15. Stand Out
Albums: Out Here (1969) and False Start (1970)
As revered as
Forever Changes is now, we have to remember that it was not a hit when released in late 1967, and thus there was no pressure to produce follow-ups that sounded like it. And so the sound Arthur Lee forged with his new lineup of Love at the 1968-69 warehouse sessions was quite different from it, and owed heavily to the hard-rock stylings of Lee's friend Jimi Hendrix.
"Stand Out" is one of the best distillations of the Hendrix sound from those sessions. It gallops along rhythmically while treating us to outbursts of wah-wah guitar and several fast-fingered solos from lead guitarist Jay Donnellan. In construction, pacing, sonic shape and most importantly, use of cowbell, it bears a pretty strong resemblance to Hendrix' "Stone Free".
Lyrically, though, it's all Arthur Lee. It touches on a theme that we will see again later -- if you hate me because of my race, then tell me to my face and don't hide your true feelings.
I'm supposed to love you
But I don't know why
'Cause you don't want
To have nothing to with me, no
You hurt my feelings
And you make me cry
And it's the kind of thing
That gets next to me
Yes, stand out
I think you ought to stand out
And let me see whatever you are
Now you say your mother taught you
To tell right from wrong
But this will show you
The dividing line between the weak and the strong
If you go around labeling people
By their color or their size
All I can tell you people is
That you're in for a big surprise
Yes, stand out
I think you ought to stand out
So I can see whatever you are
Stand out, stand out
Now you supposed to love me
And if you don't know why
Well, I'm your ticket to heaven to get to heaven with
And that ain't no lie
I see a man lying on his death bed
All filled up with hate
You better put some love in his life
Come on, hours getting late
Stand out, yeah
I think you ought to stand out
And let 'em see whatever you are, yeah
That's what you ought to
Do
How is that for real
Lee must have thought highly of the song because he released it twice in less than 1 year. It first appeared on the double album
Out Here, consisting of the 17 songs from the warehouse sessions that were released by Blue Thumb, Love's new label, after Elektra took the 10 songs they were owed for the final album under their contract with Love,
Four Sail. Then a live version from London in early 1970 (by which point Gary Rowles had replaced Donnellan as lead guitarist) was included on the second Blue Thumb record,
False Start, which otherwise consists of studio recordings.
"Stand Out" was the single released from
Out Here in the UK, France, Japan, Spain and South Africa, but not in the U.S., which got no single from the record.
There are documented live performances of "Stand Out" in 1970, 1975 and 1993. There is another I can verify from 1994 -- when I saw Lee and Love in Asbury Park that year, they finished their set with "Stand Out," which was a request from someone in the audience. There is no record of it having been performed since then.
False Start version (recorded live in London in 1970):
https://open.spotify.com/track/74OXxF3dWJUoPbl8RdrakM?si=091484d8ee86487d
Live version from NYC in 1970 (appears on
Studio/Live):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNcmlLz6SBs
Live version from San Francisco in 1970 (appears on
Coming Through to You: The Live Recordings (1970-2004)):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGs0N4Ov-Lg
(To my ears, Lee sounds angrier when singing this on American soil than when singing it on British soil.)
At #14, we have seven songs from
Forever Changes left and will get to one of them.
