Tag: The Beatles
The Beatles – Love
Originally written on December 05, 2006
Sir George Martin, working in conjunction with the Cirque de Soleil has recently released Love, a sort of remix Beatles cover album for the famed theatrical group. It has the full support of the surviving Beatles and the estates of John Lennon and George Harrison.
It’s a bit like any cover album in that it is full of both the old and new and comes out as both brilliant and redundant. The old and the redundant come out of it being the Beatles songs with the Beatle’s voices and mainly the Beatle’s own playing. The new and brilliant are all in the arrangement and mix.
It’s all the same songs except that some of them have been slowed down a bit, and Sir George has taken various snippets and moments and slipped them into other songs brilliantly. He’s also added a little bit of his own orchestration to smooth it all out.
It is completely enjoyable to listen to, and quite a treat to hear how it all pieces together. But after a couple of listens, it all seems a little unnecessary. I keep saying to myself, ‘I have these songs already,’ and it seems rather pointless to have yet another grouping of them. To my ears, the novelty runs off pretty quickly and expect I’ll find myself reaching more for the originals more than I’ll ever be listening to this over and over.
Random Shuffle – April 3, 2006
“Your Mother Should Know”
By The Beatles
From Magical Mystery Tour
A throwaway song on a throwaway album. Ok, that’s sacrilege; there are tons of great singles on the album. Maybe that’s just it, Magical Mystery Tour sounds like a collection of singles instead of a cohesive album. It’s like a greatest hits package, and “Your Mother Should Know” is the new song added to give real fans a reason to buy it.
Really it’s not a bad tune. It’s actually pretty good, but when it’s a Beatles tune I expect greatness and this one just doesn’t live up. I mean, which would you rather listen to, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “I am the Walrus”, “Hello Goodbye”, or this? Not a tough choice, is it?
“I’ll Be Your Mirror”
by Velvet Underground
From a live show in Paris on 1/29/72
This is from some live Velvet shows I got on a vine a few days ago. I’ve not really given any of it a real listen yet, so I don’t know if it is any good.
The song is an absolutely beautiful one. Nico sings lead vocals and she’s got the voice of a broken angel. It is a simple, lovely song about seeing the best in someone. I’ve put it on numerous mix tapes for friends and lovers alike. It’s that kind of song. One whose simple message of love speaks to anyone of any size, sex, or creed.
This live version is nice, a little unpolished, but still sweet. Nico’s vocals are still sparkling, but the backups from the Velvets are a little rough. I’m a sucker for the in-studio, soft and fuzzy sound of love songs. They never sound the same live.
“Lay Lady Lay”
by Bob Dylan
From Hard Rain
Rough, ragged, and ready to rock is how I would describe Dylan’s live album from his 1970s Rolling Thunder Review.
I’ve never been a fan of the studio version of “Lay Lady Lay.” Bob Dylan on the make is just kind of creepy to my ears. This is a balls to the wall, sweat-drenched rocker. The vocals are out there, the whole band singing back up, nearly screaming every refrain.
If the studio version is a crooning, slick, sleazy Dylan trying to cajole some lady of the night into his bed, then this live version is the command of a rough and tough bastard keeping his lover for seconds after a long night of sexual activity
“I Know Your Married”
By Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglass, and the Bluegrass Sessions
From the Strawberry Mountain Festival – 09/05/99
From an absolutely scorching show at a bluegrass festival. This is the masters of newgrass pickin’ and sangin’ for the sheer joy of it. You can hear how much these boys are enjoying themselves throughout the show, and trying to show each other up a bit.
This is a slow, old-timey song that was played toward the end of the show. It’s a front porch in the middle of summer kind of song. Something to sing along with your pa on a family reunion. The boys goof it up in the middle and everybody laughs along.
On my version, there is a couple of minutes worth of banter after the song that is priceless. Sam Bush ripping on Bela Fleck and Bela ripping right back. This is true, real music. Not the processed, stylized junk you hear on the radio these days.
