Love

Ξεκινάμε. Τι ξεκινάμε θα πείτε ε? Τι άλλο από την παρουσίασης αυτής της μουσικής πανδαισίας που μας πρόσφερε απλόχερα αυτή η τεράστια κατά την άποψή μου μπάντα.
Δεν ξέρω πως και πότε ήρθατε σε επαφή με τους Love αλλά εγώ από ότι θυμάμαι ως μαθητής στο σχολείο, έπεσε στα χέρια μου ένα δίσκος των U.F.O. Μην απορείτε διότι τότε ακούγαμε τα πάντα. Εκεί λοιπόν ακούγοντας την διασκευή του Alone Again πρόσεξα ότι κάτι δεν πήγαινε καλά αφού επρόκειτο για άλλα ονόματα από αυτά του γκρουπ ως συνθέτες. Προφανώς από όλο το δίσκο αυτό ξεχώρισα και βέβαια άρχισα να ψάχνω να ακούσω αυτό το κομμάτι στην πρώτη του εκτέλεση από κάποιους Love. Ως εκ θαύματος ο δίσκος (για το Forever Changes βέβαια ο λόγος) κυκλοφορούσε παντού και βέβαια αγοράστηκε. Η συνέχεια είναι γνωστή από την άποψη ότι όποιος ήρθε σε επαφή με τους Love, του μετέδωσαν αυτό που αναφέρει το όνομα του γκρουπ για το συγκρότημα…δηλαδή Love.
Έτυχε και έπεσα στην περίοδο των ανατυπώσεων με αποτέλεσμα να πετύχω όλα τα βινύλια που κυκλοφόρησαν τότε. Τα άκουγα μέρα νύχτα και δεν χόρταινα με τίποτα. Τα «έλιωσα» προσπαθώντας να καταλάβω στίχους, να ακούσω κάθε σημείο των τραγουδιών τους χιλιάδες φορές.
Από τότε η μουσική τους με συντροφεύει παντού και πάντα. Πέρασαν δηλαδή από τότε σχεδόν 28 χρόνια. Δεν θυμάμαι κασέτα, cd ή ότι άλλο φαντάζεστε που να μην υπάρχει κομμάτι τους και μην μου πείτε άδικα.
Είναι ανθρωπίνως αδύνατον να ασχολείσαι με την μουσική και να μην σου αρέσουν οι Love.
Πληροφορίες για το γκρουπ πλέον στο νετ υπάρχουν άπειρες, συνεπώς δεν έχει νόημα να αναφέρω τίποτα (εκτός των όσων έχει το κλασικό βιβλίο), εξάλλου είναι τόσο μα τόσο γνωστοί. Θα θυμίσω μόνο ότι ο Arthur Lee λίγα χρόνια πριν πεθάνει κατέληξε στην φυλακή, σχεδόν σαν τρομοκράτης αφού βρέθηκαν στην κατοχή του όπλα. Η Αμερική ένοιωσε απειλή από τον Αρθουρό και τον φυλάκισε ή πήρε την εκδίκησή της?
Θα τελειώσω λέγοντας πως δεν ξέρω αν σωστά οι Love ανήκουν στα ψυχεδελικά συγκροτήματα καθώς η μουσική τους δεν εντάσσετε σε κάποιο μουσικό είδος εύκολα. Ναι συμφωνώ ευτυχώς έπαιξαν και ψυχεδέλεια, αλλά και όχι μόνο.
Είναι σχεδόν βέβαιο ότι οι παλαιότεροι θα έχετε τα άπαντα από Love, όμως υπάρχουν οι νεώτεροι που οφείλουμε να σεβόμαστε αλλά και που είμαστε υποχρεωμένοι να τους μαθαίνουμε πράγματα. Να γινόμαστε κοινωνοί της μουσικής που λατρεύουμε αλλά και που μας μεγάλωσε. Εμένα οι Love μουσικά με μεγάλωσαν, με συντρόφευσαν παντού και πάντα φέρνοντας στο νου μου θύμισες του παρελθόντος. Ένα ταπεινό ευχαριστώ, σε αυτή την τεράστια μπάντα.

