Reel to Real

Arthur Lee had every reason to feel disenchanted with his career in 1974, as his harder rock moves on 1970's False Start and his 1972 solo debut Vindicator didn't please critics or fans and his deal with the fledgling Buffalo Records label left him with an unreleased album, Black Beauty, when the company abruptly crashed and burned. Lee had started dipping his toes into material with a stronger R&B edge on Black Beauty, and when RSO Records gave him another chance at a major-label deal, he dove in headfirst: in a Rolling Stone interview, Lee said Reel to Real was his effort to get "as black and funky as I can, man, on my music." If folks hoping for another Da Capo or Forever Changes weren't pleased with False Start or Vindicator, they were simply confused by Reel to Real's funk grooves and banks of horns and keyboards (not to mention a lineup that featured no previous members of Love but Lee). However, while the album has often been written off as a failure, Reel to Real is an albu