Music Review - George Harrison - Brainwashed

While his solo music was never my favorite of the four I certainly do admire his acerbic wit and how he calls it like he sees it.

My first conscious experience with “George Harrison the solo artist” was with the video for “All Those Years Ago,” resulting in possibly my first album purchase (so young … so impressionable). It was a pleasant album with nice songs in what I would come to learn is the classic George Harrison style, but aside from the radio/video single, none of the tracks really lept off the vinyl as likely to sell five million singles. Such is the case with Brainwashed, Harrison’s final album, posthumously produced by Jeff Lynne and son Dhani Harrisonand and his first since 1987’s well-received Cloud Nine. Instead of flash and the material trappings of success, Harrison continues his quiet quest for personal peace. The 10 original songs (plus one cover) on this final outing are filled with sincerity, wisdom, humor, warmth and personal insights. For the most part, Lynne and Dhani were astoundingly true to Harrison’s style and vision, although now and then you can hear a double handful of Lynne’s fairy dust that remind you he’s behind the mixer.

The album kicks off with George asking “Give me plenty of that guitar,” a wry smile in his voice, and the music kicks in with “Any Road,” an apt celebration of life that simultaneously reminds us “If you don’t know where you’re going / Any road will take you there.” The joyous upbeat shuffle propels along with “plenty of that guitar,” Harrison’s trademark slide guitar, and an instrument called a banjulele. Melodic slide guitar is in the forefront of the dreamy instrumental “Marwa Blues,” a peaceful, reflective piece that could have easily been composed while pursuing his love of gardening.

Never one to pull punches, the title track is an assault on the false gods of our society, going after everything from politicians to mobile phones and the stock market. Harrison backloads this punchy song with a call to God, slowing the song considerably for a bit of tabla and a reading from the Hindu text “How to Know God.” Likewise “P.2. Vatican Blues” is a scathing address to the Catholic Church set to a standard 12-bar blues progression.

The highlights of the album are definitely the more personal songs such as the single “Stuck Inside A Cloud.” Here Harrison yearns to extricate himself from the fodder of life with lyrics that could also allude to his cancer such as “I made some exhibition / I lost my will to eat” with a relaxed, emotive vocal surely among the best of his career. Deep emotions also boil to the surface in “Pisces Fish,” another contemplative song about the joys of “mundane” life most of us miss, comparing himself with “I’m a Pisces fish and the river [of life] runs through my soul.”

While this album shot to No. 1 in Japan, it’s been largely ignored in this country of staunch radio formats. While disappointing to some, the quiet Beatle was never about success and would have surely taken such news with a quiet smile. Instead these charmingly modest songs full of melodic guitar leads and personal lyrics exist in relative obscurity, availing themselves to those who would seek them. Like his personality, they are in turn funny, spiritual, serious, critical and philosophical, yet somehow always remaining light and upbeat. Highly recommended for anyone who’s ever enjoyed a George Harrison album.

First published 2003 in WhatzUp.

Music Review - The Beatles - The Singles

And now for the singles!

Released in 1973, these double double albums contained every A-side single released by The Beatles, split into 1962–1966 (a.k.a. The Red Album) and 1967–1970 (a.k.a. The Blue Album). When they were released on CD the names were changed to Past Masters. Oooooo!

You see, kids, back in the day the 45 single was the big thing. Long playing albums weren't what brought in the bucks so bands put their best songs on these wee little records, songs that didn't always make it onto the album proper. Such was the case with The Beatles which means that these four records* are over stacked with hits!

The first set, The Red Album, has such great songs as "Love Me Do", "From Me To You", "She Loves You", "I Want To Hold Your Hand", the rocker "I'm Down" and the amazing intro of "I Feel Fine." Yeah, there's some other songs on here but now that I really look at it, there really aren't all that many amazing songs. Just the ones I listed. Sure, "Komm, Giv Mir Deine Hand"is pretty good, especially if du spreche Deutche. That's not saying that the rest of the songs are slouches. In fact, compared to the early original songs on the L.P.s the singles stand a few heads taller. Dandy tunes, but not an album I grew up with.

No Red Album but we did have The Blue Album. One wonders how I would have turned out differently had this been switched. Well, at least I do. This one kicks off with a triple threat of "Day Tripper", "We Can Work It Out", and "Paperback Writer." WOWSERS! The listener is allowed a very small breath with "Rain", a fine upstanding raucous tune but not of classic status, before being lifted again into glory with "Lady Madonna," a boogie woogie piano-based song with sax all over it. Hello? Any guitars in there? "The Inner Light" is a skipper and, in my book, so is "Hey Jude" which carries for far too long. Raise your hand if you love that nasty, gritty, fuzzy guitar tone on the heavy version of "Revolution." You, the kid in the back without your hand up. You may leave. I recall enjoying "Don't Let Me Down" but now it seems a bit thin. Then and now I like "The Ballad of John and Yoko" melodically but now don't care much for the abuse of Jesus' title.

