September 9, 2025 • 29 mins
Forever Changes by Love, released in 1967, is a lush, intricate, and hauntingly beautiful blend of psychedelic rock, folk, and baroque pop. Recorded during a turbulent time for the band and for frontman Arthur Lee personally, the album stands apart from the louder, fuzz-driven sounds of the era by embracing a more acoustic, orchestral approach. Gentle guitars intertwine with mariachi-style brass, delicate strings, and Lee’s poetic, often cryptic lyrics that hint at paranoia, social unrest, and fleeting beauty.
The songs move between breezy, pastoral melodies and sudden, unsettling shifts, creating a mood that’s both warm and slightly foreboding — a reflection of the late 1960s cultural climate. Tracks like “Alone Again Or,” “Andmoreagain,” and “You Set the Scene” capture a timeless, almost dreamlike quality. Though initially a modest commercial success, Forever Changes has since been hailed as one of the greatest albums of all time, a shimmering yet bittersweet portrait of a changing world.
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SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
It's just a normal way to be here!
SPEAKER_01 (00:14):
This is Polyphonic Press, the podcast where two
music fans pick a classic albumcompletely at random.
Using the patented random albumgenerator, they are given an
album to review from a curatedlist of over 1,000 classic
releases spanning multiplegenres.
And now onto the show.
(00:34):
Here are your hosts, Jeremy Boydand John Van Dyke.
SPEAKER_04 (00:46):
Alright, hey, welcome to Polyphonic Press.
I'm Jeremy Boyd.
SPEAKER_05 (00:50):
I'm John Van Dyke.
SPEAKER_04 (00:52):
And uh let's not waste any time.
We've got the patented randomalbum generator right in front
of us here.
Uh so let's hit the button andsee what album we're gonna be
listening to this week.
And the album we're gonna belistening to is Love Forever
Changes.
Oh.
You know this album.
SPEAKER_05 (01:13):
I do know this album.
SPEAKER_04 (01:15):
I f I've vaguely heard of it.
But uh anyway, here is adescription of the album.
It says Forever Changes by Love,released in 1967, is a lush,
intricate, and hauntinglybeautiful blend of psychedelic
rock, folk, and Baroque pop.
Recorded during a turbulent timefor the band uh and for frontman
(01:38):
Arthur Lee personally, the bandthe album stands apart from the
louder, fuzz-driven sounds ofthe era by embracing a more
acoustic orchestral approach.
Gentle guitars intertwined withmariachi-style brass, delicate
strings, and Lee's poetic, oftencryptic cryptic lyrics that hint
at paranoia, social unrest, andfleeting beauty.
(02:01):
The songs move between breezypastoral melodies and sudden,
unsettling shifts, creating amood that's both warm and
slightly foreboding.
A reflection of the late 1960scultural climate, tracks like
Alone Again or uh Alone Again Oruh and and Morgan and set uh you
(02:23):
set the scene capture atimeless, almost dreamlike
quality.
Though initially a modestcommercial of success, Forever
Changes has since been hailed asone of the greatest albums of
all time, a shimmering yetbittersweet uh portrait of a
changing world.
SPEAKER_05 (02:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (02:42):
Okay, I do know this.
I've seen the album coverbefore.
So, yeah, this was released inNovember of 1967, and the genres
are folk rock, orchestral pop,psychedelia, and baroque pop,
and was released on ElectraRecords and produced by Arthur
Lee and Bruce uh Botnik.
(03:03):
And um there are 11 songs on thealbum, and the first side starts
with the uh the song Alone AgainOr, and uh it ends with the Red
Telephone, and what we like todo is we uh take a break at the
halfway point after side one anduh discuss the album at that
(03:23):
point.
Uh so if you're listening along,which we encourage you to do, uh
you can uh pause the album afterthe song Red Telephone, and
we've linked the album to bothSpotify and Apple Music so you
can get it on your preferredstreaming service.
And uh just want to remind youto check out our uh our uh
(03:43):
Patreon.
You can go to patreon.com slashpolyphonic press and you can get
lots of cool stuff there.
Like you can uh get theseepisodes the day before they go
live, and you can pick an albumfor us to review and even get a
shout-out during these episodes.
Um so definitely check that outif you're uh if you're
interested.
Um but uh without further ado,uh here we go.
(04:08):
Here is the first song on thealbum, Alone Again Or.
So here we go.
SPEAKER_03 (04:13):
I won't forget all the times of waiting, they
should leave for you, and you'lldo just what you choose to do,
and I will be.
SPEAKER_05 (06:20):
And it and again, it is a little bit outside of the
the loud sort of garage rockfrom the period that I'm really
a big fan of.
But this just hit me on a levelthat it's uh um yeah, I couldn't
really explain that.
I don't know if I still can, butuh it just uh connected with me.
SPEAKER_04 (06:42):
Yeah, and I I'm finding the same thing, to be
honest.
Um it's it's one of those thingsthat like I don't I I I don't
even know why I'm connectingwith it.
I just am.
Like I can't look usually I canexplain, well, yeah, I really
like the the drum beat here andthe guitar work is really good
and the vocals.
It's all great, but I I can'tpinpoint the the the thing that
(07:05):
I'm that I like most about it.
I just I f I it it it's new butit feels familiar at the same
time.
Like I've I haven't really heardthis, but it feels like it feels
like I've always known it orsomething.
SPEAKER_05 (07:19):
It's got that sort of melancholy sort of uh
atmosphere to it, I guess.
SPEAKER_04 (07:26):
Yeah, it does.
Which is sort of unusual forlike psyched like psychedelic
era.
Usually uh psychedelic music isa little more not optimistic,
but like well, yeah, optimistic,but not that this isn't
optimistic, but it's sort ofyeah, I guess, yeah, a lot of
(07:47):
most a lot of psychedelic ismore in a major key.
