fett on 18/9/2009 at 18:25
I submit that if you were to strip away all but the drum tracks from most Beatles songs (especially Rubber Soul on), you would be able to identify the song from the drum track alone. Someone once told me that the thing that makes Ringo so special is that most drummers play the drums, but Ringo plays the song. Any drummer who doesn't understand that distinction should step away from the drumset, stat.
Shoshin on 18/9/2009 at 22:57
Being a giant Beatles fan, I picked up the mono box set. Yes, it's expensive, yes, there's no real reason to have it, yes, I will get the stereo box set as well.
Anyway, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band...
I've always been on the fence about this record. I could see that, in it's time and place, it was revolutionary, it elevated Pop Music into (or at least, near to) the realm of art, etc. But I just never liked it all that much. A Day in the Life is of course brilliant, largely because of Lennon's vocal track, and the older I get the more I appreciate Within You Without You, but in general the record never did much for me.
Having said that, the mono mix of Sgt. Pepper's kicks all manner of ass. It breathes life into a recording that I thought was lifeless. Lucy in the Sky has a phasing effect on the vocal track that is flat out absent from the 1987 stereo CD mix that I'm used to hearing. The acoustic opening guitar track on Lovely Rita is richer and fuller, She's Leaving Home is faster (and a semi-tone higher, I think) so that it sounds less schmaltzey, the bass on all the tracks is much punchier, really emphasising McCartney's talents, the drums are there, there's a thousand subtle things that I've simply never heard before, and I've been listening to the Beatles for at least 35 of my 40 years. This version of the record is a revelation to me. (I still skip When I'm 64).
It isn't worth the money just for the mono mix of Sgt. Pepper, but if you can find a way to listen to it in mono, I highly highly recommend you do.
PigLick on 19/9/2009 at 00:23
Does anyone else feel the same way about When I'm 64? That song was ruined for me by countless turgid renditions in the school music class. Curse you Sing Books!
fett on 19/9/2009 at 03:57
I honestly had never heard it until I got into The Beatles about 6 years ago, when my oldest son was 2. I think I was at a perfect place in life where I was thinking about that exact thing, so it just struck a chord with me and has become one of my favorites. I can see where people would get sick of it without that context though. At the same time, it's an utterly unique twist for them musically (much like Mr. Kite) and they pull it off brilliantly while still sounding like The Beatles.
PigLick on 19/9/2009 at 04:52
Dont get me wrong, I can appreciate the song. Its not really that much of a twist, there was a whole lot of vaudeville/musichall influences in their songwriting, especially Mcartney.
uncadonego on 19/9/2009 at 12:12
I think he wrote it when he was fourteen, which is pretty good.
Jepsen on 19/9/2009 at 16:03
Quote Posted by PigLick
Does anyone else feel the same way about When I'm 64? That song was ruined for me by countless turgid renditions in the school music class. Curse you Sing Books!
This is my exact reason for hating this song.
polytourist97 on 20/9/2009 at 07:12
Quote Posted by fett
I submit that if you were to strip away all but the drum tracks from most Beatles songs (especially Rubber Soul on), you would be able to identify the song from the drum track alone. Someone once told me that the thing that makes Ringo so special is that most drummers play the drums, but Ringo plays the
song. Any drummer who doesn't understand that distinction should step away from the drumset, stat.
Absolutely. I couldn't have thought of a better way to say it. I think the loss of that distinction is what causes me to be bored with most modern music. I've tried explaining it to some people, but most don't seem to understand.
fett on 20/9/2009 at 14:53
They don't. Muse and *possibly* My Chemical Romance have the only drummers in recent memory who seem like they bother to read the lyrics to the songs before they track them. It could be that most bands write lyrics after the fact lately. There's a few studio guys who do it, but more commercial stuff usually has such vapid lyrical content that it's hardly worth bothering for the instrumentalists.
Jackablade on 20/9/2009 at 15:42
I'm sure there are plenty of drummers around today who write their drum parts to complement the song. Just look at Grizzly Bear's (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjecYugTbIQ) Two Weeks. The song wouldn't be the same without the drum line.
