Paul McCartney Live

 

I guess my writer’s block has cleared up briefly due recent circumstances being sufficient inspiration, e.g. seeing Paul McCartney live for the first time.

Lots of us are Beatles fans.  My recollection is that some time after moving to Paris in January 1979, and John Lennon’s death in December 1980, I got the Red Album (1962-66) and Blue Album (1967-70), though listening to them in reverse order.  Then my parents got me the US albums – on my own insistence – rather than me being sensible and simply going down to FNAC and getting the British versions sold in Europe.  We were in the Four Seasons (lawn & garden + toy store) section of the PX in SHAPE, Belgium, in December 1980 when we heard over the PA, by AFN Radio, that John Lennon had been shot in NYC.  That conclusively ended any chance of a Beatles reunion.

Having been born in 1969, clearly I was not in a position to see the band live from 1963-1966; in fact I was born during their Let It Be sessions in January 1969.  I started seeing concerts in Paris at age 15, in October 1984.  Of the four Beatles, Paul McCartney was the only one to tour consistently from their breakup in September 1969 to the present.  Over all that time I never managed to see him in concert – until now.  Thanks to my brother Matt for taking me with him to the show at Camden Yards in Baltimore, the home of the Baltimore Orioles.

McCartney’s current band, which has been together for over 20 years, consists of Rusty Anderson (guitars), Brian Ray (bass & guitar, depending on which McCartney happens to be playing on a song), Wix Wickens (keyboards), and Abe Laboriel, Jr. (drums).  They all did their jobs competently enough – as you would expect – and none came close to stealing the limelight from McCartney himself.  Ray bears a remarkable resemblance to GNR bassist Duff McKagan. 

The entire live show, from start to finish, was approximately 3 hours, from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., including the encore.  40% of the set (15 of 37 songs), mostly in the first half of the show, was McCartney’s solo material.  I suppose we’re in awe of his talent, but it seems that without the benefit of John Lennon’s participation and feedback, his solo material falls well short of the quality of his material with the Beatles.  I never did collect his solo albums, as even the “greatest hits” (“Live and Let Die”, “Jet”, “Let Me Roll It”, “Band On the Run”, “Maybe I’m Amazed”, etc.), ostensibly his strongest solo material, didn’t impress me.   The same holds for John, George and Ringo.  Even All Things Must Pass, often lauded as the best solo album by any of them, fell flat for me.  I want to like all these songs, but I can’t.   From the audience reaction during the show – mass exodus to the bathrooms and concessions during the solo songs – I can tell I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.   And it certainly didn’t escape the attention of McCartney himself.  Basically he told the audience, “whatever, I’m going to play whatever I want.”  While he doesn’t hide the fact that he was in the Beatles – he’s certainly proud of it, and rightfully so – he does want us to know that this is a Paul McCartney concert.  That being the case, however, he knows as well as I do, that if his set was 100% solo material with a few Beatles songs played in the encore, he wouldn’t be filling up Camden Yards, he’d be lucky to sell out Royal Farms Arena a few blocks away.  Sorry, Paul. 

I recall in 1988 or so, Roger Waters was on Howard Stern’s show.  His own Radio Kaos tour struggled to fill small clubs, while his erstwhile comrades in Pink Floyd were filling stadiums playing Pink Floyd material.  Stern pointed this out, much to Waters’ annoyance; certainly Waters himself was well aware of this, even if he may have been too proud to admit it.  Nowadays Waters has no trouble playing stadiums – playing Pink Floyd material.   He wouldn’t do so if he insisted on a set of predominantly solo material.  As much as he downplays the roles Gilmour, Mason and Wright played in making Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall, his solo material comes nowhere close to that level – for that matter, neither does The Final Cut, the last Pink Floyd album the four of them recorded, which Gilmour describes as a de facto Roger Waters solo album.  Likewise, the Beatles were a case of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.  Removing Lennon from the equation was bound to impact the quality of the material, as much as McCartney’s pride might demand otherwise.  Of course, the same holds true for Lennon’s solo material.  Yoko Ono isn’t nearly as capable a co-composer as Paul McCartney, is she?  Somehow I doubt Yoko herself would make that claim.

Be that was it may, McCartney is astute enough to recognize that most of the audience were too young to see the Beatles play live.  He also knows that the Beatles’ strongest material, from Sgt. Pepper through Abbey Road, was never played live by the band itself – except that rooftop rehearsal in London on January 30, 1969.  So we got material from Sgt Pepper, The White Album, Abbey Road, Let It Be, and a few older songs thrown in like “In Spite of All The Danger”, “Love Me Do”, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, and his homage to cannabis, “Got To Get You Into My Life”, though compared to Black Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf”, the connection to MJ is by no means apparent by the lyrics.   If he didn’t tell us it was about MJ I’d have no hope of guessing that on my own.  Imagine what the far more direct and in-your-face Lennon would have written if he had the same goal. 

Ringo himself is touring with his All-Star Band, so he can play his own Beatles songs himself.  John and George are no longer with us.  Naturally McCartney was going to play the Beatles songs he wrote and sang himself, but he gave us a few tributes.  For George it was “Something”, started off on ukulele, and fortunately continued on electric guitar.  For John it was “Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite”, and then a “sing along” thanks to Peter Jackson, of “I’ve Got A Feeling”, using John’s isolated vocals from the rooftop concert.  So again, I appreciate that for all his pride in his own solo material, ultimately McCartney knows and accepts that we came here to hear the closest thing to a Beatles concert any of us are likely to experience.  And that was more than good enough.

And he played “Helter Skelter”.  And there was much rejoicing…

Setlist:  Can’t Buy Me Love; Junior’s Farm; Letting Go; Got to Get You Into My Life; Come On to Me; Let Me Roll it; Getting Better; Let ‘Em In; My Valentine; Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five; Maybe I’m Amazed; I’ve Just Seen A Face; In Spite of All the Danger; Love Me Do; Dance Tonight; Blackbird; Here Today; New; Lady Madonna; Fuh You; Jet; Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite; Something; Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da; You Never Give Me Your Money >> She Came In Through the Bathroom Window; Get Back; Band on the Run; Let it Be; Live and Let Die; Hey Jude;

Encore: I’ve Got A Feeling; Birthday; Helter Skelter; Golden Slumbers >> Carry That Weight >> The End.

