Then Play On (don't think it's in your collection) Mellon Collie ATIS AQUALUNG ( on Preston platform do your soft shoe shuffle dance) (bit niche maybe) No bullying intended
Ok Abby I have to tell you this, I know what your plans are. In November it's gonna be the White Album and Brain Salad Surgery (if I'm lucky) and hell what if All Things Must Pass as well. December it has to be Band on the Run. I have thought of your evils plans too long to restrain myself
Late Sixties early Seventies was probably the only Era in Pop music when Roberta Flack could score a number one hit with a Scottish folk song. " First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"
Both my son and myself { I am old enough to remember it's release ) love this Album you do not need to be validated if you love good music you are already "There" ✌️
"Forever Changes" is a great record. Listening to it on acid is AMAZING.Seeing Arthur Lee play the whole record live at small venue in Melbourne Australia was the best non stadium gig I have ever seen. He was better live than on the record. He was quite a performer.
Love is a special band and "Forever Changes" is a truly beautiful special album. This album really deserves much bigger recognition. It's tragic Love practically broke up after this.
Thank you for selecting this masterpiece and for your insightful review Abby. The thing that you keep coming back to is that it has no center, even within a particular song, and to me therein lies its charm! Unlike nearly all popular songs there are few big choruses to grab on to. It's something you just can't grasp, yet can't turn away from. In other words: great art. The Beatles' Revolution 9 has no center but the music does not summon you. Forever Changes does. At first it was so rich, I couldn't digest it all. The ear has a hard time assimilating it cause it's not like anything else it has encountered. Baroque pop, psychedelic, folk rock, disillusionment with 1960's idealism. Nah. These terms are just critic speak. Forever Changes transcends all of this. I could only handle the first few songs, and listened to them for months. Gradually I added the other songs and a year after first hearing it - I'm obsessed with it. So for those having a difficulty getting a handle on it I suggest taking it in bits and pieces. Over time the album will reveal its secrets and amaze you more and more as you realize you still haven't discovered all there is to discover. Take for example one of least noted songs, Maybe the People Would Be the Times. Talk about no center - the whole song is out of balance, phrases stop short and end with the next word on the next verse. He even breaks the rhyme: it should be "right or wrong" and he says "wrong or right." In some verses phrases start early in other verses they start late. And God bless David Angel. In the middle of the song there is an absurd horn phrase that's repeated like 8 times. It's meant to be wild and funny. At one point Arthur scats over the horn section, in effect standing outside the music as an observer, like he invites the listener to be. It even ends abruptly. The whole thing is an exciting , chaotic cacophony. No doubt Arthur was trying to express the club scene the band reveled in. And he nails it. A work of genius.
Speaking of Odyssey and Oracle, if she thinks "A House is not a Motel" is a scary depiction of war, she needs to hear "A Butcher's Tale". That song creeps me the F out!
@@abigaildevoe I'll have to check it out. Recently discovered your channel and haven't gone back through the older episodes. You do an awesome job, BTW!
@@abigaildevoe Thanks, I'll check it out. There is a good chance you would enjoy Spirit's '12 Dreams of Dr Sardonicus' and the self titled Moby Grape debut album, too.
I saw Love perform at the Fillmore East in February 1970. The Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead were on the same bill that night. The show let out at 6 o'clock in the morning. An unforgettable night of music!
Having bought the first 2 Love albums in 66/67 didn't know what to expect as they were very different from each other. Couldn't believe it when I heard it and I've loved it ever since. Interesting review, thanks I
I fell in love with "Love" in 1992. Friends and I were always looking for rhe best kept secret bands of the 60s. Finding there albums in my frienss dads collection. We played them over and over...Best band ever!!
Abby… I’m glad you finally got around to Love’s “Forever Changes”. Being a Los Angeles native and at one time, a musician… I’ve always loved Love. My first memory of them & this record was when I just turned 5. It was early September 1968. I just started Kindergarten and was in this after school program called “Teepee Club”. The driver of this bus was a bit of a hippie and he was listening to the radio and “Alone Again Or” came on.. and he told me that he loved this band because he saw them play around L.A. and that they once had a drummer named Snoopy (on their first record their drummer was Alban “Snoopy” Pfister. He played the harpsichord & organ on their 2nd album “Da Capo”). He mentioned Snoopy because I was wearing a snoopy t-shirt. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate their music more. Johnny Echols is still playing around Los Angeles with the guys from the band Baby Lemonade in a version of Love sometimes refered to as Love Revisited. They toured in the UK as well earlier in 2023. Love to me will always be those first 3 albums (Love, Da Capo & Forever Changes). Thanks again for such a fun video. I have a request as well. Another really cool Los Angeles band that might be up your alley are from the 1980s. They were called The Rain Parade. Check out their first album “Emergency Third Rail Power Trip”. They were part of the Paisley Underground scene here in L.A. that gave the world bands like The Bangles, The Dream Syndicate, The Three o’Clock, etc. It was this cool pseudo retro scene in the middle of post punk Los Angeles. ✌🏽❤️🎸🌬️🍃🍄💿
That was a beautiful and very perceptive review! Idk why exactly but a lot of your comments made me start to cry. I don't think I've ever responded that way to a music review.
Good job. I've never heard the story of this album told correctly before. I've always heard that the band were ALL STRUNG OUT ON HEROIN and that's why they couldn't play and the Wrecking Crew had to be brought in, and that SHOCKED the band into cleaning up their act. Because every story about a band in the 60's has to involve everybody being ALL STRUNG OUT ON HEROIN. Groan. Thanks for setting the record straight.
THANK YOU ABBY! Forever Changes (coincidentally along with Odyssey & Oracle) is one of my most cherished albums ever, a masterpiece of musical beauty and lyrical terror.
Much as I love your classic album reviews,keep finding myself fixating on your bookshelf haha. Ever consider doing a book review of some of those bios?
