Da Capo

I listened and now I can die

This album sounds the way wet socks feel.

Somehow this reminds me of what The Doors would have sounded like without Ray Manzerak and not as into drugs.

The coolest things about this album might be Neanderthal Han solo on the cover. This shit sucks.

Wow this is quite an album… I loved the 60s feel, then at the end “Revelation” goes totally wild… 19 minutes of groovy goodness! I love that this project is serving up some really amazing 60s music that I have never heard of before.

This band is listed as "psychedelic rock" which ... isn't wrong, exactly. But it's also not entirely right. At times, it feels very Stones and at times, it feels like early punk but with more skill. It was like the best of psychedelia and the best of punk and it was really enjoyable... mostly. I loved it up until the last track which got very self-indulgent and then the vocalist just sorta started screaming... not the best experience and it did kill what was going to be a 5 star review. Still a good album, though.

Required a couple of listens but this was an excellent record that seems heaps far ahead of its time. Orange Skies is such a beautiful tune and easily my highlight, sounds like it could've been released yesterday. Revelation is a big old journey which I especially loved the last 8 minutes of, closing out a track with a drum solo is prime time.

At once frightfully earnest and obtusely satirical, they aim for bonkers and hit their target right in the ghoulies. The quiddling lyrics, frenetic drumming, and puckish pipe-blowing play their part, but it wouldn't be anywhere near as successful--or listenable--if they weren't incorrigible melodists. That means there's always a firm point from which to depart from on one of their zigzags. They find the temptation to return irresistible, too, even if the melody has changed after they've returned from outer space. Also: One more for the small pile of albums where the stupidly long closer is rather good.

Can not fathom why this record is considered for this list. Nothing stood out and then the never ending final song sunk whatever meager positive feelings and goodwill the record had managed to generate.

El reverso barroco del Forever Changes, igualmente psicodélico, con toques jazz, sobre todo en la Jam final de 18 minutos, Revelation. Fantástico.

Gran disco con una Cara B completamente fuera de si. Tiene un poco de psicodelia, jazz, folk, garaje... I like it.

Solid late 60’s psych/garage. Definitely of its time. Fans of The Velvet Underground and Can will probably find something to like here, especially of the more garage-y tracks like ‘Seven and Seven Is’ and the side long ‘Revelation’.

This band is sweet, kind of proto-punk, while staying within that 60s garage rock vibe. The sound seems ahead of its time for sure, and they wrote a lot of songs that survived into relevancy after all these years.

As I lay here listening to Da Capo, I wonder why this uncomplicated poppy 60s fayre has been included on the list. At which point Seven and Seven Is starts being a pre-punk, pre-surf punk delight that genuinely surprises me by being from 1966. We then go straight back to uncomplicated 60s pop fayre that - wait a minute - is actually complicated quite a lot by an awesome bassline and some tempo variations that I proper was not expecting. Thumbs up.

Short songs but with a lot of quality except for the last song which is long and at some point it could boring, however in general it's an album that I enjoyed a lot, relaxing but with a lot of energy.

Love is great, though I’ve never heard this particular record before. “Stephanie Knows Who” is a whirlwind of several music styles and approaches. Folk, Baroque, proto-funk, proto-punk, garage rock. Arthur Lee’s energy is infectious. “Orange Skies” has a nice classic 60’s vibe as it starts, reminding me of Peggy Lee and other 60’s loungey jazz-inflected pop. Though the songs on this album evoke other musical styles, the result is something especially unique and unparalleled in style and vibe. “Que Vida” is especially lyric-forward, introducing a collection of questions with the exception of the last verse which ends in an assertion about death. We move from loungey 60’s pop to garage roc/proto-punk on 7 and 7 is! So 7 and 7 is certainly 14, though I’m not sure what else the title could be referring to based on the lyrics. Lee is known for expressing societal and philosophical truths in his lyrics, though this one is especially hidden. From what I’ve heard thus far, “The Castle” is my favorite of this record. The acoustic guitar riff is lovely, the lyrics are engaging, and the harpsichord is a fun witty harkening back to times in which there were castles. Again, “She Comes in Colors” has great lyrics and a unique yet accessible melody. Lastly, we have “Revelation” which is 18 minutes long! All in all, this is a record that I’d love to return to and listen closely to the lyrics, as Lee is very much a wordsmith.

It would be easy to that this album does psychedelic folk rock by the numbers, but that fact is that Arthur Lee and Love wrote the rules then broke them as many times as they could. How does an album so syrupy on one level exhude such punk as f**k energy?

