50 Years of Love & Arthur Lee "Da Capo" "Forever Changes" "Love" & more: Album-By-Album Thread

Here's my review of "Love" the debut...

Arthur Lee and company hit the scene with this fine folk-rock album that adds elements of garage rock and R&B.

1. MY LITTLE RED BOOK (A-)
The lead single of the album has a choppy, forceful rhythm of pounding drums, and tambourine, Arthur Lee in a pleading deep nasal voice desperation, guitar pauses on “please come back”, and a bouncy, curling riff. Echols helped arrange this sped up Burt Bacharach/Hal David song, but there’s a definite Stones blend here. There are some humorous syncopated “do-do”s from Lee to the bass on the guitar break. A very successful David/Bacharach cover brought into a major key and muscled up. Compared to other 1966 releases, this is some of the hardest rock around.

2. CAN’T EXPLAIN (C+)
Byrds jangle fills the air, similar melody to the Rolling Stones “What a Shame”; Love’s way of tributing the Stones. The lyrics were written in the studio, while there’s just a loud tangle of jangling for the guitar break along the melody line-no solo. Forssi’s performance stands out, his thick bass elastically weaving around the straightforward drums, and guitars. Rudimentary lyrics. It’s too derivative with little originality.

3. A MESSAGE TO PRETTY (B)
One of the few songs performed live on T.V. by Love, Lee’s harmonica accents gives this slow song its lonesome character. His ballad voice here isn’t the same as later during the “Forever Changes” period. It’s more nasal and less operatically influenced here. It’s similar to some of the more downtrodden Byrds songs because the jangle is the base of the song and its tempo and chords match up. Rudimentary lyrics on this track as well. Written on Lee’s organ for his girlfriend Anita.

4. MY FLASH ON YOU (C-)
Some garage rock with an anti-drug message, this track feels like filler because it’s a poor man’s “My Little Red Book” and a clone of “Hey Joe”. The lyrics again are basic, the energy is high, but the ground is better covered on the aforementioned songs. The choppiness of the rhythm was in garages throughout America, but wasn’t necessarily strong. Arthur explained ‘flash’ means ‘opinion’. Arthur does an impressive shouting vocal style but that’s the best part of the performance.

5. SOFTLY TO ME (B+)
Great dramatic opening from Echols before the band sinks their teeth into a spacious bossa nova groove that is unlike anything on the album. The electric piano acts like an electric light clicking on to illuminate the song after its dark intro. This best foresees the future of Love. The 12-string is less evident here, with more of a focus on the rhythm section and electric piano. Written and sung by the talented Bryan MacLean, this song showcases nice melody and a typically tender vocal. Still, a line like “orange sugar chocolate, hot cinnamon and lovely things, and you” were not looked at kindly by the rest of the band. Listen for the flurry of notes from the jazzy guitar/vocal bridge that is an Echols’ highlight. He repeats it on the break without MacLean singing over him as well.

6. NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO (B-)
Another track so heavily influenced by the Byrds, it has almost no originality, and feels like filler. Still Johnny Echols effective solos played on a double neck Gibson are a fine testament to his counter-melodic ear. Arthur Lee is in full Jim McGuinn vocal territory, again putting more nasal into his vocals for the effect. The chorus is catchy.

7. EMOTIONS (C-)
This throwback to the surf instrumental days doesn’t quite fit on the album. The sound lends diversity, but ultimately its lack of enthusiasm proves it to be a sore thumb. The main tremolo guitar riff is semi-appealing, but the rhythm gets boring fast. Echols claims he wrote it in high school. It was later used in the 1968 movie “Medium Cool”.
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8. YOU I’LL BE FOLLOWING (B-)
“I went to Missi, trippin the sippi’” is an adorable line, come on. A brisk pace occupies this 12-string dominated folk rock number, with mentions of “Johnny” and “Conka” for the all in the family feel. Conka is also referenced later on “Signed D.C.” The ascending harmonies are the most distinctive part here and improve the mediocre tune. It feels incomplete lyrically or structurally, with not enough changeups. The lyric is open to interpretation, could be about religion, or a girl, or whatever one desires most. The rhythm feels brisk like it’s walking all over the world-insistent and forceful.

9. GAZING (C)
Finally, a creative lyric but it’s sung over another loud, messy jangle of guitars it does contain a good bass line that leads the way over the tumultuousness. Some nice backing vocals by Lee to compliment his expressive lead vocal. A mulatto looking into a mirror is the protagonist here-Lee was of mixed heritage himself. It has the most curious verse of the album:

Driven out by Eden's flash
Made a pop art politician
But he knew not where
From the pits of Eden, his image
He came from there

Still, with Lee calling out “one time now” and “Johnny’s time now” before the solos of Forssi and Echols, it’s not a very serious atmosphere anyway. Echols solo is loaded with speedy, brief slurry of notes that show further potential.