Love is one of my favorite bands, their first 4 albums are all great in their own way and all very different. They are one of those bands that the more you listen to them, the more you will like them. That is especially true with forever changes. You were talking about johnny Echols guitar solos, I would suggest that you listen to their single from 1968 "your mind and we belong together". It's probably my favorite solo of his, it's amazing. He's one of the most underrated guitarists in rock. Enjoy the journey.
noted! you’re totally right, the more i hear of love the more i like them. heard 7 and 7 is for the first time in forever (admittedly totally forgot the song) and was blown away. went right on my monthly favorites playlist!
christian from canada did the right thing by sending you this album. i don't have any LP's but have some british music magazines as old as you and some blu-ray's of films i might send you someday. i've listened to "forever changes" since before your birth but didn't know the planned double record part. thanks.@@abigaildevoe
Thank U very much indeed Abigail! You made my day! You told me some facts I didn’t know! This album is one of the purest musical gem of the sixties. As a music critic already wrote… Red telephone is the sound of summer of love innocence descending into a psych paranoia… brilliant
I made Arthur Lee smile broadly after shouting 'We love you Arthur' at the top of my voice dring a break between songs at Glastonbury as he performed this album in full. Isnt it great to retain mystery and ambiguity in a work of art? Like in paintings. There is also fantastic melody and arrangement to keep us anchored. Its a masterpiece.
the last time i was at my favorite record spot there were copies of self-titled and da capo in the “holy sh(Beach Boys sample)t” case……..i am seriously considering dropping the cash on them both
In a year of some heavy hitters such as Sgt peppers, surrealistic pillow and something else this is the little album that could and has since become a well loved psychedelic classic reaching new audiences every decade and love has an amazing discography that's well worth checking out
Favourite album of all time. Arthur. Bless him. It's a complete album to be played from start to finish. Yes, we had John Peel in the UK who led us into so many American bands. We saw Arthur and the Four Sail band in London. A great review here Abigail. Alone Again Or leads us in, but the climax You Set The Scene is forever spine-tingling.
I read that the broken vase was Arthur’s way of saying flower power is dead. And they didn’t tour due to drug addictions in the band and worried about not having access to various substances. It’s pronounced da cap-oh not cape-oh
John Leckie and John Squire both shared an affection for Love so natch...some Love traces are discernible on the Roses debut eg Waterfall or This is the One.
Thanks for a Lovely start to my day. I will play this immense album before opening my front door. Johnny still tours and he and his band have appeared in Brighton several times and I always try to go. Listening and seeing these songs performed, for me, is as close to a spiritual feeling possible. Here's to the next 20k. Future review material? Stephen Stills self titled or indeed David Crosby If Only I Could Remember My Name.
Too bad. I thought that you would get it! (Hint: tub is tube) I love the way the lyrics play around with the language. Obviously "Forever Changes" subject matter is too mature for this generation. (I just don't have much respect for a generation that can't bother to get off its ass, leave their dormitory and tell the world what it thinks of its government's foreign policy!) I met Arthur on tour in the 80's as part of that 60's Band Bus Tour. I met Sky Saxon and Mars Bonfire who wrote "Born To Be Wild" that night too. Arthur was disgusted that he had sunk so low and just wanted to get high after the concert. He finally got some recognition when in 2003 he took a new band, complete with strings and horns on tour in England. It just got bigger and bigger in Europe until it just had to come back to the states! That is where I saw a jaw-dropping performance in Los Angeles. There is an excellent DVD of that tour! This album fit perfectly with an intelligent lonely odd ball in the sixties! Whenever I felt alone and misunderstood, I could always put this on at home or in the car, (Yes, I had the eight-track) and I would instantly feel special, because I was a member of that select club of people who completely understood the music that echoed my times!
This generation has no draft. That generation still had females that cared about their male population. I knew two girls in my Senior Class that committed suicide when their boyfriend was killed in Nam! The ignorance and naivete displayed by the present younger generation astounds me!
In my top five albums of all time. I warn every person who has never listened to this album that you can't judge this album with 1 or 2 listens. You have to stick with it for at least 4 or 5 listens before it really starts to work it's magic. Your description of the album as being a bit dark especially coming out in 1967 is accurate. I think though Arthur Lee appreciated the flower power optimism he also saw through the naivete of some of it and that is reflected in the music. The story I read was that Arthur Lee was convinced that he was going to die in the near future by the time he started to write the songs on this album. I'm not sure if this was caused by a bad acid trip or what but you do get the feeling that he is writing his last words to the world on this album. BTW, I recommend checking out the documentary about the band "Love Story". And thanks for filling in some of the details I was not aware of (I didn't know about the tensions between Brian and Arthur while this was being recorded). Abby, in the same vain of bands that put out a classic album that completely flew under the radar in the 1960's I would recommend a review of the first Moby Grape album. Like "Forever Changes" , "Velvet Underground and Nico", and "Pet Sounds" it is one of the best albums released in the 1960's in my opinion. And like "Forever Changes" it takes multiple listens to work its magic but once it hits it hits like a ton of bricks!
@@abigaildevoe not to my knowledge, and I should have been more precise with my verbiage. I have the 2001 Rhino cd edition with bonus tracks. 18 total songs, 74 minute run time on 1 cd. There is also a 2008 Rhino 2cd collector's edition. (21 total tracks) And finally, a 2018 50th anniversary edition, containing 4 cds, one lp, and one DVD.
This is a pretty awesome album. It actually feels pretty reflective of my dad's experience of the 1960's. As a first generation Puerto Rican it was the quite the experience. From being in a rumble gang in the South Bronx, to Vietnam to East Village Hippie to a Young Lord by 1969. Forever Changes is literally the expression of most of what my dad went through and experienced. It was a ride and he don't regret it.
Another fun, amazing, incredibly researched presentation! I discovered Love's Forever Changes by seeing the movie Bottle Rocket in the 1990s as it featured "Alone Again Or" and "Seven & Seven Is" from DaCapo!
In an interview for Tiger Beat in 1967, Jim Morris said that Love was his favorite band. Forever Changes is one of the best albums of 1967 which was filled with great albums, and one of the bet Rock albums produced so far in history.
