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Rating: Preamble: this review is immoral, it’s a duplicate that probably pushed some more deserving analysis off the homepage. I just had a great urge to write about this work.
On first listen, I remained indifferent; in fact, I felt a sort of repulsion, considering the album pretentious, arranged in a kitsch manner and too evidently naïve in its '67’s Summer Of Love air. After numerous other “sessions”, I managed to come out of apathy, at least acknowledging the care of the soundscape and a fine dramatic piece like “The House Is Not A Motel”. I put it back on the shelf, next to The Byrds and Grateful Dead, and there it stayed for a long time. A couple of weeks ago, who knows why, I picked it up again. It must have been the twentieth listen, more or less, but finally something shifted, so I listened to it at least another twenty times, and I’m still doing it now.
“Forever Changes” by the Californians Love is one of the greatest albums in the History of music, one of the symbols of the entire psychedelic season, one of the most radiant and dramatic examples of sonic intimacy. The year is 1967, the same as the earth-shaking debut of The Doors who released on the same label (Elektra Records, until then specialized in folk music). Love were already on their third work, and the previous one, Da Capo, with its jazzy and acid influences, had shown great free form creativity. Instead of continuing down that road, which would be dominated by a certain Hendrix, the group changes direction, steering away from electric instrumentation and rock enthusiasm. In this work, electric guitars are present in not more than three pieces, and keyboards are almost entirely set aside in favor of a composed but essential section of strings and brass.
To understand the reason for such a counter-current choice compared to the trends of the time (see Jefferson Airplane, Cream, Big Brother & The Holding Co.), one must immerse oneself in the atmosphere of those days, between June and August 1967 in the Elektra studios: the band is pressured by the good responses of the two previous albums, the members are divided by personal misunderstandings, also due to rampant drug use. At the center of this, Arthur Lee, the leader of this ensemble, is increasingly lost in his discomfort, and muses on life and death, on music business and isolation (from the song “The Red Telephone”: “sitting on the hillside/watching all the people die/I’ll feel much better on the other side”).
After almost inconclusive June sessions, the band takes a month to think, compose, and clear their minds. They return to the studio in August, and the masterpiece is born.
The first song, “Alone Again Or” composed and sung by the other cornerstone Bryan McLean, is already a masterpiece within the masterpiece: acoustic guitars and strings, a trumpet solo with Latin-American memories; McLean’s voice, curiously but deliberately, was mixed by Lee not in perfect harmony with the arrangements and the backing vocals, creating an almost dissonant and “crooked” effect. The already mentioned “The House Is Not A Motel” is the hardest and most acid piece of the work, as well as the most evidently dramatic (“the water’s turned to blood”). Other essential compositions are “Old Man”, “The Red Telephone”, and the concluding “You Set The Scene”, while the splendidly arranged (and with a long-winded title) “Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale” deserves special mention: an incredible song in terms of intensity and measure.
Arthur Lee thought he was going to die (side effects of LSD?), and this was to be his personal requiem. He would die of cancer many years later, after a life of drug addiction and legal troubles, but his work remains there, sublimated in “Forever Changes”, untouchable in every groove. On par (...?) with the Doorsian debut, with the Jefferson Airplane Pillow, this is not just History, it is more.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Alone Again Or (03:18)
Yeah, said it's all right
I won't forget
All the times I've waited patiently for you
And you'll do just what you choose to do
And I will be alone again tonight my dear
Yeah, I heard a funny thing
Somebody said to me
You know that I could be in love with almost everyone
I think that people are
The greatest fun
And I will be alone again tonight my dear
Yeah, I heard a funny thing
Somebody said to me
You know that I could be in love with almost everyone
I think that people are
The greatest fun
And I will be alone again tonight my dear
02 A House Is Not a Motel (03:32)
At my house I've got no shackles
You can come and look if you want to
In the halls you'll see the mantles
Where the light shines dim all around you
And the streets are paved with gold and if
Someone asks you, you can call my name
You are just a thought that someone
Somewhere somehow feels you should be here
And it's so for real to touch
To smell, to feel, to know where you are here
And the streets are paved with gold and if
Someone asks you, you can call my name
You can call my name
I hear you calling my name yeah all right now
By the time that I'm through singing
The bells from the schools of wars will be ringing
More confusions, blood transfusions
The news today will be the movies for tomorrow
And the water's turned to blood, and if
You don't think so
Go turn on your tub
And it it's mixed with mud
You'll see it turn to gray
And you can call my name
I hear you call my name...
03 Andmoreagain (03:21)
And if you'll see Andmoreagain
Then you will know Andmoreagain
For you can see you in her eyes
Then you feel your heart beating
Thrum-pum-pum-pum
And when you've given all you had
And everything still turns out
Bad, and all your secrets are your own
Then you feel your heart beating
Thrum-pum-pum-pum
And I'm
Wrapped in my armor
But my things are material
And I'm
Lost in confusions
'Cause my things are material
And you don't know how much
I love you
Oh, oh, oh...
And if you'll see Andmoreagain
Then you might be Andmoreagain
For you just wish and you are here
Then you feel your heart beating
Thrum-pum-pum-pum
And I'm
Wrapped in my armor
But my things are material
And I'm
Lost in confusions
'Cause my things are material
And you don't know how much
I love you
Oh, oh, oh...
