Forever Changes

Artist: Love
Label: Elektra / Wea
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 075596065627
EAN: 0075596065627
ASIN: B000005ITX

Release Date: 1990-10-25

Forever Changes

Related Categories:

General

| Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

Baroque Pop

| Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music

Folk Rock

| Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Psychedelic Rock

| Classic Rock | Styles | Music

Folk Rock

| Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Classic Rock

| Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Tracks:

Alone Agian Or
A House Is Not A Motel
Andmoreagain
The Daily Planet
Old Man
The Red Telephone
Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between...
Live And Let Live
The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This
Bummer In The Summer
You Set The Scene

Similar Items:

Da Capo
Love
Odessey & Oracle: Deluxe Edition
Forever Changes
Da Capo

Amazon.com

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:

print it already.......2005-09-22

i wrote a very good review of this lp last week. i did not pick on anyone or use vulgarities and though not perfect, it was not overly long and i wrote some very good stuff there. i would like to see it. thanks

Lives up to its reputation .......2005-04-02

Love's "Forever Changes" was an album that I had often read or heard about, but never listened to. Because of the hype and mystique surrounding the album, I decided to give it a try. After owning this CD for several months, all I can say is, "Forever Changes" really does live up to its' reputation as being one of the finest rock albums ever recorded. In terms of originality, song-writing, production, craft, and delivery, "Forever Changes" is easily as good as "Sgt. Pepper" or "Revolver." And although I liked this album instantly, it just gets better and better with repeated plays. Once everything sinks in and one fully grasps the complexity of the songs and their arrangements, one fully appreciates this album in all its glory.

Because Love was from L.A. and the band was an infuluece/rival of the Doors, I was expecting Love to sound something like The Doors. But this was not the case. Love's music actually encompassed several styles, so it would be hard to pigeonhole the band. They were a rock band, but their music also incorporated elements of folk, jazz, even classical.

You know how it is with a lot of albums; There are three or four good songs, a few okay ones, and a then some filler. But then there are those albums where every song is as good as the last, where the album is sort of like a best-of all by itself -- Like Nirvana's "Nevermind," Guns N' Roses "Appetite For Destruction," or the Beatles "Abby Road." Every song on "Forever Changes" is a highlight--every song is beautifully written and is a work of art.

The sound of the album is best described as folk-rock tinged with orchestration. But the music is never bogged down by the orchestration, like the Beatles "The Long and Winding Road." The orchestration is actually as light as a feather and serves to enhance everything and works in perfect synchronicity with the songs.

In the liner notes of the CD, Andrew Sandoval describes "Forever Changes" to be in a sense "the ultimate soundtrack to L.A.: the mariachi horns of the melting pot; the sirens and the accidents; the sweet strings and dissonant guitars. Arthur Lee and Love captured it all in a musical postcard." Love captured L.A. in the summer of love, warts and all, it was cynical and despairing, but also beautiful and majestic--and "Forever Changes" captures it all.

Arthur Lee is definitely one of, if not the most underrated songwriter of all-time. The first incarnation of Love was also the best. Arthur Lee and guitarist/songwriter Bryan MacLean had an incredible chemistry that sadly only lasted three albums.

If you're a fan of classic rock or are building a rock collection and want every classic recording, "Forever Changes" is a must have. It is simply that good and deserves to be heard.

Forever Changes will forever be a great listen.......2005-03-29

I bought Forever Changes the week it first came out as an album, when I was attending college, and it is as excellent today as it was when I was falling in love with it then. This is Arthur Lee's greatest work, and is also, perhaps, the best album of its genre to ever be recorded. Every time I played the album on my stereo in my college dorm, people would knock on my door and ask me what that amazing album was that I was listening to. There are no second rate songs on Forever Changes, and two of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard are Andmoreagain and Old Man. Forever Changes is an album that will never go out of style, and I expect that people will still be enjoying it long after I have grown old and passed on. If you have never heard Forever Changes, treat yourself; you will be very thankful that you did.

Too bad you can only give up to 5 stars..........2004-08-20

Where do I start? Maybe I should explain the title of this review. It really is tragic that only five stars can be given, because this album deserves a lot more than that. Simply put, the best album I have ever heard in my life, and my favorite of all time is "Forever Changes." 11 tracks that combine impeccable lyrics, smooth music, and an almost disturbing amount of beauty can be found on here. I bought this album the same day that I had the most devastating incident of my life, and it helped me profusely. It's funny that a band called Love could avoid the subject for the extreme majority of this LP.

