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ARTHUR LEE 1945-2006 • A LOVE STORYArthur Lee, the enigmatic but troubled singer-guitarist with the influential 1960”s band Love. died on August 3, 2006 at the age of 61. In this column, we will focus mostly on Lee’s career from 1965 through 1971. Love is the most popular rock band on Garage-Mania, my Internet radio show I do with my zany sidekick Nurse Cheril on www.wpmd.org from Cerritos College here in Southern California. In this article, we will focus on his early career, review the first three Love albums and share some trivia about one of my personal favorite rock ‘n roll icons of all time. Arthur Lee was born as Arthur Taylor Porter in Memphis. He moved to Los Angeles at the age of five. Lee produced a record for Rosa Lee Barnes called “My Diary” in 1963 and hired Jimi Hendrix as a studio musician .It is possible that this was the first appearance of Hendrix on vinyl. Lee’s first band was called LAGs, an instrumental band, similar to Booker T and the MGs. The band featured Johnny Echols who would later co-found Love. His second band, the American Four, was formed the following year. Lee decided to switch to a new sound after attending a Byrds concert. He soon formed a new group called The Grassroots with Echols, drummer Don Conka, bassist Johnny Fleckerstein and Byrd’s roadie Bryan MacLean. After Dunhill Records patented the name Grassroots, with another band, Lee came up with the best name in the world: Love. In 1965 and 1966, the band lived together in a house, once owned by horror-film actor Bela Lugosi, that they called “The Castle”. It was during this time that the band members became heavily involved in drugs and, hardly left The Castle. They were uncooperative with the press. This might have caused their down fall. Lee refused to tour out of California and even turned down invitations to perform at both Woodstock and the Monterey Pop Festival, a decision he would later regret. Love started playing the L.A. club scene in 1965 and quickly became the top band on the Sunset Strip. From their reputatior the hippest band in the city, they became the first rock band to be signed by Electra records. Lee convinced Jac Holzman, the label’s founding father, to sign The Doors, (a band he was not very impressed with, at first.) Their first album, self-titled Love, featured Ken Forssi on bass and Alban “Snoopy” Pfisterer on drums, replacing Fleckerstein and Conka, with Lee, MacLean and Echols. The album featured a minor hit, “My Little Red Book.” The song had been written by Burt Bacharach, and he reportedly did not especially like their version. Lee got the inspiration to cover this song while watching the movie What’s new Pussycat? Also on their first album was a cover of “Hey Joe,” which was similar to the Leaves’ version; a protest song called “My Flash on You”; and two songs that for sure influenced Tom Petty: “You I’ll Be Following” and “No Matter What You Do.” Other highlights included “Signed D.C.,” which was about Don Conka’s drug habit, and “Mushroom Skies,” a softer song that is closest in style to their fantastic Forever changes album, which would come out a few years later. Love’s second album, Da Capo, was released in early 1967 and consisted of only seven songs. The band sported at this time seven members with Tray Cantrelli on brass, new drummer Michael Stuart, with “Snoopy” Pfisterer moving to keyboards. All of the six songs on the first side were written by Arthur Lee. The single “7 and 7 Is” is the most popular song ever on my Garage-Mania show and was a monster hit in Los Angeles. There are a lot of angry -sounding riffs, sliding brass runs, and a mad rush to the end that climaxes in a nuclear explosion. I’ve listened to this song countless times over the years and have never gotten tired of it, but to this day I still don’t know what it’s about. “Orange Skies,” the Bryan MacLean song that features flutes, is wonderfully sung and the lyrics are romantic: “You make me happy, laughing, glad and full of glee” as the flutes continue to weave magic. “She Comes in Colors” is Nurse Cheril’s monte, and surely inspired the Rolling Stones , who later would record “She’s A Rainbow.” “Orange Skies” and “Que Vida” are very trippy songs. The Byrds-influenced guitars and jaunty riffs are replaced by jazz and classical influences and are melodically airy. The second side features a nineteen-minute jam session called “Revelation” that was the first song to take up an entire side of an LP. This song was originally titled “John Lee Hooker,” and in my opinion, features some of the best screaming in rock ‘n’ roll. My suggestion is that when you are listening to this jam, turn it up real loud; it rocks, although it goes on just a little too long. Forever Changes, released in late 1967, is an integrated suite of songs with strings, acoustic guitars and horns. It was recorded when the band was falling apart from various abuses, but the album shows no evidence of this. Producer Bruce Botnick originally planned to record the entire album with session musicians backing Lee and MacLean, but only two tracks were recorded that way. After much rehearsal the remaining nine tracks were laid down in only 64 hours at a total estimated cost of $2,257. “When I did that