Love - 'Forever Changes' (An appreciation)
Mar 21, 2021 17:40:39 GMT
Barrington, rfan8312, and 1 more like this
Post by ChrisB on Mar 21, 2021 17:40:39 GMT
Love - Forever Changes
1967 was a hell of a time to be making an album. If you wanted to win chart success, you had to compete with the likes of these:
'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' - The Beatles
'Their Satanic Majesties Request' - Rolling Stones
'Are You Experienced?' - The Jimi Hendrix Experienced
'Axis: Bold as Love' - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
'Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits' - Bob Dylan
'Disraeli Gears' - Cream
'The Byrds' Greatest Hits' - The Byrds
'Younger Than Yesterday' - The Byrds
'Buffalo Springfield' - Buffalo Springfield
'The Doors' - The Doors
'The Who Sell Out' - The Who
'Something Else By The Kinks' - The Kinks
'Mr. Fantasy' - Traffic
'Days of Future Passed' - The Moody Blues
'Mellow Yellow' - Donovan
'Happy Together' - The Turtles
So, I suppose, because of that, it should come as no real surprise that it was also a big year for ‘sleepers’ – albums that went relatively unnoticed, but later emerged as hugely important or influential.
'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' - Pink Floyd
'The Velvet Underground & Nico' - The Velvet Underground
'The Grateful Dead' - The Grateful Dead
'Big Brother & the Holding Company' - Big Brother and the Holding Company
'Absolutely Free' - The Mothers of Invention
'Safe as Milk' - Captain Beefheart
'Odessey and Oracle' – The Zombies (recorded In 1967, but released the next year).
And probably the ultimate sleeper album was Dylan & The Band's 'The Basement Tapes' also recorded in 1967.
This was also the year that Love released ‘Forever Changes’.
The title came from a breaking-up conversation that band leader, Arthur Lee had with a girlfriend. She protested that he'd told her he would love her forever, to which he replied, "Love forever changes".
I bought this album when I was sixteen, long after it was released. It was bought purely on a whim, as I’d never heard of Love. I was into music in a very big way, Brighton was twelve miles away and it had a bewildering array of second-hand record shops, so I used to spend every Saturday trawling the streets and spending every single penny I could get my hands on in them. My record collection was pretty large and most days I used to walk to school with a stack of albums to lend to mates. But, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get anyone interested in my big new find. This was special. It was important. People just had to hear this. They didn’t want to, though because, if I mentioned my Love album, their eyes would glaze over, thinking I’d flipped & was listening to some dodgy TV advertised K-Tel compilation made specially for middle class housewives!
I’ve owned, perhaps, six or seven copies and it’s probably been the most important record in my life so far. It really is special & everyone should listen to it properly at least once.
By 1967, Love gigs were a pretty regular event in Los Angeles, but hardly anywhere else. They’d released two albums – ‘Love’ and, earlier that year, ‘Da Capo’
On the Elektra label, they’d had a minor hit single in 1966 with Burt Bacharach's ‘My Little Red Book’
The first album, Love, was released in May 1966, heavily influenced by The Byrds and sold reasonably well, reaching 57 on the US album charts. That August, they released another single ‘7 and 7 Is’ which was to be their highest charting effort, at number 33.
This was later covered by Alice Cooper, Rush, Ramones, The Bangles and Robert Plant, among others.
It came from ‘Da Capo’ a much more ambitious, but for me, less satisfying album than the first – probably due to the over-indulgent side long track ‘Revelation’.
With that, the band were on the verge of breaking up. However, they were still committed to producing a third album, and a crew of session musicians were lined up to back the two songwriters Arthur Lee and Brian MacLean. Neil Young was going to co-produce with Elektra’s house producer, Bruce Botnick. Two tracks were laid down like this, but then the rest of the band came to their senses & helped out to finish the album and put some overdubs on the existing tracks. Neil Young was long gone due to Buffalo Springfield commitments but apparently stayed long enough to carry out the arrangements on ‘The Daily Planet’.
The album sold quite well in the UK (number 24) and pretty badly in the US (worse that number 150) and there was a minor hit single with ‘Alone Again Or’ – written by MacLean as ‘Alone Again’ and ‘got at’ by Arthur Lee!
The track was later covered by bands as diverse as:
The Damned (on ‘Anything’)
Calexico
and UFO.
The band failed to capitalise on its success due to Lee’s reticence to perform outside LA – a crying shame. And, disappointed with the lack of success at home, they finally parted company. Arthur Lee carried on with the Love name for years afterwards, but never reached the perfection of this album.
