Love played at my high school in Orange County Ca. in '67 or '68. Arthur Lee asked if we had any requests, expecting I assume, to hear 'Little Red Book' or whatever. My friend asked for 'Signed DC', and was told they could not oblige on that one. I changed schools to another OC high school where Spirit played. We had the Newport Pop Festival in '68 and '69 with an insane lineup. We were young, white, middle class, and fairly jaded about our privileged circumstance. Viva the west coast acid, rock, surf culture!
Love & Spirit - two of the classiest bands going. Though UK-based, I've seen both live, around the same time, 1970. Spirit were terrific. I still rate their first as (almost) equal to F. Changes.
I know a man who was at that high School show also. Could have been another HS show if they did others. What a great time and place to be alive. I was born in 68 and always felt that was 20 years too late.
Bryan MacLean's demo CDs "Ifyoubelievein" and "Candy's Waltz" are a revelation; he was an excellent songwriter who would have been the main man in a lot of other bands. It's also remarkable how similar his writing and singing sound like Lee's; one has to wonder if Lee developed some of his style by incorporating MacLean's. Both of those CDs are worth getting for Love fans, especially the first one which has the A-tier stuff. Trivia note: MacLean was the half-brother of Maria McKee, lead singer of Lone Justice and perhaps best known for her solo number in Pulp Fiction.
Funny, I was just diving into some of Bryan's stuff. And every time I do I find myself saying, "unrecognized genius." Sure Arthur was talented in various ways, but musically Bryan (and Johnny) was his teacher and unspoken mentor. So sad to have lost him before he could be celebrated for his gifts: th-cam.com/video/EWFFjImuiT8/w-d-xo.html
Reminds me of a time I was browsing at Amoeba. The band Calexico were setting up, and I wasn't interested. I just wanted to look at records. Then they played "Alone Again Or", and I was, like, wow! Thought that was terrific!
Great, as usual, thanks. Really a pity that Kenny and Bryan died before the reunion in the early 00s. Their contributions were huge. I was especially a fan of Forssi's bass playing.
I have every Love album. They're one of my favorite 60's bands, especially the original line-up. I've never really sat down to make up a list, but I'd say that Forever Changes is probably in my top 5 albums of all time.
I was also fortunate to experience that 35th anniversary of Forever Changes tour and the backing band Arthur Lee had playing with him was named Baby Lemonade (a reference to Syd Barrett). RIP Arthur Lee and Bryan Maclean
We saw them three times during their UK tours in the early 2000s. They were fantastic. There is a DVD available of one of the shows where they played Forever Changes in its entirety. They also appeared on the Jools Holland TV show and I'm pretty sure at Glastonbury with the Forever Changes set. I remember a bloke looking at me perplexed at one of the concerts because I was singing along to 'Your mind and we belong together', which he'd clearly never heard of before. I really rate 'August', 'Willow Willow' and 'Feathered Fish' (that might be pre-Love though). A great band.
You should do a show about "Forever Changes." The influence of that LP has and how it has never been forgotten over the past half century despite its low record sales.
There's an interesting story. A timeless and undisputed classic that never sold much. I guess it's what you get when you combine very high quality with little or no promotion.
Many Thanks Matt for introducing & Re-introducing us with this fantastic series of Arthur Lee & Love 👍I for one have hunt down on EBAY a copy of Bryan Maclean's album:If You Believe In -which I would have never known had I not been for this Pop Goes The 60"s episode on Love -What made part 2 so special for me is the album Forever Changes, its the kind album that you play all the way through and after that re-play it again, the sequencing is superb and I love the flow of the album, Also everytime I hear Red Telephone I cant help but wish that Arthur Lee & Love would have done a Beatles like reprise to this song. But Forever Changes is up there next to The Beatles Sgt.Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band in the great production and Orchestral arrangements, and considering other fanstastic albums of that year like Jimi Hendrix Are You Experienced, Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow, The Doors Debut, Cream's Disraeli Gears and The Moody Blues Days Of Future Passed-Love's Forever Changes is one the Greatest album's, or the greatest album IMO of 1967.
Thanks for doing this one Matt. Arthur Lee was a gifted and unique songwriter and it's good that Love has received some of the recognition they deserve. Cheers.
It’s a fascinating story, and they were a fascinating band. “Forever Changes” is one of my favorite albums. I saw Arthur live in Stockholm during the early 2000’s - he was an eccentric certainly, but he had a slightly warped sense of humor which went above most Swedes heads. Some of that show was filmed for Swedish television along with an interview - worth watching. Great video!
I was fortunate enough to see the new Love group with Lee and Echols perform Forever Changes in a small intimate venue in 2004. One of my favorite live concert experiences.
Well done. I was a big fan of Love back in the 60's and Forever Changes is one of my all-time favorite albums. You did a great job documenting the band and their music ... I really was impressed.
Discovered Forever Changes reading an issue of Billboard Magazine in '78. They were celebrating rock's 25th anniversary and almost every critic had it in their top 10. Definitely lived up to its hype.
In the late 80s I got into Love, then in 1994 I got the chance to see Arthur Lee in Highbury in London, We were in a pub nearby to the venue and Arthur was playing pool, this is before the gig, we got his autograph as you do,
This is the most balanced, informative, and interesting history of Love that I have ever come across. Matt busts some myths about the band, particularly concerning the recording of Forever Changes. He also skips entirely the apocryphal tale of the doughnut shop robberies. The presented tracks from the later versions of the group have revived my interest in the later albums. Great work from Matt, as usual.
