Forever Changes [Remastered] - Love > Reviews > All You Needed Was LOVE

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Seminal record, hasn't dated at all
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

LLove's "Forever Changes" is yet another of those seminal LP's no-one ever heard when they were released but have influenced a million bands then.

When I bought this album a couple of years back "Love" was just a (rather corny I thought) name for a hippy band. I had a vague idea of clap-happy harmonies and acoustic guitars. How wrong can you be!!! This is another case where posterity has shown the strength of hindsight and time has shown the wiser (with apologies to Richard Thompson).

Love was an LA band formed in 1965 into peace, love and psychedelia. Also, interestingly, a racially mixed band when things were still pretty rough in the States. Considered the brightest young things and the group most likely to somehow things didn't work out. Despite the talent their reluctance to tour (by 1967 they didn't even want to play elsewhere in California) and contentment with their success in LA eventually meant that groups such as The Doors outshone them. Their failure to achieve real success brought in disillusion and this coupled with drug abuse ended the band. The age of Love was over before it had even started.

By the time "Forever Changes", billed as "the third coming of Love" was released it was clear that Love would either break through in a major way or break up.

The line -up was:

Arthur Lee: guitar and vocal
John Echols: guitar
Bryan Maclean: guitar and vocal
Ken Forssi: bass
Michael Stuart: percussion

"Alone Again Or" is an unusual, absolutely brilliant opener. An acoustic guitar leads onto Lee and his boys singing the best flamenco rock song to have been written ever, the brassy accompaniment is perfect and a horn solo complements this purposeful intro. The words are certainly peace and Love, all about "I could be in love with almost anyone" but they sound sincere, not forced. Yet despite this willingness to love he could end up alone again - touch of alienation here. Something happened with the mix and though the lead vocals were by Lee this version has Maclean on joint vocals really.

A more urgent acoustic guitar starts "A House Is Not A Motel"… as the lyrics get tougher it leads to a powerful guitar solo which is credited by some as the beginning of heavy metal, and you can see why when you play it LOUD!

"Andmoreagain" is another slice of ethereal beauty; the lyrics start with "and if you'll see andmoreagain then you might be andmoreagain" presumably she is/was a person? There is something classical in the use of strings in this track and particularly in its chorus which is sung by Lee is a trademark clear vibrato.

The Daily Planet is a more uptempo, rockier track, driven by a strong rhythm section, the music slows for the choruses, where a single guitar backs Lee as he playfully sings the last word of some lines responded by Maclean. Simple but effective. A song about life's daily grind.

Old Man uses a theme from Prokofiev's "Lieutenant Kije". Another astoundingly good song, this time sung by Bryan Maclean in a high, frail voice which perfectly matches the wondrous nature of the words about an old man who teaches a younger guy to appreciate life and beauty. It is also a love story, "you are so lovely, you didn't have to say a thing". The moment when the horns and strings soar triumphantly above Maclean's voice when he says "I only heard him slightly" is one of the greatest most uplifting moments in rock and roll. Does fade out a bit towards the end but you forgive it for its sheer beauty.

The Red Telephone's lyrics are clearly Vietnam-inspired (Dr. Strangelove anyone?) with the wacky chorus "they're locking them up today and throwing away the key, I wonder who it will be tomorrow you or me?" If anyone can tell me the significance of "I feel real phoney when my name is Phil" I would be eternally grateful.

The next track is "Maybe The People Would Be The Times or Between Clark and Hilldale", time to call the Guinness Book of Records! This is another mid-tempo song with the lyrics contrasting in their depiction of Lee as the outsider, the observer who sees what others are making (or not) of their lives.

Odd lyrics for "Live and Let Live" - it starts "oh the snot has caked against my pants"; I wonder, just wonder, if any illegal substances may have been consumed during the writing of this? Perish the thought! And yet they make perfect sense. This is a pacifist song, which switches cleverly from the ease at which the singer is prepared to shoot a bird "because it's on my land" to an antiwar message, "write the rules in the sky, but ask your leaders why".

Another long-titled song follows, "The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This". Airy-fairy lyrics and da-da-das in a fairly acoustic number.

The wittily titles "Bummer in the Summer" starts with Lee almost rapping, did they invent this too? A fairly humdrum number about being a plumber in the summer, yes not the most lyrically-inspired track here.

Finally "You Set The Scene". Lee thought he was going to die and this premonition imbues sadness into the album. This song was to be his epitaph - "this is the only thing that I am sure of, that all that lives is going to die". A fine climax for an excellent record'

Sadly the hippy dream died, Love died with it and Arthur Lee ended up in jail for six years charged with possession of a weapon - since when was that a crime in the US? There has been a fairy-tale ending of sorts with Lee reviving his live career successfully in recent years, largely on the strength of this record.

There is a special edition which has seven extra tracks; outtakes, demos and so on. Mainly interesting for the sessions on "Your Mind And We Belong Together" showing Lee's increasing frustration with some of his mates and the almost acapella "Laughing Stock".

You can see why this record was so influential, it is more difficult to see why it wasn't successful at the time. The chart position it reached in the States was 154 and number 25 in UK. Within six months Lee fired the band and it was all over. I bought this because it was on so many must-have record lists. Now I know why.