Forever Changes (Thirty Three and a Third series)

Vanity Fair, October 2003
Love fan Andrew Hultkrans obsesses brilliantly on the rock legends’ seminal disc...

Pop Culture Press
"Exemplary – a wonderful piece of writing."

Seattle Weekly
"Hultkrans takes the record very, very seriously; accordingly, his book is a reverential, fastidious tome."

From the Publisher
"Thirty Three and a Third" is a new series of short books about critically acclaimed and much-loved albums of the last 40 years. The authors provide fresh, original perspectives – often through their access to and relationships with the key figures involved in the recording of these albums. By turns obsessive, passionate, creative, and informed, the books in this series demonstrate many different ways of writing about music. What binds the series together, and what brings it to life, is that all of the authors – musicians, broadcasters, scholars, and writers – are huge fans of the album they have chosen.

From the Inside Flap
"'Forever Changes' may be thirty-six years old at the time of this writing, but its hermetic fusion of the personal and the political feels more relevant than ever. It speaks to the present in ways that, say, a Jefferson Airplane record never could, whatever the parallels between the late ’60s and our contemporary morass. For unlike most rock musicians of his time, Arthur Lee was one member of the ’60s counterculture who didn’t buy flower-power wholesale, who intuitively understood that letting the sunshine in wouldn’t instantly vaporize the world’s (or his own) dark stuff. For him, the glittering surface of the Age of Aquarius obscured an undertow of impending doom." Conceived as the last testament of a charismatic recluse who believed he was about to die, 'Forever Changes' is one of the defining albums of an era. Here, Andrew Hultkrans explores the myriad depths of this bizarre and brilliant record. Charting bohemian Los Angeles’ descent into chaos at the end of the ‘60s, he teases out the literary and mystical influences behind Arthur Lee’s lyrics, and argues that Lee was both inspired and burdened by a powerful prophetic urge.

About the Author
Andrew Hultkrans is the former editor-in-chief of Bookforum magazine. Over the years, his writing has appeared in Wired, Salon, Artforum, Filmmaker, and Tin House. He lives in Brooklyn.


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