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Arthur Lee R.I.P.

Arthur Lee has passed away. If you don't know who he was he was the guitarist and songwriter for the band Love which came out of L.A. in the mid 60's. Love was a band that never got it's due and imo if you match their early discs with stuff by The Who it would stand up very well.
In my youth growing up in California I and many of my friends use to go to his house in Laurel Canyon and hang out there. He was a very retrospective individual who was always wrapped up into his own thoughts. Check out the offerings Forever Changes or a greatest hits package Revisited. His solo album Vindicator is worth checking out too. All the Love albums are available on 180 gram vinyl at the sundazed Records website. Goodbye old friend and thank you for a place to veg out and stare at a lava lamp or blacklight poster or two.
Peace.
qdrone

Showing 4 responses by zaikesman

zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Don't forget "False Start" (Blue Thumb) either, but for me the first three on Elektra are definitely the DID's of the bunch. "Revisited" was also a nice single-disk retrospective on that label, but can't contain enough material to make it more than an overview introduction for the unitiated. I haven't heard the Sundazed reissues, which I believe are remixed.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
I've read a few articles online now, and feel compelled to just say this: "Forever Changes" ain't the only good record Love made -- "Love" and "Da Capo" are essential too IMO.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
I'm devastated. I saw Arthur live twice in the last few years and he was fan-freakin-tastic both times, and looked from a distance healthy as a horse. I'd heard he was hospitalized, and knew there was a benefit for him in NYC a month or two ago, but this feels like a blow to the solar plexus. I've been a Love fan from the first time I heard "She Comes In Colors" on FM radio as an adolescent in the mid-70's. Thanks for relaying the news, and also the taste of what you experienced in the Canyon back in the day.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Earlier I wrote, 'Don't forget "False Start" either'. Would it be too disrespectful of Arthur's memory so soon after his passing if I amended that? Well, permission to forget granted -- after having spent the past few days spinning primarily Love, I concluded the reason I haven't played this particular album in years is because I really don't care for it. His previous Blue Thumb effort, the double-LP "Out Here" -- which I admit I hadn't listened to in too long as well -- has close to one album's worth of very solid songs on it, and condensed would be about as good as "Four Sail", the last of the Elektra albums.

Speaking of which, I guess now I've got to acknowledge that the condition of a couple of my original Elektras could be better -- especially "Forever Changes" -- so maybe I'll check out some of the Sundazed reissues after all. I also see that Rhino/WEA has a 2-CD box set collection (that includes "FC" in its entirety) entitled "Love Story". That could be an outstanding purchase for any of the curious unacquainted who may be lurking and dig mid-60's psych and pop-rock (that means you, fans of period Beatles, Stones, Byrds, Beach Boys, Doors, Airplane, etc.!).
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