How many times have you heard a Beatles song and have it just pass through you, like the wind in your hair? I was listening to Penny Lane in my car yesterday, and happened to focus in on the bass line. All I can say is, McCartney was a genius! So many killer bass riffs. There was no one playing bass like that back then. Think of his origins, and where he came from in post-war England. Listening to American artists like Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry-taking their music and re-inventing it, bringing it back to the U.S. If you listen to their early recordings, and then listen to Abbey Road, for example-you will understand what I'm talking about. Lennon was my favorite in the band, but he was lucky that McCartney was there to contribute to his songs. The bass line on I Want You (She's So Heavy) is epic-McCartney played on Lennon's tunes like they were his own.
They still are a major influence on me as a musician. This may sound crazy but for me I believe there is a similarity between Buckethead and John Lennon as artists. Both are (and were) willing to just put it all out there, and let you decide. Lennon puts Revolution Number 9 on the White Album-the other Beatles hate it, along with George Martin-but there it was. And they were on a major label, no less. At least with Buckethead he decides what gets released to general public, of course we reap the benefits right here at TDRS. Bucket puts out Death Cube K, almost anti-music, and lets you decide on it. That's the best part about the "art" portion for the listener, you become part of the experience, you ultimately decide on what sounds "good" or "right" in your own mind. But I digress. I could write a book on this subject, but I thought I would open it up on the boards here at TDRS since hardcore music fans permeate this place.
after reading your post my thoughts immediately visited something Travis said in an interview
"With the artists I have been lucky enough to work with, or my own music, I like to challenge myself and the listener, but I don\'t want to frustrate them. I don\'t care for artists who like to challenge their audience just for the sake of getting a reaction. The best ones always give something of themselves that is real and heartfelt, then push the boundaries of their medium."
I find that same situation you describe about McCarntey happening to me with George Harrison. He is my favorite Beatle. Paul was the cutest though.
How about their ability to harmonize in real-time? Listen to the vocal-only track of Because on Anthology 3. Just vocals, no instruments. Today, it\'s just a tweak of the knob on the computer, that flat vocal line can be brought into perfect pitch to be lip-synched onstage at a later date by (insert current pop idol here).
eggman 8)
i agree 100 percent i always thought mccartney was underrated he has such great flow and very cool basslines and yes the harmonys from hell great great stuff... i hated the beatles till i was about 25 i now know who the greatest band will always be..............the beatles ;D
i dont think most people realize how awesome the beatles are at first. then one day everyone hears that beatles song that makes it click. Mine was "Happiness is a Warm Gun". I remember thinking that that song was so ahead of it\'s time. I love the white album. However I still think their earliest stuff is too poppy and can easily be passed over.
Honestly it\'s pretty obvious that their music was definitely affected by drugs. If you ask me it changed them for the better, but some bands take drugs and it ruins them. If buckethead did a bunch of drugs i bet he wouldnt be nearly as productive as far as putting out albums goes. Hendrix is a perfect example of someone who benefited from taking drugs but at the same time they really held him down. I\'m sure they helped him a lot as a song writer but not so much as a musician. Hendrix probably would have been the best guitarist ever if he wasn\'t so out of his mind all the time. When your highly intoxicated you just arent as capable as when your sober. But sometimes when your mind is in another place you can write some great lyrics. My point is, be mindful when experimenting with drugs and music.
Quotei dont think most people realize how awesome the beatles are at first. then one day everyone hears that beatles song that makes it click. Mine was "Happiness is a Warm Gun". I remember thinking that that song was so ahead of it\'s time. I love the white album. However I still think their earliest stuff is too poppy and can easily be passed over.
Honestly it\'s pretty obvious that their music was definitely affected by drugs. If you ask me it changed them for the better, but some bands take drugs and it ruins them. If buckethead did a bunch of drugs i bet he wouldnt be nearly as productive as far as putting out albums goes. Hendrix is a perfect example of someone who benefited from taking drugs but at the same time they really held him down. I\'m sure they helped him a lot as a song writer but not so much as a musician. Hendrix probably would have been the best guitarist ever if he wasn\'t so out of his mind all the time. When your highly intoxicated you just arent as capable as when your sober. But sometimes when your mind is in another place you can write some great lyrics. My point is, be mindful when experimenting with drugs and music.