And this this a lot of these arein in minor keys, and sort of
it's it get it has thatmelancholy feel.
SPEAKER_05 (07:57):
Yeah, I've heard a lot of psychedelic music that's
also been sort of on themelancholic side as as opposed
to being like the major key sortof thing.
But I've heard a lot of both.
So but uh this one's definitelymore on the latter, and I don't
know, it just feels comfortableto me.
SPEAKER_04 (08:17):
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, that's what I was saying.
Like it it feels like I haven'theard it before, but it feels
very familiar to me.
Like it feels um I think maybethat's the same feeling you had
when you first heard it.
It just connected with you rightaway.
You know, and it's interestingthe the uh the album itself,
(08:37):
like it was it was um like Idon't really know anything about
these guys.
Um and this is their uh this istheir third album.
Um and like when it was releasedit got really like high praise.
Um and it says an initialreviews were positive.
(09:01):
Writing for Rolling Stone in1968, Jim Bickhart regarded
Forever Changes as love's mostmost sophisticated album yet,
applauding the orchestral uhorchestral arrangements and
recording quality.
That's something too that I'venoticed, and um like the the
(09:22):
string arrangements.
A lot of the time in the latesixties, early seventies, string
arrangements were cheesy.
Cheesy, yes, exactly.
SPEAKER_05 (09:36):
Um and they're not here.
SPEAKER_04 (09:38):
And they're not here, yeah.
And I don't know what what thedifference is, but it maybe it's
just because they're not as inyour face, and it's just they're
just sort of there to sort offill out the sound rather than
be like high in the mix.
SPEAKER_05 (09:56):
It's it's there to sort of like carry on that sort
of floating sound to it, asopposed to actually there to
like you know, fit an image orsomething like that.
It's it's it's definitely beingutilized more as a tool
throughout the the album, andit's not always there.
(10:17):
In fact, usually when theelectric guitars come in, that's
when it's dropped outcompletely, but then the
acoustic guitar picks upsomething like that, and then
sometimes there's like thisatmospheric sort of uh um
orchestral arrangement going onbehind it.
It's uh it's an interestingblend, this, and I love the way
(10:38):
this album sort of does that.
It sort of goes on to either endof that spectrum, but does it
exceptionally well.
SPEAKER_04 (10:46):
Yeah.
Yeah, and it's sort of the way,like, um a good example of that
is uh uh uh is is the way thatBen Monttench plays the ham and
organ is he's not like doingcrazy solos on it, but he's
there like he's doing the samething on the organ that the
(11:08):
strings are doing here, is sortof there to support the song and
not get in the way, but using itto to blend with the guitars.
And it and like what I wasnoticing about the strings here
is well what I was noticing is Iwasn't noticing them.
They were there, but they werenot like they weren't like um
(11:32):
like a uh like a Tom Jones songor something where the strings
are just so high in the mix andit's sappy, and it wasn't like
that.
It was it was um it was done uhas almost like the part of the
foundation of the song.
And like you were saying, it wasthere not getting in the way of
anything else.
SPEAKER_05 (11:53):
Yeah.
Um not to slag on Tom Jones.
I actually kind of like some ofhis stuff, but uh I'm thinking
more along the lines ofEngelbert Humperdink or
something like that.
SPEAKER_04 (12:01):
Well, yeah, yeah.
That that's kind of the thingthat I was thinking of, yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (12:05):
Um also when you were talking about Ben Montinch,
I'm thinking of Al Cooper whowas doing sort of the same thing
with Bob Dylan's stuff.
SPEAKER_04 (12:13):
Oh, yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_05 (12:15):
And he wasn't even supposed to be on the uh um the
uh session originally.
He was a guitar player and hecame in and just sat down at the
organ and played.
Bob Dylan liked it so much, sothat's the take we're using.
And it wasn't even perfectplaying.
It but but it but it justcarried this background sort of
(12:37):
floating thing that just carriedthe sound of all the rest of the
instruments.
SPEAKER_04 (12:42):
Exactly.
Yeah, yeah, and the story behindthat is is uh like the the organ
is a beat late on everything.
Yes.
Because he's looking at theguitar player to see what chords
to go to.
SPEAKER_05 (12:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (12:57):
Yeah, that's why it's late.
But it works.
SPEAKER_05 (13:00):
It works so well.
I mean it it it doesn't soundlike it's wrong.
SPEAKER_04 (13:04):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (13:05):
Yeah.
But uh that's sort of what theorchestra is doing in this
album.
SPEAKER_04 (13:10):
Yeah, it's it's its own part, but it's not, you
know, getting in the way.
It's not it's not like um it'snot taking over as the main uh
main feature.
SPEAKER_05 (13:21):
It's not overly it's melancholic, but it's not like
sickly sentimental.
SPEAKER_04 (13:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (13:29):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (13:30):
Yeah, exactly.
Um and it's done really well,and not just the the strings,
but all the instruments that arelike it like that's what I was
saying, like it's it reminds meof pet sounds because the way
that Brian Wilson used differentinstruments and different types
of instruments to m create thesound, and and um and I feel
(13:53):
like they're doing the samething here.
Uh like the like the Brian uh umBrian Wilson Phil Spector kind
of thing where they're pairinginstruments, like a guitar and a
piano playing the same thing tocreate a a totally new sound.
Like I'm that's sort of the samething they're doing here.
(14:14):
Um and uh and yeah, so likealmost um instantaneously the
album was uh really wellreceived by both critics and it
did fairly well commerciallytoo.
Um but it was uh it was like apretty pretty big album when it
(14:36):
came out, as far as I can seeanyway.
SPEAKER_05 (14:38):
Yeah, I I heard that it was like it did okay, but it
again it didn't like um, youknow, get to the top of any
charts or anything like that.
