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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by WilliamWes, Mar 11, 2016.

  1. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Isn't that actually Johnny Echols on lead vocals on "Revelation"?
     
  2. Revolver

    Revolver Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I always thought it was Arthur...I am surprised that he would have such a big part of a Love album without much of his input.
     
  3. find this if you can it's great awesome sound most of the songs from the first album with no vocals tracking session for 7&7 is and some other outtakes
     
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  4. 30A

    30A Forum Resident

    Location:
    DFW, TX
    Can anyone confirm whether or not the original U.S. and Canada 45 rpm singles of "She Comes In Colors" are edited or perhaps a different version from what is on the Da Capo lp? The U.S./Canada singles list the time as 2:06 versus the lp time of 2:43. Or, could this just a case of the time printed on these singles being inaccurate. I know that the U.K. single that was supposedly released in February 1967 list the time as being 2:43 which matches the lp.

    Nevermind, I just found a YouTube video with the 45 rpm version. The single appears to have section of the flute solo cut out starting at about the 1 minute mark. Ironically, this video was of the U.K. single. Thus, the U.K. single has the wrong time printed.
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2016
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  5. michael landes

    michael landes Forum Resident

    I love the record. But I totally disagree with it sitting comfortably into a category/genre like "punk", anymore than
    I think You Really Got Me was the first "metal" record. Both of these records are one-offs. they stood apart at the time, and they STILL stand alone. And that's nice. I don't think of either one as punk or metal or garage or anything else. Simply two of my very favorite singles of the era. I know it's tempting to lump great one-offs
    like Gloria (Them please!!!! ONLY Them), Mystic Eyes, We Love You, You're Gonna Miss Me, 96 tears and Just Like Me together and call them "garage" but I don't really think it's productive. What makes these records special is that each is in some way or other unique. when you focus on what they have IN COMMON you are ignoring precisely the qualities that makes them special. Not productive. Just my opinion.
     
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  6. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Obvious things it took me a long time to realise: The B-side 'No.14''s title is answer to the sum on the A-side.
     
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  7. Spanish Prisoner

    Spanish Prisoner Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central New Jersey
    I just picked this up recently for 10 bucks. I've only listened to it once so far, but the sound quality and packaging are quite nice.
     
  8. Alexlotl

    Alexlotl Forum Resident

    Location:
    York, UK
    Glad to see it's not just me who never got on with Revelation. I have a very low tolerance for "sounds-like-sex" jams; anything less oblique than Lovely Rita just makes me think of the breakdown at the end of Big Shot by The Bonzo Dog Band, with the hilarious simulated-sex saxophone honking. HONK! HONK HONK HONK HONK!

    The first side of Da Capo is excellent, though - not the equal of Forever Changes, but Seven and Seven Is is probably their single most revolutionary track, for my money.
     
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  9. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    I realized it now! :laugh:
    Typical Arthur Lee.
     
  10. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    Glad you mentioned it, and I do have that CD. It has a lot of the instrumental versions from the debut and a bit from "Da Capo" and "Forever Changes" along with their '68 single. I'll post the tracklist for "The Last Wall of the Castle" after that final single. Oh, speaking of "No. 14", I did a quick writeup for it and might as well add it now.

    Single:
    7 and 7 Is (A+)

    No. 14 (B-)

    A filler song that didn’t make an album and was written in-studio to be a B-side, this folky sing-along has some enjoyable energy, but isn’t very interesting. The texture is different here, with what sounds like a recorder, and such a meaty bass sound from Forssi, it almost sounds like brass. Lee sounds half-serious, and half-Roger McGuinn; nasally singing of Virginia (could be the state or a woman), but he’s in a fun mood here.
     
  11. trebori

    trebori Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    I totally agree with you. They all are one-offs and not necessarily progenitors of what came subsequently. I bought all of these singles at the time and marveled at how weird, different and cool they were. (Hey I was 14 or so, at the time.) And I'm glad to see you included Mystic Eyes by Them, a profoundly weird record that actually made the top 40 in 1965! But to bring it back to Love, 7 And 7 Is fits perfectly in the category. It's also amazing that it reached the top 40 in its day. It could be at the top of the heap IMHO.
     
  12. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Let's not forget Arthur's 1965 songwriting effort 'My Diary', a 1965 single by Rosa Lee Brooks featuring a young Jimi Hendrix on guitar. It's also about girlfriend Anita: the lyrics go on about how Arthur and Anita share birthday - i.e. seven and seven (is).
     