I just realized that I was writing according to my Past Masters rips and not based on the actual blue/red track listings. Ooops. Maybe we Did have the red album also because those songs seem real familiar, like I've heard them somewhere before. And I recall really enjoying the Magical Mystery Tour songs that are on the Blue but not on Past Masters 2. What a big ol' messy bowl of spaghetti.

In any case, this series is now officially over. No, I won't be writing about Love or any other attempt the remaining live members create to squeeze few more bucks out of this cow. I'm done with it.

* Or two compact discs**.

** Or a bunch of digital files.

Music Review - The Beatles - Abbey Road

Abbey Road The year is 1969 and I wasn't even a zygote. The Beatles had just canned a disastrous attempt to record what became the album Let It Be. Hoping to salvage the band they again enlisted longtime producer George Martin who had walked out on the previous album due to egos and arguments. He imposed certain conditions to his involvement to which all agreed. Martin truly was the fifth Beatle. None of the band was thinking that this was the last album but, per Harrison, "It felt as if we were reaching the end of the line."

Abbey Road is partially famous for the adventurous Side B where a variety of shorter songs are linked together to create a kind of suite, a technique that later came to impress many progressive rock bands. This was the result of a compromise. Lennon wanted a regular album where each song stood on it's own but McCartney wanted Sgt. Pepper Part 2. So Side A is distinct songs, Side B is Part 2. And everyone was happy and all the trees began to sing and the squirrels danced with the wolves and ...

As for the album proper, well, I right kindly like it even if Lennon doesn't. Or didn't. "Come Together" is a subdued, sparse, odd song with a unique bass line that would never be released as a single in today’s heavily regimented radio world. Harrison's "Something" is absolutely gorgeous with orchestral strings, piano, gentle pitter patter from the drums and that stunning melody. This one could have easily tipped over into cheesy excess but managed to step right up to the line of good taste without falling over. "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is a song I enjoyed growing up. My family didn't own Abbey Road but my brothers neighbor friend did so I got to hear the album quite a bit while we rode Green Machines around in his basement. Apparently the rest of the band referred to songs like "Maxwell" and "When I'm 64", which were written in the music hall style, as "granny music." Yeah, I can see that but since Paul's dad earned a living playing that kind of music it must have been deep in Paul's genes. I never cared much for "Oh! Darling" but as a kid I most certainly liked "Octopus's Garden", a playful song whose lyrics were written by Ringo. "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is simple lyrically but still appeals to me. It starts light but definitely becomes heavy, grinding even, and has a progressive, expansive structure that stretches to nearly eight minutes, layering in organs, screaming vocals and white noise, ending with a jarring abruptness. Thus ends Side 1.

The turbulent night that ended the first side is overcome by another astounding Harrison song, "Here Comes The Sun." Put this song on and by the end of it you'll be just a bit happier, just a bit more pleased with life. Harrison was on a roll, I tells ya! I always liked the sound of "Because" and later found that it was Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata played backwards on a harpsichord. Very complicated vocals on that one. I don't think Alice Cooper attempted those when he covered the song on that BeeGees movie. If you don't know what I'm talking about you're better off. Okay, since I know you'll just go looking for it anyway, here it is. Enjoy Cooper with a moustache! Good career move, shaving that off. MOUSTACHE!!!!

Now begins the medley!

At one point I could play the thirty seconds of "You Never Give Me Your Money" on the piano but I lost that muscle memory decades ago. I rather still like this song, it being a bit morose at the beginning but rocketing right up soon enough. BLIMEY! At 4:02 it's the longest of the medley bits and is actually a proper song where the rest are just mostly unfinished fragments. Necessity is the mother of invention, or at least of Side B. "Sun King" is boring and I'm not afraid to say it. "Mean Mr. Mustard", "Polythene Pam" and "...Bathroom Window" are nice, albeit brief, ditties. I especially like the fat bass notes on "Mustard." "Golden Slumbers" finds Paul being a bit too theatrical but the horns and string prevent a misstep, leading to the boring "Carry That Weight" which recaps a melody from "You Never Give Me Your Money", serving to round things up nicely. Fittingly the album (almost) ends with "The End" which features a drum solo, dueling guitar solos from all three guitarists and the famous last words "And in the end / The love you take / Is equal to the love you make." Pure flower power, man. Side B is a piece that is truly larger than the sum of its parts, taken as a single composition it is a fitting farewell from the famous fab four. After something like this it would almost be embarrassing to come back with another album. Kind of like performing your third farewell tour.

And then there's the twenty-three second snippet known as "Her Majesty" which was supposed to be part of the medley but was removed at the last moment and tacked at the end of the master reel.

Music Review - The Beatles - Let It Be

Let It Be is possibly my least favorite Beatles album, though that didn't stop me from buying Let It Be...Naked a few years ago in the hopes that removing all the superfluous orchestrations (not added by their longtime producer George Martin) would increase their appeal. It didn't.

