So I'm in my car with the iPod in it's "shuffle" mode and my musical mindset is not jivin' with what's shufflin'. I'm fast forwarding so much I almost run off the road and then "Help" by the Beatles comes on and I stop my finger twitching long enough to listen.
I mean really listen.
I enjoy it so much that I stop the random shuffle and go directly to a Beatles mix that I created when I first got my iPod a couple of years ago that, albeit very edited, lists selected tracks from this amazing group in chronological order.
I mean, MY GOD, was there ever a band that evolved so fast in so little a time frame and will there ever be another? Everyone reading this knows the answer to that question. If you don't then you're either a Menonite or a deaf mute. Just listen to Love Me Do, Paperback Writer, Tomorrow Never Knows, A Day In The Life, Helter Skelter and Hey jude all in a row sometime. It's freakin' evil that's afoot, I'm tellin' ya!
Was it the competition between McCartney and Lennon (and George and Ringo to a lesser extent), or was it something else? Was it George Martin's production? A combination of all the above coupled with excellent timing?
What did these four lads have to sign over to the devil in order to become...well...what they became?
I don't know and quite frankly I don't care, but what I do know for certain is that I don't make a point to listen to them nearly enough. That's possibly due to the fact that I am so ubber familiar with their body of work that it slips my mind. It's tough to really appreciate their influence and brilliance when you've heard it so many times, but every once in a while I can pretend that I've never heard the White Album and be absolutely blown away.
Again.
4 hours ago
6 comments:
word.
I still can't believe that I once heard Michael Stipe refer to the Beatles as "elevator music."
Michael Stipe said that. Michael F*CKING STIPE? The monotonous singer of the band whose albums I cannot listen to in full because they are so damn monotonous? I'm stunned.
Anyway, Uncle E, now that you have your Beatles groove on, can I interest you in the mixes of b-sides and album tracks I banged together a few months ago (with a little help from my son)?
As for your question about how they managed to evolve so rapidly, I reckon that they were active in a time of rapid evolution, when there were fewer preconceived notions. When George brought in the sitar, it was groundbreaking. When Sting brings out the lyre (or whatever it was), it's pretentious. So there was greater freedom to experiment. And, of course, they had the talent and the guidance of George Martin, with his classical background.
You can see a rapid development in other acts of the day, too. Say the Beach Boys, obviously, or the Byrds (though they benefited in that respect from turnover in membership).
That's the incomplete answer anyway.
The dude speaketh truth.
I had a similar epiphany myself recently, Unc, listening to "She Loves You." It wasn't even ON my iTunes, because my (huge) Beatles folder there is crammed with deeper album tracks and the entire White Album and all the artsier side of the Beatles. And then out of left field I hear "She loves you, yeah yeah yeah" and an entire pinball machine goes off in my head.
There is absolutely no explaining how good this music is, or why. IT JUST IS.
So right...I rediscover them every single day
x
You cant beat the old stuff it was so inventive led zeppelin, pink floyd, genesis the doors etc. It so exciting to hear it again.. If you dont listen for few months it sound fresh again particularly in the car when you can listen on your own
Post a Comment