Love – Forever Changes

Forever Changes is a perfect Sunday record, it brings a bit of LA sunshine to the grey NY (North Yorkshire) skies. It’s an old one but a beautiful piece even after all these years. It has recently been re-mastered and re-issued, I however have the original CD version to listen from so cannot comment on that. Arthur Lee is a genius in my opinion and Forever Changes is Love’s perfect record. The sound is quite acoustic and beautiful, with added electric guitars in places for a bit of menace. The backdrop has a good sunshine vibe to it, with some psychedelic leanings, yet the lyrics are dark and disturbing in places. The song structures are complicated and bring many elements to the table, it took me quite a while to fully appreciate the greatness of Love. The vocals and strings play together wonderfully like skipping in the sunshine and longing for loved ones all at once. There isn’t a bad song on Forever Changes so I’m stretched to pick a favourite. The only problem I have with this record is that it was mastered pretty badly; if you listen to it on headphones this is very noticeable. The splitting of the stereo is terribly mixed. You get guitars and much of the other instruments on one ear and all the rhythm stuff in your other. On a speaker system this doesn’t hinder the enjoyment at all. This may have been sorted for the recent re-issue mind. This is a minor niggle and the music really shines through with great inventiveness and passion. I think everyone should get Love Forever Changes and listen to it on Sundays its perfect.