Great job Matt! I had forgotten how truly great Love was. Well done 2 parter. Very insightful and your music choices were spot on. You never disappoint.
The great talents of Arthur Lee & Brian MacLean really complemented & competed with each other perfectly, not unlike Lennon & McCartney or McGuinn & Crosby. When Love broke up after Forever Changes, they never quite recaptured their greatness, although Arthur & Brian did write some fine songs afterwards.
The Love following in the UK started with "7 and 7 is" on the London label (not Electra) being played on pirate radio stations. The first album came out after that.
As a long time fan of Love I only knew bits of the story and it seems even sadder than I thought. Arthur was clearly his own worst enemy. Love Revisited or Elektra Masters are both excellent early single vinyl compilations.
Thanks Matt for finally giving the recognition LOVE deserved, as a huge fan of theirs and so frustrated that so very few had heard of them in the east coast. Keep up the good work as it's very appreciated!
Forever Changes is one of my favorite albums, top 10 for sure. By the mid 1970's its status was legendary in an underground sort of way. It cast a magical spell late at night...
This semms like the typical story of a very advanced talented band musically who dabbled in a number of genres, arrangements & instrumentation which alienated them a little. Folk, rock, jazz elements, psychadelia. They did it all! But alot of profressive groups were similarly awesome & diverse, but people didn't know what to make of them and/or records didn't sell as much as mainstream artists did. These guys were true artists though breaking new ground! Maybe they belong in the RHOFame too!❤
Forever Changes is so cool. It brings back great memories. Orchestration is the key. The vocal takes are strong. The guitar riffs are hot. What's not to Love?
Name a group that produced 3 albums better than Love's first 3. Truly every song is listenable. Unique to the point that no one ever tried to copy their sound. A true tribute to their greatness.
Matt, Thanks so much for covering Love. I was a fan in the 60’s. My wife, who is 7 years younger, never heard of them until I introduced her to them. Unfortunately, Love only reached a limited audience during a brief time frame. Like a few other bands, they never reached their full potential but leave behind a legacy of that era.
THE great album. All fitting together beautifully like one long track - still sends a shiver down the spine. Bought on import in England, another album promoted by John Peel on his influential show. How great that Arthur could tour the album in later years with Baby Lemonade with memorable performances at Glastonbury and the Albert Hall. Saw the Four Sail band in Croydon, England, and hearing these again it's a pretty good album.
The pre-existing band that backed Arthur Lee in those 35th anniversary shows was called Baby Lemonade. Much the same situation as when Brian Wilson toured in the 2000s, there he was backed by an existing band The Wondermints.
Always a joy to get a new Pop Goes the 60s episode! An excellent 2 parter once again, and I learned new stuff, which is great. I do think you could have mentioned Arthur, and recently Johnny, recording live shows and touring with Baby Lemonade as Love. They also appeared at Glastonbury, which is a permanent fixture on my TV hard drive. They have kept the flame alive and gave us the chance to see and hear both of them here in the UK in latter years. They are also damn good!
I emailed Jay Donnellan back in 2005 and asked him specifically about what he used for recording the song August and he replied back saying that he used an Epiphone Sheraton II through a Benson amp. He also had kind things to say about Frank, George and even Arthur, saying he had a blast during the recording. Strange to think that he was let go shortly after recording the songs used for Four Sail and Out There. I just now found out he passed away in 2021. RIP Jay 😢
I enjoyed learning about Love as I knew very little about them. I also listened to a podcast interview with Johnny Echols in which he gives more detail from his perspective. Echols mentioned that Love came up at a time when there was a great deal of variety in popular music and when bands weren't restricted to one genre. That explains how they drew on many different influences. The horn sections in some of their songs seem a little jarring in hindsight, but they fit right in with the spirit of the times. My impression is that Love is remembered today for influencing the development of punk rock, though they didn't get much credit. It's a shame that ego problems and lack of widespread touring (due to the band's mixed race lineup, according to Echols) limited their popularity. I get the feeling they could have been so much bigger.
Thanks again Matt for such an interesting and informative video that shines a light on AL and LOVE and their big influence on the sound of the sixties and thereafter...never knew AL was such a prolific songwriter!
Thank you! Huge fan from the beginning (can still remember where and when I first heard the first album) and really appreciate that you covered the band.
This episode had more information than the 33&1/3 book on Forever Changes. A potential double?! Neil Young?! Love your interpretation of the lyrics. Your best work since the Association discography. Keep up the great work.
"Forever Changes" is my favorite record. I was in the record store many years ago and heard the owner and another customer discussing this record. They were so effusive in their praise of it that I purchased a CD copy of it without having heard it (this was the pre-streaming days). I was already exploring music of the 1960s when I picked this up so I expected to like it, but it blew me away, and remains my favorite album, listening to it every couple of months at least. I've brought more copies of it on CD and vinyl than I care to admit, but that's what we do with our favorite bands and records, right?
Lee really was the creator of Love's success and failure. If only they had a better manager who could rein in his worst impulses... nevertheless a lot of great music! thanks for doing this!
According to Johnny Echols' recent interviews, it wasn't the drugs or lack of rehearsal, it was that Brian and Johnny felt _betrayed_ because this was supposed to be a DOUBLE album in which both Brian and Johnny would get a side for their songs. Elektra reneged on that deal and Arthur didn't bother fighting for them. In the beginning, the two guys laid out and didn't contribute what they usually did; until as you say, Johnny spoke to Brian about their legacy.
