Category: Music

  • Personal Review, The BEATLES: Get Back (Part 2)

    Having taken another day to think about the documentary “The BEATLES: Get Back” I keep returning to the same question, why do we still care so much about The BEATLES, fifty years on?

    For me, the beginning and the end of it will always be the music. I have always felt that when I listen to The BEATLES in order, From Please, Please Me to Abbey Road, I run the emotional gamut of growing up. I start with just infatuation and wanting to hold someone’s hand, to then understanding that giving love is more important that taking it.

    I also think that the overall BEATLES story still resonates because these were four nobodies in 1962, that really shouldn’t have amounted to anything given their backgrounds, and became four of the most famous people in the world, for what they created. That story makes them relatable, because they are regular people, like you and me. They weren’t born into great musical families, or had every opportunity handed to them. They liked music, did what they loved, and worked really hard at it.

    The last thing that I keep going back to is that they were really friends. The BEATLES weren’t a business arrangement, like other bands. It seems like every bio I read about other bands, there is always the line about, how the public thought that said band members were best friends, like The BEATLES, but they weren’t. I want to believe that if the music is that much fun, then it has to be due to it being created by a group of best friends.

    Watching The BEATLES: Get Back, I felt like I was having those points confirmed. I was watching how my favorite songs came into being. How they were taking from what was going on around them and tying to express it in music. How it was hard work, but relatable work; playing around, trying out ideas, leaving the song, working on another song, and then coming back to the song. Listening to each other and hearing the suggestions, and trying them out. It was work, but man, didn’t it look like the most fun work? And when they did get up on that roof, and got about three songs in, the excitement, the joy on their faces; It did look like they were those nobody kids at The Cavern club, just rocking out.

    With fifty year on now, The BEATLES still make me feel good, about myself, about the world, about love, and about being optimistic. After all this time, they still make me feel included in the party.

  • Personal Review, The BEATLES: Get Back (Part 1)

    There were many things I was looking forward to this Thanksgiving, and one of the biggest was watching, The BEATLES: Get Back. As a stupidly huge BEATLES fan, I had known for some time about Peter Jackson’s documentary about the LET IT BE documentary. I had been waiting and waiting, and then I got very excited when it changed from a single movie to a three-part series that would be on Disney+. And yes, I made my family watch it on Thanksgiving night…

    Or at least tried to…

    When I pulled up the first episode, and saw that it was two and a half hours long, I knew my wife and daughter weren’t going to make it. I was right. About thirty minutes in, they were like, maybe this is something dad should watch alone. And they weren’t wrong.

    Even though other critics have been saying that this eight-hour mini-series is for serious and casual fans, I have to disagree. This is a deep dive for huge fans, and there is no shame in that. Making an album is kind’a boring. They play the song over and over, and then spend a lot of time talking about what they should do, and then they play the song over and over. Boom! That’s how albums are made, and it is long, hard work.

    Now, for us stupidly obsessive fans… This thing is like heaven. Watching them work, and try out ideas, and then fart around for a while, and then try the song again. John, Paul and George had been playing together over ten years, and with Ringo for at least seven, so the ease in which they could just pick up a song, shout out chord changes and go, was stupefying. They are only in their late 20’s, and they are that good. I think the other aspect I really enjoyed having confirmed was seeing that they were an actual good band. Not just recording artists, but a band that could play.

    As for the arch of the episodes, the first one is a bit tough to get through. Even though Jackson and the PR for this show had spun the story that footage of The BEATLES shows that they weren’t actually on the verge of breaking up, and there was so much fun and love between them. I respectfully have to disagree. The first part shows that they all weren’t hip on being in this band anymore. I mean, George walked out. What I will agree with is that when they are playing music together, they do look like they are having a blast. But once they stop and start talking about managers and anything other than songs, the tension starts to show.

    In the second episode, when George brought Billy Preston in, it changed everything for the better. Preston had an ease and cool confidence, so when joined them at the Apple Recording Studio, man, he just brought an energy to the band that they all feed off of. People start showing up on time, and happy. The songs start clicking, and it is really exciting to watch all of them work.

    When we get to the final episode, and the rooftop concert, it’s a blast, and so heartbreaking. It’s great because once they get going, you can just see that the four of them love it. Love the songs, playing together, being out there, just being together. It’s heartbreaking because, the band only has about a year left, and if they could have got their shit together, they could have toured for Abbey Road, but in the end, it’s the last time they played together as a band.

    There are so many deep dives I could do on these three parts, especially how awesome and great Mal Evans was. (Seriously, is there a bio on Mal, or a movie or anything on that guy? He is the greatest behind the scenes guy of all time.) For that, Peter Jackson did a great job. I have a feeling in a year or two a “Director’s Cut” of this will come out which will be like fifteen hours long with more songs and outtakes. And yes, I will line up to see that as well.

