THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,388) Titanic — “Love Is Love”
From Norway with “Love Is Love”! This “uptempo gem” from Titanic’s debut LP has an irresistible propulsive groove and “has also blessed a few b-boy events in its time”. (SoulStrut, https://www.soulstrut.com/Archive/titanic-titanic) The album’s “heavy and psychedelic mood goes on with another winner . . . . a very powerful and dynamic song. . . . [a]bsolutely brilliant [and] really kicks ass my prog friends.” (ZowieZiggy, https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=23772)
Eduardo Rivadavia tells us that:
[T]he late ‘60s . . . gave rise to the era of hard rock and heavy metal. . . . [O]nce the . . . holy trinity of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath burst onto the scene, the hard rock virus really spread like a plague across the globe — even into distant, chilly, staid Norway, from whence came the aptly named Titanic, f]ounded in Oslo in 1969 . . . . [I]n a trend soon to be followed by a number of German heavy rock combos . . . Titanic hired a British-born singer and lyricist — one Roy Robinson — in an effort to raise their international prospects. The ploy worked well enough for Titanic to be offered a deal by the French office of Columbia Records, which duly released the band’s eponymous debut later that same year [including “Love Is Love”], and later booked them to perform at the Cannes Film Festival’s gala screening of the Woodstock motion picture. The members of Titanic then decided to switch their base of operations to the south of France, and perhaps it was the change of environment that helped broaden the band’s musical horizons, leading to the incremental classical, jazz, and Latin music influences found on the band’s 1971 sophomore album, Sea Wolf. In fact, its biggest single, “Sultana,” openly referenced Santana and would go on to chart at number five in the U.K. . . . Titanic had failed to repeat their prior chart success . . . . [but] would nevertheless soldier on amidst occasional lineup changes and diminishing success throughout the rest of the decade, releasing a couple more albums . . . on independent labels, but ultimately falling into forgetfulness. Except for dedicated heavy rock fans, of course, who still rate the band’s first efforts among the finest examples of proto-metal and heavy prog to emerge off the mainstream beaten path.
Chris Welch adds:
Norway stunned the rock world when it produced one of the hottest new bands of the early Seventies. . . . The five-piece was originally formed in 1969, and included Kjell Asperud (percussion, vocals), Jan Loseth (guitar, vocals), John Lorck (drums) and Kenny Aas (organ and bass guitar). They rehearsed hard, wrote some good tunes, and so ‘TITANIC’ eventually became one of the first Norwegian bands to enjoy hit records in both England and Germany. They also recruited English lead singer, Roy Robinson, who helped give their music an international appeal. Roy wrote most of the lyrics which he sang in English, on a succession of fine albums and singles. . . . ‘TITANIC’ were thrilled when ‘Sultana’, played in the style of Santana, was a hit in England. It shot to Number 5 in the UK singles chart in September 1971. It was also a hit back home in Norway, where their album, Sea Wolf, got to Number 7 in the national charts. ‘TITANIC’ now embarked on a busy schedule of gigs. Their big breakthrough came when they played at the Cannes Film Festival in France. They were invited to play before the gala screening of the 1969 “Woodstock” movie. The group also played at the Aix-en-Provence festival. Such was the wildly enthusiastic response at both these gigs that the band decided to settle down in the South of France. At the same time, ‘TITANIC’s reputation spread to Germany, where they enjoyed a hit with “Santa Fe” which got to Number 36 in the charts. . . . It was a tribute to the band’s musical credibility that they were signed to Columbia, then one of America’s most prestigious record companies. Even though the group did not score any more hit singles, they continued working steadily throughout the Seventies.
liner notes to the CD reissue of Ballad Of A Rock’n’Roll Loser, https://web.archive.org/web/20140525200356/http://www.titanic-rock.com/documents/biography.php
Here is the longer version:
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