The Beatles, Album by Album--Let It Be

I said long ago that Let It Be was probably the most troublesome of all Beatles albums, and today I stand by that opinion. That is not to say that it's a bad album. It is just not what you'd expect from a Beatles album, and has a hard place fitting into the mythological voyage of the Beatles' career. For starters, though it was recorded chronologically before Abbey Road, it was released after that album, in 1970. Most of the recording sessions for this album were at the beginning of 1969. Going off the back-to-basics approach of much of the White Album (and as part of a trend in popular music spearheaded by Dylan's John Wesley Harding album), the Beatles wanted to record Let It Be (at this point, the LP was titled Get Back) as close as possible to being a live performance. Their rule was no overdubs or studio effects, to try to reproduce the way they used to make albums at the Abbey Road studios during the early days. As a result, much of the album is unpolished, full of studio chatter and sloppiness. I can see their desire to do this, and indeed much of the album is charming in its rustic simplicity, but coming after the majesty of Abbey Road, Let It Be feels like idyllic pastoral poetry compared to Shakespearean sonnets. While the White Album's songs rose above their simple soundscapes, much of Let It Be's tunes feel like they are unrehearsed jam sessions instead of being great songs.

Let It Be reminds me almost of the solo careers of the Beatles. George, Paul, and John all went the lo-fi route after the Panavision perfection of their Beatles' records. There is a ramshackle charm to many of their solo releases, and that is reflected in songs on here like "Two of Us" and "I've Got a Feeling." "One After 909" is their attempt to recreate classic rock & roll in the style of Chuck Berry or their own early days, and it succeeds admirably. "For You Blue" is even better. Featuring the slide guitar of John, it is George's attempt to ape the Chicago blues, and while it doesn't sound convincing at all, it's a lot of fun. "Get Back" perfectly represents throwaway fun with its pointless lyrics and jaunty keyboard solo (courtesy of Billy Preston, who was the first artist to be listed as a guest on a Beatles single).

But charming songs a great Beatles album do not make. Paul rises to the occasion amidst the squabbling of the band to deliver the one stone classic on here: "Let It Be." The album version is even better than the single, and George's solo fits in a lot more melodically with the tune and has a sense of progression that really nails you. "Let It Be" is simply gorgeous.

One of the biggest reasons for the Let It Be controversy among fans is that it is the only Beatles album to not have George Martin credited as a producer. To me, George Martin is a member of the Beatles. More than anyone else, he deserves the title of the Fifth Beatle. Anyone who disagrees is a fool. His contributions to the sound of the Beatles were just as important as the members of the band. Because the band was going for a lo-fi approach when they recorded the album, they did not use him. Unsatisfied with Glyn Johns's two mixes, the group went to Phil Spector to produce the master cut. He drenched several songs, among them "Across the Universe" and "The Long and Winding Road," in choruses and strings, breaking the no-overdubs rule. This gives the album an inconsistent sound. The studio chatter and general looseness of "For You Blue" comes right after the syrupy "The Long and Winding Road." I feel that this inconsistency in tone robs the album of any sense of unity. Although I do feel that "Across the Universe"'s Phil Spector cut is superior to the naked one that was released as a single, both it and especially "The Long and Winding Road" verge on the brink of being too sugary with the string arrangements, occasionally crossing over, but the quality of both songs manages to shine through regardless. Phil Spector is one of the greatest producers of all time, but his jarring productions were simply not suited for the Beatles.

I think this album is a unique look at the Beatles having fun and working in the studio, doing what they did best--making music. But it lacks the polish and the precision of their finest records. It serves as the soundtrack to the documentary of the same title, which was a behind-the-scenes look at how they made music in the studio. But I think ultimately we don't want to see the process, warts and all. We want to listen to their music. Not half-assed jams, but real fucking Beatles songs. Ultimately I don't need to know anything about the artist other than their art. This isn't to say that I dislike the album--I don't. But it has always been somewhat of a let-down that this was their final released album. As I said earlier, because Abbey Road was recorded afterward, I think it helps to look at that as the Beatles last LP. In any case, this is an album worth checking out, because it has its own unique charm among the Beatles records, and because there are some great moments tucked away amongst the mess (John and Paul singing two different melodies on top of each other in "I've Got a Feeling," George proclaiming that John can play the blues better than Elmore James on "For You Blue," etc.).

