Jan 032013
 

George and America Do Ringo

This post’s title pretty much asks all I want to ask: Excluding Beatles records, solo Beatles records, and for the sake of argument pre-Beatles records (eg, Goon Squad recordings), what’s the best single recording birthday boy George Martin, who turned 87 today, has produced? It doesn’t need to be an entire album; it can be a single song.

Is it Cheap Trick‘s “Dream Police” (the song) All Shook Up? Is it something by America? Is it Stackridge‘s “Pinafore Days”? Unless something is slipping my mind it may be—I can’t believe I’m typing this—Jeff Beck‘s groundbreaking fusion album, Blow by Blow.

Regardless of the seemingly tremendous gap between his work with the Beatles and any other record he produced after them, Happy Birthday! Your value as the Fifth Beatle far outweighed your contributions as the Fourth American.

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Dec 232012
 

John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” and Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmas Time.” Amazing, isn’t it, that the John vs. Paul thing can be expressed so perfectly in the Christmas songs that each released.

John’s anti-religion (“Xmas” instead of Christmas), anti-war, thought-provoking song:

vs

Paul’s silly love song, holiday edition”

I think John’s song is the better, more creative, more distinctive one but, damned, if I’m not singing along every time Paul’s comes over the radio waves.

How about you?

SHOWDOWN (Choose One): "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" or "Wonderful Christmas Time"?

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Sep 172012
 

John, how many songs should George get?

I’m a 2per. So is George Harrison, and so is John Entwistle, and so is Dave Davies. That’s the term I’m slapping on a person in a band with a dominant songwriter who typically gets two of his songs included on each album among the principal songwriter’s songs. When I brought up the concept to E. Pluribus Gergley of RTH discussing who the best 2per is, he responded in his typically open-minded way that there’s nothing to discuss. It’s George Harrison. So I sat on the topic until I thought of a different angle on it.

Continue reading »

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Aug 222012
 

My parents had a family picnic this past Saturday. Early on, my sister, my wife, and I drove to the local ACME to pick up some last-minute party things. My sister had Pet Sounds playing in her car, and she asked me if it was possible that the Beach Boys might be better than the Beatles.

I hedged my bets. I acknowledged that the Beach Boys’ rich five-part harmonies can sound richer and more dazzling than the Fabs’ mere three-vocal frontline. But, I said, no one in the Beach Boys could sing loud, nasty rock ‘n’ roll like John Lennon.

My sister is four years younger than me, in her early 30s. I pointed out that the Beach Boys have so many albums, many of them with a lot of crap, but also a lot of great songs that people of our generation didn’t always get to here at first—like “Let Him Run Wild,” “Darlin'” and “Surf’s Up.” All we knew of the Beach Boys growing up consisted of their many ’60s hits on oldies radio, and of course Mr. Mod’s beloved “Kokomo.” On the other hand, the Beatles have fewer albums and, growing up, there was always a Beatles Sunday Brunch or somesuch weekly show on oldies, classic-rock or AOR radio stations. So once you get into the Beatles—as I did in fourth grade—it’s surprisingly easy to get familiar with the entire canon. This breeds familiarity which eventually can breed you-know-what, or at least make it difficult to hear those songs with new ears after x amount of years.

Now, I can think of at least one Townsperson who definitely prefers the Beach Boys. But, just as we once contemplated the ways the Kinks might be preferable in some ways to the Beatles, can we all think of ways that the Beach Boys might be better? Are, in fact, some of the preferable ways related to the weird lurking corners of the post-“Do it Again” era?

Incidentally, it’s no contest as far as my wife is concerned. She like the Beatles better, and thinks they were much more influential and significant. For example, she points out that the Beach Boys didn’t inspire male teenagers all over the world to stop cutting their hair.

Also, isn’t it funny that the battle is always “Beatles vs Stones,” rather than “Beatles vs not-Stones”? Some media narratives die extra-hard, I guess.

I look forward to your responses.

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Jul 062012
 

I’m finally getting around to watching this George Harrison documentary, having completed the first half on Independence Day. So far it’s great! I’m honestly shocked.

First of all it provides the one thing any Beatles-related documentary or book needs to provide: fresh images of my rock ‘n roll gods. I am pretty easy to please when it comes to Beatles things if I get to see new still photographs and film clips. It’s probably like the thrill some religious people get when they see a new stained-glass window depicting Jesus on the cross or whatever.

Second, the story starts by framing George square in his career with The Beatles—and it’s not from the Woe Is George perspective I was expecting. George is one of the boys, slowly developing his own perspective on the world through the band’s unique experiences. I put off watching this thing for the last year fearing that it would be produced from the perspective of the Mother’s Basement crowd, you know, those thumb-suckers who take the position that George was “screwed” all those years and that his true genius and equal standing among John and Paul finally came to the fore with the release of All Things Must Pass, including side 6’s underrated “Apple Jam.” Hey man, it’s cool that George is a hero to the quieter ones among us, but let’s be real when it comes to the balance of talent and drive within The Beatles. In part 1 of this documentary, George actually comes off better for his efforts, achievements, and examples of quiet leadership without Scorsese feeling the need to make him a victim.

A bonus delight, as far as I’m concerned, Paul McCartney has not yet come off as the glib, self-serving ass I’ve grown accustomed to seeing in these retrospectives.

I look forward to watching part 2. What did you think about this doc?

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