Forever Changes

Forever Changes
Studio album by Love
Released	November 1967
Recorded	June to September, 1967 at Sunset Sound Recorders
Genre	Psychedelic rock, folk rock, baroque pop
Length	42:51
Label	Elektra Rhino
Producer	Bruce Botnick Arthur Lee
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (A-) link Rolling Stone (favorable) link
Love chronology
Da Capo (1967) Forever Changes (1967) Four Sail (1969)

Forever Changes is the third album released by the Los Angeles-based band Love. The album was released by Elektra Records in November 1967. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Forever Changes 40th in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Album information

Dropping keyboardist Alban Pfisterer and flautist/saxophonist Tjay Cantrelli, the remaining five-piece performed on nine of the album's eleven tracks. The album was the first to be produced by Arthur Lee, with assistance from Bruce Botnick.

Originally, the album was to be produced by Botnick and Neil Young, but Young bowed out due to his commitments to Buffalo Springfield. However, according to the liner notes of the 1995 compilation Love Story, Young did stick with the album project long enough to arrange the track "The Daily Planet".

The sessions began in June 1967, with the group (except for Lee and Maclean) replaced by well-known Los Angeles session musicians Billy Strange (guitar), Don Randi (piano), Hal Blaine (drums) and, in most likelihood, Carol Kaye (bass). This studio line-up was put in place due to the regular line-up's alleged inability to function. The two tracks recorded during these sessions, "Andmoreagain" and "The Daily Planet", were later given sparing overdubs by the actual members of Love, who felt the tracks otherwise sufficed.

Botnick recalls that the use of session musicians "sparked" the band, and they "realized they had blown it, got their act together and recorded the rest of the album". After much rehearsal, the group resumed work in August and continued through September, quickly laying down the remaining nine tracks, with a total estimated cost at $2,257. Rooted in acoustics, the album's lyrics were a perfect summation of the year 1967, at times joyous, at times contemplative, at times downright devastating.

"When I did that album," commented Arthur Lee, "I thought I was going to die at that particular time, so those were my last words." This is borne out by perhaps the most famous lines from the album, on the song "The Red Telephone":

"Sitting on a hillside

Watching all the people die

I'll feel much better on the other side."

Musically, the album is very ambitious. Having extended itself on the lengthy jam "Revelation" from Da Capo, Love here composes a more focused mini-suite, the album-ending "You Set the Scene", which anticipated the extended rock operas that would dominate rock and roll in the following years.^[1]

A September recording session finished the album, sweetening the final mixes with horns and strings (arranged by David Angel with each song's respective songwriter), as well as some additional piano from Randi, who played all the keyboard parts on the album as the band now had no keyboard player.

The album was released in November with cover art by Bob Pepper and sold poorly, rising only to #154 on the Billboard charts. It did however reach the Top 30 in Britain. Only well after the group's break-up would the album be recognized as a masterpiece by the rock journalism press.

Forever Changes was included in its entirety on the 2-CD retrospective Love compilation Love Story 1966-1972, released by Rhino Records in 1995. The album was re-released in an expanded single-CD version by Rhino in 2001, featuring alternate mixes, outtakes and the group's 1968 single, "Your Mind and We Belong Together"/"Laughing Stock", the last tracks featuring Johnny Echols, Ken Forssi, Michael Stuart and, in most likelihood, Bryan MacLean. As for Arthur Lee, he would reform the group in late 1968 with all-new members and carry on the Love name for a few more years.

A double-CD "Collector's Edition" of the album was issued by Rhino Records on April 22, 2008. The first disc consists of the original 1967 album, while the second disc is an alternate mix of it plus the 2001 release bonus songs.