At this point in their existence the members of the band were under immense tensions. In an attempt to recapture the magic and kinsman ship of their early years the band decided to shed all the exotic trappings and studio gizmodery of their recent albums and get back to their roots, writing songs together they way they used to. They unwisely allowed the proceedings to be filmed as material for a future film. The existence of cameras only added to the interpersonal tensions and the band flew apart. As I a result they wrote, I feel, some fairly weak songs. Sure, songs like "Two of Us" and "Dig A Pony" and "I Me Mine" are fine songs but they are simple, almost immature.

"Across the Universe" is one of the better songs, though it depresses me now with it's hopeless chorus of "Nothing's gonna change my world." Everyone seems to like "Let It Be" but to my ears it sounds like "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" though with slightly better musicianship and compares to "Hey Jude" in terms of yawn inducing repetition. The album ebbs further with unripened songs like "One After 909" and "I've Got A Feeling."

As a youngin' I really liked "The Long and Winding Road" but I've since accumulated enough musical experience to wince at the over-the-top cheesy strings and gossamer choir lacquered on by Phil Spector. While the "...Naked" version is an improvement it's incomplete. At least the wisely end the album with "Get Back," the strongest song of the bunch but still a mere wisp compared to their best.

To their credit The Beatles knew that this was a failed experiment and shelved the album, not intending to release it. It was only after their official breakup that the record company dusted off the tapes and did their best to make a few more bucks off the backs of these blokes.

Music Review - Yellow Submarine Soundtrack

The Beatles already had a weekly cartoon series, mostly aimed at impressionable young children. At one point the decision was made to have them in an animated feature film but instead of the cheap animation style of the television cartoon the creators were able to up the ante with improved writing and experimental, psychedelic animation techniques. They aimed to reach higher and in doing so created a classic. This movie was one of my first introductions to The Beatles. Way back when, one of my brothers friends had a Betamax player (well, his dad did) and recorded the movie when it played in the middle of the night on the local independent station, WFFT 55, back when they played movies. Oddly they aired the movie without commercial breaks which is a good thing because there was barely enough tape left on the cassette. Now that I think about it, I don't remember ever watching the movie at their house, just being told of this amazing score.

The accompanying soundtrack to this movie was butter for my musical bread. Much like putting on a story record from Disney ("When you hear this tone BEEP turn the page") listening to this album was like watching the movie but without the movie because, you know, back in those days hardly anyone had a VHS or Betamax player and absolutely no one had blue ray or streaming video from Netflix.

I rather enjoyed the four obligatory original songs. The organ-drenched "Only A Northern Song" was weird yet melodic and I liked weird yet melodic. Still do. Only later did I learn that it was a jab at their publishing company*. I can't hear "All Together Now" without thinking about all those faces in bubbles robotically moving their mouths to the words. "It's All Too Much" isn't worth all that much to my mind (but it does have plenty of cowbell) but "Hey Bulldog" is pure gold! So enamored was I of this driving, rocking piano song that I made a pep band arrangement as part of a music theory class assignment in high school. Since our mascot was the bulldog you would think that the band director would have at least given it a run through, if not put it into our repertoire. Rejected! Or perhaps in 1988 it was considered too esoteric.

However it might be side B that has left the largest impact on my brain. This was my introduction to orchestral music, giving me an appreciation and understanding of how music can convey emotions without the use of words. “Pepperland” is cheerful with a hint of melancholy thanks to French horns while “Sea of Time” starts mysterious and pensive, later giving way to a bout of serenity before ushering in a tide of sweeping strings. “Sea of Monsters” was especially invigorating to my imagination with sawing cellos, serene flutes, weird percussion noises, a quote from the famous “Air on G String” by Bach and unusual melodic shifts. Plus I really liked monsters back then. “March of the Meanies” is total tension in two minutes twenty-two teconds.

In 1999 they redigitized and cleaned up all the proper Beatles songs on the soundtrack and rereleased the album. You can read the review I wrote back then here.

* If you know what a publishing company is then you can officially call yourself a music nerd.

Music Review - The Beatles - Yellow Submarine Remastered

As I brought the digitally scrubbed and remastered Yellow Submarine home I thought to myself, "Fool! You've been suckered into the hype! They convinced you to buy a CD of songs you already own!" My head low in shame, I played the CD anyway. The CD started with "Yellow Submarine" and through the verse I thought it sounded a bit cleaner and brighter but not much else. When the song came to the bridge with all the sound effects, however, I heard things I had never heard before, things that had been buried for twenty-five years under the noise of 1968 technology. By the time the first verse of "Eleanor Rigby" was past, I was a true believer. The strings are clear and individually defined with the cello especially being deep and rich. And so it went through each of the fifteen songs, hearing the bright glissando of Harris' sitar on "Love You To", the full horns on "All You Need Is Love", each song revealing nuances that were previously hidden. Through the process of tearing the music down to the original tracks the engineers have been able to bring these songs out of the comparative shadows of 1968 and into the digital brilliance of 1999. The instruments no longer sound muddled together but rather each one rings out with distinct clarity. With the success of this CD, I would not be surprised to see such treatment given to each Beatles album, with the appropriate fanfare, of course.