@@popgoesthe60s52 Whoops, I must have been daydreaming when you mentioned the above early on in the vid. You obviously covered the ground here, thank you.
My late father turned me onto Love back in 2007. He first played me the Forever Changes album in our kitchen with the opening track Alone Again Or. I honestly wasn't too much into it at the time when I first heard it. While we were listening to Alone Again Or, my father was telling me how Love influenced Pink Floyd, the Doors, and Jimi Hendrix. Of course I liked The Doors and Jimi Hendrix at the time and I only liked Pink Floyd The Wall at the time as well but not other Pink Floyd stuff yet which I will get to later on. My Dad also had a vinyl record copy of Love's second album Da Capo which I gave a listen and I really liked the psychedelic sounds of. I really enjoyed the tracks Stephanie Knows Who, The Castle, and She Comes in Colors. However, when I first heard Seven & Seven Is and how it had been coined one of the very first Punk Rock songs, I really liked it a lot and it became my favorite song by Love at the time. Later on, I would give Forever Changes another listen to and this time I really liked Alone Again Or. I would start listening to that song to death and it became one of my favorite albums ever. As a result of listening to more of Love's music, I decided to give the first Pink Floyd album the Piper At the Gates of Dawn a listen to and I really liked that Pink Floyd album a lot too and I credit Love for getting more into Pink Floyd especially the Syd Barrett era of Pink Floyd. I know that Interstellar Overdrive was influenced by Love's cover of My Little Red Book but I also feel that Roger Waters vocals in Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk on that Pink Floyd album the Piper at the Gates of Dawn sounds similar to the tune and pattern of My Flash on You from Love's self-titled debut album. Also, even though I doubt if Love had some influence on the Moody Blues in a way, I started listening to Moody Blues music again and I credit Love's Forever Changes album for getting into Moody Blues music again. I had listened to The Moody Blues music a lot as a kid when my Dad also had me put to sleep with Moody Blues music but then I became disinterested in Moody Blues and most Oldies music as I became an adolescent. However my love for oldies returned when I was a senior in High School. It was during my community college years I really got into Love, Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, and The Moody Blues music. I seriously credit Love's Forever Changes for all of that! I don't know how many people would consider Forever Changes a Progressive Rock album but I seriously do and I credit Forever Changes as the first Progressive Rock album by an American group. Nowadays I am a musician myself and I play guitar and I play mostly covers but also have a few originals in my repertoire as well. At a lot of my gigs, I have covered the Love songs Alone Again Or, A House Is Not A Motel, and Five String Serenade in my repertoire. Most of my friends and family members have no idea who the group Love or Arthur Lee was. I would play the Forever Changes album in the car when my mom was driving and she thought it was really weird. Still, I think the group Love or their album Forever Changes like fine wine takes an acquired taste. Love is seriously one of my favorite bands from the 60s. Also, I would listen to a lot of the post-Forever Changes Love albums but it took forever for me to get into those albums because at first I only liked Love's classic line-up that featured Johnny Echols, Bryan MacLean, Kenny Forssi, and Michael Stuart-Ware. However, I eventually realized that as long as it had Arthur Lee, it was always Love to me because in my opinion Arthur Lee was Love! I loved the live concert of Forever Changes that Arthur Lee did with Baby Lemonade in 2003 as Love. It is a beautiful live album.
Good job covering this very overlooked band that had some very great songs. I had mentioned that alone again, or has been covered by the group UFO but I think they were also covered by many other groups like The Damned.
Damn,Arthur had far more"control" than Hendrix(especially considering the era)but seemed to drive it completely into the ground.Thanks soooo much for the videos !!!👊
Arthur and baby lemonade as love killed it playing forever changes live in Hollywood, Glastonbury and London.. I think Johnny Echols is still carrying the torch.
Congrats on another great post, Matt ! You always manage to come up with puzzle-pieces that bring a clearer view of the bands you choose. I'm reminded of how reluctant I was to get around to the post Forever Changes albums and how surprised and happy I was when I finally did. Not always a pretty story but the music is in a league of its own.
Love is one of those bands that I knew of (mostly because of the Doors connection) and I knew some of their songs.....but I didn't know their story. Now I do. Excellent job once again.
Thank you for this Matt, excellent presentation. Some years ago I found stort clips here on You Tube of a triumfant prerformance at the UK Glastonbury frestival of 2003. The band backing Aruther was spectacular and very tight. At the time I was trying to knit those clips together for the complete show. I just checked and now the complete show is available on You Tube. it rewards repeated watchings. (I tried to post the link here but You Tube wouldn't let me.)
Great episode as usual. My only complaint is that you usually have a compilation or best of album collection on CD or vinyl that you recommend. I think Rhino records put one out in the mid 80’s. Are there any others?
Rhino's is very good, which was my first purchase of theirs and the anthology Love Story Box set covers all their material from 1966-1972, which is highly recommended, though I don't own that one.
I thought I saw a copy of the single disc Rhino best of collection in Part II, but Matt didn't talk about it. In the interest of conciseness I guess. But I bought that album new in the '80's and it was a great intro to the early stuff. I was already a fan of a later line-up via False Start, which was my introduction to the band, and a favorite of mine to this day.