It it was always just a littlebit outside of the mainstream
that way.
Um and it's just uh I don'tknow.
I I think it it was exactlywhere it belonged and where it
(15:00):
had to be.
I think if it was toomainstream, it would have been I
don't know, maybe it would havebeen another Dark Side of the
Moon or something like that, butuh might have been, you know,
pretty good for the band.
But the band there were so manypersonnel changes throughout
this band that uh um this uh Ithink this is the only album
with this lineup.
(15:21):
They did a couple of othersingles which are on like the
bonus tracks of this album thatI have.
SPEAKER_04 (15:27):
Yeah, it seems like it.
Um Yeah, and it's funny is it'suh like you were saying, it it
wasn't like a huge thing oranything.
And yeah, this was like a fewyears before Dark Side of the
Moon, and uh um it says the uhthe album maintained a cult
following, and uh the uh Richieuh Richie Unterberger, uh not as
(15:52):
an American journalist, musicjournalist, uh he called it the
biggest cult album of all time,uh, which I think is pretty
fitting.
It's you know, it's not like itwasn't a hu like a huge album,
but it did fairly well, but it'slike it's just it's that it's a
cult album that that is just onthe line of being Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_05 (16:15):
It's not being entirely pop, but it's also not
entirely um, you know, wild outthere psychedelia psychedelia
either.
It's just sort of in betweenthere and just hovers and uh
does it extremely well.
It's just a really good album.
SPEAKER_04 (16:35):
Um, so I did manage to find a few uh interesting
facts about the album.
Uh it says uh Arthur Lee thoughtit might be his last album.
Uh during the recording, Lee wasconvinced that he was going to
die soon, which gave the songs astrangely final, almost
farewell-like tone.
This sense of urgency deeplyshaped the lyrics and mood.
(16:58):
So that's maybe why it feels alittle melancholy.
I don't know why he thoughtthat.
SPEAKER_05 (17:03):
I didn't I don't know why he thought that either.
I had heard that.
Um yeah, I I'd read thatsomewhere, probably even in the
note notes of this album.
That he just uh he was convincedhe was he didn't.
SPEAKER_04 (17:16):
Yeah, he lived to be uh sixty sixty-one, died in two
thousand six.
So yeah, so it's interestingthat he maybe just had this.
I don't know if he was sickduring this, and and you know,
like I'm not sure, but uh or ifhe just thought had this
intuition that he might diesoon.
I don't know.
SPEAKER_05 (17:36):
I think it was more the intuition, I don't think he
was really sick or anything.
SPEAKER_04 (17:40):
The album almost didn't get made by the band
members.
Uh because of drug problems anduh unreliability, Electra
Records initially brought insession musicians, the Wrecking
Crew, uh, to record the firsttwo tracks.
This shook the band into pullingthemselves together to finish
the rest of the album.
Um that probably goes to whatyou were saying earlier about
(18:02):
the band having lots of lineupchanges.
That's probably why.
SPEAKER_05 (18:05):
Yeah.
No, they did, but uh for somereason the uh the lineup pretty
much stayed consistentthroughout the making of this
album.
Um but uh that's right.
SPEAKER_04 (18:17):
I think I'd read somewhere that the Wrecking Crew
almost came in and did the albumfor them for the most part, but
uh they were all on on petsounds, so I think that's sort
of what gives it that that uh umthat same feel.
And yeah, you're right.
It would have been interestingto hear like this if if there
was an album that they couldhave done, or it would have been
(18:39):
interesting to hear what theywould have done with it.
And uh so it it was a comercommercial disappointment at
first.
Uh while critically praised inthe UK, the album didn't chart
high in the US upon release.
It wasn't until decades laterthat Forever Changes became
recognized as a psychedelicmasterpiece.
Okay, so I I guess I was wrong,it wasn't a huge hit when it
(19:01):
came out, but it like we weresaying, it did it did okay.
Um and it's one of those thingsthat in retrospect people
recognize it as an importantalbum.
SPEAKER_05 (19:12):
Yeah, I did also, and and now that you mentioned
that, I also remember somethingabout them being a little bit
bigger in the UK than they wereuh Homeside um at the time and
and even later on, like they Ithink right so shortly before
his death, they had a um theyperformed some stuff uh from
(19:36):
this album and others uh on uhJules Holland in the UK just
because uh that that's wheretheir audience was, primary
audience was anyway.
SPEAKER_04 (19:48):
Um and uh yeah, there are some uh the mariachi
influences came from one of theband members, guitarist Brian
McLean, who wrote and sang AloneAgain Or, drew from his love of
Spanish mus Spanish and Mexicanmusic, inspiring the use of
mariachi style horns that becamea hallmark of the album's sound.
(20:09):
And uh this is kind of cool.
I th uh it's uh preserved in theLibrary of Congress.
Uh in 2012, uh Forever Changeswas added to the National
Recording Registry for beingculturally, historically, or
aesthetic aestheticallysignificant, ensuring it will be
archived for few futuregenerations.
(20:29):
Um that's pretty cool.
That uh and you know that thathappens all the time where
something a piece of art orsomething is just sort of flies
under the rain radar at the timethat it comes out, and then you
know, slowly people start todiscover it, and they say, No,
it this really is important.
(20:52):
Um but yeah, so those are someuh some interesting uh facts
about the album.
But uh I guess we'll get backinto the second side of the
album, but uh before we do that,uh let's hear from our friends
over at the Pick a Disc podcast.
Um so check that out.
And uh here we go.
SPEAKER_02 (21:12):
Do you like music?
Do you like podcasts?
Chances are you like musicpodcasts and take this one, for
example, pick a disc, whereevery Fortnite a guest comes on
to talk about an album forwhatever reason they want to.
Sometimes I like it, sometimesperhaps even something else
other than just like it.
I just listen to the podcast andfind out.