Not that everything is all roses with this release. Missing is the orchestral music that appeared on the first Yellow Submarine release, music which for myself and many others was an imaginative introduction to the orchestral world. While the songs are cleaner, they have been remixed, sometimes altering the balance of the instruments (McCartney's bass on "Hey Bulldog", for example, is now almost inaudible), something which might offend purists. For all the richness of this new release, the changes are mostly subtle nuances, a fuller guitar or a more velvety organ, things that are barely noticable except in a side-by-side comparison. The rabid fan like myself will buy the CD and spend many enjoyable hours with headphones intimately dripping the songs into their heads, noting the brilliance of the instruments and the vocal harmonies, but the average fan may wonder is he has been suckered into buying another copy of Anthology 1.

Music Review - The Beatles - The Beatles

And now kids we arrive at The White Album a double album which I shall attempt to ingest whole because I'm just that way.

About one year earlier they had recorded their magnum opus, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, an album so "magnum opus" that it's name can even today be used in place of "magnum opus." So how do you follow up something like that? The best songs from the album immediately following (Magical Mystery Tour, in case you weren't following along closely) were songs written and recorded while they were making Sgt. Peppers so now it's back to the studio. Except egos are starting to grow and the urge to fly on one's own is growing stronger.

Instead of letting the band take a breather and a break and a chance to make their solo albums the record company herded them back into the studio. The result is a heavily fragmented album containing more than a few solo songs. Following this album they tried to heal some wounds and recapture the magic and fun of their early years (Let It Be) and then realizing that it was over decides to go out in style (Abby Road). But I'm getting ahead of myself. As a kid I didn't know anything about album order and band arguments or anything. All I had was the music.

My favorite songs were on the first disc, though the second is not without charm. Though I had many favorites, top of the heap was probably "Martha My Dear", so much so that I eventually learned how to play the first thirty seconds or so on the piano. Sheer muscle memory... can't apply it to anything else but at least I can dust this off for an impressive "Guitar Center" moment. I especially like the chuffing strings! And speaking of "Guitar Center", my GC song is "Blackbird" which I learned to play compliments of a "Learn to Play The Beatles" CD-Rom. Again, it's impressive but complete muscle memory. Hey everyone! I can fingerpick... on just this one song. It's sad, really.

I dig the swooping bass line of "Dear Prudence" which shows that McCartney is still experimenting with inventive bass lines and "Glass Onion" is odd and kooky with many references to other Beatles songs, a kind of "Walrus" sequel. "Wild Honey Pie" and "Revolution 9", while not favorites, exhibit the "anything goes" feel of the album and are thus essential... for the skip button. I was rather keen on "Bungalow Bill" and "Rocky Raccoon"* as a child but that affection has waned. On the other hand "I'm So Tired" has grown in my admiration, especially when we have an infant on the premises. The beautifully mournful "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was and remains a personal favorite.

At this point I find myself saying "I like that one. And this one. Oh, and don't forget that one." Suck it up or quit reading.

"Happiness is a Warm Gun" is a mish-mash of three different songs and it's angular weirdness and loopy Lennon lyrics still find a cherished home in my heart even though it still confuses me. Another favorite, then and now, is "Piggies" with its harpsichord, string quartet, and twisted nursery rhyme feel. I was around twelve when I learned that Manson liked this song, thanks to the movie Helter Skelter. I was pretty much unsupervised in my television viewing choices.

That's about it for the first album, or at least the songs I enjoy.

The second platter opens with the raucous "Birthday", a fun little number to play on the bass. The first song I really liked on this platter, though, is "Sexy Sadie" I never understood the song growing up because the title had nothing to do with the lyrics but later found out that it was originally titled Maharishi", a disappointed, disillusioned song against the Indian yogi they had been studying under. "Helter Skelter" also had a large number of plays, foreshadowing my continuing love of heavy yet melodic music. Is there a pig stuck in the bass guitar? This "loudest song ever" is immediately followed by the subdued Harrison penned "Long, Long, Long", a skipper in my youth but one I've come to appreciate more as it fits well with All Things Must Pass. "Honey Pie" always made me smile, a music hall styled song that reminded me greatly of "When I'm 64." The electric piano and raunchy horns of "Savory Truffle" made for a tasty treat on the ears** both then and now. Maybe this song with inspire me to dust off my studio gear and record a Fluid Imbiber cover... The chorus of the simple yet endearing "Cry Baby Cry" is frequently on my mind when I'm surrounded by crying children and is the last great song on this double album. And no, I didn't listen to all of "Revolution 9" while writing this review. Much like genealogies in the Bible, it's good enough to hear it once and then skip over it.

* I had no idea who Gideon was but Rocky Raccoon sounded like a cartoon character so I liked it.

** Yeah, sorry about that but it was such low hanging fruit I had to go for it.

Music Review - Magical Mystery Tour - The Beatles

Magical Mystery Tour continues where Sgt. Peppers leaves off, blending in a huge variety of instruments and effects to make a kaleidoscope of sound. I really liked this one growing up though lately I've had a diminished opinion of the album, probably because I saw the film/TV special that initiated the creation of these songs. It's bad. Real bad. The kind of bad that was surely influenced by the drugs people were ingesting during that era.

