Love Forever Changes
 

Sorry if there is already 100 threads about this album.

It was 1986. I picked up Forever Changes LP in a Winnipeg record store. The really cute chick at the counter went ga ga...."OMG....OMG...the greatest album ever....OMG....can we like, go out?" That going out bit is a fib, but the rest is true, and clearly this was a good sign....

Forever Changes forever changed my life. Now, I know what you are thinking: "Fuck off with the hyperbole...." But I am absolutely, positively, with every ounce of my being, convinced that this is the case. For about 18 months it seemed that I played nothing else. I'd go for long walks which were solely devoted to contemplating this album, and what it all means. The music and lyrics in it have always haunted me.....Red Telephone sends shudders down my spine. I seriously think that it is The Greatest Song Ever Recorded. The whole thing is drenched in eerie echo. This album set me on a course.....a left turn.....so much was discarded because of Forever Changes.......so much was sought out because of Forever Changes........it is burned onto my brain for all my days.

Please don't laugh. This is sincere. If you have never heard Forever Changes, please hear it. Soon.

I endorse this thread 110%.

I've been with this album for 23 years, and it still makes me shudder and tear up when I hear it.

The Greatest Song Ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ioxj73deq0

It crushes my heart to heart your perspective so far. What happened when you heard it?

Um....I'm assuming that this is a serious post. :)

When I first heard the echoey acoustic intro to Alone Again Or, I was hooked. The seemingly half assed duo/trio singing that starts that song, then the strings swell......they sing more forcefully........fuck me, there's a Mexican type brass/trumpet solo in the middle......that's fucked......that's fucking brilliant.......I mean.....what the FUCK is this?

This is my recollection of first hearing track 1 of Forever Changes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yVBMUXr4xo

Yeah it's pretty good for a bunch of hippie psychobabble

It's fucking timeless and classless, Darling. The lyrics do not point to one particular group in one particular era. That is why Forever Changes (what a great title!) still resonates.

haha I wasn't being serious. It's okay. I've never been crazy about it, but could see why others would be, ya know?

Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale

has been awesome to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1PhMSTj0uw

Isn't it FUCKED how he rhymes the last syllable of one verse with the first syllable of the next?

Edit: Wait....that's not how it happens, exactly. He completes the last line of a verse with the first word in the next verse.

Ah fuck it....nvm......it's a great song.

Haha, I see what you were saying. It's like hes wandering around in all these crowds talking about what hes seeing, and thats what you were saying.

The end of each verse is connected to the start of the next verse. I never heard anything like it. It's gloriously FUCKED. And this song is so happy and sad at the same time. Bittersweet like.

What about Andmoreagain then?

Look at these fucken song titles. I love 'em.

1. "Alone Again Or" (Bryan MacLean) – 3:16
2. "A House is Not a Motel" – 3:31
3. "Andmoreagain" (Lee/MacLean) – 3:18
4. "The Daily Planet" – 3:30
5. "Old Man" (MacLean) – 3:02
6. "The Red Telephone" – 4:46
7. "Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale" – 3:34
8. "Live and Let Live" – 5:26
9. "The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This" – 3:08
10. "Bummer in the Summer" – 2:24
11. "You Set the Scene" – 6:56

Well to tell you the truth the basic sound of the rest drives me a bit crazy in how hippy-bastard it sounds. But I can respect that they were thinking outside of their box and experimenting with what they knew of recording.

It sounds pretty good. I'm more of a Byrds fan myself.

Thanks for sharing your story dude. In a whole life, we can say that there are a very few life-changing albums. Forever Changes wasn't really one of them for me but it sure sits in my top 20 albums of all-time.

Forever Changes is brilliant.

From: pcarousel@aol.com [mailto:pcarousel@aol.com]
Sent: November 24, 2009 9:24 AM
To: eeemail@telus.net
Subject: Re: Forever Changes.....

HI DARREN,
YOUR KIND WORDS REGARDING OUR MUSIC AND MY DRUMMING QUITE LITERALLY FEED MY SOUL.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR WRITING AND TAKE CARE, MICHAEL


-----Original Message-----
From: Heather Skuja <eeemail@telus.net>
To: pcarousel@aol.com
Sent: Mon, Nov 23, 2009 9:10 pm
Subject: Forever Changes.....
…..forever changed my life, and your drumming was a big part of that…….your style imho is so unique and compelling. Thank you Michael.



Cheers

Darren

Glad I got to see Arthur perform many of these songs before he died.