We talk about the album, we talkabout the songs, we talk about
the artists, we talk abouttangent things that are slightly
related and sometimes probablydeviate off tangent, but don't
(21:34):
worry, we'll always bring itback in the end.
But you can find us on all yoursocial medias and all the
podcast apps for search of apicket disc.
You can also find us on the partof the Weedy Podcast Network
under link tree slashweedypodcast.
And until then, happy listeningto all those discs that you are
picking.
Goodbye.
SPEAKER_00 (21:52):
We'll now take a few seconds before we begin tie two.
Thank you.
Here's Tide 2.
SPEAKER_03 (22:18):
I think what's done, but nothing.
SPEAKER_04 (22:21):
Alright, and uh ending the album with you set
the scene.
Um yeah, I I don't really knowwhat else to say about this.
I mean, this is a uh fantasticalbum.
Um I like that last song.
I like the the send-off, thesort of um like almost a
cinematic sort of thing.
(22:41):
Um, but uh yeah, it was uh likethe the the album, the
songwriting, the arrangements onit um are all really well done.
And I like that the the bandpulled themselves together and
they didn't have to get umoutside musicians uh to play on
(23:02):
it, that they all sort ofobviously there's additional
musicians, but their the band isthe the core, and uh and uh yeah
I like that they were able to doit themselves and and you know
they did a f a great job.
Um Yeah, I just I I uh I reallycan't say much enough good
(23:24):
things about it, you know.
SPEAKER_05 (23:26):
Yeah, I'm I'm glad.
I'm just one of these albumsthat uh is uh I'm just glad it
was made.
Um yeah, just the way it uh justconnects with me, and uh I hope
it connects with other peopleout there too, and uh yeah, it's
just uh it's one of myfavorites.
SPEAKER_04 (23:44):
So Yeah, I I think it's um I think it's gonna be
one of my favorites too.
I mean it's it's uh yeah, I justum I really really enjoyed it.
I mean it's one of those thingsit and very much like pet
sounds, it's one of those thingswhere you can just put it on.
(24:07):
No matter what mood you're in,you can just put it on and enjoy
it.
And um and you you you're it'sgonna put you in a good mood.
Um and even though there thisthis album is a little more dark
and a little more melancholy, Ithink s maybe sort of uh like um
(24:29):
I don't know, me like like somedarker music, it it it's it it
it maybe it's good to put onwhen you're in a in a down mood,
but I don't think it's only forthat.
You know, it's it's uh it's uhit's just one of those things
that's it's good and no it likeit probably can maybe help you
get through a tough time orsomething, but even if you're in
(24:50):
a good mood, I think you canstill put it on and and and
enjoy it.
SPEAKER_05 (24:54):
Yeah.
Um I do.
Uh it's a good road trip uhalbum.
I know this from firstexperience.
Um yeah, I don't know what elseto say about it.
It's uh it's just really good.
SPEAKER_04 (25:09):
Yeah.
Um so uh so I guess that bringsus to the uh the time of like
what would be your three uhhighlights on the album?
SPEAKER_05 (25:18):
I like pretty much everything on it, but I think if
I were to go for my uhfavorites.
I might go with uh the DailyPlanet, the Red Telephone, and
Live and Let Live.
So probably my favorites.
SPEAKER_04 (25:32):
Those are pretty good.
Oh, by the way, um I think itwas the it might have been the
Daily Planet.
Uh yes, uh Neil Young umarranged uh was an arranger on
that.
Oh wow.
Yeah, like that's this but itwas still when when he w was
(25:52):
with um Buffalo Springfield.
Yeah.
I don't know what the connectionthere is, like how he met it
must have been like an LA thing.
They were both out in LA, yeah.
I guess.
Yeah.
Um yeah, I forgot to mentionthat that uh yeah, Neil Young
arranged uh um The Daily Planet.
(26:13):
Um which by the way is one of mypicks as well.
And uh the other two uh yeah, Ilike Bummer in the Summer and uh
and the the last la Yeah, theand the last track, you set the
scene.
I I thought those were wereprobably m um my favorites, but
honestly, I could pick any ofthem.
(26:34):
Any song, and they would be likethey're all they're they're all
that the it's one of those rarethings where um I don't think
that one any song is better thanany of the others.
I think they're all like highquality.
Um so it is tough to pick justthree, but if I had to, those
(26:54):
would be my my three, yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (26:56):
I'd also like to put a shout out to the titles of a
couple of the songs.
The maybe the people would bethe times or between Clark and
Hilldale, and the good humorman, he sees everything like
this.
I just like they're beautifullydense titles.
I love them.
SPEAKER_04 (27:13):
And uh I I think maybe even they don't know what
they mean, but still.
Yeah.
Um so I think I know the answer,but uh gotta g ask it anyways,
would you listen to this albumagain?
SPEAKER_05 (27:26):
Oh yes.
Absolutely.
Um have and will again.
SPEAKER_04 (27:32):
Yeah.
Yeah, same here.
I mean, I I I love this, and Ithink I'm gonna have to add it
to my my library and you know,see if I can find a uh a vinyl
copy somewhere.
I mean, this is yeah, it I thisis a new favorite of mine.
SPEAKER_05 (27:48):
I don't have a vinyl copy, I have a CD copy.
SPEAKER_04 (27:50):
Yeah.
Well that's that's good enoughtoo, you know.
Um, but yeah, so I guess we'lluh end the uh episode there.
Uh thank you so much forlistening if you made it this
far.
Uh we'd love to hear from you.
Uh if you if you want to go touh the website, you go to
polyphonicpress.com and uh youcan go get all these episodes,
(28:11):
uh all the past episodes thatwe've done so far.
And you can also uh go to thecontact page and we'd love to
maybe read some of your commentson one of these episodes, and uh
or we'd just love to hear fromyou and get some feedback.
