Forever Changes - Love (Elektra)

I have a feeling there are still many music lovers who have not heard or are unlikely to ever get to hear this immortal album. I know some others have (recently) checked it out due to it's continual appearance on 'greatest albums of all time lists' but I wonder how many posters on this forum remain unaware (or unconvinced) of what an utterly amazing and essential album this is, and always will be!






Forever Changes ~Love (Elektra)

* Check the 2001 Rhino CD for additional mixes, demos & outtakes - it's a must!

 

Quite amazing album. Definitely one of my top 20.

 

Adore it !!!

 

I like it but I wouldn't say it was "immortal" unless you were into Love or power pop. To me it sounds very dated and at times Arthur sounds like Johnny Mathis but I still do covers from it because the material suits solo acoustic guitar and voice very well.

 

"Dated" -- as if that's a bad thing. The album sounds like the year it was recorded, and is absolutely marvelous because of that. Very much in my top 20, and very much immortal.

 

Huge fan of this record. I understand the "dated" reference, but that doesn't keep me from enjoying it. Probably top ten on my list.

 

I play this Lp at least twice a month! I have the new Rhino vinyl and it is a great example of what great mastering can do!

 

Marvelous record. I discovered it about 10 years ago.... better late than never!

 

Had it on 8track, cassette, domestic & import vinyl, and two cd configurations. I don't think I've ever heard anything quite like it, unique to the time like After Bathing At Baxters, and like Baxters still resonates. But I've played it for enough folks that don't get it, hear a superficial resemblance to Moody Blues, which they are more familiar with and more prone to playing or ignoring. Not me, Moody Blues is nostalgia, if I hear it, remember the time & place and that's it. Forever Changes is like the movie that you know perfectly, and when you catch it you're in for the duration.

 

I have it, spin it a few times a year, but remain "unconvinced" of its greatness.

 

I like it a lot but it's not even my favorite Love album.

 

Love at first listening 30 years ago. Immortal.

 

Like it, love some of the songs. But I do think some of the material is just pretty good with outstanding orchestral embellishments. And of all the albums that have achieved legendary status over the years, I think this is one of the more overrated.

 

As good as LA music from 1967 got.

 

You ARE aware that the 2-cd version had most of disc 2 mastered by our host?

 

best concert choice I ever made, was making the drive to Greeley, Colorado, to see the late edition of Love, in concert with the Zombies, some 20 months before Arthur died.....Johnny Echols had rejoined for the tour, he played just 2- 3 songs during the first shows of the tour, in California, but played the whole show in Greeley, and thereafter...from the first moments Arthur Lee was onstage, I knew I was in the presence of Greatness

 

I discovered Love in the late 90's with the two disc Rhino comp. Certain Forever Changes tracks hit me right away, while others took a while to grow on me, but my appreciation for this unusual piece of artistry only increases with time. Though it bears some of the hallmarks of the psychedelic era, it definitely has its own unique flavor and the arrangements are often breathtaking, some of the best "baroque psych pop" you'll find. I recently bought the live CD/DVD that came out some ten years back and really enjoyed it. It was great to see Arthur Lee take one last bow and he had a solid backing band to help pull it off.

 

Arthur Lee had a distinct harmonic vocabulary. Lots of major sevenths and substitutions. Great stuff.
I liked how he dropped words out of the lyrics along the way.

 

Great album.

I find it interesting when people call music "dated." Why is music as an art form so easily allowed to be considered "dated," as compared to other art forms? True, some art is of the moment. Warhol, perhaps, strove for this style of art. Pop musicians might strive similarly. But not all. Is the Mona Lisa dated? Shakespeare?

Art-true art-steps out of the bounds off time. It touches a timeless element in the soul. I believe this album accomplishes that.

 

It's one of my all-time faves, for sure! Especially like the alternate mixes, just to hear all the guitars separated in the stereo mix.

 

One of the best albums of all time.

 

This is one of those albums where it was nothing like I expected. Once assimilated, though, it quickly became an all time favourite.

 

I think most people are referring to production and instrumentation when they say dated.

 

I know-yet those are artistic choices that were made by the artist. Does the fact they don't match todays sensibilities make them less valid? Does it make the music less of a work of art? Shakespeare uses an old english style-would people use "dated" as a negative-somehow inferring his plays aren't very good art? Mona Lisa is dressed in an old fashion-is the painting not worthy of serious consideration because of this? My point is this: Some art is timeless.

 

Isn't there a two-disc version with the second disc mastered by Steve?