Black Beauty

Black Beauty is an album by the psychedelic rock band Love, released on February 13, 2012. Issued on High Moon Records, it compiles material from a canceled studio album, which frontman Arthur Lee—backed by a new group with an all-black line-up—planned to have released on the Buffalo Records label. Recorded after a series of unsuccessful albums, both with Love and his 1972 solo effort Vindicator, Black Beauty was intended to serve as Lee's comeback album. Among other Love releases, it is notable for its reinvention of the band as a funk group, while preserving Lee's lyrical complexity. Released nearly six years after the death of Lee, Black Beauty did not represent the pinnacle of Lee's musical creativity, but is seen as an appropriate closing chapter on his and Love's recording career. Some of the tracks for the canceled album had appeared beforehand on compilation albums such as Reel to Real and Love Lost; however, Black Beauty is the first release to assemble all the compositions from the 1973 recording sessions. While the album does not represent the classic Love line-up, music critics have recognized it as the best representation of Lee's hard rock period. Background In July 1968, eight months after Love's third album Forever Changes, frontman Arthur Lee disbanded the original line-up, before regrouping with a completely new troupe of musicians. Recording three additional albums with Love, Lee found limited success and was on the verge of obscurity. Influenced by his recording sessions with Jimi Hendrix in April 1970, after concluding a European tour in England, Lee forsook his folk rock roots in favor of a hard rock approach. In 1972, he released his first solo effort Vindicator, the first Lee album composed in the newly adapted style, but, again, it did not fare well with music critics and buyers. Despite Lee's self-doubt and unwillingness to tour, he decided to persevere with another line-up; while Love had always been a racially integrated group, Lee told drummer Joe Blocker, "I want an all-black band. I want some cats that can play funky and rock". To fulfill his aspirations, Lee recruited Blocker, Melvan Whittington (lead guitar), and Robert Rozelle (bass guitar). Recording With record producer Paul Rothchild, best known for his work with the Doors, at the helm, Love recorded throughout mid-1973.