LOVE WITH JOHNNY ECHOLS + THE STANFORD FAMILY BAND – CONCORDE 2, BRIGHTON 18.7.24
Seemingly there’s no stopping the Love band. A year after they last played the Concorde 2 they’re back again, (courtesy of Love Thy Neighbour promoters) which I must say I’m utterly delighted about!
Support comes from The Stanford Family Band, who are essentially a vehicle for the songwriting of Elliot Stanford, who is on vocals and keyboards. He has quite a deadpan vocal delivery for much of the time, which suits the songs. The material has a very definite mid – late 1960s feel, with west coast influenced harmonies. The opening song is pretty pokey, but many of the others have a tendency to plod somewhat. One song, possibly called ‘It’s My Birthday’ is in waltz time, which is an interesting departure. ‘Love Me A Bit’ is something of a Beach Boys homage with some gorgeous harmonies. There’s a “Smile” sticker on the keyboards, so this possibly shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
‘Nothing Like Something’ is faster and more engaging. Somehow Rory Lethbridge’s guitar licks in this song sometimes sound like a harmonica. I’m not sure how he does that. He plays a great solo too. The Stanford Family Band are undoubtedly very good. However, they do largely seem to perform better on their faster songs, so possibly they ought to come up with some punchier material. Over to you Elliot!
The Stanford Family Band:
Elliot Stanford – vocals and keyboards
Rory Lethbridge – guitar and vocals
Grace Kendall – bass and vocals
Laurence Underwood – drums and vocals
Plus an additional guitarist whose name I have been unable to discover!
www.instagram.com/thestanfordfamilyband
On this tour Love with Johnny Echols are performing some shows where they are playing their brilliant ‘Forever Changes’ album all of the way through accompanied by strings and horns. Tonight’s show however is not one of those. When the band take the stage, original member Johnny Echols gets a particularly warm welcome.
They open with a quick one-two of ‘My Little Red Book’ and ‘A House Is Not A Motel’. Johnny makes an early contribution on lead guitar. At one point I did wonder whether his role in Love was largely ceremonial, but that is clearly not the case as his playing this evening is flawless. Vocalist Rusty Squeezebox tells us that tonight they’re going to have fun and “do a bit of everything”, which sounds fine to me. On ‘Can’t Explain’ from the first ‘Love’ album, Johnny Echols’ vocals are very much full on. This man is 77 you know! On ‘The Red Telephone’ he plays an absolutely searing solo and coaxes feedback from his guitar at the end. When Rusty said that they were going to play a bit of everything he wasn’t kidding! One surprise is them playing ‘Feathered Fish’, which Arthur Lee wrote for his band before Love, Sons Of Adam. It’s surprisingly fast and punchy. They hadn’t played it in the UK before this tour. Apparently they recently did a session for BBC6 Music, which I’m annoyed that I missed.
They return to the first album for ‘And More’, and then to ‘Forever Changes’ for ‘Andmoreagain’. I had no idea that this song was written as a sequel to the previous song! You live and learn. Towards the end of the set the glorious ‘Alone Again Or’ is wheeled out. Mike Randle plays the horn part as a coruscating guitar solo. ‘Live And Let Live’ has a cataclysmic coda and the main set ends with ‘You Set The Scene’, the closing track on ‘Forever Changes’.
Whilst the band do leave the stage they’re not gone for long. They come back with ‘Signed D.C.’, sung by Johnny Echols, who retitled it ‘Signed JE’. It’s a song about the perils of drug addiction, and is particularly chilling, especially when you consider that Johnny Echols was a heroin addict in the late 1960s. He knows of what he sings.
Another surprise is the song ‘Wonder People’, which was supposed to have been included on ‘Forever Changes’, but wasn’t finished in time. It has apparently never been played live before. The final encore is a fairly brutal version of ‘7 and 7 Is’, with another ace Johnny Echols guitar solo. Love With Johnny Echols are certainly never disappointing, but I’m very impressed that they are still able to slip surprises like ‘Feathered Fish’ and ‘Wonder People’ into their set. Long may they continue to do so.
Love with Johnny Echols:
Johnny Echols – guitar and vocals
Rusty Squeezebox (born David Ramsey) – guitar and vocals
Mike Randle – guitar
David “Daddy O” Green – drums
James Nolte – bass
LOVE With Johnny Echols setlist:
‘My Little Red Book’ (from 1966 ‘Love’ album)
‘A House Is Not A Motel’ (from 1967 ‘Forever Changes’ album)
‘Gazing’ (from 1966 ‘Love’ album)
‘Can’t Explain’ (from 1966 ‘Love’ album)
‘Softly To Me’ (from 1966 ‘Love’ album)
‘Between Clark & Hilldale’ (from 1967 ‘Forever Changes’ album)
‘The Red Telephone’ (from 1967 ‘Forever Changes’ album)
‘Feathered Fish’ (Sons Of Adam cover, 1966)
‘And More’ (from 1966 ‘Love’ album)
‘Andmoreagain’ (from 1967 ‘Forever Changes’ album)
‘Your Mind And We Belong Together’ (a 1968 single)
‘The Daily Planet’ (from 1967 ‘Forever Changes’ album)
‘Orange Skies’ (from 1966 ‘Da Capo’ album)
‘Alone Again Or’ (from 1967 ‘Forever Changes’ album)
‘Live And Let Live’ (from 1967 ‘Forever Changes’ album)
‘Always See Your Face’ (from 1969 ‘Four Sail’ album)
‘You Set The Scene’ (from 1967 ‘Forever Changes’ album)
(encore)
‘Signed J.E (D.C)’ (from 1966 ‘Love’ album)
‘Wonder People’ (unreleased)
‘7 And 7 Is’ (from 1966 ‘Da Capo’ album)
www.instagram.com/lovewithjohnnyechols