But in hearing the album again I'm reminded that the music itself is quite good. Classic, even. There's the introductory fanfare of the title song followed by the somber "The Fool on the Hill" which contrasts a lilting flute against an earthy bass harmonica, a kind of sequel to "Nowhere Man". I always liked the flanged drums that are the focal point of "Blue Jay Way" but didn't care much for the instrumental that preceeded it. "Hello Goodbye", with it's simple lyrics and cheerful melody, not to mention it's abundant use of reverb, is another great "gateway" song for kids. While you're listening make sure you pay attention to Paul's ultra-bouncy bass line! Speaking of great bass lines, how about that "Baby You're A Rich Man" with the crazy, noodling synth tone? Everyone loves "All You Need Is Love" and maybe I've heard it too often but it never really grabbed me. I mean, I like it and all, with it's horns and harpsichord and cello and sweet strings, but its a non-realistic utopian prelude to "Imagine" lyrically and musically it's much too repetative for my tastes.

Now on to the three songs that comprise the meat!

"Penny Lane" is pure nostalgia. Lovely, blissful nostalgia. It's got bells, a flute, instantly recognizable horns, piano and a whopper of a walking bass line! It's a very strong McCartney song filled with easily digestible but complex musical choices* but Lennon deals him a one-two punch with...

Who can forget the stomping, chanting beat of "I Am The Walrus" with it's bizarre non-sequitur lyrics? Apparently Lennon was trying to write the most confusing lyrics he could muster and he certainly succeeded. Also unusual is that for the first two minutes the song is in true stero but after that it switches to a "faked" stereo because of studio limitations. Such choppiness wouldn't be tolerated even by a local band these days but back then, with things permanently commmited to tape that would take days to fix, such things were commonplace. It's not a bug, it's a feature.

It took forty-five hours to record "Strawberry Fields Forever." To me, that's just overkill. I mean, I can make a BABY in far less time... well, at least my part. But I digress. This is the song where Lennon liked two versions, a dreamy one and a rockier one, so he asked the engineer to figure out how to combine the two despite them being in different tempos and keys. And what a glorious mish mash it is! At the one minute mark the dream is interrupted by Ringo going donkey kong on the drums followed by crusty cellos... pure bliss!

* He's a clever one, that McCartney.

Music Review - The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the big kahuna, the one music critics fawn over and write books about and blah blah blah. So much has been written about this album it seems almost a waste to spit out more words so I'll try to keep this brief.

Back in 1967 bands didn't have massive walls of amps. The biggest, baddest, most powerful amp at their disposal was specially designed "super-loud" 100 watt Vox amps*. Sure, they had a dozen or so on the stage with them but with all the screaming teens they still couldn't hear themselves play. And so the decision was made to send a virtual band on the road in their place, hence the imaginary Sgt. Pepper.

So into the studio they went, freed to create music they didn't have to recreate live. The band was also involved in a kind of music arms race with The Beach Boys and their album Pet Sounds, a remarkable album and incidentally the only Beach Boys album I enjoy. I found that in making notes for writing this review I kept writing "great bass line" on almost every song. Then I discovered that the session bass player on Pet Sounds, Carol Kaye, spurred McCartney to expand the melodic nature of his bass parts.

Without the constraints of live performance the band includes horns, lots of keyboard instruments, non-western instruments, harps, string orchestras and sound effects. Oh, and a kazoo. The result is a massive leap in tone colors, like going from black and white to modern color digital "film." Nowhere is this more evident than in "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." As a child I would marvel at the odd, magical words like "plasticine" and "looking glass eyes", only later finding out that this was clay and mirrors.

I suppose I could gush about every song but I'll hit the highlights, at least for me. "Getting Better" is made all the better by Lennon's foil of "It couldn't get no worse" to McCartney's saccharine optimism. "She's Leaving Home" is so horribly hopeless and depressing, a far cry from the simple love pop songs of just a few years earlier. The harpsichord and sparse sound of "Fixing A Hole" and the mesmerizing, swirling carnival sounds of "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" are also strong childhood memories. With CDs and digital music, it's so much easier to hit the skip button on "Within You and Without You" whereas before I'd have to move the record arm to "When I'm Sixty-Four." I also loved the rough rhythm of "Good Morning Good Morning", which is written in a variety of time signatures. Apparently it was so unique in its time that the session horn players had a difficult time following along, hence the sloppy playing. And who can forget the lilting piano solo on Lovely Rita? Not I, said the fly.

And then there's "A Day in the Life." If ever there is an epic song on an epic album, it's "A Day in the Life." It's a great song, though my young mind couldn't really wrap around it, instead just basking in the rich vocal reverb, the orchestral build up, the many different turns the songs takes and the resounding final piano chord.

Also recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions are the amazing "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever", stupendous songs which were included on the American version of Magical Mystery Tour.