Of these 37 songs, 15 were solo songs and 22 were Beatles songs.  I could probably name 15 John Lennon and George Harrison Beatles songs to replace them, and McCartney would be privileged to respond, “very well, make up your own playlist of the 37 Beatles songs you might want to hear in concert - and stay at home and listen to it.  This is a Paul McCartney concert, not a Beatles concert.”  Ok, fine.  So I’ll pick 15 Beatles/McCartney songs which could sub in for those solo songs:

The Long & Winding Road; Maxwell’s Silver Hammer; Back in the USSR; Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except for Me and My Monkey; She’s Leaving Home; Eleanor Rigby; I Saw Her Standing There; All My Loving; And I Love Her; Yesterday; The Night Before; Michelle; Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band; Rocky Raccoon; Paperback Writer

Mind you, these aren’t all of the McCartney songs, only my favorites.  But I would put any of them against “Live And Let Die” or any other solo song.  Moreover, many of these were in fact played by him in concert on earlier tours, meaning they filled in a setlist slot which would otherwise be a solo song.  Am I fussing too much?  Do I want to see the manager?  Nope.  I enjoyed the concert – and giving me “Helter Skelter” erased any inclination to complain to McCartney himself.    

In any case McCartney will turn 80 on June 18.  So far as I could tell, he looked spry.  He could move along, play the guitar, bass, mandolin, ukulele, keyboard and piano with no trouble.  He can also still sing.  He knew who and where he was (Baltimore) and had plenty of clever, cheeky comments to make, even a story about Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton (kids in the audience: “Jimmy who?”).   I dare say if he couldn’t perform, he wouldn’t still be touring, but we’re seeing borderline cases.  Phil Collins was having issues.  I saw the Moody Blues a few years ago, and they had a second drummer in addition to Graeme Edge on stage, who was clearly doing the heavy lifting.  Charlie Watts is gone, as is Bill Wyman, leaving Mick & Keith as the only original Stones left (though Ron Wood has been with the band since the mid-70s, far longer than Brian Jones and Mick Taylor combined).  Who knows, however, how much longer McCartney has before he needs to retire for good.  So it’s good we saw him while he’s still up and running.  Amen!

Get Back

 

I finished watching “Get Back”, the three episode documentary miniseries by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, broadcast on Disney+ Channel over the Thanksgiving weekend.  I followed that up with listening to Let It Be…Naked and watching my pirate DVD copy of ”Let It Be”, the movie. 

First, a timeline of the End of the Beatles, 1968-1970.

November 22, 1968, saw release of the self-titled double album, better known as the White Album.  Beyond Sgt Pepper, the White Album is my favorite Beatles album, which I’ve already blogged about.  But the Beatles weren’t done yet: they had not one but TWO more albums in store for us. 

December 11-12, 1968.  Rolling Stones Rock N’Roll Circus.  Recorded then but not commercially released until 1996.  The story is the Stones were upset that their performance was exceeded by the other bands.  Jethro Tull performed "A Song For Jeffrey”, with Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi wearing a hat and playing a left handed Stratocaster.  The Who performed “A Quick One”.  Then the Stones themselves, still with Brian Jones, playing a set heavily laden with songs from Beggars’ Banquet, the last Stones album with Brian Jones.  Set:  Jumping Jack Flash; Parachute Woman; No Expectations; You Can’t Always Get What You Want; Sympathy For the Devil, plus Salt of the Earth as the outro music.   My subjective impression is that the Stones held their own with everyone, including The Who.

The Beatles angle is that John Lennon and Yoko Ono participated in this, teaming up with Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Mitch Mitchell for a one-off band called Dirty Mac, playing “Yer Blues” – for which Clapton doesn’t come close to the impressive studio solo - and “Whole Lotta Yoko”, quickly forgotten.  Moreover, the entire premise inspired the “Let It Be” project.  Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who directed this, also directed the “Let It Be” project the following month. 

January 13, 1969.  Yellow Submarine soundtrack album came out the month later.  The first side was simply outtakes, (“Only A Northern Song”, “All Together Now”, “Hey Bulldog” and “It’s All Too Much”) combined with the title track, which had originally appeared on Revolver (1966).   The second side was George Martin’s classical music soundtrack to the movie.  As a result, no recording sessions existed (or were necessary) for this album. 

January 8-30, 1969.  Let It Be recording sessions, ending in the rooftop concert on January 30.  The plan was for the band to rehearse and write the next album on film, under the looking glass, and perform the finished album live somewhere. 

Part 1.  Twickenham.  The first attempt was made on a soundstage at Twickenham film studios.  This was a large, cold and bleak room - and not a recording studio.  The band was surrounded by cameras and didn’t appear comfortable, though surprisingly they did get some work done.

Part 2.  Apple studio.  George Harrison quit the band abruptly, only persuaded to return by the collective agreement to move the whole business to the Apple recording studio - in the basement of the Apple offices, in downtown London - where it belonged, albeit still being filmed.  Billy Preston stopped by and helped out on keyboards, his presence truly bringing a smile to everyone and supercharging their productivity.  Overall the band seemed to work much better in the studio.  As before, they had the benefit of George Martin's assistance, although by this time the band was far more accomplished, and the intentionally bare bones recording effort made his expertise less crucial than it had been earlier.  

Part 3. Rooftop concert.  As to where the final concert would occur, different ideas – some more practical than others – were discussed.  An outdoor show in Libya seemed to be the most ambitious choice, but we all know the band eventually wound up performing on the roof of the building itself on January 30.  They didn’t play the entire album, from start to finish, and repeated some songs more than once.   As such it's more a live rehearsal of mostly finished songs than a true concert, especially since the only "audience" on the roof itself, aside from the band and their associates, were the handful of London policemen there to shut the whole thing down....eventually. Setlist:  Get Back (First Take), Get Back (Second Take), Don’t Let Me Down (First Take), I’ve Got A Feeling (First Take), One After 909, Dig A Pony, I've Got A Feeling (Second Take), Don’t Let Me Down (Second Take), Get Back (Third Take).  Of these, “I’ve Got A Feeling” (first take), “One After 909” and “Dig A Pony” as performed and recorded on this occasion wound up on the Let It Be album. 

