Love

Love stands among the premier folk-rock and psychedelic ensembles from the West Coast and may qualify as the earliest cult or underground act to earn broad critical recognition. Over a short prime that encompassed just three albums, the group blended Byrds-style folk-rock, Stones-derived hard rock, blues, jazz, flamenco, and even light orchestral pop into an intoxicating mixture all their own. They also counted among the first racially integrated rock bands, guided by the extraordinary singer-songwriter Arthur Lee, whose singular and mysterious gifts ranked among the most distinctive of the 1960s. Local heroes in Los Angeles and an early influence on the Doors, they strangely declined to tour until well after their high point had passed. This choice prevented any breakthrough single or album, although the band’s elusive artistic outlook might have hindered mainstream success in any case.

Lee assembled Love in Los Angeles during the mid-1960s. Still only twenty years old, he had already spent a couple of years navigating the margins of rock and soul. Besides cutting unsuccessful singles with his own groups, he wrote and produced a single for Rosa Lee Brooks that featured Jimi Hendrix on guitar. After initially naming the band the Grass Roots, Lee changed the moniker to Love once another Los Angeles act using that name began recording for Dunhill. Most of the group’s material would come from Lee, with occasional additions by guitarist Bryan MacLean.

Drawing inspiration from British Invasion groups and local contemporaries the Byrds, Love cultivated a devoted audience in trend-setting Los Angeles clubs. Elektra soon signed them, the respected folk label then venturing into rock after earlier sessions with the Byrds and the Lovin’ Spoonful and the release of Paul Butterfield’s debut album. Their self-titled 1966 debut introduced the Byrds-meets-Stones approach across mostly original songs and yielded a modest hit with their raw take on the Bacharach-David composition “My Little Red Book.”

Love temporarily grew to seven members for the 1967 follow-up Da Capo, which produced their sole Top 40 single, the twisting “Seven & Seven Is.” The first half showcased peak psychedelia through furious jazz passages, delicate Spanish guitar segments, and luminous Baroque pop with surreal imagery such as “She Comes in Colors.” The second half, however, consisted entirely of an extended nineteen-minute improvisation. Despite marking clear progress, the album arrived as drugs and disarray began threatening the band’s stability by mid-1967.

Elektra considered using session players to back Lee and MacLean on the next album given the group’s disarray, and work began that way on two tracks. The musicians rallied, however, and performed the material themselves, yielding the timeless classic Forever Changes. Its exceptional songs, vivid lyrics, and shimmering yet understated horn and string arrangements failed to register commercially in the United States, though it fared better in Britain and has since become a perennial critical favorite.

Just as they appeared ready to reach the upper tier, Love’s original and finest lineup dissolved in early 1968 at Lee’s direction. Later albums from the late 1960s and early 1970s appeared under the Love name yet essentially featured Lee supported by lesser players. He shifted toward harder rock with limited success, even on the track that included Jimi Hendrix. More fundamentally, Lee’s songwriting inspiration had faded, leaving little on those records to match the early Elektra releases.

He issued a solo album in the early 1970s and briefly reassembled Love for a 1974 project, after which Love and Lee effectively ceased activity by the middle of the decade. Sporadic recordings and performances followed without producing another cohesive studio album, though isolated live and studio tracks surfaced, including a 1994 single on the small Distortions label.

Rhino Records released the 1995 compilation Love Story 1966-1972 around the time the label secured Lee’s release from jail following his arrest for attempting to set fire to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment. His legal difficulties persisted the next year when he was again arrested for firing a gun into the air during a dispute with a neighbor. Convicted of illegal firearm possession and subject to California’s three-strikes law because of a prior 1980s drug conviction, he received an eight-to-twelve-year prison sentence. In 2000 Rhino issued an expanded edition of Forever Changes that renewed attention toward Lee. A California federal appeals court later determined prosecutorial misconduct in his trial, overturning the conviction and freeing him in 2001. With fresh support from fans, Lee toured with a new version of Love performing Forever Changes in its entirety and received a Living Legend Award at the 2004 NME Awards. Diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2006, he endured three rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant before his health declined. He died on August 3, 2006, at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.