Forever Changes was one of the greatest rock albums from the era of great albums, those short but significant years before what has since been called “classic rock” hardened into a formula. The authors of Forever Changes, an integrated Los Angeles group called Love, began as a folk-rock band—a kind of tougher, more streetwise Byrds. Like many other groups formed in the wake of The Beatles and Bob Dylan, they evolved toward psychedelia. Forever Changes was one of the best albums of its kind—thoughtful, poetic, occasionally unsettling, with an ambitious and almost orchestral sweep.
The 50th Anniversary Edition includes an LP of the album and CDs of the album in stereo and mono, an unnecessary “alternate mix” disc and a DVD plus a CD of rarities and outtakes. I’ve never been good at being an audiophile, but to my ears the mono disc is the reason to own the package. As was often the case for pre-1969 albums, the music was more impactful in mono than stereo. The rarities disc includes a few charming B-sides that would have been nice inclusions of the original release. As befits a half-century milestone edition, the set is lavish with an illustrated booklet and perceptive essay.
