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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
@@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.
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.
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. ✌🏽❤️🎸🌬️🍃🍄💿
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.
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.
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?
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
Forever Changes reviewed BRILLIANTLY... and then, at 27:56, you mention Odessey and Oracle!?!?! I am flabbergasted. Where have you been, you excellent type person, all those years I was looking for someone with a brain and good taste to review my favourite period in musical history!?
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.
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.
I bought this record the day it came out. Me, and my musician friends, adored LOVE since day one. Over the years I learned how to play every song, which only added to my full appreciation of this music. I consider my life blessed that I've had all these years to listen to this, which is, at least, a weekly listen. Sgt. Pepper's. Pet Sounds. Forever Changes. Everything else flows from there.
28:34 Hello Abby! "Maybe The People Would Be The Times (Or Between Clark and Hilldale) is about The Sunset Strip in general, but The Whisky- A-Go-Go in particular, which was (and still is) located between Clark Street and Hilldale Avenue, along Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Such a good reading of a difficult but beautiful and essential album. And I love Odessey and Oracle too. Two of my favorite favorite albums of all time. Are you an English major? I was for several decades of my life.
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
20k subscribers... OK, here is to another year and a growing subscriber base. I'm new to your corner of the internet. I appreciate that you "dress appropriately" for each... is it a review? an overview? Your enthusiasm is obvious and infectious. That you seem to have my mums ideal record collection also helps. Long story short, i'm 50 several, in the 80's my friends complained their parents took away their records, only my Mum was doing it to play them... LOUD! So I started to return the favour. We wound up having a shared collection from when I was about 14 until she passed away. So this was her generation of music and we would often go to record fairs and together trying to fill gaps in the collection.
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.
Any congratulations on getting 20 K, it doesn’t surprise me. Your broadcasts Informative, exquisitely, researched, and delivered with the humour, the personality and confidence of a true, natural broadcaster, who knows her stuff, what you don’t know you learn. I imagine I am by no means the only subscriber who came for the celebration of music you give us every week but found myself staying for you and the music. The way you impart your knowledge is totally unique and record companies would be wise to cut a deal with you, whereby future pressing of records you have covered might come complete with a companion DVD consisting of the relevant broadcast. There is a little point in me wittering on about this particular record. It is absolutely astounding, one of those rarities that does not contain a single bad track or wasted moment. I discovered this record in 1977, when I found out that my hero of music journalism at that time , the BBC’s presenter of the incredible Old Grey Whistle Test, Bob Harris, heralded it as his favourite album of all time. If I were capable of compiling a list of my top 10 albums of all time then not only would “Forever Changes” be a shoe-in but I strongly suspect that it would be the highest placed single album behind two double albums from 1968 and 1972. Once again I am looking forward to see seeing what doors you will be opening next time.
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
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.
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!!
Wow! You are great at this. Thank you. I just stumbled upon your channel. I'm looking forward to binging on you your videos. Thanks again for your passion, knowledge ans enthusiasm!
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."
It's a wonderful start to this video and the album has a memorable tune to open with. Everything feels slightly unusual on Alone but compelling. Intrigued by the titles, Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale (had to type it out). I'm fond of its musical uncertaintanties, awkwardness. I believe that Lee himself thought of himself as someone heading toward a calamity. The darkness is there which you spotlighted. When I looked up the lyrics for You Set the Scene it has 'Then you feel your heart beating Thrum pum pum pum' Gotta love that.Gotta.
SAVAGE!!! I love how you called everyone out at the beginning! Your humor is on point as always. 😆👏🏽🙌🏽 But thank you for making an episode of one of my favorite albums of all time! I love hearing the mythos behind classics like this! So hopefully you'll make a Monkees video (or videos) soon. (As I'm always requesting) So I'll be waiting. Btw, "Old Man" is my favorite song on here. Makes me choke up and tear up every damn time. ❤️
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.
Hi Abigail, this album is in my top 10 ever, maybe not in the top 5 but nearly, i've known it since early 2000, i didn't know anytthing about it before, i would advice a couple of Spirit albums too, another great band
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.
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 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!
Just listened to my UK original pressing- brilliant! And I just realised the last song on side One "The Red Telephone" must have been the inspiration for the opening song on the 1968 Bonzo Dog Band album `The Doughnut in Granny`s Greenhouse` titled "We Are Normal".
Speaking of great albums Abigail, I have 2 more favorites for you to consider, if you haven't already. Astral Weeks by Van Morrison, and New York Tendaberry by Laura Nyro. Great analysis from you and lots of love for the music! It was a wonderful time!
Hey Abigail, I want to apologize for my earlier comment about your lack of coverage on the song "You Set the Scene" , I went back and relistened to your video, I must of stepped away from my computer while you covered my favorite song on the album. I could tell you felt something this song as well. Thanks for the video this album always meant to me.
It's a surprise to see the review of this album.It's a classic masterpiece,no wonder The Rolling Stone magazine pick it no.40 of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003.Great show Abby.
