Here's a link to a Harvey Kubernik piece that I posted earlier, but of course you can't cut and paste copyrighted articles so it got deleted. Anyways, I always enjoy Harveys writings. He's a big Beatles fan so here's his 2 cents on the 50th. http://cavehollywood.com/revisiting-the-beatles-aka-the-white-album/
Agree. Agree. Agree!!! I'm all for the White Album as is IF it isn't grounding down group cohesion and beating the band to death in its process. I wish SOMEONE had put a couple of 16 tracks in there(or in a nice quiet old house in surrey) and let McCartney obsess over redoing bits and occasionally call someone in to do an hour's work here and there. Or let George get 10 basic tracks done early and spend 2 or 3 months getting the others to put in bits as needed. But since that didn't happen. Better if they'd just gone and done it and kept it short and sweet. Only quibble would be that I'd want to keep Get Back... I'm greedy and wish the Beatles box had 25 albums in it not just 14! if the White Red and Blue albums had worked( and the Two Virgins megapackage had only sold 20,000 copies) then maybe the Get Back idea is better received and in May or June they work on new songs for a 7 night residency at a London theater they purchased and renovated in 1968.
Have to say Amen!!! The only thing better than that nice but rough outtake on Anthology 2 of Only a Northern Song and my disappointment that nothing was heard of It's All Too Much(or the coda vocal overdubs on I Want You!!!) was when the Yellow Submarine Songtrack was issued with a full on remix of the song in 1999. This release has its fans and I am one of them and think the price of the CD was justified by this song ALONE (the only quibble is that the edit before the final chorus brings in the horns a bit late compared to the original mix.. but then again.. how GREAT would it have been if they didn't edit it at ALL and let it go to 8:04 and avoid that whole issue entirely!!!) . But WOW that guitar sounds great lots of bright chords going on there.. and you can FEEL that bass drum. Why we are NOT holding in our hands a reissue of the Songtrack with the 5.1 mixes from 1999 on BluRay in our hands right now considering the theatrical 50th anniversary rerelease is a question that Beatle fans are only too familar with!!!
It what makes the White Album what it is... and of course paired off with Why Don't We Do It In the Road you run the gamut of male suggestions and declarations!!!
Putting these two posts together, does this mean the deluxe White Album will have fewer than 4 CDs? Or, instead, that Imagine will have more Blu-ray exclusive content than the White Album?
Mikecarrera is talking about *hours*, and since a single bluray disc can hold many hours of music compared to the 80 minutes tops on a CD, I think we can safely count on more than 4 CDs in the White Album set.
Re: Carole King I refer you to this link: "Chains" by The Beatles. The in-depth story behind the songs of the Beatles. Recording History. Songwriting History. Song Structure and Style.
I was not referring to Bob Dylan and the other charter members of the racially-divided 1968 protest/folk music scene. I was referring to the likes of James Taylor, Carley Simon, John Mayer, and Jason Mraz who wrote acoustic-pop love songs. Acoustic-pop. Love songs. Upbeat, optimistic, light percussion, practically danceable. To me, that's what I Will was a precursor to. It's an acoustic-pop song. Paul McCartney may not have invented the subgenre, but the White Album made it mainstream instantaneously.
This one, which matches your description, was recorded and released months before recording began on the White Album. I remember hearing it on AM radio frequently at the time.
Carole King - "It's Too Late" 1971 Carole King - "So Far Away" 1971 Carole King - "I Feel The Earth Move" 1971 Carley Simon - "Anticipation" - 1971 Carley Simon - "You're So Vain" - 1972 James Taylor - "Carolina In My Mind" 1969 James Taylor - "Fire And Rain" 1970 John Denver - "Take Me Home Country Roads" 1971 John Denver - "Rocky Mountain High" 1972 Jim Croce - "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" 1972 Jim Croce - "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" 1973 These are acoustic-pop descendants of I Will, Rocky Raccoon, Mother Nature's Son, etc. The Beatles didn't invent the subgenre, but they showed there was money to be made here.
I do not know how Dylan would not be the start of this. Most folk artists relied on traditional material, but Dylan wrote his own, serious music. Other pre-70 songwriters did not play solo acoustic (e.g. Hank Williams). But Dylan did. He influenced the Beatles (and Donovan) in this respect.
Reading between the tea leaves... Wouldn't it be interesting if Universal/Apple uses DVDs/blu-rays to include LOTS of audio without the restriction of 75+ minute CDs. Our lad Mike says that the upcoming Imagine Mega set will include "hours" of exclusive audio on the DVD/BR. If this method is also used on the WA Deluxe, it would be the PERFECT place to include the 27 minute version of Helter Skelter and other songs that don't fit conveniently on the CD format. Not saying Mike claims this as fact, but it would make a lot of sense. Either that, or go the download-only road for including lengthy songs or multiple outtakes of certain songs. If Apple gets this right we'll all be happy... if not dead broke Ron
Good example. Donovan was a friend to the Beatles going back to 1966 when he contributed some of the lyrics to Yellow Submarine. They influenced him, he influenced them. I did not say the Beatles invented acoustic music. What I am saying is that there was a moment when the 1963 Bob Dylan protest acoustic folk music scene morphed into a 1971 Carole King acoustic-pop love song scene and songs like I Will in 1968 helped lead them there. That is all. Can't see why this is controversial.
Are we now saying that if the Beatles were not the first in the creating of one of a myriad of musical wonders, then they were the group who first "showed there was money to be made" in doing it? We're taking it up a notch!
OK, but that's a bit different than saying "the White Album made it mainstream instantaneously". Other musicians in the 60s contributed to the particular singer-songwriter style that you're referring to becoming mainstream.
i haven't been following this thread. what stuff are people hoping to see when this release is announced?
Certainly. The Beatles didn't invent the sitar, but Norwegian Wood introduced it to millions and made it mainstream. The Beatles didn't invent reggae, but Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da introduced it to millions and made it mainstream. Eleanor Rigby making solely-orchestrated tracks acceptable to pop. Pepper taking psychedelia to 10 year olds on portable record players. There are more examples of the Beatles taking something core to another culture or genre, adding their flavor, and transforming it into a mainstream money maker. When I hear I Will, I hear James Taylor and Carley Simon's acoustic-pop love songs 4 years before they led a charge that changed pop music in the 70's.
So? I don't think Donovan influenced billions of people and eventually affecting dozens of future acoustic-pop songwriters. The Beatles had that kind of reach.
Donovan certainly influenced the Beatles. John picked up finger picking from him and Paul hung out and wrote songs with him. Donovan even claims credit for a line in "Yellow Submarine." Certainly songs like "Julia" and "I Will" probably wouldn't have been written (or written how they were) without Donovan.
"Billions"? You've set the bar rather high there. I think it's quite a stretch to suggest that if CK, CS, or JT hadn't heard "I Will" (and other, similar WA songs) they wouldn't have done what they did in the 70s or that those 70s artists did what they did because The Beatles showed them that that sort of thing could be a "mainstream money maker". That's all from me on this.
I am sure that Waterloo Sunset by the Kinks was more important to songwriters than most Beatle songs. It is from a higher level than I Will and even In My Life
