Author: fgt

Our Top 10 Arthur Lee & Love Songs list looks at an incredible rock band formed in the mid-1960s that stood as one of the most inspiring bands for artists and musicians but probably never got the credit they deserved from a mass cultural point of view. The brilliant Arthur Lee led the band Love. Love released their first album in 1966 entitled Love. They were the first rock band to be signed by Electra Records. The lineup on the first album included Arthur Lee on lead vocals, Johnny Echols on lead guitar, Bryan MacLean on rhythm guitar, Ken Forssi on bass, and Alban Pfisterer on drums. The same lineup appeared on their second album, released in 1967, entitled Da Capo. That album also featured Michael Stuart on drums and Tjay Cantrelli on saxophone. Love’s third album, considered by many to be one of the greatest rock albums ever released, was issued in 1967, entitled Forever Changes.

Arthur Lee followed up the brilliant Forever Changes album with the record Four Sail in 1969. The album would feature an entirely new band except for Arthur Lee. The new lineup consisted of Jay Donnellan on lead guitar, Frank Fayad on bass, George Suranovich, and Drachen Theaker on drums. The same lineup released a double LP in 1969 entitled Out Here. It’s amazing how much music musicians put out in such a short period back in the 1960s and 70s. Bands had contracts that often called for two new albums a year.

Love released their sixth album in 1970 entitled False Start. The album featured Jimi Hendrix on the record’s opening track. False Start would be the last Love album to be considered a band album. The next Love record and final Love album was released in 1974, entitled Reel To Reel. It was an album that featured Arthur Lee, who utilized only studio musicians on the record.

Arthur Lee passed away in 2006. In 2012, a new Love album, Black Beauty, was released, which some described as the lost Love album that featured material never released before. Arthur Lee also released a solo album, Vindicator, in 1972, which was a huge favorite among Love fans.

Our top 10 Arthur Lee & Love songs list takes a look at some of the best material the band ever released. It’s tough to pick only ten since Love released so many great songs. In fact, we could have easily filled the list with just songs from the Forever Changes album. Nonetheless, if you’re unfamiliar with this band, we hope this top 10 Love songs list serves as a great introduction to this fabulous and important band.

# 10 – Signed D.C

We open our top 10 Arthur Lee & Love Songs list with a track from the band’s first album entitled Love. The song sounded eerily close to the traditional song “House of the Rising Sun.” This dark folk music ballad quickly captivated rock fans in 1966. It seems the Moody Blues were fans of this song when they composed their huge hit “Nights In White Satin” with the same chord progression and feel used in this great Love song. The song “Signed D.C.” was written by Arthur Lee.

# 9 – Revelation

We continue our top 10 Arthur Lee & Love Songs list with a track from the band’s second album entitled Da Capo. The album was released in 1966. The track “Revelation” was a nineteen-minute jam that filled up the entire second side of the record. Opening with a classical Bach riff, the song quickly merged into an extended blues jam featuring some incredible guitar work and intense playing by the band. Some dug it, some didn’t. We thought it was great back then and love it even more now.

# 8 – Always See Your Face

This great song by Love was released on the Four Sail album. The record was released in 1969. The album served as the follow-up to the very successful Forever Changes album. However, none of the musicians on Forever Changes or any of the other previous Love albums were on Four Sail, with the exception of Arthur Lee. Nonetheless, Four Sail was a great record, and “Always See Your Face” was one of our favorite songs from the album. Looking back, Four Sail is probably the album we have grown fond of over the years and may very well be our favorite Love album.

# 7 – I Still Wonder

I wonder how many people who heard this for the first time might have thought that this great Love song, “I Still Wonder,” was Crosby Stills & Nash. The song’s great vocals were only eclipsed by the great guitar work, which has always been a trademark of the Love sound no matter what band lineup was featured on any Love album. “I Still Wonder” was featured on the album Out Here. The album was released in 1969.

# 6 – My Little Red Book

As we continue our top 10 songs from the band Love list, we return to the band’s first album, Love. This great track, “My Little Red Book,” was an early fan favorite. It’s heavy, it’s psychedelic and contains hints of their future Forever Changes album in the song’s melody. This is very interesting because Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote the song. The impact of Burt Bacharach’s music is almost incomprehensible when looking back at the music of the 20th century across all genres.

