"Love Tunnel" is a song by American rock 'n' roll singer Chubby Checker. It was released in 1971 on Chubby's fascinating attempt at artistic comeback titled "Chequered".
The story goes - after a lacklustre decade of trying to recapture the flame of "The Twist" and "Let's Twist Again", Chubby decided to move on and try something different. He wanted to update his sound to a modern times. In order to do that he studied religiously the records of Jimi Hendrix and Arthur Lee. While he was trying reinventing himself, things have changed in the american showbiz and nobody was interested in Chubby Checker's artistic reinvention. He was a joke. But Chubby wasn't the one who backs down and so he relocated to Holland and later recorded his reinvention record with the local session men. Nobody cared, but the document persists.
The song "Love Tunnel" is a highlight of an album. It is the longest song of the bunch and the one with the most intricate structure. It is an odd mix of straightforward upbeat psychedelic rock mixed with mid-60s Rhythm and Blues with "less is more" arrangement spliced with a old school gospel linings.
Chubby's performance is on fire. And it feels very natural, Chubby is in his natural element. He's all in and it shows. Chubby's voice is very intense and raw - he's on the edge, he plows through the song like a bulldozer leaving a cathartic bliss afterwards.
The first part of the song is an fast tempo stomper. It starts in medias res skipping the convention intro - going straight from the transition to the verse. Chubby is out of breath trying to keep up with the high tempo and it reflects the themes of the song - getting hung up in the whirl of love feeling up to the point of getting tunnel vision. Then the stomp slowly falls apart into a series of breaks during which Chubby ravages like a cat closed in a box.
The middle part of the song drops the tempo down to the crawl. It is as if the entire band decided to lay down as close to the ground as possible. Chubby goes for somber sprachtgesung repeating a couple of phrases in a manic thousand yard stare manner. It is as if he was shellshocked for real after the initial ordeal. The words circle around like a gang of crows waiting for the gravely feast. It is haunting.
Then the song picks up and resumes the uptempo stomp. But now its loose and sloppy. The bits and pieces of the song are falling apart and the whole construction runs at the breath's end - it is going as if it was shot in the back at the end of the first section and only now an impact starts to wear the body down. And then, before you know, it is over as if nothing happened.
"Love Tunnel" is a fascinating document of an artist trying to get find himself, defy expectations and try something more adventurous than usual.
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