Breton[sic] Wood: I Want Love
From 7″ (Brent, 1966). Also on 18 More of the Best, Vol. 2
File under irony…an artist named “Brenton” gets signed to Brent Records but they misspell his name on his first single for them. In Brent’s defense, Wood hadn’t yet become anywhere near a household name yet. He had previously only released one other song under his nom de plume (real name: Alfred Smith) and it wouldn’t be another year until he racked up two national hits – “The Oogum Boogum Song” and “Gimme Little Sign.”1
As far as ballads go, “I Want Love” is my favorite by Wood but unfortunately, it doesn’t always appear on his various “greatest hits” comps since it was released on Brent and not Double Shot (the latter released all his big hits). The opening is fantastic: the piano, the dreamy guitar, the sweeping doo-wop influences…it’s just gorgeous and that’s before Wood swoops in his yearning “I want loooooove.”
The flipside is a cover of Rudy Clark and Arthur Resnick’s “Good Lovin'” which most folks associate with the Young Rascals and if the discographic info is correct, Wood’s version appeared after the Rascals’. In any case, his cover is…just ok.
Interestingly, Brent reissued “I Want Love” – with Brenton’s name correctly spelled – in 1967, presumably after he was rising up the pop charts for Double Shot with “The Oogum Boogum” song. This time though, Brent put a different b-side on the single: “Sweet Molly Molone” which was much closer in feel/style to his Double Shot tracks.
- Piece of trivia I never realized until researching for this post: Wood’s name was inspired by the tony Westside L.A. neighborhood of Brentwood. ↩
Have you given Wood’s upbeat cover of “A Change Is Gonna Come” a listen yet?
Eliani: I have. It’s…ok. 🙂