Yes, I was one of many that requested this. I've listened to the albums for decades, and you provided insight that I never thought about. An expanded CD release came out in 2001, and you should check it out. It includes a song, "Wonder People (I Do Wonder)" that was an outtake. It is so catchy and poppy, it could have been a hit single. I read somewhere that it was too happy to fit on the album that was filled with weary undertones. Also, on that CD, there's a version of "You Set The Scene" that features a short rap segment (!!) near the end. Yes, they were ahead of their time. Fun fact: Bryan MacLean's half sister is Maria McKee of Lone Justice (and a solo career). Thanks for another great video.
That alternate take / remix of “You Set the Scene” sounds so great. The strings are a little more forward in the mix, and Arthur’s brief rapping at the end is superior to the vocal on the originally released version.
GREAT VIDEO! I saw Arthur when he came out to Australia in 2003 and played this album with his new version of LOVE . Best show ,he was on fire and his band went off.
Great review. It's weird that Forever Changes is still somewhat obscure in the US its pretty popular to this day in the UK and Ireland. Talking of albums that don't sound like anything else Van Morrison Astral Weeks and David Crosby, if only I could remember my name, are pretty unique.
The first video I saw of yours was the velvet underground vinyl Monday a day or two after it was released. Ever since, I’ve been hooked. Nice to see you’re getting some of the appreciation you deserve
Londoner here, first heard it in 1989, didn't dislike it but wasn't exactly enamoured, by the 4th listen a week later I was in love, still the best album I've ever heard. Getting to see Arthur perform it back in the early 2000s was a dream come true.
At least 40 years ahead of its time, Forever Changes. So precious that Arthur Lee got to go out on the road and tour this album, one more time, with an orchestra, towards the end of his life. I’m familiar with the narrative, your overview is spot on. 👍🎬 33:04
We’re on the same page with this album. You managed to beautifully articulate pretty much everything I feel about it. I admire the hell out of it, but I don’t love it, precisely for the reasons you list. Talk about chiaroscuro, I’d say SF and LA psych each represent light and dark psych, respectively. I grew up in LA (fate bitch-slapped me there from San Francisco when I was only two weeks old), and there is no getting away from an undercurrent of dread, if you’re more than skin-deep sensitive. Downtown LA as I remember it was a place for ragged, helplessly lost souls. San Francisco could not be any more different. I lived there for a couple of years in the late 80s, and loved every minute of it. SF has a feeling of renaissance. LA is sinister on so many levels (David Lynch’s masterpiece “Mulholland Dr” masterfully illustrates this). The dread crept into LA psych. I think The Doors and X are the two bands that channeled the LA vibe the best. But on to Love… They started out punk-ish, then went baroque, but their songs held together beautifully then. Favorites are “7 and 7 is,” “Message to Pretty” (absolutely love that one) and “She Comes in Colors.” I find it interesting that the Stones favored LA psych and the Beatles SF psych. In Jim Morrison’s short, early promotional bio, he said that his ambition was to be “as big as Love.” Talk about irony! My favorite Love album is Four Sail. Whole different band.
Thank you for weighing in on FOREVER CHANGES. When I went away to college, I brought the album with me and it still gives me chills every time I play it. Like the music, the emotions evoked in the lyrics constantly fluctuate, from sadness and anger to innocence and joy, culminating in the cathartic finale, "You Set the Scene." For an in-depth survey of Love's music, I highly recommend William Spevack's book, "Keep on Shining: A Guide Through the Music of Love & Arthur Lee."
Forever Changes is one of my ten most listened to albums , never gets old , and I did NOT love it on first listen . ( listen to " My Flash On You " from their first album , that was more my taste - the best garage punk song from that album ... early 1966 ) Easiest song to love on Forever Changes - A House is Not a Motel
I was pleasantly surprised to find a favorite 60's album getting a look! Recent subscriber, enjoying the look back from someone finding it for the first time. Good jorb! P.S. we are normal and we dig Burt Wheedon.
I'm not sure, but I've always assumed that one-time Bonzo Dog Band bassist (and guest American) Joel stole that line from Love and inserted it into the Bonzo's record, contributing to his departure from the band. Of course, it could have happened the other way around. The timeline is fuzzy due to record release delays.
Very good album and an interesting band, I like it. Also the other albums "Love", "Da Capo", "Four Sails", even "Black Beauty" seem very good to me. I like the experimentation and the musical variety of albums like this, it's interesting when these bands from the 60's and 70's broke schemes and paradigms within popular music. I see a lot of people have a fetish for this album, haha. I like it but I don't consider it a record to die for, an obvious classic definitely from the 60's to know how the young Hippies thought at the time, as well as the albums and communities that followed Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, or the Grateful Dead, something that those of us born after the 70's will never see again.
Learned about this record due to a book in the late-80’s (one of those 100 Best Ever Records deals) which is also how I learned of John Cale’s Paris 1919 album, among others. Forever is certainly a record that is very much a product of its time (same as me, 1967) while being wonderfully timeless, out of time. Something handed down from on high from a power we can all get behind, not some jealous bastard determined to burn us because we didn’t kowtow to it incessantly.
Bought and got rid of Forever Changes about three times, as I could never quite "get it". Then I listened to "Four Sail" and something clicked. Huge fan of all Love's output including Forever Changes (though think I still prefer the first album and the aforementioned "Four Sail"). You deserve 10 times the subscribers!
Omg. I did the same @prestigepea1235! Bought it as a teenager and didn't get it AT ALL. Returned it after a day or two. A couple of years later I tried again, and that time it clicked. Then went on to get all the albums and even Arthur's very strange Vindicator album
Alan Parsons Project ' Tales of Mystery and Imagination ' from 1976, Harvey Mandel ' Cristo Redentor ' from 1968, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band ' East - West ' from 1966 JA ' Bless it's Pointed little Head ' from 1969. My brain's memory chip is on overdrive.....Yikes, so many i can think of. The segue with the " Lizard King ' did not go unnoticed. Dig your style, aloha
@@barrymoore4470 True! I didn't know about this channel but, on similar platforms some mentioned the same; Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Led Zepp, Black Sabbath, Doors, not Love. Speaking of the Doors, when they opened for bands like Buffalo Springfield, Love, Them and others at the Whiskey a Gogo, no one paid attention to Morrison and Manzarek Band. it was Arthur Lee who insisted Jac Holzman come and see them.. .
