In vaguely chronological order from their release dates, here are ten worthwhile songs with the word “Love” right in their titles which emanated from the fertile, love-stunned New Haven music scene.
Pearlean Gray and the Passengers, The Love of My Man. Sweet early ‘60s soul/R&B balladry released on the New Haven-based Co-op label, available on that label’s comp Connecticut’s Greatest Hits.
I Love the Way You Love Me, Bram Rigg Set. A garage tune credited to Trod Nossel studio founder Doc Cavalier, enlivened with ratty keyboards, hummingbird drumming and the squeakiest guitar solo ever created. The Bram Rigg Set ruled the New Haven scene in the mid-‘60s, and featured among its membership one Beau Segal, son of Ben Segal, founder of the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford. Beau became an L.A. session drummer at the center of the ‘70s folk-rock scene, and later took over the reins of the Oakdale when his father retired.
The Stratford Survivors, Need Your Love. A yowly, power-chorded ode which is as much about when (“Tonight!”) as what (“Need your love!”). The Stratford Survivors were one of Connecticut seminal punk/new wave act in the mid-‘70s. They occasionally reunite—you can see them a couple months from now at the 2011 Meriden Daffodil Festival.
Epitome 5, The Thief of Lover’s Lane. A chunky rock tune from New Haven’s New Wave era. I was turned on to this rangy, if riff-ruddered, slab by Hank Hoffman of the Suburban Poser local-music archive.
The Huntingtons, The Only Love. A late-‘80s 45 featuring Derek & Tom of the fantabulous Furors alongside timbales/claves rhythmatist Maria Murphy. A self-reflective act of esteem building and coming-to-terms.
She’s in Love, The Ghost Shirts. Janglingly abrasive wordiness from an eclectic area band from the late ‘80s, who later relocated to NYC. From the diverse 1990 Incas label comp Getting Noticed, from which I could have also have picked for this project “Hey My Little Love” by Tsunami Poets or “Long Lost Lover” by Secret Smile.
Miracle Legion, Say I Had a Lovely Time. From Miracle Legion’s overlooked and misunderstood final album, which—for a band flummoxed by record company betrayals and an uncertain future—seems full of optimism and blissful meditation. Unless it’s all supposed to be ironic, of course. This one’s refrain pleads “Just as long as you say ‘I had a lovely time.’”
The Gravel Pit, Loved One. The patented Jed Parish wail has never been used more assuredly to pace and structure an entire song. This has got everything The Gravel Pit was great at: the sharp shifts of style and decibel level, the overpowering vocals and solos, and the tender open lyrical sentiments that descend into snide remarks about the world at large: Inthese droning crowds of nothing, ooh, you were actually something.”
Rohn Lawrence, Have You Ever Loved Somebody. Smooth jazz recording by the guitar virtuoso who owns Monday nights at Toad’s Place’s Lilly’s Pad. Chris Parks, who plays keyboards on the track, co-wrote the tune with Joe Cunningham.
Mocking Birds, All the Love. James Velvet’s written lots of love songs—there are three with that word in the title on his old band The Mocking Bird’s retrospective CD Last Call alone. This jauntily paced one’s about the apprehension of loving and losing.
Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez, Love Make You Do Stupid Things. A gritty layered electric blues penned and passionately crooned by the Bee Hive Queen, who’s never let her tough demeanor mask her honesty about those who act like fools. Gorgeous, concise backing vocals and winding, fluid production on this thing, one of several stand-out tracks on Ohlman & Rebel Montez’s 2009 album The Deep End.