And um uh and don't forget to uhfollow the show if this is your
(28:32):
first time listening, whereveryou're listening, and leave a
rating and review if you can,uh, because it really helps out
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And uh yeah, and and again,check out the uh Patreon, lots
of cool stuff over there, and Ithink that just about does it.
I'm Jeremy Boyd.
SPEAKER_05 (28:51):
I'm Don Van Dyke.
SPEAKER_04 (28:53):
Take it easy.
It's just a normal way to be here!
SPEAKER_01 (00:14):
This is Polyphonic Press, the podcast where two
music fans pick a classic albumcompletely at random.
Using the patented random albumgenerator, they are given an
album to review from a curatedlist of over 1,000 classic
releases spanning multiplegenres.
And now onto the show.
(00:34):
Here are your hosts, Jeremy Boydand John Van Dyke.
SPEAKER_04 (00:46):
Alright, hey, welcome to Polyphonic Press.
I'm Jeremy Boyd.
SPEAKER_05 (00:50):
I'm John Van Dyke.
SPEAKER_04 (00:52):
And uh let's not waste any time.
We've got the patented randomalbum generator right in front
of us here.
Uh so let's hit the button andsee what album we're gonna be
listening to this week.
And the album we're gonna belistening to is Love Forever
Changes.
Oh.
You know this album.
SPEAKER_05 (01:13):
I do know this album.
SPEAKER_04 (01:15):
I f I've vaguely heard of it.
But uh anyway, here is adescription of the album.
It says Forever Changes by Love,released in 1967, is a lush,
intricate, and hauntinglybeautiful blend of psychedelic
rock, folk, and Baroque pop.
Recorded during a turbulent timefor the band uh and for frontman
(01:38):
Arthur Lee personally, the bandthe album stands apart from the
louder, fuzz-driven sounds ofthe era by embracing a more
acoustic orchestral approach.
Gentle guitars intertwined withmariachi-style brass, delicate
strings, and Lee's poetic, oftencryptic cryptic lyrics that hint
at paranoia, social unrest, andfleeting beauty.
(02:01):
The songs move between breezypastoral melodies and sudden,
unsettling shifts, creating amood that's both warm and
slightly foreboding.
A reflection of the late 1960scultural climate, tracks like
Alone Again or uh Alone Again Oruh and and Morgan and set uh you
(02:23):
set the scene capture atimeless, almost dreamlike
quality.
Though initially a modestcommercial of success, Forever
Changes has since been hailed asone of the greatest albums of
all time, a shimmering yetbittersweet uh portrait of a
changing world.
SPEAKER_05 (02:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (02:42):
Okay, I do know this.
I've seen the album coverbefore.
So, yeah, this was released inNovember of 1967, and the genres
are folk rock, orchestral pop,psychedelia, and baroque pop,
and was released on ElectraRecords and produced by Arthur
Lee and Bruce uh Botnik.
(03:03):
And um there are 11 songs on thealbum, and the first side starts
with the uh the song Alone AgainOr, and uh it ends with the Red
Telephone, and what we like todo is we uh take a break at the
halfway point after side one anduh discuss the album at that
(03:23):
point.
Uh so if you're listening along,which we encourage you to do, uh
you can uh pause the album afterthe song Red Telephone, and
we've linked the album to bothSpotify and Apple Music so you
can get it on your preferredstreaming service.
And uh just want to remind youto check out our uh our uh
(03:43):
Patreon.
You can go to patreon.com slashpolyphonic press and you can get
lots of cool stuff there.
Like you can uh get theseepisodes the day before they go
live, and you can pick an albumfor us to review and even get a
shout-out during these episodes.
Um so definitely check that outif you're uh if you're
interested.
Um but uh without further ado,uh here we go.
(04:08):
Here is the first song on thealbum, Alone Again Or.
So here we go.
SPEAKER_03 (04:13):
I won't forget all the times of waiting, they
should leave for you, and you'lldo just what you choose to do,
and I will be.
SPEAKER_05 (06:20):
And it and again, it is a little bit outside of the
the loud sort of garage rockfrom the period that I'm really
a big fan of.
But this just hit me on a levelthat it's uh um yeah, I couldn't
really explain that.
I don't know if I still can, butuh it just uh connected with me.
SPEAKER_04 (06:42):
Yeah, and I I'm finding the same thing, to be
honest.
Um it's it's one of those thingsthat like I don't I I I don't
even know why I'm connectingwith it.
I just am.
Like I can't look usually I canexplain, well, yeah, I really
like the the drum beat here andthe guitar work is really good
and the vocals.
It's all great, but I I can'tpinpoint the the the thing that
(07:05):
I'm that I like most about it.
I just I f I it it it's new butit feels familiar at the same
time.
Like I've I haven't really heardthis, but it feels like it feels
like I've always known it orsomething.
SPEAKER_05 (07:19):
It's got that sort of melancholy sort of uh
atmosphere to it, I guess.
SPEAKER_04 (07:26):
Yeah, it does.
Which is sort of unusual forlike psyched like psychedelic
era.
Usually uh psychedelic music isa little more not optimistic,
but like well, yeah, optimistic,but not that this isn't
optimistic, but it's sort ofyeah, I guess, yeah, a lot of
(07:47):
most a lot of psychedelic ismore in a major key.
And this this a lot of these arein in minor keys, and sort of
it's it get it has thatmelancholy feel.
SPEAKER_05 (07:57):
Yeah, I've heard a lot of psychedelic music that's
also been sort of on themelancholic side as as opposed
to being like the major key sortof thing.
But I've heard a lot of both.
So but uh this one's definitelymore on the latter, and I don't
know, it just feels comfortableto me.
SPEAKER_04 (08:17):
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, that's what I was saying.
Like it it feels like I haven'theard it before, but it feels
very familiar to me.
