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

Okay, thanks for clearing that up.

 

Thank you thank you for singling out Mystic Eyes. Although I had been listening to pop radio compulsively since '55 (!!). I quit buying singles early in 58. It took
Mystic Eyes to start me buying again. Please somebody out there tell me it's possible to get a good mono of this now. For decades you could only get the
absolutely useless reprocessed stereo that eviscerates one of the greatest of all singles. Anybody .... is the mono available at this point? The last time I checked
was decades ago when Best of Van Morrison came out. I bought it JUST TO GET MYSTIC EYES and sonovabitch, the ONE track on the thing that was
reprocessed stereo was Mystic Eyes. I gave up. But that was long ago. Is it get-able now?? Anyone?

 

Not to get things derailed but I've got "Mystic Eyes" in mono on a UK "Angry Young Them" and on a reissue of that same title on Decca that came out several years. I've not purchased the Them CD box that was just released a few months back but thought I'd read or heard that it was mono there? I've also got it on a couple of vinyl comps but they both use the re-channeled stereo versions.

 

Yeah I probably didn't give the album enough of a chance, I just found 'Strong Commitment' so offputting! 'She Looks Good' kind of reminds me of 'Stephanie Says' by the The Velvet Underground. Having just listened to the 3 MacLean songs you have added to this redux, I would say 'Castle Waltz' is the strongest and the one I could most hear as a Love song.

 

It's on The Complete Them (1964-1967)

 

I was just reading an interview where Michael Stuart-Ware says that it is Echols who sang it. I never put much thought into it, just assumed that Arthur sang it.

 

This looks like it might be interesting, coming May or June 2016:

My Little Red Book: Love Day-By-Day 1945-1971 - by Bruno Ceriotti with forewords written by two members of the classic Love lineup, Johnny Echols and Michael Stuart-Ware.

Amazon UK

Amazon US

 

Now that is a must buy! Looking forward to reading Echol's take on things. Michael Stuart Ware's book, Pegasus Carousel, was a great read.

 

That's great to hear!. As I say, I gave up many years ago. I have my 1965 single still! So it's been more a matter of the record seeming to be lost, as the reprocessed stereo
so utterly misrepresents it. I DON'T like being the grumpy curmudgeon in the room grumbling "Well THAT'S because you HAVEN'T REALLY HEARD IT. (hurumph)"It's
great to hear (read) that somebody who wants to check it out, can. Yeah, it's just one of the HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS (remember we're spanning the seventy years of the post war era) of singles that are at the top of the heap (limited to 10 per year, that would be 700 records!) . But like all the other top-o-the-heap gems, it's one of a kind. Thanks again.

 

Maybe you are referring to something else, but I purchased something by that title (I believe. a two-cd set?) when I was still looking and I thought that
track, once again, sounded like crap. Of course I could be mistaken. I can't check as I tossed the whole thing. Can somebody chime in? Is
THE COMPLETE THEM Kevin refers to a source of the proper mono mix?

 

The studio version of Revelation is
said to be around 40 minutes , the
17 minute lp version was butchered
& Frankensteined together in the wrong order .

 

This is a three disc set that was just released last December.

 

Kevin55 is correct. That's the recent box that I was referencing. I'm pretty much only listening and buying vinyl these days but did hear this box on Spotify and "Mystic Eyes" is there in mono!

 

Long time lurker, first time poster. Great idea for a thread. As to the vocals on Revelation, in an interview in Ugly things magazine (#33) John Echols held that "I sang the first several verses, and Arthur did the middle parts, the infamous "primal screaming", which was never part of the song" and that "too bad no recording of the live version have turned up. I heard several back in the day, and they were mind-blowing".

 

Holy mackerel! That gig with Canned Heat and Hour Glass must have been epochal! (There are no live recordings that I know of from Hour Glass, though they were said to be terrific live. Their label didn't want to "over-expose" them. Go figure.)

 

I saw the Hourglass live in 1968 at "The Back Door" in Ventura, CA. They were awesome. Duane Allman did an incredible rendition of " Hey Joe" in the style of Jimi Hendrix. They turned up a year or two later as the Allman Bros. Band.

 

I saw Hourglass at the Fillmore in December 1967. Bottom of the bill with Buffalo Springfield and the Collectors. Sadly they left no impression at all.

 

Super! Then it's not the old set that disappointed. I'm so glad this thing is available! Thanks.

 

Thanks! glad to hear it.

 

While Forever Changes is one of my favorite albums, Da Capo has never made the same impression on me. I enjoy side one, Orange Skies in particular is amazing, but side two is rather lacking, The songs on side one have some nice melodies, but they don't get stuck in my head or reach into my soul like Forever Changes does.

I don't think this is because the songs are bad, but rather because they lack the focus of Forever Changes. I could put on side one and enjoy it, but never have the aching desire to play it. Maybe if anything the songs are a bit precious, they lack the darkness of Forever Changes and they don't speak to the dark side of my brain.

