Old writing: Arthur Lee & Love
On 4th June 2002, Arthur, backed by LA band, Baby Lemonade, played in Glasgow at King Tut's. It was the start of a late career flourish on his release from prison, but for the time being, it was a case of playing the 'hits' that few in the audience would have expected to have the chance to hear him perform ever again.
By way of context, the previous day, many of Lee's fellow 60s travellers (Ray Davies, Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson to name a few) had performed as part of the comedic spectacle that was Party at the Palace, a concert outside Buckingham Palace to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee.
My review from The Herald:
Nominally it is Love, though not as we know it. The remarkable thing is that any incarnation of the band is here, in so small a venue, and performing so vibrantly. The last five years have seen two of the line up that made their landmark Forever Changes – Bryan Maclean and Ken Forssi – die, and Lee himself in prison until last December.
The central character has instead recruited a pick up band in the shape of L.A. power-pop outfit, Baby Lemonade, who have an intimate understanding of and sensitivity to, Lee’s back catalogue.
In many respects this is the easy part – one of his few peers, Brian Wilson, has achieved the same through recruiting the Wondermints to cover some of his own deficiencies – but the real revelation is Lee’s own performance. He can rarely have sounded more soulful.
He even seems to have regained a sense of humour that was notably absent from his performances during the “lost” period of the late eighties and early nineties. “It may not look like it, but I’m going to rock Scotland,” he promises at the outset.
A request for I Can’t Explain is met with the riposte “try explaining that jail sentence.” At one point he even threatens to jump off the stage and kick some over-enthusiastic, rather than abusive fans.
Inevitably, the music is exclusively drawn from his pre-1970 songbook.
There are ten selections from Forever Changes– with the highlight being a three song sequence that takes in Alone Again Or, Bummer in the Summer and Andmoreagain.”
Other genuinely affecting moments, on a night of several, include Signed D.C, and Singing Cowboy.
The unlikely outcome is that while his contemporaries were disgracing themselves at the Palace, Lee is actually enhancing his reputation. Who would have thought it?
