Arthur Lee's Love is one of those bands that sound better with the passing of time (like the Velvet Underground - and by the way, I was in a bookstore yesterday where music was being played and it seemed like almost every song I heard was a direct descendant of "After Hours". It then occurred to me that it would be hard to find a piece of alternative music that doesn't owe something to the Velvets). And while it's correct that Forever Changes (1967) should be remembered as a rock masterpiece and one of the greatest albums, it isn't correct to think that what came afterward was not worthwhile. The three records that followed (Four Sail and Out Here in 1969 and False Start in 1970) weren't as unified as Forever Changes - very few albums are - but they contained many brilliant songs that should've been better appreciated. In some ways, Lee's best songwriting can be found on these albums. Four Sail opens with an amazing song called "August" which features a virtuosic drum performance by George Suranovich, and the closing track, "Always See Your Face", speaks for itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkWVrLfiJKs.

Love, the Los Angeles-based band featuring Arthur Lee, is best known for Forever Changes (1967), which usually pops up on lists of the greatest rock albums in history. Rightly so. It's a brilliant record that captures its time with uncanny accuracy - because the "Summer of Love" should probably be remembered as much for its paranoia as for anything else. Both sides of the generation gap were locked in mental combat, with the media recording everything (Vietnam has been called the first televised war). This album brings us into the middle of all of it. Many great albums were released that year, including Sgt. Pepper's and The Velvet Underground and Nico, but Forever Changes still stands alongside, and maybe even above, all of them.

There are several reasons for its power and longevity. First is the songwriting. Arthur Lee had reached full maturity as a musician on this album (Love's third), and his songcraft and leadership are greatly in evidence. Also, the contributions of Bryan MacLean who wrote "Old Man", "Alone Again Or" (the album's tone-setting opener), and co-wrote (with Lee) the awesomely beautiful "Andmoreagain", were once again of major impact, although few in number. (It could be argued that he wrote the best single track on the first album, Love (1966) with "Softly to Me", and on the second, Da Capo (1967) as well, with "Orange Skies".) Another standout quality is the album's orchestration, done by David Angel, who worked largely by transcribing the musical ideas that Lee would sing to him. The result is unique and wonderful. The entire album is. (I'll be posting on their later, unjustly neglected albums soon.)