King of 'The Castle' - Arthur Lee Passes Away

Arthur Lee - March 7, 1945 - August 3, 2006



The world of rock and roll takes yet another hit, just a few weeks after legendary psych-rock innovator Syd Barrett died. On August 3, at 4:00 in the afternoon, Arthur Lee succumbed to the Leukemia that had him hospitalized for the last few months. He died in the company of his wife.

Now, a lot of you may have no idea who this 'Arthur Lee' is, or why he is even being mentioned in the same sentence as such a legend as Syd Barrett. Arthur Lee started the group Love in the middle of the 1960's, a time when musical innovation was all over the place. Lee was at the forefront of this. He and his band performed an incredible mix of baroque pop, pyschadelia, punk, and many other genres to produce one of the most unique sounds ever heard.

Artists as diverse as The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and, most notably, The Doors, all culled influence from this man's band. This isn't to take anything away from Bryan MacLean, who was a stupendous artist in his own right, but Lee was really the one. He had that special something that all creative geniuses, such as himself, have. Without Arthur Lee, many genres of music would look differently. Love recorded arguably the first punk song of all time, in Seven & Seven Is, a spectacular track off of the second of the trifecta of incredible albums by Love, Da Capo.

With just Da Capo, and their previous album which was self titled, Love would always be remembered as legendary rock and roll figures, but their next album was the one that really set them as one of the greatest bands of all time. In my opinion, they created the perfect album. It was entitled 'Forever Changes', and it did just that. It forever changed the way rock and pop would sound.

I'm still quite shocked at this news, so I'm sorry if this is choppy, but I wanted to pay my respects to the incredible man. Rest in peace Arthur. Thanks for all the love.

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Edit: Thanks~

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Sad News, but expected.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Here's a terrific article commemorating Arthur Lee's passing, from the All Music Guide. Click Here

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I can't believe I totally missed this thread until just now. I had found out from that AMG article earlier today. Sad news.

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