I heard about this band, for their influence on other bands of that era, but I never actually heard their music. Because when you search “love” on TH-cam, you don’t find much music related. Ah, found it! Alone Again Or is incredible, timeless! Wow.
Hi again Matt, & thanks for another informative & well edited vlog. Circa 2002 I was privileged to see "Arthur Lee's Love" at a sold-out Queen's Hall, Edinburgh where Arthur & co played Forever Changes in it's entirety, then after an intermission, performed about an hour's worth of other Love stuff. Best wishes x
Thanks Matt! A great look back on this often brilliant, despite it all, band. I should probably really check out some of those post Forever Changes albums, as I find that an absolutely wonderful album. The band Spirea X recorded a nice cover of Signed D.C. in 1991; I really like it anyway :) I'm also a big fan of Bryan MacLean's half-sister Maria McKee. That girl can sing! And play guitar, and write great songs, and write smash hits like A Good Heart for others........
i worked with Robert Rozzelle at a company back in 1990 we were friends, nicest guy you can ever meet and he used to tell me about LOVE sadly i heard he was killed in a car accident in 2011.
The album "Forever Changes"like I said before is a great masterpiece.I hope Matt you review the band West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band a psycheldelic band.
Unless I completely missed something as a teenager, they were all but unheard of here on the east coast. Too bad for us, since they seem worthy of national note.
Quite shortly before you mentioned Arthur Brown, you had played the Love track "instra-mental", which strongly reminded me of his Kingdom Come band, that started up around 1970. I was a little taken aback when I then heard AB's name
Thanks again, Matt. Great job. I didn't realize the single for Your Mind and We Belong Together/Laughing Stock was recorded later, after the Forever Changes sessions. I was lucky enough to find this single back in the day and saw the songs as bonus tracks for that album, for which there just wasn't room on the LP. Those songs definitely feel like Love at this stage, anyway, Thanks again.
Thank you, Matt. Really enjoyed this one. I picked up Forever Changes in the 90's and listened to it a fair bit. I enjoy the record although sometimes it almost feels a little TOO sixties, in a "Listen to the Flower People" sort of way. I had heard about another LOVE album before Forever Changes , but I had no idea they had put out so many records. Keep 'em coming!
Forever Changes is one of the best albums of the 60's!
Thanks for the great video!
Yes it is !! If we were going to be deprived of Smile then Forever Changes stepped right up to fill the gap.
forever changes: the best rock album ever made, period.
So true. It captures everything the 60's was.
no doubt
THE best.
This bands early records have remained some of my favorite music all these decades.
The first 3 all are brilliant, imo...like volumes 1,2 and 3 with Forever Changes being their magnum opus. Though Four Sail is overlooked
I disagree .. don’t like anything til She Comes in Colours… but then they went on to produce the best of the best
Love played at my high school in Orange County Ca. in '67 or '68. Arthur Lee asked if we had any requests, expecting I assume, to hear 'Little Red Book' or whatever. My friend asked for 'Signed DC', and was told they could not oblige on that one. I changed schools to another OC high school where Spirit played. We had the Newport Pop Festival in '68 and '69 with an insane lineup. We were young, white, middle class, and fairly jaded about our privileged circumstance. Viva the west coast acid, rock, surf culture!
Your high schools were uniquely culturally enriching!
Very much so, I am realizing more and more. It is what it is. It sure as hell ain't what it was! @@jonvought700
Love & Spirit - two of the classiest bands going. Though UK-based, I've seen both live, around the same time, 1970. Spirit were terrific. I still rate their first as (almost) equal to F. Changes.
@@Danwilhelmi Why disparage the circumstances into which you were born?
I know a man who was at that high School show also. Could have been another HS show if they did others. What a great time and place to be alive. I was born in 68 and always felt that was 20 years too late.
Bryan MacLean's demo CDs "Ifyoubelievein" and "Candy's Waltz" are a revelation; he was an excellent songwriter who would have been the main man in a lot of other bands. It's also remarkable how similar his writing and singing sound like Lee's; one has to wonder if Lee developed some of his style by incorporating MacLean's. Both of those CDs are worth getting for Love fans, especially the first one which has the A-tier stuff. Trivia note: MacLean was the half-brother of Maria McKee, lead singer of Lone Justice and perhaps best known for her solo number in Pulp Fiction.
Funny, I was just diving into some of Bryan's stuff. And every time I do I find myself saying, "unrecognized genius." Sure Arthur was talented in various ways, but musically Bryan (and Johnny) was his teacher and unspoken mentor. So sad to have lost him before he could be celebrated for his gifts:
th-cam.com/video/EWFFjImuiT8/w-d-xo.html
@@strangersname nice link. I need to that that on physical media. I'm sure it can be found out on the www somewhere.
@@ronbo11 I got mine for about five bucks at Discogs. I see 48 copies (CD and vinyl) for sale there now...
@@ronbo11 I got mine on CD at Discogs for about five bucks. I see they have 48 copies (CD and vinyl) for sale right now...
I could never, and sometimes still can't discern between Arthur and Bryan on who's singing what. Their voices are identical, imo.
Love Forever Changes is like Pet Sounds From the Upside Down. I do believe it’s my favorite album of all time. Great deep dive, as always!
Members of Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass played the bridge section on the "Alone Again Or" session. Brilliant track.
Thank you for that! I appreciate the comment.
Thanks for the info. I never knew that🎉
Reminds me of a time I was browsing at Amoeba. The band Calexico were setting up, and I wasn't interested. I just wanted to look at records. Then they played "Alone Again Or", and I was, like, wow! Thought that was terrific!
