Exclusive! High Moon Records boss George Wallace on a tantalising new collection of unreleased Love songs
GEORGE WALLACE: “This unprecedented collection of Arthur Lee/Love recordings were made during the last 15 years of his life – from 1990 until Arthur’s final studio recording, in the summer of 2005. In a Memphis hospital in 2006, after a long battle against leukaemia, Arthur gave his wife, Diane, two CDs he’d compiled and asked her if she would oversee the release of the songs after he was gone. Arthur Lee Is Love Just To Remind You is comprised of the songs that Arthur put on the CDs.
“Sourced from Arthur’s trove of tapes, the music covers his wide-ranging taste and adeptness, from Forever Changes-style, haunting strings and brass-adorned productions, to Arthur at the piano, playing Ray Charles-inspired licks and singing with glorious, soulful abandon.
READ THE MAKING OF LOVE’S “SHE COMES IN COLORS” HERE
“Baby Lemonade, who Arthur anointed as his ‘new Love’ in 1993, contribute their stellar musicianship to half of the album’s tracks. Earlier this year, in March, we booked the current band, led by Johnny Echols, into LA’s Sunset Sound, Studio A – the very same studio where Love recorded their first three albums – to record a final instrumental track for one of the songs on the CDs that Arthur gave to Diane. Joe Blocker, who played drums with Love in the mid-’70s, and was a lifelong friend of Arthur’s, was brought in to produce this unconventional session. The band was recording live to an Arthur vocal track (recorded the year before they joined up with him) and a lovely orchestral arrangement created by David Angel, who arranged and orchestrated Forever Changes. The session marked the 60th anniversary of Arthur and Johnny’s first studio collaboration: Arthur Lee and The L.A.G’s single, ‘The Ninth Wave’ b/w ‘Rumble-Still-Skins’, on Capitol Records.”
Hear “Five String Serenade” from Arthur Lee Is Love Just To Remind You below…
High Moon Records will release Arthur Lee Is Love Just To Remind You