Personnel:
ARTHUR LEE vcls, gtr A B C D E F G
JOHN ECHOLS gtr A B C D
KEN FORSSI bs A B C D
BRYAN MACLEAN gtr, vcls A B C D
ALBAN 'SNOOPY' PFISTERER keyb'ds, drms B C
DON CONKA drms A
MICHAEL STUART drms C D
TJAY CANTRELLI horns C
JAY DONNELLAN ld gtr E F
FRANK FAYAD bs E F G
GEORGE SURANOVICH drms E F G
DRACHEN THEAKER drms E
GARY ROWLES F G
NOONEY RICKET vcls, gtr G

ALBUMS:
1(B) LOVE (Elektra EKS 74001) 1966 57
2(C) DA CAPO (Elektra EKS 74005) 1967 80
3(D) FOREVER CHANGES (Elektra EKS 74013) 1967 154
4(E) FOUR SAIL (Elektra EKS 74049) 1969 102
5(F) OUT HERE (dbl) (Blue Thumb BTS 9000) 1969 176
6(-) REVISITED (Elektra 74058) 1970 142
7(G) FALSE START (Blue Thumb BTS 8822) 1970 184
8(-) REEL TO REEL (RSO SO 4804) 1975 -
9(-) BEST OF ... (Rhino RNLP 800) 1980
10(-) LOVE LIVE (pic disc) (Rhino RNDF 251) 1981
11(-) STUDIO/LIVE (MCA 27025) 1982
12(-) GOLDEN ARCHIVE (BEST OF) (Rhino RNLP 70175) 1986
NB: (2) and (3) issued in France in 1968 (Vogue/Elektra CLVLXEK 249 and CLVLXEK 218 respectively). (3) reissued on CD (Elektra/Rhino 8122-73537-2) 2001. The Blue Thumb recordings were released on Harvest in the UK. (10) was also released on Line (625047/5153) in Germany. Two UK-only releases were Love Masters (Elektra K 32002) 1973 and Out There (Chiswick WIKA 69) 1988. Most of their albums are now available on CD. (1) was reissued on Edsel (ED 218). Arthur Lee also had a couple of solo LP's:- Vindicator (A & M SP 4356) 1972 and Arthur Lee (Rhino RNLP 020) 1981 released on (Beggars Banquet BEGA 26) in the UK, which aren't particularly relevant to this book. Recent CD issues are: Love Comes In Colours (Raven) 1993, a 24-track CD compilation with three non-LP tracks and Love Story: 1966-1972 (Rhino R2 73500) 1995, a 2-CD set with 44 tracks and many non-album sides. It includes most of their early work, all of Forever Changes, a selection of their 'A' and 'B' sides and some of their best post-1967 material. Also of interest is Oncemoreagain a live CD recorded in London in 1992 and 1994 and Eva's Black Beauty & Rarities CD, which compiles Arthur's pre-Love recordings, together with the "Black Beauty" LP and a couple of more recent unreleased cuts.

EPs:
1 My Little Red Book/Message To Pretty/Hey Joe/Emotions (Vogue INT 18072) 1967
2 7 And 7 Is/No. Fourteen/And More/You'll Be Following (Vogue INT 18095) 1967
3 Feathered Fish/Gethsemene/It's The Marlin, Baby (PS) (LSD 1) 1995
NB: (1) and (2) French releases with picture sleeves.
45s:
1 My Little Red Book/Message To Pretty (Elektra EK 45603) 1966 52
2 7 And 7 Is/No. Fourteen (Elektra EK 45605) 1967 33
3 Stephanie Knows Who/Orange Skies (Elektra EK 45608) 1967 -
4 She Comes In Colours/Orange Skies (Elektra EK 45608) 1967 -
5 Que Vida!/Hey Joe (Elektra EK 45613) 1967 -
6 Alone Again Or/A House Is Not A Motel (Elektra EK 45629) 1968 99
7 Your Mind And We Belong Together/Laughing Stock (Elektra EK 45633) 1968 -
8 Alone Again Or/Good Times (Elektra EK 45700) 1970 -
9 Alone Again Or/My Little Red Book (Spun Gold Series) (Elektra EK 45056) 197? -
10 I'll Pray For You/Stand Out (Blue Thumb 106) 1970 -
11 Keep On Shining/The Everlasting First (Blue Thumb 7116) 1970 -
12 Time Is Like A River/ Time Is Like A River (promo only) (RSO SO 502) 1974 -
13 Time Is Like A River/With A Little Energy (RSO SO 502) 1974 -
14 You Said You Would/You Said You Would (promo only) (RSO SO 506) 1975 -
15 You Said You Would/Good Old Fashioned Dream (RSO SO 506) 1975 -
16 Girl On Fire/Midnight Sun (PS) (Distortions DR-1017) 1994 -
NB: (16) The 'A' side is a newly recorded track, the flip is from the much talked about Arthur Lee and Jimi Hendrix sessions from 1970. There's also a French picture sleeve 45: Stand Out / Listen To My Song (Blue Thumb 2C006-91524) 1970.

