Love — Da Capo (1966):
I have listened to this tape several times its well above average for mid 60s reel
Released November 1966, Da Capo is the L.A. cult band Love’s bold left-turn: a studio leap with producer Paul A. Rothchild that expands their garage/folk debut into kaleidoscopic psychedelia, baroque pop, jazz inflections, and proto-punk energy. Tracked mostly at RCA Hollywood (with “7 and 7 Is” cut earlier at Sunset Sound), the album captures a reconfigured lineup (Michael Stuart on drums, “Snoopy” Pfisterer to keys, and jazz multi-instrumentalist Tjay Cantrelli) shaping Arthur Lee’s songs into something restless and new.

Side One is a stunner: the harpsichord-and-horn feint of “Stephanie Knows Who,” Bryan MacLean’s sun-dappled “Orange Skies,” the lilting Latin sway of “¡Que Vida!,” the explosive hit “7 and 7 Is” (Love’s highest-charting single, US #33), the hushed drama of “The Castle,” and the prismatic “She Comes in Colors.” The album reached #80 on the Billboard LPs chart—modest sales for music this adventurous, but a creative high-water mark that foreshadows the orchestrated grandeur of Forever Changes (1967).

Flip the record and you get “Revelation,” a side-long, in-studio expansion of the group’s club jam (“John Lee Hooker”)—part blues rave-up, part jazz-rock improvisation. Polarizing then and now, it nevertheless documents Love’s improvising, jazz-aware instincts years before “fusion” was codified.
Listening Sessions

Why this matters: Da Capo helped move Elektra Records deeper into rock (Love’s success opened doors—literally—for later signings) and cemented Arthur Lee’s reputation as one of the 60s’ most fearlessly eclectic writers. You can even hear the album’s ripple effects in pop history—critics have long noted echoes of “She Comes in Colors” in the Rolling Stones’ “She’s a Rainbow.” If Forever Changes is the consensus classic, Da Capo is the spark that lit the fuse.