Arthur Lee, frontman for the legendary band Love, died Thursday of complications from leukemia at a hospital in Memphis.
Love is probably best known to Bacharach fans for their stripped-down garage punk version on "My Little Red Book," which hit #52 on the Billboard pop chart in 1966 (Bacharach reportedly hated it), but they went on to record one of the greatest albums of all time, Forever Changes, an album that owes a debt to Bacharach if only for its lush orchestrations and startling beauty (One of the song titles on Forever Changes is "A House Is Not A Motel").
Here's the New York Times obituary.
RIP Arthur Lee
Moderator: mark
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steveo_1965
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Mark,
I do seem to remember reading that Burt said he "hated" Love's version of his song.
However, I do recall the sounds going down at that time in the mid 60's, and listening to Burt's version on Kapp...well it wasn't the hippest version
we've ever heard...
I guess that is the bane or the beauty of "other versions"...they come out
on their own and develop into something quite different than the composer
often envisions them.
Listening to the structure of "Little Red Book", harmonically, rhythmically, and otherwise. I deem this song to be one of Burt's most unusual compositions...Strange rhythms and minor chord shifts...I'm wondering if that song could have ever been a hit any other way than how Love did it.
At the time I felt that they did a nice "rock"version of that tune...
The Walker Bros. came out with their version of "Make It Easy On Yourself" which I personally hated...it was buried deep in echo, and I guess was intended to be a Phil Spector type version of the song....ala "Youve Lost That Lovin' Feelin' " A muddled piece of junk, but the public ate it up.
Sorry for rambling, but the thing I'm trying to say here is, with the exposure of material, there are going to be various arrangements or versions of songs that will shoot up the charts, and not neccessarily be good versions for the composer.
I do seem to remember reading that Burt said he "hated" Love's version of his song.
However, I do recall the sounds going down at that time in the mid 60's, and listening to Burt's version on Kapp...well it wasn't the hippest version
we've ever heard...
I guess that is the bane or the beauty of "other versions"...they come out
on their own and develop into something quite different than the composer
often envisions them.
Listening to the structure of "Little Red Book", harmonically, rhythmically, and otherwise. I deem this song to be one of Burt's most unusual compositions...Strange rhythms and minor chord shifts...I'm wondering if that song could have ever been a hit any other way than how Love did it.
At the time I felt that they did a nice "rock"version of that tune...
The Walker Bros. came out with their version of "Make It Easy On Yourself" which I personally hated...it was buried deep in echo, and I guess was intended to be a Phil Spector type version of the song....ala "Youve Lost That Lovin' Feelin' " A muddled piece of junk, but the public ate it up.
Sorry for rambling, but the thing I'm trying to say here is, with the exposure of material, there are going to be various arrangements or versions of songs that will shoot up the charts, and not neccessarily be good versions for the composer.
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mark
- Site Admin
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Hey Steve,
Where've you been?
I think Burt has said he hated Love's "My Little Red Book" specifically because they changed the chords. I guess they needed to strip it down to easier chords to play on guitar rather than Burt's jazzy 7ths or whatever he wrote.
In my case at least, Love's version played a definitive role in my discovery of Bacharach. Long before I knew who wrote it, I felt an indescribeable attraction to the chorus, the "All I did was to talk, talk about you" part. The melody and phrasing of "Hear your name, I start to cry/There's just no getting over you" part was what hooked me. It was only much later than I made the connection between "My Little Red Book" and all these other unique, instantly memorable songs by other artists that I loved and the element connecting them all: the composer.
Where've you been?
I think Burt has said he hated Love's "My Little Red Book" specifically because they changed the chords. I guess they needed to strip it down to easier chords to play on guitar rather than Burt's jazzy 7ths or whatever he wrote.
In my case at least, Love's version played a definitive role in my discovery of Bacharach. Long before I knew who wrote it, I felt an indescribeable attraction to the chorus, the "All I did was to talk, talk about you" part. The melody and phrasing of "Hear your name, I start to cry/There's just no getting over you" part was what hooked me. It was only much later than I made the connection between "My Little Red Book" and all these other unique, instantly memorable songs by other artists that I loved and the element connecting them all: the composer.
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steveo_1965
- Posts: 1022
- Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2006 2:17 pm
- Location: Los Angeles
Forever Changes
You sold me, Mark - I just ordered the album. It's always great to learn of another treasure from the past. Long live reissues!