I recently picked up a copy of this record when I went to Barcelona on vacation. I 'm stil working on wrapping my head aound it but its a cracking good record.
Aethur Lee is a Memphis boy. Im from Memphis and indeed live here myself, There was supposed to be a reunion around 2010 i think, but Arthur Lee passed away unfortunately. RIP.
Excellent job on this one Abby. You've done it justice as that ultimate "lost classic" album of the '60s. You are dead on about it's lyrical disjointedness, but I feel that's more or less what they were going for...as Arthur Lee was feeling dread at the time. Yes, more or less the anti-hippy mode of thought. The musicality throughout the album is what I get drawn to the most and it delivers, for sure.
I've been buying records with my own money since 1963. So, 60 years of perusing record racks. But for the first 30-years I was in the Mid-West and Southeast. So, during those first 30-years I never once heard or saw any comment, image or sound from the group "Love." Once moving to Texas I still never heard of "Love" until maybe 15 years ago. I can't think of any group more obscure to a large swath of the country. I stumbled accidentally on to "Love" and their LPs about 15-years ago and wondered where were they all these years? Why have I not seen them EVER in any record shop bins? Like many, though, I'm torn by their enigmatic grouping of songs. Some are good, some are okay and some are What the?. I very much like your VM series. Even though I scream at the computer screen every time you say "psych" instead of "psychedelic." Like calling records "vinyls" calling psychedelic "psych" is an affectation of age not shared by those that lived and experienced those times. But you do you.
Another reason for Love staying a local/regional band was that the availability of heroin was a problem when they strayed too far from hearth and home. Btw, I bought this album in '67 or early '68. I've tried to dig up any info I could over the years, but I learned a whole lot from Abigail on this record. Good work, Abigail. I'll be checking you out some more. This is still one of my all timers. It's brilliant, troubling, funny in spots, revolutionary, and lush and beautiful. Masterpiece is too small a word for Forever Changes. Finally, all lovers of this music should check out Calexico's cover of Alone Again Or.
Love were popular here in the UK Birmingham in the west Midlands to be precise! I found out about love from one of the many compilations issued here in the UK bought Forever changes in 1975 and it just stuck in my head! Arthur Lee was a genius but you wouldn't want to live next door to him! Great introduction Abi! Next Album Aromic Rooster Death Walks behind you! Great for Halloween 🎃 20k +3 people cannot be wrong you are doing great stuff!! ❤
Ronnie Haran was also an actress as well a talent booker. She discovered the Doors at the London Fog. She costarred in an episode of the TV Western Cheyenne with Clint Walker.
I’d put this album in my Top ten along with albums like Raw Power by Iggy and the Stooges Beatles Rubber Soul, S.F Sorrow by the Pretty Things etc…..Love ❤indeed.
thank you for 20k
Then Play On (don't think it's in your collection)
Mellon Collie ATIS
AQUALUNG ( on Preston platform do your soft shoe shuffle dance) (bit niche maybe)
No bullying intended
Ok Abby I have to tell you this, I know what your plans are. In November it's gonna be the White Album and Brain Salad Surgery (if I'm lucky) and hell what if All Things Must Pass as well. December it has to be Band on the Run. I have thought of your evils plans too long to restrain myself
Then Play On would be a good choice x
Todd Rundgren's A Wizard, A True Star especially if you can get a copy in the original shape
Neil Young's "Tonight's The Night"
but we would never bully you.......just asking nicely.
This album makes me feel validated as a black girl obsessed with the 60s, baroque pop and all that stuff, i don't know why... i really like it💚
PP Arnold
@@slickfirmament5934 she's great
Late Sixties early Seventies was probably the only Era in Pop music when Roberta Flack could score a number one hit with a Scottish folk song. " First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"
Both my son and myself { I am old enough to remember it's release ) love this Album you do not need to be validated if you love good music you are already "There" ✌️
It's hard to not be obsessed with baroque pop
One of the greatest albums of all time . Truly a magnificent work of art
Forever Changes is my favorite album of the 60's. A masterpiece.
"Forever Changes" is a great record. Listening to it on acid is AMAZING.Seeing Arthur Lee play the whole record live at small venue in Melbourne Australia was the best non stadium gig I have ever seen. He was better live than on the record. He was quite a performer.
I'm here. Finally. After all this time. Another album I have no idea about.
Love is a special band and "Forever Changes" is a truly beautiful special album. This album really deserves much bigger recognition. It's tragic Love practically broke up after this.
This Lp was (and remains) a musical landmark. I bought it when it debuted. I never left it behind. Thanks, Abigail Devoe.
This album really is something special.
Thank you for selecting this masterpiece and for your insightful review Abby. The thing that you keep coming back to is that it has no center, even within a particular song, and to me therein lies its charm! Unlike nearly all popular songs there are few big choruses to grab on to. It's something you just can't grasp, yet can't turn away from. In other words: great art. The Beatles' Revolution 9 has no center but the music does not summon you. Forever Changes does.
At first it was so rich, I couldn't digest it all. The ear has a hard time assimilating it cause it's not like anything else it has encountered. Baroque pop, psychedelic, folk rock, disillusionment with 1960's idealism. Nah. These terms are just critic speak. Forever Changes transcends all of this. I could only handle the first few songs, and listened to them for months. Gradually I added the other songs and a year after first hearing it - I'm obsessed with it. So for those having a difficulty getting a handle on it I suggest taking it in bits and pieces. Over time the album will reveal its secrets and amaze you more and more as you realize you still haven't discovered all there is to discover.
Take for example one of least noted songs, Maybe the People Would Be the Times. Talk about no center - the whole song is out of balance, phrases stop short and end with the next word on the next verse. He even breaks the rhyme: it should be "right or wrong" and he says "wrong or right." In some verses phrases start early in other verses they start late. And God bless David Angel. In the middle of the song there is an absurd horn phrase that's repeated like 8 times. It's meant to be wild and funny. At one point Arthur scats over the horn section, in effect standing outside the music as an observer, like he invites the listener to be. It even ends abruptly. The whole thing is an exciting , chaotic cacophony. No doubt Arthur was trying to express the club scene the band reveled in. And he nails it. A work of genius.