Like it feels um I think maybethat's the same feeling you had
when you first heard it.
It just connected with you rightaway.
You know, and it's interestingthe the uh the album itself,
(08:37):
like it was it was um like Idon't really know anything about
these guys.
Um and this is their uh this istheir third album.
Um and like when it was releasedit got really like high praise.
Um and it says an initialreviews were positive.
(09:01):
Writing for Rolling Stone in1968, Jim Bickhart regarded
Forever Changes as love's mostmost sophisticated album yet,
applauding the orchestral uhorchestral arrangements and
recording quality.
That's something too that I'venoticed, and um like the the
(09:22):
string arrangements.
A lot of the time in the latesixties, early seventies, string
arrangements were cheesy.
Cheesy, yes, exactly.
SPEAKER_05 (09:36):
Um and they're not here.
SPEAKER_04 (09:38):
And they're not here, yeah.
And I don't know what what thedifference is, but it maybe it's
just because they're not as inyour face, and it's just they're
just sort of there to sort offill out the sound rather than
be like high in the mix.
SPEAKER_05 (09:56):
It's it's there to sort of like carry on that sort
of floating sound to it, asopposed to actually there to
like you know, fit an image orsomething like that.
It's it's it's definitely beingutilized more as a tool
throughout the the album, andit's not always there.
(10:17):
In fact, usually when theelectric guitars come in, that's
when it's dropped outcompletely, but then the
acoustic guitar picks upsomething like that, and then
sometimes there's like thisatmospheric sort of uh um
orchestral arrangement going onbehind it.
It's uh it's an interestingblend, this, and I love the way
(10:38):
this album sort of does that.
It sort of goes on to either endof that spectrum, but does it
exceptionally well.
SPEAKER_04 (10:46):
Yeah.
Yeah, and it's sort of the way,like, um a good example of that
is uh uh uh is is the way thatBen Monttench plays the ham and
organ is he's not like doingcrazy solos on it, but he's
there like he's doing the samething on the organ that the
(11:08):
strings are doing here, is sortof there to support the song and
not get in the way, but using itto to blend with the guitars.
And it and like what I wasnoticing about the strings here
is well what I was noticing is Iwasn't noticing them.
They were there, but they werenot like they weren't like um
(11:32):
like a uh like a Tom Jones songor something where the strings
are just so high in the mix andit's sappy, and it wasn't like
that.
It was it was um it was done uhas almost like the part of the
foundation of the song.
And like you were saying, it wasthere not getting in the way of
anything else.
SPEAKER_05 (11:53):
Yeah.
Um not to slag on Tom Jones.
I actually kind of like some ofhis stuff, but uh I'm thinking
more along the lines ofEngelbert Humperdink or
something like that.
SPEAKER_04 (12:01):
Well, yeah, yeah.
That that's kind of the thingthat I was thinking of, yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (12:05):
Um also when you were talking about Ben Montinch,
I'm thinking of Al Cooper whowas doing sort of the same thing
with Bob Dylan's stuff.
SPEAKER_04 (12:13):
Oh, yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_05 (12:15):
And he wasn't even supposed to be on the uh um the
uh session originally.
He was a guitar player and hecame in and just sat down at the
organ and played.
Bob Dylan liked it so much, sothat's the take we're using.
And it wasn't even perfectplaying.
It but but it but it justcarried this background sort of
(12:37):
floating thing that just carriedthe sound of all the rest of the
instruments.
SPEAKER_04 (12:42):
Exactly.
Yeah, yeah, and the story behindthat is is uh like the the organ
is a beat late on everything.
Yes.
Because he's looking at theguitar player to see what chords
to go to.
SPEAKER_05 (12:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (12:57):
Yeah, that's why it's late.
But it works.
SPEAKER_05 (13:00):
It works so well.
I mean it it it doesn't soundlike it's wrong.
SPEAKER_04 (13:04):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (13:05):
Yeah.
But uh that's sort of what theorchestra is doing in this
album.
SPEAKER_04 (13:10):
Yeah, it's it's its own part, but it's not, you
know, getting in the way.
It's not it's not like um it'snot taking over as the main uh
main feature.
SPEAKER_05 (13:21):
It's not overly it's melancholic, but it's not like
sickly sentimental.
SPEAKER_04 (13:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (13:29):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (13:30):
Yeah, exactly.
Um and it's done really well,and not just the the strings,
but all the instruments that arelike it like that's what I was
saying, like it's it reminds meof pet sounds because the way
that Brian Wilson used differentinstruments and different types
of instruments to m create thesound, and and um and I feel
(13:53):
like they're doing the samething here.
Uh like the like the Brian uh umBrian Wilson Phil Spector kind
of thing where they're pairinginstruments, like a guitar and a
piano playing the same thing tocreate a a totally new sound.
Like I'm that's sort of the samething they're doing here.
(14:14):
Um and uh and yeah, so likealmost um instantaneously the
album was uh really wellreceived by both critics and it
did fairly well commerciallytoo.
Um but it was uh it was like apretty pretty big album when it
(14:36):
came out, as far as I can seeanyway.
SPEAKER_05 (14:38):
Yeah, I I heard that it was like it did okay, but it
again it didn't like um, youknow, get to the top of any
charts or anything like that.
It it was always just a littlebit outside of the mainstream
that way.
Um and it's just uh I don'tknow.
I I think it it was exactlywhere it belonged and where it
(15:00):
had to be.
I think if it was toomainstream, it would have been I
don't know, maybe it would havebeen another Dark Side of the
Moon or something like that, butuh might have been, you know,
pretty good for the band.
But the band there were so manypersonnel changes throughout
this band that uh um this uh Ithink this is the only album
with this lineup.
(15:21):
They did a couple of othersingles which are on like the
bonus tracks of this album thatI have.
