I've just found out that Arthur Lee from Love died on Thursday.
Despite my love of all things 60s, I only discoverd Love fairly recently - on the coverage of Glastonbury 2003, where Arthur Lee was one of the best acts and one of the main reasons for us going to the festival the following year. While the crowds went to watch Franz Ferdinand, we trudged up to the acoustic tent, against the flow, to see Arthur Lee. He didn't disappoint, especially with 'You set the Scene' where he changed the lyrics slightly to have a go at Bush.
Despite my love of all things 60s, I only discoverd Love fairly recently - on the coverage of Glastonbury 2003, where Arthur Lee was one of the best acts and one of the main reasons for us going to the festival the following year. While the crowds went to watch Franz Ferdinand, we trudged up to the acoustic tent, against the flow, to see Arthur Lee. He didn't disappoint, especially with 'You set the Scene' where he changed the lyrics slightly to have a go at Bush.
Love were an influential band in the west coast psychedelic scene, but they never really achieved great fame or commercial success (although I believe 'Forever Changes' is Ken Livingstone's favourite album). Arthur Lee described himself as the first black hippie and was a great self-mythologist - he claimed that Hendrix tried it on with him once!
"This is the only thing that I am sure of
And that's all that lives is gonna die
And there'll always be some people here to wonder why
And for every happy hello, there will be good-bye
There'll be time for you to put yourself on"
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