Search - Al Stewart :: Love Chronicles

Al's Best album

Chewster | milwaukee, wisconsin United States | 04/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This review will be short and sweet.An outstanding lp!How can it not be?Not only do you have Jimi Page in the Fold,you basically have Fairport Convention as a backing band.They appeared under pseudonyms because of their record contract.



Mervyn Prestwick" (Richard Thompson):guitar

"Simon Breckenridge" (Simon Nicol):guitar

Ashley Hutchings: bass

Martyn Francis" (Martin Lamble): drums



Also important to note,when this came out in 1969,it was voted "Folk Album of the Year" by the UK music weekly "Melody Maker". No easy feat since the legendary folk album,Liege snd Lief,was also released the same year.

You can not go wrong with this album.He had other albums that have had great songs on it,but this album is solid from beginning to end.







"

Al Comes of Age on Love Chronicles

Peter Walenta | Long Island, New York USA | 11/25/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Surprising that no one has reviewed this nifty reissue of what is perhaps Al Stewart's most consistent and substantial album from his early years. "Love Chronicles", released in the UK in 1969 and in the US in 1970 was a bit risque for the time as it was reputedly the first album on which a singer sang the F-word in a serious folk song...that being in the 18 minute title track "Love Chronicles". "Love Chronicles" is an epic tune in which Stewart documents his growth from boy to man and from the crushes of puppy love to the resolution and satisfaction of mature adult love. "Love Chronicles" also includes the folk-rock social commentary, "The Ballad of Mary Foster" that deftly interweaves wry and detailed commentary and first person observation of middle class 20th Century British life in the great tradition of The Kinks and Donovan. A star studded cast including Richard Thompson and an un-Ledded acoustic Jimmy Page add excellent guitar work on this classic late-60's Britsh folk rock album. Producer Roy Guest really brought out Al's budding knack for spinning epic tales and Al's singing is much stronger than on "Bedsitter Images". No doubt, Stewart was becoming more comfortable in the recording studio and the six songs from the original album plus the enlightening liner notes bear this out. Three bonus tracks are from late 70's and late 80's studio outtakes and demos that blend in quite nicely with the sounds and themes of the earlier material. Not for nothing did Melody Maker name "Love Chronicles" the Folk Album of the Year in 1970. This is Al Stewart singing and playing at his most self assured and he pulls it off sounding cool even when dealing with arguably with some rather...er sticky and delicate subjects. A true classic and highly recommended to anyone interested in British folk-rock. Forget Nick Drake, Al Stewart recorded more sprightly and melodic tunes that captured the spirit of the times...recklessly heady, exuberantly wild, and unabashedly romantic. Even Ryan Adams could learn a thing or two from this record!"

Best of Pre-Breakthrough Albums

Kurt Harding | Boerne TX | 02/27/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Over the years, Al Stewart has proven to be one of contemporary music's more intelligent and thoughtful writers. Though sometimes he really reaches into the mists of obscurity to find us an historical event about which to sing, more often than not he leaves the listener reeling in wonder at the breadth of his skills.

I became an Al Stewart fan back in the mid-1970's when he hit pay dirt on "underground" and college radio with his breakthrough album Past, Present and Future. Since then, I have followed his career through its ups and downs and lately have acquired reissues of albums he made that preceded his breakthrough. In my opinion, Love Chronicles is the best of these. It is on this album that Stewart's knack for weaving a fine tale really became apparent.

Some reviewers (and the liner notes) make a big deal of the fact that Stewart dropped the F-bomb in the meandering title cut. Well, B.F.D! It was so inobtrusive, I didn't even really notice it. Anyway, the judicious use of a common vulgarity is no reason to praise or damn a record. Its the quality of the music and the songwriting that should really count.

The title cut aside, I think that four other songs are a better barometer of where Stewart's talent was to lead him. Those are: In Brooklyn, Old Compton Street Blues, the epic Ballad of Mary Foster, and Life and Life Only which is the song I think is the album's best. Of the bonus cuts, only Fantasy really spoke to me.

Stewart's superstardom, which really began with Year of the Cat,lasted only through a couple of albums when viewed through the prism of commercial success. But it is on albums like Love Chronicles that the fan can hear his raw talent beginning to bear fruit and that should be important to anyone who wishes to understand the genesis of that success."