12. LoveDa Capo
One of the abandoned criteria for this list was to present an alternative to what is thought of as L.A. music – Love were an L.A. band. So many of Love’s records could have made it on here and it’s not to be contrarian to not choose Forever Changes because I think that’s a beautiful record too. Arthur Lee is such a huge inspiration, but Love wasn’t just Arthur Lee, especially on this record, because a lot of the songs were co-written by the guitar player. The reason De Capo is my favourite record by Love is that the songs are amazing and there is a vulnerability to them. Arthur Lee was like the Johnny Rotten character of the band. He had this mythology of being bizarre, psychedelic – he purportedly influenced how Jimi Hendrix dressed – this baggage of being the dark wizard of L.A., and I love that he still put out vulnerable music that kind of sounds like Burt Bacharach. I always feel disappointed when people get stuck in maintaining this Dark Lord bullshit. You can get in a ship, you can sail across the ocean, but if all you do is battle for 20 years, maybe you’re not an explorer, maybe you’re a warrior and that’s fine. The world needs warriors, but you’re not exploring, so don’t call yourself an explorer if you’re just getting into fights for 20 years. Arthur Lee was a dark person, but he had these other beautiful elements and Love had these beautiful elements. It’s not about breaking the mould or being contrarian to this dark psychedelia, it’s just about presenting the full picture, which isn’t always going to sound the same. When you have these more open or sensitive moments, it creates a fuller picture of that personality, and I love it.
