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Showing posts from October, 2010

Some Brilliance Fell Through the Cracks.

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I don't even know how I found this man Arthur Lee and his group LOVE, but wow, what an amazing talent, yet he died relatively unknown compared with the fame of his contemporaries from the 1960s. He was at least as talented if not more so than some and an inspiration for those in his milieu. Did he just not have the right PR or manager? Did he choose creativity over hustling? Was there just not enough room on the psychedelic 60s stage for two African-American rock musicians (Jimi Hendrix being the other)? I think no one would dispute that Hendrix is so beyond beyond when it comes to genius and talent that it wouldn't have been about dueling blacks on the axe. Maybe concert and record producers couldn't sell both? It is about another kind of genius, which was borrowed by at least one legendary act. Compare "She Comes In Colors" which was released as a single in December 1966 by Arthur Lee and LOVE, to "She's Like a Rainbow" by the Rolling St