Love the folk and psychedelia mix

A man woke up one morning with a constant pounding drumming sound in his ears. All day it continues, drumming, drumming, drumming. And the next day, and the next. Drumming, drumming, drumming. Exasperated ,he goes to his doctor, who can't work out what the problem is. The doctor refers the man to a specialist. It just won't stop, the never-ending drumming in his ears. "Ah ha" says the specialist, "I've seen this before. To cure it, you just need to light a cigarette lighter, and wave it slowly from side to side in time with the drumming." The constant noise is driving then man crazy, so he decides to give it a try. So, he gets a cigarette lighter, stands up and waves is slowly above his head. And, sure enough, the drumming ceases. "Oh my god, what a relief" cries the man. And then the bass solo starts. That is exactly how I felt listening to 'Revelation'. Self-indulgent 1960s jamming. I know it was the vogue at the time, but it is the worst kind of padding. If I owned this record, I would never, never, NEVER EVER, play side 2. It is interminable wank (with a bass solo). Even the band hate it. Side 1 is somewhat better, with some pretty tunes and those ornate chamber pop arrangements so beloved by music critics. Arthur Lee's tendency to shout can be annoying, although works well in "7 and 7 Is", which is the stand-out track on the record. Most of the other songs can be a little precious. I find Dimery's obsession with psychedelia really reflective of rock snob music critics' infatuation with 'cult' 1960's albums, especially if they were not commercially successful at the time and at least one member of the band had a significant mental health issue. It reeks of hipper-than-thou, "you wouldn't have heard of them" snobbishness which gives me the screaming shits. Maybe I'd be more tolerant of this if the critical praise wasn't so over-hyped and exclusionary. Don't get me wrong, I really like 'Forever Changes', but today, I'm just not in the mood. If it was all like side 1, I might be tempted to give this a 4 star rating, but Revelation is just a horrible waste of everyone's time. So, 3 stars it is.

My Rating: 4.6/5 Psychedelic Breadcrumbs This album is like: • The sound of falling in love with someone you just met at a poetry reading in Laurel Canyon • Being serenaded by a garage band possessed by the ghost of Bach • Accidentally joining a cult… but like, a well-dressed cult with harpsichord solos

Hey, that was quite cool. Reminded me of #24, The Electric Prunes' 1967 debut with its hodgepodge of 60ies contemporary music styles - except: I reviewed that one with 1 star. And had felt, since then, that I have been too harsh with it, but now I feel vindicated. "Da Capo" is how you do that. Quirky, fun, feels and sounds inspired, innovative and with its own identity... it's good. Love the sax part of "Revelation". This might be a 5 tomorrow.

"Love" is quite the fitting band name for these guys! I love it! The vibes are awesome!!!

This is such a weird, wild album that feels very forward thinking. Not fitting into any neat mold, I'm hearing a lot of influences for later baroque indie rock and proto prog. I imagine people hearing this for the first time in 66 weren't quite sure what to make of it.

Good vibes, too uneducated to speak much to the genre fusion stuff but had a good time - weirdly got a big soft spot for ending on a massive drum solo that only comes through your left ear

5 stars eh? I guess you could say I LOVE this album! *Slaps knee, laughs alone in awkward silence, removes himself from the room*

The best album that came out from Los Angeles in 1966. It's a groundbreaking and forward thinking album, which influenced many bands and artist afterwards . It was released a year before The Doors' debut on the same label (Elektra) and the similarities are there. The songwriting is excellent not by only Arthur Lee but also Bryan MacLean, the instruments are varied and interesting. I also love the jam on the B-side, not many albums end with a drum solo! It's as great as Forever Changes from 1967, which means it is among the best albums in the 60s.

Fantastic - L.A. before its Doors were opened, tho Arthur Miller's voice can be even more rangy and dynamic than Morrison's. It's all and that's everything at once, with flutes too ('Orange Skies,' '¡Que Vida!,’ ‘She Comes in Colors’) and I like that loads. Where'd they hide from me all these years? This one comes in colors.

