April 3, 2009

Mod-A-Day: Love

Hailing from Los Angeles, Arthur Lee's band Love often lived in the shadow of The Doors, but is remembered for a number of songs including their rendition of Burt Bacharach's "My Little Red Book" (a version allegedly hated by Bacharach), and their original compositions like the soulful garage rocker "Seven and Seven Is", and the song featured here "Alone Again Or", a soft piece of melodic psychadelia. The song was the leader on Love's critically acclaimed 1967 album Forever Changes, and features a unique arrangement including a haunting guitar riff, stirring trumpet solo, gentle strings and a mariachi band. While it failed to garner much success at the time of its release --it reached only #99 on the charts-- it gradually became more and more appreciated, eventually landing on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 best songs of all time, and has been covered by numerous artists including The Damned and Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs. Love broke up after their third album and Lee went on to collaborate (briefly) with Jimi Hendrix and later Steve Winwood, before revamping the band and touring it in the late 80s, and after a prison stint in the late 90s. Sadly he died from luekemia in 2006.

Love -- Alone Again Or