July 2 – August 20, 1969.  Abbey Road studio sessions.  Much of the material was developed while working on Let It Be in January.  In late February and early May, more work was done, with the final sessions occurring between July 2 and August 20, 1969.  Those were at Abbey Road Studio, also in London, and not the Apple Studio.  In fact, that studio was somewhat hastily put together, and in 1971 it was refurbished to more modern specifications by Geoff Emerick.  As for Abbey Road Studio itself, formerly EMI Studio, it was where not only Abbey Road (after which it was renamed) was recorded in summer 1969, but also Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and both Piper At the Gates of Dawn (recorded at the same time as Sgt Pepper) but also Dark Side of the Moon, by Pink Floyd, of course, and can thus be seen during the studio sequences of “Live at Pompeii”.   For that matter, Alan Parsons worked on Let It Be, Abbey Road, and Dark Side of the Moon  [Another little fact:  McCartney’s long time girlfriend Jane Asher married Gerald Scarfe, who did the animation for “Pink Floyd The Wall”]. 

August 22, 1969.  Tittenhurst park photo session, two days after the album’s recording was completed.  By this time Lennon has a full beard, George and Ringo have beards instead of mustaches, and Paul, the only one in January 1969 with a beard, is clean shaven.  The pictures from this session wound up on Hey Jude, a Capital records collection of the later B-sides which eventually wound up on Past Masters Vol 2. 

September 14-16, 1969.  Last meeting of the Beatles together.  They bickered back and forth.  On September 20, they met again, minus George, who was out of town.  John announced he was leaving the band, effectively disbanding the Beatles.

September 26, 1969.  Abbey Road released.

January 3, 1970.   Paul, George and Ringo had one last recording session, working on “I Me Mine”.  John was in Denmark with Yoko.  This marks the final end to the band. 

May 1970.  Let It Be released.   Phil Spector took the tapes and gave us the album as we know it, doing so without any input from the band, after it had effectively disbanded.  Until Let It Be…Naked came out much later, this was our main way of thinking of these last songs. 

In addition to the album, the movie documentary was also released at the same time.  It comes in at around an hour and a half.  It was released on VHS in the 80s, but never officially released on DVD – so my copy in that format is a bootleg.  After watching all three episodes of “Get Back”, I watched this again.  An hour and 20 minutes, it starts with the Twickenham sessions (January 8) and ends with the rooftop concert (January 30).  The time period of the movie (January 8-30, 1969) is covered again in the “Get Back” documentary.   

November 2003.  Let It Be…Naked is released.   This stripped off the Phil Spector overproduction, removed “Dig It” and “Maggie Mae”, added “Don’t Let Me Down” (recorded during the Let It Be sesssions but omitted by Spector from the final product – it wound up as a B-side to “Get Back”), and changed the running order of the songs.  The CD has a second disc which strings together audio portions, both music and dialogue. 

Soundwise, I have no preference between the two, and actually like the so-called “overproduction” on some of these songs, even if it does betray the original intent of the band to keep it simple and straightforward.  In terms of song selection, I prefer the Naked version. 

When the dust clears, we find the ultimate result of the Let It Be Project turned out to be the following:  A free rooftop concert in London on January 30, 1969; the Abbey Road album, released in September 1969; the Let it Be album, released in May 1970; the “Let It Be” movie, released decades later on VHS; Let It Be…Naked, released in 2003; and this “Get Back” documentary, albeit not by the band itself. 

Peter Jackson Get Back documentary.  Here are my observations on that.

Far better visual quality than the “Let It Be” movie, though that’s not surprising – my basis for comparison was a DVD copied from VHS.  But here we can see all four of them, the instruments they’re playing, the skin on their faces, the hair on their heads, etc.  It’s like night and day.

Of course, it’s much longer, each of three episodes far longer than the 1.5 hours of the original film:  a total of 468 minutes – 4 hours and 48 minutes, just short of 5 hours.  But the captions explain what’s going on, tracking progress on a day by day basis, from January 8 through January 31 (a brief wrap up after the rooftop concert) whereas the 1970 movie simply transitions from soundstage to studio abruptly – and back again, really just compiling everything together in a continuous array of sequences with no captions or explanations.  The linear structure is yet another major benefit of the “Get Back” documentary.

Dig It.  Part of a much longer jam session in the studio with Billy Preston.  The part which wound up on the album was the least interesting part of the whole thing. 

Yoko not a problem.  From what I could see, she simply sat next to John and kept her mouth shut.  If this was modern day she would be on her cell phone nonstop Twittering away.  I didn’t see her telling John or the others what to do, though obviously we’re not privy to their private conversations.  Moreover, Yoko’s permission was required to make this whole thing work, and there were more than 50 hours which were not included. 

Heather & Linda.  American accents!  Amusing to hear them speak.  Heather was very cute – especially surprising Ringo on the drums. 

Paul.  Mainly he’s using his Hofner bass (left handed, of course).  When he’s on the piano, bass is handled on a (right handed) Fender Bass VI by John or George.  I was surprised to see John and George on the piano, instead of just Paul.  John seems to play his Epiphone Casino (white) exclusively. 

George’s guitars.   Red 1957 Gibson Les Paul Standard ("Lucy").   Rosewood Fender Telecaster.  MMT-painted 1961 Fender Stratocaster.  No sign of his 1964 Gibson SG. 

Amps.  All Fender, including some Twin Reverbs.  Since they were new amps, they are the late 60s CBS era silverface.  There’s also the hammer and anvil for “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”.

Fifth Beatle.  This has been going on for ages.  Billy Preston (guest keyboardist on Let It Be) and George Martin (longtime producer) have strong advocates for the position.  My own take is that only Stuart Sutcliffe, bassist back in the Hamburg days, has a compelling case for being the “fifth” Beatle, as reluctant as he may have been.  John’s explicit assertion to the contrary notwithstanding, although Preston did play with them in the studio AND upstairs on the roof, and he was part of the Abbey road sessions in July and August for “Something” and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, the band broke up in September anyway.  He’s as much a “fifth Beatle” as Admiral Karl Donitz was the Fuhrer of the Third Reich.   George Martin has as strong a case, but he was the producer.  Was Terry Brown the “Fourth Rush”?  Sandy Pearlman the Sixth Blue Oyster Cultist?  Martin Birch the Sixth Maiden?  Including a producer as a band member, no matter how important, seems a stretch.  For that matter, make Brian Epstein the Fifth Beatle, or Peter Grant the Fifth Zeppelin.  Enough already. 