The perfect album.. Masterpiece

it felt like this album was going by really quick and then BOOM. 19 minute song. i rest my case. 10/10

a Roxanne album. its insane i havent heard this before. immaculate. last song they were having fun that’s for sure.

totally revelatory man...one of the nastier results of a perusal of the Canon is that while some bands are inevitably over-represented others are reduced to a single significant album, cut off from its evolution and context and often implying a narrative of "most of their music kinda sounds like this but this is where they did it the best." i rly like forever changes and ig was unconsciously expecting something in that mold, but i was totally wrong to do so...arthur lee flexes his songwriting and creativity muscles in directions i didnt even know he was capable of based on that one album, creating a diverse and ornate hippie fantasyland that still Has Things To Say. honestly he might deserve the cred that ended up going to jim morrision...such a magnetic presence, and here he is in full gonzo exploration mode that only enhances my appreciation for forever changes' tender apocalypse. so mind-expanding!

I don't understand. Elements of this record sound as though they could have been recorded last year. Others clearly place it in the 60s. The musical ideas must have been unheard of at the time.

This album is much better than I expected. I will probably listen again!

Can I give a perfect score to an album where the first 6 songs, 18 minutes are more or less perfection, followed by one 19 minute track that's basically a mess? Albeit one with several enjoyable sections. Probably not. Or can I? Fuck it, yes I can.

Fun rock album with a bit of soul/jazz infused - highly enjoyed!

Loads of sounds recognised in this one.

cool

Vaikkakin jotkut kohdat raivostuttavat, mieli tyyntyy tämän teoksen mahdottomassa, siinä mitä ei voi käsittää. Muutama corny kappale ja pidempi soitto, muutamat hassut lyriikat. Kokonaisuus on tuo mahdoton, joka muodostuu ennaltamäärittäen ja jonka katse on meiltä ihmisiltä piilossa, kunnes se nousee tajuntaamme albumin loputtua. Bravo. Bravo. Jokainen objektivisti nousee seisomaan ja taputtaa, riemuitsee tätä mestausta jonka global reviews avg. kuin entiteettinä suuren yleisön silmien edessä yrittää suorittaa. Mestaus suoritetaan ja subjektivistit kalpenevat. Maa tärisee syvimmät pelot puskevat ihon läpi hikipisaroiksi imisten, tallaajien ohimoille. Näytös loppuu ja fanfaarit soittavat. He kuulevat, he näkevät. He eivät iloitse kun suomeksi julistuu viiden tähden arvio. Mutta heidän on kestettävä se.

The Doors meet James Brown and Jethro Tull, where Love before the Doors? Loved this album.

A LOVEly album - short and sweet - while to me it’s not as special as the band’s Forever Changes, its length makes it as good - as it’s a nice bite sized group of songs - and this record has ‘7 and 7 is’ - so - LOVE it.

Look. This album is sick as fuck. Proto Punk and Ska and Pop Punk by way of Donovan and The Doors. I wish I'd got to see this live and on a variety of drugs.

This was all over the place in the best way. Pulling from jazz, blues, rock (and maybe creating punk in the process?) Love created a rich fusion here. I’ve never heard this album before and was really impressed. I get why they were not more popular but I have to assume they were pretty influential. Half of the album being one song is a wild choice too, but one they pulled off.

Listened Before? No Album Art: 5 / 5 (at this point I have no idea why I'm rating this, but I love this cover. Faux art frame around a team photo at some ruins-like location. Dig the font choice.) Opens with some strong reminiscence to Barrett era Pink Floyd. Psychedelic layering of components making for a madhouse sort of atmosphere. Sick sax and harpsichord work. Singer took his meds for Orange Skies. Pretty little folksy number complete with flute melody. Could imagine dropping acid and running through a field of wheat to this. Love the little "pop" sound in Que Vida! Seven and Seven Is almost sounds like it could be a Bowie song both in eccentricity and tone; jam. Composition of The Castle evokes Tommy-esq The Who, but like in the good way. Bass line and tempo switching is pretty dope. She Comes in Colors brings back the fire. And Revelation just seems like they included it to leave no stone unturned with a blues rock number to rival The Doors. Wow this album rocks. Love show some incredible range effortlessly maneuvering from psychedelic and folk rock to blues and something proto-punk/glam. I was engaged start to finish and enjoyed every minute. This is a sneaky ass 5 / 5 from me. Added to Library? Yes Songs Added to Playlists: - Orange Skies (Sunny-vibes) - She Comes in Colors (Sunny-vibes)

From first track the horns are great and this is great piece of psychedelic rock. The guitars go hard and the vocalist is very passionate. Ooh Flutes too, are we Jethro Tull??? This is fantastic. The ORGAN, Let's goooooooooo!!!!!!!!! This is the most shocking 5 star album I've given but this was one of the easiest.

Adorable! Fun :)

I’ve listen to Forever Changes a bit in the past but this is also a great album. Deserves some repeat listens.

