The Journey Back Entry 12: The Summer of ’65 Gets Progressively Better

The beginning of July 1965 saw the release of the appropriately named Summer Days (and Summer Nights!) by The Beach Boys. Apparently after the more progressive Today! , Capital Records asked Brian Wilson to tone it down a bit. The album features many of the traditional type songs from Summer Days but with a more layered production underneath. Once again, I’m drawn to the less surfy sound of the band and its the songs that have more instrumental experimentation that I was drawn towards while listening to this. Overall it isnt a bad album, its just not necessarily my cup of tea either. I think the fact that I’ve never lived in California also affects my  love for the band. They’re just too jolly. Take their most popular song on the album: “California Girls”. I recognize the importance but I cant say I enjoy listening to it.

1965 – Summer Days (and Summer Nights!) – Top Highlights

Then I Kissed Her – I love the guitar part on this song.

Girl Don’t Tell Me – I love the little vocal accents on this song. That “I’m the Guy-uy -uy!” part is so great. And the piano part in the background. And obviously minor key!

You’re So Good to Me – Ok so remember all that stuff I said about not liking how jolly the band is? Forget that this song always makes me smile! I think its the fact that they over sing it and it adds a sense of irony to the happiness that makes it infinitely more enjoyable. It helps that the backing music here is incredible. That addictive bass and drums accompanied by the “la la la” whiny vocals in the background. Reminds me of Muppet Babies. Actually most Beach Boys does. For better and worse.

Honorable mention for “I’m Bugged at My Old Man” as it gave me a great laugh.

 

So the theme of this article is progressively better album releases. The next to release was July 30th’s Out of our Heads by the Rolling Stones. Here the band continues its streak of releasing albums with a couple of really great songs and some other clear throw aways. Their sound hasn’t changed much mostly because once again we’re getting lots of covers. That being said, the standout single “Satisfaction” is on this album and it really does rock. Overall I would say this album is probably not “better” than Summer Days, just more down my alley.

1965 – Out of Our Heads – Top Highlights

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – What a riff!! So simple yet so addictive. What’s really interesting is that the distorted guitar was originally meant to later be replaced by a horn section. WHAT a different song it might have been! I’m glad it was kept with the guitar because it really is so immediately wonderful.

Cry To Me – I love Mick Jaggers wild vocals on this track. What really won me over was the line “Nothing could be sadder than a glass of wine alone!” Something about that image is just so wonderfully depressing.

Play with Fire – The Rolling Stones trying to be subtle?? Its so quiet. And that guitar part immediately following each line of “But dont play with me cause youre playing with fire.” is so mysterious. I think I just like the change of pace for the band and hope they pursue it further on future releases.

Not to be outdone by the Beach Boys or the Rolling Stones, the Beatles released their next album on August 6th 1965.  Help! accompanied a Beatles film which I have not seen. Still, no viewing of the movie is necessary to listen to the beautiful song writing and vocals on display here. If you remember I was disappointed in their last release of 1964 Beatles for Sale for being a quick cash in full of covers. Thankfully Help! is written by the band in full and is a much better album because of it. The Beatles are still a full on pop band but the songs are getting deeper. There’s more piano on the album and the instruments in general are taking more liberties from the traditional verse chorus structure. I’m nowhere near intelligent enough when in comes to recording techniques to comment on all the changes the Beatles are implementing but I can say that it sounds great. All that being said, its hard for me to review the Beatles albums in the comparison timeline because unlike most releases in 1965, I know how much potential the Beatles have yet to unleash.

1965 – Help! – Top 5 Highlights

Help! – The multiple layers in the first 10 seconds of this song alone are mind blowing. Lennon’s singing back against the harmonized cries for help and the bass and guitar underneath. I love the way the harmony part during the verses sings the same lines that Lennon is singing but at a different flow so that you hear them separately! It’s not a technique that always works but here it really succeeds. Plus the falsetto “Please please me” is such a great sing-a-long moment

I Need You – I promised I would keep following George Harrison’s songs. He gets 2 on Help! and my favorite is “I Need You”. One again a more mellow track. I love how sad that guitar sounds at the end of each line in the verse. It sounds like the guitar is dying. It’s a so bad its great kind of sound. The song reminds me of a sad puppy and to be honest I think that is what Harrison was going for.

She’s Got a Ticket To Ride – It’s hard for me to not like this song just based on the sheer amount of times I’ve heard it. I like how both Lennon and McCartney support each other vocally. Most important is the ending when the tempo changes and they sing “My baby dont care”. I love when songs break the verse/chorus mold for something special.

