50 Years of Love & Arthur Lee "Da Capo" "Forever Changes" "Love" & more: Album-By-Album Thread

No remixes on this version of the album. The only difference is that someone 'forgot' to fade the ending of A House Is Not A Motel, so it runs a few seconds longer and just stops unexpectedly (like I Want You from Abbey Road).

I'd brought it up earlier in the thread (post 210, p9), as this is the version I bought and fell in love with in the early 90's. I didn't know there was a fade out until I heard the version on Elektra Masters, and I wondered why they had messed up the ending.

I just found a post here Messageboard For Love Fans - Fade Out in "A House Is Not A Motel" » where someone quotes Echols as saying it was supposed to just cut out, but was changed to fade later on. Maybe that would explain why the fade isn't on the master tape (or at least the tape Elektra UK had in the early 70s).

 

That was my first copy as well. The fade still sounds odd to me. The photo of Arthur Lee on the back is a crop of the one in WilliamWes' post on Elektra Masters on the last page.

I have a very battered copy of Elektra Masters that I bought from the 'expensive records' shelf of my local Record and Tape Exchange. £10 for a second hand record in the late 1980s to get three tracks was a big deal for me as an impoverished student back then.

 

Just to be clear, one immediately follows the other, and they're listed as one song on the sleeve, but they're not edited together in any way.

 

Hey Dean, yes some more great info you've provided. The 'black logo' "Forever Changes" seems to be from 1971- a U.K. release and a German release. In 1976 the same catalog number you listed also appears for a 1976 UK issue.

So I guess we are ruling out that "Love Masters" is a remix. Alright, so Mr. Hoffman's tape may have been just a demo to try to work out a proper remix for "Love Masters" or perhaps another planned release that didn't pan out.

 

Those prices sound ridiculous for their time Saxson. I wonder what crowd they were catering to-the biggest rock stars? Anyone without a serious intent to make a living playing music wouldn't bother. Some stores are great at teasing!

 

Thanks for the definitive info Moray. I don't think I remember hearing "A House Is Not a Motel" as an edit-I'd probably think it were strange any other way at this point. I'd probably prefer the original anyway, but it is interesting it appeared that way on "Love Masters".

 

I was talking about the '71 UK reissue of Forever Changes (black logo, butterfly label) - that is the one that has the extra few seconds of A House Is Not A Motel with the abrupt ending. The version on Elektra Masters (my copy at least) is the normal version, or at least one that fades.

 

I bought Forever Changes brand new, early in 1981, and that was the version I got. The abrupt ending, I felt, complimented the skipping ending of Good Humour Man, and I prefer it.

I remember the Record & Tape Exchange in Jamaica Street well. Not the greatest selection, records often jammed together, with those awful price stickers. Found the occasional gem though. I once bought a copy of Keef Hartley's Halfbreed for a quid there, only to find it had a hole (or two, to be exact) right through the vinyl! They branched into selling amyl nitrate under the counter in their latter years.

 

Those tickets were a nightmare. They seemed to be welded to the covers. And, of course, they had a permanent '50p off every album' sale so you just assumed everything was priced up an extra 50p to compensate. I think I stopped going before it became an amyl nitrate shop.

 

So later today I'll post a "Black Beauty" review-it's already finished. Like I said, the booklet has some great pics-here's a few from the "Black Beauty" era...'


L-R; Joe Blocker (drums), Melvan Whittington (lead guitar), Robert Rozelle (bass), Arthur Lee (vocals, guitar, harpsichord)

 

It wasn't me, because I didn't have that kind of money so I never bought anything from them other than records. Contrary to what some might think, there were not the big discount stores like Guitar Center or Sam Ash in Southern California at that time. Just mom and pop music stores that sold guitars close to the MFSRP. I bought a 1964 Fender Strat for $301.00 including the case. I had to purchase it on layaway and it took me six months to pay it off. They only had two kinds of guitars back then, cheap Japanese and expensive US. The Japanese stuff still cost close to $100.00 even back then. Not like today's prices.

 

ratings?
Well Love albums all revolve around FC being my prefered album of their's.
I like the first two, but in no way do they compete with FC. The others are alright some good songs, lousy album covers. So a tough love choice I guess.
Sorry!!!

 

I'll get this when the price drops.

 

Arthue Lee on harpsichord? Hoo hah! Seriously does Black Beauty have any keyboards at all? Speaking as a fan who bought the cassette boot 30 years ago under the impression that it was the "long supressed" Hendrix collaboration.BTW I love the High Moon re

 

Does anyone know the exact release date of Forever Changes? The Love Story boxset just gives a month of December. AllMusic gives month only again, but in November.

Does anyone know the exact date?

 

Andrew Sandoval's liner notes to the Love Story box set claim that the band did final recordings on September 10th. But says that David Angel's string and brass arrangements were added in late September 1967. That is when the information stops. Then in the discography it says

"Elektra #74013, 12/67"

Hmmmmmmm.......

 

FC: Why did it take two months to get released if the recording was completed end of September ?

The Doors ~Strange Days was released on September 25th that year. Just wondering if there was any other Elektra bands /acts with conflicting album release dates that had a precedent.

 

The October 1967 date seems like when I remember seeing it come out.

 

That's the correct catalog number, but documentation since has stated November 1967 for the U.S. release. Multiple sources including Torbett's website which is very reliable and the Einarson book. In February 1968, FC came out in the U.K. But even the best album has another mystery to uncover-I've never seen the exact date.

 

I was checking what was going on in September, and I forgot if we discussed this bit-I know we discussed Western. Some of the exact dates we have are September 18th the orchestra performed their parts. Sept 19-21 Bruce mixed the album. Lee was there for both events, Holzman was there for the orchestral work. Now if you remember Sept. 15 for some reason, something significant must have happened that day, but I have no further info on exact dates.

Side note about the release date: Holzman's quote also mentions that he felt that "FC" shouldn't have been released in November because of the holiday competition and that it should have been delayed for a Jan. release.

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Just for fun-a little excerpt from the Einarson book-about your tape...

"Rhino Records' 2oo8 deluxe reissue of Forever Changes boasts an alternative mix of the album that places the vocals and some instruments more prominently than in the better known version.

Bruce Botnick: Where Rhino got that alternate mix on this new release, I don't know. I suspect it was probably a rough mix that I made. We've been trying to find the original masters but they're gone. I wanted to mix it in surround sound but Jac and I have been looking for those tapes for 15 years and haven't found them.

Johnny Echols: [In the early 70's] I was in New York and had come by to see Jac not realizing they [Elektra] were packing up to move to Los Angeles. There were boxes everywhere including the original masters of Forever Changes. I could have just walked out with them. There was no guard or anything; they were just waiting for the moving company to pick up all these boxes. Nobody knows where they are now.

 

It amazes me that basic information about an acclaimed album remains a mystery. I suppose it was because the album did not sale well upon original release. But you would think someone could tell you a month and day release date for Forever Changes!

Thanks for the great information.