Rooftop show.   During normal business hours, so the stock brokers and solicitors on the street below could hear and complain.  Note:  we take all these songs for granted, but since Let It Be wasn’t released until May 1970, this was the first anyone outside the band would have heard these songs.  It’s remarkable how many people down on the street, hearing but not seeing could still recognize it as the Beatles making this music/noise.  Noise complaints from Stones fans below brought the police on the scene, but to Ringo's dismay, no one was arrested.

Much of Abbey Road written during these sessions, albeit initial versions, fleshed out more during the later sessions in July and August.  It looks like they wound up with multiple recordings of the different Let It Be songs, plus the live recording of the rooftop show. 

The band was splitting apart but still able to operate together, albeit more so when shifted over to the recording studio instead of the Twickenham soundstage.   They screw around fairly often but still manage to get work done. 

Speculation.  I don’t care to discuss why the band broke up, an issue which became moot when John was shot in New York City in December 1980.  Same deal with “what if they continued,” “what if they just took a break and got back later”, etc. etc.  As for their solo careers, I’ve only heard All Things Must Pass, “Imagine” & “Give Peace A Chance”, and the first disc of McCartney’s recent Citifield show (Good Evening New York City) (2009), which is 90% solo material, presumably the strongest of his work from McCartney (first solo album) through Memory Almost Full (2007).  None of that comes close to the Beatles’ material together as a band.  Lennon & McCartney, as well as George and Ringo, no longer enjoyed the benefit of each other’s input and assistance when writing their solo material.  This was one band where the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. 

The Beatles

 

Another early blog topic.  The prior time I compared them to KISS, though the most pertinent comparison therein is the format of the band.  The main singer-songwriters are the bassist (Paul McCartney & Gene Simmons) and rhythm guitarist (John Lennon and Paul Stanley), followed by the lead guitarist (George Harrison and Ace Frehley), with the drummer at the bottom (Ringo Starr and Peter Criss).  That’s about it, and not worth an entire blog, whereas the Beatles by themselves certainly deserve one.

 Paul McCartney (bass/guitar/piano/drums & vocals).  Arguably the most handsome and versatile, “Macca” was far more congenial than Lennon.  “Yesterday” and “Let It Be” were Paul’s songs, but he also gave us “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road” and “Helter Skelter”, an amazingly heavy song for which the Stones have nothing remotely comparable.  He’s still alive (bizarre rumors to the contrary notwithstanding) and making music – I’d like to see him live if I get the chance.

 John Lennon (rhythm guitar & vocals).  Lennon was famous for being outspoken, he couldn’t be bothered with anything like tact or diplomacy.  Leave it to John to pose naked with Yoko Ono for “Two Virgins”.  He also openly criticized Elvis for his support for the Vietnam War when the two met up.  He and Yoko Ono moved to NYC in the mid 70s, living in the Dakota, an apartment building on Central Park West (Eighth Avenue as it shoots north from Columbus Circle along Central Park).  Visiting NYC in June 2009, I took a brief visit outside where Lennon was shot in December 1980.  RIP.

 George Harrison (lead guitar & vocals).   The most spiritual of the four, it was George who embraced Eastern mysticism and learned the sitar.  As a kid growing up, I couldn’t endure his more Indian-flavored songs like “Love You To” and “Within Without You”, but as an adult I can enjoy both, and I also enjoy his solo album Wonderwall.  He died of cancer in 2004. 

 Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) (drums & vocals).   Down to earth and reliable, the shortest and least attractive, but despite this he could keep a positive attitude.  As noted above, solid enough at timekeeping that the band didn’t need a click track.   Ringo still appears in public now and then, touring occasionally. 

 Honorable Mentions:  Stuart Sutcliffe, Pete Best & George Martin.  SS was the original bass player, the band being a five piece with him and McCartney playing guitar.  The story was that he was a fellow art student and Lennon persuaded him to join, against his own preferences.   He decided to remain in Hamburg, McCartney switched to bass, and the Beatles became a four piece.  Then SS died shortly after the Beatles returned to England. 

 Pete Best was the prior drummer before Ringo Starr.  He wasn’t nearly as good a drummer as the rest of the band members were at their instruments, and Starr was known for being extremely reliable.  Starr had been the drummer for Rory Storme & the Hurricanes, the Beatles’ closest competitor in Liverpool.  Best himself declined to take up drums with the Hurricanes and never played for another band.  Summer 1962 was when Starr took over from Best.

 George Martin.  Often considered the fifth Beatle, their producer had no background with pop and rock bands before taking that role.  But he found them amazingly intelligent and innovative, pushing the envelope of what was possible in the studio.  In him they found a sympathetic and competent producer willing to grow along with them, helping them realize their ideas instead of simply insisting that “it can’t be done” or “(oh) you can’t do that”. 

 Hamburg.  One of Germany’s largest cities and an infamous port town with an equally famous red light district, the Reeperbahn.  As late as the late 60s, other British bands, most notably Black Sabbath, also did the Hamburg circuit.  The bands played multiple sets a night for bored sailors and prostitutes, so the experience was very much a musical boot camp for the bands who endured the scene – practically every band who did so came back to England much improved.  Note that the Stones, who were from London, did not do the Hamburg scene. 

Brian Epstein.  Their ill-fated manager.  He helped them out at the beginning, but as the band got more successful, his role became marginalized.  By 1967 he was scarcely there.  It's possible had he not died of a heroin overdose - the band learned of his death while visiting India - they may have steered away from Magical Mystery Tour, or their Apple company.  Sid Bernstein, the American promoter who brought them to the US in 1964, remarked that their entire agreement was oral, not written, and that no lawyers were involved:  an arrangement unthinkable in modern times.  

