Music Madness

A few words about "The New Beatles"

Good morning gang.  Now, I know we really try to foster positivity on this here blog but I feel there is something out there, Beatles related, that needs to be addressed and it's not going to get a lot of positive vibes from me.  That something is James McCartney (Paul's son) coming out and saying that he'd be up for forming a band featuring nothing but begotten Beatles.  Um, This. Is. Stupid.  Don't get me wrong, people are free to form bands in any permutation that they wish, I'm cool with that.  But, really James, let it be.

On the surface the prospect of James, Dhani Harrison, Sean Lennon and Zac Starkey coming together would seem like a marketing dream.  But let me posit that it would be an absolute nightmare for all involved (and by "all involved" I mean "the fans").  First off, what would you call yourselves, The Silver (Spoon) Beetles?  Second, Zac doesn't want to be involved.  Dude didn't even want to join The Who or Oasis on a full-time basis.  It's interesting that the least talented Beatle spawned the most (musically) talented Beatle kid.  Third, there's a reason you don't tinker with The Beatles formula-it's because you're not a Beatle.  Paul is Paul, you're James. 

Also, how'd this sort of thing work out for the New Monkees?  Not good, if I recall.  Those guys were just cobbled together-much like the original Monkees-and had nothing (generally) to live up to.  You're Beatle children.  I don't think it would be well-received if Jack Osbourne got the Sabbath progeny together and started a band called Jack Sabbath.  Now, it's one thing to have a group like The Temptations still performing and not one of the members is original, or under the age of 36 for that matter.  KISS most likely will carry on for eons without Paul and Gene, that's sort of what KISS is bred for now, to be a Broadway production that just plugs in a guy with a hairy chest and a star painted on his face when Paul Stanley gives up the ghost.  The Beatles aren't meant for those scenarios.

Again, I would not begrudge the lads if they decided to go this route.  They would at least be the only qualified people on the planet to do it.  I just don't get the part where you're inner pride or moxie or whatever doesn't kick in and say "hey, I kinda want to do my own thing and not make a big shadow bigger".  Anyway, I'm probably in the minority since most would respond with "what's the big deal?" but I feel that someone has to start the push back on this and I'll step into that breach.

Abbey Road studio tour

No biggie, it's just microphones the Beatles sang into and a piano Brain Wilson played. Obviously a place I shouldn't be allowed to visit, because I'd surely get caught trying to sneak out with that piano.  Unless we did it like the Italian job...

The Quietus At Abbey Road from theQuietus on Vimeo.

You get a pair of dancing shoes

Oh people, what have you done?

OK, maybe I shouldn't blame it totally on you. Maybe Eric and I share partly in the fault, having not set up the tournament to avoid this outcome. But we didn't, and then you voted, and here we are.

The greatest Beatles album of all time, according to your votes is:

Abbey Road is where Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band lives

or

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band lives on Abbey Road

Yep, you tied it up. In a neat little bow that we don't have any rule to untie.  It's either completely unsatisfying or completely perfect, I have no idea which. 

Thanks for playing along, whatever the outcome! This has been tons of fun for me, and I hope for you, too.  We're already considering our next Madness move, probably something a little more light-hearted, like a tournament of 80s One Hit Wonders. We'll take any and all participants, so if you want to play again, or have some friends who have been jealous of your extra bracket to fill out, let Eric or me know and we'll count you in.

And in The End...

...Abbey Road has to be the champion.  Especially if I'm forced to choose between it and Sgt. Pepper's.  Actually, there isn't much force to it at all.  Had this Finals match come down to The White Album and Abbey Road, then I'd be in a pickle.  However, much like the basketball tournament that fires up tomorrow (seriously, no more play-in games), the Final Four tilt is far better than the Finals contest.

I can appreciate Sgt. Pepper's for what it is and what it stood for and what it means to people but I really get the sense that its reputation is due to a bit of Rolling Stone-ification rather than actual merit of content.  That being said, I am only one man w/one vote and this tournament has been tons of fun, sparked great conversations (even as increasingly snarky as my posts have been) and started to re-ignite my love of music and give me a false sense of writing ability.

Good luck to both contestants and here's to The Beatles and all they have given to all aspects of our modern culture.  Thank you gentlemen, your Herculean efforts are truly appreciated.

Nine to Seven

So, our final four battles were tight, hard-fought, and resulted in the same score. Nine to seven.  Clearly four albums of high enough caliber to bring significant competition, but only two can move on.

