Forever Changes: the Authorised Biography of Arthur Lee by John Einarson
Published by Jawbone 2nd August 2024
John Einarson’s Forever Changes is an updated version of the book which came out in 2010, written with the approval and cooperation of Lee’s widow Diane, the author has also spoken to all the surviving main players in the Love story. There’s also a new introduction by guitarist and lifelong friend Johnny Echols – currently leading the latest version of the group to tour the UK – and other group members.
If the San Francisco groups like the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane embodied the communal “flowers in your hair” vibe of the late 60s acid rock scene, it was the LA groups like the Doors, Spirit and above all Love who explored the dark side – paranoia, OD’s, comedowns, addiction and more
Arthur Lee was brought up in Memphis by his grandparents, a sensitive creative kid who also craved streetwise “bad boy” respect. This yearning would run through the rest of his life in a fixation with guns, aggressive dogs, flash cars and hard drugs. The city was still segregated, prompting the Lee and Echols families to move to LA in search of better opportunities. Budding track star Lee soon gave it up and joined Echols’ group once he noticed how girls liked to hang out around the band.
Once Love took shape they soon attracted the attention of Jack Holzman, owner of the legendary Elektra label, who spotted something special about the group, in particular Lee’s performance and lyrics. The first two albums pretty much define mid-60s psych rock. Apart from the music, they just look great, effortlessly cool – one of the first mixed-race bands, lean and sharp-featured, mid-length hair and those American striped jeans you couldn’t get over here.
The first album’s 14 songs kicked off with Lee’s take on Burt Bacharach’s My Little Red Book, adding a sinister undertow to the cheerful pop song. There’s a great balance between punchy rock and slower introspective songs like Message To Pretty and Softly To Me. There’s also the chilling Signed DC – addressing drummer Don Conka’s smack habit (surely one of the first rock songs to venture into that area?).
The second album – Da Capo – had 7 And 7 Is (amazingly their only hit single), which in my opinion anticipates punk by a decade or so with searing guitars, snarled vocals, some utterly deranged lyrics (“I’d sit inside a bottle & pretend that I was in a can/ In my lonely room, I’d sit my mind in an ice cream cone”). The song ends with a nuclear explosion, but being Love, they couldn’t resist adding a beautiful gentle guitar coda as well. Side 1’s six songs are very much a refinement of the first album, but Side 2’s Revelation has caused controversy ever since. The author tries to unravel the varying contradictory claims – reproducing an essential improv part of their live set. Or a scam by Lee to rip off the rest of the group?
However, Love never got the success they deserved – and seemed to come so easily to groups like the Airplane and the Doors – mainly down to ineffective management and promotion. Lack of touring or high-profile big gigs meant they were soon overtaken by former support act the Doors. At the time it was rumoured that the group were heroin addicts and wouldn’t venture outside the comfort zone of their supplies. Strangely enough, heroin was one drug that Arthur Lee wasn’t into – his thing was more cocaine and alcohol – though the book makes it clear that a couple of group members were heavily involved. The real reason for not touring was a lot simpler – Lee and Echols knew from growing up in the Deep South that there was no way a racially mixed group would be tolerated in KKK country.
Musically the next album Forever Changes was a leap into the stratosphere, a collection of songs that crystallize mid-60s LA. John Einarson explores in depth how the album failed commercially in the US and the way that Lee came to resent it as whatever he did afterwards would always be compared to it, the orchestration and harmonies on the album took the music to another level from the first two, as did Lee’s singing. My Little Red Book had shown a wider interest than most singers then – though it’s interesting that Jim Morrison and Iggy both shared Lee’s love of Frank Sinatra – culminating in the amazing You Set The Scene, where he channels Johnny Mathis in a song that somehow takes in life, death the universe and everything else, “Everything that lives is going to die”.
From then on albums like Four Sail and Out There saw more lineup changes and a solo album Vindicator, with contributions from Jimi Hendrix. They’d been friends from way back on the music scene and had several collaborations, but the author shows that there was a kind of ambivalence – maybe even jealousy? – on Lee’s part that he hadn’t enjoyed the same level of success.
Then came years of decline, drugs and imprisonment. The story of his late return and resurrection is really moving, well researched and recounted here. Love had always been more popular in the UK and Europe, and nowhere more than Liverpool, where Love and the Byrds had godlike statues among local groups, eventually resulting in Shack combining forces with Lee to recreate the album live. From there he went on to further touring with young US Love obsessives Baby Lemonade, up until his death from leukaemia in 2006.
It’s great that Arthur Lee was finally able to accept and enjoy the greatness of Forever Changes. The author makes a very convincing case for the timelessness of the music, always high in Best Albums Ever type lists. Where contemporaries like the Doors now sound very much of their time – dare one say a bit dated? – Forever Changes continues to engage and will only draw in more followers as time goes on.
As always with the Jawbone Press this is a well-produced solid paperback – no pages falling out here – with a generous selection of well-chosen photos.
Reading this I was often reminded of Lee’s contemporary, Sly Stone, who also confronted the rigid boundaries existing then between what was perceived as Black Music (soul) and White Music (rock). Both men crashed and burned in a similar fashion, dying before their time. So if you’ve ever been thrilled to the opening notes of Alone Again Or, this’ll be a rewarding insight into a unique group. And if not, just check out the album, you won’t be disappointed.
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Available at all good bookshops.
All words by Den Browne, you can read more on his author profile here:
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