Search - Love :: Forever Changes - Expanded Version

Beautiful, Beautiful Album and Now Released in mlps!

Frederick Baptist | Singapore | 05/20/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Album content 5 stars, this version of the album 2 stars



Years ago when I picked up a book that ranked the best albums of all time, I had a great shock when I found this album at #1. Could it possibly be better than the #2 "Pet Sounds" or even the #3 "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"? Fueled by a combination of curiosity and utter disbelief, I decided to get the cd and lo and behold, I was blown away.



The music was unlike anything I had ever heard before and it was obvious from the start that this was a very original work of art and that Arthur Lee was a brilliant genius at work. It became clear to me as well that "Forever Changes" is very deserving of its lofty ranking. A simply beautiful album and probably as close as pop music has ever come to being high works of art.



Now this version has been released without any bonus tracks in a mini lp replica sleeve design which pretty accurately recreates the original lp design. Unfortunately, it hasn't been very well remastered and does not sound quite as good as the prior Rhino version. We also know that for years now, the Japanese have been the masters at mlps cds and they still have the edge over Rhino at least for now. The Japanese have the good sense to include a plastic sleeve for the cd to prevent dust and more importantly scratches from damaging the shiny side of the cd. When I received my cd from Amazon, there was already a couple of lines on my cd because there was no plastic sleeve protecting my disc from the paper sleeve which has two folds that what with movement during shipping and everything meant that I received a scratched cd. Otherwise, the outer cardboard sleeve is well done and is good quality unlike some of the other mlps versions I've seen out there that have flimsy or poor quality, thin cardboard covers. I don't actually mind the fact that the 7 bonus tracks on the prior Rhino release are missing as I guess most of the time, bonus tracks do not add to the enjoyment of the original album tracks and many a time actually spoils the listening enjoyment when they are countless outtakes or alternate takes of album tracks or worse interviews and obvious filler material.



Otherwise, if you don't mind the diminished sound quality as compared to the prior Rhino release and the propensity for the lack of proper plastic protection for the cd to result in scratches on the data/music side of your cd, then for lovers of the mlps format, this may be a worthwhile addition to your other Love albums. Overall, I like the whole Rhino Replica idea but I hope they'll take my comments seriously and seek to better protect the discs from damage and also seek to remaster and hence improve the sound quality of future releases. The following are just some of the albums I'd love to see as Rhino Replicas:



"Partners In Crime" - Rupert Holmes

"No Goodbyes" - Daryl Hall & John Oates

"Abandoned Luncheonette" - Daryl Hall & John Oates

"Not Fragile" - Bachman-Turner Overdrive

"Van Halen I & II" - Van Halen

"L.A. Woman" - The Doors

"Greatest Hits" - The Little River Band (original album and NOT what's currently out there which totally screwed up the track order)

"No Parlez" - Paul Young



(all remastered with plastic cd protecting sleeve in addition to the paper sleeve and please no bonus tracks)"

Mini Lp Sleeve packaging at last!!

ekstrom-ahlby douglas | stockholm, sweden | 03/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The music we know...but now Rhino has issued this timeless beauty in a mini Lp sleeve replica just as it was meant to from the beginning!Thanks!!"

Changes forever, yeh. . . Arthur Lee's LA masterpiece

Mark LoPresti | 04/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One must be in the right frame of mind for LOVE's unique album Forever Changes. It's all breezy guitars, lush orchestrations, Tijuana brass, no real hard rock, and haunting tunes woven together into an eerie semi-arid urban tapestry that demands and requires your attention. I had special-ordered this legendary record decades ago on vinyl (it never went out of print). Listening to this LP at 18 or so, about 10 years after its release, I was not yet sophisticated enough to appreciate the musical depth. I was listening to the New Wave, and an old hand at 60s and 70s Rock, and at the time was bored by it. Now I realize Forever Changes is simply a beautifully realized personal statement (Arthur Lee's) including his comments upon being a black man in a largely "white" subculture - L.A.'s acid-rock, country-western, and psychedelic bands, particularly those bands playing at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go - plus his own passion for that city (he later said he felt the songs were about his expected impending death - he passed away decades later in 2006). A real summer night driving record, LOVE Forever Changes is a sultry delight, a relic and microcosm, a time capsule and breaking chrysalis . . . this is a great, tuneful record of happenstance, almost outsider-art for its lack of significant commercial success, and may possibly be one of your undiscovered loves.

Thank goodness for Elektra who not only discovered Detroit bands THE MC5, and THE STOOGES, but particularly Whiskey-A-Go-Go bands like THE DOORS and LOVE. Thank goodness for RHINO re-issuing Forever Changes with the bonus tracks (including "Hummingbird" and LOVE's last single "Your Mind And We Belong Together" b/w "Laughing Stock.")

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