--Edward

Morons Unite! #2

Well, that part was easy. Looks like I've got a long night grave-digging ahead of me.

The Beatles, Album by Album--Abbey Road

Although released as their penultimate LP, Abbey Road actually consists of the final recordings the Beatles ever made together, and as such it should be viewed as their swan song and final record. Because they scrapped George Martin on Let It Be, and were dissatisfied with the initial results of that album, they put it on the shelf, recorded and released Abbey Road, and then hooked up with Phil Spector (a controversial choice, to say the least) to release Let It Be as their final LP in 1970. That's a good album, though inconsistent. But because of it lacks George Martin, it almost doesn't feel like a real Beatles album. But more on that when I write about Let It Be next.

This certainly does feel like a Beatles album. The quintessential Beatles album, perhaps. Everyone pulls out all the stops on this, since they knew it would be their final recording. Although they had been having a tremendous amount of personal friction for their past few albums, highlighted by Yoko Ono hanging around in the studio, much to the dismay of others, and John and George complaining about Paul's inheritance of the leadership mantle and perfectionism, the group came together on Abbey Road beautifully. Out of all the Beatles' albums, this is the most perfect one. In fact, you could make a strong case that it is the most perfect pop record of all time. Abandoning the metaphysical questioning of the group's adolescence in Revolver and its burgeoning adulthood in the stylistic scope of the White Album, the group finds its maturity in the musical perfection and simplicity of Abbey Road. When I think of the Beatles, I think of Mozart, because they could find the perfect turn of musical phrase, the perfect transitions from one section to another--that perfect melody. Not one note is out of place. No one else had their grasp of musical perfection, something I equate with Wolfgang. Bob Dylan to me was always the Beethoven of pop. His music dug deeper, although lacking that clean perfection of the Beatles/Mozart. It's honestly difficult for me to choose between the two worlds, and I'm not sure if I could. But I have yet to find anyone the equal of these two.

Structurally this album is perfect as well. Everything fits into its place, and the whole would be impacted for the worse if one note was moved or omitted. Each track on the first side represents its own musical world in a unique way among Beatles albums Not only are the songs different styles--they are different landscapes altogether. Though I'm not the biggest fan of the opening "Come Together," it's hard to deny its primal swamp-groove or the psychotic lyrics that are equal parts Chuck Berry and civil rights movement. Paul's bass pops on this track, like it does on the whole album. His bass-playing is at its peak on Abbey. "Something" is an impossibly gorgeous ballad by George--what Frank Sinatra has called the greatest love song of all time--and yet that unique ambivalence towards sexual love that defines George (especially his early love songs) pops up even on his sweetest ballad: "You're asking me will my love grow?/I don't know, I don't know." George always seemed to be shrugging aside romantic love in favor of communion with a higher spiritual love. "Oh! Darling" has Paul trying his hand at a classic soul song and succeeding admirably. It has the simplicity, the intensity, and the single-mindedness that makes soul songs so great. Nothing in the world is greater than soul music at showing the power of love to make one obsessed (I'm thinking "When a Man Loves a Woman" here), just like nothing in the world shows the power of love to break one's heart and spirit like country music does. Paul absolutely nails the vocals on this. "Octopus's Garden" is the Beatles' best children's song, with beautiful ringing guitars and pseudo-comic backing vocals that just work.

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is one of the finest songs by the Beatles, period. It is alternatively jazzy, sexual, haunting, hypnotic, and absolutely overpowering. Paul provides a seductive bassline over-top of John's magnetic, sexual pleas. George (I'm assuming) provides a great guitar solo in the jazzy sections, which intermingle with and ultimately fail to hold off the ringing guitar arpeggios of doom. The ending is the most visceral moment I know of in the entire Beatles canon, and perhaps in all of rock music. Listening to that on headphones with the music cranked up never fails to give me goosebumps. It must be heard to be believed. And the transition from that into "Here Comes the Sun" really showcases why the Beatles are the best rock band there is. No one--and I do mean no one--could do those two songs. George delivers another beautiful classic. The key change in the middle from minor to major never fails to make me happy. It would take a soulless person to not crack a smile there. "Because," despite talking about Earth's beauty and the connection of all life, has an otherworldly quality to it. The 9-part vocal harmonies are the most sublime moments of the album. This showcases a real sense of psychedelia. Not in a getting-high, rebelling against authorities kind of way. But in the true meaning of the word, which is an altered state of mind. The connection to the world and all of its inhabitants doesn't feel cheap, but earned in the beauty and otherness of the music.