Ed Sullivan.  The first show was the most important, of course:  February 9, 1964.  For Americans, this was their first glimpse of the band who had already taken the UK by storm.  At this show they played "All My Loving", "Till There Was You", "She Loves" you, followed by "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand".  But they played three more times:  February 16, 1964 ("She Loves You", "This Boy", "All My Loving", "I Saw Her Standing There", "From Me To You", and "I Want To Hold Your Hand"), February 23, 1964 ("Twist And Shout", Please Please Me", and "I Want To Hold Your Hand"), and a later show on September 12, 1965 ("I Feel Fine", "I'm Down", "Act Naturally", "Ticket To Ride", "Yesterday", and "Help").  It's interesting that the band, having been greatly promoted by Sullivan on the rise in 1964, repaid the favor with the 1965 show after they were already well established.

 US vs. UK/Europe.  Up until Revolver, there were separate US releases with different songs, and some songs which were singles only in one market wound up on regular albums in another.  The Beatles put out so many non-album singles that two full CDs worth of songs, Past Masters 1 & 2, exist.  Growing up in Paris, I did the idiotic thing of insisting on getting the US versions instead of simply buying the European ones in the local record store (FNAC).  When albums were released on CD, the UK versions were the ones they used, only releasing US version CDs years later.  By now I’m conditioned to the UK versions and no longer even pay attention to the US ones. 

 Albums.

Please, Please Me (March 1963).  The first, in 1963.  Half covers, the standout tracks being “Twist and Shout” and “Please Please Me”. 

 With The Beatles (November 1963).  Continuing the development, the ratio of originals to covers rising.  My favorites are “All My Loving” and “Please Mr. Postman”.

 A Hard Day’s Night (July 1964).  Ostensibly the soundtrack album for their first movie, with side two being more songs which were not in the movie – of comparable quality.  No covers at all. 

 For Sale (December 1964).   “Baby’s In Black” and “Rock’n’Roll Music” (Chuck Berry) are my favorites, but I’d count this as my least favorite album. 

 Help! (August 1965).   Ostensibly the soundtrack album for the second movie. The US version had instrumental pieces from the movie itself, with less tracks.  Here’s one area where the UK version was much better.  “The Night Before”, “Ticket To Ride”, and “Yesterday” are my favorites. 

 Rubber Soul (December 1965).  The songs are getting darker and more complex.  “You Won’t See Me”, “Nowhere Man”, “Girl”, and “in My Life” are my favorites.  

 Revolver (August 1966).  As noted, the last album where the US and UK versions are different.  It was also the last album for which they toured.  It’s capped off with one of my favorite songs, “Tomorrow Never Knows”.

 Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (May 1967).  The Beatles quit touring and put this together, blowing everyone’s minds.  The Stones’ response, Their Satanic Majesties’ Request, comes nowhere close.  Itself a response to the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson couldn’t top this – and had a nervous breakdown.  His own tentative response, Smile, was only released decades later and still doesn’t come close.  Capped off with “A Day in the Life”, a masterpiece from start to finish.  Incidentally, Pink Floyd recorded their first album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, with Syd Barrett, next door at Abbey Road Studios at the same time the Beatles were working on Sgt. Pepper.

 Magical Mystery Tour (November 1967).  Another soundtrack album, with the second side being singles, “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” (actually recorded before Sgt. Pepper) and more. 

 The Beatles (self-titled), better known as the White Album (November 1968).  A double studio album, and my own favorite thanks to “Helter Skelter” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”.  I could do without “Wild Honey Pie” and “Revolution #9”.  The latter is more a psychedelic mix of noises and sound effects with no discernable melody or rhythm.   When our school took a trip to the USSR (Kiev, Moscow and Leningrad) in March 1983, we sang along to these tunes in our hotel room in Kiev, including “Back in the USSR” and “Rocky Raccoon”.  Oddly, McCartney wrote the former song without having visited Russia – which only happened in 2003 [When Paul McCartney lived out his Russian dream - Russia Beyond (rbth.com)], and it was no longer the USSR by then.  It was awhile before I ever listened to side 4. 

 Yellow Submarine (January 1969 – right around the time of my birthday).  Third soundtrack album, the second side being exclusively instrumental background music done by George Martin.  “Only A Northern Song” and “Hey Bulldog” are still awesome songs.

 Let It Be (May 1970).  Recorded before Abbey Road but released after.  That puts us in the position of trying to decide in which order to put them; at first I ordered them by release, but later decided that Abbey Road should be last, for reasons noted below.  After all the studio tricks of the prior albums, the band decided to return to their roots with a bare bones album.  Then they put it on the shelf and recorded Abbey Road, and Phil Spector took over producing it in their absence to finally release it.  Let It Be Naked is a more recent version, ostensibly intended to bring it back to where it should be, also including “Don’t Let Me Down”.  

 Abbey Road (September 1969).  The last album recorded.  Side two runs most of the songs together to “The End”.  George gives us “Something”, and John gives us “Come Together”.  “I Want You/She’s So Heavy” is even DOOM, believe it or not.  The Beatles go out with a bang. 

 Past Masters 1 & 2.  As noted earlier, the band had so many singles which didn’t end up on albums, these two wound up collecting them all together.   “Hey Jude”, “Rain”, “Paperback Writer” and “Revolution” are here.

 Hollywood Bowl.  The band’s only live album, marred by such massive crowd noise of screaming girls that no one considered it more than a de facto bootleg.  I have the original vinyl (rough quality) and the more recent CD reissue, which pulls the band's contribution well above the crowd noise - and even listened to it the other day.  A good mix of songs.  I've heard complaints that due to the crowd noise the band couldn't hear themselves play, but their performance seemed fine to me.  Definitely worth enjoying, especially if you're familiar with bootlegs.

 ’62-66 (Red Album) & ’67-70 (Blue Album).  Two major compilations, these were my introduction to the band.

 Movies.  None of their movies really have any sort of plot and are more like extended music videos.  They vary in tolerability considerably.  “Let It Be” is probably my favorite. 

 A Hard Day’s Night.  Not much of a plot, more like a “follow the band as they make jokes and eventually perform in the studio”.  Also in black & white.  Charming, though, in its innocence.