It took me 30 years to understand this album. A superb album.
The pacing and dynamics (loud and soft) of this album is extraordinary, whether intended or not.
“I only wash my hair every 3 days… but i wash the rest of me” hahahaha very funny. Girl you hilarious. Great review.
Sublime album, right up there with 'Odyssey and Oracle', IMHO.
Speaking of Odyssey and Oracle, if she thinks "A House is not a Motel" is a scary depiction of war, she needs to hear "A Butcher's Tale". That song creeps me the F out!
@@davidtoups4684I'm sure she's listened to Butcher's Tale tons of times as she held up that album in the video.
*and i have a whole episode on odyssey and oracle. and i’m apparently in the zombies documentary?
@@abigaildevoe I'll have to check it out. Recently discovered your channel and haven't gone back through the older episodes. You do an awesome job, BTW!
@@abigaildevoe Thanks, I'll check it out. There is a good chance you would enjoy Spirit's '12 Dreams of Dr Sardonicus' and the self titled Moby Grape debut album, too.
Thanks To Arthur Lee & Love ❤️ . Arthur , You Set The Scene.
Thank you for taking a deep dive into an LP that's been one my favorites for decades. My favorite SoCal psych album.
I saw Love perform at the Fillmore East in February 1970. The Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead were on the same bill that night. The show let out at 6 o'clock in the morning. An unforgettable night of music!
Thanks Abigail! I love this album 😁
Having bought the first 2 Love albums in 66/67 didn't know what to expect as they were very different from each other. Couldn't believe it when I heard it and I've loved it ever since. Interesting review, thanks
I
I fell in love with "Love" in 1992. Friends and I were always looking for rhe best kept secret bands of the 60s. Finding there albums in my frienss dads collection. We played them over and over...Best band ever!!
Abby… I’m glad you finally got around to Love’s “Forever Changes”. Being a Los Angeles native and at one time, a musician… I’ve always loved Love. My first memory of them & this record was when I just turned 5. It was early September 1968. I just started Kindergarten and was in this after school program called “Teepee Club”. The driver of this bus was a bit of a hippie and he was listening to the radio and “Alone Again Or” came on.. and he told me that he loved this band because he saw them play around L.A. and that they once had a drummer named Snoopy (on their first record their drummer was Alban “Snoopy” Pfister. He played the harpsichord & organ on their 2nd album “Da Capo”). He mentioned Snoopy because I was wearing a snoopy t-shirt. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate their music more. Johnny Echols is still playing around Los Angeles with the guys from the band Baby Lemonade in a version of Love sometimes refered to as Love Revisited. They toured in the UK as well earlier in 2023. Love to me will always be those first 3 albums (Love, Da Capo & Forever Changes). Thanks again for such a fun video. I have a request as well. Another really cool Los Angeles band that might be up your alley are from the 1980s. They were called The Rain Parade. Check out their first album “Emergency Third Rail Power Trip”. They were part of the Paisley Underground scene here in L.A. that gave the world bands like The Bangles, The Dream Syndicate, The Three o’Clock, etc. It was this cool pseudo retro scene in the middle of post punk Los Angeles. ✌🏽❤️🎸🌬️🍃🍄💿
That was a beautiful and very perceptive review! Idk why exactly but a lot of your comments made me start to cry. I don't think I've ever responded that way to a music review.
I consider myself a "music guy" and never have even heard of this album. It's crazy it's so requested. Happy to be educated on it, love your vids!
Same
Good job. I've never heard the story of this album told correctly before. I've always heard that the band were ALL STRUNG OUT ON HEROIN and that's why they couldn't play and the Wrecking Crew had to be brought in, and that SHOCKED the band into cleaning up their act. Because every story about a band in the 60's has to involve everybody being ALL STRUNG OUT ON HEROIN. Groan. Thanks for setting the record straight.
One of my favourite albums. It was much loved in Liverpool for years and still is. It's funny, quirky, iconic, joyous and sad.
THANK YOU ABBY! Forever Changes (coincidentally along with Odyssey & Oracle) is one of my most cherished albums ever, a masterpiece of musical beauty and lyrical terror.
So pleased you covered this and summed it up perfectly.
I'm glad you caved in to the pressure. This is one of the greatest albums of the 60s and you did it justice. Oh and happy 20k!!!
Abby, I just love your enthusiasm reviewing this classic album! You bring up so much detail about this album and make it humorous! Keep rocking you!
Much as I love your classic album reviews,keep finding myself fixating on your bookshelf haha. Ever consider doing a book review of some of those bios?
it’s been requested before. i’m a lot better of a music listener than i am a reader, but it might still be fun
The Greatest album of all time IMHO,it’s in colour and everything else is in black white,very entertaining review :-)
Love is one of my favorite bands, their first 4 albums are all great in their own way and all very different.
They are one of those bands that the more you listen to them, the more you will like them. That is especially true with forever changes. You were talking about johnny Echols guitar solos, I would suggest that you listen to their single from 1968 "your mind and we belong together". It's probably my favorite solo of his, it's amazing. He's one of the most underrated guitarists in rock. Enjoy the journey.
noted! you’re totally right, the more i hear of love the more i like them. heard 7 and 7 is for the first time in forever (admittedly totally forgot the song) and was blown away. went right on my monthly favorites playlist!
christian from canada did the right thing by sending you this album. i don't have any LP's but have some british music magazines as old as you and some blu-ray's of films i might send you someday. i've listened to "forever changes" since before your birth but didn't know the planned double record part. thanks.@@abigaildevoe
'well the snot has caked against my pants' has got to be the greatest opening line to any song ever
So true, we’ve all been there 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
"it has turned into crystal"..... I believe that and Aqualung are the only two songs that use the word snot
might be, i'll get back to you
@@davidtoups4684
This is one of my favorite albums. I thought I was alone!
Great analysis. I didn't know any of that and I was growing up then!!!
Thank U very much indeed Abigail! You made my day! You told me some facts I didn’t know! This album is one of the purest musical gem of the sixties.