Enjoyed this. Short, sharp songs on side-A, a psych freakout on side B. Who could ask for more?

Love still equates to my feeling about this group.

Wtf så bra!! Aldri vært borti før

Great stuff, beautiful, chaotic and full of charm

amazing

Amazing, can't believe I haven't heard of Love before.

Lush instrumentation with some brilliantly written songs. However, quite a few of the deeper cuts fell flat for me.

Listened to this so much at the turn of the century.

Понравилось

Esse disco é do ano que o rock começa a virar gente grande com o mergulho de cabeça na psicodelia (Beatles, Zappa, The Kinks, entre outros). Em "Da Capo", o Love apresenta a estética que chega no seu auge no ano seguinte com o "Forever Changes". O uso do cravo, principalmente, e dos sopros, contribuem para uma sonoridade rica e diferente do que vinha sendo feito na época. Pop, melódico e viajão.

The hat trick is complete, this makes three psych or psych-adjacent albums in a row, and damn me to hell, I liked all of them, spoiler alert for this review I guess. The main impression I get from Love, a band I hadn't really heard of before this, is that they *must* be (secretly) wildly important in the grand scheme of rock music. This album just has that feeling, this is some very ahead of its time early psych. The psych pop songs here are about a year ahead of their time, with Orange Skies, Que Vida!, and She Comes In colors (coming, themselves from '66) sounding straight out of the summer of love. These songs are colorful and breezy and pleasant, but they aren't the most interesting part of this album to me. That would be the more rock cuts, Stephanie Knows Who, The Castle, and *especially* Seven and Seven Is. These songs all highlight extremely forward thinking rock songwriting and aesthetics, and tie it all together with intense performances, especially Arthur Lee, who absolutely *rips* into these songs with his vocal approach. This is all best exemplified on Seven and Seven Is, an absolute proto-punk barn burner. The bottomless well of covers of this song (by artists such as Alice Cooper, Rush, Robert Plant, Deep Purple and more) go to show how much impact this song had on the development of rock music as it leaped into the '70s. Now, this is all well and good, but these songs are all on the first side of the album, the second is one song, Revelation, an 18 minute monster of a psychedelic jam epic. When half of your album's runtime is a single song, that song better be *good* and Revelation delivers. Lee's vocal approach slowly cranks itself to eleven between an onslaught of creative and compelling solos from the entire band. I don't have much else to say, its really that simple, and its awesome, never before has 18 minutes passed this quickly. This album is a lot better than I expected, I can't tell if I just like psych, or if I'm just getting really lucky.

very strange very nice. I don't get the hate for revelation

Nicht schlecht

this is SO 60s ! some good songs, and a long blues number to finish

these guys are always a good listen. super high energy and interesting stuff. also gotta respect having a 36 minute album with the last song being 18 minutes long

The first side is superb. 3.5+/5

This was pretty cool. Like a crazy mix of psychedelic rock, jazz, prog a bit proto-punk even? Stands out over a lot of other more famous contemporaries tbh.

Fantastic!

76/100. a psychedelic rock album that has aged remarkably well, still sounding vibrant and captivating today. Its mix of trippy melodies and experimental arrangements captures the essence of the era while maintaining a timeless appeal.

I liked it a good bit, good feel to it. Wasn't a huge fan of the lead singer's voice though.

A very quick little 60s rock album. I liked Seven and Seven is and The Castle. Good drumming.

Surprisingly really good! I enjoyed it quite a bit.

twas alright, considering the release date very good.

When you have no shoulders to stand on you’ve got to start somewhere. This lot and the Doors. The start of the long form tracks. Not great but good for its time.

Fun psychedelia

I liked more of this than I wanted to. The jammy sections were excellent, the strict baroque pop sections were solid. It was really just the proto punk that didn’t hit.

Woah look at me here, putting the 19 minute jam as my favorite track! Who could’ve seen that coming? In all seriousness, Side 2 brings it up to a 4 for me. I liked the baroque influence (if more bands started including harpsichord solos, the world would be a merrier place), and some of the flute/saxophone stuff. Favorite Track: Revelation

This was a weird one. So much going on, it feels like a parody of every type of music going on in the 60s. But, each style was done really well. Reminded me of the Monks and Can. It feels important even if I'm not sure why.

Wow that came out of nowhere. I was very ready to give this album a solid 3, but then the last track hit. From baroque to rock to experimental back to baroque. Granted the last track makes for half the runtime of the album Very cool, enjoyed it very much.