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  13. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    Yes, great points. After I wrote that punk comment, if you see in the "Da Capo" review, I indicated that it probably didn't directly effect punk to be clear that it was 'proto' punk and not the firestarter for the movement in the 70's.

    And yes, the term 'garage rock' can be looked at as cheapening what's really there. There were a lot of distinguishable things between the best garage bands, but there were many 2nd-tier ones that watered down the overall quality, so I think certain bands get screwed within that context.
     
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  14. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    Great points DTK.
     
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  15. richierichie

    richierichie My glass is always full.

    I check into this site on a regular basis but just for 5-10 minutes a time and I just came across your thread William. From my avatar you can probably guess I'm a fan of Arthur Lee/Love. Once again I can only spend too few minutes here but I will definitely be spending a bit of time here reading the 5+ pages and hopefully giving some input.

    Long live Love!
     
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  16. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    The Da Capo line up is imo the most fascinating Love era - esp so because it was so short lived, and produced just one side of the most mystiqueful transcendent brilliance that left all of their peers at the time trailing in the dirt, and one side of possibly the most risibly underwhelming jamming seriously committed to vinyl by a major label rock act of the time. A duality of qualitatively good/bad to match the morally good/bad nature of the bands material and outlook. I doubt the line up was together more than 6 months, but for a brief moment they were a formidable septet, with the mysterious exotically named Tjay Cantrelli joining their ranks for this one outing only, the Sancho Panza like Snoopy Pfisterer raising his game (no doubt to the bemused resentment of several hipper members of the band) to become a previously unsuspected beacon of baroque wizardry: the colouring provided by these two auxiliaries contributions is a big part of what makes this LP so singular in the Love canon (and the entire 60s rock canon).
     
  17. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Would now be an appropriate time to drop this non recorded by Love Arthur Lee original in?

     
  18. jimtek

    jimtek Forum Resident

    Can't wait for the next Albums history of Love.
     
  19. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Cool, never heard the original.
    Arthur did record it with Baby Lemonade in the 90s.

     
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  20. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    Echols claimed he sang it when they performed it live for the first 1o minutes of the song, but on record it's Arthur.
     
  21. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    Well, this album really is a mystery to people and here are some quotes from the band about "Revelation" (rock's first side-long album track) since it's this that throws the album off track:

    Bryan MacLean: There were a few of my songs that Arthur told me he planned to use and later rejected.

    Johnny Echols: What Paul Rothchild did was record 45 minutes of this jam, but instead of leaving it alone and cutting the end off, he hacked the song up into this mishmash, so you can’t get the feeling for what we were trying to do. We had the numbers but that was one of the songs that got Jac into us in the first place. It should have been on the first album.

    Snoopy Pfisterer: I actually think “Revelation” was a piece of sh--. It was a waste of a side of an album.

    Arthur Lee: But still, to me, it was the worst we ever played it.
    ______________________________________________________________
    With those quotes in place, let's look to see if Bryan had enough good material to fill out the 2nd side-or if they had used an edit of "Revelation" or the B-side "No. Fourteen"-they'd still need 2 or 3 songs from Bryan.

    These were all recorded or written in 1966 by MacLean released off his later solo albums "ifyoubelievein" and "Candy's Waltz"...

    FRESH HOPE (B-)
    A reflective lyric about love finding us, and disagreements from those around who may resist your relationship. “For that which is true shall last forever, for that is love shall leave us never” is the way he feels about his true love through old fashioned poetic grammar. A soaring chorus and a swift, intense strumming put some intensity and passion in this performance. The song also talks of hope for society; “in time, perhaps a change of human nature, we’ll live to see”.

    KATHLEEN (B)
    This folky relationship song contains much of the beauty that seeps out of his songs for Love. It doesn’t have the smoothest Bryan vocal, but the slight shake in his longer operatic-styled notes drenched in emotion. Good chord changes again. The melody here easily matches that of “Softly to Me”, but it’s in a quiet, slower romantic mood on this track.

    STRONG COMMITMENT (D)
    Watch out for the anti-woman waltz taken here, borderline politically incorrect, “toss these women like worn out shoes, I’d be concerned if love was all I had to lose.” This rant goes 5 minutes in purposely poorly pitched, off-kilter vocals until you probably decide to not re-hear it. But by far the angriest Bryan ever got on any song, the polar opposite of “Orange Skies”.