As a music critic already wrote… Red telephone is the sound of summer of love innocence descending into a psych paranoia… brilliant
I made Arthur Lee smile broadly after shouting 'We love you Arthur' at the top of my voice dring a break between songs at Glastonbury as he performed this album in full. Isnt it great to retain mystery and ambiguity in a work of art? Like in paintings. There is also fantastic melody and arrangement to keep us anchored. Its a masterpiece.
I hope you get to Da Capo at some point. I actually think side 1 is better than most of Forever Changes.....one of the great 60s album sides ever.
the last time i was at my favorite record spot there were copies of self-titled and da capo in the “holy sh(Beach Boys sample)t” case……..i am seriously considering dropping the cash on them both
In a year of some heavy hitters such as Sgt peppers, surrealistic pillow and something else this is the little album that could and has since become a well loved psychedelic classic reaching new audiences every decade and love has an amazing discography that's well worth checking out
That's a lotta love for an album that barely made the charts. Thanks for including my comment/request.
Favourite album of all time. Arthur. Bless him. It's a complete album to be played from start to finish. Yes, we had John Peel in the UK who led us into so many American bands. We saw Arthur and the Four Sail band in London. A great review here Abigail. Alone Again Or leads us in, but the climax You Set The Scene is forever spine-tingling.
I read that the broken vase was Arthur’s way of saying flower power is dead. And they didn’t tour due to drug addictions in the band and worried about not having access to various substances. It’s pronounced da cap-oh not cape-oh
19:22 Stone Roses ❤
John Leckie and John Squire both shared an affection for Love so natch...some Love traces are discernible on the Roses debut eg Waterfall or This is the One.
Thanks for a Lovely start to my day. I will play this immense album before opening my front door. Johnny still tours and he and his band have appeared in Brighton several times and I always try to go. Listening and seeing these songs performed, for me, is as close to a spiritual feeling possible. Here's to the next 20k. Future review material? Stephen Stills self titled or indeed David Crosby If Only I Could Remember My Name.
Too bad. I thought that you would get it! (Hint: tub is tube) I love the way the lyrics play around with the language. Obviously "Forever Changes" subject matter is too mature for this generation. (I just don't have much respect for a generation that can't bother to get off its ass, leave their dormitory and tell the world what it thinks of its government's foreign policy!) I met Arthur on tour in the 80's as part of that 60's Band Bus Tour. I met Sky Saxon and Mars Bonfire who wrote "Born To Be Wild" that night too. Arthur was disgusted that he had sunk so low and just wanted to get high after the concert. He finally got some recognition when in 2003 he took a new band, complete with strings and horns on tour in England. It just got bigger and bigger in Europe until it just had to come back to the states! That is where I saw a jaw-dropping performance in Los Angeles. There is an excellent DVD of that tour! This album fit perfectly with an intelligent lonely odd ball in the sixties! Whenever I felt alone and misunderstood, I could always put this on at home or in the car, (Yes, I had the eight-track) and I would instantly feel special, because I was a member of that select club of people who completely understood the music that echoed my times!
This generation has no draft. That generation still had females that cared about their male population. I knew two girls in my Senior Class that committed suicide when their boyfriend was killed in Nam! The ignorance and naivete displayed by the present younger generation astounds me!
In my top five albums of all time. I warn every person who has never listened to this album that you can't judge this album with 1 or 2 listens. You have to stick with it for at least 4 or 5 listens before it really starts to work it's magic. Your description of the album as being a bit dark especially coming out in 1967 is accurate. I think though Arthur Lee appreciated the flower power optimism he also saw through the naivete of some of it and that is reflected in the music. The story I read was that Arthur Lee was convinced that he was going to die in the near future by the time he started to write the songs on this album. I'm not sure if this was caused by a bad acid trip or what but you do get the feeling that he is writing his last words to the world on this album. BTW, I recommend checking out the documentary about the band "Love Story". And thanks for filling in some of the details I was not aware of (I didn't know about the tensions between Brian and Arthur while this was being recorded).
Abby, in the same vain of bands that put out a classic album that completely flew under the radar in the 1960's I would recommend a review of the first Moby Grape album. Like "Forever Changes" , "Velvet Underground and Nico", and "Pet Sounds" it is one of the best albums released in the 1960's in my opinion. And like "Forever Changes" it takes multiple listens to work its magic but once it hits it hits like a ton of bricks!
I think I read that he was convinced he was going to die in the 33 1/3 book.
Honored that my comment made the video, but more thrilled that the review is finally here!
Fantastic take on a brilliant album. Have the expanded cd version. Wall to wall top tier tracks. Gratitude
curious about this: do any extended editions attempt to reconstruct the would-be double album?
@@abigaildevoe not to my knowledge, and I should have been more precise with my verbiage. I have the 2001 Rhino cd edition with bonus tracks. 18 total songs, 74 minute run time on 1 cd. There is also a 2008 Rhino 2cd collector's edition. (21 total tracks) And finally, a 2018 50th anniversary edition, containing 4 cds, one lp, and one DVD.
Great psychedelic episode Abby! 🎉 We all ‘Love’ you and that will ‘Forever Never Change’ ! 😃
This is a pretty awesome album. It actually feels pretty reflective of my dad's experience of the 1960's. As a first generation Puerto Rican it was the quite the experience. From being in a rumble gang in the South Bronx, to Vietnam to East Village Hippie to a Young Lord by 1969. Forever Changes is literally the expression of most of what my dad went through and experienced. It was a ride and he don't regret it.
Another fun, amazing, incredibly researched presentation! I discovered Love's Forever Changes by seeing the movie Bottle Rocket in the 1990s as it featured "Alone Again Or" and "Seven & Seven Is" from DaCapo!
Abby. Yours is my favorite TH-cam channel. It makes me very uncomfortable to compliment people, but what you're doing is incredible.
thank you so much! i appreciate it
Greatest album of the 60's
In an interview for Tiger Beat in 1967, Jim Morris said that Love was his favorite band.
Forever Changes is one of the best albums of 1967 which was filled with great albums, and one of the bet Rock albums produced so far in history.
