I think the point about the word is that it's always used as a pejorative, but buying into that implies buying into the idea that sounds or styles are placed irrevocably in time. That music moves ahead in a linear manner.
For me, "Help" is so special now precisely because it does seem to have a lost art quality to it. And I think that is in what some here and elsewhere refer to as the contradiction between its energy and its theme. I don't believe there's any contradiction there. I've never interpreted "Help" as being "upbeat." How can you?
― timellison, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 00:44 (six years ago) link
Is "Like a Rolling Stone" "upbeat?"
― timellison, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 00:45 (six years ago) link
Kind of like the Nilsson track, this another one everyone should be familiar with:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_smoNNCFbY
― Action of Boyle Man Prompts Visitor to Stay (Tom D.), Tuesday, 5 December 2017 01:19 (six years ago) link
Please everybody if we haven't done what we could have done we've tried... this was the b-side...
― Action of Boyle Man Prompts Visitor to Stay (Tom D.), Tuesday, 5 December 2017 01:23 (six years ago) link
... no it isn't, here it is!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-xxXN9qAQI
you've gotta put Jimi Hendrix's live cover of "sgt peppers" on there, rushomancy
― brimstead
it's got spunk, but i'm not sure i rate it any higher than, say, tomorrow's version of "strawberry fields forever".
― bob lefse (rushomancy), Tuesday, 5 December 2017 02:13 (six years ago) link
having said that i do like the "christmas on earth continued" version a lot more than the "stages" version i was familiar with, i'll tentatively slot that one in!
― bob lefse (rushomancy), Tuesday, 5 December 2017 02:19 (six years ago) link
Tomorrow's "Strawberry Fields Forever" is outstanding.
― timellison, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 02:20 (six years ago) link
Hm, can’t remember hearing that one.
― Anne Git Yorgun (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 5 December 2017 02:42 (six years ago) link
That whole album is really good. Cool band.
― timellison, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 03:14 (six years ago) link
That album is great but the cover is the lamest thing on it!
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 04:57 (six years ago) link
Suggest other thread for bands not the beatles
― moyesery loves kompany (darraghmac), Tuesday, 5 December 2017 09:33 (six years ago) link
Caetano Veloso made some pretty good covers on his Joia and Qualquer Coisa albums, of Help, Elanor Rigby, For No One and Lady Madonna. As a bonus, if you haven't heard it, Joia is one of the greatest albums ever, period.
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 11:36 (six years ago) link
Ah, it was in the RS 70 interview that Lennon talked about "Help!" :
"I don't like the recording too much; we did it too fast trying to be commercial... I might do I Want To Hold Your Hand and Help! again, because I like them and I can sing them."
― AlXTC from Paris, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 12:01 (six years ago) link
LOL @ "trying to be commercial", you were in The Beatles for fucks sake!
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Tuesday, 5 December 2017 14:55 (six years ago) link
Charlotte Dada's "Don't Let Me Down" (1971, Ghana) is about as good as Beatles covers get:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7-JrLuAaFY
― J. Sam, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 15:03 (six years ago) link
the eternal battle: charlotte dada's version of "don't let me down", or marcia griffiths' version? i'm on team griffiths, but they're both great.
since that link to the other thread from 2005 showed up i've been making serious progress on my list. the 2005 poster had some great shit going on - i filled up half my gaps on "with the beatles" with his suggestions - but there are resources out there now that there just weren't back in '05. there are covers of "glass onion" besides arif mardin's! shitty jazz covers are the bane of anybody looking for beatles interpretations. the secret weapon? power pop, obviously. absolutely killer live track of "old brown shoe" by the laughing dogs... _nobody_ does old brown shoe...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8CU2Oc7a3c&feature=youtu.be
i'm still arguing with myself over whether to use the bats' "tell me why". on the one hand it's great, but on the other hand it sounds a _lot_ like the "duck tales" theme...
― bob lefse (rushomancy), Thursday, 7 December 2017 02:43 (six years ago) link
crap, youtube link fail. whatever, you should be able to google it (and it's worth finding).
