Editing Forever Changes (section)

== Release and reception ==

===Initial release===
Upon its release in late 1967, ''Forever Changes'' was only moderately successful commercially. It peaked at No.&nbsp;154 in 1968, which was the lowest showing of Love's first three albums.<ref name="Joel Whitburn 1985"/> ''Forever Changes'' had a much stronger showing in Great Britain, where it reached No.&nbsp;24 on the UK album chart in 1968.<ref>{{cite book |first=Martin |last=Roach |title=The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums |publisher=Virgin Books |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7535-1700-0 |page=168}}</ref>

Initial reviews were positive. Writing for ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' in 1968, Jim Bickhart regarded ''Forever Changes'' as Love's "most sophisticated album yet", applauding the orchestral arrangements and recording quality.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/forever-changes-19680210 |title=Love: Forever Changes |first=Jim |last=Bickhart |date=February 10, 1968 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |issn=0035-791X |access-date=September 26, 2011}}</ref> In ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'', [[Robert Christgau]] called it an elaboration on Love's original musical style and "a vast improvement" over their previous recordings, because "Lee has stopped trying to imitate [[Mick Jagger]] with his soft voice, and the lyrics, while still obscure, now have an interesting surface as well."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Christgau|first=Robert|date=June 1968|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-aow/column4.php|title=Columns|magazine=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]|access-date=December 3, 2018}}</ref> [[Pete Johnson (rock critic)|Pete Johnson]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' believed the album could "survive endless listening with no diminishing either of power or of freshness", adding that "parts of the album are beautiful; others are disturbingly ugly, reflections of the pop movement towards realism". Gene Youngblood of ''LA Free Express'' also praised the album, calling it "melancholy iconoclasm and tasteful romanticism."<ref name="Einarson, John 2010"/>

===Retrospective acclaim===
{{Music ratings
| subtitle = Retrospective reviews
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="AllMusic">{{AllMusic |class= album|id= forever-changes-mw0000193671|label= ''Forever Changes''|last= Deming|first= Mark|access-date= March 2, 2017}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev2Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=[[Omnibus Press]]|edition=5th|isbn=978-0857125958|title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[The Great Rock Discography]]''
| rev3Score = 10/10<ref>{{cite book|last=Strong|first=Martin C.|author-link=Martin C. Strong|year=2004|chapter=Love|title=The Great Rock Discography|publisher=Canongate U.S.|isbn=1841956155|edition=7th}}</ref>
| rev4 = [[NME]]
| rev4Score = 10/10<ref name="NME">{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/reviews-nme-4063 |title=Love: Forever Changes |work=[[NME]] |date=September 12, 2005 |access-date=September 12, 2005 |last=Kessler |first=Ted}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev5Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Evans, Paul|editor1-first=Nathan|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-link=Nathan Brackett|editor2-first=Christian|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-link=Christian Hoard |chapter=Love |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|publisher=Simon & Schuster|edition=4th|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/496/mode/2up |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[Slant Magazine]]''
| rev6score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/love-forever-changes/ |title=Love: ''Forever Changes'' <nowiki>| Album Review</nowiki> |last=Cinquemani |first=Sal |date=April 13, 2008 |magazine=[[Slant Magazine]] |access-date=September 9, 2022}}</ref>
| rev7 = Sputnikmusic
| rev7score = 5/5<ref>{{cite web |date=January 14, 2005 |url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/788/Love-Forever-Changes/ |title=Review: Love – ''Forever Changes'' |publisher=Sputnikmusic |access-date=September 9, 2022}}</ref>
| rev8 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev8Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Cavanagh |first=David |date=June 2008 |title=Love: Forever Changes |magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]] |page=99}}</ref>
| rev9 = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
| rev9Score = A−<ref name="Christgau">{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=December 20, 1976|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6N9LAAAAIBAJ&pg=6134,4535773|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide to 1967|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|page=69|location=New York City|access-date=June 22, 2013}}</ref>
| rev10= ''[[The Rolling Stone Record Guide]] (1st ed, 1979)''
|rev10Score = {{rating|5|5}}
| rev11= ''[[The New Rolling Stone Record Guide]] (2nd ed, 1983)''
|rev11Score = {{rating|5|5}}
| rev12= ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]] (3rd ed, 1992)''
|rev12Score = {{rating|4|5}}
}}
In a retrospective review, [[AllMusic]] stated that despite the album's initial muted reception, "years later it became recognized as one of the finest and most haunting albums to come out of the [[Summer of Love]]," calling it "an album that heralds the last days of a golden age and anticipates the growing ugliness that would dominate the counterculture in 1968 and 1969."<ref name="AllMusic"/> The 1979 edition of ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'' gave the album a rating of five stars (out of five). It also received five stars in the 1983 edition of the guide and in the 1992 guide four.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wMEQAQAAMAAJ&q=forever+changes|title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide: Completely New Reviews: Every Essential Album, Every Essential Artist|first1=Anthony|last1=DeCurtis|first2=James|last2=Henke|first3=Holly|last3=George-Warren|date=April 25, 1992|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0679737292|access-date=April 25, 2019|via=Google Books}}</ref> In a special issue of ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' magazine, ''Forever Changes'' was ranked the second greatest [[Psychedelic music|psychedelic]] album of all time. In the January 1996 issue, ''Mojo'' readers selected ''Forever Changes'' as number 11 on the "100 Greatest Albums Ever Made".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/mojo.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051207104904/http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/mojo.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=December 7, 2005 |title=The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made |date=August 1995 |magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]] |location=London |publisher=Bauer Media Group |issn=1351-0193 |access-date=September 26, 2011}}</ref> ''Forever Changes'' was praised by a group of members of the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]] in 2002 as being one of the greatest albums of all time.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/entertainment/music/2052074.stm |title=Freed 1960s star meets MPs |date=June 18, 2002 |newspaper=[[BBC News]] |access-date=September 26, 2011}}</ref>