Reception

The most notable retrospective praise came in 2003 from the British magazine, NME, who rated Forever Changes #6 on their list of greatest albums of all time. In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Forever Changes the 82nd greatest album of all time.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked Forever Changes 40th in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in the December 11, 2003 issue. In a special issue of Mojo magazine, it was ranked the second greatest psychedelic album of all time, while in 1995 it made #11 in Mojo's list of the 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made.^[2]

Forever Changes was ranked 83rd in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time.^[3]

Forever Changes was praised by the British Parliament in 2002 as being one of the Greatest Albums of All Time.^[4]

According to the New Musical Express, The Stone Roses' relationship with their future producer John Leckie was settled when they all agreed that Forever Changes was the "best record ever".^[5]

Track listing

All songs written by Arthur Lee, except where noted

November 1967 issue

1. "Alone Again Or" (Bryan MacLean) – 3:16
2. "A House is Not a Motel" – 3:31
3. "Andmoreagain" (Lee/MacLean) – 3:18
4. "The Daily Planet" – 3:30
5. "Old Man" (MacLean) – 3:02
6. "The Red Telephone" – 4:46
7. "Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale" – 3:34
8. "Live and Let Live" – 5:26
9. "The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This" – 3:08
10. "Bummer in the Summer" – 2:24
11. "You Set the Scene" – 6:56

February 2001 reissue Bonus Tracks

1. "Hummingbirds [Demo]" – 2:43
2. "Wonder People (I Do Wonder)" – 3:27
3. "Alone Again Or [Alternate Mix]" (MacLean) – 2:55
4. You Set the Scene [Alternate Mix]" – 7:01
5. "Your Mind and We Belong Together [Tracking Session Highlights]" – 8:16
6. "Your Mind and We Belong Together" – 4:28
7. "Laughing Stock" – 2:33

April 2008 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition

Disc 1

Same track listing as the original album.

Disc 2

1. "Alone Again Or [Alternate Mix]" (MacLean) – 3:15
2. "A House is Not a Motel [Alternate Mix]" – 3:35
3. "Andmoreagain" (Lee/MacLean) – 3:25
4. "The Daily Planet [Alternate Mix]" – 3:25
5. "Old Man [Alternate Mix]" (MacLean) – 3:08
6. "The Red Telephone [Alternate Mix]" – 5:23
7. "Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale [Alternate Mix]" – 3:40
8. "Live and Let Live [Alternate Mix]" – 5:37
9. "The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This [Alternate Mix]" – 3:11
10. "Bummer in the Summer [Alternate Mix]" – 2:31
11. "You Set the Scene [Alternate Mix]" – 7:03
12. "Wonder People (I Do Wonder)" – 3:27
13. "Hummingbirds [Demo]" - 2:43
14. "A House is Not a Motel [Backing Track]" - 3:31
15. "Andmoreagain [Electric Backing Track]" (Lee/MacLean) – 3:08
16. "The Red Telephone [Tracking Session Highlights]" – 2:07
17. "Wooly Bully" (Domingo "Sam" Samudio) – 1:27
18. "Alone Again Or [Mono Single Remix]" (MacLean) – 2:54
19. "Your Mind and We Belong Together [Tracking Session Highlights]" – 8:16
20. "Your Mind and We Belong Together" – 4:27
21. "Laughing Stock" – 2:31

Personnel

Music

Band members:

• Arthur Lee: lead vocals, guitar, arranger
• Johnny Echols: lead guitar
• Bryan MacLean: rhythm guitar, vocals, arranger (lead vocals on "Alone Again Or" and "Old Man")
• Ken Forssi: bass
• Michael Stuart: drums, percussion, vocals

With:

• David Angel: arranger, orchestrations

And uncredited contributions^{[citation needed]} from:

• Hal Blaine: drums on "Andmoreagain" and "The Daily Planet"
• Carol Kaye: bass on "Andmoreagain" (unconfirmed) and acoustic guitar on "The Daily Planet"
• Don Randi: piano
• Billy Strange: guitar on "Andmoreagain" and "The Daily Planet"
• Neil Young: arranger on "The Daily Planet"
• Orchestra: Robert Barene, Arnold Belnick, James Getzoff, Marshall Sosson, Darrel Terwilliger (violins); Norman Botnick (viola); Jesse Ehrlich (cello); Chuck Berghofer (double bass); Bud Brisbois, Roy Caton, Ollie Mitchell (trumpets); Richard Leith (trombone)

Production & design

• Bruce Botnick and Arthur Lee: Producers
• Bruce Botnick: Engineer
• Jac Holzman: Production Supervisor
• Zal Schreiber: Mastering
• William S. Harvey: Cover Design
• Bob Pepper: Cover Art

References