Sonically, this album sits in the middle between American psychedelic rock and Krautrock, which is interesting as e.g. Can hadn't been formed at the time. I wonder if it is one of the ones that paved the way for both directions?

The Good: Love, babay, Love! The Bad: Some might not like it… The Ugly: The Cape… always a bloody cape—where cape is slang for an 18 minute song... Never heard of these “cats” before. Not into ‘60s psychedelic anything specifically, but I can handle a dose of this, and a little of that. These guys gave me a dose of this, and a little of that, and added some of that other thing to boot, and I liked it! Except for the length of Revelation… it was about 10 seconds too long! Thoroughly enjoyable album. One that merits a third and fourth spin, and a repeat at least once a year. Still unsure which song is my favorite and to be added to my playlist, probably Seven and Seven Is… Can’t in good conscious give this album a 5* rating, this is for sure one of those 9* albums though… Oh so close!

File under "yeah, pretty good, but just wait ok?"

Da Capo is actually a really good album held back by one major flaw. The songs on side 1 were surprisingly quite good as they gave me a couple of different sound types. The first track almost made this sound like a circusy (for lack of a better word) album then the album mainly shifted into a style where, while having the typical psych rock quirks, still sounded immensely pleasant to listen to. The main flaw i was talking about earlier was side 2. I think that the song there simply went on for too long and had too many annoying elements (despite having a couple good ones). If the last song had been removed or at least shortened, This album could have earned a full 4 but as it stands, it gets a 3.5. Best Song: Seven & Seven Is Worst Song: Revelation Side note: I also like that in the album art, the guy standing in the middle kinda looks like Han Solo with that outfit.

Really like this! I am familiar with the group Love but not this album.

Worth it just for Seven and Seven Is, but the other songs are great too. They don't like the jam, but I like that do.

I liked it.

Good album. Wide variety of instruments. I enjoyed

Change it to instrumental version and you'd get 5/5!

This album feels like a combination of just about everything happening in the mid to late ’60s. Psychedelic rock, baroque pop, and garage rock are the most obvious elements, but you can also catch hints of jazz and blues throughout. Some tracks get surprisingly energetic and heavy, showing early signs of proto-punk through the garage rock influence. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these songs had a big impact on the early heavy metal scene that started to take shape in the late ’60s and early ’70s.

Pretty cool, very 60ish but it was very groovy

Kunnon meuhkaamista hippien tyylillä. Erityishyvä toi vitunmoinen puhdas huutaminen! 4/5

LP

Giving it a 5 was tempting but it’s a bit too dry.

This was pretty good. Pretty interesting throughout and I'd probably listen again. 4/5

Not bad at all - great energy overall and the sound may not be massively special but still really enjoyable.

1966 seems fairly early for a record this far out. Impressive!

I enjoyed this, it was refreshingly of the time it was made, and yet was distinctive, particularly the frequent flute instrumentation.

loved this weird, fun, cool, oddly prog-adjacent album. (seriously, there are bits that sound like van der graaf generator).

It’s impressive to see what Love had done by mid sixties. These guys were one step ahead. Da Capo is a solid testament to their creativity. Great album

"These songs are good I just wish they were 19 minutes long" -no one ever

Coming from the amazing S.F. Sorrow, by The Pretty Things two days ago, I started listening to this one and I'm amazed at how much I enjoyed this dirty hippie album. Love's 'Forever Changes' was without interest, it was boring, stagnant and every song sounded the same. FF to this and it's surprising how diverse it is. Some songs sound like the Cardigans "Life" album, with that organ thing and aloof silly lyrics like 'my head's not made of gravel' and then on to the locomotive-esque track 'Seven and Seven'. The Castle sounds like it could be an Elliott Smith track and the jazz flute on She Comes in Colors is surprisingly delightful. No Ron Burgundy here... Yeah, I don't know what to attribute it to, but I'm surprised that I found so much to like in this album.

I'd never listened to Love before, but I knew "Seven and Seven Is" from Rush's album "Feedback". Pretty cool pre-punk song, and the rest of the album is a nice mix of rock, jazz, soul, and pop. I read they influenced the Doors, and that's quite apparent.

Very unexpected for 1966

I had never heard of this band and didn't have high hopes. The album cover looks like a poster for an old B grade science fiction movie. The summary says this is psychedelic rock, but straight away you're hit with something more akin to punk. As the album progresses there's a whole host of different styles in the mix - folk, garage, surf etc. The fact that this predates most of those styles is impressive. This is an album I will certainly come back too.