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Post by Bobber on Sept 21, 2007 13:59:19 GMT
Just wondering what your thoughts are on this idea?
The Beatles spent late 1966 and early 1967 on Sgt Pepper for a great deal. The album is widely regarded as an enormous creative step forward. What strikes me is that The Beatles didn't really seem to have much creativity left after the album was finished, I mean in the first few months. From the Complete Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn we don't get much more than 'Untitled Jamming' and that is mostly described as, more or less, rubbish and out-of-tune material. They did however record Magical Mystery Tour (the song) and All You Need Is Love in this period as well. Besides that: All Together Now, Only A Northern Song and the unleaded flying object It's All Too Much, which contains a lot of ad lib as well. Magical Mystery Tour brought some creativity back, with I'm The Walrus and The Fool On The Hill. But I don't see Flying and Blue Jay Way as highlights for a start. What are you thinking?
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BlueMeanie
For A Number Of Things
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together
Posts: 606
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Post by BlueMeanie on Sept 23, 2007 22:01:04 GMT
I don't know about sucking the creativity. I think they went further with Sgt. Pepper than they thought they were going. I don't think that there was a definite sound in mind from the start. I'd love to have been there when they first heard the album from start to finish. And the reception it got was beyond all expectation. There was still some impetus, hence the MMT and Yellow Sub stuff. And All You Need Is Love was written fairly quickly, and to order so it made sense to make it sound 'Pepperish'.
There must have been a general feeling of 'Where do we go from here'? They'd already pushed the boundaries further that they thought they would - the sound guys inventing new techniques in the process. To take it any further - Sgt Pepper 2, if you like - would have been a huge mistake; witness the rather shabby quality of a lot of MMT and Yellow Sub, for instance.
Treading over old ground is seldom a good idea. Like visiting old haunts from the past, they never live up to expectation. We can be grateful for the trip to India, and the fact that they only had acoustic guitars to play around with, for otherwise the next album may very well have been better suited to the title 'A Doll's House'
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Post by Bobber on Sept 24, 2007 7:09:32 GMT
Alright. Can we agree to the idea that they weren't sure of what to do, thus recording some tracks with less importance (besides AYNIL)?
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kevin
What Goes On In Your Heart
Posts: 40
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Post by kevin on Sept 24, 2007 9:57:37 GMT
I don't think the band was suufering from some kind of creative exhaustion. I think the jump from Rubber Soul to Revolver required afar huger leap of creativity, plus they were touring as well. The MMT songs to me sound like Pepper songs. I think the problem might lie with the genre of psychedelia itself - there was just no where else for it to go. It starts to sound silly pretty quickly. Luckily most bands turned their back on it in 68. But I'm thinking on my feet here, soooo maybe not. But I've got to set the mood early here.
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Post by Bobber on Sept 25, 2007 11:15:46 GMT
On the other hand: nothing much seemed to be happening after completing Sgt Pepper. Mark Lewisohn's registered some recording sessions with a lot of jamming that went nowhere, plus the recording of long forgotten songs like All Together Now and It's All Too Much.
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Post by happycats on Nov 21, 2007 20:24:11 GMT
I know this is an old post, but... I think "yes" and no. Yes, because honestly for me, this was the last great gasp of a truly group activity. I know it was heavily led by Paul in a way and that all players weren't on every track, but it just seems to me that after this point is really where they became 4 solo artists in their own right who happened to still be in a band together. So almost everything that flowed after Pepper (and I count Magical Mystery tour in with Pepper because I think musically they were still much in the same place), was done through that filter. So there was always going to be that obstacle of the members developing individually rather than as a "team". Plus, in recording they were probably the worst bunch of people to have to work with if you were producing or engineering them during the post pepper period because there were so much in-fighting and lack of group focus. Another huge impediment on their creative output end results. It's amazing we have what we have with the way things probably were. And "no" because there were plenty of creative moments that each member brought to the table after that. Some things that immediately come to mind are - Abbey Road side 2 linked tracks
- Great songwriting evolution after India on White Album
- George's huge leap forward in songwriting quality
- Moog synthesizer on Here comes the sun
- The whole Apple thing (granted, almost everything about it 100% sucked, but that is where much of their creative energies were directed.
take it for what it's worth. but overall, huge change after pepper, they were a completely different band at that point. Which again is amazing since all their group recording and evolution took place in a mere 7-8 years, from Love me do to the Abbey Road album recording. I look at bands today and there is pretty much zero musical evolution over time. Unless you count going from having a hit to having no more hit material "evolution".
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Post by Bobber on Nov 21, 2007 20:30:29 GMT
I know this is an old post, but... There's no such thing here yet! Thanks for your view. I agree there's enough creativity after Sgt Pepper, but I also agree with you that it was hardly a group effort on those occasions.
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Post by briank on Dec 29, 2007 1:40:15 GMT
I would also disagree. Yes, they slowed down for a time. But there was an EQUAL, maybe more intense period to finish up the White Album.
Blue Jay Way IS the most complex Beatles recording ever done - more parts and tricks in one song. And it certainly IS creative (maybe more than Pepper) to do Yer Blues in a small room, and Revolution #9 (and #1!). Wild Honey Pie, etc etc. All VERY creative, as was Julia - the most minimal track they ever did!
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jelysh
And That's A Start
Posts: 2
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Post by jelysh on Jun 12, 2008 1:48:38 GMT
Don't forget that the boys had to deal with the passing of Brian. That may have lead to a lot of that unfocused jamming that went on.
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JS2
What Goes On In Your Heart
GOO GOO G'JOOB!
Posts: 55
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Post by JS2 on Jul 18, 2008 10:52:14 GMT
witness the rather shabby quality of a lot of MMT and Yellow Sub, for instance IDK about Yellow Sub, but i think MMT's the best album.
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