@@jonvought700 Calexico does a real awesome cool cover of Alone Again Or 👍👌
@@erniericardo8140The Damned recorded a great cover of it in the '80s.
Great, as usual, thanks. Really a pity that Kenny and Bryan died before the reunion in the early 00s. Their contributions were huge. I was especially a fan of Forssi's bass playing.
Really amazing bass player!
I have every Love album. They're one of my favorite 60's bands, especially the original line-up. I've never really sat down to make up a list, but I'd say that Forever Changes is probably in my top 5 albums of all time.
Agreed.
I was also fortunate to experience that 35th anniversary of Forever Changes tour and the backing band Arthur Lee had playing with him was named Baby Lemonade (a reference to Syd Barrett). RIP Arthur Lee and Bryan Maclean
We saw them three times during their UK tours in the early 2000s. They were fantastic.
There is a DVD available of one of the shows where they played Forever Changes in its entirety. They also appeared on the Jools Holland TV show and I'm pretty sure at Glastonbury with the Forever Changes set.
I remember a bloke looking at me perplexed at one of the concerts because I was singing along to 'Your mind and we belong together', which he'd clearly never heard of before.
I really rate 'August', 'Willow Willow' and 'Feathered Fish' (that might be pre-Love though).
A great band.
R.I.P Bassist, Ken Forssi as well.
You should do a show about "Forever Changes." The influence of that LP has and how it has never been forgotten over the past half century despite its low record sales.
There's an interesting story. A timeless and undisputed classic that never sold much. I guess it's what you get when you combine very high quality with little or no promotion.
Thanks for keeping Love music alive- this band is way too underrated and deserves more recognition. I think they deserve a biopic
There is a very good documentary from 2008, titled LOVE STORY, and I don't mean that tear-jerker film from 1970...
Many Thanks Matt for introducing & Re-introducing us with this fantastic series of Arthur Lee & Love 👍I for one have hunt down on EBAY a copy of Bryan Maclean's album:If You Believe In -which I would have never known had I not been for this Pop Goes The 60"s episode on Love -What made part 2 so special for me is the album Forever Changes, its the kind album that you play all the way through and after that re-play it again, the sequencing is superb and I love the flow of the album, Also everytime I hear Red Telephone I cant help but wish that Arthur Lee & Love would have done a Beatles like reprise to this song. But Forever Changes is up there next to The Beatles Sgt.Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band in the great production and Orchestral arrangements, and considering other fanstastic albums of that year like Jimi Hendrix Are You Experienced, Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow, The Doors Debut, Cream's Disraeli Gears and The Moody Blues Days Of Future Passed-Love's Forever Changes is one the Greatest album's, or the greatest album IMO of 1967.
Love Forever Changes is a Masterpiece and one of the greatest rock albums eve made.
Thanks for doing this one Matt. Arthur Lee was a gifted and unique songwriter and it's good that Love has received some of the recognition they deserve. Cheers.
It’s a fascinating story, and they were a fascinating band.
“Forever Changes” is one of my favorite albums. I saw Arthur live in Stockholm during the early 2000’s - he was an eccentric certainly, but he had a slightly warped sense of humor which went above most Swedes heads. Some of that show was filmed for Swedish television along with an interview - worth watching.
Great video!
I love Calexico performance of Love's 🎶
I also Love that Calexico cover version of Alone Again Or 👍
Also in 1970, “alone again or” reentered the hot 100 for some reason, and finally made the top 100, topping out at number 99 their last top 100 single
Yes, I forgot to mention that, thanks Michael.
I was fortunate enough to see the new Love group with Lee and Echols perform Forever Changes in a small intimate venue in 2004. One of my favorite live concert experiences.
I'm With You is one of my favorite Love/Lee songs
Well done. I was a big fan of Love back in the 60's and Forever Changes is one of my all-time favorite albums. You did a great job documenting the band and their music ... I really was impressed.
Discovered Forever Changes reading an issue of Billboard Magazine in '78. They were celebrating rock's 25th anniversary and almost every critic had it in their top 10.
Definitely lived up to its hype.
Great two parter on a great band. Thanks for doing this. Can't wait for the Move...
In the late 80s I got into Love, then in 1994 I got the chance to see Arthur Lee in Highbury in London, We were in a pub nearby to the venue and Arthur was playing pool, this is before the gig, we got his autograph as you do,
I was there also, his backing band was Shack
This is the most balanced, informative, and interesting history of Love that I have ever come across. Matt busts some myths about the band, particularly concerning the recording of Forever Changes. He also skips entirely the apocryphal tale of the doughnut shop robberies. The presented tracks from the later versions of the group have revived my interest in the later albums. Great work from Matt, as usual.
Thank you for the kind comment. Yeah, the donut shop tale didn't really fit into the narrative well and wound up on the cutting room floor.
Thank you Matt, for another fine documentary and for bringing to light the history of this sadly under appreciated ( in it's day , anyway) rock band.
Great job Matt! I had forgotten how truly great Love was. Well done 2 parter. Very insightful and your music choices were spot on. You never disappoint.
Thanks St. Rose!
I thoroughly enjoy your commentaries, even watching them repeatedly.
The great talents of Arthur Lee & Brian MacLean really complemented & competed with each other perfectly, not unlike Lennon & McCartney or McGuinn & Crosby. When Love broke up after Forever Changes, they never quite recaptured their greatness, although Arthur & Brian did write some fine songs afterwards.