# 5 – The Everlasting First

This smoking rock and roll track, “The Everlasting First,” featured Jimi Hendrix on guitar. It was released on Love’s sixth album, False Start. This recording is so killer that you may risk your life when listening to it.

# 4 –The Red Telephone

The song “The Red Telephone” was released on the iconic Forever Changes album. The band’s use of string and harpsichord plays a crucial role in the song’s arrangement. From the harpsichord sound to the spoken-word outro, the song always reminded me a bit of The Doors. In the end, it’s simply a stunning song from a stunning album.

# 3 – August

This was an incredibly killer track from the Four Sail album. The guitar playing on this one was extraordinary. Pure 1969 psychedelia blended with brilliant musicianship and songwriting. We almost placed this number one, but the next two songs are so legendary that we held back. Listen to that smoking guitar solo; it will blow your mind.

# 2 – Alone Again Or

As we come to the top two spots on our top 10 songs from the band Love list, we turn to two of the most popular recordings by the band. The great song “Alone Again Or was released on the fantastic Forever Changes album. Bryan MacLean wrote the song. The way Love utilized their horns with their folk music melodies and rock and soul edge was so groundbreaking and original. Other bands in the late 1960s would also utilize horns in rock, such as Chicago and Blood Sweat & Tears, but it was very different from what Love did.

The song “Alone Again Or” has been covered by many bands. It’s a tribute to how inspiring Love was for so many rock groups of the classic rock era. From UFO to The Dammed, great versions of the song paid homage to the power of Love.

# 1 – You Set The Scene

We close out our top 10 Love Songs with one of their most loved and cherished songs, “You Set The Scene.” The song was released on the band’s legendary album Forever Changes. The album was released in 1967. I could listen forever to the song’s opening guitar riff and bass line. At about 2:20, the song changes its rhythm magnificently as Arthur Lee sings about the life he has been living in a tone that is tender and yet haunting at the same time. It was the perfect song to close out such a brilliant album and a perfect way to end our top 10 Love songs list.

Special thanks to Michael McKatsy for advising on this one.

Love Discography:

Love – 1965

Da Capo – 1966

Forever Changes – 1967

Four Sail – 1969

Out Here – 1969

False Start – 1970

Reel To Reel – 1974

Black Beauty – 2012

Updated August 13, 2024

Top 10 Arthur Lee & Love Songs article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2024

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Bloomberg Law recently reported that longtime Journey keyboardist, Jonathan Cain, sued the iconic rock band’s sole remaining co-founder, guitarist Neal Schon, saying his lavish spending on tour has sown toxic divisions within the band.

Schon has blown past a $1,500-per-night hotel fee cap, maxed out an American Express card with a $1 million limit, unilaterally chartered private jets, hired a close friend as unnecessary extra security, and blocked efforts to pay the band’s debts, according to the court filing.

The dispute “is a very much public battle between petitioner and respondent and is impacting the band’s reputation throughout the music industry,” the lawsuit says. “The band’s actual onstage performance is, at the moment, one of the only aspects of the business that has not suffered.”

Neal Schon has now issued the following message via social media: “I find Cain’s slanderous allegations are very disruptive and damaging with intent to try to harm me, the band, crew, promoter and the tour. Truly disturbing to hear of Mr Cains filing in the middle of Journey’s very successful Stadium Tour with our good friends Def Leppard. Journey has a great life and I thank the fans for that .

“Jonathan Cain has created a very hostile work environment for not only myself, but other band members and crew-members. The allegations are false and I intend to prove it in court.

“My answers to Mr Cain’s false allegations and filing will be submitted by 5 PM ET Monday for all to read.

“My focus is, as it always has been, and will be, the music and fans since when I began Journey in 1972 , 51 years now for me, I will continue to always do what’s right for Journey in protecting and making good decisions for the band, crew, music and fans, all Journey band members you see on the stage with me I personally hired including Jonathan Cain.

“I will let the music do the talking.”

Planet Rock recently reporting that Journey have cancelled their entire UK & Ireland tour with special guests, Cheap Trick.

Ticketholders received an email confirming that the 11-date trek this autumn won’t be going ahead as planned.

“Due to circumstances beyond the band’s control, Journey’s UK and Ireland tour is unfortunately cancelled,” the short statement read. “Refunds will be made from your point of purchase.”

The planned dates in October and November 2024 were due to be Journey’s first shows on those shores in over a decade.