And those two are: Abbey Road and Sgt Pepper.

It's a surprising result for a lot of reasons, but mainly to me that Rubber Soul fielded the same amount of support as the White Album.

As much as I hate to see the White Album (sorry, dude bloggers, just can't call it anything else) go, I think we ended up at a final that showcases the Beatles at their most Beatle-rific.  I'm not sure how those of you who picked them both will manage to proceed. It may be a Sophie's choice, but it's also your choice.  Have it to me by Friday, March 16.

Sigh...

Rubber Soul or Abbey Road?

Abbey Road. Both are great records, but I've gotta stick with the swan song, where the studio experimentation, songwriting and musicianship ran neck-in-neck. So few groups end on a high note, and this one pretty much set the standard for the proper way to close out a career. Rubber Soul is a great, great record -- but its path to this spot in the tournament was pretty much unchallenged. Abbey Road had to defeat Revolver to get here.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or The Beatles?

Such a difficult choice. As mentioned in a previous post, these albums represent my introduction to The Beatles, so I've got a strong emotional attachment to each.

They're like the flip-sides of a coin: one full of dreamy, pyschedelic rock painted in technicolor, created from a band freshly rejuvenated after finally ending their soul-sucking life on the road as a toruing band; the other an attempt at back-to-basics rock 'n roll, a sprawling, epic affair chock-full of every sound and style they could toss in the bucket.

One finds the band [mostly] united in their efforts, pushing each other to new creative heights and aiming to make the greatest album ever recorded; the other a band torn and frayed, bitter and splitting apart, patching together pieces of brilliance. 

Sgt. Pepper it is - because it was my first love. I'm sorry, White Album. I really am.

No witty title today.

Abbey Road vs. Rubber Soul

Welp, this is easy.

I listened to both these albums to prepare for this. I ended up liking Rubber Soul more than I'd imagined. That being said it's still no Blonde on Blonde or Blood on the Tracks when it comes to folk music.

Then again, Abbey Road is no Ziggy Stardust, In the Wee Small Hours, or, personal guilty pleasure and album about alien invasion, A Flock of Seagulls. Still Road has a great potency about it with memorable tracks. It is the better album between the two.

I'm voting for Rubber Soul out of spite that Abbey Road undeservedly beat Revolver.

Winner: Rubber Soul

 

This is the matchup that really matters for me. Sgt. Pepper's is marvelous and I'm almost tempted to vote for it because it has She's Leaving Home.

But The Beatles is leagues beyond Pepper and the standard for double albums nowadays. With Happiness is a Warm Gun, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and Helter Skelter on this album there is only one choice.

Winner: The Beatles

 

Also, we should talk post-Beatles plans for what our next tournament will be. Is there any oter artist we are all grounded in (or to which we have easy access)? YouTube would certainly help. Maybe songs instead of albums in that case? We could debate (atrocious) Rolling Stone lists, etc. Let's get feedback, people.

Two Of Us (ain't moving on) or The Final (Fab) Four

Good morning.  I'm going to open with a confession.  I've pretty much hit my Beatles tolerance threshold so this post will be a little shorter and less in depth than previous entries.  Let's get to it.

The results of the Elite Eight matches were very pleasing, leaving us with four albums that are weapons-grade strong, groaning with talent and giving me faith that, going forward, we're gonna do the right thing and pay this tournament off in the way I see it shaking out. 

First up, we've got Sgt. Pepper's going up against The White Album.  Like I've mentioned before, I'm not a fan of Sgt. Pepper's all that much but it did dispatch the Brother Mouzone* of Beatle records, Let It Be.  In this match I'm going to declare my choice for winner being The White Album mostly because of the sheer volume of information.  Upon further listening of Sgt. Pepper's, it really only convinced me that producer George Martin was the best musician in The Beatles.  One comment I will make regarding The White Album is to second what a fellow contributer mentioned about 'Back In The USSR' and its Beach Boys style flourish.  I also like that despite the title of the song potentially being politically provocative, all it is is a fun romp talking about the virtues of being with Cossack women and wasn't at all the pro-communist claptrap The Monkees sang about on 'Pleasant Valley Sunday'.

WINNER-The Beatles (aka The White Album)

  *-Jay Caspian King of Grantland has a theory that, out of all the great characters in "The Wire", the character of Brother Mouzone is totally out of place, thus my equating Let It Be to Omar's attempted nemesis.  If you haven't seen "The Wire", please stop reading, go watch all 5 seasons, feel the weight of your shame for missing the greatest TV show of all time and then come back and finish reading.

