Arthur Lee was born in Memphis, Tennessee on this day in 1945.
Alone Again Or
if only but not only . . . . when Arthur Lee toured shortly before his untimely death he played with a pick up band who rehearsed all the Love material (of course) called Baby Lemonade and I had quite forgotten where the name came from . . . . . . Syd of course! Should have realised! This . . . . .
Arthur Lee would have turned 80 today, born in Memphis, Tennessee on this day in 1945.
“I will be alone again tonight, my dear." B. MacLean
Arthur Lee and Love on Jools Holland. The song is "Alone Again Or”by Bryan MacLean who curiously recorded the piece entirely without Arthur until he heard everyone raving about it when he went in and sang over it and changed the title to ‘Alone Again O’ [from Alone Again]
"Arthur wasn't even at the studio when we recorded "Alone Again". When he heard everyone saying what a great song it was, and how great Bryan's voice sounded. Arthur became jealous and decided to feature his voice on a record he had absolutely nothing to do with. To make matters worse Arthur changed the title of Bryan's song. That was basically the beginning of the end for the group"
. . . . .
LoveFillmore West, San Francisco, CA1970-11-21audmp3 @ 320 [149 mb]sq: A+__Set1__01 Product Of The Times02 Stand Out03 Keep On Shining04 Andmoreagain05 Singing Cowboy06 Good Times07 Announcements__Set2__08 Stand Out09 Product Of The Times10 Bummer In The Summer11 Find Somebody12 Signed D.C.13 Slick Dick14 Always See Your Face15 Singing CowboyArthur Lee - Vocals, Rhythm GuitarGary Rowles - Lead GuitarFrank Fayad - BassGeorge Suranovich - Drums
Supremely talented yet prone to devastating self-sabotage, Arthur Lee was on the ropes in the early 1970s. Glory days on the Sunset Strip, and authorship of one of the greatest records ever – Love’s Forever Changes – had soured, giving way to an incoherent odyssey, and a meandering, undistinguished string of new “Loves”. Occasional bursts of new inspiration were more likely than not to fizzle amid record label flameouts, reluctance to tour, and concomitant drug and personal problems.Yet for those willing to a) overlook Lee’s steadfast refusal to relive the inimitable themes and textures of Forever Changes, and b) forgive him his excesses and volatilities, by the early ’70s Lee had begun to forge a forceful, distinctive new style: sizzling hard rock true to the spirit of his friend Jimi Hendrix; gritty, inner-city funk underpinnings à la Curtis Mayfield; a few nods to his folk-rock, pop-star past; plus bits of blues and reggae around the edges. Some of this material appeared in real time, in the shape of his ’72 solo outing Vindicator and Love’s ’74 swansong Reel To Real. More has surfaced on archival releases, like Sundazed’s 2009 set, Love Lost.Bankrolled by entrepreneur Michael Butler (producer of the hit musical Hair) and reuniting Lee with his old Elektra friend, producer Paul Rothchild, Black Beauty was intended to be a culmination, the crowning achievement of Lee’s new direction. It ended up as just another scrapped project. Butler’s label, Buffalo Records, went belly-up before the disc ever reached the market. It would be Lee’s penultimate shot at the big time, 1974’s calamitous UK tour with Eric Clapton sealing his future on the margins.Black Beauty began organically enough, though. Ditching the ad hoc bands he’d been gigging with around LA, Lee started from scratch, organising a brand-new, all-black Love. The group – guitarist Melvan Whittington, bassist Robert Rozelle, drummer Joe Blocker – bristles with authority and immediacy, imbuing Black Beauty with a raw, pugnacious, in-your-face sound.Whereas, say, an early take of “Midnight Sun” sounds forced and claustrophobic on Love Lost, its Black Beauty counterpart burns with apocalyptic fervour, resonant of a camaraderie and telepathic interplay oft-lacking in Love’s post-Forever Changes work.Opening with the gut-punch of “Good & Evil (Young & Able)”, a lascivious, un-PC piece of Hendrixian punk-funk, Black Beauty sprouts tentacles, beaming in testosterone-fuelled garage blasts (“Stay Away”, think