I've been wanting to post this blog for a little while now. I heard rumors about this, but I didn't know if it was true. But then, they were true. Arthur Lee, founder and main contributor to the 1960's band Love, has died. Lee died on August 3 from complications of leukemia, he was only sixty one years old. He was in Memphis, where he was born, when he died. So at least he was at home. His band Love has been cited as one of most influential bands to come out of the psychedelic era. There popularity was not very big, but they would have a cult following for many years to come. Jim Morrison of The Doors proclaimed Love was his favorite band of all time. When they played The Whiskey A Go Go, members from The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds would show up to see Love's set for that night. Even Robert Plant talked about how Love was very influential to him when Led Zeppelin was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Also, bands such as Urge Overkill, Echo and the Bunnymen, Agent Orange and many others pay homage to their psychedelic rootsy R&B sound that helped spawn many bands to come. Love formed as far back as in 1963 when Arthur Lee called the group the LAG's, and later on they would be called Lee's American Four. As the LAG's, the band recorded a single called "My Diary", which would feature a little known guitar player named Jimi Hendrix. Both Hendrix and Arthur Lee would eventually become friends and each would collaborate on each others material for years to come. Many band members would revolve through the line-up until the group was started to get known. Just as the band was getting attention around the LA scene, Arthur Lee would then again change the band's name to The Grass Roots. After finding out their was another band by the same that already released a single, Arthur Lee finally named the group Love. By the time that name was set in, most of the main members were already in place. Bryan MacLean, a former Byrds roadie, would become Lee's songwriting partner. Also John Echols, Johnny Fleckenstein, and Don Conka would become the core of what would become Love. They began to perform around Los Angeles in April of 1965, and quickly become the hottest band in the city. Love would eventually become the house band at the Whiskey A Go Go, where numerous stars along with well known musicians would show up and watch their set. While playing at the Whiskey, they lived communally in a house once owned by Bela Lugosi. Immediately, Elektra, once a record label signed only to Folk artists, signed Love to a contract and became their first Rock and Roll band. Later on, Elektra would sign The Doors, Janis Joplin and many other well known act to their label, but that's another story. Once they got signed to Elektra, the band went into the studio to record their first album. Released in May of 1966, their self titled debut would feature a minor hit of their version of Burt Bacharach's "My Little Red Book". Their album would hit the charts, only peaking at #57. Also, the picture on the cover was shot in the garden of the house they lived in. Their popularity would have been much bigger if they didn't ignore the press as they did. This would eventually be their reason for not becoming a popular band as how most speculators thought. Also, Love never toured outside of Los Angeles, as how Arthur Lee said, "We were the greatest, also the laziest. We thought 'Hey we're doing good in LA, why go on tour?" They even opt out on going up to Northern California to the Monterrey Pop Festival in 1967, citing their were differences with the managers in charge. Anyway, in August of 1966, Love would release their single "7 and 7 is". This proved to be their commercial peak, the single charted at #33. A couple months later, the group would release their second album, Da Capo. Their garage folk sound of the first album would be gone and a sound of airy melodies and elusive art songs with jazz and classical influences would dominate the second album. "7 and 7 is" would be on this album, along with "Stephanie Knows Who" and "Que Vida!" would show a coming of the psychedelic period for the band. Also, this album would feature the first time ever that one side was devoted to one track, called "Revelation". Soon afterward, some members left the band, and the group was soon faltering when their third album was coming to fruitation. Released in November of 1967, Forever Changes would become the crowning statement for the band Love. Recorded when the band was on the urge breaking apart, the album is an integrated suite of songs using acoustic guitars, strings, and horns. With all the chaos going on, the album showed little or any evidence of it. Bruce Botnick, who was the Engineer for The Doors, produced the album and planned a team of session musicians to perform around Lee and MacLean’s vocals, while the rest of the band produced the discipline required to complete the rest of the album in only 64 hours. The result was stunning. It would result in two minors hits, "Alone Again Or" and "You Set the Scene". The album charted well in England, reaching up to #24, as for the U.S., the album only reached #154. However, after years of testing time, Forever Changes would be cited as one of the greatest albums of all time, along with the likes the The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and The Velvet Underground. After the album was released, Arthur Lee fired all the members, including Bryan MacLean, and would soldier on making albums under the name Love, but would be the only member with session musicians. Bryan MacLean was suffering from a heroin addiction when he left the band, but soon would get treatment and go on to form a Christian Rock group. He would eventually die on Christmas of 1998 of a massive heart attack while having dinner with a fan researching material for a book on the band. Other members would eventually get involved with crime and disappear completely. In 1974, Arthur Lee would make his final album under the name Love and then would go live in secrecy in Memphis for twenty or so years. After spending six years in prison in the 1990's for gun charges, Arthur Lee would go back on the road with a whole new band under the name Love with Arthur Lee. His band would tour constantly, I would even get a chance to see them in 2002 at the Double Door in Chicago. I believe Arthur Lee gazed me as he walked up to the stage. But in 2005, the band would stop touring due to Lee's health deteriorating from leukemia and alcohol. The group was trying to continue touring, under the The Love Band, but was immediately shot down when Arthur Lee charged them of contradiction in terms that Love without Arthur Lee was not possible. My information was taken from Wikipedia, an internet encyclopedia. If you want more information about the band Love, just search for Wikipedia and type in Love the band.
