Love-Itis is a song written by Harvey Scales and Albert Vance (with Rudy Jacobs also initially acknowledged as a co-writer), originally recorded by Harvey Scales and The Seven Sounds. The song was later recorded and popularized by

The Sonics The Sonics are an American garage rock band from Tacoma, Washington, that formed in 1960. Their aggressive, hard-edged sound has been a major influence on Punk rock, punk and Garage rock, garage music worldwide, and they have been named inspir ...

Mandala A mandala (, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid ...

and the J. Geils Band, among others.

History

The song was originally released in 1967 by Harvey Scales and The Seven Sounds, on

Magic Touch Records Magic Touch Records is a record label founded in Milwaukee in the 1960s by producer, manager and performer Lenny LaCour. The label is particularly notable for developing the career of Harvey Scales, co-writer of the songs "Love-Itis" and " Disco L ...

, owned by

Lenny LaCour Lenny LaCour (born Leonard James LaCour Sr., April 27, 1932, Bayou Brevelle, Louisiana, United States) is an American record producer, songwriter and performer, particularly active from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s.Dik De Heer, with Gary Meyers a ...

. At the time, the songwriting credit was shared between Harvey Scales and guitarist Rudy Jacobs, with the song published by LaCour's L. LaCour Music Inc. The song was later re-released in 1967 on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

A version of the song was recorded in 1967 by

, but not officially released at that time. The version was included in a

Jerden Records Jerden Records was an independent record label which operated from May 1960 through April 1971. It was based in Seattle and majority owned by Jerry Dennon and Bonnie Guitar, both of whom had been involved with Dolton Records and the careers of T ...

1996 compilation of Sonics material, '' Fire and Ice II: The 'Lost' Tapes'' In 1968, the song was popularized by

, as a single release from the band's only album, '' Soul Crusade'', in an arrangement similar to that of The Sonics. The song was popularized in 1975 by the J. Geils Band, being included on their album ''

Hotline A hotline is a Point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point information transfer, communications Data link, link in which a telephone call, call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by t ...

''. Their version was described by one reviewer as a "barn-burning cover of...(a) soul nugget". It was also included on the band's 1976 live album, '' Blow Your Face Out''.Credits for ''Blow Your Face Out''
Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-04-10. ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' called this performance "a contagious disease like the boogie woogie flu, but it's a bug you won't mind having."

References

{{authority control 1967 singles 1967 songs Songs written by Harvey Scales Columbia Records singles The J. Geils Band songs