RECOMMENDED ADDITIONAL RECORDINGS BY THE BEATLES, LATE 1965-MID-1966:

Transcription

1 THE BEATLES OLLI Dominican Week Four ESSENTIAL BEATLES LISTENING, LATE 1965-MID-1966: 1. Rubber Soul (EMI, the Beatles' sixth album, originally released December 1965). The album usually cited as the one on which the Beatles made their greatest leap as writers of song lyrics, though there had been growing indications of more personal and creative wordplay for at least a year and a half. Much of the album also found them influenced by the folk-rock of Bob Dylan and the Byrds, and they continued to expand their tonal palette with the use of harpsichord, sitar, fuzz guitar, Greek-styled guitar, and other creative expansions of rock's sonic boundaries. Key tracks: "Norwegian Wood," the first use of sitar in a Beatles song; "In My Life," a movingly autobiographical look at their recent past; "Nowhere Man," the first Beatles song not to refer to romantic love at all in its lyrics; "If I Needed Someone," evidence of George Harrison's growing strength as a songwriter, and their most blatantly Byrds-influenced track; "Drive My Car," one of their gnarliest rock songs; and "Michelle," one of their prettiest ballads. 2. Revolver (EMI, the Beatles' seventh album, originally released August 1966). The group continued to relentlessly move forward on a record that drew from hard guitar British mod rock, soul, film orchestration, the American pop-rock of the Beach Boys and the Lovin' Spoonful, Indian music, and the avant-garde. The arrangements made use of backward tapes, distortion, and chamber music in ways that help pioneer psychedelic rock. In addition, the subjects of the songs continued to branch out beyond romantic themes into social commentary and drug-influenced introspection. Key tracks: "Eleanor Rigby," combining a portrait of social alienation with classical orchestration; "Tomorrow Never Knows," a leap into all-out psychedelia with tape loops and lyrics inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead; "I'm Only Sleeping," with hypnotic backwards guitar; "Taxman," one of George Harrison's fiercest rockers and social critiques; "Good Day Sunshine," one of their most upbeat, celebratory songs; "Got to Get You into My Life," their most effective fusion of soul and rock; and "Yellow Submarine," the Ringo-sung children's song that was the album's big hit. 3. From Past Masters Vol. 2 (EMI): "Day Tripper"/"We Can Work It Out," a double A- sided single from late 1965 that matched one of their most riff-driven guitar rockers with one of their most lilting, ambiguous philosophical tunes; and "Paperback Writer"/"Rain," the mid-1966 single whose A-side marked a move into more aggressively recorded power chord guitars and bass (and McCartney's first venture into non-romantic topical songwriting), backed by Lennon's first venture into druggy, hazy psychedelia. RECOMMENDED ADDITIONAL RECORDINGS BY THE BEATLES, LATE 1965-MID-1966:

2 1. From Anthology Vol. 2 (EMI): Tracks on disc one. Like the rest of the three Anthology volumes, this contains rare recordings, virtually all of them unreleased before Key tracks: much different earlier version of "Norwegian Wood"; harder-rocking, different version of "I'm Looking Through You" with reggae-like rhythm; early version of "Tomorrow Never Knows"; recordings from mid-1966 Tokyo concert on their final world tour.' NOTABLE UNRELEASED BEATLES MATERIAL, LATE 1965-MID-1966: 1. Nippon Budokan Hall Concerts, June 30, 1966 & July 1, Good-quality recordings of both of the Beatles' entire sets filmed for television in Tokyo have circulated for a long time. Unfortunately, the Beatles' performances were generally under-par, owing to their reduced enthusiasm for touring and some instrumental and vocal sloppiness. Two tracks from the June 30, 1966 concert, "Rock and Roll Music" and "She's a Woman," are on Anthology Vol. 2. The concerts are better appreciated by watching the color TV programs of the entire shows, though these are not currently officially available. 2. Candlestick Park Concert, August 29, The final official Beatles concert was recorded on cassette by their publicist, Tony Barrow, and has circulated unofficially for many years. The sound quality isn't good, and the last song, "Long Tall Sally," cuts off after a half-minute as the tape ran out. But it's reasonably listenable, and a historic document. RECOMMENDED ADDITIONAL READING (IN ADDITION TO SECTIONS ON THE BEATLES FROM MID-1966-MID-1967 ON GENERAL READING LIST): 1. Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles, by Geoff Emerick and Howard Massey (Gotham Books, 2006). For Revolver, Geoff Emerick became the Beatles' recording engineer, keeping that position for most of their sessions until they broke up. He worked on more Beatles sessions than anyone besides the Beatles or George Martin. This is his fascinating memoir of working with the band, also including some accounts of a few sessions he worked on prior to 1966, as well as on Paul McCartney's 1973 album Band on the Run. 2. Ticket to Ride: The Extraordinary Diary of the Beatles' Last Tour, by Barry Tashian (Dowling Press, 1997). Barry Tashian was lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter for the Remains, the underrated Boston band who were one of the support acts for the Beatles' final tour in August Though slim, this is an interesting account of those days by someone who was there, with plenty of photos. 3. In the Sixties, by Barry Miles (Jonathan Cape, 2002). One of those key figures in London was Miles, a personal friend of McCartney and later author of McCartney's own pseudo-memoir of the time, Many Years From Now. This is his own memoir of the period, during which he edited London's leading underground paper, International Times. In the late '60s he ran Apple's short-lived spoken word/experimental label, Zapple.