Zimbo-
Agree with you on all you wrote-very insightful. I don\'t care a whole lot for their early stuff either, I just look at that as them paying their dues, traveling through Europe, builidng a following. By the time they hit the shores of the US they were big stars in England. The cool part is, once they had the popularity (power) they pulled the rug out from record execs and release Rubber Soul and Revolver in my opinion their best work.
You are right, Buckethead needs no drugs. I know of no artist that has generated the overall sheer volume and quality of work that he has in the last few years-you could not be that productive on drugs.
With today\'s technology, pop stars only need to possess a pulse and mumble into a mic, it can all be fixed in the mix. I think digital technology helps in many cases when recording-saves a lot of time-but also lowers the bar. That is one reason I think the Beatles were really amazing-the really had to work in the studio.
On ancient, analog gear!
"Tomorrow Never Knows"
Egg, as a bassist I have to agree, McCartney was a rather underrated player. His playing on Come Together and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds are just two of many examples of where his playing is what really makes the song. I not much of a Beatles fan overall, but I can certainly appreciate the musicianship they demonstrated.
Bono of U2 was once quoted as saying "The White Album is the blueprint for all rock albums that followed". I know that has been said about many artists, but I think it turned out that way however unintentional to some degree. Lennon plays the guitar riff to Revolution in the studio-a tube in the mixing board goes bad, resulting in the distorted heavy metal guitar sound. I remember hearing that the first time as a kid and and thinking "I love this sound, I must do this myself". I know the Stones had a fuzz sound on the single note runs of Satisfaction, but Revolution just chugged away with those massive chords leading up to that smoking distorted ending. Also, on Everybody\'s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey the very first snippets of punk appear-all in 1968. Even though McCartney was the musical prodigy, Lennon was just raw emotion. Together they were awesome until external influences and business matters entered the mix.
Note to young musicians: Use the time you have and create, keep the recorder cued up, carry a personal voice recorder-keep track of your ideas. One day the time you have which seems endless won\'t be there.
Just to balance it out a bit. I don\'t like the beatles and never have. No, i haven\'t listened to much, but i don\'t want to either. I have heard enough to know i don\'t like them. I understand what "zimbopolus" said about hearing a track and then it just clicks and you like the band, but i just don\'t see this happening with the Beatles for me.
I\'m not slating the band, they are just not for me
Peace out.
This subject has come up here now twice in the last week. Vince is talking bout it on a thread above this. The Beatles have been talked about endlessly, for good reason, so adding anything new is almost impossible.
But I can\'t help but chime in here. With a lot of ground breaking music, it helps to have been there because if you don\'t hear it in context it\'s hard to appreciate the hugh innovation it is. With the Beatles however you only need to listen, context in time doesn\'t matter, it\'s not only innovative its also so heady and sophisticated it transcends pop and becomes the category of classical, in the literal sense, music. I think the proof of this is so many young people so long after it was produced, hear it and get as sucked in as I was when I first heard it on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. The Beatles arrived like aliens from another planet. By the time America heard them they had already developed a sophisticated blend of all their influences but added to that was the innate god given creative talent of not just one but two natural musical prodigies. I know people talk as though McCartney was the musical one and Lennon was the innovative one, but the truth is they were equals at both. Any one of them had the goods to carry the weight of a band but they had the added aspect that they complemented each other both musically and vocally, they became more then the sum of their parts.
I could go on but it really has been said many times before. I did just want to add a couple of things. If your a fan of music but not a fan of the Beatles, then their is some other reason you don\'t want to give it a chance. Its sure not the music. It\'s like saying I don\'t think I would like chocolate ice cream, it\'s so brown. Also I don\'t think the later music is better then the earlier music. There is a lot of innovation later but don\'t dismiss the early stuff. If you like "Because", listen to "This Boy". It was done live on the Sullivan show, as rich as "Because" without the triple layer and an incredible vocal from Lennon on the bridge. "Rock and Roll Music" from the first record is as hard a rock as you can get. The chords to "A Hard Days Night" are as sophisticated as anything they did. The vocal arrangement to "Please Please Me" their first single is amazing. This is just the first two years, then you have the Rubber Soul, Revolver period, followed by Pepper, Mystery Tour and the White album, all with in 3 years. Their whole recorded output is just 6 years. In 6 years they created the culture of Rock and Roll we know today. It has never been topped only copied, the edges twisted this way or that. Their influence and output is so great we will have to leave rock music to break free of it.