I’ve Just Seen a Face – What a beautiful song! I think this song continues to support the theory that I’m more of a McCartney fan than a Lennon fan. As I’ve mentioned before: while I’ve been listening to the Beatles for a long time, I’ve never payed attention to who wrote/sang what. Now that I’m exploring this aspect of the albums, Ive found that a lot of my favorites are McCartney songs. I like the twirling acoustic guitar in the song. Maybe its because a good acoustic guitar part is truly timeless to me, but I always find these stripped down songs to be my favorites on ’60’s albums so far (just like with Dylan).

Yesterday – OH boy. What can you say that hasn’t already been said? Its been voted the the best song of the 20th century and the greatest pop song of all time and for good reason. It’s only two minutes long but every second is well spent putting forth this perfect picture of heartbreak. What’s better than acoustic guitar alone? Strings of course.

I would end this entry here as its already overlong but the summer isnt over yet. August 30th 1965 saw the release of one more amazing album. Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited. At this point Dylan was stressed out by his fans for not liking his change in direction and this led to a song writing drought. Coming off of  Help! , there is an instant gravity about this album compared to everything else I’ve heard to this point. On my first listen, the second that “Like a Rolling Stone” began playing, I just had this… awakening? I dont know how to describe it. Just this overwhelming feeling that music can be better. That in 1965, we were just getting started with rock and roll. The biggest immediately  noticeable difference was in the lyrics. Flip through the songs on Help!; these two or three minute pop songs about love and loss. Then play “Like a Rolling Stone”. Just the sheer volume of lyrics, and the density. Just, wow. Now the album does feature a lot of the crazy wild rock Dylan present on Bringing It All Back Home that I wasnt such a big fan of but it’s definitely more developed and fleshed out here. I think one of the greatest additions is Bob Dylan’s wider use of piano and organ on this album. The longer, slower, piano laden tracks tend to draw me in more than the wild rock and roll ones. This led me to  songs like “Ballad of a Thin Man” and “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”. The album starts out with its strongest track but it ends on its second strongest. “Desolation Row” is an 11 and a half minute acoustic guitar epic and I’m just glad he’s continued to include songs in this style. Now up there for me with “It’s Alright Ma”. I mentioned the depth of the lyrics earlier and I will now preface this by saying that depth doesnt necessarily mean connections. A lot of times I have no idea what Dylan is singing about. I am certain that HE knew exactly what he was talking about. For me, its more similar to a blind food tasting. You may not know what it is youre eating but good tasting food is good tasting food. Just listening to Dylan’s solid imagery is a gift.

1965 – Highway 61 Revisited – Top 5 Highlights

Like a Rolling Stone – A perfect song and a perfect experience. Maybe Bob Dylan’s best song? Something about how it all comes together musically and lyrically and emotionally. There’s just a magic here. The way Dylan yells the chorus. The way the organ continually plays. The jangling of the guitars. The spare use of harmonica. Wow.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/5124986″>Like A Rolling Stone</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user1858627″>Lea Becker</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Ballad of a Thin Man – Haunting piano! Actually one of the first Dylan songs I ever heard and liked. Dylan’s talk singing works a lot better when he’s not yelling it in an extremely hoarse voice over jangling guitars. The cool factor of the piano adds a grounded feeling to Dylan’s talking. It works. It just works.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/52383325″>Bob Dylan – The Ballad of a Thin Man</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user1114172″>Vasco Cavalcante</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Queen Jane Approximately – The piano here is in complete contrast to that of “Ballad of a Thin Man”, here adding a feel good beauty both to Dylan’s vocals and the song itself.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/29149789″>Bob Dylan – “Queen Jane Approximately” MONO</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user5966392″>Curtis Mayfield</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Just Like Tom Thumb ‘s Blues – Once again its the beauty of the piano that won me over here. It’s hard to talk about a lot of Dylan’s songs because its so much better to just get them into your ears.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/29785190″>Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user1076768″>Vince Vercillo</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Desolation Row – I talked about this earlier but it really is all about the acoustic guitar here. It may be a bit repetitive but each note is played so beautifully that I have no problem listening to Dylan play it over the 11 minute length. This is a definitely a sit outside in the backyard and smoke a cigarette while staring at the night sky and contemplating life kind of experiences. Also if you stick around, you get one epic harmonica solo!

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/11222889″>Desolation Row</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user3675027″>Paul Tattam</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

So overall, the summer of 65 was really a great time to be a fan of rock music. While the Beach Boys and Rolling Stones released decent albums, and the Beatles released another great one, it was Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited that captured my heart. I think I’ll be shocked if I find an album in 65 that I like more. Still I’m excited to try anyway and dive further into the 60’s less famous acts. I really am desiring to pick up the pace of this journey so that I can get to more and more music but I know that will come with sacrificing some of the writing so I haven’t decided exactly what Ill do just yet. Again thank you if you were able to read all the way to the end of this. Let me know if theres an album you think I missed or you definitely want me to check out in the future!