The second side of the record consists mostly of a medley of various fragments of songs that the Beatles had been working on. With Paul's guidance and George Martin's superb production that makes this the best-sounding of all Beatles records, the medley idea somehow works and creates an inspiring, beautiful end to the Beatles' career. "Sun King" starts off side 2 with a resigned, melancholy beauty. John's song gives a sense of finality and resignation to the fate of the universe, whatever that may be. Of course, John was a notoriously moody person, and this sense of resigned beauty would sometimes be contradicted in his first solo album, Plastic Ono Band, but I think the same sound is in the ending of the climactic song of that album, "God," which, more than anything else I know of, gives a sense of closure to the Beatles, although in a very sad way. David Bowie and the other glam rockers seem to have borrowed their entire careers from "Polythene Pam" and its raw, simplistic energy. The album really starts rounding itself out with the transition from the suitably dreamy "Golden Slumbers" to the choral power of "Carry That Weight," which borrows themes from Paul's mini-suite "You Never Give Me Your Money" at the end of side 1. Effortless segueways mark much of Abbey Road, but these final ones really help give a sense of closure to the Beatles catalogue. This rousing ending climaxes in the dueling guitar solos of George, John, and Paul in "The End." Just as John's final word on the Beatles is the resigned, melancholy ending of "God," Paul's is his final lines in "The End": "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." It's really hard to put it better than that. Those lines sum up the promise of the Beatles, of the 1960's, and of an entire generation. Whether that promise lives on is entirely up to the listener. John gives his answer in "God," but I think Paul would have a totally different answer. And like I said much earlier in these commentaries, Paul and John are two heads of the same coin, of the human condition. Neither one is right or wrong, but both are essential and beautiful in their own way. But I think it's fair to say by this point in their career, the Beatles were Paul's baby, and the other members' dissatisfaction with his increasingly strong role in the group, among other things, led to their destruction. The Beatles was a beautiful dream that could never last. Like the greatest poetry, the Beatles were ephemeral.

--Edward

The Beatles, Album by Album--Yellow Submarine

Yellow Submarine is not really an official Beatles album, and probably shouldn't be judged as such, but nevertheless is part of their recorded output, so I shall discuss it briefly here. Released as the soundtrack companion to their children's movie of the same title, it contains only four new Beatles songs, thrown together with two of their previous hits and several George Martin-penned orchestra pieces. The first half are the Beatles numbers and the second half are the orchestral pieces. Because of the inconsistency of the Beatles numbers, I think I actually might prefer producer George Martin's half on this record (probably not if I count the Beatles repeats from previous albums on here--"Yellow Submarine" and "All You Need is Love"--but in terms of the new material).

The record opens with the Beatles theme for the movie--"Yellow Submarine" (George Martin's "Pepperland" theme is in fact better). We've already heard this, and believe me, nothing has changed from your childhood memory of it. Next is George's rambling, strange "Only a Northern Song," which sounds like a Sgt. Pepper outtake, and indeed most of these songs were basically unused songs from the Beatles psychedelic era. Now that they had grown out of that period with the magnificent White Album, the meandering lyrics and self-conscious musical experimentation of that period seem almost childish, and indeed probably do serve as a good soundtrack for a trippy kid's movie. I haven't seen the movie since band class in middle school, so I really have no memory how these songs worked in the movie. All I know is the song is pretty much a musical mess, full of xylophones, horns, and all kinds of randomness. "All Together Now" is next, and is a fun enough singalong tune, but it doesn't really offer much more. Still, this is a pretty good example of a fun kids song.

"Hey Bulldog" is the only real classic of the new Beatles songs. Just a fucking rocking song with a great "Lady Madonna"-like groove that works better with this song, because of the nastiness and aggression of John's lyrics and singing. I always think he says "You can't talk to me" in those great refrains, even though he sings "You can talk to me," just because he seems to sing the song with such aggression that it seems impossible that he's actually lending a hand to the person he's singing to. Great mix of both piano and guitar in it, which is seldom seen in Beatles (or any rock songs) music, and the bassline is rockin'.

"It's All Too Much" is another rambling George song. It's more of an acid rock song instead of the straight psychedelia of "Only a Northern Song," but I can't say I'm really a fan. At least it has a bit more of a melody than "Northern Song." "All You Need is Love" closes out the Beatles side, and it's as good as ever, but you already know that, don't you?

