One of the best West Coast
folk-rock/
psychedelic bands,
Love may have also been the first widely acclaimed cult/underground group. During their brief heyday -- lasting all of three albums -- they drew from
Byrds-ish
folk-rock,
Stones-ish
hard rock,
blues,
jazz,
flamenco, and even light
orchestral pop to create a heady stew of their own. They were also one of the first integrated
rock groups, led by genius singer/songwriter Arthur Lee, one of the most idiosyncratic and enigmatic talents of the 1960s.
Stars in their native Los Angeles and an early inspiration to
the Doors, they perversely refused to tour until well past their peak. This ensured their failure to land a hit single or album, though in truth the band's vision may have been too elusive to attract mass success anyway.
Love was formed by Lee in the mid-'60s in Los Angeles. Although only 20 at the time, Lee had already scuffled around the fringes of the
rock and
soul business for a couple of years. In addition to recording some flop singles with his own bands, he wrote and produced a single for Rosa Lee Brooks that
Jimi Hendrix played on as session guitarist. Originally calling his outfit the Grass Roots, Lee changed the name to
Love after another Los Angeles group called the Grass Roots began recording for Dunhill.
Love's repertoire would be largely penned by Lee, with a few contributions by guitarist Bryan MacLean.
Inspired by
British Invasion bands and local peers
the Byrds,
Love built up a strong following in hip L.A. clubs. Soon they were signed by Elektra, the noted
folk label that was just starting to get its feet wet in
rock (it had recorded material by early versions of
the Byrds and
the Lovin' Spoonful, and had just released the first LP by
Paul Butterfield). Their self-titled debut album (1966) introduced their marriage of
the Byrds and
the Stones on a set of mostly original material and contained a small hit, their
punk-ish adaptation of
Bacharach/David's "My Little Red Book."
Love briefly expanded to a seven-piece for their second album,
Da Capo (1967), which included their only Top 40 hit, the corkscrew-tempoed "Seven & Seven Is." The first side was psychedelia at its best, with an eclectic palette encompassing furious
jazz structures, gentle Spanish guitar interludes, and beautiful
baroque pop with dream-like images ("She Comes in Colors"). It was also psychedelia at its most reckless, with the whole of side two taken up by a meandering 19-minute jam. It was still a great step forward, but by mid-1967, the band was threatening to disintegrate due to drugs and general disorganization.
The group was in such sad shape, apparently, that Elektra planned to record their third album with sessionmen backing Lee (on his compositions) or MacLean (on his compositions). Work on two tracks actually commenced in this fashion, but the shocked band pulled themselves together to play their own material again, resulting in one of the finest
rock albums of all time, Forever Changes. An exceptionally strong set of material graced by captivating lyrics and glistening, unobtrusive horn and string arrangements, it was not a commercial hit in the U.S. (though it did pretty well in Britain) but remains an all-time favorite of many critics.
Just at the point where they seemed poised to assert themselves as a top band,
Love's first and best lineup was broken up in early 1968, at Lee's instigation. Several albums followed in the late '60s and early '70s that, though credited to
Love, are in reality Lee and backup musicians -- none of whom had skills on the level of Bryan MacLean or the other original
Love men. Lee largely forsook
folk-rock for
hard rock, with unimpressive results, even when he was able to get
Jimi Hendrix to play on one track. The problems ran deeper than unsympathetic accompaniment: Lee's songwriting muse had largely deserted him as well, and nothing on the post-Forever Changes albums competes with the early Elektra records.
Lee released a solo album in the early '70s, and then put another
Love together for one last effort in 1974, but basically
Love/Lee (the two had in effect become synonymous) ground to a halt in the mid-'70s. Lee has sporadically recorded and performed since then without coming up with anything resembling a unified full-length studio statement, though some scattered live and studio recordings have appeared, including a 1994 single on the tiny Distortions label. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
(
collapse)