10. HEY JOE (B-)
One of the live favorites from early in their career, and one that helped get Love signed by Elektra Records’ Jac Holzman. Bryan does a competent job on this track that really better suits more of an aggressive vocalist. It has keeps good pacing throughout the slowups and speedups. The choppy rhythm guitar that the bass bubbly bounds over keeps the song enjoyable. Echols admitted that he didn’t transcribe the words correctly-the ones that he sent the Leaves for their successful cover version. Love’s version was not released as a single anyway, not a priority like it was for the Leaves.

11. SIGNED D.C. (B+)
A great mood set by a sparse atmosphere created by just acoustic guitar, tambourine, and harmonica with an echoed Lee vocal. The lonely night feel blows the cold of this tune and its depressing lyrics right through you. Another anti-drug song, this referenced the troubles of their ex-drummer Don Conka, a close friend of Arthur’s. This was a candid but gentle way of reaching out to him.

12. COLOURED BALLS FALLING (C)
One of the more Byrdsian tunes, it contains a solid riff and above average melody, but is too basic and brief to be very memorable. It’s upbeat and has a thought-provoking set of lyrics with some of the future unconventional twists we’ll hear later.

As I sit here thinking
Wondering where I am
Knowing that I could be here
But I just sat
That's where I'm at

People walk the shadows
Falling stars appear
Other blinding matches
Come with their cats
That's where I'm at

I could never go there
It's too close far behind
Hope I never see you
So I won't go run and hide

Echols solo is exactly 13 notes-short but distinctive; though probably more for its brevity than its quality. Lee channels his inner-McGuinn.

13. MUSHROOM CLOUDS (B-)
These must be responsible for the coloured balls falling. The first political song for the group, Lee sympathetically sings of soldiers-“little children dying in an age of hate and war” following it with a pretty vocal for the section referencing religion. One wonders if the protagonist here is turning his back on religion because of the sad chaos. The acoustic work and fine bass by Forssi bring a new element into Love’s music sonically. The melody and vocal are the strongest elements here on this very slow song.

14. ANDMORE (B-)
The first recorded song of Love closes the album, one more jangle for the road-one of the last jangles of their entire career. It has a very good melody, elegant loving harmonies, neat rhythmic buildups and the best solo of the album. Echols truly captures the sound of 1965 within the half-minute. Lee still needs work on the lyrics though there are glimpses of something special;

“1,2,3,4 I love you/and I always will/til the sun falls off the sky/gonna love you ‘til I die and more”.

The strange Lee twist is there, but it’s awkward. Echols and MacLean help on backing vocals behind Lee’s ‘McGuinn vocal’, and the blend is great. It should have been tried further into their career. Echols claims that they wrote this one as a band. Later, Love would sequel this with “Andmoreagain”-another love song to his girlfriend Anita.

OVERALL ALBUM RATING: LOVE (B-)
As an album, it holds together well due to its mix of folk rock with harder rock and R&B, as well as above average melodies, and strong vocal performances. There’s some filler amongst the mostly good tracks, and while it puts Love up near the top of best California bands, it’s more of a reflection of the sounds around as opposed to a more original piece of work. Still, there’s plenty of originality here, both in the interracial heritage of the band (the first well-known integrated rock band), and the combination of genre examinations brought together.

 

Oh cool, looking forward to it Joze. Glad to know there are Love fans around.

Feel free anyone to disagree with me, tell me my review sucks, whatever you wish! Any feedback is helpful.

 

Unless I missed it, your lengthy and detailed post did not credit the producers, Mark Abramson and Elektra founder Jac Holzman.

Love illustrates the problem with trying to place an eccentric like Arthur Lee into a standard framework like folk-rock. Love's Sunset Strip cronies the Byrds are the big influence, but there are also Stones overtones as well as strong hints of the Frisco jam bands who I believe had yet to release anything. Some bottom-heavy tracks even anticipate The Move by almost a year.

The production work lacks cohesion and often seems at odds with the songs themselves -- the ringing guitar sound does not really suit what Lee was going after. But then there are so many ingredients in this stew that Lee probably wasn't sure himself what he was trying to do.

"My Little Red Book" is not one of Burt B.'s better tunes, but this version's intentional sluggishness does predate The Move.

"Can't Explain" and "My Flash On You" sounds like The Byrds aping The Stones -- in fact that's not a bad description for much of the album.

"No Matter What You Do" and "You I'll Be Following" are the Stones attempting Byrds power pop. The latter is perhaps the best example of the album's split personality: Stones on the verse, Byrds on the chorus (it even cops a bit from "Bells of Rhymney").

"Signed D.C." is earnest folk, rather than the surreal popsike that suits Lee much better.

Bryan Maclean's "Softly To Me" points to the future, but again the production/arrangement undercuts its impact.

The emphasis throughout the album on guitars and absence of keyboards was a misjudgment on the part of Abramson-Holzman. The next album would take steps to rectify that.

I'm probably being too critical. If this were the only Love album it would be remembered as a minor classic of the era. But eventually Love would release one of my very favorite albums, and I guess anything that doesn't reach that level is something of a disappointment.

 

Thank you for catching that. Yes, I think Holzman in particular wanted to push that type of sound. He wanted a rock band so he emphasized the guitars. Lee could have played organ, but he pretty much stayed off it for most of Love's career. An organ would have changed the tone enough. Great points on all the songs, I'm not sure I agree on the arrangement on "Softly to Me". It's got the jazz rock sound from "Da Capo" a few months early. I think Echols should have soloed more because the arrangements didn't work when he didn't. Anyway, great comments Joze.