SPEAKER_04 (15:27):
Yeah, it seems like it.
Um Yeah, and it's funny is it'suh like you were saying, it it
wasn't like a huge thing oranything.
And yeah, this was like a fewyears before Dark Side of the
Moon, and uh um it says the uhthe album maintained a cult
following, and uh the uh Richieuh Richie Unterberger, uh not as
(15:52):
an American journalist, musicjournalist, uh he called it the
biggest cult album of all time,uh, which I think is pretty
fitting.
It's you know, it's not like itwasn't a hu like a huge album,
but it did fairly well, but it'slike it's just it's that it's a
cult album that that is just onthe line of being Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_05 (16:15):
It's not being entirely pop, but it's also not
entirely um, you know, wild outthere psychedelia psychedelia
either.
It's just sort of in betweenthere and just hovers and uh
does it extremely well.
It's just a really good album.
SPEAKER_04 (16:35):
Um, so I did manage to find a few uh interesting
facts about the album.
Uh it says uh Arthur Lee thoughtit might be his last album.
Uh during the recording, Lee wasconvinced that he was going to
die soon, which gave the songs astrangely final, almost
farewell-like tone.
This sense of urgency deeplyshaped the lyrics and mood.
(16:58):
So that's maybe why it feels alittle melancholy.
I don't know why he thoughtthat.
SPEAKER_05 (17:03):
I didn't I don't know why he thought that either.
I had heard that.
Um yeah, I I'd read thatsomewhere, probably even in the
note notes of this album.
That he just uh he was convincedhe was he didn't.
SPEAKER_04 (17:16):
Yeah, he lived to be uh sixty sixty-one, died in two
thousand six.
So yeah, so it's interestingthat he maybe just had this.
I don't know if he was sickduring this, and and you know,
like I'm not sure, but uh or ifhe just thought had this
intuition that he might diesoon.
I don't know.
SPEAKER_05 (17:36):
I think it was more the intuition, I don't think he
was really sick or anything.
SPEAKER_04 (17:40):
The album almost didn't get made by the band
members.
Uh because of drug problems anduh unreliability, Electra
Records initially brought insession musicians, the Wrecking
Crew, uh, to record the firsttwo tracks.
This shook the band into pullingthemselves together to finish
the rest of the album.
Um that probably goes to whatyou were saying earlier about
(18:02):
the band having lots of lineupchanges.
That's probably why.
SPEAKER_05 (18:05):
Yeah.
No, they did, but uh for somereason the uh the lineup pretty
much stayed consistentthroughout the making of this
album.
Um but uh that's right.
SPEAKER_04 (18:17):
I think I'd read somewhere that the Wrecking Crew
almost came in and did the albumfor them for the most part, but
uh they were all on on petsounds, so I think that's sort
of what gives it that that uh umthat same feel.
And yeah, you're right.
It would have been interestingto hear like this if if there
was an album that they couldhave done, or it would have been
(18:39):
interesting to hear what theywould have done with it.
And uh so it it was a comercommercial disappointment at
first.
Uh while critically praised inthe UK, the album didn't chart
high in the US upon release.
It wasn't until decades laterthat Forever Changes became
recognized as a psychedelicmasterpiece.
Okay, so I I guess I was wrong,it wasn't a huge hit when it
(19:01):
came out, but it like we weresaying, it did it did okay.
Um and it's one of those thingsthat in retrospect people
recognize it as an importantalbum.
SPEAKER_05 (19:12):
Yeah, I did also, and and now that you mentioned
that, I also remember somethingabout them being a little bit
bigger in the UK than they wereuh Homeside um at the time and
and even later on, like they Ithink right so shortly before
his death, they had a um theyperformed some stuff uh from
(19:36):
this album and others uh on uhJules Holland in the UK just
because uh that that's wheretheir audience was, primary
audience was anyway.
SPEAKER_04 (19:48):
Um and uh yeah, there are some uh the mariachi
influences came from one of theband members, guitarist Brian
McLean, who wrote and sang AloneAgain Or, drew from his love of
Spanish mus Spanish and Mexicanmusic, inspiring the use of
mariachi style horns that becamea hallmark of the album's sound.
(20:09):
And uh this is kind of cool.
I th uh it's uh preserved in theLibrary of Congress.
Uh in 2012, uh Forever Changeswas added to the National
Recording Registry for beingculturally, historically, or
aesthetic aestheticallysignificant, ensuring it will be
archived for few futuregenerations.
(20:29):
Um that's pretty cool.
That uh and you know that thathappens all the time where
something a piece of art orsomething is just sort of flies
under the rain radar at the timethat it comes out, and then you
know, slowly people start todiscover it, and they say, No,
it this really is important.
(20:52):
Um but yeah, so those are someuh some interesting uh facts
about the album.
But uh I guess we'll get backinto the second side of the
album, but uh before we do that,uh let's hear from our friends
over at the Pick a Disc podcast.
Um so check that out.
And uh here we go.
SPEAKER_02 (21:12):
Do you like music?
Do you like podcasts?
Chances are you like musicpodcasts and take this one, for
example, pick a disc, whereevery Fortnite a guest comes on
to talk about an album forwhatever reason they want to.
Sometimes I like it, sometimesperhaps even something else
other than just like it.
I just listen to the podcast andfind out.
We talk about the album, we talkabout the songs, we talk about
the artists, we talk abouttangent things that are slightly
related and sometimes probablydeviate off tangent, but don't
(21:34):
worry, we'll always bring itback in the end.
But you can find us on all yoursocial medias and all the
podcast apps for search of apicket disc.
You can also find us on the partof the Weedy Podcast Network
under link tree slashweedypodcast.
And until then, happy listeningto all those discs that you are
picking.
Goodbye.
SPEAKER_00 (21:52):
We'll now take a few seconds before we begin tie two.