45s: Related:
1 The Ninth Wave/Rumble-Still-Skins (Capitol 4980) 1963
2 Luci Baines/Soul Food (Selma 2001) 1964
3 House Of The Rising Sun/House Of The Rising Sun (instr) (Blue Star 1000) 196?
4 It's The Marlin, Baby/House Of The Rising Sun (LSD 1001) 1964
5 Everybody's Gotta Live/Love Jumped Through My Window (A & M 1361) 1972
6 Sad Song/You Want Change For Your Re-run (promo only) (A & M 1381) 1972
NB: (1) An instrumental 45 by Arthur Lee and The Lags. Both were Arthur Lee compositions. (2) by American Four. (4) This is the interesting one. The 'A' side credits the vocals to Arthur Lee and John Echols and this acid folk adventure extols the virtues of 'The Marlin', an obscure sixties dance. This seems to have been a very early American Four release or possibly even earlier, released on a Texas label, sometime later when Love were famous. It can also be heard on Texas Psychedelia From The Sixties. The fIip side was credited to an outfit called The Hurricanes who also released it on another label. There is some speculation that they may also have been Love incognito. (5) and (6) Arthur Lee solo releases.

EP: Arthur Lee solo:
1 I Do Wonder/Just Us/Do You Want To Know A Secret?/Happy You (PS) (Da Capo CAP 1001) 1977 UK

Born in Memphis, Arthur Lee later moved to Los Angeles where he first saw The Byrds. The folk rock act represented a break with the usual rhythm and blues format previously played at the clubs, and had an enormous influence upon him. Lee had formed and disbanded a number of groups since moving to L.A., including The VIP's and Arthur Lee and the Lags. After hearing The Byrds he formed The Grassroots which included former Byrds roadie, Maclean; Forssi (earlier with The Sufaris) and Memphis-born Echols. They began to play around the L.A. clubs, but Lee discovered that another band had got first rights to their name and it was changed to Love.
Love made their debut at the Brave New World in Spring 1965 and by the early Summer of that year, Jac Holzman (head of Elektra records) discovered them playing at the Hollywood club, Bido Lito's. Elektra were looking for one of the new folk rock acts, and eventually signed them up. They quickly became a cult attraction and by 1966 had a residency at Bido Lito's.
Their debut album Love was impressive, containing the drug-orientated Signed D.C., Hey Joe and My Little Red Book. Signed D.C. was dedicated to Don Conka, who would have been in the band but for his drug problem (ironically with most people presuming him dead he did turn up in a late eighties reformation line-up). The list of bands who subsequently recorded Signed D.C. included December's Children, Rising Storm, Axis Brotherhood, Jeff Dahl Group, Fallen Angels, Sidewinders and Dead Moon. Another of its finer moments was Softly To Me, a fine track with haunting vocals and clashing guitars, released briefly as a single.
Before the release of their follow-up LP Da Capo, Lee bought in Michael Stuart (formally with L.A. band The Sons Of Adam) on drums and Tjay Cantrelli on horns. 'Snoopy' Pfisterer was transferred from drums to keyboards. This album contained their second hit single 7and 7 Is, The Castle and Stephanie Knows Who. Whilst Orange Skies would set the style for their following album, the whole of Side Two was taken up by the highly ambitious but only partially successful twenty-minutes long Revelation. 7 and 7 Is was perhaps their most influential track. It was later covered by Alice Cooper, Billy Bragg, Marshmallow Overcoat, Sidewinders, Fuzztones, Spiral Jetty, Barracudas and The Blues Inc. among others.
Pfisterer and Cantrelli had both departed before the band released the masterful Forever Changes as a five-piece. Both Bob Harris and Penny Valentine chose this as their favourite album of all time in Paul Gambaccini's book "Critics Choice: Top 200 Albums". Almost every track was a classic and Alone Again Or and Andmoreagain were further U.S. hit singles. Alone Again Or was later covered by The Damned and UFO. Many of the other songs flowed gently with muted guitar leads, soothing brass, sweeping strings and often nihilistic lyrics. Lee chose haunting surrealistic lyrics, often making play on words. The drug influence which helped inspire this album was also to be the group's undoing. They scarcely left their former horror movie set/house near Hollywood, and when they did record another album it was too awful to release.