 Help!   Ok, now things get somewhat surreal.  The silly plot - pursued worldwide for a ringo which Ringo (get it?) took by accident - makes this an elaborate music video for the songs involved and not a true story.  But at least it’s in color.

 Magical Mystery Tour.  At the height of the 1967 hippie period, the band got a tour bus together full of bizarre people and simply filmed it.  Not much happened and it’s more low budget than “Help!”   In that regard it’s difficult to endure except out of morbid curiosity.  The juxtaposition of supremely talented musicians putting this turd together itself is disturbing. 

The Beatles Animated Series.  A Saturday morning cartoon series in the late 60s, sadly not voiced by the band themselves.  It was on before I was born (my Saturday morning TV viewing was the mid-70s).  Season 1 (1965) was 26 episodes, Season 2 was 7, and Season 3 was 6.  The band initially didn't take it seriously but later grew fond of it.  I purchased the set on DVD and watched it once.  I dare say I should watch it again.  That and watch the films again...

Yellow Submarine.  The movie itself.  Actually kind of trippy and irreverent, and in that respect it makes up for MMT.  

 Let It Be.  The band filmed themselves working on the album in the studio, warts and arguments and all, though the rooftop concert does make it worth watching for that alone. 

 The Compleat Beatles.  An excellent documentary, though only on VHS. 

Apple.  Less than a decade before Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak would form their computer company out of their garage in California, a less successful commercial endeavor sprouted from the Beatles.  In addition to their own record company, Apple would serve as financing for all sorts of projects without any concern as to their sense or profitability.  Naturally this wound up being a money pit.  What's remarkable is that, as brilliant and talented as the band members were as musicians, as businessmen they were utterly clueless.  Part of this was the prevailing counterculture mood, much which was stimulated by Sgt Pepper itself, but ultimately the band members took some time before they realized that they needed to pay attention to these details.  The most obvious explanation was that Brian had handled that so successfully - and honestly - during his tenure that it all went downhill when he died unexpectedly.  Black Sabbath had their own battles with corrupt management in the 70s, whereas Jimmy Page was astute enough, by the time he formed Led Zeppelin, to get Peter Grant, one of the more impressive band managers in rock history.  

 Most other bands at the time would put out singles, then combine them with filler songs of dramatically poorer quality on the albums themselves.  This certainly applies to both the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys.  You can get by with Hot Rocks for the former and Endless Summer + Pet Sounds for the latter.   With the Beatles, almost every song on an album is of equal quality – not filler.  And then Sgt. Pepper was the first album written as a complete album, not a collection of singles and extra songs.  The Beatles were unique in many ways – truly sui generis.

 Overrated?   I suspect those who feel this way were exposed to Beatles fans they couldn’t stand, who somehow felt that their own intelligence and good taste were irrebuttably confirmed by their support for the Beatles.  I don’t know – acknowledging the Beatles’ genius seems as “wise” as simply observing that water is wet, the Earth revolves around the Sun, etc. another fact so undeniably obvious that saying so deserves no special credit or recognition.  

Sell Out!

One beef I hear quite often is that bands “sell out”.  That is, they betray their fans and their heritage by changing their sound to sell more albums and make more money.  I’d like to address this issue.

As professional musicians their job is to write and record music, then perform it, to a sufficient level of competence that a critical mass of people are willing to purchase the music and pay to see them perform it.  It would be odd to suggest that a band deliberately write music to minimize their audience and income.   “We need to write music good enough that people actually buy it, but not so good that too many people like it.”

Having said that, I rarely watch the Grammy award shows and almost never listen to the bands and artists who win the most.  My own tastes center around AC/DC and Black Sabbath, plus stoner rock, the Beatles & Beach Boys, and progressive rock like Pink Floyd (who played stadiums in the late 70s, including Montreal!) and King Crimson (not the same level of popularity).   Some bands I like only play clubs and very likely will never play any larger venues:  Clutch and many stoner rock bands.  But if by some miracle Clutch had a top 10 album and were thrust into a spotlight headlining hockey arenas or music festivals, I’d be just as happy to see them there as I am to see them at the current places they play, mainly small local clubs.

Here are some examples.

Aerosmith.  Originally a classic rock band in the 1970s with an excellent album, Toys in the Attic, years later they hit it big with Permanent Vacation and other similar albums.   These are clearly more commercially oriented than Toys in the Attic, though you can be sure they continue to play the older material live.  Did they sell out?  Probably.  Are they worth seeing?  Sure.   Is the new material worth listening to?  Maybe on Spotify, but I wouldn’t spend my money on it.

Metallica.   Three thrash-defining albums with Cliff Burton on bass:  Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning, and Master of Puppets.  Cliff died touring the last album, replaced by Jason Newsted, and the band blew everyone away with …And Justice For All.  Here’s an example of an album which achieves commercial success based on its merits rather than any deliberate attempt to sell for the sake of selling.  I’d argue the following album, self-titled Metallica, aka the Black Album, is more of the same, roughly the same running time of music divided into 12 songs instead of 9.   Because if you really thought the Black Album was the sellout, you’re wrong: it was the next album, Load.   Subsequent albums Re-Load and St. Anger gave us more of the same, Death Magnetic as well, and Hardwired…to Self-Destruct sounds like a return to the more traditional Metallica sound.

We saw the band tour recently in 2017, but the last show we saw was 1997, on the Load tour – our first show was (yes, I’ll mention it yet again) Donington 1985, on the Ride the Lightning tour.  We were not impressed with Re-Load through Death Man-getic and only Hardwired persuaded us to return to the camp.    

Def Leppard.   Did they sell out?  Yes.  Did they get away with it?  Remarkably, yes.  Initially yet another New Wave of British Heavy Metal band like Iron Maiden, Saxon, and Metallica-inspirers Diamond Head, Def Leppard had a forgettable debut album, On Through the Night, a killer second album, High’n’Dry (my favorite) produced by John “Mutt” Lange – the man responsible for AC/DC’s Highway to Hell, Back in Black, and For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) – and an excellent, if somewhat more commercial third album Pyromania which blew the doors open for them.   The next album, Hysteria, really threw off the pretense of metal and said, “ladies, line up here.”   However, it did eventually catch up with them after subsequent albums simply gave us more of the same and fans lost interest.  They still tour, but none of the albums have come close to matching Hysteria’s sales. 

