Forever Changes

Recording began in June 1967 at Sunset Sound Recorders, with Botnick producing alongside Lee. Elektra's Holzman had suggested that the band move toward a subtler, folk-based approach. Botnick invited Neil Young to co-produce, but Young withdrew. To bring the band into line, Botnick and Lee used Wrecking Crew players Billy Strange on guitar, Don Randi on piano, Hal Blaine on drums and Carol Kaye on bass for the rhythm tracks of Andmoreagain and The Daily Planet, finished in one three-hour session. Botnick later said he did it deliberately, to shock the group into getting serious. David Angel arranged the orchestration after Lee had sung him the string and horn lines over three weeks. Overdubs were done on 18 September.

The songs dwell on the Vietnam War, race and the end of the counterculture's optimism. The title comes from a breakup, when Lee told a girlfriend who reminded him of his promise to love her forever, "Yeah well, you know, forever changes." Bob Pepper's cover fits the five faces into the shape of a heart. On the back, Lee holds a broken vase, which he said held no deeper meaning.

It reached number 154 in the United States. In Britain it entered the Official Albums Chart on 24 February 1968 and peaked at number 24 on 16 March, in a run of six weeks. Holzman partly blamed the November release date, which put it into the Christmas rush. Jim Bickhart's 1968 Rolling Stone review named Alone Again Or the strongest cut. Stephen M. Deusner of Pitchfork later called it the band's third and best album, and Sal Cinquemani of Slant wrote that the songs are as intricate as anything by Brian Wilson. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008, entered the National Recording Registry, and appears in the 1001 Albums book. A 2008 Collector's Edition and a 2018 fiftieth anniversary box followed, the latter with the mono mix and a remaster by Botnick.