Love
Forever Changes

THE REVIEW

The year '67 was one in which many new talents burst onto the musical scene. I just remember that the "Grateful Dead" released their first album, the "Jefferson Airplane" created "Surrealistic Pillow" and the "Doors" with their debut album captured millions of young people, enchanted by the lyrics and the theatricality of leader Jim Morrison. This happened during the "summer of love" of '67, in California, which at that time was a boiling pot, the most important crossroads of culture and counterculture in the West. Today we remember that time as an emblem of new trends in every artistic field, social protest, hopes. The youth movement was gaining more and more followers; the image of the hippy smoking a joint is an icon in everyone's imagination. Marijuana, LSD, heroin, were used for the first time by a large number of people... just a precursor of the culture of revelry, which would become a mass phenomenon in the near future. At the beginning of summer, in Los Angeles, the "Love" led by the brilliant guitarist, Arthur Lee, entered the recording studio to record "Forever Changes" (With the important contribution of Bryan Maclean)

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, harmonizing beat and psychedelia, the sound of strings with wind instruments. Contrasts resolved masterfully, brilliantly playing on the edge of daring balances, implausible coexistences, and the risk of falling into kitsch. The result was an album of "symphonic psychedelia" still enjoyable today because each ingredient is perfectly measured. Songs of incredible emotional power, which captivate because they are rich in hidden suggestions.

"Forever Changes" has become a milestone of Rock, a work always loved by fans of acid rock, and for others, an album to know. The compositions I prefer are: "Alone Again Or" "A House Is Not A Motel" "Andmoreagain" "Live And Let Live" "The Daily Planet" "The Red Telephone" "You Set The Scene" lastly I mention the track I listen to the most, "Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale".

PS. Speaking of another great of psychedelia: Syd Barrett. "New Musical Express Year Book, 1974". "He was very influenced by the Stones, the Beatles, the Byrds, and the Love. By the Stones more than the others... He quickly wore out his copy of Between The Buttons. And also the Love album. Once, I was trying to talk to him about an Arthur Lee song whose title I couldn’t remember, so I started humming its refrain. Syd grabbed the guitar and accompanied me. Later, he used those chords for the main chorus of Interstellar Overdrive."