Seminal grrrl-rock from the 60s
07/02/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
"A record that time and opportunity forgot. The seven songs that this all-girl band from the mid-to-late Sixties released are pretty good; the 13 bonus demos/live tracks are a revelation! The guitar and bass are fabulous; the vocal harmonies are strange, haunting and beautiful; and the lyrics and delivery are alternately tough and heartbreaking. A lost classic from a band that deserved more. 'Up Down Sue' and 'Portrait' are highlights for their garage-pop and sheer guitar hero(ine)ics respectively."
Top Level Band Sunk by Sexism
Randall E. Adams | Los Angeles, CA United States | 03/28/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I wish to second [someone's] comments about this group. The Luv'd Ones were not just a great girl group--they were a great group period. So few of their songs were given a proper production and release, all because there was no acceptance of an all-girl rock group in the mid 60s. The demos are fairly murky in sound, but their substance is terrific. Char Vinnedge was a terrific songwriter and guitarist whose sheer determination is the only thing that kept her group together. Qualitatively, Ms. Vinnedge and the Luv'd Ones were at least the equal of such people as Sean Bonniwell and his band,Music Machine, or Arthur Lee and his band, Love. In other words, the Luv'd Ones were really beyond the league of a mere garage or punk band. Except that the Luv'd Ones were never given the chance to explore their musical mission on LPs.The passage of time allows the lasting merit of the Luv'd Ones' work to shine through. It really is like the song says: "The truth gotta stand, and lies just fade away."The only reason this disc rates four stars instead of five is because the sound quality of the demos making up the bulk of this release is pretty muddy. The compiler couldn't help that, of course. Blame Dunwich Records who failed to cut an album by this group or issue more than a small handful of singles.If you think that girl rock was invented in the late 1970s or later, buy this CD and learn something new."
Track Listings (20) - Disc #1