Custom Search
The Beatles 1967 Magical Mystery Tour
This is not really an album. Half EP, half singles compilation. But it has the best set of songs apart from Abbey Road. There are only three weak tracks: "Flying", "Blue Jay Way" and "Baby You're a Rich Man". The rest is very good or simply awesome. It has "I Am the Walrus" and "Strawberry Fields Forever". Even the McCartney stuff is good: "M.M.T.", "The Fool on the Hill", "Penny Lane". This has an alternative, underground, dark flavour like no other Beatles album has, not even the White Album. It's psychedelic but not happily colourful. The colours are there, but it's a bad trip.
The Beatles 1965 Rubber Soul
Only four tracks can be rescued without hesitation from this album: "Nowhere Man", "Drive My Car", "Norwegian Wood" and "Girl". Lennon owns the songwriting.
"Nowhere Man" is one of the greatest songs ever written by Man. Everybody knows it. The introductory vocals tell you this is going to be an amazing piece of music. The guitar phrases are what they should be. The vocal harmonies make sense. And the lyrics are clever, too; something not so easy to find in a Beatles song.
The rest of the album goes from conventional to unlistenable.
"In My Life" is supposed to be by many the best track in the album and one of the best songs ever. I guess it could have been some of that. But the pseudo-harpsichord that plays for about half a minute and disappears hurriedly is an obvious flaw. It's supposed to make the song "serious" by bringing baroque influences to it but it's so shallow that it only makes the track ridiculous and ruins it.
Anyway, the production is far better than Revolver's. This is as good as Sgt. Pepper's.
"Nowhere Man" is one of the greatest songs ever written by Man. Everybody knows it. The introductory vocals tell you this is going to be an amazing piece of music. The guitar phrases are what they should be. The vocal harmonies make sense. And the lyrics are clever, too; something not so easy to find in a Beatles song.
The rest of the album goes from conventional to unlistenable.
"In My Life" is supposed to be by many the best track in the album and one of the best songs ever. I guess it could have been some of that. But the pseudo-harpsichord that plays for about half a minute and disappears hurriedly is an obvious flaw. It's supposed to make the song "serious" by bringing baroque influences to it but it's so shallow that it only makes the track ridiculous and ruins it.
Anyway, the production is far better than Revolver's. This is as good as Sgt. Pepper's.
The Beatles 1966 Revolver
"Taxman" is great. "Tomorrow Never Knows" is great too, even though it should go on for more than three minutes. The rest is not great and, except for some moments here and there, but not "everywhere" (I'm sorry, I know it's not funny), is very bad. The production, unlike the production of many other Beatles albums and specially the album that was to come, failed horribly. This doesn´t apply only to the two songs I mentioned first. The attempts to make the music more rock-like, more classical-like, more eastern-like failed all to an astronomical extent. They were too shallow, too bland, too timid.
Memphis La Blusera 1988 Medias Negras
"Háganse a un lado" and "Esto pasa ahora" are the only shitty tracks in this album. The rest is very good, including classics like "La bifurcada", "Medias de seda negra", "Montón de nada". The sound is probably the result of the intervention of a producer who thought extreme 80's instrumentation and arrangements would make the album more commercial. That should have ended in disaster considering this is a boogie band, but curiously the result, though strange and bizarre, is not bad. The lyrics are very good. Life is seen from a male sexist but at the same time clever point of view.
Pink Floyd 1973 The Dark Side of the Moon
The topic of the lyrics and the mood of the music may seem a bit overly kitschly romantic, but they work well. Isolation, lunacy, aging, materialism. All in all, those are grim big realities of life.
The production and the recording quality are exceptional and that allows the songs to shine at their maximum capacity. I like the fact that they brought saxophone and a gospel voice in a progressive rock album. I also love the change of time signature in Money, as much as I love it in "Fairies Wear Boots" by Black Sabbath. There is no "filler" in this album. The instrumental tracks give dynamics to it (each one placed halfway each side).
The bridges between the songs are weak, though. It makes sense that they are blended, because that makes it possible to sustain the atmosphere. But they couldn't connect them smoothly. "Eclipse" comes more unexpectedly than any other.
The production and the recording quality are exceptional and that allows the songs to shine at their maximum capacity. I like the fact that they brought saxophone and a gospel voice in a progressive rock album. I also love the change of time signature in Money, as much as I love it in "Fairies Wear Boots" by Black Sabbath. There is no "filler" in this album. The instrumental tracks give dynamics to it (each one placed halfway each side).
The bridges between the songs are weak, though. It makes sense that they are blended, because that makes it possible to sustain the atmosphere. But they couldn't connect them smoothly. "Eclipse" comes more unexpectedly than any other.
The Beatles 1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The first three tracks and the last track are good. The rest is mediocre or simply bad. 14'32'' of good music over 39'7'' of total playing time means that only 40% percent of the album is good. Notice how the good music was placed at the beginning and at the end of the record. The last A-side track and the first B-side track are the worst. That gives us a clue concerning that the artists knew the real quality of what they had done. Besides, the only four good tracks that I've mentioned are the only four tracks from this album that were included in the Blue Album compilation. What makes this album special is that the production of every second of music is amazing. With the production of this album any Beatles album could be Sgt. Pepper's.