Too bad the original band couldn't hang on for one more album. Thank you for watching, Dennis.
I thought I knew everything about love but I learned many new stories
You forgot there was a Love album live at the Whiskey with Bryan McClean released around 1980
The Love following in the UK started with "7 and 7 is" on the London label (not Electra) being played on pirate radio stations. The first album came out after that.
Forever Changes is one of my all-time favorite albums. It's like a musical roller coaster that keeps you coming back every time.
Well put. It is light, dark, light, dark, light, dark all the way through. Totally compelling.
Couldn’t agree more!! Matt is the man!🥳🥳
As a long time fan of Love I only knew bits of the story and it seems even sadder than I thought. Arthur was clearly his own worst enemy. Love Revisited or Elektra Masters are both excellent early single vinyl compilations.
My high school band, The Beau Street Runners, Franconia, Virginia, played Love's version of "Hey Joe" and "Signed DC". Good Times.
Thanks Matt for finally giving the recognition LOVE deserved, as a huge fan of theirs and so frustrated that so very few had heard of them in the east coast. Keep up the good work as it's very appreciated!
Thank you, Chris! This was a satisfying one to do.
Forever Changes is one of my favorite albums, top 10 for sure. By the mid 1970's its status was legendary in an underground sort of way. It cast a magical spell late at night...
Seems like there were 50,000 good to great songs recorded in the '60s. Amazing that previously unknown material is still turning up to this day.
It's a bottomless hole of great material. I will never reach the bottom!
This semms like the typical story of a very advanced talented band musically who dabbled in a number of genres, arrangements & instrumentation which alienated them a little. Folk, rock, jazz elements, psychadelia. They did it all! But alot of profressive groups were similarly awesome & diverse, but people didn't know what to make of them and/or records didn't sell as much as mainstream artists did. These guys were true artists though breaking new ground! Maybe they belong in the RHOFame too!❤
I love the philosophising of the Forever Changes album, thats its strength Four Sails is an interesting album, it captures Forever Changes in places
Forever Changes is so cool. It brings back great memories. Orchestration is the key. The vocal takes are strong. The guitar riffs are hot. What's not to Love?
Name a group that produced 3 albums better than Love's first 3. Truly every song is listenable. Unique to the point that no one ever tried to copy their sound. A true tribute to their greatness.
Enjoyable documentary (can we call it that?) that I watched with my dad the last time he came to visit, thanks Matt :)
What a shot show. Too precious.
Matt, Thanks so much for covering Love. I was a fan in the 60’s. My wife, who is 7 years younger, never heard of them until I introduced her to them. Unfortunately, Love only reached a limited audience during a brief time frame. Like a few other bands, they never reached their full potential but leave behind a legacy of that era.
THE great album. All fitting together beautifully like one long track - still sends a shiver down the spine. Bought on import in England, another album promoted by John Peel on his influential show. How great that Arthur could tour the album in later years with Baby Lemonade with memorable performances at Glastonbury and the Albert Hall. Saw the Four Sail band in Croydon, England, and hearing these again it's a pretty good album.
Forever Changes is one of my favorite albums period.
Me too. I first heard Forever Changes in 1982 or 1983. It's been one of my regular listens ever since!
The pre-existing band that backed Arthur Lee in those 35th anniversary shows was called Baby Lemonade.
Much the same situation as when Brian Wilson toured in the 2000s, there he was backed by an existing band The Wondermints.
Always a joy to get a new Pop Goes the 60s episode! An excellent 2 parter once again, and I learned new stuff, which is great. I do think you could have mentioned Arthur, and recently Johnny, recording live shows and touring with Baby Lemonade as Love. They also appeared at Glastonbury, which is a permanent fixture on my TV hard drive. They have kept the flame alive and gave us the chance to see and hear both of them here in the UK in latter years. They are also damn good!
I emailed Jay Donnellan back in 2005 and asked him specifically about what he used for recording the song August and he replied back saying that he used an Epiphone Sheraton II through a Benson amp. He also had kind things to say about Frank, George and even Arthur, saying he had a blast during the recording. Strange to think that he was let go shortly after recording the songs used for Four Sail and Out There. I just now found out he passed away in 2021. RIP Jay 😢
I enjoyed learning about Love as I knew very little about them. I also listened to a podcast interview with Johnny Echols in which he gives more detail from his perspective. Echols mentioned that Love came up at a time when there was a great deal of variety in popular music and when bands weren't restricted to one genre. That explains how they drew on many different influences. The horn sections in some of their songs seem a little jarring in hindsight, but they fit right in with the spirit of the times. My impression is that Love is remembered today for influencing the development of punk rock, though they didn't get much credit. It's a shame that ego problems and lack of widespread touring (due to the band's mixed race lineup, according to Echols) limited their popularity. I get the feeling they could have been so much bigger.
Thanks again Matt for such an interesting and informative video that shines a light on AL and LOVE and their big influence on the sound of the sixties and thereafter...never knew AL was such a prolific songwriter!
thank you for making this series
Thank you! Huge fan from the beginning (can still remember where and when I first heard the first album) and really appreciate that you covered the band.
This episode had more information than the 33&1/3 book on Forever Changes. A potential double?! Neil Young?! Love your interpretation of the lyrics. Your best work since the Association discography. Keep up the great work.
