Wednesday, March 23, 2005
The Beatles 1 album
In this post I want to discuss the Beatles compilation 1. (See previous post for some general comments on the band.)
As I understand it, the premise of the album was to include only single releases that reached #1 on the singles charts. The entire premise is a faulty one IMHO, however, for two reasons: the process by which songs became a single was arbitrary, haphazard, and ego-driven. For example, John wanted "I Am the Walrus" to be the A-side of the single over "Hello Goodbye." Which is the better song? (Personally I loathe "Hello Goodbye, so you know what I think!). Second, just because a song didn't happen to reach the top spot doesn't mean it's any less of a song--it could just be an accident of historical contingency. "Strawberry Fields Forever" for example is definitely one of their twenty best songs, even if at the time the public didn't think so.
If the intention of the album were to create a collection of their 20 best songs, then I think some songs would have to be added and others taken off. For example, vote to get rid of: "Hello, Goodbye", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "I Feel Fine", "Ballad of John and Yoko" (personally I really like this song, but is it really one of their 20 best?), "Long and Winding Road"; vote to add: "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Here Comes the Sun", "Across the Universe", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Dear Prudence", "Drive My Car," "Revolution", "A Day in the Life," etc. (Make your own list.)
Maybe there could be a companion volume: Beatles 2 that has some of the songs left off 1 that should have been on it and/or songs that are good but have been neglected for whatever reason. There's a whole set of "minor" songs that deserve as much credit for the Beatles' greatness as "Hey Jude" or other major songs on 1 or the "red" and "blue" albums, such as "Dear Prudence" or "Blackbird."
The thought experiment of creating one, ultimate Beatles collection is a challenge. Here's my idea for one:
1. Please, Please Me
2. Love Me Do
3. A Hard Day's Night
4. Yesterday
5. Help!
6. We Can Work It Out
7. Day Tripper
8. Drive My Car
9. Nowhere Man
10. In My Life
11. Paperback Writer
12. Rain
13. Yellow Submarine
14. Strawberry Fields Forever
15. Penny Lane
16. Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
17. A Day in the Life
18. All You Need Is Love
19. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
20. Dear Prudence
21. Happiness Is a Warm Gun
22. Hey Jude
23. Revolution
24. Across the Universe
25. Something
26. Here Comes the Sun
27. Let It Be
Wow, that's a difficult list to make! I'll have to check to see if this would all fit on a single disk. As it is, this would provide a pretty good balance between the different stages of development of the band from early to late. Also, a good balance between the different bandmembers: J-15, P-9, G-3, R-1 (sang "Yellow Submarine" even if he didn't write it). Maybe this is more of a two-disk project. (to be continued . . . . )
As I understand it, the premise of the album was to include only single releases that reached #1 on the singles charts. The entire premise is a faulty one IMHO, however, for two reasons: the process by which songs became a single was arbitrary, haphazard, and ego-driven. For example, John wanted "I Am the Walrus" to be the A-side of the single over "Hello Goodbye." Which is the better song? (Personally I loathe "Hello Goodbye, so you know what I think!). Second, just because a song didn't happen to reach the top spot doesn't mean it's any less of a song--it could just be an accident of historical contingency. "Strawberry Fields Forever" for example is definitely one of their twenty best songs, even if at the time the public didn't think so.
If the intention of the album were to create a collection of their 20 best songs, then I think some songs would have to be added and others taken off. For example, vote to get rid of: "Hello, Goodbye", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "I Feel Fine", "Ballad of John and Yoko" (personally I really like this song, but is it really one of their 20 best?), "Long and Winding Road"; vote to add: "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Here Comes the Sun", "Across the Universe", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Dear Prudence", "Drive My Car," "Revolution", "A Day in the Life," etc. (Make your own list.)
Maybe there could be a companion volume: Beatles 2 that has some of the songs left off 1 that should have been on it and/or songs that are good but have been neglected for whatever reason. There's a whole set of "minor" songs that deserve as much credit for the Beatles' greatness as "Hey Jude" or other major songs on 1 or the "red" and "blue" albums, such as "Dear Prudence" or "Blackbird."
The thought experiment of creating one, ultimate Beatles collection is a challenge. Here's my idea for one:
1. Please, Please Me
2. Love Me Do
3. A Hard Day's Night
4. Yesterday
5. Help!
6. We Can Work It Out
7. Day Tripper
8. Drive My Car
9. Nowhere Man
10. In My Life
11. Paperback Writer
12. Rain
13. Yellow Submarine
14. Strawberry Fields Forever
15. Penny Lane
16. Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
17. A Day in the Life
18. All You Need Is Love
19. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
20. Dear Prudence
21. Happiness Is a Warm Gun
22. Hey Jude
23. Revolution
24. Across the Universe
25. Something
26. Here Comes the Sun
27. Let It Be
Wow, that's a difficult list to make! I'll have to check to see if this would all fit on a single disk. As it is, this would provide a pretty good balance between the different stages of development of the band from early to late. Also, a good balance between the different bandmembers: J-15, P-9, G-3, R-1 (sang "Yellow Submarine" even if he didn't write it). Maybe this is more of a two-disk project. (to be continued . . . . )
The Beatles
I'm a huuuge Beatles fan. I love their music, and I'm intrigued by the stories of their lives and music. The Lennon-McCartney song writing partnership is one of the most interesting intellectual partnerships. They both had unique gifts to offer the world through their music.