I was pleasantly surprised by George Martin's original soundtrack music for the movie. The stately "Pepperland" theme reminds me of the exquisite music of Super Mario Galaxy, which I strongly advise everyone reading this (all millions of you!) to check out. The orchestration is beautiful throughout this side. I love the way the main theme morphs from its courtly initial appearance into a lilting, beautiful melody in "Sea of Time" into the mournful dirge that we hear in some of the later tracks ("March of the Meanies" or "Pepperland Laid Waste," for instance). "Sea of Time"'s intro uses Indian instrumentation to strong effect before transferring gracefully into the traditional symphonic orchestration that George Martin seems so adept at (as I've always heard, he was classically-trained...what a great phase that is--I fucking wish I was classically-trained). "Sea of Monsters" is another one of my favorites, with some trippy wah-pedal guitar mixed with oboes in the beginning, plus the appearance of a cameo by J.S. Bach somewhere in the middle. I really love this stuff!

Anyways, worth a listen for Martin's orchestral stuff (give it a chance), and "Hey Bulldog," which really is a cool song.

--Edward

The Beatles, Album by Album--The White Album

And what we have here is perhaps my single favorite Beatles album. Along with A Hard Day's Night, Revolver, and Abbey Road, it is an album I never get tired of. While I've heard others complain that it's too bloated and that the fat could be excised to make it one disc instead of two, that defeats the purpose of The White Album for me. It is memorable because it's the first encyclopedic rock album. While Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde was rock's first double-album (and perhaps the finer record of the two), it has a unified feel. Forerunner to such albums as the Clash's Sandinista!, Prince's Sign o' the Times, and Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, The White Album (properly titled, simply, The Beatles) is brilliant in the sense that it tries to tackle everything, and while every piece of art with such a goal is going to fail, they often fail in the most spectacular of ways. Like Moby-Dick or Ulysses, The White Album drags at times (I'm looking at you, disc two), but the whole work is greater than the sum of its parts, and what we admire is the ambition itself, and with repeated listens, we wouldn't want the journey to be any shorter.

Famously, the Beatles wrote a large number of these songs while they were practicing yoga and meditation in India. The seclusion and focus on craft shows, as the songwriting has returned to its peak after the muddiness of their psychedelic era. It is nice to see them branch out as wide as they can, instead of being limited to psychedelic-sounding songs. There is a lot of ground covered in the 30 tracks here. But, aside from the stylistic variety of this album, the Beatles manage to shine through in every single track. They were always about the small details that elevated their music above their pop contemporaries, and this album is perhaps the finest showcase of that they put on record. It's impossible to name them all, but here is a list of some of the little things I absolutely love on this record:

-The gradual introduction of instruments and when that bass groove kicks in during "Dear Prudence."
-The piano fills at the end of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da."
-The flamenco guitar intro of "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill."
-Eric Clapton's guitar solos in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." They elevate an amazing song into something divine, and might be the finest solos of his career. So melodic.
-Lennon's high note at the end of "Happiness is a Warm Gun." This is probably my favorite Beatles moment outside of the vocal climax right before the coda begins in "Hey Jude."
-The harpsichord solo in "Piggies."
-Paul's wordless ab-libbing in "Rocky Raccoon." Basically I love any time he does this, but you already know that.
-Lennon's lyrics in "Yer Blues." He strips the blues to their suicidal essence (and you know I love the Dylan reference).
-The off-kilter piano intro to the loopy and, indeed, sexy "Sexy Sadie."
-The 1930's instrumentation in "Honey Pie."
-The jazz-lounge sound of the electric organ in "Savoy Truffle."

This also has my favorite Beatles sequence on record: from "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" to "I'm So Tired." It is the equivalent of the sequence from "Visions of Johanna" to "Stuck Inside of Memphis with the Mobile Blues Again" on Blonde on Blonde. We take a journey through the absurd, slightly malevolent whimsy of John's children's song "Bungalow Bill" (weren't all of his children's songs somewhat malevolent? At least most of them....) to the power and gravitas of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Happiness is a Warm Gun," to "Martha My Dear" and "I'm Only Tired," which both showcase perfectly their creators' personalities (Paul and John, respectively). But I'm sure everyone has a different favorite sequence on here. That is part of the fun of this record. It has something for everyone.