Nuggets on steroids), the sumptuously anti-authoritarian riff “Lonely Pigs” and “Can’t Find It”, a haunting lament gliding on a gorgeously elliptical melody, with jagged guitar bits bubbling up through the mix.For all its hard-rock glory – and Hendrix’ spectre casts a long shadow everywhere on Love’s 1970s work – Black Beauty is eclectic, shifting gears gracefully, suggesting myriad musical directions a healthy Arthur Lee could have pursued. “Beep Beep”, for instance, reflects his infatuation with reggae, and while it might be fluffy kid’s-song fare, it’s catchy as anything. An off-the-wall cover of The Rooftop Singers’ 1963 smash “Walk Right In” is also an inspired call, an album highlight, its jangly guitars and soulful vocal hook signalling a nod to Love’s 1966 folk-rock heyday.“Skid”, though, with its Dylanesque sneer and gritty depiction of ghetto misery, is Black Beauty’s most startling cut. Lee is at his dramatic best here, falling into the song’s dark atmosphere with an eerie, ghostly desperation – one of his best vocals ever. Skittering from funky acoustic rhythms to a driving, haunting chorus to Whittington’s superb psychedelic guitar fills, one would think this song, if properly promoted, could have put Love back on the map. As it is, it’s an inestimable gem in the group’s vaunted catalogue, its majesty posing a giant “what if?” in the Love saga.In fact, the better-late-than-never appearance of Black Beauty itself poses some big questions. Could Lee and company have refined, expanded and built on its strengths? Did Arthur have yet more material of this calibre up his sleeve? Nonetheless, supplemented by bonus tracks and Ben Edmonds’ fine liner notes, Black Beauty slots in as a fascinating, decidedly consistent effort from an artist in the throes of disintegration.by Luke Torn
Tracks
1. Young And Able (Good And Evil) - 3:24
2. Midnight Sun - 3:33
3. Can't Find It - 3:46
4. Walk Right In (Gus Cannon, Hosea Woods) - 3:23
5. Skid (Angela Rackley, Riley Racer) - 2:52
6. Beep Beep - 2:14
7. Stay Away - 2:47
8. Lonely Pigs - 4:25
9. See Myself In You - 3:03
10.Product Of The Times - 4:11
11.Thomasine And Bushrod (Title Song From The Motion Picture) - 2:26
12.Arthur Lee Interview - 22:16
13.Every Time I Look Up, I'm Down - 3:32
14.Nothing - 3:06
15.Keep On Shining - 5:56
16.L.A. Blues (Tom T. Hall) - 3:02
All songs by Arthur Lee except where noted
Tracks 1 to 9 recorded Spring-Winter, 1973 at Valentine's, North Hollywood, CA; Paramount Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA; Wally Heider Studios, Hollywood, CA.
Track 10 Recorded Live at Boston Tea Garden 1970
Tracks 13-15 Live at Electric Gardens, Glasgow, 5/30/1974
Love:
*Arthur Lee - Guitar, Vocals, Harpsichord
*Joe Blocker - Drums, Vocals
*Robert Rozelle - Bass
*Melvan Whittington - Guitar, Harpsichord
With
*Frank Fayad - Bass
*Don Poncher - Drums
*Byron Reynolds - Drums
*Riley Racer - Dobro
*Craig Tarwater - Guitar
*Carl McKnight - Steel Drums
*Matt Devine - Bass, Guitar, Vocals
*John Sterling - Guitar
Arthur Lee & LOVE Live in PARIS 1992 - Heavy Bootz
MERCENARIES - John Cale live at Rockpalast 1984
Oh, the snot has caked against my pantsIt has turned into crystalThere's a bluebird sitting on a branchI guess I'll take my pistolI've got it in my handBecause he's on my land
And so the story endedDo you know it oh so wellWell should you need I'll tell youIt end-end-ended-end-end-end-end-endedAnd...
Yes I've seen you sitting on the couchI recognize your artilleryI have seen you many times beforeOnce when I was an IndianAnd I was on my landWhy can't you understand
And so the story endedDo you know it oh so wellWell should you need I'll tell youThe end-end-ended-end-end-end-end-endedAnd...
Served my timeServed it wellYou made my soul a cellWrite the rulesIn the skyBut ask your leadersWhy Why
Oh, the snot has caked against my pantsIt has turned into crystalThere's a bluebird sitting on a branchI guess I'll take my pistolI've got it in my handBecause he's on my landAnd so the story endedDo you know it oh so wellWell should you need I'll tell youThe end-end-ended-end-end-end-end-endedAnd...
