I Love You [Import]

On side B you'll find nothing but 15 minutes worth of The Epic, and depending on who you listen to, you hear People! Perform the first Rock Opera, or you hear People! Perform Larry Norman's Rock Opera which directly influenced later work by Pete Townsend and The Who, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and a string of others. Norman's written history of his own beginnings has made some fairly bold claims about The Epic. Now, more than three decades later, it sounds wonderfully dated, very ambitious, and completely silly.

It is true that Norman departed People! While I Love You was still in the Top 40 Singles Chart and the follow on pair of albums did not have Norman's participation. However, a string of 45s were issued that featured A and B side cuts on which Norman did participate. Organ Grinder, Blow in My Ear, and others were recorded while Norman was still in the band yet often released post departure. The musicians used for Norman's release of many years later, The Israel Tapes, weren't the original members of People! and this has come out only in the past few years. In the mid 80s, The Israel Tapes was promoted as a People! reunion album, but close inspection of the band photo made it fairly obvious that these guys weren't those guys.

This album was topical of the Bay Area's late 60's sound and carries all the trappings and baggage that go with it. Though there was a radio hit that generated a lot of chatter, People! truly were a one hit wonder. For the die hard Norman fan the old LP used to be a prerequisite. This reissued CD is destined to become equally as important for the next generation of Norman collectors to possess. Unfortunately the catalogue at larrynorman.com doesn't currently feature this CD.

I remember seeing this band perform "I Love You" on American Bandstand. They were energetic. I still own the 45 however, it is crackly and worse for wear and tear.

While there may be some sentimentality involved, I genuinely enjoy this CD. It sounds as modern as any of the new stuff that permeates the airwaves today. And this group did it without videos!

Featuring 2 lead vocalists (One of whom, Larry Norman [the high voice], left the band after the first album and went on to pioneer Christian Rock music with an extensive catalogue of his own and the groundbreaking "Only Visiting This Planet"... a 'must-have' recorded at Abbey Road in the early 70's and produced by George Martin) and on-stage theatrics, they were always a joy to watch.

Having a band of my own in the S.F. bay area during the late 60's, I had the pleasure of attending several of their shows. Especially entertaining was their performance of their mini-opera "The Epic" wherein Larry, portraying the gallant prince Alan Doolangly, would duel with the dragon (strobe lights mounted on top of their P.A. stack on the side of the stage) using a microphone stand as a spear.

Their only commercial success was a wonderful cover of the Zombie song "I Love You" (Which was also recorded by the Zombies, but was never a major hit for them. Their version can be found in their own catalogue).

Sadly, People's first album has only been released by Capitol in CD format once, for about 10 minutes, in the mid 90's. I got my copy, but sure wish I'd grabbed a backup when I briefly had the chance.

The other sad thing is that People went on to record two more very obscure albums ("The Other Side Of People" and ""There Are People And There Are People") which have never seen issuance in the CD format. A reissue of all three albums, complete with full notes and any existing bonus tracks would be a wonderful dream come true.

Their last album "...People and... People", is a 'lost' gem, and I really wish someone would get it out. Containing, among other things, rocked out versions of "We're Off To See The Wizard", "Hall Of The Mountain King", a driving R&B cover of Buffalo Sprigfield's "For What It's Worth", and closing with a great rock instrumental of the William Tell Overture ("The Willy Tell Experience"), this album, as in the case of their first, is a one-of-a-kind that really deserve's to be made available to the public and collectors again.