Arthur Lee, the first black hippie

He himself defined himself as “the first black hippie”, the one without whom, perhaps, neither one nor the other would have made their appearance on the music scene. Sly Stone nor even a Jimi Hendrix. Arthur Leewho passed away on August 3, 2006, after battling leukemia and spending six of his last years in prison, was one of the key figures of 1960s psychedelia.

However, we would not be paying him the right tribute by limiting ourselves to this: the artistic path of the Lovea band of which Lee was guitarist, singer and creative mind, has achieved milestones that go far beyond the lysergic visions of the musical genre that exploded with “Summer of Love” and the album that is considered the band’s masterpiece, “Forever Changes”released in 1967, is still recognized today as one of the milestones of rock.

The expression ‘seminal’ is particularly well suited to Lovewho in their years of activity did not receive the recognition that, instead, would have been given to them in the years to come. Many have chosen a piece of the group of Arthur Lee to include in your repertoire in the formula of that declaration of love more commonly known as a cover. We listen to some of them again below.

“A House Is Not A Motel”, Yo La Tengo