Love - Da Capo

The US west coast formed band who called themselves Love, began playing clubs in and around Los Angeles in April 1965. Composed of guitarists Arthur Lee and Bryan MacLean (a former roadie with The Byrds) along with drummer Alban 'Snoopy' Pfisterer and Ken Forssi on bass they were also joined by another lead guitarist, Johnny Echols.

Signed to folk orientated label Elektra Records, they released their eponymous album in April 1966 and on 20 June 1966 at Sunset Sound Recorder studios, Hollywood, they recorded '7 and 7 Is'. This was released as a single in July 1966 and became the highest charting 'single' record by the band.

Work on the rest of 'Da Capo' took place between 27 September and 2 October 1966 with a line-up that included Michael Stuart-Ware on drums and Tjay Cantrelli on saxophone and flute. Pfisterer subsequently moved to organ and harpsichord. Released in either January or February 1967, the first side was a radical departure from their debut and signalled the way they would move with their follow up album which would be released the following November.

Stephanie Knows Who
Described by Johnny Echols as a jazz-waltz, this track begins with distinctive harpsichord from Pfisterer then Lee belts out the vocals utilising a similar style to that employed in '7 And 7 Is'. The subject matter of the song is a girl who at the time was the girlfriend of Lee but later moved on to Bryan MacLean causing a degree of conflict between the two guitarists. The instrumental section features the saxophone of Cantrelli and some almost free-form guitar playing from Echols.
Recorded towards the end of the sessions on 1 October 1966, this is a wonderful album opener and was subsequently covered by British group, The Move and also by The Aardvarks.

Orange Skies
Bryan MacLean describes this gentle song as the first one he ever wrote while he was working as a 17 year-old roadie for The Byrds. He also claimed that the song was based on part of The Byrds' 'The Bells of Rhymney'.
The song was originally issued as the B-side of the single 'She Comes in Colors' and was the first to be recorded at the opening session dated 27 September. Maria McKee (of Lone Justice), the half sister of MacLean, released a live piano version of the song. They had earlier played together as a teenage duo.

¡Que Vida!
Recorded on 28 September 1966 the melody of this question and answer song was said to have been taken from a Burt Bacharach/Hal David song entitled 'Lifetime of Loneliness'. The title of the song is Spanish for 'what a life' and in the lyrics, Lee explores topics of life and death that he would later develop more fully in the follow-up album, 'Forever Changes'.
Opening with a gentle fingerpicked guitar part by Johnny Echols, the sound of a popping champagne cork heralds the bossa nova rhythm which gives the track the Latin feel suggested by the title. A repeat of the champagne cork brings in the opening guitar motif once again before the song ends to the sound of sleigh bells.

7 And 7 Is
The title makes reference to the girlfriend of Arthur Lee, Anita 'Pretty' Billings, with whom he shared a 7 March birthday. The track was recorded on 20 June 1966 before Michael Stuart-Ware joined the band so featured either 'Snoopy' Pfisterer or Arthur Lee on drums. (Apparently Pfisterer struggled with the complex drum parts, causing Lee considerable frustration and leading to his decision to recruit Stuart-Ware from another LA band, The Sons of Adam). Tjay Cantrelli does not feature on this track at all.
Released as a single in July 1966, it gave Love their first and highest scoring hit record. It has since been covered by a number of other artists including, Alice Cooper, Rush and The Ramones.

The Castle
This had been the name of the Los Angeles house the band shared during their early time together. In fact the cover of the album depicts the band in the grounds of 'The Castle'. The track was recorded at the session on 30 September 1966.
Once again the song begins with beautiful fingerpicked guitar but the opening melody is soon broken as the song goes through a number of changes in tempo. In this respect, possibly more than any other song on the album, 'The Castle' signals what was to follow with the next album.
The number ends with some distinctive Spanish flavoured guitar playing.

She Comes in Colors
Said to be inspired by the outrageous clothing worn by a regular fan of the group (Annette Ferrell), this Arthur Lee song features great flute playing and harpsichord by Cantrelli and Pfisterer respectively.
Because of the 'difficult' chord changes employed, Johnny Echols has declared that this was the most problematic of all the tracks to record.
In May 1967, the title was used as the first line of 'She's a Rainbow' by The Rolling Stones and it is widely believed that Jagger and Richards had been influenced by this song.

Revelation
Versions of this extended jam had been part of the band's repertoire since their club playing days in Los Angeles, though the song was then called 'John Lee Hooker'. It was recorded at the final album session on 2 October 1966 and features individual solos by all of the band members. It occupies all of the second side of the album, though it was not the first instance of one song taking up a whole side. Bob Dylan had beaten them to it with 'Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands' from 'Blonde on Blonde', the previous year.

Moving 'Snoopy' Pfisterer to keyboards (he was a classically trained pianist) and the introduction of Tjay Cantrelli on flute and saxophone, was a masterstroke as the sounds they contributed took the music away from the folk-rock they had played on the first album. The subtle flute parts written by Cantrelli in particular, added a new dimension to the sound of Love and the vision that Arthur Lee had for their way forward. Ironically, Cantrelli (real name John Berberis) would not be included in the line-up for the next album 'Forever Changes'.

However, the album was not a commercial success and this commercial failure can be put down to several possible reasons. Some feel that it was too much of a departure from the rock sounds of their debut album, while others point to the fact that they did not have enough of the newer sounding material to fill an album and had to resort to a lengthy blues jam to fill side two. Drummer Michael Stuart-Ware in his interesting book 'Pegasus Epitaph', claims that he feels that the inclusion of 'Revelation' was a mistake. He suggests the number was included because Lee wanted to 'piss-off' record label Elektra with whom he was in something of a dispute.

Another possible reason for the album not selling in huge numbers was the fact that they failed to promote it with enough live performances. This was partly down to bad luck but also due to the erratic behaviour of Arthur Lee and the general laid back drug culture of the band members. Nevertheless, a new sound had been created and Arthur Lee was to develop this even further and more successfully for the follow-up that would be released later in 1967.