===Reissues===
''Forever Changes'' was included in its entirety on the 2-CD retrospective Love compilation ''Love Story 1966–1972'', released by [[Rhino Records]] in 1995. The album was re-released in an expanded single-CD version by Rhino in 2001, featuring alternate mixes, outtakes and the group's 1968 single, "Your Mind and We Belong Together"/"Laughing Stock", the final tracks ever to feature the ''Forever Changes'' line-up of Arthur Lee, Johnny Echols, Ken Forssi, Michael Stuart-Ware and Bryan MacLean (Forssi and MacLean both died in 1998).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Burnsed |first1=Cathy |title=Tallahassee Democrat obituary index – August 3, 1997 – January 28, 1998 |url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/leon/vitals/deaths/1997td.txt |website=Files.usgwarchives.net |access-date=January 24, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Bryan MacLean: Obituary |newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=January 1, 1999 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-bryan-maclean-1044305.html |access-date=January 24, 2019}}</ref>

''The Forever Changes Concert'' was released on DVD in 2003 and marked the first time many of the songs had been performed live. The set features the entire album performed in its original running order, recorded in early 2003 during Lee's tour of England, in which he was backed by the band Baby Lemonade and members of the Stockholm Strings 'n' Horns ensemble. The DVD features the album concert, five bonus performances, documentary footage and an interview with Lee.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Deming |first1=Mark |title=The Forever Changes Live Concert |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-forever-changes-concert-mw0000740254 |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=January 24, 2019}}</ref>

A double-CD "Collector's Edition" of the album was issued by Rhino Records on April 22, 2008. The first disc consists of a remastered version of the original 1967 album. The second disc contains a previously unissued alternate stereo mix of the album, plus ten bonus tracks.<ref>{{cite book|title=Forever Changes|date=April 25, 2019|isbn=9781788400800|oclc = 228442121|last1=Dimery|first1=Robert|publisher=Cassell Illustrated }}</ref>

A Super High Material CD (SHM-CD) version of ''Forever Changes'' was released by Warner Music Japan in 2009, and a 24 bit 192&nbsp;kHz High Resolution version of the album was released by HDTracks in 2014, and in the same year a hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) version of the album was released by [[Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab]].

A 50th anniversary deluxe edition box set was released by Rhino on April 6, 2018, featuring four CDs, a DVD and an LP. It contains remastered versions of the stereo, mono and alternate stereo mixes of the album, a disc of demos, outtakes, alternate mixes and non-album tracks, a DVD containing a 24/96 stereo mix of the album and a bonus music video, and a new LP remaster of the album, remastered by Bruce Botnick and cut from high resolution audio by [[Bernie Grundman]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rhino.com/article/in-stores-tomorrow-love-forever-changes-50th-anniversary-edition|title=In Stores Tomorrow: Love, FOREVER CHANGES: 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION – Rhino|website=Rhino.com|access-date=April 25, 2019}}</ref>