Out of the Vaults #17 - Love - Da Capo

Each week or so my wife will dive into our CD cabinets (The Vaults) and randomly pull out one of the thousands of CDs. The chosen album will then be given to me and I will talk about the Cd for awhile no matter how good, bad, obscure or embarrassing the chosen disc is. Where did I buy it, when did I buy it, what was my first reaction to hearing it, do I still listen to it today etc, etc, etc

Out of the Vaults #17 - Love - Da Capo (1967)

Sometime around 1988 my father surprised me with a copy of a copy of the Harmony Illustrated  Encyclopedia of Rock. This book was where I learned so much about so many rock and roll groups. Besides the usual big names in there were entries for all the smaller groups too. From A to Z there were so many entries beginning with the New Wave band ABC and concluding with a very thorough two page entry on Frank Zappa. Each one ending with a discography and a rating for each album. I devoured every word in the book, making lists after lists of bands to look for next time I visited the library or local record store.

There was one entry I always ignored. The band's name was Love. Although the group was very highly touted in the book, the band's name kept me from checking them out. Even though I wanted to learn all there was about Rock and Roll, I was still a punk rock kid. The word "Love" being used as a band name was still a little too weird for me.

The funny thing is that a year earlier I watched the premier for a new video  by the punk rock band The Damned. The song's name was "Alone Again Or" and the song, sounding very different then a typical song by The Damned, was immediately one of my favorites. It would be many years before I learned "Alone Again Or" was originally written in the 1960's by a singer/guitar player from Los Angeles. His name was Arthur Lee and the band he was in was named Love. It was time to check them out.

Altogether Love released about eight or nine albums. The first three were classics. The first was the 1966 self titled debut featuring a minor hit in the Burt Bacharach penned "Little Red Book", a pre - Jimi Hendrix version of "Hey Joe" and, my personal favorite, "Signed DC". The last being the album containing the original version of "Alone Again Or", 1967's Forever Changes.

In the middle we find Da Capo. The six songs on side one are a perfect mix of rockers and lighter pop tunes with a touch of the "Summer of Love" vibe.  On the lead off track "Stephanie Says", Arthur becomes possessed, his strong vocals (think Ooogie Boogie of Nightmare Before Christmas fame) drives the song over a harpsichord building up before half way through all the rest of the instruments explode, saxophone and drums going all over the place. When the (rhythm guitarist) Brian MacLean written "Orange Skies" comes on it seems Arthur has taken his meds. The song is very light and laid back. You can almost see Arthur sitting in a open field savoring the feeling as his meds begin to take effect. The sound of the flute a butterfly Arthur is chasing.

At Track 3 "Que Vida" it looks like the meds are starting to wear off. Arthur's voice is still laid back but tension is beginning to bubble underneath. Even the flute is sounding a bit concerned on this one.

Arthur Lee and Jimi Hendrix

By the time "Seven and Seven Is" starts up, Arthur and band are once again out of control. The fast and heavy revved up song is often sited as being one of the first hard rock songs in existence. There are some out there who even think the song nears heavy metal. For "The Castle", Arthur and band once again manage to compose themselves. To me it sound like the band still wants to rock out but keeps the instruments low as to not wake up a sleeping neighbor. The bouncy "She Comes In Colors", a song which would influence Mick Jagger to write "She's A Rainbow" the next year, finishes off the first side.

Side Two is composed entirely of one song. The album often gets a lot of flack because of this song's inclusion. I usually do not have too much patience for songs that are over ten minutes long but at nineteen "Revelation" still manages to hold my interest.

Overall Da Capo is a fantastic album and I listen to it at least a few times each month. Da Capo serves not only as the perfect progression from Love's Self-Titled  debut but also  sets the stage nicely for one of the greatest rock and roll albums of all-time in it's successor: The note perfect Forever Changes.