šŸ’æ How Good Is It Really šŸ’æ Forever Changes

Gonna listen tomorrow. Last few times I tried it it was like some kind of Austin Powers pasticheā€¦

Itā€™s a really great record - vibrant, melodic and exciting but with that suggestion of being in the brink of breaking down into something a bit wilder.

Personally I slightly prefer Odessey and Oracle for my late sixties melodic psychedelia and either of the first two 13th Floor Elevators albums (especially Easter Everywhere) for the more visceral thrill, but Forever Changes is still wonderful. A high 9.

Thatā€™s the only track I know as well and thatā€™s only because I have the Damnedā€™s cover on a playlist. Looking forward to finally giving the album a play

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Absolutely perfectā€¦ apart from that lyric about snot. 9/10.

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I came to this album pretty late on (6 or 7 years ago probably). I only knew Alone Again beforehand. The first few listens really didnā€™t go well as it felt quite dated to start with. But I slowly became obsessed particularly with You Set the Scene which is by far and away my favourite song on the album, and the rest of it slowly grew on me. I rinsed it a lot for a good few months but havenā€™t listened to it much recently. (No slur on the album, my listening habits just changed.)

Think itā€™s probably a 9, but need a refresher to make sure.

It is damn good though. Think I tried another album by Love which didnā€™t gel at all, but canā€™t remember which one now. Did they ever come close to matching this?

I reckon, when it all comes down to it, and if you really really wanted me to answer, Iā€™d say this was my favourite record. Itā€™s almost definitely the one Iā€™ve listened to the most.
When I was 15/16 in about 2000, I was coming out of my massive Britpop phase and listening pretty much exclusively to Nirvana and RATM. Then me and my mate James read one of those Q (I think) hundred greatest albums of the last century lists and he said that he had a copy of FC somewhere his dad had given him and we should give it a go. That exact moment is probably responsible for about 75-80% of my music taste now. From the very first listen I was absolutely captivated by this bizarre, brooding, joyous, astonishing thing.

The fact that Arthur Lee was 21 when FC was written is absolutely mind-boggling to me. The mix of the mundane, the spiritual, the emotional, the surreal and the abstract in the lyrics is incredible and there are still lines you really notice for the first time years after first listening. At itā€™s heart, Forever Changes is a psychedelic pop record. Through all the intensity, the dark themes, the turbulence surrounding itā€™s recording, itā€™s a melodic masterpiece and the songs will stay with you for hours, days afterwards.

Alone Again Or is one of the strongest album openers of all time, and You Set The Scene is THE best closer (beating Jungleland into a close second). Maybe The People Would Be The Timesā€¦ is lyrically wonderful and playful and stands out as probably my favourite on there. Yeah, there are a couple of individual tracks that drag a little (Old Man and The Good Humour Manā€¦ for me) but as a whole entity itā€™s perfect.

I saw Arthur Lee do FC in full in Exeter in 2004 and it remains the best gig Iā€™ve seen. It was in a pretty small venue and the connection between artist and audience was incredible to experience. I grabbed a setlist afterwards and he signed it for me (my friend only had a Ā£5 note available and he refused to sign it cause he didnā€™t want to ā€˜get arrested for disrespecting the queen or some shitā€™) and itā€™s one of my most prized possessions.

Forever Changes is chameleonic in itā€™s suitability to soundtrack things for me. Happy occasions, sadness, depression, sunny days, long walks, short drives, it fits every mood and thatā€™s a testament to both its complexity and its simplicity I think.

Got to do some work now but that sums it up a bit for me. 10/10, obviously.

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Thereā€™s a bit at the climax of this just after 6 minutes, where heā€™s repeating the word ā€œtimeā€ and then just yells ā€œYEAHā€ and itā€™s such a triumphant thing, always loved that.

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The horns at the end of that song are fucking majestic.

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One of the greatest ever songs.

Itā€™s a 10 from me. Just an incredible album from start to finish

Main gripe is my copy a ā€˜special editionā€™ so straight after ā€˜You Set the sceneā€™ is a naff demo which slightly spoils the moment

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The album is the definition of gorgeous. Although it was born during ā€˜the summer of loveā€™, and drenched in psychedelia, thereā€™s a really dark, foreboding undertone to the album which I love. Itā€™s a 10. One of the top 20 albums of the 20th century. Itā€™s just a masterpiece. Saw Arthur perform it in its entirety back in 2003 and I still canā€™t believe I witnessed it.

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5/10. Tried to get into it a few times but I just find it boring and cheesy

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Just a beautiful collection of songs one of my favourite albums for sure. The album cover. 10/10 for me
I was lucky enough to see him in 2004 at the wolverhampton Robin play it in its entirety . incredible always stuck with me

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10 from me. Glad to see the love for You Set The Scene which is an absolutely perfect closer.

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Itā€™s one of those songs that just gets better as it goes along. Thereā€™s something about the way it ends that just sets me off. I find it almost impossible not to start the album again after hearing it.

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I always forget how much I bloody love the red telephone. I think itā€™s because it has such an unassuming name, but it really is quite lovely.

Iā€™m really enjoying giving this another few goes today. Such an addictive listen. Nowā€¦ 9 or 10?

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as far as I can remember nothing comes close in the same style, but Four Sail has a few tracks in a slightly different vein that I liked individually as much

This is a really cool song imo:

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THEYā€™RE LOCKING THEM UP TODAY
THEYā€™RE THROWING AWAY THE KEY
I WONDER WHO ITā€™LL BE TOMORROW
YOU OR ME?

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I love the bit in the alternate version where he just canā€™t keep it in any more.

ā€¦then you feel your heart beating rum pum pum pum

Iā€™m really glad this has been picked now. I return to it every Summer, it doesnā€™t make sense to me at any other time. Sometimes youā€™ll hear an album thatā€™s part of the classic canon and not know what the fuss is about but I appreciated this one straight away.

I can understand if anybody found it too twee though Arthurā€™s lyrics add a bit of acid and curdle it all slightly, those first few lines of The Red Telephone, Jesus Christ. I have a big soft spot for expansive arrangements and folksy fingerpicking, that side of Love is more my taste compared to the psychedelic garage band stuff and itā€™s the perfect ratio of the two on here, start to finish I think it flows brilliantly. Maybe the People Would be the Times, You Set The Scene and Andmoreagain are wonders but Alone Again Or is so perfect Iā€™d feel perverse not choosing it.

Of course the album should end at You Set The Scene but I think the extra tracks on the early noughties reissue are great, particularly the delicate Hummingbirds and the big Summery pop of Wonder People. Laughing Stock though, the last gasp of this lineup before they fell apart, a wild pocket sized masterpiece

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Iā€™ve never heard this album, but this is a top write up.

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