The 50th Anniversary Freedom Tour was scheduled to kick off at Cardiff Utilita Arena on Wednesday, October 30 and visit Nottingham, Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle before concluding at London The O2 on Sunday, November 17. Journey last graced the UK way back in May 2013 when they were touring their fourteenth studio album, Eclipse.

Journey are currently out on a co-headlining North American tour with Def Leppard. Tickets for all remaining dates on The Summer Stadium Tour 2024 are on sale here. Dates are listed below.

August
14 – Houston, TX – Minute Maid Park *
16 – San Antonio, TX – Alamodome *
19 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Field *
23 – Phoenix, AZ – Chase Field *
25 – Los Angeles, CA – SoFi Stadium *
28 – San Francisco, CA – Oracle Park *
30 – San Diego, CA – Petco Park *

September
4 – Seattle, WA – T-Mobile Park ^
8 – Denver, CO – Coors Field ^

* with Steve Miller Band
^ with Cheap Trick

TALENT WE LOST

R.I.P. Jon Andreas Nödtveidt (DISSECTION): June 28th, 1975 – August 13th, 2006 (aged 31)

HEAVY BIRTHDAYS

Happy 61st
Tigg Ketler (BANG TANGO) – August 13th, 1963

Happy 60th
Ian Haugland (EUROPE) – August 13th, 1964

HEAVY RELEASES

Happy 54th
IRON BUTTERFLY’s Metamorphosis – August 13th, 1970

“As you may or may not know, that was supposed to be a solo album,” Snider explained, “and the record company forced the band into the studio. I had moments of inspiration that were supposed to be for my solo record, but Twisted was forced into the studio and we broke up subsequently. I really blame it on the record company, if they’d just let us go our separate ways, cool off a couple years, A. J. (Pero) would do Cities, I would do solos, the other guys would do whatever they want, and then come back a couple of years later, I think we would have stayed together. For better or for worse, we would have stayed together. Thank you, I’m glad you appreciated that song. ‘Leader Of The Pack’, that was a misstep, but more because it was the wrong time. That song we used to play in the bars, and the fans would love it. It was on our first EP, with ‘Under The Blade’, ‘What You Don’t Know’, ‘Shoot ‘Em Down’, and ‘Leader Of The Pack’, for Secret Records before Under The Blade. So we would play it on tour for Under The Blade and the crowd would love it. So I thought it was a natural thing to bring back and redo, and we thought it was a big hit, but it was too slick, too produced, the video was too cartoonish, It had lost the snottiness of these five guys in drag doing it in a biker bar, which is originally where the inspiration came from, you know, ‘Fuck you, leader of the pack!’. Timing is everything. here have been some missteps and unfortunately this seems to be one of them. Talk about leaving a scar.” 

Happy 28th

Metal Hammer caught up with Machine Head frontman / founder Robb Flynn for a look back oon the band’s iconic Burn My Eyes album, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2024. Following is an excerpt from the story.

Flynn: “We didn’t think we were going to conquer the world. We knew the shit we were playing was super-aggressive and was never going to fly on the radio. I wasn’t sitting there thinking, ‘Oh this is going to set the world on fire!’ I just remember trying to make it as heavy, intense, pissed-off, experimental and wild as possible.”

Three decades on, it all seems disturbingly relevant to mankind’s current state of disarray. When Robb expressed doubts about the lyrics to Davidian (“Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast!”) after the mass shooting in Vegas in October 2017, it emphasised the edgy, subversive power that Machine Head were wielding back in those early days: this was music born of chaos and rage. No compromise, no fucks given.

“I feel proud of what I was able to say in those songs,” Robb states. “I don’t want to say it’s political, but songs like ‘Davidian’ and ‘Block’ were documenting all the crazy shit that was going on. Until then, there was a lot of fantasy stuff in metal and I couldn’t connect with it. Rap and punk rock were still about the streets and protest and anger. Anger, whether it was right or wrong, just spraying it everywhere, is definitely what was getting me off.”

Read the complete story here.

“To coincide with the 30th anniversary of our seminal debut album Burn My Eyes, we have scoured the vaults to unearth some absolute gold for the legions of die-hard Head Cases out there,” begins an update from Machine Head.

“All-new, limited edition Diamonds In The Rough ’92-’93 demos & rarities ultra-deluxe picture disc and splatter vinyl, plus CD digipak, all-new, limited edition merch designs including tee’s, zip hoodies, and beer drinkers rejoice, we even have limited edition Burn My Eyes IPA available in U.S. and EU courtesy of Black Lung Brewing and Turning Point Brew Co.

