'Forever Changes'
JOHNSON CITY – East Tennessee State University professor Dr. Ted Olson has co-produced and written liner notes for a new boxed set commemorating the golden anniversary of “Forever Changes,” the 1967 album by the racially integrated American psychedelic folk rock band Love.
The boxed set, released April 6 by Rhino Entertainment, a Warner Music Group company, is titled “Forever Changes: 50th Anniversary Edition” and contains four CDs, a DVD and an LP, along with an illustrated, 12”x12” hardbound book featuring a newly written essay and track-by-track notes by Olson.
According to the producers of the new boxed set, “Forever Changes” was overlooked when it was first released, but today is considered an “indispensable masterpiece.” In 2008, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and in 2012, it was added by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry. Respected British music critic Will Hodgkinson, in a review appearing in the UK newspaper, The Times, awarded the new set the highest possible ranking (five stars) and called “Forever Changes” “the best album of all time.”
Released in November 1967 by Elektra Records, “Forever Changes” was recorded during
the “Summer of Love” in Hollywood, California, and features Love members Arthur Lee
(vocals, guitar), Johnny Echols (lead guitar), Bryan MacLean (rhythm guitar, vocals),
Ken Forssi (bass) and Michael Stuart (drums, percussion). Grounded in acoustic music
and incorporating complex themes and innovative arrangements, the original album introduced
classic recordings like “Andmoreagain,” “The Red Telephone,” “A House is Not a Motel”
and “Alone Again Or.” 
This new edition of “Forever Changes” broadens the scope of work undertaken by music historian Olson, who has been instrumental in the production of numerous albums and boxed sets of the music of the Southern Appalachian region. Among these are “Big Bend Killing: The Appalachian Ballad Tradition” and “On Top of Old Smoky: New Old-Time Smoky Mountain Music,” released by the Great Smoky Mountains Association, and several Bear Family Records collections chronicling historic recording sessions held during the early 20th century in Bristol, Johnson City and Knoxville.
“There is a direct connection between my role on this project and my previous work,” said Olson, a professor in ETSU’s Department of Appalachian Studies and its Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music Studies program. “In 2014, I co-produced and contributed liner notes for another boxed set for Rhino Records, ‘The Folk Box: 50th Anniversary Edition.’ That set was a reissue of an influential folk music compilation released in 1964 on Elektra Records during the urban folk music revival.
“After the reissue of ‘The Folk Box’ was well-received, the founder of Elektra, Jac Holzman, invited me to work on this new project. It has been quite an honor to help introduce ‘Forever Changes’ to a new generation.”
The new boxed set of “Forever Changes” includes a few firsts for the album, such as the CD debut of a remastered stereo version made by original album co-producer and engineer Bruce Botnick and the first-ever mono version on CD. The set also contains an alternate mix of the album and a selection of rare and unreleased singles and studio outtakes, as well as the vinyl LP debut of Botnick’s stereo remaster of the original album.
The DVD includes a 24/96 stereo mix of Botnick’s remaster of the original album, in addition to “Your Mind and We Belong Together,” a rare promotional video directed by Elektra producer Mark Abramson that was originally released in 1968.
“Forever Changes: 50th Anniversary Edition” is available at https://rh-ino.co/foreverchanges50. For more information, contact Olson at 423-439-4379 or olson@etsu.edu.