Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Love's "Maybe the People......"


Here’s my weekly reminder to tune into Sinking with Sylvia (and Sometimes Todd) on Little Radio from 11:00AM – 1:00PM on Thursday. Their guests tomorrow will be The Screening from the UK who are in town to play Spaceland tonight, Boardner’s tonight, the Echo on Friday and some other places.

As you know, I pick one song each week for the radio program. Todd always ridicules it, but it all works out because I ridicule his selections as well. I’m still playing catch up, but my pick on August 30th was Love’s “Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale.” I’ve written about Love too many times (and even named my blog after the last song on their best album, Forever Changes). Love’s sort of the quintessential LA band for me. They started out being heavily influenced by the Byrds and Rolling Stones and evolved into a really unique chamber-folk-psych band. Their first three albums are essential listening (and their fourth and fifth have some great moments too).

At the time of recording Forever Changes, lead singer and main lyricist Arthur Lee felt he was going to die. That doom and paranoia pretty much pervade throughout the album and have made Forever Changes feel like a precursor of the death of the hippies. (Its release preceded Altamont by two years). I picked this track because it’s one of Lee’s more upbeat tracks from the record (some of Bryan Maclean’s tracks are more upbeat). The title refers to the location of the Whisky on Sunset between Clark and Hilldale. The lyrics probably allude to the Sunset Strip curfew riots (which were also the basis for Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth”) and hanging out at the Whisky. Today the Whisky’s a shitty pay to play venue, so any riots will probably start from the stage of the club.

Listen to Love tracks on Myspace
See clips from the Love Story film on Myspace
Watch Love perform “You Set the Scene” at the Fonda in 2003 on Youtube

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