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"Arthur Lee didn&amp;apos;t expect to see 1968, much less 2003. When the\ntwenty-two-year-old Love frontman retreated in 1967 to his\nHollywood Hills home -- purchased after his band became the first\nrock act to sign with Elektra Records -- to write the Forever\nChanges album, he thought he was writing his epitaph.\nDespite contentious recording sessions -- Lee would soon be the\nonly original Love member standing -- the band emerged with one of\nrock&amp;apos;s most exquisite blends of guitars, drums, strings and horns,\nrivaled only by the more heralded Pet Sounds (the Beach\nBoys) and Sgt. Pepper&amp;apos;s Lonely Hearts Club Band (the\nBeatles). But despite its oft-sunny orchestral arrangements,\nForever Changes explored the same gloomy depths of the\nhuman psyche as did the band Love discovered: the Doors. Among\nLee&amp;apos;s not-so-lovely enduring couplets are &amp;quot;The water&amp;apos;s turned to\nblood/And if you don&amp;apos;t think so go turn on your tub&amp;quot; (from &amp;quot;A House\nIs Not a Motel&amp;quot;), &amp;quot;There&amp;apos;s a bluebird sitting on a branch/I guess\nI&amp;apos;ll take my pistol&amp;quot; (&amp;quot;Live and Let Live&amp;quot;), and &amp;quot;Sitting on a\nhillside watching all the people die/I&amp;apos;ll feel much better on the\nother side&amp;quot; (&amp;quot;The Red Telephone&amp;quot;). The album was a commercial\ndisaster, and began Lee&amp;apos;s descent into obscurity and isolation.\nThirty-six years since the album&amp;apos;s release and after a world of\ntrouble (last year, Lee finished serving six years for discharging\na firearm during a dispute with a neighbor), the once-reclusive,\ndoomsaying Lee was at New York City&amp;apos;s Town Hall to perform his\nreawakened masterwork. Full of smiles and flanked by the new Love,\nfeaturing Baby Lemonade guitarists Rusty Squeezebox and Mike Randle\n-- generation-younger, fellow black Los Angelenos also inspired by\nthe sounds of the British Invasion -- the fifty-eight-year-old Lee,\nhobbled by a recent leg injury, took the stage aided by a cane. Lee\nand Co. ran through &amp;quot;My Little Red Book,&amp;quot; Love&amp;apos;s 1966 garage-y take\non the Bacharach/David song, the soul-leaning ballad &amp;quot;Orange Skies&amp;quot;\nand the post-Forever Changes single &amp;quot;Your Mind and We\nBelong Together.&amp;quot;\n\nClad in a cowboy hat, a tasseled shirt and dark sunglasses, Lee\njoked often (about everyone from Michael Jackson to Stevie Wonder\nto George W. Bush) and preceded his rambling introductions with\n&amp;quot;This song needs no introduction.&amp;quot; If he wasn&amp;apos;t always in fine\nvoice -- his strained falsetto warbled during the loftier numbers\n-- he was always in fine spirits, and that was enough to draw the\ngrizzled faithful out of their seats to shout, &amp;quot;We love you,\nArthur!&amp;quot;\nAn eight-piece string and horn section (its members looking a\ndecade younger than even the Baby Lemonade guys), joined the band\nto announce the New York stage debut of Forever\nChanges.\nBeginning with the flamenco-seasoned &amp;quot;Alone Again Or,&amp;quot; now\nfamiliar to football fans across the country thanks to a beer\ncommercial, Lee and Co. delivered a faithful rendition of the\nalbum. Randle nailed the occasional guitar leads ferociously and\nSqueezebox handled the acoustic guitar picking and Bryan MacLean&amp;apos;s\nharmony parts. Before the MacLean-penned ballad &amp;quot;Old Man,&amp;quot; Lee got\nthe crowd to rise in the late guitarist&amp;apos;s honor, saying &amp;quot;I&amp;apos;m glad\nI&amp;apos;m still around to sing this song.&amp;quot;\nLee announced that he was going to bypass the rousing tenth\ntrack, &amp;quot;Bummer in the Summer,&amp;quot; because &amp;quot;my leg can&amp;apos;t take it.&amp;quot; But\nhe made the most of his limited mobility, windmilling his\ntambourine and maracas, conducting the makeshift orchestra, and,\nperhaps ill-advisedly, punctuating his lyrical deliveries with\nmachinegun and handgun gestures.\nSome of those lyrics -- from &amp;quot;Served my time/Served it well&amp;quot; and\n&amp;quot;We&amp;apos;re all normal and we want our freedom&amp;quot; -- seemed downright\nprophetic and predictably drew applause. But the evening&amp;apos;s climax,\nlike the album&amp;apos;s, was the stunning &amp;quot;You Set the Scene,&amp;quot; wherein,\nafter a swirl of horns, our troubled, lonesome protagonist vows to\n&amp;quot;face each day with a smile.&amp;quot;\nAfter their splendid crescendo, Lee and the band would come out\nto face the crowd again to run through some more Love chestnuts,\nincluding the proto-punk anthem &amp;quot;Seven and Seven Is,&amp;quot; the\nattire-appropriate &amp;quot;Singing Cowboy&amp;quot; and, surprise, &amp;quot;Bummer in the\nSummer.&amp;quot;\nBefore Lee exited the stage for good he demanded of the crowd\none favor, &amp;quot;Love one another,&amp;quot; and then grinned his devilish grin.\nThe Summer of Love wasn&amp;apos;t so simple after all. Arthur Lee knows ...\nhe survived it."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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