The immortal Arthur Lee and Love performing “Signed D.C.” on Danish TV special “A Group By The Name Of Love” that aired in July of 1970.
The concert footage is from a Love gig at Tivoli Koncertsal, Copenhagen, 12 March 1970
Love, the 1973 incarnation.
Arthur Lee’s lost album Black Beauty is finally receiving an official release after nearly 40 years of being in bootleg limbo. Newly launched label High Moon Records is releasing it on June 7.
Originally planned to be released by Buffalo Records in 1973, Black Beauty was shelved when the label went bankrupt. It was recorded by one of Lee’s various incarnations of his band Love: Robert Rozelle, Bass Guitar ~ Joe Blocker, Drums ~ Melvan Whittington, Lead Guitar.
High Moon founder George Wallace stated in a press release that Black Beauty is “that rarest of rock artifacts: a never-before-released, full-length studio album, from an undisputed musical genius.”
You can listen to tracks from Black Beauty here.
Fan made video of the song “Midnight Sun” from Black Beauty:
Via The Daily Swarm
Love’s 1968 single “Your Mind And We Belong Together” was Arthur Lee’s first solo outing as a producer and the last record to feature all of the band’s original members. This promo clip was directed by Mark Abramson who co-produced Love’s debut album.
For you Love fans out there, I recommend a recent biography of Arthur Lee, “Forever Changes, Arthur Lee And The Book Of Love,” by John Einarson. It includes long passages from Lee’s heretofore unpublished memoirs. For that reason alone, it’s invaluable. His recollections of working with Jimi Hendrix and encounters with The Doors are rock history from the inside. You can pick up a copy here.
As anyone lucky enough to have seen the late, great Arthur Lee in performance can tell you, it was a very special experience. I saw Arthur perform three times myself, including an early 90s gig at a biker bar in North Hollywood where the electricity went out and he did a candle-lit “unplugged” set. Pure magic. The entire audience was grinning from ear to ear. I also saw one of his initial post-prison comeback shows, an emotional triumph that saw grown men weeping tears of joy.
But sadly, as Arthur Lee and Love fans know, there is almost no footage—as in nearly none—of the original, classic Love line-up. There’s an American Bandstand lip-sync of “My Little Red Book” from 1966, but most television outlets had no use for a multi-racial rock group at the time. As with the Velvet Underground, Lee’s most vital and creative years were almost completely undocumented on film and video. Somehow it just slipped through the cracks.
However, in recent years high quality clips of Lee and a Four Sale/Out There era incarnation of Love with Gary Rowles, Frank Fayad and George Suranovich live in Copenhagen have started popping up online. Not the same musicians, save for Lee, who recorded the classic Forever Changes album, but who’s going to complain about a discovery like this? These clips come from a March 1970 Danish television special, so we know there has to be more of this material. There is also some brief B&W footage that’s surfaced of the same band at the Fillmore West that’s turned up. And (more) again, if a little of this material is known to exist, where’s the rest of it?
An interview with Arthur Lee followed by a performance of “Love Is More Than Words or Better Late Than Never” in Copenhagen, 1970.
More LIVE clips of Arthur Lee and Love, 1970, after the jump…
Love ‘Forever Changes’ lemon buttermilk custard cake
Chocolate cake with vanilla butter. Chocolate image from the back of the Shakara LP
Holy awesomeness of cakes! These friggin’ amazing cakes are made by Los Angeles resident straightouttachocolate. I highly suggest visiting her Flickr page to view more unique and tasty treats.
Thanks a-rock!
