Product Description

One of the first pop albums to become a cult classic, Love's 1967 masterpiece, FOREVER CHANGES, is the pinnacle of the L.A. freak (the locals' preferred term over "hippie") scene.Singer/songwriter Arthur Lee's lyrics are increasingly fragmentary and paranoid, foreshadowing the band's eventual drug-fueled collapse. Yet these drop-dead hip tunes are set in arrangements featuring Herb Alpert-style mariachi horns, lushmiddle-of-the-road strings, and other tropes of the easy listening scene, creating a more unsettling sense of tension than if the songs were given the usual heavy rock instrumentation. Every single track is a stone classic, although secondsongwriter Bryan MacLean's contributions, the haunted "Old Man" and especially the simply gorgeous opener "Alone Again Or", deserve special consideration. FOREVER CHANGES belongs high on any halfway serious list of the greatest pop albums of the '60s.

Track Listing

1. Alone Again Or
2. House Is Not A Motel
3. Andmoreagain
4. Daily Planet
5. Old Man
6. Red Telephone
7. Maybe The People Would Be The Times
8. Live And Let Live
9. Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This
10. Bummer In The Summer
11. You Set The Scene
12. Hummingbirds
13. Wonder People (I Do Wonder)
14. Alone Again Or
15. You Set The Scene
16. Your Mind And We Belong Together
17. Your Mind And We Belong Together
18. Laughing Stock

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4263 in Music
• Released on: 2001-02-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of rock's most overlooked masterpieces, this third album by the L.A. folk-rock outfit led by inscrutable singer-songwriter Arthur Lee sounds as fresh and innovative today as it did upon its original release in 1968. With David Angel's atmospheric string and horn arrangements giving the work a conceptual underpinning, Lee explores mainstream America's penchant for paranoia ("The Red Telephone") and violence ("A House is Not a Motel") with songs that are as sonically subtle and lilting as they are lyrically blunt and harrowing. Add two gems by Love's secret weapon, second guitarist Bryan Maclean ("Alone Again Or" and "Old Man") and you've got one of the truly perfect albums in rock history. --Billy Altman

Customer Reviews

Trumps both Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds. Easy.
I suppose you should know that Forever Changes is among my top-ten favourite rock albums of all-time (the other nine of which will be disclosed some time in the future). I remember hearing it for the first time years ago, with Arthur Lee's excellent lyrics, arrangements and, above all, guitar work, showing me into the world of paranoia, LSD, riots, protests and Vietnam known as the Swinging '60s.

But whilst being a very socially-conscious album, Forever Changes also stands as a very personal statement from Lee himself. He has since told of the severe paranoia he suffered from around the time of writing and recording the album - he honestly felt that he - along with the rest of the world - was going to die, and soon.

The album opens with "Alone Again Or," one of the greatest songs of the '60s, if not ever. It's a song that you will have heard somewhere, you just probably won't be able to remember where, with the beautiful, memorable guitar and string accompaniment making it so magical. It depicts Lee's psyche at the time incredibly well considering it was actually composed by Bryan McLean. "A House Is Not A Motel" is Lee's prediction of the bloodshed that he foresaw within the hippy and counter culture. "Andmoreagain" is perhaps the sweetest melody Lee ever penned, and the strings that accompany the lyric: "And you don't know how much I love you" might be the only bit of music that has ever made my eyes water (NOT cry!).

The bonus material is solid, and quite enjoyable, but it's unlikely that you'll listen to it all too often. Please buy this album. Please listen to it, and realise how much stronger it is compared to Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds (I like the latter a lot). The original material is an easy full-five-stars, but the bonus material brings it down to 4.80 stars.

How to do it justice?
I really don't want to write this review, I know I won't be able to do this album justice!

So let's be short and sweet. Everything about this album is definitively rock and roll. The band had almost self destructed, Arthur Lee thought his time was up, Neil Young pulled out of producing after one track, the art work is instantly recognisable and it has never had the universal success to match its critical acclaim.

As for the songs, where do I start? Stylistically varying from rock to funk to folk to world, the music is a tour-de-force, each song a masterpiece. The bands 'other' songwriter, Bryan Maclean's two offerings are as good as anythign Lee pens, and fit in perfectly.

I just can't do it justice, you'll just have to listen yourself. If you have all the time in world, maybe you could sum it up?

As for the bonus tracks - other than Lee shouting at Echols guitar solo effort - each is worth it's place, especially Your Mind and We Belong Together, which could be a highlight to any album ever written!

Unique timeless and indispensible
This one has been on my desert island list since 1967. It is an acoustic/ electric/ mariachi/ flamenco/ psychedelic classic of the highest order. Every moment is glorious snd no drugs needed.
A couple of months after my wife died in 2002, Arthur Lee came to Newcastle with the final incarnation of Love - just when I needed him most. I saw the 'Forever Changes' gig in 2003 and in 2004 I took my new (and continuing) love to see Love at Newcastle University. The place was packed with undergraduates and 50-somethings. The kids new all the words!
In his final years Arthur Lee and Love performed brilliantly and he was a contender for the title of 'Coolest Man on the Planet'. Buy both the studio and the live version of this album.
Thank you Arthur Lee wherever you are now.