Love - Search and Destroy

And yeah, that to.

If you like that Alone Again Or you should buy Forever Changes (strange that you don't have it if you like the song so). Get the delux edition on CD which has some sweet outakes, particularly the different takes of the ambitious Your Mind And We Belong Together, complete with band banter:

"You're staying in the same key throughout the whole thing man. 'Cos I mean you're the one who says you can blow in the studio, nobody to bug you. You gotta blow man..."

Great stuff. Incidentally, track four on the album, The Daily Planet - is sensational. And Bummer in the Summer sounds more like rap than rock - this is the shit.

Da Capo, the second album has some beautiful stuff on it - my favourite being She Comes in Colors, which has some out-there flute on it. And the 18-minute sprawl of Revelation, which takes up the entire second side isn't as bad as everyone makes out - check the harpsichord out.

As for the first eponymous album, well, it's a little rough around the edges but there's some rocking stuff on there - You I'll Be Following is the standout track for me - a driving bass and class vocal harmonies with a bizarre lyrical narrative. It's garage rock through and through and they do that shit better than most I know of. As a footnote, the album is interesting because Arthur Lee, the band's driving force was supposedly pretty anti-drugs at the time - by the time of Forever Changes, he was apparently more like Timothy Leary, and the imagery and vibe is arguably informed (in this case positively) by his transition.

Four Sail, the band's (well, Lee's) fourth album, after Forever, is also worth checking. Lee is supposedly descending into drugs oblivion and the ego is landing (he sacked the rest of the band after Changes) but this is generally regarded as the last Love album worthy of the name, even if MacLean and the rest are missing. Here, the musicianship is first class, even if the songs lack that 'something' which makes Forever Changes such a classic of the genre. The guitar solo's are the most notable improvement, there's some blazing stuff here, probably making Four Sail Love's rockest album. Of course, it's still pretty tripped out and the experimental edge you get with Lee sometimes doesn't quite work set against the rock vibe, but overall, it hits the spot. Robert Montgomery is probably my favourite track off this one.

Forever Changes is kind of over-rated. It starts off great, but by the second side it's useless. After that, "Willow Willow" is the only really good song Arthur Lee came up with.

for Love-style folk rock, there's a volume of the Teenage No Count compilation series dedicated to that, but I haven't heard it.

A quick look at their distributor reveals it's not in print in the US, but Forced Exposure does have the European mono/stero pressing, so it's not terribly hard to find, I guess.

So, what about the post-Forever Changes albums?

I recently got curious and tracked down Four Sail, Out Here, False Start and Reel to Real. And, I have to say, I'm generally pretty pleased with them.

Four Sail is probably the strongest of the lot. Being the closest in chronology to Forever Changes, it lacks the string and horn arrangements that helped push the Forever Changes material over the top, but the song craft is still unarguably strong.

Out Here falls victim to the same fate as many double albums from the time: it could have its highlights extracted into a much better single album. But as is, it's certainly not a bad album.

False Start took me a few listens to really get into. It's probably the band's most rockin' album and the Jimi Hendrix feature is fun. It is a little too reliant on predictable chord changes and melodic ideas, but generally, I would say it's better than its reputation.

Reel to Real is probably the least interesting of all the band's albums. Though it is kind of fun to hear Love as a full-blown funk rock unit, the songs are really not all that memorable unfortunately. I picked up the recent CD reissue on the High Moon label and it has a lot of bonus material, most of it more interesting than anything on the proper album.

Anyone check out that previously unissued album, Black Beauty, comprised of material recorded in 1973? What about Arthur's 1972 "solo" album, Vindicator?

"Four Sail" and "Out Here" were the products of the same set of sessions (Imagine! A triple album's worth!), I believe there's an "Out There" which is the 'best of Out Here'.

Vindicator is rocky, like False Start, if I remember correctly.

Out There was a distillation of about 3lps which I think were on Blue Thumb. Came without the tracks with extensive solos.
I had it on cd, not sure if I still do.

Vindicator is rocky, like False Start, if I remember correctly.

Vindicator > False Start

Just looked it up, Eleven tracks from "Out Here", three from "False Start" - Which seeing as how Out Here is a double, matches what you said.

(LP has two tracks edited to two or three minute versions, CD has the full 12 or 11 min versions of them)

Three tracks. "Gather Round" is edited too.

Friend of mine used to have this, which had a lot of tracks from "Out Here" on Side 1, again some of them edited (probably the source for the "Out There" compilation). On Side 2 it had 4 live tracks, which were really good and well recorded:

http://www.trcjt.ca/william/private/LOVE/PSM%20018_.jpg

... live tracks from the Fillmore East, 1970.

Four Sail rules, I probably listen to that one far more than Da Capo, tbh.

He was really into puns old Arthur weren't he. Especially based on earlier standards like Love For Sale or You're Mine and We Belong Together and stuff.