Lennon's voice was the more strident of the two. Perhaps because of his chaotic life while growing up, John has the gift of the outsider. Unlike someone immersed in a particular way of life, John is capable of seeing through the lie that is this type of life. This self-styled "working-class hero" saw through the desire for a comfortable, middle-class suburban life after World War II as ultimately spiritually deadening. (This is reflected in such songs as "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Help!" "Day Tripper," "Nowhere Man," "The Word," "All You Need Is Love," "Imagine," etc.) Lennon's more "intense" approach to life can be reflected in the contrast between two early songs: "Please, Please Me" and "Love Me Do." The former, Lennon's, seems much more insistent on its approach to love--and also much more directly physical. The lyrical stance of McCartney's "Love Me Do" seems more relaxed. But in a way, also, more passive aggressive and manipulative ("You know I love you; I'll always be true" etc.) (It it's not already apparent, I favor Lennon over McCartney.)
If the appeal of Lennon's songs sometimes leans more toward the thoughtfulness of the lyrics at the expense of the melody, then McCartney's sheer genius when it came to the tune was a good balance to John. If Lennon's questioning spirit sometimes took him down sterile avant-garde dead-ends artistically ("Revolution 9" springs to mind), McCartney sometimes errs on the side of a certain naive sentimentalism. ("Yesterday," "Penny Lane," "Let It Be," etc.)
As they developed musically, two such strong personalities were bound to chafe against one another. And the pop music scene was the beneficiary of this struggle. Many of the songs written by one seems to be speaking to the other. In such rockers as "Helter Skelter" and "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?" Paul seems to be saying to John, "Hey, I can be just as raucous as you!" Meanwhile, John comes up with the quiet, melodious "Dear Prudence" or "Julia." Sometimes this game of one's-up-manship resulted in bad moves muscially. (My completely unscientific theory about Paul's song "Hello Goodbye" is that McCartney was trying to say something profound and interesting following John's "All You Need Is Love," but what come out was shallow and stupid.)
In the midst of this fertile partnership developed the wonderful talent of George Harrison. At first, maybe one or two of Harrison's clunkers was included grudgingly on each album. Harrison's interest in eastern mysticism seems to have helped him musically ("Within You Wthout You," "The Inner Light," etc.). By the end of the Beatles, Harrison's songwriting prowess had developed to such an extent that his first solo album was a triple album. Lennon and McCartney limiting Harrison to only a couple songs per album was ridiculous considering he was writing such songs as "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something." His "I Me Mine" is a brilliant statement on the quickly imploding band under the pressures of their collective egos. Sometimes this ego-driven conflict seems very petty. Can you imagine Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" on their Let It Be album? I think it would have come close to eclipsing McCartney's "Let It Be" as a statement on the end of the band. I think John and Paul's attitude toward George was bound to be rather patronizing as he was sort of the "younger brother" figure of the band.
Of the four, Ringo is the most difficult to discuss. He had less of his ego invested in the band's music than the other four. Hence, he emerged from the band the least drained. Of the four, he seems the most earthy. Ringo's songs tend to have a nice country twang to them.
Lennon's voice was the more strident of the two. Perhaps because of his chaotic life while growing up, John has the gift of the outsider. Unlike someone immersed in a particular way of life, John is capable of seeing through the lie that is this type of life. This self-styled "working-class hero" saw through the desire for a comfortable, middle-class suburban life after World War II as ultimately spiritually deadening. (This is reflected in such songs as "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Help!" "Day Tripper," "Nowhere Man," "The Word," "All You Need Is Love," "Imagine," etc.) Lennon's more "intense" approach to life can be reflected in the contrast between two early songs: "Please, Please Me" and "Love Me Do." The former, Lennon's, seems much more insistent on its approach to love--and also much more directly physical. The lyrical stance of McCartney's "Love Me Do" seems more relaxed. But in a way, also, more passive aggressive and manipulative ("You know I love you; I'll always be true" etc.) (It it's not already apparent, I favor Lennon over McCartney.)
If the appeal of Lennon's songs sometimes leans more toward the thoughtfulness of the lyrics at the expense of the melody, then McCartney's sheer genius when it came to the tune was a good balance to John. If Lennon's questioning spirit sometimes took him down sterile avant-garde dead-ends artistically ("Revolution 9" springs to mind), McCartney sometimes errs on the side of a certain naive sentimentalism. ("Yesterday," "Penny Lane," "Let It Be," etc.)
As they developed musically, two such strong personalities were bound to chafe against one another. And the pop music scene was the beneficiary of this struggle. Many of the songs written by one seems to be speaking to the other. In such rockers as "Helter Skelter" and "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?" Paul seems to be saying to John, "Hey, I can be just as raucous as you!" Meanwhile, John comes up with the quiet, melodious "Dear Prudence" or "Julia." Sometimes this game of one's-up-manship resulted in bad moves muscially. (My completely unscientific theory about Paul's song "Hello Goodbye" is that McCartney was trying to say something profound and interesting following John's "All You Need Is Love," but what come out was shallow and stupid.)
In the midst of this fertile partnership developed the wonderful talent of George Harrison. At first, maybe one or two of Harrison's clunkers was included grudgingly on each album. Harrison's interest in eastern mysticism seems to have helped him musically ("Within You Wthout You," "The Inner Light," etc.). By the end of the Beatles, Harrison's songwriting prowess had developed to such an extent that his first solo album was a triple album. Lennon and McCartney limiting Harrison to only a couple songs per album was ridiculous considering he was writing such songs as "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something." His "I Me Mine" is a brilliant statement on the quickly imploding band under the pressures of their collective egos. Sometimes this ego-driven conflict seems very petty. Can you imagine Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" on their Let It Be album? I think it would have come close to eclipsing McCartney's "Let It Be" as a statement on the end of the band. I think John and Paul's attitude toward George was bound to be rather patronizing as he was sort of the "younger brother" figure of the band.
Of the four, Ringo is the most difficult to discuss. He had less of his ego invested in the band's music than the other four. Hence, he emerged from the band the least drained. Of the four, he seems the most earthy. Ringo's songs tend to have a nice country twang to them.
