Love-Itis is a song written by

Harvey Scales Harvey Scales (September 27, 1940 – February 11, 2019) was an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, and producer. Scales had been active in the music industry since the 1960s, and composed songs for groups such as The Dells, The Dramatics, a ...

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, Tacoma, Washington (state), Washington that formed in 1960. Their aggressive, hard-edged sound has been a major influence on Punk rock, punk and Garage rock, garage music worl ...

Mandala A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) 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 e ...

and the

J. Geils Band ''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...

, among others.

History

The song was originally released in 1967 by

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 Lad ...

, 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 its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

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 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

, being included on their album ''

Hotline A hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook. An example would be a phone that automat ...

''. 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 ''Blow Your Face Out'' is the second live album by American rock band The J. Geils Band, released in 1976. Recording The album was recorded at two concerts held in November 1975. The first show was at the Boston Garden in the band's hometown ( ...

''.Credits for ''Blow Your Face Out''
Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-04-10. ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

'' 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