Search - Love :: Forever Changes

A masterpiece of composition and orchestration that rocks!

Bruce E. Krohmer | Rockville, MD | 02/16/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album,one of Rolling Stones' 500 best all-time recordings, is considered to be one of the three greatest rock recordings of all time by many critics. I believe it surpasses the other two(Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and Smiley Smile) in several ways. Firstly, the orchestration, with strings and brass become part of the songs, not merely a sonic, sound-track like background; the string parts both support and echo the words and the feelings expressed in the tunes they are utilized in. The brass parts don't sound like they're just rococo fillagree to the tunes they are in, they variously become cavalry charges, hunting calls and even Mariachi-like outbursts without sounding like Herb Alpert(too much).

Arthur Lee's beautiful, touching word-play gives many of the tunes a singer-songwriter piquancy that is hardly matched by the maudlin sentimentalism of Brian Wilson's effort, and the band can, and does , rock harder than either the Beach Boys or the Beatles when they need to.

This is an incrdible, seminal album that has never gotten it's due; like Bach, someday in the future people will finally realize what a wonder this group has produced."

More than the sum of its parts

Michael Ofjord | Minneapolis, Minnesota USA | 07/02/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was 13 when this recording was released. I didn't get into it until at least 20 years later, and at first I wasn't thrilled, though I did like it. Then when reading that Arthur Lee thought he would soon die soon after this was released, it started to make more sense. The music isn't incredibly complex, but it still can challenge musicians with its varied influences, from blues to Mariachi, to psychedelia to Dylan to classical. The lyrics are often leaning toward the bizarre, and I am pretty sure many are drug influenced. (eg, "the snot has caked against my pants") Yet the music is often pretty, and the string arrangments of "The Red Telephone" and "You Set the Scene" are some of the best I have heard in a rock setting. The album has some political overtones; Lee is obviously wrestling with his demons and yet trying to remain ultimately hopeful. I was able to see him months before he died where he played most of Forever Changes, and he sounded really great and focused that evening. He grabbed at his shirt when he sang, "And the things that I must do consist of more than style," and he said something that I have heard at many concerts over the years. He said simply, "Love one another." Usually I toss that aside as a cliche, but for some reason that night it felt like it was truly meant and it grabbed my heart. Not knowing that he had leukemia at the time, it makes more sense now, just like the recording itself, once you allow yourself to explore it."