Yes, I was one of many that requested this. I've listened to the albums for decades, and you provided insight that I never thought about. An expanded CD release came out in 2001, and you should check it out. It includes a song, "Wonder People (I Do Wonder)" that was an outtake. It is so catchy and poppy, it could have been a hit single. I read somewhere that it was too happy to fit on the album that was filled with weary undertones. Also, on that CD, there's a version of "You Set The Scene" that features a short rap segment (!!) near the end. Yes, they were ahead of their time. Fun fact: Bryan MacLean's half sister is Maria McKee of Lone Justice (and a solo career). Thanks for another great video.
That alternate take / remix of “You Set the Scene” sounds so great. The strings are a little more forward in the mix, and Arthur’s brief rapping at the end is superior to the vocal on the originally released version.
"It's both inside the crystal ball and the crystal ball itself."
Sums up the album in one poetic concept.
GREAT VIDEO! I saw Arthur when he came out to Australia in 2003 and played this album with his new version of LOVE . Best show ,he was on fire and his band went off.
We're all normal and we want our freedom!
Great review. It's weird that Forever Changes is still somewhat obscure in the US its pretty popular to this day in the UK and Ireland. Talking of albums that don't sound like anything else Van Morrison Astral Weeks and David Crosby, if only I could remember my name, are pretty unique.
Oh and Dennis Wilson Pacific Blue is another one. Masterpiece.
If I Could Only Remember My Name is a wonderful album, kind of like the best CSN&Y album you never heard, but even better.
The first video I saw of yours was the velvet underground vinyl Monday a day or two after it was released. Ever since, I’ve been hooked. Nice to see you’re getting some of the appreciation you deserve
Londoner here, first heard it in 1989, didn't dislike it but wasn't exactly enamoured, by the 4th listen a week later I was in love, still the best album I've ever heard. Getting to see Arthur perform it back in the early 2000s was a dream come true.
Yes I saw Arthur Lee perform live back then too. He was bloody good live!!
Great video and a great album! Would love to see you cover something by the B52’s
oh the hair situation for that video would be MOMENTUS
At least 40 years ahead of its time, Forever Changes. So precious that Arthur Lee got to go out on the road and tour this album, one more time, with an orchestra, towards the end of his life.
I’m familiar with the narrative, your overview is spot on. 👍🎬 33:04
We’re on the same page with this album. You managed to beautifully articulate pretty much everything I feel about it. I admire the hell out of it, but I don’t love it, precisely for the reasons you list.
Talk about chiaroscuro, I’d say SF and LA psych each represent light and dark psych, respectively. I grew up in LA (fate bitch-slapped me there from San Francisco when I was only two weeks old), and there is no getting away from an undercurrent of dread, if you’re more than skin-deep sensitive. Downtown LA as I remember it was a place for ragged, helplessly lost souls. San Francisco could not be any more different. I lived there for a couple of years in the late 80s, and loved every minute of it. SF has a feeling of renaissance. LA is sinister on so many levels (David Lynch’s masterpiece “Mulholland Dr” masterfully illustrates this).
The dread crept into LA psych.
I think The Doors and X are the two bands that channeled the LA vibe the best. But on to Love…
They started out punk-ish, then went baroque, but their songs held together beautifully then. Favorites are “7 and 7 is,” “Message to Pretty” (absolutely love that one) and “She Comes in Colors.”
I find it interesting that the Stones favored LA psych and the Beatles SF psych.
In Jim Morrison’s short, early promotional bio, he said that his ambition was to be “as big as Love.” Talk about irony!
My favorite Love album is Four Sail. Whole different band.
Don't feel bad, Abby. I don't think I've heard the whole album straight through - and I think I should've.
Your telling of the backstory and making of this album really is entertaining and informative. Well done!
One of my favorite albums from one of my favorite bands 🫶
People should just let you do your thing, whatever album you choose. You lead, we follow 👍🏻
Thank you for weighing in on FOREVER CHANGES. When I went away to college, I brought the album with me and it still gives me chills every time I play it. Like the music, the emotions evoked in the lyrics constantly fluctuate, from sadness and anger to innocence and joy, culminating in the cathartic finale, "You Set the Scene." For an in-depth survey of Love's music, I highly recommend William Spevack's book, "Keep on Shining: A Guide Through the Music of Love & Arthur Lee."
Nice that the title references a song from one of my favorite albums, False Start.
One of my favorite albums of all time. One of the main reasons it didn’t sell is Arthur Lee refusal to tour outside of Los Angeles to promote it.
Great review, as ever, Lovely Lady. Now that's done, how about some Moody Blues???
Forever Changes is one of my ten most listened to albums , never gets old , and I did NOT love it on first listen .
( listen to " My Flash On You " from their first album , that was more my taste - the best garage punk song from that album ... early 1966 )
Easiest song to love on Forever Changes - A House is Not a Motel
One of my favorite's. Hope all is well.
thank you “the light inside me is dying” was only a joke
:)
@@abigaildevoe th-cam.com/video/6bHzWKZp3Hs/w-d-xo.html
I was pleasantly surprised to find a favorite 60's album getting a look! Recent subscriber, enjoying the look back from someone finding it for the first time. Good jorb!
P.S. we are normal and we dig Burt Wheedon.
I'm not sure, but I've always assumed that one-time Bonzo Dog Band bassist (and guest American) Joel stole that line from Love and inserted it into the Bonzo's record, contributing to his departure from the band. Of course, it could have happened the other way around. The timeline is fuzzy due to record release delays.
Congrats on 20k, "forever changes" a masterpiece
PS...and like your hair for this presentation! A bit envious.
"Alone Again Or"...remains a musical masterpiece to this very day--and beyond!! A good choice for you to blather on about!
Very good album and an interesting band, I like it. Also the other albums "Love", "Da Capo", "Four Sails", even "Black Beauty" seem very good to me. I like the experimentation and the musical variety of albums like this, it's interesting when these bands from the 60's and 70's broke schemes and paradigms within popular music.
I see a lot of people have a fetish for this album, haha. I like it but I don't consider it a record to die for, an obvious classic definitely from the 60's to know how the young Hippies thought at the time, as well as the albums and communities that followed Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, or the Grateful Dead, something that those of us born after the 70's will never see again.