    For me, I got what I wanted. What I wanted to see was that four friends, who really did love and care for each other, would get together and do something really cool, and have a lot of fun doing it. I was not disappointed.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Christmas Shopping, Genesis, and Bitcoin Value

    ODDS and ENDS is my continuing series of random thoughts and follow ups…

    We have heeded the words of the economists about the supply chain and have ordered all of the kid’s Christmas gifts, so in a sense, we are done shopping for her. We just have to wait for everything to be delivered, which looks like it will be by Thanksgiving. That just leaves shopping for me and the wife. This will be the second year where we are buying gifts for ourselves, and I have to admit, I prefer it. We set a budget for each of us, and we won’t be disappointed. There is still a little wiggle room for each of us to get a little something for the other, which keeps it a little fun with a surprise on Christmas morning.

    I know nothing about Peter Gabriel era Genesis. I can say that I had no idea that Peter Gabriel was in Genesis until in 1991 or 1992 when Charlie Campbell informed me of this information. I was at Charlie’s house to talk about recording a cable public access show, and we started talking about music we liked, and that’s when he dropped the truth nugget that her preferred Peter Gabriel Genesis, as Phil Collins Genesis was a bunch of sell outs. Even with this knowledge, I never went and listened to Gabriel’s Genesis. Well, until today, when that memory popped into my head, and I have Spotify, so… Selling England By the Pound is the album of the day.

    As of this moment, my Bitcoin has gone down in value. I have lost $2.17, or a -6.2% evaluation. And I was hoping to buy a cup of coffee with my earnings, but now I owe Bitcoin a coffee.

  • Explaining Dead Rock Stars

    One of the many things that is very cool about having a six-year-old is that she is now getting interested into the music the wife and I like, and grew up with. This is a huge relief because I am very happy to be ditching “kiddie songs.” And I’ll take a stand on this one too; Kiddie Songs suck. There! Said it, and I’m not ashamed, and I’ll deal with the push back. Seriously, parents hate it, and kid eventually grow to hate it, so how can you call it good when at some point everyone hates it.

    Just saying…

    Now, the kid is getting into music, and we’re her guide. I have spent time sharing The Beatles with her, and she’s asked lots of questions. I had to explain to her that John was killed, and George died of cancer, so like in all life, she understands even musicians die, but we can still listen to the music they made. It has spurred a funny question anytime we listen to music she thinks is old, which is that she will ask us if the artist is dead, or if the band broke up.

    Last night, the wife was sharing Dolly Parton’s greatest hits, and the conversation came up about how Dolly writes songs, and other people will sing them. “Like who?” the kid asked, and we played the Whitney Houston version of “I Will Always Love You.” Oh, and the kid really liked that, so we started playing other Whitney Houston songs.

    And then the question came, “Is she still alive?” We told her the truth of how Whitney Houston died of a drug overdose, which I know doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to the kid, as she asked, “Why do people do things that hurt themselves?”

    Ah…. And then I know, that just about all the music you love was made by people using a lot of drugs. You know, like you shouldn’t do cocaine, but it seemed to help out Fleetwood Mac. It’s a sticky conversation, and I know this will come up again as she starts finding music she likes. We are starting to find the gray areas in life that are hard to explain.

  • Personal History: Radiohead and Mellowing Out

    I had talked recently about the sociological research which had showed that as a person ages, they become more conservative in their thinking. I wanted to also add to that, and I’m not breaking new ground here, but some people also mellow out, and don’t get as worked up as they used to. For me, music is one of those subjects.

    So, from about 14 to 28, I was pretty aggressive, and can fully admit, arrogant in my music opinions. (My Beatles fanaticism is unshakable; Do not challenge it.) In that vein, the year was 1996, and I fully believed and could conclusively prove that Radiohead was a one-hit wonder with “Creep,” and though a good song, a great band it did not make.

    And then my good friend John would not shut up about Radiohead’s last album, The Bends, which had come out in the spring of 1995. So, for over a year, every time I got in John’s car, I heard The Bends. At John’s place, he would play The Bends. I even remember one time coming back from a party, and John was driving someone else’s car, and he put on The Bends. I remember this clearly, because I started yelling at him to “turn off that lullaby music!” But it worked. His bombardment of that album on me, constantly, consistently, caused me to come over to the fandom of Radiohead, which lasts to this day.

    Though there was one rough patch, when Radiohead released KID A, which I didn’t get, and I didn’t like, and what I wanted was more songs like the one’s off of OK Computer, and the accompanying EP’s. But you know, they released more albums and Amnesiac was ok, and Hail to the Thief was an improvement, but In Rainbows was great, though King of Limbs was like going back to KID A, and then there was Moon Shaped Pool, which was cool.

    Anyway, KID A was the sore thumb for me, and to be honest, I hadn’t tried to listen to that album in maybe fifteen years. So, I got on a Radiohead kick last week, and started listening to all the stuff I liked, ignoring KID A. But I started thinking about the “mellowing” aspect of my life, and maybe it was time to give KID A another try. I mean, I have become very forgiving to 311, so KID A needs another shot.

    And I still don’t like it. Tried again to listen to KID A, and it’s just not my jam. I think I have to just chalk it up to one of those things I will never like in my life. Right up there with fennel, and the US version of The Office. I just don’t like them.