KIM FOWLEY Love is Alive & Well 67 garage punk psych LP
$
42
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Description
Kim Fowley is f*&^ed up. And if I have to tell you that, then you don’t know who he is. Just head over to his official website – kimfowley.net – and take one look at the mugshot he chose to greet visitors. And if that’s not enough, when you enter, the second shot of Kim you see is him giving the thumbs-up to the Robin Williams film “RV” – now that’s TRULY f*&^^d up! Back in the late 60’s, though, Kim fancied himself a flower child, and a love child, which is why 4 of the 10 songs on this 1967 album “Love is Alive and Well” feature the word “flower” in the title, while 3 more feature the word “love.” Of the remaining three, “War Games” mentions “love” in the lyrics, “Me” mentions “flower”, and “Reincarnation” just simply tries as hard as possible to rip off the Seeds without being taken to court. Which is cool, actually – we can never have enough snarly, snotty Seeds punkers to go around – and besides, Kim “Sunlight” Fowley gets off a nice rhyme in the chorus: “I must learn, how I return – Reincarnation!” Sounds like he’s about to find out at the end, too, as the song and Kim drift off on a floaty, trippy voyage to the afterworld. As those who followed Kim’s career in the 60’s and 70’s know (both of you), he’s a bit of a scam artist, or a self-possessed attention-grabbing masterful hype machine, to put it in terms he can use on his resume, so he’s never beyond stealing a sound or a riff or a melody from anyone who won’t notice, or sue. Consequently, the opening guitar from “See How the Other Half Love” is pretty much the same riff from the Beatles’ “She Said She Said”, even if it devolves from there into a raunchy hybrid of garage punk and Motown soul. In the end, it sounds great, and that’s what’s important. And besides, he gets off ANOTHER great quotable put-down – “Your youth slips away like a baby’s tooth” – so you just kinda pat him on the head and say, “Nice job, Kim. I didn’t even notice the Beatles riff, really.” And so it goes. The West Coast folk rock of “Me” sounds like a lost Byrds single, with the drums mixed loud like Kim was already channeling the New Wave 80s. While “The Planet Love” starts out like some rumbling crude Bo Diddley blues punk – “Mona” or “Who Do You Love” – then becomes Los Bravos “Black is Black” halfway through. Perhaps the strangest thing here is the title track, where Kim doesn’t even SOUND like himself (or Sky Saxon, or John Lennon, or Roger McGuinn). Rather, he sings “Love is Alive and Well” in a faux British accent, while his band plays an old-timey Bonzo Dog Band music hall melody, complete with kazoos. Lyrically, Kim’s now channeling Benny Bell – if anyone remembers his song “Shaving Cream” from the Dr. Demento radio show and isn’t afraid to admit it – with lines like “Nothing but the luck…makes a bulldog f…FLY!” Get it? Luck…fly? Stop, Kim, you’re KILLING me! Like much of his career, “Love is Alive and Well” isn’t very original, or even value-conscious at barely over 20 minutes. But it’s well done, the songs are great, and the lyrics often strokes of genius. And he clearly seems in touch and in tune with the flower children of 1967, just like he was in touch with punk music via the Runaways in 1976 and ahead of his time with the Modern Lovers in 1975. Now, he’s endorsing Robin Williams’ “RV.” Not so in touch anymore, is he? Original 1967 pressing, in STEREO on the Tower label. Cover is in strong VG++ shape with all seams intact, faint ringwear on front, small cutout hole. Vinyl plays VG+ with some pops and light crackle.
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