“We have found the original unmastered demo cassette of the 1993 demo that got the band signed, and had it meticulously remastered at Sterling Sound. But the jewel in the crown; a never-before-released 4-track cassette rehearsal demo with our original drummer Tony Costanza, painstakingly remixed from the original 4-track cassette bounces and also mastered at Sterling Sound.

– 2 vinyl color ways exclusive to Ten Ton Trading Co.
– 4 vinyl color ways exclusive to Metal Hammer UK, Revolver, Metal Injection and Rock Hard France
– 1 CD/Digipak exclusive to Ten Ton Trading Co.

“Take a scroll and browse our completely updated webstore!”

Shop here.

Note: Vinyl is a pre-order, ships September 4. Vinyl limited to 2 (two) per person. No resellers, no wholesalers.

UK prog rockers The Tirith have announced they will release a new live album, The Tirtith Live: Earth Songs, on August 30.

The band, who have now expanded to a quartet with the arrival of keyboardist Anthony Hill, recorded the new album mostly at a show at Leicester’s The Musician venue and with three acoustic tracks recorded at Rotterdam;s Tblok in the Netherlands. You can also watch a video for the opening track, Go The Drifter, performed live at The Musician, below.

The new live album has been mixed and mastered by bassist and vocalist Richard Cory and guitarist Tim Cox, the band’s primary songwriters.

The Tirith started life as early 70s heavy rock band Minas Tirith, one of several UK acts who went under the Minas Tirith monicker, also used by a Norwegian prog metal band, before disbanding but reformed in 2010 and have been active on the prog scene ever since.

The band will also appear at this year’s Nene Valley Rock Festival in September .

The Tirith: The Tirith Live: Earth Songs
1. Go The Drifter
2. Crystalwell
3. A Leap Into The Dark/The Autumn Of Our Days
4. Kalaya
5. Gin Lil
6. Farewell Fair Laurien
7. The Meeting of the Ways
8. My People (acoustic)
9. Song of the Forgotten One (acoustic)
10. The Quest (acoustic)

An extreme metal musician has quietly followed the lead of Gojira and performed at the Paris Olympic Games.

Gojira famously helped open the sporting event this year, offering a fiery heavy metal take on Ah! Ça Ira with an opera vocalist and inspiring worldwide headlines. It was the only time a metal artist had ever played the Olympics. But, as spotted by the eagle-eyed people at The PRP, Thomas Hedlund, drummer for sludge/post-metal behemoths Cult Of Luna, has now joined that very elite club.

The drummer played the closing ceremony of the Olympics on Sunday (August 11), but not with his main band. Instead, he was behind the kit for French electro/indie rockers Phoenix. Hedlund has been a touring and session member of the Versailles quartet since 2005.

Watch footage of Hedlund playing with Phoenix at the closing ceremony below.

Hedlund is a longtime member of Cult Of Luna, having joined the Swedish heavies in 2003, shortly after the release of their second album The Beyond. He made his recording debut with the band on 2004’s Salvation, which won critical acclaim. The music video for the album’s single Leave Me Here received moderate exposure on MTV.

Cult Of Luna released their latest album, The Long Road North, in 2022. It featured a collaboration with saxophonist Colin Stetson, composer for 2018’s cult horror film Hereditary, on the song An Offering To The Wild. Swedish musician and composer Mariam Wallentin also guested on the track Beyond I.

The band toured Europe extensively last year and headlined their own festival, Beyond The Redshift, in London in October. Cult Of Luna’s singer/guitarist, Johannes Persson, is currently touring Europe with post-metal/noise solo artist Julie Christmas.

Hedlund is now touring Europe and Asia with Phoenix. The band will play All Points East festival in London on August 25. For the full list of their upcoming dates, see their website.

Metallica members Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo have covered Ministry’s Just One Fix onestage.

The duo performed the jam of the industrial metal classic during their concert at Soldier Field in Chicago on Sunday (August 11). Watch footage of the performance below.

The cover is the latest in a series of ‘doodles’ that guitarist Hammett and bassist Trujillo have been performing together since Metallica’s 2016-to-2019 Worldwired tour. The pair have previously done When Doves Cry by Prince, Killers by Iron Maiden, Dancing Queen by Abba and more, with each cover tailored to honour a hometown musical hero in the city where Metallica are playing.