Awesome review. . .I had run into a series of people who were into this band before finally getting my hands on Forever Changes. .the mystique was definitely legit. . .very creative and very 60s but not in a derivative way. . .Da Capo had some incredible songs and Forever Changes kept expanding the vision
Love the Love album ❤ Anything 60's,Baroque pop, and anything close to that i adore 🌹 Well btw future abbey is at 33.4k subs 🌺 and past 100 episodes 🎉💓
Wicked, that 1st bit made me laugh (out loud). So many requests for this great album. "The Red Telephone" is politically important. "Alone Again Or" is one of my top 5 all time tunes & a vinyl 45 I spin a LOT. Superb. John Peel was THE DJ I used to love listening to him, first on Pirate Radio then the Beeb.
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 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.
It took me 30 years to understand this album. A superb album.
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.
I'm here. Finally. After all this time. Another album I have no idea about.
Forever Changes is my favorite album of the 60's. A masterpiece.
This Lp was (and remains) a musical landmark. I bought it when it debuted. I never left it behind. Thanks, Abigail Devoe.
"Alone Again Or"...remains a musical masterpiece to this very day--and beyond!! A good choice for you to blather on about!
This album really is something special.
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
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.
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.
PS...and like your hair for this presentation! A bit envious.
I knew the basic problems with electra and the Doors, but WOW, Behind the scenes stuff? Ya blew my mind with this one!
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
So pleased you covered this and summed it up perfectly.
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.
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.
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. ✌🏽❤️🎸🌬️🍃🍄💿
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.
Abby. Yours is my favorite UA-cam channel. It makes me very uncomfortable to compliment people, but what you're doing is incredible.
thank you so much! i appreciate it
“I only wash my hair every 3 days… but i wash the rest of me” hahahaha very funny. Girl you hilarious. Great review.
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.
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 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
Forever Changes reviewed BRILLIANTLY... and then, at 27:56, you mention Odessey and Oracle!?!?! I am flabbergasted. Where have you been, you excellent type person, all those years I was looking for someone with a brain and good taste to review my favourite period in musical history!?
Honored that my comment made the video, but more thrilled that the review is finally here!
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.
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.
I bought this record the day it came out. Me, and my musician friends, adored LOVE since day one. Over the years I learned how to play every song, which only added to my full appreciation of this music. I consider my life blessed that I've had all these years to listen to this, which is, at least, a weekly listen. Sgt. Pepper's. Pet Sounds. Forever Changes. Everything else flows from there.
28:34 Hello Abby! "Maybe The People Would Be The Times (Or Between Clark and Hilldale) is about The Sunset Strip in general, but The Whisky- A-Go-Go in particular, which was (and still is) located between Clark Street and Hilldale Avenue, along Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.
That's a lotta love for an album that barely made the charts. Thanks for including my comment/request.
Such a good reading of a difficult but beautiful and essential album. And I love Odessey and Oracle too. Two of my favorite favorite albums of all time. Are you an English major? I was for several decades of my life.
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.
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
Great review, as ever, Lovely Lady. Now that's done, how about some Moody Blues???
Is there a song or an album named Everyone Loves Abbey? There should be! Rock on Abigail!
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!!!
"It's both inside the crystal ball and the crystal ball itself."
Sums up the album in one poetic concept.
We're all normal and we want our freedom!
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.
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
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!!!
The Greatest album of all time IMHO,it’s in colour and everything else is in black white,very entertaining review :-)
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.
Thx for covering one of my favorite LPs.
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 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!
One of my favorite's. Hope all is well.
thank you “the light inside me is dying” was only a joke
:)
@@abigaildevoe ua-cam.com/video/6bHzWKZp3Hs/v-deo.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
Great psychedelic episode Abby! 🎉 We all ‘Love’ you and that will ‘Forever Never Change’ ! 😃
Bought this when it first came out. It is probably my most listened to album ever.
20k subscribers... OK, here is to another year and a growing subscriber base.
I'm new to your corner of the internet. I appreciate that you "dress appropriately" for each... is it a review? an overview? Your enthusiasm is obvious and infectious. That you seem to have my mums ideal record collection also helps. Long story short, i'm 50 several, in the 80's my friends complained their parents took away their records, only my Mum was doing it to play them... LOUD! So I started to return the favour. We wound up having a shared collection from when I was about 14 until she passed away. So this was her generation of music and we would often go to record fairs and together trying to fill gaps in the collection.
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.
Any congratulations on getting 20 K, it doesn’t surprise me. Your broadcasts Informative, exquisitely, researched, and delivered with the humour, the personality and confidence of a true, natural broadcaster, who knows her stuff, what you don’t know you learn. I imagine I am by no means the only subscriber who came for the celebration of music you give us every week but found myself staying for you and the music. The way you impart your knowledge is totally unique and record companies would be wise to cut a deal with you, whereby future pressing of records you have covered might come complete with a companion DVD consisting of the relevant broadcast.
