"Love" in all their incarnations were the shit from start to finish. I hated Reel To Real when I first bought it, but now it has definitely moved up the Love Chart, getting more plays for me than "False Start" or even "da Capo." If you listen to R to R not looking for 60's Love redux, you realize it is a dope 70's rock album, with nice blends of soul and really hard rock. The William DeVaughan cover isn't the best thing going, buy you can't help but love that he takes a shot at it.
I saw Arthur Lee w/Baby Lemonade as "Love" in Cambridge, MA in 2003. I was so stoked for it, he had been in jail for what, 10 years until that point?
It's a hard show to describe, for the highs and lows that took place in a relatively short period of time. Most memorable point was probably when, after making us all stand around the stage for almost an hour after the opener, Arthur Lee - in white jumpsuit and American flag cowboy hat - came through the front door of the club, with a mini-entourage. He walked through the crowd to the stage, shouting shit like "Get the fuck out of my way, I'm Arthur Fucking Lee HAHAHAHAHA!"
He got up on stage, walked to the mic and stood there staring out, as a buzz and smattering of applause, some whoops spread through the crowd.
"We love you Arthur!" yelled someone.
"...and I love cocaine!" was his response.
The music...his band was hot, the Forever Changes songs sounded so sick just played by a rock combo, the string parts played on guitars?? Yikes!! It all started out with so much energy, I was straight pogo-ing to "My Little Red Book," a retrohippiepunkpit threatening to break out...at some point Arthur seemed to start coming down from the drugs, and the energy dropped quick...he started wanting to play guitar more, making the band lay out so he could noodle. A nice version of "Message to Pretty" devolved into a 4-minute single-note harmonica solo. There was some incoherent ranting about 9/11 and terrorism...finally, he answered a shouted request for "Hey Joe" by going into not the classic Love uptempo take on the tune, but an embarassing apeing of the Hendrix version, solo guitar and really working the Hendrix vocal, like some bad karaoke nightmare. Strangely enough, just earlier that evening Arthur had been telling us he "taught Jimi how to play." I looked at my date at some point midway through the "Hey Joe" debacle, we gave the silent sign and left before it was over.
Thing is, I'm not trashing it, I had a great time for the first 40 minutes or so, rocking out to old Love classics, singing along, it was great. And hey, it wasn't the first time I saw a concert sputter out due to the fact cocaine only keeps you high for less than an hour. Kinda made me wish Arthur would've just gone back for another bump, came out and gave us "Hey Joe" the way he nailed it 40 years earlier...