Ministry formed in Chicago in 1981. The band, led by vocalist Al Jourgensen, started as a synthpop act but began to pioneer the industrial metal genre on their 1988 album The Land Of Rape And Honey.

The band released Just One Fix as the third single of their fifth album, Psalm 69: The Way To Succeed And The Way To Suck Eggs, in January 1993. Though the track didn’t chart, it’s become a fan favourite among Ministry’s following and is their third-most performed song live. It’s been played 712 times at time of publication, per setlist wiki setlist.fm, putting it behind only Thieves (745) and N.W.O. (717).

Ministry acknowledged Metallica’s cover in a Facebook post on Sunday, sharing Youtube footage of the performance with the caption, “Thank you Metallica 🤘🤘🤘”

Metallica are currently midway through the North and Central American leg of their M72 world tour. The tour features “no repeat weekends”, where the band grace the same venue twice and play two totally different setlists. The trek continues with shows at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on August 16 and 18.

See the full list of Metallica’s upcoming M72 shows below.

Aug 16: Minneapolis US Bank Stadium, MN, USA
Aug 18: Minneapolis US Bank Stadium, MN, USA
Aug 23: Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium, Canada
Aug 25: Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium, Canada
Aug 30: Seattle Lumen Field, WA, USA
Sep 01: Seattle Lumen Field, WA, USA
Sep 20: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 22: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 27: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 29: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico

Megadeth have performed 1988 song Liar live for the first time in 18 years.

The American thrash metal force played the So Far, So Good… So What! track at their concert at the Youtube Theater in Los Angeles on Friday (August 9). It was last performed during the band’s tour of Asia and Australia in October 2006. Watch the footage of the song’s comeback below.

Megadeth singer/guitarist Dave Mustaine wrote Liar’s lyrics as an attack on the band’s former guitarist Chris Poland. Along with drummer Gar Samuelson, Poland was fired from Megadeth following the tour for 1986 album Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying! for disruptive behaviour stemming from heroin abuse. Poland was also accused of selling the band’s musical equipment to fund his addiction.

Poland confirmed that Liar was written about him in a 2022 interview with Sofa King Cool. “Oh, yeah. Obviously, Dave was very upset with me when I left the band – when he fired me, basically,” the guitarist said (via Blabbermouth).

When asked if the lyrical scathing made him angry, Poland said no and hinted towards Mustaine’s own heavy drug use at the time: “It’s like the pot calling the kettle black, man. When you point your finger, man, there’s three pointing back at you. I just rolled my eyes and was like, ‘Really?’”

Mustaine and Poland seemingly mended fences by 2004, as the guitarist played on the Megadeth album The System Has Failed. However, their relationship soon soured again, when Poland sued Mustaine over the inclusion of three demos on a 2004 re-release of 1990 album Rust In Peace.

Megadeth – now rounded out by guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari, bassist James LoMenzo and drummer Dirk Verbeuren – are currently touring North America and will perform at the Hayden Homes Amphitheater in Bend, Oregon, tonight (August 13). See the full list of dates and get tickets via their website.

The band are also currently working on new music, according to LoMenzo.

The future of eclectic London prog trio black midi was thrown into doubt over the weekend when singer and guitarist Geordie Greep appeared to announce that the band had split, followed by what appeared to be confirmation from bassist Cameron Picton, which was then followed by what appeared to be an official statement from the band’s management stating they were on an “indefinite hiatus”.

With Greep about to announce a new solo album, he announced on Instagram that “black midi was an interesting band that’s indefinitely over”, which was then. followed by Picton taking to Twitter to say, “We’d agreed to not say anything about ‘breaking up’ so I was as blindsided as everyone else last night but maybe in a different way. I guess sometimes all you can say is lol. Anyway! Starting sessions for my own record soon, looking forward – should be good, hopefully great!” before deleting the Tweet.

This was then followed by a statement from the band’s management saying, “After a successful tour including South American dates they agreed to have a break and do some solo work, with the understanding the black midi door be left open.”

Greep announced a new solo project, Geordie Greep And The Swing Boys, earlier this year and played a launch gig at Brixton’s The Windmill back in April. He will also play some solo dates in the USA with local musicians next month.

Cameron Picton is working on a new project entitled Camera Picture, while former guitarist Matt Kwasniewski also released a standalone single on his Bandcamp page in March.