album,” Lee said, “I thought I was going to die at that particular time, so those were my last words.” In the song “The Red Telephone,” it seems to bear that out. “Sitting on a hillside, watching all the people die, I’ll feel much better on the other side.” “Alone Again Or” was a minor hit single and “Live and Let Live” and “You Set the Scene” would get air play on progressive rock stations. Although the band has received incredible praise by rock critics, sales of the first three albums were dismal. The first album Love was released in May 1966 and only reached number 57 on the American charts. Da Capo, which came out in February 1967, reached number 80, and their classic Forever Changes, released in January 1968, made it only to number 154, although it reached # 27 in England. Only three singles made the Hot 100: “My Little Red Book” (5/66) peaked at number 57, “7 and 7 is” (7/66) went to number 33; and the gorgeous “Alone Again Or” only made it to number 99 in September 1970. However, Forever Changes was ranked 40th by Rolling Stone in its 500 greatest albums of all time; and in Mojo magazine as the second-greatest psychedelic album ever. It is certainly one of my eternal favorites. I have had copies of this masterpiece on cassette, eight track, on CD, and on several worn-out copies on vinyl over the years. In tribute to Love’s greatest song “7 and 7 Is,” here are 7 tidbits about Lee and Love that I discovered while researching this article: 1- Lee started going bald when he was twenty-three. He fell asleep in a bathtub with a straightening chemical in his hair. He would start to wear wigs throughout the 1970s, up until the 1990s. 2 - In 1971, Lee was about to form a new group called Band-Aid, which was to feature Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Winwood, and African percussionist Rebop. Wow, that would have been amazing, but that dream band ended with Hendnix’s death. 3 - By 1969, none of the original members were in the band. Forssi and Echols fell into the life of petty crime, holding up coffee shops for which acts they were dubbed as the “Doughnut Bandits.” They landed in prison for a while. MacLean suffered a nervous breakdown and became a Christian. Lee himself also was incarcerated. While in prison he refused visitors and interviews. He served five years and was released in December 2001. 4 - In 1998, Ken Forssi died from a brain tumor at fifty-four. Brian MacLean died later that year in L.A. at the age of fifty-two from a massive heart attack on Christmas day while being interviewed by a fan. His stepsister, Maria McKee was in the country rock band Lone Justice in the eighties. 5 - Before Lee hired Maclean as a guitarist., the job was held by Bobby Beausoleil who later became infamous for his involvement in the Charles Manson murders. 6 - Arthur Lee had several nicknames: Po, Arthurly, and the Vindicator. His trademarks were dark shades and granny glasses, He would often wear only one shoe and didn't tie one of his shoelaces. He preferred military boots. 7 - When Jirni Hendrix was found deceased.. in his record collection was a copy of Love’s second album Da Capo. Both Syd Barrett and Robert Plant, as well as countless other rock stars, credit Lee as a major influence on their music. We were very saddened by the death of Arthur Lee. Nurse Cheril and I attended several Arthur Lee and Love concerts during the last couple of years. The last time we saw them was at the Grove in Anaheim in October 2004. It was an amazing show; the band was tight and Lee’s voice sounded as good as ever. After the show we hung out by the merchandise booth and we gave away our collectable Garage-Mania cigarette lighters that have pictures of Robby and The Nurse on them. We gave them to a couple of members of his backing band Baby Lemonade and one to Lee’s girlfriend Diane, whom he married shortley before his death.She told us she would give one to Arthur and try to get him to meet us. We waited, hoping he would come out to see us and his other fans, but he never came out. Cheril and I were already looking forward to Love’s next concert but it was never to be. Jim Morrison often said that all he wanted Was the Doors to be bigger than Love. Lee once said that “Electra didn’t promote us like they did the Doors. And then too I wasn’t white.” We disagree with Lee that his lack of success came out of his being black. Lee and Love, except for a few occasional gigs, refused to tour outside Los Angeles, and it is our opinion that this is the main reason that success eluded them. We are planning to do a tribute radio show for Arthur Lee and Love next month. Please check my Web site www.robbyrussellshow.com for time and date. We will continue to offer free copies of Garage-Mania on CD to any reader of Record Convention News. Just e-mail us from my web site. And one last thing - if you don't own any of the first three Love albums, especially if you are one of our younger readers, go out and buy them. We think you will Love them. GARAGE-MANIA – Live Saturdays This article written by Robby Russell first appeared in printed form in the record magazine RECORD CONVENTION NEWS it is copyrighted by RECORD CONVENTION NEWS and GARAGE-MANIA . I authorize all future and past articles can be used by VAGUE Magazine with my permission. |