July Album of the Month: A Hard Day's Night

Earlier this year marked the 50th anniversary of The Beatles invading America; this month marks the 50th anniversary of my favorite early Beatles album, A Hard Day's Night.  Now, to clarify, the version of the album to which I am referring is the original British version which, since 1987 and the initial release of the band's catalog on CD, has been the dominant form available to most fans.  In the states, through an agreement with United Artists, a soundtrack album was released that contained about half the songs from the album and a bunch of instrumentals  that served as the score to the accompanying film (more on that later).

Not only is this my favorite album from the 'Beatlemania' era of the band, it is, in many ways, the first true Beatles album.  First of all, it is the first album to contain no early Rock 'N' Roll covers; the album consists solely of Lennon-McCartney originals.  Secondly, it is the strongest set of originals that the band had yet released.  Many of the originals on the band's first two albums, Please Please Me and With The Beatles (and their American Counterparts Introducing.... The Beatles and Meet The Beatles) wore their influences on their sleeves.  In other words, they weren't all that different from the songs they were covering by other artists (i.e. "I Saw Her Standing There" is, basically, a Little Richard song, "Love Me Do" is The Everly Brothers and "P.S. I Love You" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret?" were fairly indistinguishable from dozens of other pop songs of the era).  The band had already had a significant breakthrough late the previous year with its final two singles of 1963, "She Loves You" and, especially, "I Want to Hold Your Hand".  With these singles, the band began to establish a unique sonic vocabulary and these were, perhaps, the first songs that can truly be described as 'Beatle-esque'.  However, on A Hard Day's Night, we are given a collection of 13 such songs. On top of that, every single song on the album could have been a hit single. And, the albums first single, "Can't Buy Me Love" is a work of such simple brilliance that one can't imagine how it could not have been written.

There is also a growing sophistication in the songwriting; sure, there's the traditional teeny-bopper fare in "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" (and never had such a song been done better) but we also have "If I Fell" where Lennon sings, not to the one to whom he has pledged himself, but to another who seeks to tempt him away (by 1964 standards, pretty racy stuff). 

Finally, on a technological level, this was the first album to be recorded by the Beatles entirely using four-track recording technology (the first two albums, believe it or not, had been recorded using only two tracks; "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and its UK b-side "This Boy" were the first recordings made by the band using four tracks).  As a result of this leap in technology, the album sounds far more fresh and modern than their previous records.  I remember hearing "Things We Said Today" in the early 90s and assuming that the song was from McCartney's solo career and was recorded sometime in the 80s!

To me, this will always be the album where the Beatles became the Beatles; sure, Rubber Soul and Revolver broke even further musical ground and are even better albums but, when I think of the loveable mop tops from Liverpool that first charmed the world, this is the album that is foremost in my mind.

Key Tracks:  All of them?  but especially: "A Hard Day's Night", "I Should Have Known Better", "If I Fell", "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Things We Said Today", "You Can't Do That"

A quick note on the movie:

The film was once called "the Citizen Kane of Jukebox Musicals"; this is actually an enormous understatement.  In order for that to be accurate, of all the movies ever made, Citizen Kane would have to be the only great movie ever made.  A Hard Day's Night is really the only example of this particular type of movie as vehicle for pop-group/performer that manages to completely transcend the typical aspirations of such a work.  There is nothing else in that category that comes close to being as good; even the band's own Help! pales in comparison (Purple Rain? --- which just celebrated an anniversary of its own--- have you watched it lately? Aside from the musical performances, it is terrible).  Its faux-documentary style manages to naturally reflect the band's personalities without anyone having to 'act' too much and the script is charming and light-hearted and even manages some subtle satire regarding the youth culture of the era.  Dick Lester also managed to create a new vocabulary for filming rock bands; previously, the technique had been: close-up of the singer, cut to the guitar player for solo. cut!  But, since the Beatles had no one star, Lester showcased the whole band throughout each performance using pans, close-ups, and other techniques that I don't have the technical vocabulary to fully articulate.  In short, A Hard Day's Night remains a unique artifact: a low budget, Rock N' Roll musical made in order to quickly cash in on the popularity of an artists that is actually good and, like the Beatles themselves, it has managed to endure.
 

10 Lesser Known Beatles Tunes That I Love

To most Beatles fans, these songs are hardly unknown, but to the general population or the casual Beatles fan, they are rarely the first to come to mind.


"Hey Bulldog" - Recorded during the same session as "Lady Madonna" just before the band embarked on its retreat to learn transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, it's often cited as the last time the band was truly a cohesive unit in the studio; from here on out, they would, more or less, become studio musicians on each others recordings. It's a great straightforward rock number.  I was a Beatles fan for years before finally hearing it; it is only available on the soundtrack to Yellow Submarine. From Yellow Submarine

"If I Needed Someone"

The first great George Harrison song. While George didn't manage an A-side to a single until "Something", this track proves he could have done it much sooner. From Rubber Soul

"I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" - Speaking of George songs, this Lennon/McCartney composition was his vocal contribution to A Had Day's Night.  It's hardly unknown, but in the era of "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "A Hard Day's Night", "Twist and Shout", "Should Have Known Better" and "Can't Buy Me Love" it often gets lost in the shuffle. It's a lovely little tune with a sweet melody and beautiful minor chord progressions. An absolute classic. From A Hard Day's Night

