Love's Forever Changes

(Paperback)

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Conceived as the last testament of a charismatic recluse who believed he was about to die, 'Forever Changes' is one of the defining albums of an era. Here, Andrew Hultkrans explores the myriad depths of Love's bizarre and brilliant record. Charting bohemian Los Angeles' descent into chaos at the end of the 60s, he teases out the literary and mystical influences behind Arthur Lee's lyrics, and argues that Lee was both inspired and burdened by a powerful prophetic urge.

Reviews

I love a critic who doesn't profess to be infallible, so Andrew Hultkrans immediately won me over by admitting he was previously "absolutely, laughably wrong" about Forever Changes...Hultkrans takes the record very, very seriously; accordingly, his book is a reverential, fastidious tome. * Seattle Weekly *
This former Bookforum editor openly identifies with this most apocalyptic of 60s El Lay albums, but he keeps his head in the game, fearlessly splashing around in lead Love-r Arthur Lee's disturbed psyche. He's sharp on the lyrics (maybe too sharp, given Lee's confused state) and slightly less so on the music, but he's killer on context: the album's fear, its overwhelming strangeness, its death-drive in a culture that only Lee knew was suffused with it. A- * Austin American-Statesman, 10/17/04 *
The first great title in the 33 series paints a vivid picture of Los Angeles in the 1960s and Arthur Lees place in itor, more accurately, just outside of it Andrew Hultkrans paints Lee as an American prophetnot predicting the future but passing judgment on society. Its perhaps the finest piece of writing on one of the finest psychedelic albums of that tumultuous decade. -- Stephen M. Deusner * Pitchfork *

Author Bio

Andrew Hultkrans is editor-in-chief of Bookforum magazine. Over the years, his writing has appeared in Wired, Salon, Artforum, Filmmaker, and Tin House.