The Love Group's Michael Stuart, Drummer on Da Capo and Forever Changes, Pegasus Carousel

Sons of Adam
(Link to video performance
on YouTube)

LOVE’S LABORER LOST (AND FOUND)

BY MARK NORRIS

Music history has rarely seen the combination of artistic heights and commercial depths achieved by 1960s Los Angeles gurus Love. Fronted by songwriter Arthur Lee, the members formed one of the first racially mixed rock bands of the time while creating a music that was similarly hybridized.

Alternately lush and furious, the first three albums of Love’s career left an imprint on music fans and emerging musicians that far outweighed the rather modest sales of their initial release.

Since the 1968 release of the band’s magnum opus – and swansong for the original line-up – Forever Changes, Love has consistently been cited by a range of notable sources. On his most recent tour, Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant paid homage to the group by performing not one, but three, of Love’s lesser known cuts, while music critics have consistently named the album one of the top recordings of all time.

Despite the fact that Love is now included at the top of such lists, the group garnered little international or even national attention in its lifetime. Outside of the Sunset Strip in L.A., few music listeners were fully able to appreciate the glory of this magnificent group.

With the advent of CDs, and the money making bonanza that is CD reissues, the band has finally achieved some of the public accolades it so sadly missed during its existence. Forever Changes was recently re-released on CD, in newly remastered form, on Rhino Records. With a wealth of liner notes, photos and bonus tracks, the disc serves as a veritable holy grail for fans.

Sadly, for the original members of Love, such attention proves too little, too late. Lee is currently midway through a prison sentence that has seen the gifted songwriter spend the last five years behind bars, away from the studio and concert stage. In the past few years, both Love rhythm guitarist/composer Bryan McLean and bass player Ken Forssi passed away.

Until recently, the public had also lost touch with drummer Michael Stuart-Ware. With the release of his new memoir, Pegasus Carousel, (available at www.pegasuscarousel.com). Love fans finally have a chance to catch up with the drummer and glean a behind the scenes look at the tumultuous goings-on of the incongruously named band.