Unofficial bootleg cover art
Mike Love Not War is a third album by American singer/songwriter Mike Love which didn't get released. Recorded in 2004, it would have been Mike's first release since 1981's Looking Back with Love and was instead a draft for what would become Mike's second official release Unleash the Love, with some tracks of this album rerecorded/remixed with a different production.
The track "Thank You" is a recording from the late sixties where Paul McCartney and Donovan improvised a song for Mike's birthday during The Beatles' trip in India. In the same theme, the track "Pisces Brothers" was written in memory of George Harrison after his passing in 2001.
Tracklist:
- "Unleash The Love"
- "Cool Head, Warm Heart"
- "Anything For You"
- "Thank You"
- "Pisces Brothers"
- "Everyone's In Love With You"
- "10,000 Years"
- "Glow Crescent Glow"
- "Daybreak"
- "Too Cruel"
- "Brian's Back"
- "I Don't Wanna Know"
- "Love Foundation"
- "Only One Word"
Mike tropes, not war:
- Artifact Title: "Glow Crescent Glow" would be renamed "Crescent Moon" on Unleash the Love.
- Celebrity Elegy: "Pisces Brothers" is dedicated to late George Harrison (Mike met him back in the late sixties during The Beatles' trip in India, and they are both Pisceans).
- Cover Version: "Everyone's In Love With You" is a song Mike originally wrote for The Beach Boys' album 15 Big Ones.
- Face on the Cover
- Fairy Tale: "Glow Crescent Glow"Take me where there's love, like in fairytales
Where there's love, like in fairytales - Gratuitous Foreign Language: "Unleash The Love" has arab lyrics.
- "Pisces Brothers" and "10,000 Years Ago" contain sanskrit lyrics. On the former's case, part of them reference George Harrison's song "My Sweet Lord".
- Happy Birthday to You!: "Thank You" is a track recorded back in 1968 when Mike was on a trip with The Beatles and Donovan. At the end of the track, Mike is wished a happy birthday in song.
- "I Am" Song: "Love Foundation"We are the love foundation
Sharing the love in our hearts - Intentional Heartbreaker: "I Don't Wanna Know"If you're ever gonna break my heart
Why even start ? - Mythology Gag: "Brian's Back" is full of Beach Boys references: "Fun, Fun, Fun", Good Vibrations, Pet Sounds, "I Get Around" and "You Still Believe In Me".
- One-Word Title: "Daybreak".
- The Power of Love: "Unleash The Love":Unleash the love
And spread it through every nation
For the greatest power on Earth lies in
The heart of you and me - Pun-Based Title: Before this album's conception, Indie Rock band Smudge released an EP of the same name, so the pun was already acknowledged.
- Rearrange the Song: All the songs which turned out to appear on Unleash The Love were rerecorded or remixed.
- Reggae: "Too Cruel" (in comparison to the 1978 version which was closer to Adult-Contemporary).
- Shout-Out: "Everyone's In Love With You" is dedicated to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru who was influential to The Beatles and part of The Beach Boys.
- "Pisces Brothers" references songs by George Harrison: "My Sweet Lord", "Here Comes The Sun" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".
- Special Guest: Mike's son Christian provides backing vocals on "Cool Head, Warm Heart" and "Daybreak" on top of singing the lead of "Too Cruel" and "I Don't Wanna Know" and co-leading "Brian's Back".
- Spoken Word in Music: The intro of "Only One Word".
- Studio Chatter: At the end of "Love Foundation".
- Truck Driver's Gear Change: "Brian's Back".
- Vocal Dissonance: Mike's voice somehow gets high-pitched on the chorus following the guitar solo of "Daybreak".
- Western Zodiac: "Pisces Brothers", relating to the astrological sign of Mike and George Harrison.