 

The first Love single "My Little Red Book"

 

And the first Love E.P.

 

Does your LOVE ~Vinyl collection consist of original USA pressings, also foreign pressings ^ ?

 

I like them. Great talent. I believe The Doors were influenced by them.

 

"And More" is the one track on the debut that always digs its claws into my ears, and I'm not sure why. It's silly, of course ("and I want to love you too... and three") but whether it's the "ahhh... wo-wo waaah" or those twin guitars in the solo that define insistent jangle, I just can't get enough of it. I love this album... "and more" so even in the less celebrated cuts.

Aaron

 

The s/t debut album - my favourite in the Love canon - precisely because, as mentioned earlier, the overall sound is such a great mix of Byrds and Stones. But there's something else present that ensures this album transcends its' influences: a vulnerable quality, that puts it in another class when compared to other garage-rock bands of the mid-Sixties.

 

Don't have much to add to the above reviews of the tunes, but will say the album really got its hooks into me as a 12-year-old. And I was listening to most of the important bands at the time. Something about Love was special and different, I thought. The pictures of the band also intrigued me -- multiracial and the guys looked like guys you'd see on the street, except for Bryan.

"Little Red Book," "Softly to Me" and "Signed DC" are true Love classics.

 

Softly To Me ~ sounds like something from Forever Changes ..way ahead of the time curve.

 

No, I'm sure others here have much better vinyl collections than mine for Love. I just thought it would be accurate to include it for those Love collectors. Eventually, I'd like to have some of the more obscure items, but they're pricey. When you add it all up, it's not too difficult to find most of the rare items if you do collect for this band.

 

Definitely. There's a story in the biography that describes Jim Morrison walking up to Arthur Lee's house at Laurel Canyon and asking to hang out with Arthur. Arthur and others did think that Jim looked up to him, and the Doors wanted to be as good as the band they shared the Elektra label with. What a combo of minds there.

 

With Love officially on the scene with their debut album and single, this is a summation of most of the venues and songs they played during this era...

CALIFORNIA CLUB APPEARANCES (Mostly in L.A.): 1965, 1966
Whiskey a Go-Go
Bido Lito
Ciro’s
Cappy’s
Hullabaloo
The Cinnamon Cinder
The Nite Life
The California Club
The Red Onion
Beverly Bowl
The Brave New World (where they were discovered by Jac Holzman)
The Whisky
Fillmore West

EARLY LIVE REPERTOIRE
Green Onions (Lee always played this on organ from the very beginning)
Smokestack Lightning
Wooly Bully
Gloria
Hey Joe
My Little Red Book
Shotgun
My Flash on You
John Lee Hooker (later changed to and released as “Revelation”)

 

Love appearing on American Bandstand in 1966 with their single "My Little Red Book".

 

Love one more time on American Bandstand with "A Message to Pretty"

 

I have the original German Elektra CD of LOVE--is there a superior sounding version of the stereo mix that's been issued since then? I think my CD sounds wonderful but I've never heard any other version, including the 2001 mono/stereo disc. Thanks!

 

I have to be the loner here and say that Emotions and Coloured Balls Falling are favs of mine: psychedelic deep cuts that I play more than the other tracks, like DCBA-25 by the Jefferson Airplane. They both have a beautiful 1966 vibe to them...that psych surf guitar solo that I love so much when I want to take a break from all of the distorted guitar music I usually listen to. Its the sound of early burgeoning psych, and those songs weren't trying to be hits. They just make me smile, and take me to a time before I was born.

There was a period when I was small in the early to mid- 70s when adults around me would listen to music from that period to recapture the optimism and would evoke bright and imaginative colors in my developing mind...I dunno, they get a bad rap, but they paint beautiful pictures for me and always bring a smile to my face. Just like the lyrics to DCBA-25, the second verse of CBF just says it all! It makes me long for a period that I wasn't even around for.

 

Great guitar rock. It is easy to measure everything they did with "Forever Changes", it's such a timeless classic. Their debut lacks the refinement of it but is still good for what it is.

 

Not keen on this tune, also Manfred Mann's version.

 

pdenny, I wish I could answer your question but I haven't heard the German version of it to compare.

 

If you like "Emotions", you should try some of the links on the first page of their earlier stuff with organ which sound like they influenced "Emotions".

I agree that I like "Colored Balls Falling" also, but I graded lower partially because Johnny Echols considered it filler which shows that it could have been even better and not too much thought was put into it.

To tell you a secret (that everyone will read anyway!), "DCBA 25" is as good as anything from Love's first album. There is a certain Summer of Love spirit in 'DCBA 25' in the guitar tones of Kantner and Kaukonen that symbolize that magical summer-capturing it forever on record. A beautiful song.

 

Got to see Arthur in Boston a few years before he passed.To this day it stands as the greatest gig I ever witnessed.

 

Awesome first album. Now Sounds need to do a comp of the early stuff