lunes, 6 de abril de 2009

Lulu: Love Loves to Love Lulu (1967) ... plus

Most Americans first heard of Lulu when she soared to the top of the charts with the beautiful ballad ‘To Sir with Love,’ the theme to the film of the same name, in 1967. Actually, the Scottish singer had been a star in Britain since 1964, when she hit the Top Ten with a raucous version of ‘Shout.’ Lulu's mid-'60s recordings were often surprisingly rowdy and R&B-influenced and she was even close to blue-eyed soul on some of her late-'60s best efforts. Recording intermittently ever since, she raised a few eyebrows by traveling to Muscle Shoals studios to record her 1970 classic album New Routes, and releasing a double-sided single of David Bowie tunes, which Bowie also played on and co-produced, in 1973. Love Loves to Love Lulu was Lulu's second album and the first under the direction of legendary producer Mickie Most. The release gathered together her three British 1967 singles, ‘The Boat That I Row,’ ‘Let's Pretend,’ and ‘Love Loves to Love Love’ together with ‘To Sir With Love’, a song which, despite the singer's protests, was relegated to a B-side in the U.K. This album was a slight affair with only 11 tracks, yet this cuts down on the amount of filler so prevalent on many mid-'60s albums. Highlights include covers of Gladys Knight & the Pips' ‘Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me,’ the Beatles' ‘Day Tripper,’ and the Bee Gees' ‘To Love Somebody.’ Long deleted, Love Loves to Love Lulu serves as an excellent retrospective of the singer's output in 1967. As for me, this is one of the best albums ever recorded by one of my all-time favorite '60s Brit Girls. I added 8 bonus tracks to the original release, including the UK Top Ten hits ‘I’m a Tiger’ and ‘Me, the Peaceful Heart’, the UK Top Twenty hit ‘Boy’, the B-sides 'Sad Memories', 'Lookout' ‘Dreary Days and Nights’ and ‘Without Him’, plus 'This Time' (Bistro), taken from the 1968 MGM film 'Hot Millions'.

Lulu singing 'To Sir With Love' on a rare clip of a Canadian TV Show (1967):

A dynamic performance of 'The Boat That I Row' on Beat-Club (1967):


And, finally, 'Love Loves To Love', performed on Top of the Pops (1967):

2 comentarios:

  1. http://rapidshare.com/files/216982397/Lulu_-_Love_Loves_to_Love_Lulu__1967__..._plus.rar

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  2. Wonderful - I had original album on a (long lost) tape but never heard extra bonus tracks,so thank you for this. Its interesting to hear how she gradually changed from soul shouter to mainstream pop singer but no matter what kind of music she did,Lulu always sounds recognisable.
    And now,how about her Memphis album?

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