Pink Floyd.  Here’s a weird case.  Obviously Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall sold far more than Piper At the Gates of Dawn through Obscured By Clouds, the prior albums.  But arguably they should have – they are much stronger albums.  How often does anyone listen to “The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party” or “Sisyphus” (Mason and Wright’s studio contributions to Ummagumma)?  I certainly watch “Live at Pompeii” and enjoy Atom Heart Mother, but I’d say the later material is still better.  

  

Some bands actually go backwards, starting out trying to sell millions of albums and then switching to simply writing whatever material they feel like, without any concern for sales.

Deep Purple.  Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, bassist Nick Simper, and keyboardist Jon Lord were frustrated with the lack of success of their respective bands in the late 60s and recruited singer Rod Evans and drummer Ian Paice to form Roundabout, quickly retitled Deep Purple.  From spring 1968 to summer 1969 they had three albums, Shades of Deep Purple, Book of Taliesyn, and (self-titled) Deep Purple, but despite touring the US opening for Cream and Vanilla Fudge, couldn’t get anyone much interested in them.  Their material was 50% covers and generally calculated to sell – and didn’t.   By July 1969 they’d persuaded singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover to quit their now-stagnant prior band Episode Six and by early 1970 had In Rock out in the record stores.  This was followed by Fireball and Machine Head.   Note, of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and this band, only Deep Purple released a live album, Made in Japan, at the same time as the tour it was recorded on.  The band only became successful AFTER it stopped trying to be successful.  So much for that.

The Beatles.   Same deal here.   The earlier material was intended to move units, by Sgt. Pepper they decided to stop touring and record whatever they wanted to.  Of course, by then they had established themselves as a band people wanted to hear, so John-Paul-George-Ringo aren’t quite the same as Ian G-Roger-Ritchie-Jon-Ian P (aka Deep Purple Mark II).  Be that as it may, they also quit touring, foregoing what could have been lucrative tour income – if only they could get all those screaming girls to shut up.   

Note:  Frank Zappa is famous for hating the Beatles, and my understanding is that he disagreed with the prior analysis of Sgt. Pepper representing a break with their prior commercial tendencies, cynically concluding that the band simply changed its tactics but not its strategy.  In fact, he titled his third Mothers of Invention album We're Only In It For The Money and designed the cover as a deliberate parody of Sgt. Pepper's famous cover.  It's hard to miss the point Zappa was trying to make.

Oddly, he liked the Monkees, who if anything were far more egregious than the Beatles.  Zappa’s distinction was that the Monkees themselves were trying to break out of the commercial prison they’d agreed to play in, insisting on playing their own instruments on the albums and writing their own material.  Fair enough, except that the Beatles had been doing so since Please Please Me.  I can scarcely imagine that the Monkees themselves, or their biggest fans, would compare Headquarters to Sgt. Pepper.   Mind you, the bands themselves got along with each other, and the Beatles encouraged the Monkees to expand beyond their original commercial constraints.  In terms of 60s psychedelic idiocy, Magical Mystery Tour and Head are probably about equal.  Getting back to Zappa’s assessment of the Beatles, though, even Rubber Soul and Revolver are far different than Please Please Me, “Tomorrow Never Knows” lights years apart from “Love Me Do”.   I’m a big fan of Zappa, but I’m also a fan of the Beatles, and on this issue I’ll side with the Liverpool guys over Frank.

In general I find this tendency to scream “sell out” whenever a band begins to achieve more commercial success to be the rock equivalent of “snowflake” status.   It’s really convenient that this seem to happen AFTER the person has already been seeing the band in concert.   Anyhow.   Sometimes the material sells more because it’s better, sometimes not, not necessarily one or the other.  As noted, there’s Def Leppard and there’s Pink Floyd.  Decide after listening to the music itself, NOT because the band wound up at the Grammys.   

Sgt Pepper & Across the Universe

The Beatles, as we all well know, were actively putting out albums from 1963 to 1970 and broke up that year.  Each of the Beatles pursued a solo career, and Paul McCartney was most active in touring.  John Lennon was killed by Mark David Chapman in December 1980 in New York City, while George Harrison died of natural causes in 2001.   McCartney and Ringo Starr remain active.

To say their music touched our lives would be an understatement.  I’m sure even Mick and Keith would have to admit that – as loathe as they may be to admit so publicly.  I sense that Keith takes a perverse delight in pushing buttons and pissing people off, deliberately fashioning himself as the John Lennon of the Rolling Stones.  Mick is more diplomatic and polite, eager to please, and thus fashioning himself as the Paul McCartney of his band.   By keeping his mouth shut and simply playing the drums, Charlie does his Ringo role well enough.

Economists and those who understand and care about economics often talk about “externalities”, both positive and negative.  These are effects a transaction has on non-participants.  The classic negative externality is pollution.  But music has the wonderful positive externality of itself.  None of us worked for Parlophone or Apple Records, or for the Beatles, but most of us with (AHEM) taste in music enjoy the Beatles’ music whether we simply purchased LPs, CDs, MP3s, or even just heard others playing the music.   We’d hope the effect was positive.

One major NEGATIVE effect was when one track on the self-titled, so-called “White Album”, “Helter Skelter”, persuaded Charles Manson to persuade a gang of hot but stupid teenage girls from California to kill random strangers in L.A. in August 1969.  I’ve already addressed this in a prior blog and don’t want to discuss it again.

A more ambiguous effect was produced by two movies inspired by the Beatles’ music:  “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (named after the album, of course) from the 1970s, and “Across the Universe” which came out in 2007.   It’s these that I’ll be discussing today.   [This will be on the exam.]

 “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”.  By now this 1978 film is much-ridiculed.  I recall its release back at the time but did not see it, as I was a kid and hadn’t yet joined the Beatles cult.  None of the Beatles were involved, but a whole host of popular bands from the late 70s were.  The core “band” were the Bee Gees joined by Peter Frampton to make 4.   The majority of the music in the film comes from the album of the same name (minus “Within Without You” or “Lovely Rita”) plus the later album Abbey Road.  There’s some stupid plot about Mean Mr. Mustard stealing relevant items and it’s up to the boys to un-f**k everything to the tune of Beatles songs to fix it.  Alice Cooper is here, as are Aerosmith, doing a half-assed copy of “Come Together” which they are too proud of.   The music is lip-synced which is odd because it’s all redone anyway.  Likewise, Steve Martin gets props for “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” which he didn’t do particularly well either.  