Lee broke the band up and formed a new one comprising Frank Fayad (bs), George Suranovitch (drms), and Jay Donnellan (gtr) (all from Nooney Rickett), although additional musicians were used on recordings. Four Sail was their last album for Elektra and subsequent albums were comparatively disappointing. They managed a tour of England in 1970, but after the failure of False Start, Lee split the group again and worked on his solo album. Later, he would try unsuccessfully to form another version of Love. Somehow Arthur Lee got mixed up with Robert Stigwood and the result was Reel To Reel, a disco-influenced album with a female backing group, The Blackberries and a horn section on many tracks. Best avoided!
It is unlikely, however, that the mellow blend of their first three albums will ever be repeated and Love are best left alone to be remembered as one of the very best of the L.A. rock bands. Material from their early years is thoughtfully compiled on Rhino's Best of Love (RNLP 800), which was repackaged in 1987. Love Live (Rhino RNDF 251) (1982) and (Line LLP 5152 AP) 1983 is a recording of a reunion concert at the Whisky A Go Go in 1978. It includes gorgeous versions of Orange Skies and Old Man but the rest is pretty inept.
Several former Love members went on to play with other groups: Tjay Cantrelli joined Geronimo Black, Jay Donnellan (aka Jay Lewis) formed Morning with Jim Hobson, Gary Rowles formed Cottonwood and joined Richard Torrance's Eureka.
Live/Studio (MCA 27025) 1982 consisted of previously unreleased material live from the Fillmore East in 1970 and eight remastered tracks from the Out Here album. The live side is an energetic performance by line-up G and notable for its inclusion of the otherwise unavailable Product Of The Times. Out There (Big Beat WIKA 69) 1988 includes the best of Love's Out Here and False Start albums.
In 1987 Lee reformed the band as a four piece, backed by Berton Averre (ex-The Knack) (lead gtr), Sherwood Akuna (bs) and Joe Blocker (drms), as part of the 'Psychedelic Summer of Love' package. Their short half hour sets featured mostly material from their Elektra period:- 7 And 7 Is, My Little Red Book and Andmoreagain.
In 1992 and 1994 Lee again played to packed audiences, in one-off London gigs, which were captured for posterity on the Oncemoreagain CD. In particular the 1992 set is memorable for the admirable backing by The High Llamas, who provided lush orchestral backing on tracks taken from the first three Love albums. Arthur Lee subsequently stole the show at Creation records 10th anniversary bash at the Royal Albert Hall.
George Suranovich died of a heart attack in 1990.
Bryan MacLean's profile has been revived of late with Sundazed's 1997 LP and CD collection Ifyoubelievein. This is highly recommended to those captivated by the wistful romantic side of Love - e.g. Orange Skies, Old Man and Alone Again Or. The follow-up collection Candy's Waltz (Sundazed SC 10076) 2000 is also of interest. Sadly, Bryan MacLean passed away on Christmas Day 1998 at the age of 52.
1994 saw the release of a tribute CD to Arthur Lee and Love We're All Normal And We Want Our Freedom (Alias A-058) from modern alternative, underground and indie outfits including Hypnolovewheel, H.P.Zinker, Teenage Fanclub and TV Personalities. One interesting Love cover of recent years is a dynamic nineties guitar-thrash version of Alone Again Or by the Boo Radleys, from a Peel session and featured on their Learning To Walk retrospective.
In 2001 Rhino co-ordinated the remastered reissue of Forever Changes which boasts seven bonus cuts: the unreleased Hummingbird and Wonder People, the Your Mind.../Laughing Stock 45, alternate versions of Alone Again Or and You Set The Scene, and a series of Your Mind... studio takes. There is absolutely no excuse for not having this classic LP now.
Also in 2001, drummer Michael Stuart published a book about his time in the band - for more details check out: http://www.pegasuscarousel.com
And finally, TV and Love trivia buffs: the instrumental section of The Castle was the theme tune of the BBC TV 'Holiday' programme in the early seventies, when it was presented by Cliff Michelmore.
(Vernon Joynson / Max Waller / Joe Foster / Stephane Rebeschini)