The Journey Back Entry 4: I May Have Lost the Battle but I Won the War!

I said last time that I was moving on to 1964. It does however seem there are still a couple albums to check out from that time period. That being said, Entry 4 shall deal specifically with my reactions to the first half of 1964.

Lets start with January 13th as Bob Dylan releases his much anticipated third album The Times They are a-Changin’! I’m not going to lie, I had high hopes for this one. So many people mention this song and this album when they talk about the influence of Bob Dylan. Remember I know hardly anything about his career. What I knew going into this album was that he released a kick ass, very raw debut of covers followed by an excellent album of new material both of which have continued to grow on me since then. I wanted the Times to be the next step forward into his career of awesome…!

Sadly, I came away completely disappointed upon my initial listen. Gone were the happy go lucky blues numbers. Gone was basically any sense of tongue in cheek or cheeriness. In place of it we get stone cold “pointin fingers” songs that attack specific issues going on in 1964. I can see why people were riled up by these protest songs, but as songs, they are severely lacking. Gone are Dylan’s amazing guitar skills, replaced here, by boring repetitive plucking noises that I could do nothing with. On top of that, the album feels like a downward spiral of lyric upon lyric of angry whining. This album was just a total downer. That was my first impression. “Boots of Spanish Leather” was ok.

My good friend Jacek who loves Bob Dylan has been writing me reviews to go along with the albums and I was terrified of checking out what he had to say about the album. I knew he was going to love it and I just absolutely did not. Low and behold, his review actually touched upon all the problems I had with the album. Especially the idea that this album was so much of the same! Where as The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan felt disjointed and inconsistent, The Times They are a-Changin’ feels TOO consistent. There’s no variety. No changes. No fun. I also found out that at this point, Bob Dylan was back with Suze Rotolo (you know the political one with the snobby parents) Then it all made sense. Have you ever had a girlfriend you wanted to impress? Bob didnt write these songs because he wanted to. He wrote them because people wanted to hear them. “Masters of War” was an excellent protest song with real emotion and feeling behind it. People wanted more “Masters of War” so Dylan gave them an entire album of it. It’s just that I dont think he was really that into it. This is what resulted. Now you know I’m not into negative reviews but here, I feel obligated to express this part of the journey as it is very important later on. This is not the end of my Times journey but I’m going to leave it alone at this point where you find me, disappointed that Dylan finally let me down as a song writer.

1964 has a lot of amazing releases in it I wanted to check out so I decided I would just go month to month and check out the ones I wanted in order. My next stop was the Hollies debut a week later, Stay with the Hollies. The most important member of the band for me was Graham Nash. I am very interested in CSNY so I thought I should check out the origins of its members. Graham Nash started out with the british pop group the Hollies. Once again, I came up disappointed! To be fair, I will confess to only listening to this album once. For me, that was enough to know I wasn’t going to find much here. For one, the band just sounds like Beatles-wannabes. The band was discovered during a time when Beatlemania was underway and every record label wanted to grab as many sound- alike bands as possible. The real problem is not that they sound like the Beatles. The problem is that Stay With the Hollies like most debuts of the time is full of cover songs. If I’m going to listen to a bunch of harmonizing 60’s pop singers cover music, I’ll just stick with the Beatles. I am interested to hear what the band has to contribute once they start writing their own music so I figure Ill check back in on them in a few years.

Now for the good news! It sounds like my journey hit a real downer in 1964 and it did for a bit but April rolled around and brought the year some character. Now I mentioned the last two albums so you con understand where I’m coming from when I finally picked up The Rolling Stones, debut album of the Rolling Stones. I knew that once again, the album was going to be a debut loaded with covers. There is only one original track. I’ve listened to a bit of the Rolling Stones before and never been too excited about what I heard. So… What did I think?

