Love Affair - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1968-1969

Up until recently, the only thing I knew about the band Love Affair was that they had a big hit in 1968 with the classic song "Everlasting Love." But it turns out I underestimated them because I'm an American and they were a British band that had much more success in Britain. They didn't even have a single hit in the U.S. Instead, soul singer Carl Carlton had the U.S. hit with "Everlasting Love" around the same time Love Affair took their version all the way to Number One in Britain. Furthermore, they have four more songs in or near the Top Ten in Britain in 1968 or 1969.

It seems that Love Affair is mostly forgotten today, but they were a big deal in Britain for those two years. They were considered pop idols, with screaming fans drowning them out during concerts, similar to what had happened to the Beatles. As a result of their popularity, they performed at a lot of BBC studio sessions, enough for two volumes.

The main reason I'm posting these albums is due to the same musical friend who has been sharing "Top of the Pops" BBC radio show sessions with me. It seems the vast majority of sessions he sent to me by this band not only haven't been officially released, they hadn't even been bootlegged until now. 

As usual for the time period, BBC DJ Brian Matthew talked over the beginnings and endings of many of the songs. So, like I usually do, I used the UVR5 audio editing program to wipe out his talking. That's why ten out of the 15 songs here have "[Edit]" in their titles.

Only five of the performances here have been officially released. Tracks 3, 4, and 15 come from the compilation album "Time Hasn't Changed Us - The Complete CBS Recordings." Tracks 2 and 14 come from different obscure various artists collection albums. 

Released or not, most everything here comes from the Top of the Pops BBC radio show. The only exceptions are tracks 3 and 4, from the BBC TV show "Colour Me Pop," and the last three songs, which are from a BBC studio session hosted by DJ Dave Lee Travis.

The band's biggest hit, "Everlasting Love," actually was released at the end of 1967. The band had two other big Top Ten hits in Britain in 1968: "Rainbow Valley" and "A Day without Love." But for whatever reason, only the first two songs here were performed in 1968. Everything else comes from 1969. I would guess that the band probably did some other BBC sessions in 1968 that have been lost. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a version of "Rainbow Valley" to include, although this album includes versions of all their other hits. Also note that I've included two versions of "Everlasting Love."

The band had a very good soulful sounding lead singer, Steve Ellis. However, he got frustrated with the way the band was pigeonholed as a pop group mostly covering songs written by professional songwriters, and wanted to expand into different styles. So he left the band for a solo career in early 1970. The band continued with a new lead singer, which will be the subject of Volume Two.

This album is 47 minutes long.

01 Everlasting Love (Love Affair)
02 I've Been Trying [Edit] (Love Affair)
03 All Along the Watchtower (Love Affair)
04 A Day in the Life [Instrumental] (Love Affair)
05 One Road [Edit] (Love Affair)
06 Everlasting Love [Edit] (Love Affair)
07 A Day without Love [Edit] (Love Affair)
08 Gone Are the Songs of Yesterday [Edit] (Love Affair)
09 Tinker Tailor [Edit] (Love Affair)
10 Bringing Back the Good Times [Edit] (Love Affair)
11 Rock Me Baby (Love Affair)
12 Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart (Love Affair)
13 Tale of Two Bitters [Edit] (Love Affair)
14 Baby I Know [Edit] (Love Affair)
15 Walk on Gilded Splinters [Edit] (Love Affair)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/2W1EcTmA

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/pbSrRLoxOUXdK2p/file

The cover photo shows the band performing on a TV show in 1968.