Friday, March 6, 2009

Love

Some douchey critics and record store clerks will prattle on about what a masterpiece Love's Forever Changes is, and they would be correct. Some douchey critics and record store clerks will dismiss it as an overrated piece of hokey '60s schmaltz, and they would also be correct. From it's opener, the spaghetti western tinged "Alone Again Or..." to its closing number, "You Set The Scene," Forever Changes is a crystal clear photograph of 1967 psychedelic Los Angeles. The songs are individually wrapped baroque pop delicacies made sweeter by Love frontman, the eccentric Arthur Lee. So don't listen to the beleaguered ramblings of fuck sticks who think they know more about great art than you, just listen to this record if you haven't, and decide for yourself.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Killer jams, this one. This record regularly ends up being on my obsessive listen to over and over for a month list, like Morbid Tales, Lovedrive, etc. How do you manage to do this every day? If it weren't for the hungry cat I'd have trouble enough getting out of bed. Thanks for posting killer, killer jams Aesop.

xoJoeP

Aesop said...

Thanks, Joe. That cat is standing between you and victory.

Anonymous said...

Total worship to the best music-blog in this universe.

Enjoy this:

www.lochefconsiglia.blogspot.com/

In italian, but good.

Ste

Humdinger said...

I don't know how many times I sing the melodies to some of thes sweet songs while i alk down the street...Arthur Lee splits my head like the first time i heard Public Enemy...

Roger Camden said...

This is one of a handful of records that has been so thoroughly talked about and written about that not much more can (or should) be said.

That said...

When I bought this, the big-damn-deal reissue had just been released. Some book or another had praised Love to the skies, so I wanted a piece of the action. I grabbed up Forvever Changes.
It was disappointing at first.
The only Love song I'd heard up to that point was 7 and 7 is. To me, Love was a rock and roll band, you know? What the hell was this finger-picked-guitar-with-a-string-section crap? Thoroughly unprepared for late-1960s studio pop.

I eventually figured it out.
It's great.

SSDestroyer said...

great record

Anonymous said...

It's good but it pales in comparison to Four Sail, now that's a fuckin killer album!

t-rocc said...

huh. i was just listening to this record last night. synchronicity and stuff, yo.

Anonymous said...

Oh nice, yet another one I've been meaning to check out. I must have seen many blog posts about it, but somehow it's only when you put it up that I feel compelled to get it. I'm in agreement with the guy above, this is the one of the nicest corners of the interweb.

Anonymous said...

I agree that this was a hard album to get into at first... let's be honest, it's REALLY wimpy. But I've actaully been listening to it a lot lately. The more you listen the more you get out of it.

Anonymous said...

Tomorrow would be Arthur Lee's 64th birthday too.

Aesop said...

Didn't know that. More of that weird synchronicity I guess.

Anonymous said...

Your use of the word fuck keeps getting better and better with this blog..."Fuck sticks"! So good.

Anonymous said...

"forever changes"is one of those records i keep coming back to again and again when i need to relax a little from the heaviness,noise and negativity of most of the music i listen to.and it always works.god rest Arthur Lee's soul.

Anonymous said...

i bought this, listened to it all the way through a couple times, then it marinated in a CD pile for 2 years.

then i sold it for 4 dollars in credit.

i think this is crap, just sayin'.

Coreopsis said...

This, Generic Flipper, the first two Chrome albums, and Astral Weeks are my favorite albums ever!

gone said...

chilling out to this record right now thanks mate,finding myself listening to extreme music less these days(unless out on my mountain bike with my earphones on running fuckers down blasting skitsystem rrrrraaaah) but this is just wot the witch doctor ordered...ta

e normous said...

schmaltz? I want more of this schmaltz! I've never heard any of the hype or whatever about this album, so many thanks to you for posting it. seriously, what is there to debate? it's GOOD.

e normous said...

whoh, I didn't realize I commented on this earlier. "yet another one I've been meaning to check out" ... strange. something is not right. perhaps I was ambushed by mind erasing people.

Rawky Roze said...

As with countless undiscovered gems you've changed my musical world with, this post somehow went unnoticed and once again I'm left in awe of your all-encompassing and unrivaled taste.

Been a big favorite of mine from early adolescents and remains one as well as closely associated with that time in my life. You certainly touched on the uniqueness of this album in calling it a photograph of 67.

The charm of this record to me comes in it's unabashed naivety. Perhaps that's just a reflection of how/who I was when this blew my mind. Apparently Artur Lee thought he was gonna die when he recorded this at the ripe old age of 22. And I suppose plenty of people who did acid 1967 thought that...