If you're reading this review, it's time to buy this Album!
Okay, everybody who was anybody had a big album in 1967. This album has accoustic guitar, strings and horns(against the band's wishes but a great idea!), really tight bass and drums, gritty lead guitar, way-out songs which break the rules of format but sound good anyway! Arthur Lee's colorful lyrics make you think...you might not know what he's trying to say, but it doesn't matter as it gives the listener his own interpretations. The drums and bass accent almost every line of the melodies. Think about everything you've already listened to to get this review...had enough mainstream but don't like to listen to garage-quality [crud]? Yes, its time for the next step in listening, every song is good, buy this immediately, its a complete masterpiece and the best thing this group ever did, forget any greatest hits collection, this is it!
One of the greatest albums of all time.
I have listened to this album so many times it makes me dizzy. But every time I listen, I am moved. Any self-respecting music listener who does not own this better hurry up and get one. Amazon.com has it at a great price. You might try the 2 cd set, Love Story if you want more of Love, and you should. I don't care what any critic says about Arthur Lee, this music is classic, great, genius. The Love Story set includes the entire Forever Changes and is well worth the money. I encourage people who like classic rock music, who like great singing, to give the group Love serious consideration. If you like the Beatles, Jethro Tull, the Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, Simon and Garfunkel, the Doors, Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, you will definately love Love. If you haven't been familiar with their recordings, you are in for a sumptuous treat for your soul and ears.
a unique record, very interesting
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". On this record at least Arthur Lee was often a very strange, effete vocalist singing perhaps even stranger lyrics, usually without any rhythmic variation, like he'd been listening to baroque music or something. And on this set he takes the prize for most alienated songwriter I've heard on record, which may explain the critical cult. The music's rhythms resemble a lot of stuff the Moody Blues did later, perhaps under this record's influence, though I don't know that to be the case. Seems like maybe Bowie and U2 could have cribbed some ideas as well. The melodies are consistently counterintuitive so it takes a couple listens to digest. Greatest pop record of the 60's or the mid-60's or even 1967? Not for me because there's not much rock'n'roll. I think the Beatles, the Kinks, the Byrds, and Buffalo Springfield were all doing stuff that has aged better. But this is still worth the pittance you pay for it.
My absolute favorite pop record
"Forever Changes" is the best pop/rock album I have ever heard. What's more, I never tire of it as the songs sound fresh each time I listen. And it has no peer--it is a truly amazing work that is completely different in sound from any other rock music I've come across. Absolutely beautiful, absolutely wonderful, a fabulously trippy 1960s classic that does not sound dated. Buy this!
Love?....Forever Changes?....What?
The reason I'm writing this review is because it's necesary for those of you who ever liked rock and roll. Don't expect Page's mind-boggling guitar playing. Just realize: Any person who loves good music and has a collection of classic rock,(The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Simon & Garfunkel, The Band, etc) will "Love" it. It's simplistic, and beatiful. The notes, lyrics, and songs on this masterpiece are placed just right.
They never toured. They were based in the L.A. area. 1967..... Arthur Lee (Brilliant singer/songwriter) created this gem all the while thinking his life was going to end at 26, just a few years down the road. You can imagine the passion put into this work.
I rank this album up there with Dark Side of The Moon, and Abbey Road.
P.S. It took a few listenings to fall in "Love" with it, and when I did, I fell HARD.....Peace
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