The Journey Back Entry 11: A Flock This Way Comes

Its the two year anniversary of this site being gifted to me by my [now wife] and I felt that was as good a reason as any to start the site running again! I really want to get things moving especially in my journey back series since theres so much music to get to. As the name suggests, this post will focus on debut albums of 2 bird based bands I constantly confuse in my head: The Byrds and The Yardbirds.

The Byrds, to my understanding, are the first true emergence of folk rock. They established this very easily by forming a rock band and then covering a bunch of Dylan songs. You cant go wrong covering Dylan songs for a folk rock band, especially since Dylan himself was beginning to experiment with rock and roll at this point. It should also be mentioned that band features David Crosby on guitars! Obviously I’ll be looking forward to more of him in the late 60’s. The album sounds about how you would expect it to: Like the Beatles doing multipart harmony covers of Dylan songs. I should point out that the sounding like the Beatles part was intentional with the band even purchasing instruments played by the Beatles. What’s really funny here is while most people seem to steer towards the Dylan covers as the best music on the album, I’m all in favor of the few compositions put forth by Gene Clark. I think it’s probably because I’ve heard all the Dylan originals first and to now hear them sung in such a poppy harmonized way seems to lessen the impact of Dylan’s raw versions. Still theres a lot to love here!

1965 – Mr. Tambourine Man – Top Five Highlights

I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better – This song definitely reminds of the Beatles in that fun jingle jangle guitar and 3 part harmonies sense but theres nothing wrong with that! I loved A Hard Day’s Night.

Here Without You – I love the opening of this song! That guitar gets me every time! I like the beginning of each verse, something about those deep sad harmonies is just so wonderful. You can feel the melancholy but for some reason you want to be part of it.

The Bells of Rhymney – This song is a Pete Seeger cover but since Ive never heard the original version, I really liked this version. I think I just like the sad ones.

I Knew I’d Want You – Thats right! Another minor key harmonies track. This song appeared as a B-side for the “Mr. Tambourine Man” single released before the debut album. These two tracks were actually recorded by session musicians and therefore have a crisper sound to them.

It’s No Use – Once again its the opening guitar part that gets me into the song. In general, a song that can grab my attention in the opening seconds will keep me waiting for more interesting things to happen. I like the faster pace of this one and its dancy up and down nature. Plus: GUITARS!

When I listen to these albums, I dont read up on the song writers and such until after I’ve given the albums a few spins so it was really great when I found that my four favorite songs on the album were originals by the band. Definitely excited for the sequel!

Now onto a different form of bird altogether: The Yardbirds!

Here is another wild Rhythm and Blues british bands in the vein of The Rolling Stones. The Yardbirds are famous for kickstarting the careers of Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. On For Your Love both Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton can be heard playing some MEAN blues guitar and the constant riffing stops them from sounding like Rolling Stones clones. The best example appears on the non-stop rocking guitar fest that is “I’m Not Talking” and “I Ain’t Done Nothing” both featuring Jeff Beck. I also happen to really like vocalist Keith Relf!

1965 – For Your Love – Top Highlights

For Your Love – The intro to the song is really cool and once Keith started the verses in a kind of call and response with the repetitive “For Your Love” chorus, I was sold.

I’m Not Talking – Seriously the guitar riff and solo work here is just top notch stuff. The guitar just never lets you rest and that a very very good thing.

I Ain’t Done Nothing – The guitar and drums duo that constantly hammers into your brain (you can hear it at the 1:21 second mark) combined with the call and response guitar and harmonica is enough to make any blues rocker happy!

Overall I was very happy with both The Byrds and the Yardbirds. I’m excited to hear more original compositions from the Byrds and maybe a little bit of uniqueness while I’m hoping that the Yardbirds continue to rock out but dont forget the importance of melody since a lot of the songs lack the typical verse chorus structure in favor of a more free flowing vibe that can make it hard to differentiate some of the lesser liked tracks on the album. Theres still a lot of albums left in 1965 but I hope to move things a long at a bit of a brisker pace so that we can get to more music faster! Thanks again for reading/commenting/sharing/liking!

Song of the Day 09/13/12: The Black Keys – Sister

I’ve never been a big Black Keys fan.  That isn’t to say that I don’t like them!  I like them a lot.  I just don’t consider myself a dedicated enough listener of their music, to call myself a true fan.  I’ve really only heard their new albums, and mostly because I follow producer Danger Mouse wherever he goes.  That being said, El Camino is my favorite album of theirs because I like that it has more of a poppy dance sound, which everyone who reads this blog knows I adore.  My favorite track off the album is “Sister”.  Don’t ask me what the song is about.  I have no idea.  Sometimes a beat is so fun and addictive, you have to yell at me before I finally say “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”  I don’t know what it’s about because I’ve never listened to the words.  I’m too addicted to the beat.  I’m assuming it has to do with someone’s sister… If you like this song, definitely check out the rest of the album, cause it is full of beats like this one.