Da Capo

Recorded in September and October 1966 at RCA Studios in Hollywood, apart from 7 and 7 Is, which was cut that June. The change brought a new producer, Paul A. Rothchild, and a new engineer, Dave Hassinger, while Botnick mixed the record. Echols suggested that the move came because Sunset Sound was occupied by the Doors. The band now had seven members, with Pfisterer on organ and harpsichord, Michael Stuart on drums and Tjay Cantrelli on saxophone and flute. Lee played his new songs on an acoustic guitar, and each member then wrote a part. The first track attempted, on 27 September, was MacLean's Orange Skies. Stephanie Knows Who followed on 2 October, and Revelation was finished back at Sunset Sound.

The album takes in psychedelia, baroque pop, jazz, Latin music and proto-punk, and it is counted among the earliest records described as jazz rock. Lee asked Pfisterer, the only member who read music, for the term for going back to the beginning, and the answer, da capo, became the title. Revelation began as a jam the band called John Lee Hooker. About 45 minutes of it were recorded, Rothchild edited them, and a harpsichord passage quoting a Bach partita was spliced on at each end. Love played the Whisky a Go Go from 19 to 30 October 1966 to introduce the new line-up.

Da Capo entered the Billboard Top LPs chart on 11 February 1967 and peaked at number 80 on 8 April. Robert Christgau called 7 and 7 Is a perfect rocker in Esquire. Richie Unterberger wrote of side one as a truly classic body of work, while Mike Segretto thought it might be the best run of songs the band ever recorded. The record is listed in the 1001 Albums book. Alice Cooper has named it a favorite, and Jack White said The White Stripes called their second album De Stijl because Love called their second album Da Capo.