* For great info on the bands state of the art period gear as well as what guitars each used, etc. see Beatles Gear.

Music Review - The Beatles - Revolver

And now it's time for Revolver, the 1966 album that critics site at the start of The Beatles' "middle" period. An amazing about of growth had occurred in the three years since the band recorded their first album so to arbitratily pick an album, or even to come up with a term such as "middle period" is, well, very much something only a music critic would do. I plead guilty.

I remember also having Revolver at my disposal growing up and being intrigued by it's weird psychedelic cover. I think it warped me but in a good way. The album is also much more electric and rock than Rubber Soul as well as being much more experimental, both in terms of studio use and songwriting. What continues is the mix of world-weary songs, both musically and lyrically, with upbeat peppy numbers.

Having grown up with the U.S. version of the record I missed out on hearing three songs until I purchased the CD in 1987. And no, I wasn't one of those people waiting outside music stores until midnight... never much seen the point in that. Of these missing songs is "Doctor Robert," a song I don't care much for even today, and "I'm Only Sleeping," a solid Lennon song with typical ear candy vocal harmonies. And then there's "And Your Bird Can Sing," one of my all-time favorite Beatles songs. Whoever made the decision to leave this off the album proper should have, er, something horrible done to them.

What else is on this platter? Only the ultimate, iconic Ringo song, "Yellow Submarine," every child's gateway drug into The Beatles. "Got To Get You Into My Life" is one step away from Motown and the round, goosy bass line of "Taxman" should win some kind of award. Or at least qualify for a tax credit. "Good Day Sunshine" is pure optimism, making me feel like I was walking around jauntily on a sunny summer day with every listen. There's lots of piano on this album, adding tone colors and making it seem much bigger than four guys with guitars. "For No One" is just such an example, a seemingly simple song of love lost. Add in the yearning do-wop of "Here, There, and Everywhere" and you've got the perfect album for a love-starved twelve year old kid who is just learning phrases like "unrequited love."

No, I haven't forgotten "Eleanor Rigby", another classic Beatles song. It's a sore spot with me because I was the caller on a radio station with the right answer (it's the only Beatles song where none of the four actually played on it, those duties being carried out by a double string quartet) but the guy answering the phone dropped my call after confirming my answer and I never got my prize. Oh well. This lovely and lonely song is absolutely haunting, but you already know that. Growing up I liked the choppy stereo with the verse vocals panned hard right, only later learning that stereo was new at the time so these mixes were given throw-away priority and this hard panning was experimental. So what. I still like it. Sue me, taxman.

Music Review - The Beatles - Rubber Soul

I'm trying to remember exactly where I first dipped my toe into The Beatles. It's either the movie Yellow Submarine and accompanying record (whose side two was also my introduction to classical and film music) or the red and blue double-album sets by Capital that contained all their singles. It's odd how I can't rememeber if we owned the red set, the blue set, or both. There's so much of my childhood that I can't remember but that's another story for another time.

What I DO remember, though, is having the album Rubber Soul at my disposal. What a great introduction to The Beatles! What a great introduction to music that isn't sung by Big Bird!

Created in 1965, Rubber Soul is their second album without cover songs and was the first to be recorded as a single time instead of piecemeal in stolen patches in between touring or filming. The luxury to focus, plus two years of studio experience and being pawns of the music industry, resulted in a darker, more cynical album with the boys trading in pure pop for folk rock. Gone are the simple boy-girl love songs, replaced instead by songs that better reflect the complexity of real life relationships.

It's a chicken-and-egg thing to decide if I was drawn to this melancholy sounds of this album because I was a lonely kid or if music like this made me melancholy. But melancholy is quite a fitting label for this album. In the jaded "Nowhere Man" you can almost hear the band pleading for a break in their touring schedule, that is if you listen close enough through the gorgeous vocal harmonies. "Norwegian Wood" is also a bit dour and I understand it was Lennon trying to tell his current wife or girlfriend of an affair. Then there's Lennon's "Girl" with its unorthodox but essential long, deep breath and the retrospective "In My Life" is pure nostalgia. And finally "Michelle" is the very definition of "bittersweet."

On the upside is "The Word" with that great western melody line during the bridge and "Think For Yourself" whose delicious fuzz guitar is almost flatulent. Ringo apparently taps on a matchbook on "I'm Looking Through You" which is punctuated by stabbing organs and who can listen to "Drive My Car" without shouting for "MORE COWBELL"?

Also recorded during these sessions, but released as singles, are "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out", both seriously amazing pieces of songcraft. Can you tell that I like this album? I expect great things from these lads!

And speaking of lads, how about a fantabulous cover of "We Can Work It Out" by PFR and Phil Keaggy? Take it away, boys!

Music Review - The Beatles - Help!

Help! is, of course, another movie soundtrack. For me, this is when the band gets consistently interesting. Incorporating more acoustic guitar as well as, in one song each, a flute, bongos, guiro and a string quartet, the band is obviously stretching in the studio and enjoying the flexability that four tracks can offer.

