\/em>. On \u201cMissing Link\u201d Loveland sings with the assured forcefulness of Grace Slick<\/strong>, while the band stomps along in as Stones<\/strong>-by-way-of-Chocolate-Watchband<\/strong> manner. Lenny Svilar opens up on some wailing guitar fills. And \u201cSilence Everywhere\u201d delivers plenty of solos \u2013 organ and guitar \u2013 while keeping the four-on-the-floor beat going strong.<\/p>\n A dive-bombing guitar run launches Rudi Protrudi\u2019s \u201cBandit,\u201d the sole track on Order to Love<\/em> not composed by Loveland. As the song unfolds, overdubbed fuzz guitars twist around each other while Loveland weaves a hypnotic, moody vocal line atop it all. The shout-along \u201cConstant Furs\u201d closes things in style, with Loveland\u2019s heavily vibrato\u2019d Vox organ dancing along throughout.<\/p>\n Loveland would fit nicely on a co-bill with the Fuzztones, but the two (overlapping) groups\u2019 approaches are different enough that no one would confuse them. Loveland pushes the boundaries of the garage rock genre much further than do the Fuzztones. Fans of this kind of stuff — people such as myself — will be glad to have both.<\/p>\n
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