Forever Changes

by Love

Overview

Love's Forever Changes made only a minor dent on the charts when it was first released in 1967, but years later it became recognized as one of the finest and most haunting albums to come out of the Summer of Love, which doubtless has as much to do with the disc's themes and tone as the music, beautiful as it is. Sharp electric guitars dominated most of Love's first two albums, and they make occasional appearances here on tunes like "A House Is Not a Motel" and "Live and Let Live," but most of Forever Changes is built around interwoven acoustic guitar textures and subtle orchestrations, with strings and horns both reinforcing and punctuating the melodies. The punky edge of Love's early work gave way to a more gentle, contemplative, and organic sound on Forever Changes, but while Arthur Lee and Bryan MacLean wrote some of their most enduring songs for the album, the lovely melodies and inspired arrangements can't disguise an air of malaise that permeates the sessions. A certain amount of this reflects the angst of a group undergoing some severe internal strife, but Forever Changes is also an album that heralds the last days of a golden age and anticipates the growing ugliness that would dominate the counterculture in 1968 and 1969; images of violence and war haunt "A House Is Not a Motel," the street scenes of "Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hillsdale" reflects a jaded mindset that flower power could not ease, the twin specters of race and international strife rise to the surface of "The Red Telephone," romance becomes cynicism in "Bummer in the Summer," the promise of the psychedelic experience decays into hard drug abuse in "Live and Let Live," and even gentle numbers like "Andmoreagain" and "Old Man" sound elegiac, as if the ghosts of Chicago and Altamont were visible over the horizon as Love looked back to brief moments of warmth. Forever Changes is inarguably Love's masterpiece and an album of enduring beauty, but it's also one of the few major works of its era that saw the dark clouds looming on the cultural horizon, and the result was music that was as prescient as it was compelling. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	12/04/2012
Label:	Rhino
UPC:	0081227971151

Tracks

1. Alone Again Or
2. A House Is Not a Motel
3. Andmoreagain
4. The Daily Planet
5. Old Man
6. The Red Telephone
7. Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale
8. Live and Let Live
9. The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything like This
10. Bummer in the Summer
11. You Set the Scene

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Love   Primary Artist
Arthur Lee & Love   Primary Artist
Jesse Ehrlich   Cello
Chuck Berghofer   String Bass
Carol Kaye   Bass
John Echols   Guitar,Lead Guitar
Ollie Mitchell   Trumpet
Marshall Sosson   Violin
Bud Brisbois   Trumpet
Michael Stuart   Percussion
Bryan MacLean   Guitar,Vocals,Lead Vocals,Guitar (Rhythm)
Tjay Cantrelli   Flute,Saxophone
Arnold Belnick   Violin
Hal Blaine   Drums
James Getzoff   Violin
Roy Caton   Trumpet
Robert Barene   Violin
Richard Leith   Trombone
Ken Forssi   Bass,Guitar (Bass)
Billy Strange   Guitar
Don Randi   Piano
Arthur Lee   Guitar,Vocals
Darrel Terwilliger   Violin
Norman Botnick   Viola
Alban Pfisterer   Drums

Technical Credits

Paul Rothchild   Producer
Andrew Sandoval   Remastering
Steve Hoffman   Remastering
John Haeny   Engineer
Mark Eitzel   Composer
Bryan MacLean   Arranger,Composer
Bruce Botnick   Engineer,Producer
David Angel   Arranger,Orchestration
Jac Holzman   Engineer,Producer,Executive Producer
Arthur Lee   Arranger,Composer,Lyricist,Producer
Domingo "Sam" Samudio   Composer
Daniel Hersch   Remastering
Andy MacLean   Composer