Thank you, Kell. This was a hard story to tell.
the band love sounds fascinating. California always had good music always worth exploring.
Thank you, Matt, can't wait to re-watch them 🙏
"Forever Changes" is my favorite record. I was in the record store many years ago and heard the owner and another customer discussing this record. They were so effusive in their praise of it that I purchased a CD copy of it without having heard it (this was the pre-streaming days). I was already exploring music of the 1960s when I picked this up so I expected to like it, but it blew me away, and remains my favorite album, listening to it every couple of months at least. I've brought more copies of it on CD and vinyl than I care to admit, but that's what we do with our favorite bands and records, right?
Lee really was the creator of Love's success and failure. If only they had a better manager who could rein in his worst impulses... nevertheless a lot of great music! thanks for doing this!
Very well done! Thanks 🙏
According to Johnny Echols' recent interviews, it wasn't the drugs or lack of rehearsal, it was that Brian and Johnny felt _betrayed_ because this was supposed to be a DOUBLE album in which both Brian and Johnny would get a side for their songs. Elektra reneged on that deal and Arthur didn't bother fighting for them. In the beginning, the two guys laid out and didn't contribute what they usually did; until as you say, Johnny spoke to Brian about their legacy.
Correct.
@@popgoesthe60s52 Whoops, I must have been daydreaming when you mentioned the above early on in the vid. You obviously covered the ground here, thank you.
My late father turned me onto Love back in 2007. He first played me the Forever Changes album in our kitchen with the opening track Alone Again Or. I honestly wasn't too much into it at the time when I first heard it. While we were listening to Alone Again Or, my father was telling me how Love influenced Pink Floyd, the Doors, and Jimi Hendrix. Of course I liked The Doors and Jimi Hendrix at the time and I only liked Pink Floyd The Wall at the time as well but not other Pink Floyd stuff yet which I will get to later on. My Dad also had a vinyl record copy of Love's second album Da Capo which I gave a listen and I really liked the psychedelic sounds of. I really enjoyed the tracks Stephanie Knows Who, The Castle, and She Comes in Colors. However, when I first heard Seven & Seven Is and how it had been coined one of the very first Punk Rock songs, I really liked it a lot and it became my favorite song by Love at the time. Later on, I would give Forever Changes another listen to and this time I really liked Alone Again Or. I would start listening to that song to death and it became one of my favorite albums ever. As a result of listening to more of Love's music, I decided to give the first Pink Floyd album the Piper At the Gates of Dawn a listen to and I really liked that Pink Floyd album a lot too and I credit Love for getting more into Pink Floyd especially the Syd Barrett era of Pink Floyd. I know that Interstellar Overdrive was influenced by Love's cover of My Little Red Book but I also feel that Roger Waters vocals in Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk on that Pink Floyd album the Piper at the Gates of Dawn sounds similar to the tune and pattern of My Flash on You from Love's self-titled debut album. Also, even though I doubt if Love had some influence on the Moody Blues in a way, I started listening to Moody Blues music again and I credit Love's Forever Changes album for getting into Moody Blues music again. I had listened to The Moody Blues music a lot as a kid when my Dad also had me put to sleep with Moody Blues music but then I became disinterested in Moody Blues and most Oldies music as I became an adolescent. However my love for oldies returned when I was a senior in High School. It was during my community college years I really got into Love, Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, and The Moody Blues music. I seriously credit Love's Forever Changes for all of that! I don't know how many people would consider Forever Changes a Progressive Rock album but I seriously do and I credit Forever Changes as the first Progressive Rock album by an American group. Nowadays I am a musician myself and I play guitar and I play mostly covers but also have a few originals in my repertoire as well. At a lot of my gigs, I have covered the Love songs Alone Again Or, A House Is Not A Motel, and Five String Serenade in my repertoire. Most of my friends and family members have no idea who the group Love or Arthur Lee was. I would play the Forever Changes album in the car when my mom was driving and she thought it was really weird. Still, I think the group Love or their album Forever Changes like fine wine takes an acquired taste. Love is seriously one of my favorite bands from the 60s. Also, I would listen to a lot of the post-Forever Changes Love albums but it took forever for me to get into those albums because at first I only liked Love's classic line-up that featured Johnny Echols, Bryan MacLean, Kenny Forssi, and Michael Stuart-Ware. However, I eventually realized that as long as it had Arthur Lee, it was always Love to me because in my opinion Arthur Lee was Love! I loved the live concert of Forever Changes that Arthur Lee did with Baby Lemonade in 2003 as Love. It is a beautiful live album.
Good job covering this very overlooked band that had some very great songs. I had mentioned that alone again, or has been covered by the group UFO but I think they were also covered by many other groups like The Damned.
Calexico does a fine version of Alone Again Or.
Great band and a great presentation Matt!
Damn,Arthur had far more"control" than Hendrix(especially considering the era)but seemed to drive it completely into the ground.Thanks soooo much for the videos !!!👊
In 1977, UFO did a great cover of Alone Again Or on their Lights Out album.
One of my favorite bands. Great retrospective!
Loving this project. Thanks Matt!
Watching within seconds of this being posted. 😊
Arthur and baby lemonade as love killed it playing forever changes live in Hollywood, Glastonbury and London..
I think Johnny Echols is still carrying the torch.
Congrats on another great post, Matt ! You always manage to come up with puzzle-pieces that bring a clearer view of the bands you choose. I'm reminded of how reluctant I was to get around to the post Forever Changes albums and how surprised and happy I was when I finally did. Not always a pretty story but the music is in a league of its own.