Anyway, Arthur Lee believed that he was going to die at age 26, (He was only 22 at the time this was released, but that's not important.) and wanted this album to showcase his final words on Planet Earth. He's actually still alive today, but he still put out this flawless album while that fear of death loomed over him. The result is an enigmatic set of tracks that will completely captivate anyone with good taste in music (Sorry, Eminem fans, you aren't included.).

The album opens up with a beautiful stream of guitars providing us with the opening of "Alone Again Or," a Bryan McLean track, and one of the most simplistic on the album. The mariachi horns and 2-part harmonies play up to this tracks enjoyability level, and sets the stage for the beauty that is to follow.
Following that light-hearted track, instant darkness is acheived with the ominous-sounding introduction to "A House Is Not A Motel." This track is a lyrical showcase, probably having the most depth in that aspect of any of these songs. For proof I give you the final verse:

"By the time that I'm through singing the bells from the schools of wars will be ringing. More confusions, blood transfusions. The news today will be the movies for tomorrow, and the waters turned to blood, and if you don't thing so, go turn on your tub."

That verse rendered me speechless on first listen. Next, "Andmoreagain" brings us verses of romance and majesty to soften the apocalyptic images of the previous track. For most of my friends who have the album, this is their favorite track, and not without good reason. It's a beautiful love song, sure to sooth out any anger you may be holding.
"The Daily Planet" is an acoustic rocker, and is the hardest song on the album. Here, Lee used double-tracking in ways not utilized before, by singing two different things over each other. Another ingenious decision by an ingenious frontman.
Following that, the most simple song on the album "Old Man," gives us more romance to quell our confusion of the previous track. It is the second of two Bryan McLean tracks, and, like every song on here, is bursting with beauty.
Next comes a disturbing portrait of death and darkness in "The Red Telephone," featuring lyrics of lost hope, a droning harpsichord, and a greatly disturbing ending (They're locking them up today. They're throwing away the key. I wonder who it'll be tomorrow, you or me.)
Following that track another lighthearted recovery track is given (recurring theme) in "Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark & Hilldale." This song was the reason I bought the album, and it is one of the two best songs on the album.
Next, "Live And Let Live" transports us back to where 'The Red Telephone' left off. It's another dark track that you will grow to love even more on repeated playings.
Following its predecessors, "The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This" is another relief track, but by now you can't help but think, maybe this happiness is just a facade. Maybe there is no hope, and it's just here to draw us in. Anyway, it succeeds and things take a much lighter turn from here.
Now, most people would say that the first rap song is 'Rapture" by Blondie, but to those people I say "Be gone." This may sound a bit racist to some of you, but there is no way that rap was started by a white girl. Anyway, Lee recorded the next track, "Bummer In The Summer," over ten years before "Rapture" was released. Listening to this track, you will hear that this is in fact a rap song, and until I find a rap song released before 1967, I will regard this as the first rap song recorded.
Finally, the album closes with what will become your favorite track if you play the album enough, "You Set The Scene." It is the most revealing track, as Lee openly speaks of his prediction of death with a mature acceptance. The whole album builds up to the final half of this song, and it delivers right here. The perfect (yes, perfect) climax to a perfect album.

So, in review, if you want to hear the best album of all time, then purchase "Forever Changes." You shouldn't be disappointed, but if you are, get help.

a unique record, very interesting.......2004-04-22

Had to hear this after all the glowing reviews. I was a little nonplussed at first by the trumpet parts; it sounded vaguely like the Tijuana Brass. For a so-called psychedelic record there's not much messing around with the recording and the only bit that sounds psychedelic is a fine guitar break on "House is not a Motel".

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Summerwind ~ Ray Brown With Monty Alexander

Acting Up! ~ Banda Brothers

Funky Beats ~ Various Artists

Live at the Jazz Workshop: Complete ~ Thelonious Monk

Jazzmenco ~ La Vienta

Reflections ~ Ewan Svensson Quartet

Prophet: Benin, Vol. 13 ~ Various Artists

Sozinha Minha ~ Adriana Maciel

Pappa Di Latte V.1 ~ Mina

No Tempo Dos Oito Batutas ~ Pixinguinha