Love
The Los Angeles band led by Arthur Lee, whose third album, Forever Changes, became a fixture of all-time lists.
- Origin
- Los Angeles, California, United States
- Years active
- 1965-
- Genres
- psychedelic rock, folk rock, garage rock
- Labels
- Elektra, Blue Thumb
Los Angeles
Love formed in Los Angeles in 1965 around Arthur Lee, the band's main songwriter. Lee had lived in the city since he was five. After seeing the Byrds play, he set out to join their folk-rock sound to his rhythm and blues roots. With the guitarists Bryan MacLean and Johnny Echols, the bassist Ken Forssi and a drummer, he made one of the first racially diverse American rock bands. Elektra president Jac Holzman saw them at Bido Lito's club and said he knew it was "my band." Lee signed the contract on 4 January 1966, and Love became the label's first rock act.
Their first album, Love, came out in March 1966. Ten of its fourteen tracks were cut at Sunset Sound in Hollywood between 24 and 27 January. It opens with a reworking of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's My Little Red Book, which Lee and Echols had added to their set after seeing it in Woody Allen's film What's New Pussycat? The single reached number 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first hit released by Elektra. The album reached number 57.
Da Capo
Love recorded 7 and 7 Is on 17 and 20 June 1966, with Holzman producing and Bruce Botnick engineering. The drum part took many attempts. The single reached number 33, the highest chart position of the band's career. Pfisterer moved to keyboards, Michael Stuart took over the drums and Tjay Cantrelli joined on woodwinds, making a seven-piece band.
Da Capo followed in November 1966. Recorded at RCA Studios in Hollywood with the producer Paul A. Rothchild and the engineer Dave Hassinger, it ranges across baroque pop, jazz, Latin music and proto-punk. Lee and Echols credited Miles Davis and John Coltrane as influences. Side one holds six short songs, among them She Comes in Colors. Side two is a single track, Revelation, running 18:57 after Rothchild edited a long jam. The album peaked at number 80.
Forever Changes
Cantrelli and Pfisterer left, and the band went back to five. Recording began in June 1967 at Sunset Sound, with Botnick and Lee producing. Botnick brought in Wrecking Crew session players, including Hal Blaine and Carol Kaye, to cut the rhythm tracks for two songs. He said he did it to shock the band into getting serious. The arranger David Angel wrote the strings and horns after Lee spent three weeks singing him the parts. Forever Changes was released in November 1967 and reached number 154 in the United States and number 24 in the United Kingdom. It opens with MacLean's Alone Again Or and includes The Red Telephone.
In 1968 Rolling Stone's Jim Bickhart called it Love's most sophisticated album yet. Pitchfork's Stephen M. Deusner later heard Lee's dark lyrics set to music that belongs to no single genre, and Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream described the album as very elegant, but very dark.
After
MacLean left after the album, and by August 1968 Lee had assembled a new line-up. Four Sail appeared in August 1969, and Out Here followed that December on Blue Thumb. Lee kept recording under the Love name through the 1970s.
Forever Changes kept growing in stature. It entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008, was chosen for the National Recording Registry, and stood at number 180 on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums. A concert of the whole album in its original order, recorded in England in early 2003 with the band Baby Lemonade and members of the Stockholm Strings 'n' Horns, came out on DVD that year. Rhino issued a fiftieth anniversary edition on 6 April 2018, with the first mono mix on CD. Primal Scream, the Stone Roses and the Jesus and Mary Chain are among the bands who cite Love, and Echols has toured the catalogue as the Love Band.
Members
- Arthur Lee vocals, guitar, songwriter (1965-1975, 1978, 1982, 1992-2006)
- Bryan MacLean rhythm guitar, vocals, songwriter (1965-1968, 1978)
- Johnny Echols lead guitar (1965-1968, 2002-)
- Ken Forssi bass (1966-1968)
- Alban "Snoopy" Pfisterer drums, organ, harpsichord (1965-1967)
- Michael Stuart-Ware drums (1966-1968)
- Tjay Cantrelli woodwinds (1966-1967)
Records
- Love 1966 · Elektra
The debut, and the first rock album on Elektra.
- Da Capo 1966 · Elektra
A seven-piece Love reaches for jazz and baroque pop, with a whole side given to one track.
- Forever Changes 1967 · Elektra
Acoustic guitars, strings and mariachi horns, and the Love record that history kept.
- Four Sail 1969 · Elektra
Lee with a new band, and the last Love album on Elektra.
Songs
- My Little Red Book Love · 1966
A Bacharach and David song from a Woody Allen film, hammered into a garage-rock single.
- 7 and 7 Is Da Capo · 1966
Feedback, a nuclear blast and a drum part that took many takes: Love's highest-charting single.
- She Comes in Colors Da Capo · 1966
Flute, harpsichord and difficult chords: a Da Capo single that outlived its chart run.
- Alone Again Or Forever Changes · 1967
Bryan MacLean's song, with flamenco runs and mariachi trumpets, opened Forever Changes.
- The Red Telephone Forever Changes · 1967
The harpsichord-and-strings closer to side one, with a voice from Marat/Sade at the end.
Related artists
The Doors, The Byrds, Primal Scream, The Stone Roses
Where to go next
Official
- Arthur Lee and Love Official The band's official site.
Reference
- Love (band) The band's history and line-ups.
- Forever Changes Song-by-song notes, recording story and reissues.
- Da Capo Sessions, songs and reception.
Discography and data
- Rhino on the 50th anniversary edition The contents of the 2018 box set.
- Official Charts: Forever Changes The British chart run.
Writing and criticism
- Pitchfork on Forever Changes A review of the 2008 Collector's Edition.
- Slant on Forever Changes A song-by-song reading of the album.
- Rolling Stone, 1968 The original review.
- Louder: Love, California dreaming A long feature on Lee and the band's early years.
- Classic Rock Review on Forever Changes A review with recording details.
- Psychedelic Sight on the National Recording Registry The news of Forever Changes joining the registry.
Interviews
- Bruce Botnick interview The engineer on the Wrecking Crew session and David Angel.
- Johnny Echols interview Echols on the albums, song by song.
- The making of She Comes In Colors Echols, Botnick and Stuart-Ware on the Da Capo era.
Film and video
- Uncut on the Love Story documentary A review of the band's documentary on DVD.
Sources
- Love (band), Wikipedia
- Forever Changes, Wikipedia
- Forever Changes [Collector's Edition], Pitchfork (2008-04-25)
- Bruce Botnick interview, Richie Unterberger
- Love: California dreaming, Louder (2026-07-22)
- Soundtrack of my life: Bobby Gillespie, The Guardian (2008-05-18)
- The best psychedelic rock albums of the Summer of Love, BrooklynVegan