The Beatles 1967-1970 [Blue Album]
At this moment I'm quite sure Abbey Road and this are all you need from The Beatles.
Who was the Walrus? -- Or is it just CRANBERRY SAUCE?
An original documentary by Matthew Hawes that gives a detailed an insightful look into one of the most bizzare chapters of Beatles history.
Was the Beatle Paul McCartney really killed in an automobile accident in 1966 and replaced by a lookalike? Did the remaining three Beatles then plant cryptic and hidden messages into the songs and album covers to some of their later albums? Was it all one big marketing scheme, or did it spring from the minds of enthusiastic fans?
Follow along, listen and look at the many clues, and see what conclusions you come to about this fascinating subject.
Who was the Walrus? -- Or is it just CRANBERRY SAUCE?
Written, edited, produced and directed by Matthew Hawes
Narration and original music by Al Chantrey
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
I know this isn't a definitive argument in favour of or against the death of Paul McCartney, but if you start looking for death in any body of artwork you will find it everywhere, the same way you will find sex everywhere, because sex and death, that is what life is all about, and that's the origin of our anguish of living. Art is meant to cope with that anguish by treating its origin. If The Beatles had missed that point, they wouldn't have created the music that made them artists of universal everlasting value.
Was the Beatle Paul McCartney really killed in an automobile accident in 1966 and replaced by a lookalike? Did the remaining three Beatles then plant cryptic and hidden messages into the songs and album covers to some of their later albums? Was it all one big marketing scheme, or did it spring from the minds of enthusiastic fans?
Follow along, listen and look at the many clues, and see what conclusions you come to about this fascinating subject.
Who was the Walrus? -- Or is it just CRANBERRY SAUCE?
Written, edited, produced and directed by Matthew Hawes
Narration and original music by Al Chantrey
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
I know this isn't a definitive argument in favour of or against the death of Paul McCartney, but if you start looking for death in any body of artwork you will find it everywhere, the same way you will find sex everywhere, because sex and death, that is what life is all about, and that's the origin of our anguish of living. Art is meant to cope with that anguish by treating its origin. If The Beatles had missed that point, they wouldn't have created the music that made them artists of universal everlasting value.
Mott the Hoople 1969 Mott the Hoople
A very underrated rock album. The manic depressive mix of angry rock and roll and melancholic songs works very well. Perhaps it lacks some originality but, anyway, it's a first album. I don't care about the poor recording quality nor the limited musicianship of the band. This is rock'n'roll, that is, white music of black origins deeply heartfelt, played loud, without caring about technical crap.
Tangerine Dream 1974 Phaedra
As a kid I thought this album was about a baby growing in their mother's uterus. In fact, the album art had the face of a baby if I am not making it up without knowing so. Today I still think it is about what goes on during human pregnancy from the inside. Everything here sounds marine and suggests the activity and transformations of life. You may think about the beginning of life in the ocean. It's a good album worth keeping to be relistened many times, although it won't strike you each time with new treasures from unmeasurable richness like other albums do.
The Stooges 1970 Fun House
Rock stripped to the core and multiplied by an infinite amount of times. If there is a rock album that hasn't any "fusion" component in it, this is the one. It is artistic without using anything that is supposed to be art; it is agressive and virile without being stupid. Most of all, it's amazingly simple, direct, essential. Dirtily brilliant.
Invisible 1976 El jardín de los presentes
One of the best rock albums ever, one of the few times rock reached the heights of musical art. I put it next to Abbey Road, Red, Marquee Moon, Fear of Music, White Light/White Heat, Fun House, The Dark Side of the Moon and some other really great albums if I am forgetting them.
"They say that history repeats itself. But history is only 'his-story'. You haven´t heard 'my-story' yet. 'My-story' is different from 'his-story'. 'My-story' is not part of history. Because history repeats itself. But 'my-story' is endless. It never repeats itself. Why should it? The sunset does not repeat itself. Neither does the sunrise (1). Nature never repeats itself. Why should I repeat myself?"
(1) Sun Ra´s
"I’m not part of history. I’m more part of the mystery, which is 'my-story'."
"What’s your story?"
sun ra - a joyful noise [1980] from psychomafia on Vimeo.
(1) Sun Ra´s
* * *
"I’m not part of history. I’m more part of the mystery, which is 'my-story'."
"What’s your story?"
sun ra - a joyful noise [1980] from psychomafia on Vimeo.
This video represents a good range of Sun Ra’s many musical moods. Ra was among the first people of any musical genre to use electronic keyboards. Here, the venerable titan of the jazz avantgarde performs tunes including “Astro Black”, “Calling Planet Earth”, “Organ Solo”, “We Travel the Spaceways”, “Ankh” and other seriocomic chants and jingles.
Director: Robert Mugge.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Jan Vermeer 1664 Woman playing the lute by the window