04 The Daily Planet (03:31)
In the morning we arise and
Start the day the same old way
As yesterday the day before and
All in all it's just a day like
All the rest so do your best with
Chewing gum and it is oh so
Repetitious
Waiting on the sun
Down on Go-stop Boulevard it
Never fails to bring me down
The sirens and the accidents and
For a laugh there's Plastic Nancy
She's real fancy with her children
They'll go far, she
Buys them toys to
Keep in practice
Waiting on the war
I feel shivers in my spine
When the iceman says his ice is melting
Won't be there on time
Hope he finds a rhyme
For his little mind
I can see you
With no hands (face)
Eyes I need you
You're my heart (face)
Look we're going round and round
07 Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale (03:35)
Verse 1:
What is happening and how have you been
Gotta go but I'll see you again
And oh, the music is so loud
And then I fade into the...
Verse 2:
Crowds of people standing everywhere
'Cross the street I'm at this laugh affair
And here they always play my songs
And me, I wonder if it's...
Verse 3:
Wrong or right they come here just the same
Telling everyone about their games
And if you think it obsolete
Then you go back across the street
Yeah, street, hey hey
Verse 4:
When I leave now don't you weep for me
I'll be back, just save a seat for me
But if you just can't make the room
Look up and see me on the...
Verse 5:
Moon's a common scene around my town
Here where everyone is painted brown
And if we feel that's not the way
Let's go paint everybody gray
Yeah, gray, yeah
08 Live and Let Live (05:27)
Oh, the snot has caked against my pants
It has turned into crystal
There's a bluebird sitting on a branch
I guess I'll take my pistol
I've got it in my hand
Because he's on my land
And so the story ended
Do you know it oh so well
Well should you need I'll tell you
The end-end-end-end-end-end-end-end
And...
Yes I've seen you sitting on the couch
I recognize your artillery
I have seen you many times before
Once when I was an Indian
And I was on my land
Why can't you understand
And so the story ended
Do you know it oh so well
Well should you need I'll tell you
The end-end-end-end-end-end-end-end
And...
Served my time
Served it well
You made my soul
Write the rules
In the sky
But ask your leaders
Why Why
Oh, the snot has caked against my pants
It has turned into crystal
There's a bluebird sitting on a branch
I guess I'll take my pistol
I've got it in my hand
Because he's on my land
And so the story ended
Do you know it oh so well
Well should you need I'll tell you
The end-end-end-end-end-end-end-end
And...
Served my time
Served it well
You made my soul
10 Bummer in the Summer (02:24)
Well I remember when you used to look so good
And I did everything that I possibly could for you
We used to ride around all over town
But they're puttin' you down for bein' around with me
But you can go ahead if you want to
'Cause I ain't got no papers on you
In the middle of the summer I had a job bein' a plumber
Just to pass till the fall it was you I wanna ball all day
Ah-we were walkin' along, honey, hand in hand
I'm a-thinkin' of you, mama, when you're thinkin' of another man
But you can go ahead if you want to
'Cause I ain't got no papers on you
(No, I don't I ain't got no papers on myself)
All alone on the bone when I didn't have a home
When I saw the way I was and I knew where I was supposed to be
I was twitchin' so I turned and it's really hard to learn
That everyone I saw was just another part of me
But you can go ahead if you want to
'Cause nobody's got no papers on you
(No, babe, it's just a falsehood)
11 You Set the Scene (06:49)
Where are you walking, I've seen you walking
Have you been there before?
Walk down your doorsteps, you'll take some more steps
What did you take them for?
There's a private in my boat and he wears
Pins instead of medals on his coat
There's a chicken in my nest and she won't
Lay until I've given her my best
At her request she asks for nothing
You get nothing in return
If you want she brings you water
If you don't then you will burn
You go through changes, it may seem strange
Is this what you're put here for?
You think you're happy and you are happy
That's what you're happy for
There's a man who can't decide if he should
Fight for what his father thinks is right
There are people wearing frowns who'll screw you up
But they would rather screw you down
At my request I ask for nothing
You get nothing in return
If you're nice she'll bring me water
If you're not then I will burn
This is the time and life that I am living
And I'll face each day with a smile
For the time that I've been given's such a little while
And the things that I must do consist of more than style
There are places that I am going
There'll be time for you to start all over
This is the only thing that I am sure of
And that's all that lives is gonna die
And there'll always be some people here to wonder why
And for every happy hello, there will be good-bye
There'll be time for you to put yourself on
Everything I've seen needs rearranging
And for anyone who thinks it's strange
Then you should be the first to want to make this change
And for everyone who thinks that life is just a game
Do you like the part you're playing
I see your picture
It's in the same old frame
We meet again...
You look so lovely
You with the same old smile
Stay for a while...
I need you so, oh, oh, oh, oh
And if you take it easy
I'm still teethin'
I wanna love you, but
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh...
This is the time and life that I am living
And I'll face each day with a smile
For the time that I've been given's such a little while
And the things that I must do consist of more than style
There are places that I am going
There'll be time for you to start all over
This is the time and this is the time and
It is time, time, time, time, time, time, time, time, time...
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Other reviews
By psychopompe
No title has ever been more prophetic in encapsulating the timelessness and fragile equilibrium of these compositions.
There is little or none of the 'peace & love' rhetoric in this album, but rather a creeping unease that lurks here and there in the string arrangements.
By Melissa
The magic that made this album a masterpiece lies in the subtle work with which Love managed to weave flamenco adornments onto a rock sound tapestry.
Forever Changes has become a milestone of Rock, a work always loved by fans of acid rock, and for others, an album to know.
