Love Story

Artist: Love
Released: 1995

This past summer, Love toured Europe without its chief singer/songwriter, Arthur Lee. Initial reports claimed that Lee was physically ill and could not make the trek. By December of 2005, Love, currently made up of members of the L.A. band Baby Lemonade and original Love guitarist Johnny Echols, decided to boot Lee out of the band. According to the band, he had become “increasingly erratic” and “delusional,” making working conditions nearly untenable. Arthur Lee now finds himself in a Brian Wilson-like situation – shut out from the band he founded and guided for decades.

Love often seems stuck in a musical liminality – a little too well known to be a true “cult” band, but not on the radar of the average listener. Although they were the first rock band signed to Elektra (ahead of The Doors, who they introduced to Elektra head Jac Holzman), and were a big influence on contemporaries like Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, Love never achieved the same level of notoriety as their L.A. mates The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. The band’s refusal to tour extensively didn’t help, nor did Lee’s unwillingness to play the promotional game. Throw in the usual drug excesses, and the initial incarnation of the band imploded after only three years, leaving a small, and, at that point, an increasingly diminished legacy.

The best and most influential of the band’s output comes from their 1965-1968 period, which is covered on the first CD of Love Story. Lee and co-songwriter Bryan MacLean initially focused on Byrdisan rock like “Can’t Explain” or the garage sounds of “My Flash On You,” but soon moved to more complex structure and arrangements. “Orange Skies” finds the band employing woodwinds and jazz chords, while “She Comes In Colors” is knee deep in psychedelia (and also provides the basic structure for Madonna’s “Beautiful Stranger”). All of this was a precursor for their third album, Forever Changes (included here in its entirety). One of the preeminent albums of the ‘60s, Forever Changes finds the band expanding their sound even further. Full string arrangements can be found on tracks like “The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This” and “Andmoreagain,” while a mariachi band makes its way onto “Alone Again Or.” The grandeur of the music, however, belies the acid-induced paranoia of songs like “The Red Telephone” and “A House Is Not a Motel” (a complete flop in the US, the album made it into the Top 20 in England).

Lee disbanded Love upon Forever Changes release, then quickly reformed the band with other musicians in 1969. Two rather average albums followed (found on the second CD of Love Story), and Lee eventually began to tour with a revolving group of musicians, sporadically releasing new material or live albums. He did some time in jail in the late ‘90s, and upon his release reformed the band to great critical acclaim and two successful tours in 2002 and 2003. Unfortunately, it seems Lee’s demons have caught up with, casting doubt over whether he’ll ever return to the public eye.