Do wish there was some live material around from the first line ups. Johnny Echols talked about listening to various versions of Revelation in that Ugly Things interview from I think #37.

Bruno Ceriotti has had the book deal on a physical edition of his day by day book fall through so it is currently just available as an ebook but that apparently means it can contain the photos that the physical edition couldn't afford the rights to
http://brunoceriotti.weebly.com/love-e-book.html

False Start is the only post-'68 Love I care for. I guess no one will ever know what happened to Lee after Forever Changes. Anyway, I like Da Capo best.

False Start is great and there's decent stuff sprinkled throughout the rest (but a lot of not great things too).
and yeah, stinks that there isn't a tape of the band playing live in 66 or 67, seems like they must've been pretty amazing.

You're Mine and We Belong Together

Penny drops!

What happened? The Blues became regarded as the most important music form, so that's what everyone ramped up. Bacharach-style sophisti-pop was passe.

... and heroin.

I guess I hear some Bacharach in early Love. I still have to wonder how Arthur regarded his own music--what did he think he was doing with "Que Vida," which I (sometimes) think is the best thing he ever did? I honestly don't know what context he considered himself a part of...L.A. pop (a pretty big category)?

The most direct Bacharach borrowing in early Love was pretty heavily rearranged. My Little Red Book was taken from the Manfred Mann What's New Pussycat soundtrack song and rocked up.

Yeah, Burt didn't like it, that barbaric rock 'n' roll. Maybe some of the multi-part compositions on Forever Changes owe something to Bacharach.

didn't lee say the horns on forever changes were tijuana brass-inspired?
and yeah, i agree about que vida -- that song is pretty incredible.

Que Vida! def in my top 5 for them, fun to play too, sounds trickier than it really is

did they ever do any TV performances? (such an impossible band to search the internet for argh)

american bandstand baby! lip synching obviously
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftO9ClIhFAo

FOUR SAIL IS THE BEST LOVE ALBUM ILL FIGHT ANYONE ABOUT THIS

SHAKEY MY BRO YES THEY DID DO TV PERFORMANCES CHECK THIS OUT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z1BvhJHTZM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyq5yhYce3o

"Que Vida" is an amazing song. Easy to play, actually, once you master the chromatic fall, A-G sharp-G-F sharp. Famously quotes...Bacharach's "Lifetime of Loneliness," a hit for Jackie DeShannon. I'm also a big fan of "The Castle."

that whole first side of da capo is pretty astonishing, really -- i think that's where I'd point to if I wanted to convince anyone of Lee's genius (as much as I love Forever Changes). He just seems pretty far ahead of everyone there...

yup. too bad about side 2 lol

there are some good moments in "revelation" but yeah, it doesn't need to take up a whole side ...

Not seen that "Little red book" clip before, great.

More of that sort of thing?

Last gasp of greatness, before the bomb dropped. Man, does Arthur ever sound like Robin Gibb on this record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ888SlDFyk

The other Bandstand clip "Message To Pretty"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYNPWMku5KU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYLUsZh6m9A

Wow, I thought I'd seen every Arthur/Love clip but I've never seen that "Your Mind and We" clip before. Arthur struggling to ride a bike! Arthur's Jaguar XKE! Bryan McLean glugging beer! Johnny Echols eating ice cream! And, at long last, Arthur's pigeons!

More than Tijuana Brass inspired, the horns on FC ARE the Tijuana Brass aka the wrecking crew aren't they...?

Agree that side A of da capo edges forever changes slightly. My last attempt at making through 'revelation' was two weeks ago and I failed, it is just so terrible

i just skip it now

https://s16.postimg.org/x7lkw4m0l/13614026.jpg
think this is detroit 1967 ...

Yep! ('68 actually, at the Grande...with some band called "The Psychedelic Stooges" opening...)

http://love.torbenskott.dk/images/posters/19680531.jpg

d'oh

http://love.torbenskott.dk/images/posters/19680531.jpg

everybody's gotta live is a good 'un

aha! awesome that they played with the stooges -- i know iggy was into jim morrison, wonder if he was into arthur lee.

Somebody ON Mastermind on BBC2 right now doing Arthur Lee and Love think it'll be on in about 4 minutes time.

haha is it Tom D?

have to admit I'd never made the connection between Robin Gibb and Arthur Lee before but def hearing it on Forever Changes, that melodramatic quaver

(altho Robin's one of the greatest backing vocalists of all time so I give him the edge over Arthur - deeper catalog too)

Somebody ON Mastermind on BBC2 right now doing Arthur Lee and Love think it'll be on in about 4 minutes time.

― Stevolende, Friday, 9 September 2016 19:05 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha is it Tom D?

― LAST DAY to vote in ILM Lifetime heavy Rock & Metal Poll! (Cosmic Slop), Friday, 9 September 2016 19:10 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

LOL, missed this. Bet you the questions were piss easy though. I know someone who did Captain Beefheart on Mastermind, I will never let him forget the one question he got wrong.

