Arthurly 2011

An unreleased 1973 record by Love titled "Black Beauty", is finally going to see the light of day as an actual release.
Often bootlegged with dodgy sound , the record was long thought to be too poor in audio quality to ever be issued. "Not so" says the fledgling High Moon Records label, which is making some bold claims about remastered sound and bonus tracks that have never been heard. They are also promising rare and unreleased photos from that era as well as some freshly penned liner notes by Ben Edmonds.

After disbanding the first two configurations of Love, frontman and prime motivator Arthur Lee recorded this effort with famed Doors producer Paul Rothchild. Unfortunately, Lee's record label at that time went bankrupt and the project was permanently shelved.

Having already long moved on from the lush orchestral arrangements of Lee's magnum opus 1967's "Forever Changes", "Black Beauty" is a stripped down funky R&B influenced affair bearing a closer resemblance to Love's later works such as "Out Here" and the criminally underrated "Four Sail".

Unofficially known as the first inter-racial rock band, Love burst on the west coast pop scene in the mid 1960's, hitting the charts with their version of Burt Bacharach's "My Little Red Book". It was their live shows however, that earned them their true notoriety and they were considered to be the best performing band on Sunset Strip. It was in fact Ray Manzarek who is known for saying that prior to forming what would become The Doors, his idea was to try and put together a group that was as good as Love.