SOUNDTRACK: THE BEATLES-Abbey Road (1969).
Without knowing the history of The Beatles and their recordings, you’d never know the acrimony that was created by this record and Let It Be. This record doesn’t really seem all that different from their other records, but it in part caused the band to break up.
The opening of “Come Together” is unique in music, it sounds so unusual and so unlike the Beatles. I love it. This song seems to be psychedelic in lyrics but very standard rock in music. It’s a cool mix. “Something” is a beautiful song (I had no idea it was written by Harrison!)
“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” is another goofy Paul song–he really was quite silly. I like it, it’s fun. But the other Beatles hated it–Lennon said it was “more of Paul’s granny music” and left the studio for two weeks. Harrison was also tired of the song, adding “we had to play it over and over again until Paul liked it. It was a real drag”. Starr was more sympathetic to the song. “It was granny music”, he admitted, “but we needed stuff like that on our album so other people would listen to it.”
Even though “Oh Darlin!” is not usually my style (doo wop), I really like the song a lot–probably because of how raw McCartney gets his voice by the end. “Octopus’ Garden” is of course a goofy fun song–Starr wrote it. It takes some of the seriousness out of the album, but it’s always fun to sing along to.
“I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is quite a shocking song especially after “Octopus.” I’ve always liked the way the end cuts off seemingly in the middle of nowhere–even Clark last night listening to it said That was weird about the end. It’s a fairly simple song (there are hardly any words), with a bluesy section a kind of prog rock section and it goes on forever.
“Here Comes the Sun” is a song that I knew as a kid which I never connected to the Beatles until I was in college. My mom loved the song, but didn’t really like the Beatles, so I’ve always just assumed it was some folk song. It’s a really pretty song (by Harrison).
“Because” has an interesting chord progression and is very cool with the multilayered voices.
“You Never Give Me Your Money” is a fun bouncy song that begins as a mellow piano song and then turns very jaunty. Then comes some great guitar solos and a rocking ending. This song begins what is considered the medley at the end of the album. This song itself has so many parts that it could be a medley itself. The remaining songs are all between 1 and 2 minutes all blend into each other.
Starting with “Sun King” which is quite pretty with lovely harmonies and Italian lyrics at the end. I never knew “Mean Mr. Mustard” was called that. It’s a bouncy song about a nasty guy. It quickly jumps to the fast “Polythene Pam” which is barely over a minute. Then come four songs written by McCartney, “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” a super catchy song with great harmonies–it’s just under 2 minutes long and it merges into “Golden Slumbers” which I always assumed was just the introduction to “Carry That Weight” (as they always seem to get played together on the radio–which makes sense since together they are 3 minutes long). The medley ends with “The End” which features a Ringo Starr drum solo and a rocking guitar solo.
At the end of the album and not part of the medley is “Her Majesty” a 38 second song.
Abbey Road is a pretty near perfect album. There’ s a couple of goofy songs which kind of undermine the intensity of the record, but they are also really fun to sing along to, so that makes it okay in my book.
[READ: January 7, 2015] Skandalon
Maroh wrote and illustrated this book (translated by David Homel) about a rock star and his attempts to deal with (or not) the increasing fame he gets.
The artistic style she uses is really interesting–I assume it is all painted with very heavy paints. It is occasionally “sloppy” but it is always effective and quite powerful in the images it creates. It also reads very European to me, which I find interesting (given that she is in fact French).
As the book opens, we a singer Tazane on stage with his adoring fans. And then, at a pres conference he plays up his diva act and walks out on a question he finds impertinent.
In the tradition of the Wall and Jim Morrison, Tazane tries harder and harder to get a reaction out of his fans, or maybe just to alienate the fans and the press. He sings songs with lyrics like “I feel nothing about people. I feel nothing about myself.” And his “public image” (a phrase he hates) gets damaged every time he speaks. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 