― bob lefse (rushomancy), Thursday, 7 December 2017 02:44 (six years ago) link
I'd suggest Colin Newman's version of 'Blue Jay Way', that's another song that nobody does and I believe that's why he did it.
― Mark G, Thursday, 7 December 2017 07:09 (six years ago) link
Colin Newman's early 80s solo work has a lot of tracks that have, now that you've made the connection for me, the relaxed dread and haze of Blue Jay Way.
― Mungolian Jerryset (bendy), Thursday, 7 December 2017 13:20 (six years ago) link
Though, thankfully, they're much better.
― Action of Boyle Man Prompts Visitor to Stay (Tom D.), Thursday, 7 December 2017 14:02 (six years ago) link
i'm not a big fan of "not to" - even the wire tracks on it i prefer in the dodgy live versions from "turns and strokes", etc. i went with a youtube cover by a baroque musician named daniel mantey. it's not as good as his take on "trans europe express", but i find that hurdy gurdy really brings out the droney quality of the original song.
― bob lefse (rushomancy), Thursday, 7 December 2017 14:55 (six years ago) link
Looks like June of '64
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6r523MsuUk
― timellison, Thursday, 21 December 2017 05:39 (six years ago) link
^ This is pretty great. Surprised they haven't cashed in an properly released that. Love how loud Lennon's guitar is in the mix.
― Darin, Wednesday, 27 December 2017 20:20 (six years ago) link
yeah great footage and sound, not overwhelmed by the screams
― Joan Digimon (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 27 December 2017 20:38 (six years ago) link
it's a bummer some of the footage doesn't match though! (like ringo invisibly rocking out on "she loves you" 5 minutes in)
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 27 December 2017 20:42 (six years ago) link
That's the other band's drum set sitting there!
― timellison, Wednesday, 27 December 2017 21:30 (six years ago) link
oh, duh! that does make me feel better!
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 27 December 2017 22:27 (six years ago) link
well 50 years have come and gone since 1967 and "Carnival of Light" remains unreleased. So it's now in the public domain, right?
― Bowling for Bitcoins (Lee626), Friday, 5 January 2018 12:26 (six years ago) link
maybe a mod should change this thread title so it's clear if it's about the band or the album
― Screamin' Jay Gould (The Yellow Kid), Friday, 5 January 2018 12:35 (six years ago) link
You mean the White Album?
― Whiney Houston (Tom D.), Friday, 5 January 2018 12:41 (six years ago) link
it's obviously about the album. Although officially named The Beatles everyone just calls them 'the white band'
― Bowling for Bitcoins (Lee626), Friday, 5 January 2018 12:43 (six years ago) link
Average?
― Mark G, Friday, 5 January 2018 13:48 (six years ago) link
Distinctly.
― Whiney Houston (Tom D.), Friday, 5 January 2018 14:03 (six years ago) link
If something wasn’t released it can’t be in the public domain, can it ?
― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, 5 January 2018 14:32 (six years ago) link
The copyright extension release thread (w/r/t EU copyright law)
― Bowling for Bitcoins (Lee626), Friday, 5 January 2018 14:43 (six years ago) link
https://66.media.tumblr.com/7da9f7083016c4d9134a4a0b3bd73aab/tumblr_py4owqLs8H1r4y7nzo1_1280.png
― chapoquidditch (bizarro gazzara), Sunday, 26 January 2020 22:50 (four years ago) link
Don't think I can buy any theory with only one Paul, sorry
― Okay, you're an ambulance (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 27 January 2020 00:29 (four years ago) link
you'e overlooking dilfman
― majority whip, majority nae nae (m bison), Monday, 27 January 2020 00:49 (four years ago) link
"forbidden beatles" is an amazing phrase/caption
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 27 January 2020 01:16 (four years ago) link
sad that www.thebeatlesneverexisted.com appears to be gone
― brimstead, Monday, 27 January 2020 01:30 (four years ago) link
Hey, how about those Beatles?
