The enduring appeal of Johnny Echols and 1960s band Love

Billed as Love with Johnny Echols, the band recently sold out London’s O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, where they played Forever Changes in full.

Guest strings and horns replicated the original album’s orchestration on tracks like You Set the Scene and Alone Again, Or.

Echols said: “People sing along with us and chant things, it’s just touching – sometimes it almost brings me to tears to think we’ve lasted this long.”

Aptly, the theme of this year’s Belladrum festival is love.

And in a further twist, the band are playing the Grass Roots stage, Love’s original name before a rival Grass Roots forced them to change it in 1965.

The 77-year-old is once again looking forward to the Scottish crowds.

He said: “We love Scotland, so this is going to be a blast.

“And we’re playing with our friends (Glasgow’s) The Fast Camels, so that’s just going to be great, we love them, they’re so cool.

“Scottish crowds have always been very respectful and responsive to our music, and we’ve loved playing here.”