“That Feel”
by Tom Waits
From Bone Machine
I’ve never been much of a Waits fan. The guy can write some brilliant music, but that voice just gets me every time. He sounds like he needs a really good hacking cough. I know it’s styled that way, and I know a lot of it is purposeful, but I just can’t get past it.
I’m not really much of a lyrics guy. I mean there are thousands of songs with great lyrics that I love, that move me to my very soul. But as a general rule, I don’t pay much attention to them. My mind concentrates on the music, the instruments, and the melodies. If the lyrics are clear and understandable I might catch on and enjoy them. However, for most songs I just don’t understand what the heck people are singing about.
Start naming songs, and I can probably hum the melody, maybe sing the chorus, but after that, I’m at a loss. Add to it a singer who mumbles, or mutters, or distorts his vocals and you can forget it. I just won’t hear a line of it. This is a good example of that. I looked up the lyrics and they are actually kind of moving. But after multiple listens, I couldn’t gel what I was reading on the page with what I was hearing.
The melody here is pretty simple, it’s kind of a slow dirge, and Waits does his usual garbled garbage disposal vocal take which pretty much ruins the song for me. Find a sweet soul singer, add a couple of flourishes and this could be something amazing.
Random Shuffle – February 25, 2006
Editor’s Note: For a long while I wrote these posts where I’d put my music collection on shuffle and then talk about the songs that came up. As you will see, in the beginning, I just wrote a couple of sentences about each song, but over time I got to where I’d tell long stories. I thought it would be fun to start working my way through those posts and making them visible again. I don’t know if anyone will like the, but at least it is a break from movie reviews 🙂
Road to Joy – Bright Eyes
Thanks to the Duke de Mondo, I have become quite a fan of Bright Eyes. This is one of the better songs off the mostly excellent I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning album.
You Never Give Me Your Money – The Beatles
One of my favorite songs, from my favorite Side B of any album anywhere. From the Angelically sad beginning to the schoolboy chanting at the end, I absolutely love this tune.
Desolation Row – Bob Dylan
From the underrated Unplugged album. Not my favorite Dylan tune by a long shot, but that still puts it far above half the songs ever written.
You’re the One – Paul Simon
One of about three decent songs on his last album. A song that will forever remind me of my wife, for it came about during the beginning of our heavy dating stage, and she really dug it.
I Thought You Were My Boyfriend – The Magnetic Fields
A peculiarly great song from a peculiarly great little band.
Graceland – Paul Simon
Out of the 1000+ songs sitting in my WinAmp right now, what are the odds I would get two Paul Simon tunes? Or how about two songs from the MTV show Unplugged?
Lengths – The Black Keys
A song just sent to me by my sister’s husband, Brian. It’s got a nice laid-back blues kind of feel to it, but I haven’t heard it enough to decide how I really feel about it.
Greensboro Woman – Townes Van Zandt
Honestly, if you don’t know Townes, then you really have no choice but to seek him out. Truly one of the great American songwriters of my time, or anyone elses. A great, lovely song, full of sadness and heartache.
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome – Bob Dylan
Really, what are the odds? Maybe it’s my shuffle mode. I do notice WinAmp tends to play a lot of the same songs while leaving out some other choices.
Well, there it is. I’m not sure what to make of it, honestly. Maybe I’ll make this a regular feature. Maybe I’ll never visit this again.
A Hard Days Night (1964)
I started watching Alien on Monday to follow through with my alphabetical watching, but have been delayed in completing it. Instead, I have a review of the Beatles’ first film A Hard Day’s Night.