Anyway, I've always been fascinated by the concept of "Beatlesesque," which is to say, music that sounds like the Beatles without sounding *like* the Beatles. That is to say, there are elements to the music that bring to mind the Beatles without directly ripping off a specific Beatles song, which implies there are really identifiable traits to the Beatles music that can be imitated. I was talking to a friend about ELO, for example. Of course they sound *like* the Beatles, but what is it about them exactly that sounds like the Beatles? My friend figured at first it was about the chord progressions. The Beatles, he noted, especially early on, ingeniously discovered a bazillion variations of the doo wop chord progression, which ended up a lot of (music nerds correct me) V-IV-ii progressions. But more conspicuous was those descending, kind of sneering Lennon-y wall of backing answer vocals that you hear in songs like "Turn to Stone." (Or, hey, in Billy Joel's "My Life," or lots of Aimee Mann, or Sam Phillips, etc.) You hear those backing vocals, and you immediately think of the Beatles. But what specific Beatles song or songs are they aping? We were kind of stumped.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 31 January 2021 01:46 (three years ago) link
Stuff like the 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 part from the end of "You Never Give Me Your Money"... "Because" "Carry That Weight" etc.?
― pplains, Sunday, 31 January 2021 02:08 (three years ago) link
The Beatles
― ciderpress, Sunday, 31 January 2021 02:24 (three years ago) link
The strings on "I Am The Walrus".
― "what are you DOING to fleetwood mac??" (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 31 January 2021 02:39 (three years ago) link
A couple of years ago I was asked to drum on some covers of songs from the King's X album "Please Come Home Mr. Bulbous," which were described to me as "Beatlesesque."
"Marsh Mellow Field," for example, does sound in places like a pastiche of Sgt. Pepper stuff, but without copying any specific song. And it isn't really the chord progressions. More the texture: a combination of guitar jangle plus expansive 'verby vocals with a sort of dreamy slurry Lennonesque treatment in the second half of each verse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LWgoFyWv5Y
I was not familiar with this music and I had no love for it, but I was able to muddle through the project and move on with my musical life.
― Copybara / pasteybara (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 31 January 2021 03:03 (three years ago) link
I still keep thinking specifically of those Jeff Lynne backing vocals, on ELO albums but also the things he produced. Yeah, they are very much in the slurry Lennon vein, but what's the best John Lennon example of the slurry Lennon backing vocals?Or maybe because it is so conspicuous, the Beatles breakdown in Billy Joel's My Life. Sounds like The Beatles, but what Beatles song does it sound like? What is it referencing, specifically?Another side road we went down is that when people rip off the Beatles or do something that is Beatlesesque, they are generally talking about John Lennon, or maybe George Harrison. I can't think of any acts that particularly sound like Paul McCartney. Squeeze?
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 31 January 2021 04:08 (three years ago) link
I thought years ago that Beatlesque pastiches were often more indebted to Harrison's songs, partly because he's a more formulaic writer, and hence easier to emulate. Minor-key descending chord progressions, melodies that are catchy but not as complex as Paul's, major/minor key changes but nothing too out of the ordinary. One example is "No Myth" by Michael Penn (which features slide guitar as well).
I think of Nilsson as the first songwriter to emulate McCartney's writing in particular, as opposed to the Beatles in general. Emmit Rhodes did too, around the same time, and his voice sounds like Paul's as well.
A striking Lennon-in-'67 emulation is "Baron Saturday" by the Pretty Things.
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 31 January 2021 04:24 (three years ago) link
As for Beatles songs with nasal John backing vox - "You Won't See Me", "Paperback Writer", "Taxman", "She Said She Said"...
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 31 January 2021 04:26 (three years ago) link
Around the late '90s and '00s, there was a lot of good music inspired by the Beatles' mid-'60s records, and that definitely extends to McCartney's work and his own ideas on those records. Fountains of Wayne, Apples in Stereo (that wasn't meant to be a pun, was it?), Jay Bennett-era Wilco, the Flaming Lips, etc.
TBH, I'm not an ELO fan or a Billy Joel fan - obviously they loved the Beatles and consciously looked to them for inspiration, but there's also a lot about their music that's unique theirs that I never liked.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 31 January 2021 04:30 (three years ago) link