The songs are also increasingly infused with folk music while still retaining their infectious pop roots. Lyrically the band is also testing the waters, treading on themes not traditionally found in pop music.

Let's start with the title track, shall we? What other pop song from 1965 is an urgent plea for help? This is a full year ahead of Pet Sounds and possibly helped spur the creative "arms race" between Wilson and The Beatles. Lyrics like "Help me if you can, I'm feeling down" were a few decades ahead of Trent Reznor. Pairing desperate lyrics with an upbeat, catchy melody was also a few decades ahead of They Might Be Giants. Lennon had originally written the song in a less peppy format but changed it due to pressure to have an upbeat single. Thanks to YouTube, you can hear a snippet of his original demo. It's interesting but I prefer the version that I've heard all my life. I'm a creature of habit.

"You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" has also been a longtime favorite of mine, partially due to it's 3/4 time signature. "Ticket To Ride" is another song firmly established in the classic Beatles cannon. Ya gotta love that choppy drum beat! Another personal B-list favorite is "I've Just Seen A Face." It's simple and catchy, a brief 2:07 that gets right to the point. Other very strong non-hits are "You Like Me Too Much" with it's prominent piano part and "Tell Me What You See." Even "Act Naturally", the Ringo song, is pretty durned good!

And then there's "Yesterday," one of the most played and covered songs in the history of mankind. Normally if I hear a song too many times I get sick of it but oddly, I can still enjoy this one.

With only two covers, expanding experimentation in the studio, and an album chock full of great-to-amazing songs (aside from the covers) Help! is a very respectable endeavor.

Music Review - The Beatles - Beatles For Sale

I always thought that Beatles For Sale was recorded before Hard Days Night. For one thing it has a similar title as the first two albums. It also has lots of cover songs while Hard Days Night has none. And though this is blasphemy to rabid Beatles fans I'm willing to admit that the originals on this one are a bit on the weak side. Being a guy who just enjoys the music and isn't really into all the geeky trivia bits I never really looked into details on these early albums. Heck, I still have to think a bit to remember if Rubber Soul is before Revolver. But in writing this series I've needed to do a smidgeon of research, that being Wikipedia, the modern day version of cracking open an Encyclopedia Britannica. What I found was the reason for this weakness and apparent backward step: Beatles For Sale began recording about a week after they finished recording Hard Days Night, thus using up all their A-quality originals and forcing the band to return to covers to fill out the album. Plus it's their fourth album in twenty-one months. Sure, they were short albums, about thirty minutes each compared to today when anything under forty-five minutes leaves me feeling ripped off. Add in constant touring and it's safe to say that the boys were tapped out and well in need of a break.

So how about those originals? For starters there's the amazing "Eight Days A Week" with yet another phenomenal walking bass line. "Every Little Thing" is a nice song featuring piano and timpani, a rarity on pop records. "I'm a Loser" is jaunty despite the subject matter, another song that other bands love to cover. I've always had a soft spot for the morose "Follow the Sun" and especially like the vocal harmonies in the chorus. And then there's... well, there's not much. I mean, "No Reply" is pretty good but none of the other originals strike any chords in me.

Music Review - The Beatles - Hard Days Night

With Hard Day's Night things start to get really interesting. The iconic opening chord of the album and title track, long debated as to it's actual structure (but confirmed by George as being a Fadd9 with a high D played by McCartney) announces that something has changed. Some of the change is the absence of any covers, a very good thing in my book. Also leading the charge is George's Rickenbacker twelve string which adds a chimey tone throughout. Often Paul will double his bass line with the piano, expanding the sonic palate in a subtle but satisfying way. The songs are also a bit more sophisticated than the simple jingles found on the first two albums.

And then there's the cowbell on the title track. I need say no more.

There are a number of hits, including "Can't Buy Me Love", "I Should Have Known Better" (which sports Lennon's harmonica) and the suave "And I Love Her" which is totally made my George's Spanish flavored melody line. But even the non-hits exhibit a kind of self-respect, like they know they are strong stuff but only pale next to the sprinkling of timeless classics. No filler. Who can refuse to fall under the spell of the gentle melody of "If I Fell"? Or how about the heart-wrenching two-party vocal harmonies in "Things We Said Today"? Even "Tell Me Why", which sounds like it could have been off the first two albums, has a greater depth thanks to the bands progression in the studio.

NOW it only gets better from here!

Music Review - The Beatles - With The Beatles

I was wrong about things only getting better from here.

With The Beatles was recorded a mere four months after Meet The Beatles and to my ears, they used their best originals on their first album. Eight originals on this one and six covers. Of the eight, the bestest is “All My Loving” which totally slays. I love the walking bass line so much that I actually learned it and am able to play it well enough that it has become one of my few “Guitar Center” songs. You know what I’m talking about… the little riff or song you practice to death so that when you go to Guitar Center and plug in a guitar and lay down some killer bit and everyone thinks you’re amazing and they start offering you product endorsements. I’ve actually never played “All My Loving” in a Guitar Center or any other song. Well, I did awkwardly strum on an acoustic for a few minutes until some kid interrupted by solitude and started jamming away with HIS Guitar Center song so I left.

