Post by henryj on Jan 29, 2015 23:35:04 GMT
So how do you follow up Sergeant Pepper?
I never saw the movie. I have the Capitol CD.
Side one of the vinyl release:
“Magical Mystery Tour.” Probably the closest the Beatles came to repeating themselves. The idea behind the song is much like the opening and title cut to Sgt. Pepper. Fortunately it is a totally different composition.
Much of one’s appreciation for Paul McCartney’s music depends on how eclectic one’s musical tastes are. If you limit yourself to liking rock—you consider yourself a “purist”—you will probably dismiss his “granny” music, as John Lennon called it. I have eclectic tastes, so I like a lot of Sir Paul’s stuff that other people do not.
“Fool on the Hill” is a good song. As is “Your Mother Should Know.” Both are pure pop, not rock.
According to Wikipedia, Ian McDonald states that Paul played “penny whistle” on “Fool on the Hill.” It’s a recorder-like instrument.
“Flying.” For some reason, in the ‘60s, when rock bands did instrumentals, they credited the entire band. I’ve never really understood why. Just give them arrangement credit unless they all really contributed to melody, harmony, and chords.
I found a YouTube of MMT. The video that “Flying” accompanied reminded me of a new age music video from the mid to late ‘80s by Tangerine Dream or some such group. So maybe "Flying" was ’way ahead of its time.
I’ve never liked “Blue Jay Way.” This was one of the last of what I consider George Harrison’s nonconventional songs. (By nonconventional I mean songs like “Love You To,” “Within You Without You,” “The Inner Light,” and to a lesser extent, “Only a Northern Song.”) It is as if George was afraid of unintentionally committing plagiarism. Oh, wait…
“I Am the Walrus.” This is one of the all-time greatest Beatle recordings. Celli sound good on Lennon songs (even post-Beatle stuff like “How Do You Sleep”). My brother tells me there is a YouTube of Styx covering “Walrus” live with their rock-band instruments only (the ones I found had orchestral backup), so if that is the case they boys could have done this one live had they seen fit to tour again.
Side Two of the vinyl version—The Singles:
“Hello Goodbye.” Not a bad Paul song. This was the A side of a single that had “Walrus” on the B side. I suppose “Walrus” was too advanced for the general market to be the A side. (IMHO “Walrus” was a MUCH better song.) When one of my sons was a pre-schooler, he could play LPs on the stereo. Along with his Disney children’s records, he liked the blue Beatles twofer. He thought the name of this song was “Chucka Chucka” because that’s what he heard Paul of someone saying during the fadeout.
“Strawberry Fields Forever.” One side of their two-sided hit released in January 1967. Both songs were about the neighborhoods Lennon and McCartney grew up in, and this one is John’s. If you can find one of those tape recorders that has variable speed and another control to keep voices from sounding like chipmunks, and play a cassette recording of this song, John is definitely saying “I buried Paul.” I wanted him to be saying “I’m very bored.”
“Penny Lane.” Nice, bouncy pop from Paul. There were two versions of this one heard in 1967. Only the endings were different, as far as I could tell. The one that you bought in the store ended with either microphone feedback or an overblown flute sound (not sure what that sound was); the other had the piccolo trumpet playing an appropriate ending figure.
“Baby You’re a Rich Man.” Not a great song. B side of “All You Need is Love.” Is that a soprano sax or an oboe? Not really clear about who plays that instrument. All sources say Brian Jones. Some say it’s the Rolling Stone Brian Jones. Others say it is a soprano sax played by the Brian Jones who identifies himself as “The one who can swim.” The arrangement carries this song. Wikipedia says Stone Jones played the oboe on this.
“All You Need is Love.” Their next single after Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever. This is definitely the A side. Good string arrangement, but I’m not particularly fond of the stereo mix. At one point shortly after the beginning all the sound is in one channel and it sounds like something has become disconnected in your stereo system. But it's a good John Lennon song. Both sides of the single were John songs!