I thought Arthur was mainly turning into Bryan Maclean vocally, oddly.

tom is that the celeb version with nigel from eastenders?

I think this is the full programme
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07vcdpz

somebody circulated an edited section with just the specific sequence on Facebook but I can't get my computer to give me a specific URL for the section.
You may need tos et up a proxy to watch this iplayer version.

Music questions were all easy, but didn't know what school he'd attended or what prison he, er, attended.

Does anyone else suspect that Beefheart's "Call On Me" is an Arthur Lee/Love homage (or at least of the first Love album)?

Certainly sounds a lot like the first Love album; the double-time sections are more like an Otis Redding rip than anything Arthur Lee attempted, though. Wonder if Van Vliet heard Love. I always hear the guitars in "The Castle" as similar to the acoustic guitar pieces on Decals, somehow, the same mood.

"Call On Me" is a really early Magic Band song, demoed in 1965, I don't know if they'd have heard Love then, they would surely have heard the Byrds though. Allegedly written by their original drummer too, Vic Mortensen, not Beefheart.

Zappa and Love definitely shared some bills early on, dunno about Beefheart, but it's not unlikely.
Found this interesting tidbit from about a decade ago:

Moris Tepper talks with Don every week and says this about him, “I don’t think I’ve had a conversation with him in 20 years that he hasn’t written at least one, if not 18, songs while we’re on the phone. He’s constantly going. He doesn’t care if you’re on the phone or not, he’s just going."

In an interview with Robert Baird in January's Stereophile magazine, Tepper continues, “Since he quit music, but more important the last four or five years, he’s really gotten sweet and nurturing, and supportive of my work."

The song Ricochet Man was co-written with Don for Tepper's album Moth to Mouth. Moris explains that it was originally an instrumental track in progress which Don heard, along with other material intended for the album.

Moris had recently met Arthur Lee, the Love guitarist, who had been released after three years in jail, "for shooting a gun off in his apartment and there wasn’t anybody there." Moris says that when he told Don this story, "He (Don) goes [in a hipster whisper], 'Man, Ricochet Man’."

Don is constantly suggesting to Moris that he use some of his material, "but I’m trying to make my own work, my own statements." But, with Ricochet Man, "it felt so appropriate, so right for the record. So we got one together.”

"Call on Me"'s '65 demo is pretty straight Byrds-style folk-rock.
Barney Hoskins' book on Arthur Lee suggests that Bryan MacLean had more to do with Love than Arthur would've liked to have let on. Dunno. I've heard the Bryan MacLean solo stuff collected on that album--he had something, for sure. Kinda like the efforts to debunk Beefheart.

"Come Softly to Me" definitely feels like a step towards Da Capo/Forever Changes.

"Message to Pretty" (maybe my favorite Arthur Lee song) does, too, I guess, although there is a variety of approaches in that first album which really bodes well for the kind of syntheses that happen in the next couple albums...

Errr, "Come Softly to Me"...

There's lots of interesting connection throughout the first few albums, though. The way the chord progression at the end of "Mushroom Clouds" is (I think) recycled in "Seven and Seven Is" to ramp up that song towards the A-bomb climax...

"Call on Me"'s '65 demo is pretty straight Byrds-style folk-rock.
Barney Hoskins' book on Arthur Lee suggests that Bryan MacLean had more to do with Love than Arthur would've liked to have let on. Dunno. I've heard the Bryan MacLean solo stuff collected on that album--he had something, for sure. Kinda like the efforts to debunk Beefheart.

I always saw parallels with Chilton/Bell tbh.

Makes sense.

Arthur Lee's been gone 10 years. Died the day after my mother passed in 2006. I wrote this obit for him for the alt-country mag.

can believe you guys arent into four sail smh

Have we ever discussed the '70s remix of Forever Changes? Really bizarre. It seems like it's attempting to make the acoustic guitars carry the songs in a way that...I don't know. Seems very '70s. I don't like it at all.

kurt, I love "Robert Montgomery"

Edd, great work on that obit. Thanks a lot for sharing it here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmTkBB5yxr0

Jay Donnellan aka Jay Lewis is a great guitarist, I also dig his post-Love band, Morning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKphtDVWo6Q

kurt, I love "Robert Montgomery"

About as much as Arthur loved "Eleanor Rigby"

Just that one phrase though

'Singing Cowboy' is my favourite from Four Sail, and one of my favourite Arthur Lee songs full stop!

whoa morning is tight thanks!

I never realized Love Story was on Vimeo. Had only seen the trailer before.

https://vimeo.com/80188255

Did anybody mention the John Einarson bio/compiling of Arthur's own memoir that got put out as Forever Changes? Pretty interesting stuff.

Also Michael Stuart Ware's memoir which I have as Behind The Scenes at The Pegasus Carousel, but may have a different name on the later update.

&I did mention Johnny Echols interview in Ugly Things #37 which is in depth and revelatory.