Really insight band history, thank you Matt.
Love is one of those bands that I knew of (mostly because of the Doors connection) and I knew some of their songs.....but I didn't know their story. Now I do. Excellent job once again.
Thank you, John.
OK OK Hot shot. You outdid yourself again. Man excellent job, this was awesome. Thank you for your research and presentation, this was fantastic!
Thank you, Steve! Plenty more to come.
Excellent profile of a unique band which deserves to be remembered.
Thank you for this Matt, excellent presentation. Some years ago I found stort clips here on You Tube of a triumfant prerformance at the UK Glastonbury frestival of 2003. The band backing Aruther was spectacular and very tight. At the time I was trying to knit those clips together for the complete show. I just checked and now the complete show is available on You Tube. it rewards repeated watchings. (I tried to post the link here but You Tube wouldn't let me.)
Thank you, John I will check that out.
Correction: the tracks “You are something” and “ Run to the top” are not on False Start but on Out Here.
No love for Love here Matt, but your history of them was excellent and very interesting. Thanks. :- )
I appreciate that Mr. J! Thank you for watching.
Best band name ever.
Great episode as usual. My only complaint is that you usually have a compilation or best of album collection on CD or vinyl that you recommend. I think Rhino records put one out in the mid 80’s. Are there any others?
Rhino's is very good, which was my first purchase of theirs and the anthology Love Story Box set covers all their material from 1966-1972, which is highly recommended, though I don't own that one.
I thought I saw a copy of the single disc Rhino best of collection in Part II, but Matt didn't talk about it. In the interest of conciseness I guess. But I bought that album new in the '80's and it was a great intro to the early stuff. I was already a fan of a later line-up via False Start, which was my introduction to the band, and a favorite of mine to this day.
Yep, that was also my introduction to Love was that 80's compilation from Rhino thanks to an old Hippie guy who recomended me to get that album.
I heard about this band, for their influence on other bands of that era, but I never actually heard their music. Because when you search “love” on TH-cam, you don’t find much music related.
Ah, found it! Alone Again Or is incredible, timeless! Wow.
This is important work
Thank you, Darrell. This was a satisfying one to do.
Hi again Matt, & thanks for another informative & well edited vlog.
Circa 2002 I was privileged to see "Arthur Lee's Love" at a sold-out Queen's Hall, Edinburgh where Arthur & co played Forever Changes in it's entirety, then after an intermission, performed about an hour's worth of other Love stuff. Best wishes x
Nicely done!
It sounds like Arthur Lee had a self-destructive streak. He threw away a lot of opportunities to get the band exposed to a much wider audience.
I read that at the time, Lee had the obsessive thought that he was due to die within a year or two. Some lyrics reflect this idea
When you say “F U” to everyone, that includes you..
Please can you do a history of the Moody Blues or The Kinks, or even the Jimi Hendrix Experience? 3 of my favourite ever bands❤
I am gathering material on the Kinks, which will be challenging. The Moodies and Jimi are also on my very lon g list. 🙂
Fantastic series. I learned so much!
Thanks Matt! A great look back on this often brilliant, despite it all, band. I should probably really check out some of those post Forever Changes albums, as I find that an absolutely wonderful album. The band Spirea X recorded a nice cover of Signed D.C. in 1991; I really like it anyway :)
I'm also a big fan of Bryan MacLean's half-sister Maria McKee. That girl can sing! And play guitar, and write great songs, and write smash hits like A Good Heart for others........
There are certainly some quality songs on Four Sail and Out Here and are worth a listen.
i worked with Robert Rozzelle at a company back in 1990 we were friends, nicest guy you can ever meet and he used to tell me about LOVE sadly i heard he was killed in a car accident in 2011.
The album "Forever Changes"like I said before is a great masterpiece.I hope Matt you review the band West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band a psycheldelic band.
Good point🎉 I'd love a review on the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band❤
@@dreammachine2013 I agree 👍
Hi Matt.
Today 3/7/24 Arthur Lee would be 79 years old.
Happy Heavenly Birthday
Unless I completely missed something as a teenager, they were all but unheard of here on the east coast. Too bad for us, since they seem worthy of national note.
Thank you so much for these vids. Really enjoyed them both.
Forever Changes would have been a perfect record if they dropped "Old Man".
It takes a long time to get that song. Keep listening. Wait for the piano to come in.
Love Love...
Quite shortly before you mentioned Arthur Brown, you had played the Love track "instra-mental", which strongly reminded me of his Kingdom Come band, that started up around 1970. I was a little taken aback when I then heard AB's name
First hearing 'Four Sail." A Kinks like sound. I love the storytelling.
Thanks again, Matt. Great job. I didn't realize the single for Your Mind and We Belong Together/Laughing Stock was recorded later, after the Forever Changes sessions. I was lucky enough to find this single back in the day and saw the songs as bonus tracks for that album, for which there just wasn't room on the LP. Those songs definitely feel like Love at this stage, anyway, Thanks again.
Thank you, Matt. Really enjoyed this one. I picked up Forever Changes in the 90's and listened to it a fair bit. I enjoy the record although sometimes it almost feels a little TOO sixties, in a "Listen to the Flower People" sort of way. I had heard about another LOVE album before Forever Changes , but I had no idea they had put out so many records. Keep 'em coming!
Nice job with this. Thanks.
Very good-thank you!