    TIRED OF SITTING (C+)
    A double tracked vocal here and some aggressive acoustic work in a blues tone, this song also has a bit of a soaring chorus. I could picture Arthur and Bryan on co-lead during the chorus. This is a grower despite it feeling kind of average- it does sink in your head. A bluesy lyric matches the music: showing Bryan was more than just cotton candy.

    BLUES SINGER (C+)
    With a lyric in the vein of “Mr. Tambourine Man”, this one man rave up is an odd piece for Bryan, again bluesy, but with wild, uncontrolled vocals and a tossed off feel. The melody is alright, but it lacks structure and a sense of wholeness. The early funk feel in the acoustic strums keep it upbeat. Arthur might have sung this one well.

    PEOPLE (B-)
    Another double tracked vocal meets us with a tale about learning about how to deal with people in society, the good and the bad. ‘Assimilate yourself’ is the message. It has fine tempo changes; a slow dragging waltz on the verses contrasting with a speedier chorus. This is another grower, gradually becoming catchy on repeated listens. “If I want to hang around people, people are all around”-a bit of self-convincing it’s worth being outside; sounds like a Lee philosophy.

    SHE LOOKS GOOD (A-)
    If you don’t give a hoot about Bryan and just like his stuff with Love, this is THE song to check out-come this way through a beautiful doorway into his career and incredibly melodic gifts shall await. This melody crushes everything on the debut, the drama matches the “Forever Changes” material, the chord changes match “Alone Again Or”, and it’s a horror to not have this in a Love version. It doesn’t even matter because this joy glides along the sunny skies, creates a gorgeous day, lights up lovers, but still its viewed as just beyond reach- “but isn’t she lovely, and you know she is un-attain-able”. If you have a chance take a listen to this deep 3-minute-lovely with Bryan singing at his best. It would be an "A" if Love sprinkled their magic into it.

    From the Bryan MacLean“Candy’s Waltz” album”

    CASTLE WALTZ (B-)
    Bryan seems to like waltz tempos and they would have worked great within the Love band context. This song has a nice medieval folk feel to it and talks of a sweet relationship. Bryan’s vocal is great and feels sure of himself; moreso here than on some of the other tracks. A good companion piece for “The Castle”; a song that Bryan played the folk guitar parts for.

    I CAN’T REMEMBER (B)
    A bright beautiful melody, sung in a vibrant MacLean voice, this song leads off the “Candy’s Waltz” album- also recorded in 1966 like “Castle Waltz”. One thing that again stands out are the tempo changes which always put an extra layer into his compositions. The crystalline acoustic guitar work shines as does his overall demeanor; “I can’t remember loving you much more”. Still, certain moments rely on a darker melody when he feels more desperate for his love.
    __________________________
    ORANGE SKIES (demo)
    Much quieter with some tempo change issues but gee-whiz when you hear those chord changes, they astound. Just to hear another version of this great piece sung by Bryan the original composer alone is enjoyable. There’s no “fire, fire” at the end. Bryan does drag out some of the notes which weakens it ever so slightly bringing it to a semi-crawl at points.

    OLD MAN (demo)
    Still as pretty as it is on “Forever Changes”.
     
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  22. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    I used to have 'Ifyoubeleivein' on CD, but I could never get into it: unfortunately I think it was largely this amelodic mean spirited piece of cr*p that was responsible for putting me off Bryan's solo work. Your description sums it up perfectly. :cry:
     
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  23. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    Just for fun here's how I setup a reconstituted "Da Capo":

    DA CAPO (more heavily featuring Bryan MacLean)
    SIDE 1
    1. Stephanie Knows Who
    2. Orange Skies
    3. Que Vida!
    4. 7 and 7 Is
    5. The Castle
    6. She Comes in Colors


    SIDE 2
    7. Castle Waltz
    8. No. Fourteen
    9. Kathleen
    10. She Looks Good
    11. Revelation (5 minute edit)

    She Looks Good
     
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  24. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    Ahh crap. It's so anti-Bryan, it makes me think someone peer pressured him into writing it! That's a bummer in the summer that it wrecked his other songs. I just posted "She Looks Good"-if I can get one person to like that song, I'll be a happy fan. I'm hinting! Nah, it's great you gave Bryan a shot in the first place. I think he's earned a peek into his solo stuff considering his great work with Love.

    I wonder what his mother thought of "Strong Commitment" when she 'discovered' the tapes. Then again, Bryan did feel bad that he had never married, so the song couldn't be more false in his case.
     
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  25. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York
    The Bryan MacLean demo version of "Orange Skies" recorded 1966 (well one of two demos done)
     
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