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The Chemistry Set
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Love



7" - colour vinyl
Crustacean 53

Part of Fruits de Mer's '7 and 7 is' box-set, The Chemistry Set reinterpret two tracks by Love, taken from their 1967 'Forever Changes' album on Elektra:

'A House Is Not A Motel'
'Live And Let Live'

The Chemistry Set - Live and Let Live - Forthcoming 7" vinyl single, part of the "7&7 is" Box Set

ONLY AVAILABLE AS PART OF THE '7 and 7 is' BOX-SET - GO TO THE FdM SHOP TO PLACE AN ORDER

the chemistry set


FdM asked The Chemistry Set why they chose Love....

Our favourite band of all time is Love, so it was a no-brainer when Keith asked us to participate.
We first recorded a cover of “A House Is Not A Motel” 24 years ago, on an album called “Wake Up Sometimes”. We have always wanted to revisit it as the version we did was ok but we felt we could do it better and with a bit more of a twist.
So the version we have recorded here begins acoustically with some vocal harmonies that are different to the Love version and builds up to phased drums, duelling guitars and an explosion that is a nod to “7&7 is”
We wanted to cover “Live and Let Live” as this is our favourite song of Love. Again we wanted to give it a twist and one day we had a shot of inspiration, to include a section of “Get Me To The World On Time” by The Electric Prunes on the outro. Love and The Prunes, our two favourite bands of all time, simple!


A bit of background on The Chemistry Set...

The Chemistry Set have quite a history. Veterans of the alternative Manchester label “Imaginary” and cassette only label “Acid Tapes”, they helped lead the neo-psychedelic boom of the late 1980's. During this time The Chemistry Set were featured in the British and European underground press, had mainstream and underground radio play worldwide and countless fanzine appearances, including releasing 3 flexi discs with fanzines (remember them - they just might return, FdM-ers!).
The band split in the early 90’s, took a bit of a hiatus, remaining silent… until The Chemistry Set “MACH II” remarkably reappeared in 2008!
Their return came about when their unreleased LP from 1989 “Sounds Like Painting” somehow was uploaded onto numerous blogs and was downloaded over 10,000 times in 2008. Cult Arranger/songwriter [and former Electric Prunes member] David Axelrod digs The Chemistry Set, saying “Real Music! Music that makes you think and really listen to!” He loved how they added a symphonic section of his song “Sanctus” from The Electric Prunes’ masterwork “Mass in F Minor” into their reworking of Del Shannon’s “Silver Birch” (featured on Fruits de Mer comp “A phase were going through”).
Since the return, the second stage of the group has seen the birth of 3 new CDs: “Alchemy # 101”, “This Day Will Never Happen Again and “Chemistry is Just Numbers” as well as numerous contributions to compilations and 2 singles for FDM. They have just recorded their 3rd single for FDM, “Elapsed Memories”, that will be released in November 2014.
The Sunday Times recently said of The Chemistry Set "The Psychedelic scientists exquisite English Toytown Acid-Pop songs achieve rare combinations of muscle and melody”

