Love Da Capo CD

 First Side Is Amazing
'Da Capo', Love's second album, is often maligned for the side-long jam "Revelation". Okay, I'll admit the 18-minute long song has its moments (particularly when the sax comes in), but to many it'll probably be a "hear once" kind of song. Besides, the album was released in 1967, and they were simply doing what was popular at the time. For this album, Love briefly expanded to a 7-piece, adding Tjay Cantrelli on sax and flute, moving drummer Alban "Snoopy" Pfisterer to keyboards, and putting new member Michael Stuart on drums. Listening to this album shows how amazingly fast Love matured musically (and Arthur Lee's songwriting muse had now been fully developed) in just a year. Anyways, on to the actual review: The opener, "Stephanie Knows Who", is a briskly paced jazzy waltz kind of track. Arthur Lee shouts his trademark cryptic lyrics with plenty of emotion - a great opener to a great album. Allegedly, it's about a mutual friend of Bryan MacLean's and Arthur Lee's. Next up is Bryan MacLean's achingly beautiful "Orange Skies". The melody was written around Roger McGuinn's guitar solo on "Bells of Rhymney". This song was written by MacLean when he was only 17, already showing his immense talent. Another interesting thing to note is that this song is sung by Arthur Lee alone (normally MacLean took vocals on his songs). Also, this song has some great flute playing. Next up is the Lee-penned "¡Que Vida!", a very Latin-influenced track. The lyrics are still cryptic and surreal (though if you're not a Love neophyte, this shouldn't come as a surprise to you). After "¡Que Vida!" comes the corkscrew paced rocker, "Seven & Seven Is", released as a single (which peaked at #33, effectively becoming their only "hit"). Also interesting to note is that on the single it was titled "7 And 7 Is". The song has some of the most cryptic lyrics ever written, and climaxes with a countdown, followed by a slowed-down gun shot sound, before ending with a dreamlike blues coda. The next track, "The Castle", is the only track on the album that would foreshadow their next effort, the masterpiece 'Forever Changes'. The theme of travel (both physical and mental) permeates through the song, which is built around some great flamenco-flavored fingerpicking. Next up is perhaps the greatest song that ever came from Arthur Lee's pen, "She Comes in Colors". In an interview, Arthur Lee said that it's quite literally about making love to a woman during her period, but he may have just been messing with the interviewer. Also interesting to note is that this song is reportedly the inspiration for the Rolling Stones' song, "She's a Rainbow". After the magnificent first side of songs, comes the tedious and unnecessary 18-minute long blues jam "Revelation". I'll admit that the song has its moments, like when the sax comes in, but it's ultimately a "one listen" kind of song. However, they really were just doing what was popular at the time. However, I'd have to say the saddest part is that Bryan MacLean later said he had enough songs written at the time to take up the second side of the LP. Even if they had just been half as good as the first side, this would've been a classic on-par with 'Forever Changes'. However, Arthur Lee was unwilling to sacrifice a significant amount of control on the band to have MacLean's songs take up side two. I believe MacLean's songs would've been great inclusions, particularly since the 'IfYouBelieveIn' demo album probably had some of the songs that would've been on the album. All in all, judge this album based on the first side of the album, not the unnecessary "Revelation" jam. Ultimately, a near-classic album that could've been as great as 'Forever Changes' had Bryan MacLean been allowed to put his songs on the second side of the album.
Submitted by Matt (Palos Park, IL, USA)
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 Timeless..
i LOVE this album makes me think about how when the late 60's REALLY were
Submitted by honoraryme (los angeles, ca, USA) 
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 A good album
This LOVE's album is nottheir best(i think "Forever Changes" is),but it is good.Just good...
Submitted by Andrew (Athens,Greece)
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