Critiquing this film as a piece of cinema, and not as a collection of Beatles tunes is a difficult task. Richard Lester creates some truly beautiful black-and-white images. Though sometimes the camera can’t seem to find its focus. And the images were obviously taken on a helicopter as the boys play in the grass outside the television studio shake wildly and distract from the fun being had. The boys, though essentially playing themselves, still play it a little stiff as if they are not sure how, exactly, to be themselves. The jokes, for the most part, are still funny, and what little plot there is, still works to give a glimpse into what it was like to be a band on the verge of universal stardom.
To take the movie without the songs is well beyond the point, though. The movie is essentially a market ploy to get the songs heard via different media. One might not be so forgiving if the songs were not any good, but the music shines throughout. The title song that starts the movie off starts with that struuuum that is instantly recognizable and jumps out and smacks you in the face. That is followed by what is arguably the Beatles’ best tunes. When you add in such songs as “I Should Have Known Better”, “Tell Me Why”, “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You”, the simple, sweet “If I Fell” and the sing-along favorite “Can’t Buy Me Love” to the soundtrack then you have a musical that is just shy of remarkable.
The movie was released just before the Beatles came to America and appeared on Ed Sullivan which brought on the madness known as Beatlemania. By this time they were extremely popular as can be seen in the crowd’s reaction while the boys sings on the television show. It is still shocking to see images of teenage girls screaming, crying, and shaking in a manner previously only known to the Pentecostal religion. The soundtrack periodically allows the girls screaming to take over the music allowing us to glimpse what it must have been like to be there. No wonder the boys gave up playing live shortly thereafter.
A Hard Days Night is an excellent glimpse of the Beatles on the cusp of World Stardom. This was before the summer of love, drugs, and the sitar where the Beatles were just trying to be the best band in the world and writing songs that made them so. It is a joy to see them cutting up and being their goofy, hilarious selves. I dare you not to sing and dance along as you watch it.
Top 5 Opening Tracks
Editor’s Note: For a brief period back in 2004 I had a little Facebook group where we would ask each other for our Top Five…whatevers. I got the idea from the film High Fidelity, and we had a lot of fun with it. I regularly posted my answers to the question on my blog.
1. “Box of Rain” by the Grateful Dead from the album American Beauty.
Phil Lesh wrote all of the music, and even scatted the vocal lines before giving it to Robert Hunter to write the lyrics. He wanted a song to sing to his dying father. Hunter is quoted as saying the lyrics nearly wrote themselve coming as fast as the pen could hit the page. It is a beautiful song and opens waht is arguably the best Grateful Dead album ever made.
2. “Where the Streets Have No Name” by U2 from the album The Joshua Tree
The opening track to my all time favorite U2 album. The slow, ethereal feel of the organs drifting is like sitting in a cathedral. Then the quick rhthym of the Edge’s guitar fades followed the thump thump of Adam Clayton’s bass. My head begings to nod, my feet begin to tap and then ‘BAM’ Bono’s vocal “I wanna run. I want to hide” it’s like the lift off of a rocket. Pure joy is followed for the next 4 minutes.
3. “So What” by Miles Davis from the album Kind of Blue
The jazz album for people who don’t own any jazz. This is a Miles Davis album in name only, with a line up like John Coltrane, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley on saxophones, Bill Evans on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums this is an allstar jazz group. And it is this opening tonal song that brings the world to a new kind of jazz. Even the opening notes are some of the finest music to be played on any album.
4. “A Hard Days Night” by the Beatles from the album Hard Days Night.
From the opening chord of George’s guitar you know this is gonna be something exciting. From that startling moment John launches into one of the all time great rock and roll dities. Just one of many lennon/mccartney tunes that sound like they’re having so much fun and you just can’t help but sing a long at the top of your lungs.
5. “Radio Free Europe” by REM from the album Murmur.
A muddy, murky tune that you can’t understand a word to ushers to the world the sound that would be REM (at least for the next decade or so). Alternative college rock had been brewing behind the scenes for awhile and this, to me at least, is one of the defining songs of the whole scene. To this day I have no idea what Michael Stipe is singing about, and I just don’t care.
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