But anyway… “It Won’t Be Long” is raucous and energetic enough but it lacks a clear hook in the melody. “All I’ve Gotta Do” has a nice vocal harmony part (so nice that J. Geils Band lifted it for their song “Desire” off the Love Stinks album) but otherwise there’s not much to speak of. Well, there’s the covers “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Please Mr. Postman” which are decent but in my book covers don’t count. At least this album sold well for the boys and allowed them to continue making records.

Music Review - The Beatles - Please Please Me

Hey kids! It's time for yet another series!

Last fall I picked up a copy of Beatles Rockband for the Wii for a mere thirty bucks. While I have no interest in "playing" a plastic guitar I've long thought that the plastic drums could be used as a kind of first step in learning proper drums, helping to develop muscle memory and whatnot. So every now and then I head down to the basement and set things up for twenty minutes of faux-drum mania. Fun stuff!

I hearing these songs again, songs that are meshed with my personal history, I thought it might be enjoyable to listen to all of their albums again.

So here goes...

Please Please Me

I've never been a fan of their pre-Revolver albums. While I generally like the originals on these early works there are far too many covers for my tastes. But that's how they did things back then. Consider that for their first album they weren't THE BEATLES (gasp, squeal, prostrate yourself) but were rather just some young band that showed promise and some success with their audience. Sir George Martin, who was not yet a Sir, took a fancy to them and brought them into the studio to see if this live success could be captured on vinyl.

Please Please Me was recorded in a single day and was essentially a live recording of their set with very few overdubs. There are seven covers and seven originals. Of these seven originals four are all-out home runs! "I Saw Her Standing There" kicks off the album with loads of energy. The prominent bass line is admittedly 100% stolen from the Chuck Berry song "Talkin' 'Bout You" but they make it their own. For some reason the well written "Do You Want To Know A Secret" seems to be a bit more mature in form than the other originals but I can't put my finger on why. The title track is a superb song with fantastic vocal harmonies and lots of variety in the little musical turnarounds between the verses that keep the song from being overly simple. “Love Me Do” is another song to be adorned with Lennon’s gritty harmonica plus a basic but fun to play bass line holding everything together. There’s a definite charm in this song in that the vocals and the harmonica, while musically pleasing, are not shined to a high gloss of perfection. For some reason people love “Twist and Shout” but I find it boring and repetitive. Unless it’s played at a wedding and I’ve loosed up a bit.

I’m tempted to say that the album is better than I remember it but that’s only because of these four very strong songs. I will say that it’s a very good first album and that things only get better from here.

Wifey Snorefest

There’s my usual music posts that my wife ignores and then there’s my technical (i.e. BORING) musical posts that my wife ignores. I don’t blame her.

Last year Sir George Martin and company decided to run the entire Beatles catalog through their disgronification process and release ‘em again. After all, the digital technology that we had in the mid-80s is nothing compared to the gizmos we have not. Heck, back then they hadn’t even invented auto-tune so singers actually had to have a smidgeon of talent to go with their market-tested stage presence.

Since I’ve already shelled out the bucks to buy every album (sans a couple of the Anthology releases which are only good for a listen or two) I was glad to see that my tax dollars bought MULTIPLE copies of each re-scrubbed album. I think I saw at least three and possibly for of every title on the shelf of the main branch so you know some ordering monkey is breaking their arm in congratulating themselves on dropping a couple of thousand on such duplicity.

For my test I picked out Rubber Soul and from this album picked “Norweigen Wood” and the beautifully fuzzy “Think For Yourself.” I made WAV files of both the new versions and the original 80s CD release. Then I brought them into my studio software and set them side by side. Visually you could see that the new versions were just a bit louder, which is common procedure in rereleases – compress ‘em and crank up the volume so the consumer thinks it’s better. Fortunately any compression was very slight. Actually, any changes were very slight. Even with my “studio reference quality” headphones (Sony MDR-7506, if you must know) I could only barely detect any difference between the two. If the original was a ten in clarity the new one is a 10.3 (more or less). That’s it. Just a hint of added clarity. It’s such a miniscule amount of added clarity that not only isn’t it worth my money to buy the new versions but it isn’t even worth my time to get the albums from the library and rip copies. Not only do I not think it’s worth a quarter per album to make an “honest” rip but if I were to make even high-quality MP3s of the albums the compression would remove the .3 in added clarity.

For the record (ahem) I called this “lets do the whole catalog” move by Beatles Corp years ago when they re-scrubbed the songs from Yellow Submarine. I think back then I also did an A/B comparison and found little difference. For that matter, I couldn’t hear much of a difference when they gave the rescrub treatment to Alice Cooper’s Welcome To My Nightmare. So either my ears are not trained to detect the subtle nuances (in which case neither could someone who isn’t an audiophile with extremely expensive highly calibrated grear) or this whole digital rescrubbing this is a scam.