For every happy hello there will be goodbye
You won't usually find me trotting out the obituaries for dead rock stars... for a start most people can do it much better than I can. But also I don't normally mourn the passing of musical legends too much. Somehow although they often have revealed much about themselves in song or biography it still feels like someone a bit unreal who I don't really know.
And besides... who wants to see your heroes drinking through a tube while staring out of the window of a nursing home?
But somehow I feel a bit different about Arthur Lee than many of the others who've passed away recently. For a start having seen him live a couple of years ago, he looked so.... rejuvinated. As though he was really starting to get shit together after the prison, mental problems and drug abuse. His voice and his energy were just astonishing for someone who'd been through so much, and I left just feeling blessed to have seen such an (albeit underappreciated) musical hero in a relatively intimate show.
Of course my sadness is also linked to the fact that Arthur created what is probably my favourite album of all time - 'Forever Changes' of course.
What makes it so special? Well I guess musically it's because the traditional verse-chorus-verse structure is largely rejected, with the tracks instead veering off on wild tangents. This gives the album a lot more staying power than a lot of others that come and go out of your favourites in a pop frenzy. Musically the arrangements are just astounding from start to finish. Perhaps this is why an album that captures so vividly a particular moment in time can still sound so fresh.
It's also lyrically absorbing. Arthur of course wrote the album as his epitaph (believing he would soon be dead), but it charts not only his own demise, but that of the whole hippy dream. Despite this I don't find it as bleak as most people seem to. There are always chinks of light and hope within the songs. And none more so than in album closer 'You Set The Scene'.
The message I get is that yes, the world might mainly be shit. But if you take it upon yourself to change things you can do. And this is backed up with a volley of magical horns, which fill me up & make me feel like anything's possible.
I always skip to this one first...
LOVE - YOU SET THE SCENE
This second track is from the 2001 remastered edition of 'Forever Changes'... a song that was left off the final album, supposedly because it was too cheerful. It's just a deliciously uplifting pop song, and it seems astonishing that anyone could write something this good and then not release it!
LOVE - WONDER PEOPLE (I DO WONDER) [Outtake]
This last one is from 1974's 'Reel to Real' - and can also be found as the closing track on Optimo's 'How to Kill the DJ' mix. Just amazing, and best appreciated after the lights come on, with a beer in your hand & your arm around your best mate.
LOVE - EVERYBODY'S GOTTA LIVE
Cheers Arthur!
And besides... who wants to see your heroes drinking through a tube while staring out of the window of a nursing home?
But somehow I feel a bit different about Arthur Lee than many of the others who've passed away recently. For a start having seen him live a couple of years ago, he looked so.... rejuvinated. As though he was really starting to get shit together after the prison, mental problems and drug abuse. His voice and his energy were just astonishing for someone who'd been through so much, and I left just feeling blessed to have seen such an (albeit underappreciated) musical hero in a relatively intimate show.
Of course my sadness is also linked to the fact that Arthur created what is probably my favourite album of all time - 'Forever Changes' of course.
What makes it so special? Well I guess musically it's because the traditional verse-chorus-verse structure is largely rejected, with the tracks instead veering off on wild tangents. This gives the album a lot more staying power than a lot of others that come and go out of your favourites in a pop frenzy. Musically the arrangements are just astounding from start to finish. Perhaps this is why an album that captures so vividly a particular moment in time can still sound so fresh.
It's also lyrically absorbing. Arthur of course wrote the album as his epitaph (believing he would soon be dead), but it charts not only his own demise, but that of the whole hippy dream. Despite this I don't find it as bleak as most people seem to. There are always chinks of light and hope within the songs. And none more so than in album closer 'You Set The Scene'.
The message I get is that yes, the world might mainly be shit. But if you take it upon yourself to change things you can do. And this is backed up with a volley of magical horns, which fill me up & make me feel like anything's possible.
I always skip to this one first...
LOVE - YOU SET THE SCENE
This second track is from the 2001 remastered edition of 'Forever Changes'... a song that was left off the final album, supposedly because it was too cheerful. It's just a deliciously uplifting pop song, and it seems astonishing that anyone could write something this good and then not release it!
LOVE - WONDER PEOPLE (I DO WONDER) [Outtake]
This last one is from 1974's 'Reel to Real' - and can also be found as the closing track on Optimo's 'How to Kill the DJ' mix. Just amazing, and best appreciated after the lights come on, with a beer in your hand & your arm around your best mate.
LOVE - EVERYBODY'S GOTTA LIVE
Cheers Arthur!
posted by headphonesex @ 8:19 PM