Thank you.
Here's Tide 2.
SPEAKER_03 (22:18):
I think what's done, but nothing.
SPEAKER_04 (22:21):
Alright, and uh ending the album with you set
the scene.
Um yeah, I I don't really knowwhat else to say about this.
I mean, this is a uh fantasticalbum.
Um I like that last song.
I like the the send-off, thesort of um like almost a
cinematic sort of thing.
(22:41):
Um, but uh yeah, it was uh likethe the the album, the
songwriting, the arrangements onit um are all really well done.
And I like that the the bandpulled themselves together and
they didn't have to get umoutside musicians uh to play on
(23:02):
it, that they all sort ofobviously there's additional
musicians, but their the band isthe the core, and uh and uh yeah
I like that they were able to doit themselves and and you know
they did a f a great job.
Um Yeah, I just I I uh I reallycan't say much enough good
(23:24):
things about it, you know.
SPEAKER_05 (23:26):
Yeah, I'm I'm glad.
I'm just one of these albumsthat uh is uh I'm just glad it
was made.
Um yeah, just the way it uh justconnects with me, and uh I hope
it connects with other peopleout there too, and uh yeah, it's
just uh it's one of myfavorites.
SPEAKER_04 (23:44):
So Yeah, I I think it's um I think it's gonna be
one of my favorites too.
I mean it's it's uh yeah, I justum I really really enjoyed it.
I mean it's one of those thingsit and very much like pet
sounds, it's one of those thingswhere you can just put it on.
(24:07):
No matter what mood you're in,you can just put it on and enjoy
it.
And um and you you you're it'sgonna put you in a good mood.
Um and even though there thisthis album is a little more dark
and a little more melancholy, Ithink s maybe sort of uh like um
(24:29):
I don't know, me like like somedarker music, it it it's it it
it maybe it's good to put onwhen you're in a in a down mood,
but I don't think it's only forthat.
You know, it's it's uh it's uhit's just one of those things
that's it's good and no it likeit probably can maybe help you
get through a tough time orsomething, but even if you're in
(24:50):
a good mood, I think you canstill put it on and and and
enjoy it.
SPEAKER_05 (24:54):
Yeah.
Um I do.
Uh it's a good road trip uhalbum.
I know this from firstexperience.
Um yeah, I don't know what elseto say about it.
It's uh it's just really good.
SPEAKER_04 (25:09):
Yeah.
Um so uh so I guess that bringsus to the uh the time of like
what would be your three uhhighlights on the album?
SPEAKER_05 (25:18):
I like pretty much everything on it, but I think if
I were to go for my uhfavorites.
I might go with uh the DailyPlanet, the Red Telephone, and
Live and Let Live.
So probably my favorites.
SPEAKER_04 (25:32):
Those are pretty good.
Oh, by the way, um I think itwas the it might have been the
Daily Planet.
Uh yes, uh Neil Young umarranged uh was an arranger on
that.
Oh wow.
Yeah, like that's this but itwas still when when he w was
(25:52):
with um Buffalo Springfield.
Yeah.
I don't know what the connectionthere is, like how he met it
must have been like an LA thing.
They were both out in LA, yeah.
I guess.
Yeah.
Um yeah, I forgot to mentionthat that uh yeah, Neil Young
arranged uh um The Daily Planet.
(26:13):
Um which by the way is one of mypicks as well.
And uh the other two uh yeah, Ilike Bummer in the Summer and uh
and the the last la Yeah, theand the last track, you set the
scene.
I I thought those were wereprobably m um my favorites, but
honestly, I could pick any ofthem.
(26:34):
Any song, and they would be likethey're all they're they're all
that the it's one of those rarethings where um I don't think
that one any song is better thanany of the others.
I think they're all like highquality.
Um so it is tough to pick justthree, but if I had to, those
(26:54):
would be my my three, yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (26:56):
I'd also like to put a shout out to the titles of a
couple of the songs.
The maybe the people would bethe times or between Clark and
Hilldale, and the good humorman, he sees everything like
this.
I just like they're beautifullydense titles.
I love them.
SPEAKER_04 (27:13):
And uh I I think maybe even they don't know what
they mean, but still.
Yeah.
Um so I think I know the answer,but uh gotta g ask it anyways,
would you listen to this albumagain?
SPEAKER_05 (27:26):
Oh yes.
Absolutely.
Um have and will again.
SPEAKER_04 (27:32):
Yeah.
Yeah, same here.
I mean, I I I love this, and Ithink I'm gonna have to add it
to my my library and you know,see if I can find a uh a vinyl
copy somewhere.
I mean, this is yeah, it I thisis a new favorite of mine.
SPEAKER_05 (27:48):
I don't have a vinyl copy, I have a CD copy.
SPEAKER_04 (27:50):
Yeah.
Well that's that's good enoughtoo, you know.
Um, but yeah, so I guess we'lluh end the uh episode there.
Uh thank you so much forlistening if you made it this
far.
Uh we'd love to hear from you.
Uh if you if you want to go touh the website, you go to
polyphonicpress.com and uh youcan go get all these episodes,
(28:11):
uh all the past episodes thatwe've done so far.
And you can also uh go to thecontact page and we'd love to
maybe read some of your commentson one of these episodes, and uh
or we'd just love to hear fromyou and get some feedback.
And um uh and don't forget to uhfollow the show if this is your
(28:32):
first time listening, whereveryou're listening, and leave a
rating and review if you can,uh, because it really helps out
the show and uh gets people uhhelps us find new listeners.
And uh yeah, and and again,check out the uh Patreon, lots
of cool stuff over there, and Ithink that just about does it.
I'm Jeremy Boyd.
SPEAKER_05 (28:51):
I'm Don Van Dyke.
SPEAKER_04 (28:53):
Take it easy.
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