Abbey Road, by the Beatles. 1969
I always had the feeling that the Beatles were otherworldly. That they were initially just trying to fit in to some idea they had of earthlings, especially screaming girl earthlings, when they made those girls crazy back in the early 60s. Just trying to fit in, when they sang I want to hold your hand eight days a week. When they sang help me on a hard day’s night. They were putting us on when they sang can’t buy me love so I’ll cry instead.
They were putting us humans on.
As time went by, the Beatles grew tired of their masks, their human masks, and little by little, they decided to go full out alien. It probably started with Revolver, picked up steam with Sgt Peppers, veered into new territory with The White Album, and culminated with Abbey Road. By that time they had become the first of their kind:
Philosopher King Rockers.
It’s hard to believe Abbey Road came out 40 years ago. It’s quite nearly perfect. All of the songs work beautifully together, though I could probably do without Ringo’s Octopus’s Garden, and Maxwell’s Silver Hammer never really knocked me out. I especially think the second side is masterful. Though other Rockers had done suites by 1969, including the Beatles, there is something genuinely, quietly revolutionary about its mix of surrealist and dadaist lyrics and wonderful harmonies.
Abbey Road needs to be listened to from beginning to end, but Golden Slumbers offers a wonderful focal point, a bridge between before and after. Though it’s a brilliant little ditty, it needs the music that follows, primarily because of its abrupt ending. It strikes me as obvious that it could have been reshaped to stand on its own without too much work. McCartney sings soft, mellow and then harsh, echoing his great vocal from Side One, Oh! Darling …
Golden Slumbers, by the Beatles
The Beatles have been covered by thousands of recording artists. A recent movie, Across the Universe (2007), starring Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess, did justice to many of their songs. The actors actually sang, which heightened the difficulty of their performances, and they mostly sang well. Here’s a very good cover of Because:
The music of The Beatles never gets old for me. Not even the early phase of their evolution, when they wanted to make the girls dance and scream and were trying to hide their alien origins. Not their middle period of Rubber Soul and Revolver, when they were beginning to see what they could really do in this earthy medium. And when they left the glaring lights of the stage, stopped touring, and concentrated solely on making music in the studio, they turned another corner. They became, quite possibly, the first Rock Band to achieve the status of seers, philosopher kings, prophets. Not bad for four lads from Liverpool, Alpha Centauri.
I, too, have often felt that The Beatles were something other than four lads from various parts of England. The quality of their music defies rational explanation. But then art defies rational explanation.
Another reason why I think it’s the case (He says, ironically). The compression of their evolution. They were basically only on the recording scene for six years. During that time, they replayed and updated music from the 40s and 50s, expanded the folk rock of the mid-60s, helped lay the foundations for the hard rock of the 70s, and looked ahead to college radio/Indie Rock of the 90s. They ran the gamut and back again. They embodied the full range of music from several decades, including classical. It was as if their spaceship had received our radio signals and were inspired to improve upon it.
Signed, Not Erik von Danikan .…
;>)
Well then there is Brian Wilson who I think equals or betters the Beatles in song writing and studio production.Pet Sounds is just a start.
Wilson was an excellent songwriter. I like the music of the Beach Boys a lot. But my own affinities are more closely linked to the Beatles. There’s plenty of room, of course, for both.
Somebody to Love : ‘When the garden flowers, baby, are dead, / Yes, and Your Mine, Your Mine is so full of red,‘
Dear Mr. Mueller,
As a fan of the Jefferson Airplane, I must correct your lyrics above…
When the garden flowers, baby are dead
And your mind, your mind is so full of red…
I believe that these are the true words sung by Ms. Grace Slick.
RE: BEATLES!!!! Abbey Road is on my list of 10 albums to be stranded on a desert island with.…
Thanks for the write up!
Good heavens! Listen to the song on the CD that I recently bought within the past few years, and that I listened to last night, and you may hear for yourself what she sings.
Oh, I see. You are saying it’s “mind” not “mine” — ok. Thanks. Your way, I still think the lines are special, and there is the echo “You’re mine” that enriches the emphasis of “your mind.“
1969 was quite a year for landmark albums.I do beleive that the first Jefferson Starship album“Blows Against the Empire” is from 69 and it should be the official album of doing LSD.The artwork alone on the LP even if you wern’t doing windowpane was fascinating.Paul Katner with a metallic marijuna leaf hairdo was great for rolling joints.
My bad“Blows Against the Empire” was released in 1970 but 1969 produced two Jefferson Airplane albums and two Quicksilver Messenger Service Lp’s.Also a slew of albums with the band name being the album name including Led Zepplin.The Band,CSN and Bind Faith who had the most controversial album cover of all time back then with the young naked teen girl holding an airplanr model which was changed to a different album cover at one point but now days I mostly see the original cover on CD’S.
John, would enjoy posting something from you about that era. Please let me know if you’re into that …
This is a terrific write-up, im glad I came across this. Ill be back in the future to check out other posts that you have on your blog.