Love Unlimited

Album: 100% Colombian (1998)
Charted: 18
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is a stylistic and lyrical tribute to Barry White, the deep-voiced romantic who led the Love Unlimited Orchestra ("Love's Theme").

    Fun Lovin' Criminals wrote the song after doing a round of promotion for their first album, Come Find Yourself, which contains the hit "Scooby Snacks." In a Songfacts interview with band member Brian "Fast" Leiser, he explained why they connected with White and came up with the song.

    "It was really the first moment we had to look back on the previous two years and go, 'Wow, we just did so much in such a short period of time with this dream of ours. Now we've got to start writing more songs,'" he said. "It was all about the love we have for the people that were helping us along the way and supporting us. We never really had that from our intimate families. So, what kind of story can we make up about that? Well, let's talk about Barry White. Barry White is the Walrus Of Love, an amazing songwriter. He's got such a legacy of music that's timeless production-wise, and he plays all these instruments. He's not just this big singer dude, he's someone like Prince who encapsulates what you can do in music and the love you can show people."
  • In making this homage to Barry White, the band was learning technique in the studio. "That whole second album, 100% Colombian, was us honing our production skills, keeping the formula the same with the rough edges but at the same time getting access to better string sounds and better guitar, drum sounds," Leiser told Songfacts. "How would Steely Dan get their drum sounds?"
  • "Love Unlimited" was the first single from Fun Lovin' Criminals' second album, 100% Colombian. It charted in the UK, where surprisingly, they developed a stronghold. The band is from New York but had a hard time finding an audience in their home country, so they focused their efforts on Europe and eventually moved there.
  • This is often a highlight of Fun Lovin' Criminals live shows, with a call-and-response breaking out of "Barry White... saved my life."

Comments: 1

  • David Luciani from CanadaGreat tribute to the maestro of love done very well.
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