Forever Changes, Love, 1967, :42
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
This is a widely acclaimed album, listed on many best of all time lists, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and even in National Recording Registry. I'm hesitant in the face of so much hype, but I'm going with my gut anyway. This album grabs me, but it doesn't exactly wow me. I find some of it to be indulgent and pedestrian ("A House is Not a Motel" is nearly unbearable to me), and some admirable and moving. Definitely a product of the Summer of Love, for the good and bad that may entail. It's Byrds-like, but less jangly and more symphonic, folk with strings and horns. It also strongly evokes the Zombies. Arthur Lee has a beautiful voice, a bit like Ray Davies, and like him is capable of soaring melodies or a sort of rhythmic chanting. Maybe this needs to be revisited sometime (on Follow-Up Friday? Second Tryday? Something like that). Favorite tracks: "Maybe the People Would Be the Times," "Live and Let Live."