So, what’s the album like?
Good question! – It’s got impenetrable song titles, cryptic lyrics, stop/start/direction changing melodies and rhythms, mariachi brass, strings with political commentary and themes verging on the suicidally depressing. Based on that description alone, most people would run a mile, and only a very few would be intrigued enough to take a listen!
It’s complex and ambitious, succeeding here, where the previous album failed. It also has quite a strong acoustic flavour with unamplified guitars often to the forefront of the mix. Lyrically, it’s a perfect mirror of the summer of 1967.
Vietnam:
‘A House Is Not a Motel’ – recounting a conversation with a veteran’s description of the war
The news today will be the movies for tomorrow.
And the water's turned to blood,
And if it's mixed with mud
You'll see it turn to grey
‘The Red Telephone’ – dealing with the madness of a world in which a President can summon slaughter by picking up the phone.
Sitting on a hillside
Watching all the people die
I’ll feel much better on the other side
While talking about writing this song Arthur Lee said that he felt like he was going to die & this album would be his last statement. This is echoed in Greil Marcus' book 'Invisible Republic - Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes':
Carefree hippiedom:
‘The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This’
Summertime's here and look over there
Flowers everywhere in the morning,
In the morning .....La da da.
Arthur Lee led a troubled life and was a control freak, but he created something really special with this album and enjoyed the experience of seeing it more widely appreciated when he toured in the early 2000s. There’s a DVD of one of the gigs, which is essential (and in some ways it flows better than the original recording), if only for the most sublime use of strings and brass in the context of rock music. Try watching my favourite track from this:
‘Maybe the People Would Be the Times Or Between Clark and Hilldale’
(It has the guitar solo that made me want to learn how to play),
‘Old Man’
...or ‘You Set the Scene’
The album was the subject of an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons, where it was voted the greatest album of all time! So it’s official. In fact it’s in the constitution!– you really need to hear it.
Arthur Lee died of leukemia in 2006.
Forever Changes (full album)
Spotify:
Qobuz:
Forever Changes (24/192)
Forever Changes Concert (Royal Festival Hall, 2003)
Spotify:
Qobuz :
Forever Changes Concert (16/44)
1967 was a hell of a time to be making an album. If you wanted to win chart success, you had to compete with the likes of these:
'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' - The Beatles
'Their Satanic Majesties Request' - Rolling Stones
'Are You Experienced?' - The Jimi Hendrix Experienced
'Axis: Bold as Love' - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
'Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits' - Bob Dylan
'Disraeli Gears' - Cream
'The Byrds' Greatest Hits' - The Byrds
'Younger Than Yesterday' - The Byrds
'Buffalo Springfield' - Buffalo Springfield
'The Doors' - The Doors
'The Who Sell Out' - The Who
'Something Else By The Kinks' - The Kinks
'Mr. Fantasy' - Traffic
'Days of Future Passed' - The Moody Blues
'Mellow Yellow' - Donovan
'Happy Together' - The Turtles
So, I suppose, because of that, it should come as no real surprise that it was also a big year for ‘sleepers’ – albums that went relatively unnoticed, but later emerged as hugely important or influential.
'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' - Pink Floyd
'The Velvet Underground & Nico' - The Velvet Underground
'The Grateful Dead' - The Grateful Dead
'Big Brother & the Holding Company' - Big Brother and the Holding Company
'Absolutely Free' - The Mothers of Invention
'Safe as Milk' - Captain Beefheart
'Odessey and Oracle' – The Zombies (recorded In 1967, but released the next year).
And probably the ultimate sleeper album was Dylan & The Band's 'The Basement Tapes' also recorded in 1967.
This was also the year that Love released ‘Forever Changes’.
The title came from a breaking-up conversation that band leader, Arthur Lee had with a girlfriend. She protested that he'd told her he would love her forever, to which he replied, "Love forever changes".
I bought this album when I was sixteen, long after it was released. It was bought purely on a whim, as I’d never heard of Love. I was into music in a very big way, Brighton was twelve miles away and it had a bewildering array of second-hand record shops, so I used to spend every Saturday trawling the streets and spending every single penny I could get my hands on in them. My record collection was pretty large and most days I used to walk to school with a stack of albums to lend to mates. But, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get anyone interested in my big new find. This was special. It was important. People just had to hear this. They didn’t want to, though because, if I mentioned my Love album, their eyes would glaze over, thinking I’d flipped & was listening to some dodgy TV advertised K-Tel compilation made specially for middle class housewives!