Love was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer/songwriter Arthur Lee who wrote most of the songs, although some of their best known songs were written by Bryan MacLean. One of the first racially diverse American pop bands, their music reflected different influences, combining elements of rock and roll, garage rock, folk and psychedelia. While finding only modest success on the music charts, Love would come to be praised by critics as one of the finest and most important American rock groups of their era. Their third album Forever Changes (1967) is generally regarded as their masterpiece.
Arthur Lee, who was originally from Memphis, Tennessee but had lived in Los Angeles since the age of five, had been recording since 1963 with his bands, the LAG's and Lee's American Four. He had also produced the single "My Diary" for Rosa Lee Brooks in 1964 which featured Jimi Hendrix on guitar. A garage outfit, The Sons Of Adam, which included future Love drummer Michael Stuart, also recorded a Lee composition, "Feathered Fish." However, after viewing a performance by the Byrds, Lee became determined to form a group that joined the newly minted folk-rock sound of the Byrds to his primarily rhythm and blues style. Singer, songwriter / guitarist Bryan MacLean, who Lee had met when he was working as a roadie for The Byrds, joined the band just before they changed their name from the Grass Roots to Love, spurred by the release of a single by another group called The Grass Roots. MacLean had also been playing guitar in bands since about 1963 but picked up music early. Neighbor Frederick Loewe, of the composers Lerner & Loewe, recognized him as a "melodic genius" at the age of three as he doodled on the piano. Also joining the band were another Memphis native, lead guitarist Johnny Echols, and drummer Don Conka. A short time later, Conka was replaced by Alban "Snoopy" Pfisterer. Love's first bassist, Johnny Fleckenstein, went on to join the Standells in 1967. Fleckenstein was replaced by Ken Forssi (formerly of a post-"Wipe Out" lineup of The Surfaris). Love started playing the Los Angeles clubs in April 1965 and became a popular local attraction. At this time, they were playing extended numbers such as "Revelation" (originally titled "John Lee Hooker") and getting the attention of such contemporaries as the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds. The band lived communally in a house called "the Castle" and their first two albums included photographs shot in the garden of that house.
Signed to the Elektra Records label, the band scored a minor hit single in 1966 with their version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "My Little Red Book." Their first album, Love, was released in March 1966. The album sold moderately well and reached No. 57 on the Billboard 200 chart. In August 1966 the single "7 and 7 Is," notable for the exceptional guitar work of Johnny Echols and proto-punk styled drumming by Pfisterer, became their highest-charting single at No. 33 in the Billboard Hot 100. Two more members were added around this time, Tjay Cantrelli (real name John Barbieri) on woodwinds and Michael Stuart on drums. Pfisterer, never a confident drummer, switched to harpsichord. Their musical reputation largely rests on the next two albums, Da Capo and Forever Changes. Da Capo, released in November 1966, included "7 and 7 Is" as well as the subsequent singles "She Comes in Colors" and "¡Que Vida! and MacLean's "Orange Skies." Cantrelli and Pfisterer soon left the band, leaving it as a five-piece once again. Forever Changes, released in November 1967, is a suite of songs using acoustic guitars, strings, and horns that was recorded while the band was falling apart as the result of various substance abuse problems and tension between Arthur Lee and Bryan MacLean, who wanted more of his songs on the album. The band recorded the album in only 64 hours, though many professional session players were utilized, including some who replaced the actual band members in some songs. Writer Richard Meltzer, in his book The Aesthetics of Rock, commented on Love's "orchestral moves," "post-doper word contraction cuteness," and Lee's vocal style that serves as a "reaffirmation of Johnny Mathis." Forever Changes included one hit single, Bryan MacLean's "Alone Again Or," while "You Set the Scene" received airplay from some progressive rock radio stations. By this stage, Love were far more popular in the UK, where the album reached No. 24, than in their home country, where it could only reach No. 154.More recently the album has received recognition as one of the greatest rock albums of all time, appearing on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and being added to the National Recording Registry.
MacLean, suffering from heroin addiction, soon left the band, while Lee dismissed all the other members. MacLean later emerged as a Contemporary Christian artist. Echols and Forssi also experienced the ravages of drug addiction and disappeared from the scene. Echols eventually moved to New York and became a very busy studio musician. Arthur Lee, as the only remaining member, convened a new lineup and continued recording as Love. The reconstituted version of Love, which included Jay Donnellan and then Gary Rowles on guitar, Frank Fayad on bass, and George Suranovich on drums, played in a blues-rock style, as opposed to the folk-rock and psychedelic styles of the band's previous incarnation. The new line-up never garnered the widespread acceptance or acclaim of the original group. Three albums were released by various permutations of this lineup: Four Sail (1969), Out Here (1969), and False Start (1970).[2] The latter featured a guest appearance by Jimi Hendrix.
(taken from Wikipedia)

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