There is a little point in me wittering on about this particular record. It is absolutely astounding, one of those rarities that does not contain a single bad track or wasted moment. I discovered this record in 1977, when I found out that my hero of music journalism at that time , the BBC’s presenter of the incredible Old Grey Whistle Test, Bob Harris, heralded it as his favourite album of all time. If I were capable of compiling a list of my top 10 albums of all time then not only would “Forever Changes” be a shoe-in but I strongly suspect that it would be the highest placed single album behind two double albums from 1968 and 1972. Once again I am looking forward to see seeing what doors you will be opening next time.
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
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.
I know and love Forever Changes. Your review was insightful and refreshing. Thank you.
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!!
Great review Abbie 😊
The pacing and dynamics (loud and soft) of this album is extraordinary, whether intended or not.
thanks. for this. actually my favorite gym album blasting through headphones on the rower.
The album that always reminds me of Autumn is Nicely Out of Tune by Lindisfarne from 1970. Have you heard that one, Abby?
Wow! You are great at this. Thank you. I just stumbled upon your channel. I'm looking forward to binging on you your videos. Thanks again for your passion, knowledge ans enthusiasm!
One of my favorite albums from one of my favorite bands 🫶
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.
Great album it never ages one of the top 20 of all time 👍
It's a wonderful start to this video and the album has a memorable tune to open with. Everything feels slightly unusual on Alone but compelling.
Intrigued by the titles, Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale (had to type it out). I'm fond of its musical uncertaintanties, awkwardness. I believe that Lee himself thought of himself as someone heading toward a calamity. The darkness is there which you spotlighted.
When I looked up the lyrics for You Set the Scene it has 'Then you feel your heart beating Thrum pum pum pum' Gotta love that.Gotta.
SAVAGE!!! I love how you called everyone out at the beginning! Your humor is on point as always. 😆👏🏽🙌🏽 But thank you for making an episode of one of my favorite albums of all time! I love hearing the mythos behind classics like this! So hopefully you'll make a Monkees video (or videos) soon. (As I'm always requesting) So I'll be waiting. Btw, "Old Man" is my favorite song on here. Makes me choke up and tear up every damn time. ❤️
A absolute masterpiece!
GREAT LP 😊😊
I love it✌✌
This album is a true tour de force! So good I only listen occasionally.
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.
People should just let you do your thing, whatever album you choose. You lead, we follow 👍🏻
Hi Abigail, this album is in my top 10 ever, maybe not in the top 5 but nearly, i've known it since early 2000, i didn't know anytthing about it before, i would advice a couple of Spirit albums too, another great band
Got all 3 on wax mono and stereo also have Vindicator and all other LOVE and Arthur Lee on wax.
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.
Greatest album of the 60's
Great album. Saw them live. Johnny Eccles Love.
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
Don't feel bad, Abby. I don't think I've heard the whole album straight through - and I think I should've.
O.k. so a few suggestions from the internet in that (Hall of the Mountain King?) intro and I am glad.
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!
Just listened to my UK original pressing- brilliant! And I just realised the last song on side One "The Red Telephone" must have been the inspiration for the opening song on the 1968 Bonzo Dog Band album `The Doughnut in Granny`s Greenhouse` titled "We Are Normal".
My 2nd favorite psych record. O&O is my fav! ❤
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
Speaking of great albums Abigail, I have 2 more favorites for you to consider, if you haven't already. Astral Weeks by Van Morrison, and New York Tendaberry by Laura Nyro. Great analysis from you and lots of love for the music! It was a wonderful time!
Hey Abigail, I want to apologize for my earlier comment about your lack of coverage on the song "You Set the Scene" , I went back and relistened to your video, I must of stepped away from my computer while you covered my favorite song on the album. I could tell you felt something this song as well. Thanks for the video this album always meant to me.
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.
I like every song
It's a surprise to see the review of this album.It's a classic masterpiece,no wonder The Rolling Stone magazine pick it no.40 of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003.Great show Abby.
Awesome review. . .I had run into a series of people who were into this band before finally getting my hands on Forever Changes. .the mystique was definitely legit. . .very creative and very 60s but not in a derivative way. . .Da Capo had some incredible songs and Forever Changes kept expanding the vision
A masterpiece.
It’s a beautiful album from mariachi to west coast subtle melody. You sum it up perfectly.
Love the Love album ❤
Anything 60's,Baroque pop, and anything close to that i adore 🌹
Well btw future abbey is at 33.4k subs 🌺 and past 100 episodes 🎉💓
Wicked, that 1st bit made me laugh (out loud). So many requests for this great album. "The Red Telephone" is politically important. "Alone Again Or" is one of my top 5 all time tunes & a vinyl 45 I spin a LOT. Superb. John Peel was THE DJ I used to love listening to him, first on Pirate Radio then the Beeb.
what can i say - the people around here have taste!