Love's debut is both their hardest-rocking early album and their most
Byrds-influenced.
Arthur Lee's songwriting muse hadn't fully developed at this stage, and in comparison with their second and third efforts, this is the least striking of the LPs featuring their classic lineup, with some similar-sounding folk-rock compositions and stock riffs. A few of the tracks are great, though: their punky rendition of
Bacharach/
David's "My Little Red Book" was a minor hit, "Signed D.C." and "Mushroom Clouds" were superbly moody ballads, and
Bryan Maclean's "Softly to Me" served notice that
Lee wasn't the only songwriter of note in the band. ~ Richie Unterberger