To me, this record sounds like the Beatles rediscovering the joy of music itself, instead of the over-intellectualizing of it. Their experimentation with abstraction and the intellectual power of music to me hit its peak in the diamond-like clarity of Revolver, and then digressed into the above-mentioned muddiness of the 1967 psychedelic period. Here the Beatles rediscover the adrenaline rush of the sound of music itself, of playing together as a group. They have a bluesier, more unified instrumental sound on this album, discarding the excesses of Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour, in the process transforming themselves into the best rock band in the world. Tracks like "Glass Onion," "I'm So Tired," and "Sexy Sadie" all have a powerful groove to them that was lacking from the previous albums. And it's hard to talk about their power as a rock band without mentioning "Helter Skelter," which became the heaviest song in the world on top of Ringo's crashing cymbals and the relentless buzz-saw guitar in the background. Beating out contemporaries such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Who, and Cream, the Beatles proved they could be the heaviest band in the world before Black Sabbath if they so chose to. But of course, they had other things on their mind. Paul details the chaos, confusion, and ultimately the collapse of society in the lyrics--the total opposite of songs like "All You Need is Love."

On the flip-side, this album is also chock-full of acoustic ballads, showing the influence of their genesis in studio-free India. "Dear Prudence," "Blackbird," and "Mother Nature's Son" are all beautiful, among others. While I think "I Will" is too much of a precursor of Paul's later sappy ballads as a solo artist, because it's missing the melodic sophistication of a song like "Here, There and Everywhere," it is nonetheless a pretty song in its own right.

Harrison finally proves himself with a stone-cold classic in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." His yearning vocals on this are absolutely beautiful. Supposedly he came up with this song by randomly flipping through a book (the Tao Te Ching?) and landing upon the phrase "gently weeps." His other songs on here ("Piggies," "Long, Long, Long," and "Savoy Truffle") are all interesting in their own way (and radically different), but none come close to the majesty of what is easily a top ten Beatles song (along with "Happiness is a Warm Gun" from this album). Ringo even contributes his only completely self-penned number with "Don't Pass Me By," which isn't half-bad.

Finally we are left with "Revolution 9," a track many of us long to wish away. But the fact remains that it's there and we need to confront it. Eight minutes and twenty-three seconds of audio clips and various studio effects form a sonic collage that remains impossible to completely unravel, as I'm sure was the intent. Obviously influenced by Yoko Ono's avant-garde sound experiments, John created an incredibly dense and puzzling piece that has different meanings for every person who listens to it (and even attempts to brood on it, which I'm sure most don't). At first to me it represented either a day in the life of a person (a la Ulysses or the Beatles' very own "A Day in the Life") or a portrait of one person's entire life, but in recent listens (and based upon the title) I have decided that it's far more of a social than a personal piece. Other than the repetition of the number nine throughout, the one thing that remains constant is the sound of people, lots of people. Just as "Revolution" (and its brother on this album, "Revolution 1") deals with the complexities of revolution and social change, the mournful tone and the sounds of violence in "Revolution 9" seem to both foreshadow revolution and also prophesize that ultimately nothing will ever change. Still, this kind of thing has no place on a Beatles record. Let's be honest.

The emergence at the end of the 1960s of the Beatles sounding like a rock group that could tackle anything, with both a sense of humor and an incredible earnestness, shows the creative peak of a group that you can listen to grow up through their musical career, through the progress of their studio albums. It is ironic that they hadn't sounded this unified as a musical group in years, considering that this is the album where the band began to experience an irrevocable personal rift. But that only goes to show that art and the personal lives of its creators are two completely different things.

--Edward

Screw You Guys, I'm Going Home

Morons Unite! #1

I'm fairly certain I turned off the oven. Yeah, of course I did. At least I usually do, so why not this time?

Frisbee, 1988, Records, Dreams, Guts.

Requiem for an Orange

Swimming in My Favorite Music Videos: "Nighttiming" and "West Coast"

Time for another video/song combo!

This one is from the actor Jason Schwartzman's band, Coconut Records, and I believe this a fan-made video for the song, "Nighttiming". Well actually I'm going to include the music video for "West Coast" also by Coconut Records, although I think that will actually be the official video. Both capture joy and freedom and fun and are catchy to boot. Whatmorecouldyaaskfor?!

Coconut Records - "Nighttiming"



Coconut Records - "West Coast"