Keep On Shinning A Guide Through the music of Love & Arthur Lee: An extraordinary and exclusive look at one of the most influential rock bands of all time
Author William E. Spevack covers everything there is to know about Arthur Lee and Love’s music in over 500 pages
Keep On Shinning A Guide Through the music of Love & Arthur Lee: An extraordinary and exclusive look at one of the most influential rock bands of all time
David Warren an editor and author for Pop Expresso and in the free time enjoys making instrumental music – davidwarrenmusic.com – and to learn about history and cultures. Reach out at david@popexpresso.com
As the author William E. Spevack puts it, “Keep On Shinning A Guide Through the Music of Love & Arthur Lee” is a “archeological dig,” since no other books study the career of the influential Psychedelic Rock band Love, one of the most important bands of the late 1960s, in such depth and accuracy. In fact, we rarely come across books regarding bands that go into such detail as the one you’ll find here. It delves into the individual profiles of each member, with a plethora of genuine statements from everyone who has played a role in Love’s continued success, either directly or indirectly (including those of dedicated fans.) It digs deeper into the band’s history, dating all the way back to the first Arthur Lee shows in 1963. The author examines the impact of artists such as Bob Dylan on Love’s distinct and recognizable sound; you can learn how the band met people such as Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones and The Byrds early on in their Sunset Strip days, in places such as Ciro’s. It looks at Love’s various lineups and how the most famous one came to be. A full account of how Jac Holzman signed Love to his then-new label, Elektra Records, is another highlight of the book. Their debut in 1966 with the single “My Little Red Book” and the self-titled album Love, helped put Elektra Records on the map for Rock acts, and Arthur Lee was the one who first proposed the label to sign the band that helped transform Elektra into a major label: The Doors.
The book includes a couple of rare and amusing stories about Jim Morrison and Arthur Lee, and how the two bands shared the same universe early in their careers, aside from being Jim Morrison’s favorite band, they shared in common manager Ronnie Haran, who left Love to manage The Doors, sound engineer Bruce Botnick, producer Paul Rothchild, the Sunset Sound Studios, and even Morrison’s girlfriend Pam Courson: “I couldn’t get rid of Jim Morrison. Everything I did, he did. He hung out with me. He had my lady Pam Courson, he got her, I had a black Labrador retriever, he got one.”
One of the book’s distinguishing features is the research of all the tracks performed and recorded by Love and its members over the years, including information on unreleased, live, and obscure recordings that even some fans may be unaware of. It can be used as a discography guide, but it is much more as you read through over 500 pages of stories, oddities, and rare photographs that explain why Love, despite not achieving the same level of fame as bands like The Doors, is one of the most influential artists and (again) is partially responsible for changing the course of Rock history when they suggested The Doors be signed by Elektra Records. It’s a must-have for any die-hard Love fan, and for the casual or music fan, it’s a unique glimpse into the world of a band that offered us songs like “Alone Again Or,” “7 and 7 Is,” “Orange Skies,” “Signed D.C.” “My Little Red Book” or “The Red Telephone,” as well as one of the best music albums of all time, the unrivaled “Forever Changes,” released in 1967.
Love, like its labelmates The Doors, succeeded in creating a sound that is both distinctive and timeless, and despite the fact that the band’s and the majority of its members’ stories did not end well, they have a well-deserved and secure place in the Rock pantheon.
Watch Love & Arthur Lee performing “My Little Red Book” at American Bandstand, 1966
Listen to The Best of Love in Spotify
Watch more 1960’s related videos
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