Learned about this record due to a book in the late-80’s (one of those 100 Best Ever Records deals) which is also how I learned of John Cale’s Paris 1919 album, among others.
Forever is certainly a record that is very much a product of its time (same as me, 1967) while being wonderfully timeless, out of time. Something handed down from on high from a power we can all get behind, not some jealous bastard determined to burn us because we didn’t kowtow to it incessantly.
Bought and got rid of Forever Changes about three times, as I could never quite "get it".
Then I listened to "Four Sail" and something clicked. Huge fan of all Love's output including Forever Changes (though think I still prefer the first album and the aforementioned "Four Sail"). You deserve 10 times the subscribers!
The song" Robert Montgomery" BY LOVE is a great piece.
Omg. I did the same @prestigepea1235! Bought it as a teenager and didn't get it AT ALL. Returned it after a day or two. A couple of years later I tried again, and that time it clicked. Then went on to get all the albums and even Arthur's very strange Vindicator album
Alan Parsons Project ' Tales of Mystery and Imagination ' from 1976, Harvey Mandel ' Cristo Redentor ' from 1968, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band ' East - West ' from 1966 JA ' Bless it's Pointed little Head ' from 1969. My brain's memory chip is on overdrive.....Yikes, so many i can think of. The segue with the " Lizard King ' did not go unnoticed. Dig your style, aloha
WOW...!!!!! what a coincidence! I was just thinking about this album the other day. I didn't think so many people LOVE IT 🔥☮🔥
I would venture a guess that it's been the most requested album on this channel.
@@barrymoore4470 True! I didn't know about this channel but, on similar platforms some mentioned the same; Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Led Zepp, Black Sabbath, Doors, not Love. Speaking of the Doors, when they opened for bands like Buffalo Springfield, Love, Them and others at the Whiskey a Gogo, no one paid attention to Morrison and Manzarek Band. it was Arthur Lee who insisted Jac Holzman come and see them.. .
The album that always reminds me of Autumn is Nicely Out of Tune by Lindisfarne from 1970. Have you heard that one, Abby?
This album is a true tour de force! So good I only listen occasionally.
Great album it never ages one of the top 20 of all time 👍
I recently picked up a copy of this record when I went to Barcelona on vacation. I 'm stil working on wrapping my head aound it but its a cracking good record.
O.k. so a few suggestions from the internet in that (Hall of the Mountain King?) intro and I am glad.
Aethur Lee is a Memphis boy. Im from Memphis and indeed live here myself, There was supposed to be a reunion around 2010 i think, but Arthur Lee passed away unfortunately. RIP.
The track "The Red Telephone" obviously inspired "We Are Normal" on the 1968 Bonzo Dog Album "The Doughnut in Granny`s Greenhouse".
The “We’re All Normal…” line originated in the play Marat/Sade, which was released in a film version in early 1967.
peaked my attention with the mention of "The Stone Roses". One of the best British bands in history, who made one of the greatest LPs ever.
Great b-sides as well✨️
@@jamesnock5572 best in the business. Their album ‘Turns Into Stone’ - A collection of Singles and B-sides - is a 10/10 album
@@FarrellCapper great memories, an era defining group for a lot of people
They were the originals, ahead of the game, and were the essence of the 90s@@jamesnock5572
Excellent job on this one Abby. You've done it justice as that ultimate "lost classic" album of the '60s. You are dead on about it's lyrical disjointedness, but I feel that's more or less what they were going for...as Arthur Lee was feeling dread at the time. Yes, more or less the anti-hippy mode of thought. The musicality throughout the album is what I get drawn to the most and it delivers, for sure.
My 2nd favorite psych record. O&O is my fav! ❤
When I saw the tumult of 'comments' 'bout Love I thought bet I'm not there. My heads normally in the clouds: now it stays there.
I've been buying records with my own money since 1963. So, 60 years of perusing record racks. But for the first 30-years I was in the Mid-West and Southeast. So, during those first 30-years I never once heard or saw any comment, image or sound from the group "Love." Once moving to Texas I still never heard of "Love" until maybe 15 years ago. I can't think of any group more obscure to a large swath of the country. I stumbled accidentally on to "Love" and their LPs about 15-years ago and wondered where were they all these years? Why have I not seen them EVER in any record shop bins? Like many, though, I'm torn by their enigmatic grouping of songs. Some are good, some are okay and some are What the?.
I very much like your VM series. Even though I scream at the computer screen every time you say "psych" instead of "psychedelic." Like calling records "vinyls" calling psychedelic "psych" is an affectation of age not shared by those that lived and experienced those times. But you do you.
I wanted to say how much I've enjoyed the depth of research you put into each album including this one, which I've always... LOVE'ed.
dissect
Another reason for Love staying a local/regional band was that the availability of heroin was a problem when they strayed too far from hearth and home.
Btw, I bought this album in '67 or early '68. I've tried to dig up any info I could over the years, but I learned a whole lot from Abigail on this record. Good work, Abigail. I'll be checking you out some more.
This is still one of my all timers. It's brilliant, troubling, funny in spots, revolutionary, and lush and beautiful. Masterpiece is too small a word for Forever Changes.
Finally, all lovers of this music should check out Calexico's cover of Alone Again Or.
Love were popular here in the UK Birmingham in the west Midlands to be precise! I found out about love from one of the many compilations issued here in the UK bought Forever changes in 1975 and it just stuck in my head!
Arthur Lee was a genius but you wouldn't want to live next door to him! Great introduction Abi! Next Album Aromic Rooster Death Walks behind you! Great for Halloween 🎃 20k +3 people cannot be wrong you are doing great stuff!! ❤
You have out done yourself this time.
Thx for covering one of my favorite LPs.
Ronnie Haran was also an actress as well a talent booker. She discovered the Doors at the London Fog. She costarred in an episode of the TV Western Cheyenne with Clint Walker.
I’d put this album in my Top ten along with albums like Raw Power by Iggy and the Stooges Beatles Rubber Soul, S.F Sorrow by the Pretty Things etc…..Love ❤indeed.
that’s a solid bunch of favorite albums!