Served my timeServed it wellYou made my soul a cell . . . . . . . .
Love - Willow Willow (1969)
Arthur Lee never again reached the heights of the LP Forever Changes, but there are still some wonderful songs on the later LPs. Arthur Lee often had a jazzy element to his songs that shows up on this tune from Out Here. I also wonder what this would’ve sounded like with producer Bruce Botnick, and string arrangements like Forever Changes.
Can't fault Guess I'm Dumb here. . . . . .and whilst the backing band are not the LOVE band we know and knew from Da Capo to Forever Changes the acoustic guitar break (Arthur?) is lovely here and the writing may not be Forever Changes style or level of achievement, it is worth listening to and no mistake
Thanks again to Guess I'm Dumb
Just a reminder that Twilight Zone and Ride Your Pony have completed the download (upload) of the Love Live quartet of albums ['Coming Through To You'] documenting Arthur Lee's Love and their best of live material. This is no longer available commercially and unless you count being quoted £80+ there is none in stock anywhere so I consider it fair game. (If you know otherwise and want me to take it down just let me know) but it is well worth having for fans and aficionados alike. Not merely for completists this is a seminal document of what they were like live, mixed in quality but ranging from good to excellent it is all highly listenable
Twilight Zone - LOVE COMING THROUGH TO YOU
Well the LOVE and Arthur Lee works keep on coming. I bought Vindicator second hand when it came out and was so disappointed. It is a rock and blues staple diet almost pub rock band with Arthur playing seemingly straight blues guitar that some have identified as Jimi Hendrix influenced which frankly is insulting to both. The rumour and myth always goes that it was Arthur who introduced Jimi to heroin but there us scant evince for this and yet this disappointing effort does little to convince us otherwise as it is nowhere near as poetic as inspired or lyrical from the first three Love albums. As his first solo effort there are none of the musicians we associate with Forever Changes this is hugely anticlimactic and I sold off the vinyl copy soon after finding it in the sale bins. It is now rare as hens teeth and the versions advertised on Amazon UK seem be Portuguese or Spanish re-pressings and technically it is no longer in print. It certainly seems to no longer be available in the States
If anyone knows otherwise I am prepared to take it down of course . . . . . . . . .
On the whole, this particular line-up sounds perfectly rough and unrehearsed, generating a tense energy on “Skid” and “Stay Away” even as they suggest a band still figuring out exactly what they can do together. It’s a strong album, but it’s not another Forever Changes, whose accomplishments in retrospect were unrepeatable, or even another Four Sail. On the other hand, Lee wasn’t aiming to craft something in that vein. Still, especially considering the professional setbacks he had faced in the years leading up to Black Beauty-- which includes being dropped by Elektra and shuffling through a series of independent labels.
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| Arthur Lee - Memorial |
Tracks1. Young And Able (Good And Evil) - 3:242. Midnight Sun - 3:333. Can't Find It - 3:464. Walk Right In (Gus Cannon, Hosea Woods) - 3:235. Skid (Angela Rackley, Riley Racer) - 2:526. Beep Beep - 2:147. Stay Away - 2:478. Lonely Pigs - 4:259. See Myself In You - 3:0310.Product Of The Times - 4:1111.Thomasine And Bushrod (Title Song From The Motion Picture) - 2:2612.Arthur Lee Interview - 22:1613.Every Time I Look Up, I'm Down - 3:3214.Nothing - 3:0615.Keep On Shining - 5:5616.L.A. Blues (Tom T. Hall) - 3:02All songs by Arthur Lee except where notedTracks 1 to 9 recorded Spring-Winter, 1973 at Valentine's, North Hollywood, CA; Paramount Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA; Wally Heider Studios, Hollywood, CA.Track 10 Recorded Live at Boston Tea Garden 1970Tracks 13-15 Live at Electric Gardens, Glasgow, 5/30/1974
Love
*Arthur Lee - Guitar, Vocals, Harpsichord*Joe Blocker - Drums, Vocals*Robert Rozelle - Bass*Melvan Whittington - Guitar, Harpsichord
With*Frank Fayad - Bass*Don Poncher - Drums*Byron Reynolds - Drums*Riley Racer - Dobro*Craig Tarwater - Guitar*Carl McKnight - Steel Drums*Matt Devine - Bass, Guitar, Vocals*John Sterling - Guitar
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| Arthur's headstone |