I would recommend to everyone a trip to the video store to rent "The Beatles Anthology". Even if you have seen it a few times but particularly if you want to know what all the fuss was about. If you don\'t walk away a rabid Beatlemaniac, then you can tell me, see, I told you so.
QuoteI did just want to add a couple of things. If your a fan of music but not a fan of the Beatles, then their is some other reason you don\'t want to give it a chance.
i think you\'re right Travis. when i was a kid i declared that i didn\'t like The Beatles just to get on my mom\'s nerves. of course i wound up liking them not too many years down the road. i decided to not like Stevie Nicks instead, hehe.
Travis-well said! I am stunned and amazed to read about Artistically Beatles. You are dead on-what an incredible 6 years. In my opinion the Beatles took pop and rock music from black and white to color. Their stamp is permanent. They are ingrained in our musical subconscience, and their musical influence is everywhere-I\'m sure many young people today would be amazed at how much whomever the current musical trendsters might be have borrowed from them.
I seriously did not know Vince Di Cola posted like-minded remarks in another thread-that is scary amazing and reinforces my belief in karma.
Now, I need to know how to get a copy of Artistically Beatles.
Please please
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkjGsG7tpwc
interview Seargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6Q3HjYB75s
Come together
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJqNxKdgyqM
SPLHC title song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5gaIXI2Mn4
THE BEATLES...timeless and true...super music and FUN FUN FUN! :-*
BIG HUGZ! ;D
two cents worth
I have the Anthology and all of the Movie (except the last one ) and am a fan of the latter years.
I come from two Beatle house holds, My Dad dragged Me to Sir Paul (solo) in 2002? (if memory serves) and 2006? ( Me thinks again the memory thing) John was murdered around 5? months after I was born, never got around to see George
Chris DiCicco
I realized what these lyrics mean today...
"But listen to the colour of your dreams
Is it not living, is it not living
Or play the game existence to the end
Of the beginning, of the beginning"
from "Tomorrow Never Knows". I feel pretty good.
QuoteI realized what these lyrics mean today...
"But listen to the colour of your dreams
Is it not living, is it not living
Or play the game existence to the end
Of the beginning, of the beginning"
from "Tomorrow Never Knows". I feel pretty good.
Lennon wrote that after reading the Tibetan book of the dead, I think. Pretty heavy line.
Quotetwo cents worth
I have the Anthology and all of the Movie (except the last one ) and am a fan of the latter years.
I come from two Beatle house holds, My Dad dragged Me to Sir Paul (solo) in 2002? (if memory serves) and 2006? ( Me thinks again the memory thing) John was murdered around 5? months after I was born, never got around to see George
Chris DiCicco
another cent,
\'OHMYGAWD I FERGOT ABOUT RINGO, I SAW RINGO IN
2005 LAKE TAHOE YO!\'
Chris DiCicco
I love musicians who push themselves to another level. Many bands get stuck in a rut and dont ever stray from what they did on the last recording or even worse they change because of the all mighty dollar and then the music lacks. Buckethead is a true example of a musician who pushes himself to create something new and different for himself. The Beatles are much of the same.
When I was reading this thread I could not help myself from thinking of this new recording I picked up earlier this week; Mastodon\'s Crack the Skye. They have reinvented themselves. I would no longer say they are a metal band but a prog rock band with metal tendencies. The songs are from the heart and you can eaisly hear it. I highly suggest listening to this recording because of the musicanship and the feelings it displays. With out a doubt Crack the Skye will influence many musicans because of the talent and the mind set of the band when it comes to music. The only other 2 bands that has influnced me and how I look at creating music is, of course, Buckethead for his unrelenting desire to do better and more... and Fugazi for making music for themselves and nothing more.
So check out Crack the Skye you just might see what I do.
On a retreat, I met a woman who was the president of The Beatles fan club for a couple of NYC burrows in \'64. I asked her who her fav Beatle was. She said it changed over the years. It started out Paul, then John, but now George. We both agreed that George is our fav, and both added that Ringo could really hold his own on drums.