In my humble opinion, one of the greatest albums ever. Nothing flash or showy, just wonderful. Quite a downer lyrically in parts.
I bought Da Capo (their second album) when it came out. Still have it (of course), a mono copy. Some lovely stuff on that too, including The Castle, instrumental part of which was used I believe as the theme tune for Holiday 69 with Judith Chalmers. The first album I knew with one track taking up a whole side.
But Forever Changes was even better. Their masterpiece.
By the time of their fourth album, Four Sail, there was a completely new band (apart from Arthur Lee of course). A bit more of a rock album with some neat guitar work weaving in and out of the songs. In my opinion it’s underrated. The double Out Here followed, which might have made a decent single album. Then came False Start with I think had Hendrix on one track. A few years later came Reel To Real which wasn’t great.
Haven’t mentioned the first album yet which is a bit Byrds-like I guess.
If you’ve read this much you’ve probably guessed that I was a huge fan. Those were the days when if it was on the Elektra label you knew it was going to be good. The first rock band to sign for them (it was pretty much a folk label until then, and it was because they signed Love that Jim Morrison thought it would be a good fit for the Doors.