THIS is why Time Machine has been such a wonderful way to go back and discover music. The album is a VERY standard rock album. Compared to music of the present, I would probably consider it simple and “Not bad” had I heard it on a whim. However, after coming off the down in the dumps and politically stuffed borefest of Times and the absolute unoriginality of the pretty boy Hollies’s record: WHAT A BREATH OF FRESH AIR! Right off the bat with “Route 66”! The song was playful! It made me want to dance! And Mick Jagger! What a lovely voice! So hoarse and whiny but in the best of ways. And no harmonies! Just him singing against a funky bass and wily guitar and some raw drumming. This was rock and roll! Their song choices for cover were old rhythm and blues numbers that just had such a wild and danceable feel to them. It’s hard not to compare them with the Beatles since they were the other premiere group of the times and I have to say, I was really feeling the Stones. The Beatles are always smiling and happy. The Stones just seem more grumpy and cool. “Bad Ass” I think is the term that comes to mind for me. If the Beatles were the good looking guys in preppy cloths in high school proclaiming their love for women in a poetic fashion, then the Stones were the dudes in leather jackets who could give two shits and yet still ended up with the girls because every girl likes that bad boy act. In 1964 I just cant picture the Beatles singing a song like “I Just Want to Make Love To You.” The album had me laughing and head banging along. The lyrics were easy to pick up and sing along. What a wonderful debut! Definitely better than the Beatles Please Please Me. The attitude also carried over to the music. Where as the Beatles music all seems carefully constructed and thought out, recorded to the best of their ability, the Stones sound like they just banged it out in half an hour in someones garage so they could get back to trying to get women to sleep with them. There is just this “Wall of Sound” quality to the songs that feels like every instrument  is trying to be louder than the rest. The sound is definitely quantity over quality but I think it reflects their personalities really well. I touched on this before too but I think Mick’s singing also makes a huge difference. Instead of calculated beautiful four part harmonies, we just get Mick WAILING along. It is wonderful! I once heard someone tell me that all rock music can be put into one of two categories: The Beatles, and the Stones. I’m starting to agree. I cannot wait to see what the band does once they start to write their own material but for the time being, I’m content to hear them cover some more R & B! I cant wait to hear their follow up!

1964 The Rolling Stones Top 6 Highlights

Route 66 – I just love the playful nature. Just makes me want to dance. And Mick’s whiny vocals are a big highlight. I also love the bass, guitar and drums which all feel separate, uniquely raw and awesome.

I Just Wanna Make Love to You – I love the way Mick’s vocals are so loud they crack and distort the sound of the record. The harmonica here is used to great affect as well. And the lyrics. The first time I heard it I just thought, “The Beatles would not sing this!” and after coming off the copycat Hollies, that was just what I needed.

Mona – Mona is by far my favorite song on the album. I just love the laid back nature of the song. The way it kind of just meanders on with this amazing beat under it and Mick howling over it. It’s really sexy. And whenever the guitar comes in to give Mick’s voice a break, it does some really cool sliding stuff. I was excited about the first couple songs but this Bo Diddley cover can stand up to some of my best music. I just cant get it out of my head. I think Mick could sing me to sleep with this one(in a good way. lol)

Now I’ve Got a Witness – This is not one of my favorite songs on the record. I’m putting it here because I got really excited about it for one reason: Its an instrumental!! During my time travels, I had yet to spot a single instrumental track. Songs were meant to be sung it seems outside the world of Jazz. It made me really happy because to me, the instrumental is a staple on most great rock albums and here it just felt so innovative. I’m sure if I went farther back in time, I would probably realize it wasnt but in my limited knowledge and as my first time travel experience with it, I just had to point it out!

Carol – Once again, it is the playful nature of the song that really got to me. Every time Mick cries out “Oh Carol!” I just love how personal it feels. The guitars here I find really fun as well!

Tell Me (You’re Coming Back) – This is the one Stones original on the album and I really like it. The guitars are cool, the drums are laid back, and the Stones do harmony different! Where as the Beatles harmonies sound so pitch perfect and beautiful, the Stones manage to make even their harmonies sound wild and manly. It feels more like a wing man pitching in on a date request. They are all just kind of singing whatever they feel like coming in and out and most importantly, sounding really whiny. I just love that they aren’t trying to sound like the Beatles. It’s working for me! Interestingly, I read about the Stones writing and how their manager really wanted them to write some original material. They didnt feel they were quality writers and would write songs that they thought would prove they were bad song writers so their manager would stop asking. Obviously that plan failed.

I’m going to stop here since I’ve talked quite a bit and I think I’ve also shared the next great part of the journey. Sometimes you need to lose the battle in order to win the war. Dylan and the Hollies felt like uphill battles that yielded few results (Or at least so I thought at the time, in the case of Dylan, I should let you know that this is still not the end of the journey when it comes to Times, but more on that another time!). However, those failures perfectly set me up for a major victory with the Stones debut. I’m not sure I would have been as open and surprised by the Rolling Stones debut without the entire journey. TimeMachine seems to be working just as expected. Until next time…