I was born long after the summer of love and in another country, so some of the finer points of the LA scene in the 60's are unknown to me. I've only heard a handful of songs by "The Birds" and don't know many other LA bands from that era. I have read the book's on Love and understand they were still the biggest band in LA when this album was released, but how this album reflects their live sound or impact on the LA scene I can't really ascertain. Sure they were famous for being able to jam, but that doesn't translate well to record. It seems the band, Arthur included, still had a long way to come.

 

Forever Changes attracts a different kind of music fan than that of Da Capo. I remember when Forever Changes first came out. Many of the earlier fans didn't get into it at first. Love had a reputation of being a loud raucous rock band. Forever Changes was very eclectic and more pop driven. It took me a while for that record to grow on me, but it was very much a departure from what Love had been know for.

Unfortunately, that was "Custer's Last Stand" for the original Love lineup. Love didn't tour to support the record so it went underground for many years. Fortunately, it appealed to a new generation of fans in later years but it took a while.

 

I'll have to look into the Them. I only have the 2 big hits.

'She Comes in Colors' was the single off "Da Capo" once it was released...

 

I did a little research over the weekend but haven't come up with anything definitive. I'll check this week to try to figure this out. Maybe it is Johnny who sings "Revelation" because we don't exactly know his voice back then, but I'm not totally convinced it not Arthur.

 

Arthur redid this later. I wanna say it's on "Black Beauty." Apologies if this has been pointed out later in the thread....

 

Just to wrap up the Da Capo era, before we move to the centerpiece of Love's catalog, here's some more info about their time live in 1966.


2/25- Whiskey a Go-Go (West Hollywood, CA)

4/8- Fillmore Auditorium (San Francisco, CA)
4/9- Fillmore Auditorium (San Francisco, CA)
4/24- Cheetah (Santa Monica, CA)

5/12- Brave New World (Hollywood, CA)
5/13- Brave New World (Hollywood, CA)
5/14- Brave New World (Hollywood, CA)
5/20- Avalon Ballroom (San Francisco, CA)
5/21- Avalon Ballroom (San Francisco, CA)
5/22- Avalon Ballroom (San Francisco, CA)
5/28- Whiskey a Go-Go (West Hollywood, CA)
5/29- Whiskey a Go-Go (West Hollywood, CA)
5/30- Whiskey a Go-Go (West Hollywood, CA)

6/1- Whiskey a Go-Go (West Hollywood, CA)
6/25- Beach Boys Spectacular- Hollywood Bowl (Hollywood, CA)

7/3- Fillmore Auditorium (San Francisco, CA)
7/5- Cheetah (Venice, CA)
7/6- Cheetah (Venice, CA)
7/7- Cheetah (Venice, CA)
7/15- Avalon Ballroom (San Francisco, CA)
7/16- Avalon Ballroom (San Francisco, CA)
7/22- Roll Arena (San Leandro, CA)

8/5- Fillmore Auditorium (San Francisco, CA)
8/6- Fillmore Auditorium (San Francisco, CA)
8/18- Marigold Ballroom (Fresno, CA)
8/21- Whiskey a Go-Go (West Hollywood, CA)
8/27- Longshoresman Hall (San Fransisco, CA)

9/16- Pioneer Ballroom (Suisun City, CA)
9/17- Pioneer Ballroom (Suisun City, CA)

10-19 through 10-30 (no show 10-22) at Whiskey a Go-Go (West Hollywood, CA)
(Tjay Cantrelli and Michael Stuart’s debut, rave reviews)

11/23- San Jose Civic Auditorium (San Jose, CA)

12/2- Fillmore Auditorium (San Francisco, CA)
12/3- Fillmore Auditorium (San Francisco, CA)
12/4- Fillmore Auditorium (San Francisco, CA)
12/9- Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (Santa Monica, CA)
12/23- Pasadena Civic Auditorium (Pasadena, CA)
___________________________
After the December Fillmore dates, both drummer/keyboardist Snoopy Pfisterer and flautist/sax man Tjay Cantrelli are let go by Love for economic and chemistry reasons. Ronnie Haran their manager says that Cantrelli was clashing with the band, was significantly older, didn’t fit in, and was into harder drugs, so he was released. Arthur did appreciate his services later stating that he remembers his time with him fondly.

Songs from the late-1966 setlist according to various sources

My Little Red Book
My Flash on You
Stephanie Knows Who
Orange Skies
7 and 7 Is
She Comes in Colors (Arthur swore the Stones came to a Love show and stole the lyrics for “She’s a Rainbow”.)
Revelation (supposedly the closer; in early 1966 it was the opener as “Smokestack Lightning” in a medley with “Gloria”-eventually it morphed into “Revelation” after being named “John Lee Hooker”. Sometimes it wasn’t called a title by the band when introduced.

POSSIBLY PLAYED:
Hey Joe
You I’ll Be Following
Wooly Bully (appeared in a studio rendition during “Forever Changes”-it probably was still in their live show.)


Probably "Revelation" live 1966 with Tjay and Michael, Johnny on vocals

Also late 1966, Tjay is cut off on right