Our final Final Four match finds us weighing Abbey Road against Rubber Soul.  Due to a seeding-related zeitgeist our previous round had Abbey Road squaring off with Revolver and emerging victorious and that same selection committee vagary gave Rubber Soul a clear path to the Final Four but...ride's over pal.  Let's Come Together (oh, aren't I clever?) and get Rubber Soul out of the tournament.  Like the previous Final Four match, I don't feel much need to delve into aspects of why one over the other, however, I will address some confusion that a couple of fellow contributors have with my distate for a certain Rubber Soul song...'Michelle'.

'Michelle' is equal to audio vandalism, a swipe of graffiti across a mid-to-high grade Picasso of an album.  My disdain for this song comes from the fact that Paul exhibits zero self-awareness that he has talent superior to this offering.  Part of his duty as a Beatle was to set a certain standard and never go below that.  Not to mention that the song is just way too precious and chuffed with itself and its own bogus European trappings.  It's a spiritual cousin to Lennon's 'Girl' from the same album but in that case there was at least an extremely quietly sung refrain underneath the chorus that puts the tongue firmly in cheek and letting us know that they know.   It's the type of song that the boys should have offered to Peter & Gordon and we could hope they'd have the sense to laugh it out of the building.  Paul bristled at Eric Idle's characterization of Dirk McQuickly (from the Beatles parody project The Rutles) as an empty-headed romantic, as if a song like 'Michelle' wasn't exactly where Idle drew inspiration. 

WINNER-Abbey Road

See you next week for the finals and, hopefully an announcement of our next tourney-style project.

Fab Faux Abbey Road Medley

Inspired by Tara's post on her favorite Beatles covers, I'm adding another band into the mix: The Fab Faux, arguably the best Beatles tribute band out there. We all know the side 2 medley on Abbey Road is a magnificent musical accomplishment, a true wonder in arrangements, time signatures, melodies, instrumentation and lyrics coming together into a cohesive grand statement.

Enjoy this live-in-studio, flawless, note-for-note recreation. This just shows that if they still had it in them, The Beatles probably could've toured on this stuff..but we'll just have to enjoy the record.

 

 

 

My favorite covers of Beatles songs

All of this Beatles talk has inspired me to come up with a list of my favorite five Beatles’ covers of all time. The compilation of this list took hundreds of hours, blood, sweat, and tears to create and I know that you will all quickly purchase these songs to add to your collection.  

In no particular order, my five  favorite Beatles’ covers:

Blackbird by Crosby, Stills, and Young 

I didn’t know this was a Beatle song for many a year. It’s slower and a bit more romantic than the original. I know the song is about race and the 1960s, but I didn’t realize that when I heard the song for the first time as a teenager. 

I am the Walrus by Bono

This cover comes from the Beatles’ movie musical Across the Universe. I love musicals but found the movie to be underwhelming. While I didn’t enjoy the film, it was worth watching for this song alone. I would love any song Bono sang if he was wearing a cowboy hat. I’m weird that way. Goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob.

Come together by Michael Jackson

There are a million covers of this song, but this one is my favorite. If you remember the days when MTV played music, Michael Jackson always had great mini-movies music videos. His mini-movie Moonwalker started with Man in the Mirror and ended with Come Together. If you look closely you should see glimpses of Danny Devito, the villain of the movie in the video. 

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by Jimi Hendrix

I really like the original Sgt. Pepper’s song. It reminds me of the music my 4^th grade music teacher would have us sing to after our school bought its first cd player. The lyrics are fun and catchy and not inappropriate for elementary school age kids to sing.

Jimi’s version very doesn’t feel fun and catchy, but anyone who says they listen to him for the lyrics has him confused with someone else. Hendrix is known for his kick ass soulful guitar and he totally brings that all to this song.  I know listening to this will make you lean back, close your eyes,  and reach for that secrete bottle of somethin somethin you keep in your desk drawer. Please restrain yourself if you are reading this at work. 

We can work it out by Xena Warrior Princess 

Xena Warrior Princess, one of the best campy dramedies of the late 90s, did a fun cover of “We can work it out” on their second musical episode of the series. The song was great but I couldn’t find it on YouTube. Instead please enjoy this, this, or this clip from the musical episode (YouTube won't let me embed them). If you close your eyes and put in Beatle lyrics is almost the same. These clips alone should inspire you to rent the whole series and watch it from beginning to end.