Forever Changes
by Love

If it wasn't for the internet I would not know anything about this band. My family including my mom and uncle who are 60s music junkies particular old rock listened to the usual suspects. Doors, Stones , Joplin, Cream , ect. Love was never on the radar.

As I became a lover of 60s music I wanted to go for more obscure artist, an online user who I like and respect raved about Love so I started listening , and at first it didn't grab me. Then I listened again and everytime it started to grow on me then one day I listened to all of Forver Changes. Then it it me .

This is one of the greatest albums of all time.

This album might have come out of the summer of love. But Love was singing about the winter that was coming. Arthur Lee was seeing things his contemporaries were unable to . Peace wasn't going to be found in sit ins, the world wasn't going to change for the good. Utopia wasn't going to arrive in a burned out inner city where cops cracked down on the heads of black kids. No things were not as Sunny as the hippies imagined things would be, war, alienation and death were the only certainties life has to offer.

Lee and Maclean were both songwriters that were heads and shoulders up there with the best , even better. Their lyrics were more poetic then Morrison, and they had a nack for melody better the CSN, they created songs so timeless that even today they still sound fresh and without peer. Combining orchestra with Rock has always produced mixed results. But Lee was a man who made the balance work, songs like The Red Telephone, Andmoreagain and Old Man just could not exist without that balance , it's a union so symbiotic it creates something I believe does not exist perfection.
It's a privilege to be alive and listen to an Album as amazing as this. Life is always rearranging and all that lives is gonna die , but for a brief moment we get to live and see wonder when we can open our eyes.

Lee and company created a testimony on the beauty and fragility of life within music, so moving and empowering it makes a cynical atheist like feel connected to the universe.

For that alone I will say this is one of the greats albums ever.

RIP to the band.

From OldToad 12/30/2023 19:02 | #300759

There's a full-length warts-and-all documentary on this band called Love Story, you can find it on YouTube; I recommend it only after you know the music. Arthur Lee comes across as a bit of a blowhard, but there are multiple very real reasons to cut him significant slack. And once the film gets to telling the story of the band, it exposes much hostility and trouble within this band, much of it sharpened by their resentment of their lack of record sales, whatever the reasons. What particularly shows up is the hostility (hatred, really) that Arthur Lee and the others felt for Bryan Maclean and his music, maybe more in hindsight than at the time, but it doesn't seem that way. They seem to profoundly despise the man and his music...the music that is on their albums that they complain didn't sell well. The band basically broke up while making this music, largely because they could barely play their parts (hard drugs were involved, and apparently Arthur Lee could play everyone's instruments better than they could); and overall the band name could have been Hatred. You also learn that the guy who plays the great trumpet parts was "the perfect trumpet player"---he only had three fingers on his right hand.

Coming back and listening to all their albums, I've slightly lowered my scores on the first two, they're a little more uneven than I had remembered. But this one? It's absolutely amazing, even after all this time. Arthur Lee was super talented and absolutely peaking on this album, and for my taste Bryan Maclean's contributions, precious though they can be, are a great counterpoint to Lee's garage rock side. It's incredible that such a polished gem was made by such a troubled band.

an album where one song enhances the other

A well-crafted album and or CD.

Really nice album, very soothing and pleasant despite being a bit samey. I'm sure it'll grow on me even more in future listens. My favourites are Live and Let Live and Alone Again Or.

If you wanted an album to explain what the perfect sound to the summer of love is, this is it. It exemplifies the stereotypical style of the time. One of the better albums of that era.

This is a truly special record with Love creating not only one of the greatest albums of the 60's but also one of the greatest records of all time. In my opinion, this album goes beyond music and delves in the realm of near perfection. To start with there is the music itself which is complex, engaging and full of experimentation. The groups use of instrumentation is simply sensational and they build upon the foundations of the band by adding beautiful orchestral arrangements such as horns and strings. These added bonuses give the music such depth and create a rich soundscape which all comes together alongside the drums and guitars to great a stunning atmosphere. It is so easy to get completely lost in this environment as well with the record sucking me in every time I hear it. They also create some outstanding hooks and melodies such as on The Good Humor Man... and Alone Again Or which make it more accessible and gives that extra flare to a record that is already packed full of it. The music on here does need some patience with the album taking 3 or 4 times before it finally clicked with me but now I struggle to fault the genius musicianship of this release. Then there is the vocal display from Arthur Lee which is fantastic. His voice is unique and he demonstrates a huge and impressive range across every track. It also seamlessly pairs with the music making the whole record feel so cohesive in style and sound. Finally, there is the fantastic lyrics from Arthur Lee that deserves its own special mention just for how great they are. His writing is mature, intelligent and goes into detail about interesting and darker themes such as mortality. This is best evidenced on a song which I believe to be possibly the greatest song ever recorded which is You Set The Scene as it perfectly encapsulates all aspects of what makes this album so special. Overall, this album is in the debate for the greatest record ever made as it is just that good and deserves all the hype and praise it receives.

The complex lyrics of "Forever Changes" are characterized by their poetic and introspective bent, exploring themes of love, mortality, and the human condition. The songs often feature Arthur Lee's distinctive vocals, which are at once plaintive and incisive.

Musically, the album is lush and richly textured, with horns, strings, and other classical instruments enhancing the psychedelic rock sound. The album's songs range from upbeat and catchy, such as "Alone Again Or" and "A House Is Not A Motel," to darker and more introspective, such as "The Red Telephone" and "Live and Let Live."

Orchestrated psychedelic folk with bizarre lyrics and Morrison-like vocals.

Solid album