3 4. Eight Miles High: Folk-Rock's Flight from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock, by Richie Unterberger (Backbeat, 2003). The sequel to Turn! Turn! Turn!: The 1960s Folk-Rock Revolution, picking up the story of folk-rock in mid-1966 and taking it through The Beatles were influential on both the original folk-rock musicians and folk-rockers of this period who went into psychedelic rock. RECOMMENDED DVDS/VIDEOS: 1. The Beatles Anthology 5 & 6 (Apple, 2003). Things get a little confusing here, but some of episode 5, and all of episode 6, on The Beatles Anthology 5 & 6 DVD, cover their career from Revolver through Sgt. Pepper. It adds up to an hour and a half or so of coverage altogether. Like all of the Anthology volumes, it includes extensive interviews with McCartney, Harrison, and Starr; archive audio clip interviews of Lennon; and a wealth of vintage performance and interview footage. 2. The Beatles from Liverpool to San Francisco (Eagle Media, 2005). Although this DVD compilation of Beatle interviews isn't that good, a 22-minute bonus feature, entitled Beatles Across America, has an interesting documentary filmed in 1966 of the controversy sparked in the US by John Lennon's "we're more popular than Jesus" remark. NOTABLE PEOPLE: Geoff Emerick: Promoted to the position of Beatles engineer at the beginning of the Revolver sessions. Was vital in the technical realization of many of the group's increasingly ambitious production ideas. Continued to work as an engineer on most of their sessions until they broke up, though he quit for a while halfway through The White Album, and did not work with them on the Let It Be sessions. Ravi Shankar: Renowned Indian sitarist, who taught George Harrison sitar after George became interested in Indian music and religion in The two also become close personal friends, and George and his wife spent a lot of time with him when they traveled to India for an extended trip in late 1966 after the Beatles stopped touring. Maureen Cleave: British journalist who interviewed the Beatles on several occasions in their early years. Her interview with John Lennon in early 1966, when reprinted in the United States shortly before the Beatles' American tour that summer, touched off a furor due to the inclusion of John's comment that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. John Dunbar: Marianne Faithfull's first husband, and co-founder of the Indica Gallery in London. Helped introduce the Beatles, and particularly Paul McCartney, to some currents in avant-garde/experimental art and culture that influenced their work in the mid-1960s. Helped introduce John Lennon to Yoko Ono at an exhibition of Ono's work at his gallery in November NOTABLE LANDMARKS:

4 Candlestick Park: San Francisco stadium in which the Beatles gave their final official concert on August 29, Cavendish Avenue, St. John's Wood: Paul McCartney's London home, bought in April 1965, into which he moved in March Only a few blocks from Abbey Road Studios; Paul and John did some songwriting here. Still one of the homes that Paul owns and lives in part-time. Empire Pool, Wembley: Site of the Beatles' final official British concert, as part of the New Musical Express Annual Poll-Winners' Concert on May 1, Nippon Budokan Hall: Tokyo arena in which the Beatles gave their final professionally filmed official live concerts on June 30 and July 1, ESSENTIAL ALBUMS BY OTHER ARTISTS THAT WERE INFLUENTIAL ON, ADMIRED BY, OR INFLUENCED BY THE BEATLES FROM LATE 1965-MID- 1966: 1. The Byrds, Fifth Dimension (Columbia, 1966). The Byrds' third album found them branching out from folk-rock into early psychedelia that incorporated influences from Indian musicians like Ravi Shankar and free jazzmen like John Coltrane, especially on "Eight Miles High." 2. The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds (Capitol, 1966). The Beach Boys' most sophisticated album to date, and still the band's most critically acclaimed record, was far more influential in the UK (where it was a huge hit) than it was in their home country. Paul McCartney especially loved the record, and has cited "God Only Knows" in particular as one of his all-time favorite songs by anyone. The Revolver song "Here, There, and Everywhere" has sometimes been reported as having been specifically influenced by the kind of harmonies and arrangements heard on Pet Sounds. 3. Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde (Columbia, 1966). Mid-1966 double album that marked his final all-out rock record before his July 1966 motorcycle accident, his subsequent retreat from the music business for the next year and a half, and his reemergence as a country-rock musician at the end of The album's "Fourth Time Around" is a gentle parody of "Norwegian Wood." 5. Donovan, Sunshine Superman (Epic, 1966). Though he was a little unfairly accused of being a Bob Dylan imitator when he released his first records in 1965, by the following year Donovan had moved from folk to psychedelic rock with a British folkrock slant. His huge hit "Sunshine Superman" was inspired in part by the Beatles (and originally subtitled "For John and Paul"), and he helped McCartney write a bit of the lyric for "Yellow Submarine."

5 6. Bernard Herrmann, Fahrenheit 451 (Universal DVD). George Martin specifically cited the soundtrack to the Francois Truffaut adaptation of the Ray Bradbury science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451 as an influence on his orchestral score for "Eleanor Rigby, especially the sharp staccato strings. Since it's a good film too, and this is how most viewers originally experienced the music, watching the DVD is recommended over hearing the music on its own. 7. The Who, Meaty Big and Bouncy (Universal, 1971). Around the time of "Paperback Writer," Paul McCartney cited Dylan and the Who as the biggest influences on the Beatles. "Paperback Writer" certainly sounds influenced by the Who's power-chordheavy guitar sound, especially as heard on the Who's early-1966 hit "Substitute." This compilation of greatest hits from the Who's first half-dozen years includes "Substitute" and other mid-'60s classics like "My Generation," "The Kids Are Alright" (perhaps the Who song on which the Beatles' influence is most evident), and "Happy Jack." 8. The Rolling Stones, Aftermath (ABCKO, 1966). The first Rolling Stones album to consist entirely of original material, likely under the pressure/influence of the Beatles, highlighted by the US hits "Mother's Little Helper" and "Lady Jane." 9. Ravi Shankar, Ragas & Talas (Angel/World Pacific, 1964). It may be that George Harrison was likely the only one of the Beatles to listen closely to Shankar's records. But there's no doubt Shankar was a huge influence on him, and thus by extension a significant influence on the Beatles, especially on tracks on which the sitar was heard, including "Norwegian Wood," "Love You To," and "Within You Without You." It's hard to say which Shankar record Harrison would have been most likely to have heard first, but it might have been this one, since it was on a label in which one of the Byrds' managers was involved, and he might have first heard Shankar when hanging out with the Byrds in LA during the Beatles' summer 1965 tour. 10. Wilson Pickett, The Very Best of Wilson Pickett (Atlantic, 1967). The Beatles didn't get too far into rock that bore the obvious influence of the southern soul music being produced in Muscle Shoals and Memphis, except maybe for "Got to Get You into My Life" and, to a lesser extent, "Drive My Car." When they entertained thoughts (never followed through) of recording in Memphis in 1966, however, they might have had the sound of records like Wilson Pickett's mid-'60s hits in mind, especially as John Lennon once said he was trying for a Wilson Pickett sort of groove on the Beatles' "You Can't Do That." 11. Otis Redding, Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul (Atco, 1966). Otis Redding's mid- '60s soul records might have also been influential on the Beatles' decision to at least investigate the possibility of recording in Memphis at the studio of Stax Records. John Lennon's jukebox had Redding's first UK hit, his version of the Temptation's "My Girl," which almost made the British Top Ten in late 1965 (and is included on this album).