Essentially they honor the Beatles by making a stupid movie with a stupid plot, someone’s idea of making money off the Beatles by doing something which really doesn’t do much more than remind us that the Beatles were excellent and too many other bands which came after were not.   Having said that, it’s not so bad that no one should ever watch it.  Do your brain and its limited memory capacity a favor and rent the movie from Netflix (as I did), watch it once, then forget it.  Aerosmith continue covering “Come Together”, while the Bee Gees saw fit to forget to reissue this when redoing their back catalog.  I’m sure they’re prouder of “Saturday Night Fever” and for good reason.   

“Across the Universe”.   The 2007 release occurred after I’d drank the Beatles Kool-Aid so I saw it in the movie theater when it came and out and ignored it until seeing it on DVD again last night.   Evan Rachel Wood, who we can recognize as Dolores in the new Westworld series from HBO, is one of the major characters here, Lucy.   The movie starts from the early 60s and winds its way through the decade, plunging through different situations with different Beatles songs performed by the cast members to accentuate plot points.  Jim Sturgess plays a Paul McCartney-type character, Joe Anderson plays Max, not sure if he’s supposed to be John Lennon or Kurt Cobain, who he much more closely resembles. 

I’m guessing the people who did this probably watched “Sgt Pepper” and tried to avoid the same issues, with mixed success.  You really have a continuous narrative set out in Beatles songs loosely chronological according to release, the songs actually sung by the actors (?) or far better lip-synced than in “Sgt. Pepper”.   Bono and Eddie Izzard are here as well.  Somewhat pretentious but not too silly or stupid.   While it seems to take itself seriously I didn’t find it nearly as stupid as “Sgt. Pepper”.  However, I don’t think it’s worth buying and still merits Netflix rental followed by oblivion. 

Now the question is: is there a shitty band (no, the Beatles don’t count as such) which inspired an excellent film?  Get working, people.

Halls of Fame

We had occasion to meet up with an old friend of ours from high school – the American School of Paris – in Cleveland, Ohio.  It was good to see John/Jean again, and remarkably the Trumpers due to invade the RNC that Monday were mercifully absent from our adventure.  Instead, it was two Halls of Fame which provided the bulk of the entertainment for our meeting.  PLEASE:  if you have occasion to meet an old friend who lives on the other side of the planet – and will likely continue living there until all of you are dead – seize it with both hands and drive 6 hours if you have to.  Life bends us over without a condom all too often, so return the favor whenever possible.  Life, that is, not John/Jean.

Rock’n’Roll.   Cleveland, Ohio, right up on the Lake Erie waterfront, within walking distance of the Fist Energy Area where the Cleveland Browns lose 1-8 games per season.   It’s in a big pyramid shape, with the bulk of the exhibits in the basement, getting progressively smaller as you go up.  The top two floors are a mishmash of tributes to rockers who thought they could tell us what to do (i.e. politics), though I didn’t mind the shots of Peter Frampton with Gerald Ford or Gregg Allman and “Ask President Carter”.  Hell, they even showed Bono with GWB. 

            Anyhow. The main exhibits feature lots of this “vinyl in the window”, Angus’ outfit, ticket stubs, some guitars, and the multitude of “exhibits” you might expect from a museum about rock stars.   A few major issues:

            A.   Deep Purple is finally getting in, long after they were eligible.  Black Sabbath got in back in 2006, and Led Zeppelin much earlier (1995).  This is glacial. 

            B.   Prince, Madonna, etc.  The majority of bands could qualify as “rock’n’roll” by some generous definition.  But when it comes to very popular musicians, the RNRHOF can’t seem to resist. The clear bias is in favor of popular musicians and less so for heavier bands.  This turns it into the Popular Music Hall of Fame. 

            C.   Beatles & Rolling Stones.  Each got its own section of equal size facing each other.  I don’t dispute the Stones’ legacy as belonging here – they are clearly rock’n’roll and are one of the best rock bands around.  What I dispute is ANYONE claiming they are as good as – much less better – than the Beatles.  That’s like the NFL HOF giving equal credit to the Vikings as the Steelers.  Try the Bills instead.  Actually, given their talent and stature, the Beatles deserve a museum of their own, but I suspect if one were to be established, it would be in Liverpool, far away from anywhere I’m likely to go in a 6 hour drive.  Then again, I suppose any true Beatles fan has a duty to make a Mecca-like pilgrimage to Liverpool.  “Strawberry Fields” on the west side of Central Park, across Central Park West from the Dakota, doesn’t cut it. 

            D.   The gift shop.  We’d have preferred artist-specific merchandise aside from vinyl and CDs, though I was pleasantly surprised to see a good selection of vinyl.  Moreover, they carried music by non-HOF members, e.g. King Crimson. 

            Notwithstanding these faults, if you consider yourself a “rock fan”, by all means check it out if you are in Cleveland.  Then go to Liverpool.

National Football League (NFL).  In Canton, Ohio, about an hour south of Cleveland on I77.  This is somewhat shaped like a football and has an extremely confusing interior pattern.  PEOPLE!   The Marine museum near Quantico has it right:  a linear progression from start to finish.  You start at the beginning, and when you get to the end….STOP.  

            It has some great exhibits, and what I really like is older stuff from 1892-1922 and much about the era before 1958, when TV made the NFL competitive with college football, which is NFL Jr.  I also appreciated seeing Adrian Peterson featured – if only in passing – despite the Vikings’ 0-4 record in Super Bowls.  Moreover, OJ’s bust is still in the gallery despite his later mistakes.  Excellent and very worthwhile for anyone who considers themselves to be a fan of American football. 

            And because I know you’re all wondering:  yes, the gift shop rocks.  What I like is that it’s 25% “NFL Hall of Fame” stuff and 75% team-specific merchandise – including, but not limited to, jerseys.  Very well stocked and deserving of our money.  Again, If you like the NFL you will love this place.        

Even if your team sucks.