I’ve owned, perhaps, six or seven copies and it’s probably been the most important record in my life so far. It really is special & everyone should listen to it properly at least once.
By 1967, Love gigs were a pretty regular event in Los Angeles, but hardly anywhere else. They’d released two albums – ‘Love’ and, earlier that year, ‘Da Capo’
On the Elektra label, they’d had a minor hit single in 1966 with Burt Bacharach's ‘My Little Red Book’
The first album, Love, was released in May 1966, heavily influenced by The Byrds and sold reasonably well, reaching 57 on the US album charts. That August, they released another single ‘7 and 7 Is’ which was to be their highest charting effort, at number 33.
This was later covered by Alice Cooper, Rush, Ramones, The Bangles and Robert Plant, among others.
It came from ‘Da Capo’ a much more ambitious, but for me, less satisfying album than the first – probably due to the over-indulgent side long track ‘Revelation’.
With that, the band were on the verge of breaking up. However, they were still committed to producing a third album, and a crew of session musicians were lined up to back the two songwriters Arthur Lee and Brian MacLean. Neil Young was going to co-produce with Elektra’s house producer, Bruce Botnick. Two tracks were laid down like this, but then the rest of the band came to their senses & helped out to finish the album and put some overdubs on the existing tracks. Neil Young was long gone due to Buffalo Springfield commitments but apparently stayed long enough to carry out the arrangements on ‘The Daily Planet’.
The album sold quite well in the UK (number 24) and pretty badly in the US (worse that number 150) and there was a minor hit single with ‘Alone Again Or’ – written by MacLean as ‘Alone Again’ and ‘got at’ by Arthur Lee!
The track was later covered by bands as diverse as:
The Damned (on ‘Anything’)
Calexico
and UFO.
The band failed to capitalise on its success due to Lee’s reticence to perform outside LA – a crying shame. And, disappointed with the lack of success at home, they finally parted company. Arthur Lee carried on with the Love name for years afterwards, but never reached the perfection of this album.
So, what’s the album like?
Good question! – It’s got impenetrable song titles, cryptic lyrics, stop/start/direction changing melodies and rhythms, mariachi brass, strings with political commentary and themes verging on the suicidally depressing. Based on that description alone, most people would run a mile, and only a very few would be intrigued enough to take a listen!
It’s complex and ambitious, succeeding here, where the previous album failed. It also has quite a strong acoustic flavour with unamplified guitars often to the forefront of the mix. Lyrically, it’s a perfect mirror of the summer of 1967.
Vietnam:
‘A House Is Not a Motel’ – recounting a conversation with a veteran’s description of the war
The news today will be the movies for tomorrow.
And the water's turned to blood,
And if it's mixed with mud
You'll see it turn to grey
‘The Red Telephone’ – dealing with the madness of a world in which a President can summon slaughter by picking up the phone.
Sitting on a hillside
Watching all the people die
I’ll feel much better on the other side
While talking about writing this song Arthur Lee said that he felt like he was going to die & this album would be his last statement. This is echoed in Greil Marcus' book 'Invisible Republic - Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes':
........The summer of love, all insisted, in their different ways, on the year 1967 as Millenium or Apocalypse, or both. The year "America fell apart", Newt Gingrich has said; "deserter's songs", a sceptic called the basement tapes in 1994, catching an echo of a few people holed up to wait out the end of the world.......
Carefree hippiedom:
‘The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This’
Summertime's here and look over there
Flowers everywhere in the morning,
In the morning .....La da da.
Arthur Lee led a troubled life and was a control freak, but he created something really special with this album and enjoyed the experience of seeing it more widely appreciated when he toured in the early 2000s. There’s a DVD of one of the gigs, which is essential (and in some ways it flows better than the original recording), if only for the most sublime use of strings and brass in the context of rock music. Try watching my favourite track from this:
‘Maybe the People Would Be the Times Or Between Clark and Hilldale’
(It has the guitar solo that made me want to learn how to play),
‘Old Man’
...or ‘You Set the Scene’
The album was the subject of an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons, where it was voted the greatest album of all time! So it’s official. In fact it’s in the constitution!– you really need to hear it.
Arthur Lee died of leukemia in 2006.
Forever Changes (full album)
Spotify:
Qobuz:
Forever Changes (24/192)
Forever Changes Concert (Royal Festival Hall, 2003)
Spotify:
Qobuz :
Forever Changes Concert (16/44)