Again, how do you follow up Pepper? Overall, a good album. Hey, it's the Beatles.
I never saw the movie. I have the Capitol CD.
Side one of the vinyl release:
“Magical Mystery Tour.” Probably the closest the Beatles came to repeating themselves. The idea behind the song is much like the opening and title cut to Sgt. Pepper. Fortunately it is a totally different composition.
Much of one’s appreciation for Paul McCartney’s music depends on how eclectic one’s musical tastes are. If you limit yourself to liking rock—you consider yourself a “purist”—you will probably dismiss his “granny” music, as John Lennon called it. I have eclectic tastes, so I like a lot of Sir Paul’s stuff that other people do not.
“Fool on the Hill” is a good song. As is “Your Mother Should Know.” Both are pure pop, not rock.
According to Wikipedia, Ian McDonald states that Paul played “penny whistle” on “Fool on the Hill.” It’s a recorder-like instrument.
“Flying.” For some reason, in the ‘60s, when rock bands did instrumentals, they credited the entire band. I’ve never really understood why. Just give them arrangement credit unless they all really contributed to melody, harmony, and chords.
I found a YouTube of MMT. The video that “Flying” accompanied reminded me of a new age music video from the mid to late ‘80s by Tangerine Dream or some such group. So maybe "Flying" was ’way ahead of its time.
I’ve never liked “Blue Jay Way.” This was one of the last of what I consider George Harrison’s nonconventional songs. (By nonconventional I mean songs like “Love You To,” “Within You Without You,” “The Inner Light,” and to a lesser extent, “Only a Northern Song.”) It is as if George was afraid of unintentionally committing plagiarism. Oh, wait…
“I Am the Walrus.” This is one of the all-time greatest Beatle recordings. Celli sound good on Lennon songs (even post-Beatle stuff like “How Do You Sleep”). My brother tells me there is a YouTube of Styx covering “Walrus” live with their rock-band instruments only (the ones I found had orchestral backup), so if that is the case they boys could have done this one live had they seen fit to tour again.
Side Two of the vinyl version—The Singles:
“Hello Goodbye.” Not a bad Paul song. This was the A side of a single that had “Walrus” on the B side. I suppose “Walrus” was too advanced for the general market to be the A side. (IMHO “Walrus” was a MUCH better song.) When one of my sons was a pre-schooler, he could play LPs on the stereo. Along with his Disney children’s records, he liked the blue Beatles twofer. He thought the name of this song was “Chucka Chucka” because that’s what he heard Paul of someone saying during the fadeout.
“Strawberry Fields Forever.” One side of their two-sided hit released in January 1967. Both songs were about the neighborhoods Lennon and McCartney grew up in, and this one is John’s. If you can find one of those tape recorders that has variable speed and another control to keep voices from sounding like chipmunks, and play a cassette recording of this song, John is definitely saying “I buried Paul.” I wanted him to be saying “I’m very bored.”
“Penny Lane.” Nice, bouncy pop from Paul. There were two versions of this one heard in 1967. Only the endings were different, as far as I could tell. The one that you bought in the store ended with either microphone feedback or an overblown flute sound (not sure what that sound was); the other had the piccolo trumpet playing an appropriate ending figure.
“Baby You’re a Rich Man.” Not a great song. B side of “All You Need is Love.” Is that a soprano sax or an oboe? Not really clear about who plays that instrument. All sources say Brian Jones. Some say it’s the Rolling Stone Brian Jones. Others say it is a soprano sax played by the Brian Jones who identifies himself as “The one who can swim.” The arrangement carries this song. Wikipedia says Stone Jones played the oboe on this.
“All You Need is Love.” Their next single after Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever. This is definitely the A side. Good string arrangement, but I’m not particularly fond of the stereo mix. At one point shortly after the beginning all the sound is in one channel and it sounds like something has become disconnected in your stereo system. But it's a good John Lennon song. Both sides of the single were John songs!
Again, how do you follow up Pepper? Overall, a good album. Hey, it's the Beatles.