Donāt get it. Wish I did. Of all the albums that real people (as opposed to boomer gatekeeper music journalists) refer to in such glowing terms it is the one that I vibe the least with. The things everyone describes must be in there, but somehow I just canāt hear them. 5 I guess, on an entirely subjective basis. Sorry to those who have such obvious and heartfelt love for it.
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Yes, I listened on headphones, and that was certainly not the best part of the experience. It seems there are mono versions out there, but I started reading a multipage thread about them on the Steve Hoffman forums and fell into a coma by the end of page 2, so I couldnāt tell you where to get them.
Anyway, my revisit proved to be successful, because I still love it. By and large, Iām not at all keen on music from the sixties but this is one of the exceptions. Think what makes it for me is the ambition with the trumpets and orchestral arrangements, and the way itās hippy enough to evoke that time and place, but with just enough grit to keep it from curdling. The 1-2 punch of the opening pair of tracks is perfect, and it doesnāt really go downhill from there. A 10 for sure.
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A disappointingly straight forward explanation there but it did have me thinking what would have happened if heād shit himself instead
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That Steve Hoffman forum. Quite a few times Iāve wasted an hour of my life reading a thread on there and been none the wiser at the end of it
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Should be higher but thereās no teaching you schmucks.
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Better than Loveless, worse than White Pony. What an epitaph.
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What will @Severed799 pick?
Still very much enjoying his threat to make us vote on Turn on the Bright Lights again 
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This album isnāt for to plait the fetlocks of White pony. 
This^
Completely missed this thread - I blame the Olympics
1st time I heard FC was in the back of a Ford Transit* with an indie band I was in who were doing a toilet venue tour of the UK.
We had it on a tape to tape portable cassette because the shitty van only had a radio. It caused a massive argument as the lead guitarist started slagging it off as hippy drippy bollocks & the rhythm guitarist (whoād put the tape on and was very precious about it) said something like āIf you canāt appreciate the genius of Arthur Lee & Love then I donāt think I want you in my bandā
āOh, your band is it?ā
And it descended to near fisticuffs as everyone was forced to take sides
There were 5 of us in the band and in the end it came down to me to cast the deciding vote as to whether we changed the cassette. To be honest, on first listen, I could see both sides of the argument so I acted diplomatically and suggested that it would be perhaps better for everyone if we listened to something that everyone could appreciate. Forever Changes got ejected and replaced with Trompe Le Monde
3 years or so later, final year of university in a slumlord house share in west London, no living room, no TV. We spent most home nights socialising with some cans, some weed, a turntable and a big stack of records. Jimmy had FC on vinyl and those 42minutes and 5secs were the highlight of every evening in
Since then itās stayed with me and Iāve both turned people on to it and bonded with new friends over our mutual love for it
Weirdly (for me) itās an album Iād have a hard time telling you the track names of even though I know every note and can (and often do) sing along to every word. I think it must be because itās an album I always listen to in its entirety and itās all of a piece in my my mind - even more so than something like Whatās Going On
The thing I love most of all about it is how Arthur Lee pits the joy and love of hippy California optimism against the deep cynicism he has for these innocent joys being allowed to live and grow in the wider context of a brutal America that oppresses all but a small privileged. The tension between lightness and devastation is incredible and really triggers something like the first moment as an innocent child that you realise grown ups - your parents especially - are lying to you and cannot be trusted and that becomes a permanent undercurrent tugging at your innocent delight at the world
It also perfectly defines (and likely comes from) that druggy edge you walk along between euphoria and total darkness when you get a bit too high
Fantastic work 10/10 forever (no changes)
*Actually a Nissan Urvan
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8.27 for Forever Changes. Better than Pet Sounds!
@Funkhouser can you pick a track that isnāt Alone Again Or please?
Now, over to @Severed799ā¦
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Checks weather, checks poll, checks how I feel in the middle of a close-openā¦
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You Set The Scene please and thank you!
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Thanks!
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HWFG: