Prior to the album's recording, the band had grown dissatisfied with Elektra and attempted to leave the label but were placated with a cash advance and an increased royalty rate.

The album marked several significant changes for the band, including a new studio (RCA), engineer (Dave Hassinger) and producer (Paul A. Rothchild).

In March 1966, Love's self-titled debut album, along with the single "My Little Red Book", was released to moderate commercial success, reaching number 57 on the Billboard Top LPs.

[4] It was also a pivotal release for Elektra Records, giving them their first rock album as well as their first hit single;[5] however, the band quickly grew dissatisfied with the label's production and promotional efforts.

[6] In an attempt to get off the label, bandleader Arthur Lee revealed that when he had signed the recording contract on January 4, 1966, he was not yet 21 years old, making the agreement void.

[7] An addendum to the contract was made, dated April 25, which gave the band $2,500 in cash[7] and an increase in their royalty rate from 5 to 7 percent;[8] however, it also required them to produce 20 more recordings for Elektra to be released on future albums.

[8] The contract was then notarized on May 6 to prevent further issues regarding the members' ages;[10] Holzman also ensured that a photocopy of Lee's driver's license was stapled to the document.

[12] Due to drummer Alban "Snoopy" Pfisterer's limited abilities, he and Lee took turns attempting the song's intense drum part.

"[15] Released in July, "7 and 7 Is" spent ten weeks climbing the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 33 and becoming the highest-charting single of the band's career.

[17] Reluctant to fire Pfisterer, Lee instead elected to move him over to keyboards – organ, piano, and harpsichord – as he had been classically trained as a child.

[19] Lee then recruited Tjay Cantrelli (born John Barberis[20]), a jazz saxophonist and flautist whom he had crossed paths with in the early 1960s, bringing the band to a seven-piece.

On Stuart's first day with the group, Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols brought him to Elektra's offices where, unbeknownst to him, they had planned another attempt to end their commitment with the label.

[22] Stuart recalls the encounter in his 2003 autobiography Behind the Scenes on the Pegasus Carousel with the Legendary Rock Group LOVE:Arthur said [to the executive], "I want to talk to you about releasing us from our commitment to Elektra.

[17] Botnick was unable to engineer the sessions due to the change, so the job was instead done by Dave Hassinger,[25] whose "sonic mastery", Sandoval continues, "gave the group further confidence in their work.

"[25] Holzman praised Rothchild's work, saying that "Da Capo was an artistic stretch, and I think a lot of the reach on that album was provided by Paul.

[17] Lee, the band's principal songwriter, presented his new songs by playing the basic chord progressions on his black Gibson acoustic guitar and singing the lyrics.

[27] Author William E. Spevack sees Da Capo as an album of varying styles, with each song being a "portrait of a subgenre of rock.

[sic]"[2] Despite Lee's efforts to remove the band from folk rock, critic Richie Unterberger says that the genre is "still evident in the guitar riffs of pretty songs like 'The Castle' and 'She Comes in Colors'".

"[22] Spevack notes that the album Out of Sight and Sound by the Free Spirits, often considered the first jazz rock record, was released about a month after Da Capo.

[41] The softer songs on Da Capo, namely "Orange Skies" and "The Castle", mark the first appearances of Lee's smoother vocal tone – dubbed "acid-Mathis" by the press – which would continue to be a feature through Forever Changes, Four Sail, and Out Here.

[43] The opening build-up between Pfisterer's harpsichord and MacLean's fingerpicked guitar offers an immediate "marked contrast" from Love's debut album, according to Einarson.

[45] Spevack writes that "Lee's relationship lyrics are now layered and denser, lacking any easy linear meanings" and recognizes his raucous vocal performance as "surprisingly poetic" due to him "manipulating the lines to read more artistically than a typical yelling rant.

"[46] The song was issued as a single in November 1966, backed with "Orange Skies", but was quickly withdrawn and replaced with "She Comes in Colors" in December.

[51] Released as the B-sides of "Stephanie Knows Who" and "She Comes in Colors", Echols said that "Orange Skies" "got quite a bit of airplay in Los Angeles" and that the band "thought it would've probably taken off" had they received more promotion from Elektra.

[61] Although the lyrics are sparse, consisting of only three brief verses, the band fills out the song with an unusual structure, including an extended instrumental conclusion that features two false endings.

[83] According to a contemporary review from the Los Angeles Times, the band attracted "a cream crop of Sunset Strip celebrities who came to judge the change.

[75] Digby Diehl of the Times referred to the band's sound as "a hypnotic mélange" and further wrote that: "The flute and harpsichord jazz improvisations on numbers such as 'Stephanie Knows Who' and 'Orange Skies' lend a fresh lift to what might be an ordinary rock piece.

[87] It entered the Billboard Top LPs chart on February 11, 1967, and peaked at number 80 on April 8,[88] failing to achieve the commercial success the band had hoped it would.

"[89] Regarding the album as "an undeniably groundbreaking release for 1966" with a style that had "no other context or reference in [rock] up to that point", Einarson asks if Lee had "overestimated his own audience with a body of music perhaps too complex and esoteric for their tastes".

[91] David Harris of Mojo-Navigator called it "a great advance" over Love's debut album and recognized their "integration of jazz and [rock] into a new form of music.