Love‘s debut is both their hardest-rocking early album and their mostByrds-influenced.Arthur Lee‘s songwriting muse hadn’t fully developed at this stage, and in comparison with their second and third efforts, this is the least striking of the LPs featuring their classic lineup, with some similar-sounding folk-rock compositions and stock riffs. A few of the tracks are great, though: their punky rendition ofBacharach/David‘s “My Little Red Book” was a minor hit, “Signed D.C.” and “Mushroom Clouds” were superbly moody ballads, andBryan Maclean‘s “Softly to Me” served notice thatLeewasn’t the only songwriter of note in the band. -All Music Guide