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (Acoustic Version) - While the electric version from The White Album featuring Eric Clapton on lead guitar is known by most, this simple acoustic version blows it away in its delicate beauty.  It is available in two versions: the first is from Anthology 3 and features acoustic guitar and organ, the second is from Love, the soundtrack to the band's Cirque De Soleil Vegas show, and replaces the organ part with overdubbed strings.  Either is lovely.  From Anthology 3 or Love

"I'm Down"- The B-side to "Help!", "I'm Down" would become the band's closer for most of 1965; it was their answer to "Long Tall Sally" which, until that point, had been their encore to end all encores.  The Shea Stadium performance is one of my favorite Rock and Roll moments. From Past Masters

"I've Just Seen a Face"- Originally available on Help! and, in the US, on Rubber Soul, "I've Just Seen a Face" was a brilliant acoustic romp that opens with a showcase of the bands 'guitar picking' abilities in a display that is both a little bit bluegrass and a little bit flamenco.  The bouncy folk-country is a prime example of 'The Beatles Unplugged'; in fact, when Paul McCartney performed on Unplugged in the early 90's, it was a highlight of the show. From Help!

"Things We Said Today"- I've always loved this one.  It always felt ahead of its time to me--- it felt just as fresh in the early 90's to me as anything else I was listening to at the time. From A Hard Day's Night

"One After 909"- Originally, this song didn't see release until the Let It Be album; however, I have always preferred the version released on Anthology 1 that was recorded during the band's early years. They were actually a much tighter unit at that point than they would be by 1969. From Anthology 1

"I've Got a Feeling"- One of the songs other than "Let it Be" that I really love from the Let It Be album, this probably the last true Lennon/McCartney collaboration in that they, ultimately, fused two of their songs together to make this one.  Even then, it just seems likely that Lennon's "Everybody had a hard year" bit was tacked on to a mostly finished McCartney song. From Let It Be

"Some Other Guy" - Not an original tune but one that the band certainly made their own.  Oddly enough, it didn't see any kind of official release until Live at the BBC in 1994.  It was a key part of the band's early live act and a clip of the band performing the song circa 1962 was the first real video of the band. From Live at the BBC

Scott's Favorite Beatles Songs

I have a playlist on my iTunes entitled 'BeatlesBest' which currently contains 87 songs; so, it is safe to say, that the task of narrowing down my favorite Beatles tunes to any sort of top 10 is challenging to say the least.  Ranking them, on the other hand, would be nearly impossible.  So, in no particular order, here are my 10 favorite Beatles songs.

"She Loves You"- I go back and forth about whether I like this or "I Want to Hold Your Hand" more; I love the way it starts with a drum fill--- almost like joining the song en medias res. 

"I Want to Hold Your Hand"- It might be the first great Beatles tune; in any case, it was the one that broke them in the states.

"Helter Skelter"- It was the progenitor of everything from heavy metal to punk rock to Nirvana (It was a wasted opportunity that Paul McCartney never played this tune with the surviving members of Nirvana in any of their live appearances together)

"We Can Work It Out" - I love this one because it is so clearly a Lennon/McCartney collaboration (Paul the Verse, John the Bridge), each one's contribution serving to counterbalances the other.

"Paperback Writer" - People think I like this one because I fancy myself a writer from time to time, but my reasons are completely musical; not only are the harmonies amazing, but this song ROCKS! The proto-metal guitars are coupled with one of McCartney's most mercurial bass lines to create what is probably their hardest rocking tune next to "Helter Skelter".

"A Hard Day's Night" - Another great John/Paul collaboration; John on the verses, Paul on the middle-eight.  I love that great crashing chord at the beginning.  It's just a quintessential early Beatles track.

"Back In the USSR" - I can't really intellectualize my love for this one; it's just a great rock song (remember, what I love most about the Beatles is that, at the end of the day, they were a ROCK band).

"Help!"- I've always loved the melody on this one.  Then, how all the parts work together: the verse with the backing vocals and the use of the minor chords in the chorus... classic Lennon/McCartney.

"A Day In The Life" - This is really their masterpiece; the finale to Sgt. Pepper's, it is one of the final true Lennon/McCartney collaborations (by the mid-sixties, most songs were either written by one or the other with a sort of stamp of approval from the other).  Lyrically, musically, it is probably their finest achievement as a unit.

"Tomorrow Never Knows"- Probably their most innovative and experimental song that is still palatable ("Revolution No. 9" is NOT palatable... unless you are a masochist of some sort).  Love the drums on this song.  Anyone who thinks Ringo has no value as a drummer should listen to this song.  It's not that he does something that no one else can do, it's the character that he brings to what he does.

Scott's Guide to Beatles Albums

This is, by no means, an objective list.  These are simply the Beatles albums (using the UK releases as a standard) ranked from least to most favorite:

12. Magical Mystery Tour -While this list isn't objective, this is probably the one that most others would agree is their worst effort.  It is, in fact, not even an album but a collection of singles and an EP from the failed Magical Mystery Tour TV movie.  Strangely, the album does include two of their most important works: "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane", A and B side of the single that would ultimately lay the foundation for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. However, it also contains their worst single, "Hello, Goodbye"--- but that's backed with the brilliant "I am the Walrus"--- this collection is truly hit and miss.

11. Let It Be - While not terrible by any means, Let It Be was recorded when the band was falling apart and you can sense that on the album.  The release of Let it Be...Naked a few years back was a little more coherent, but, still, doesn't quite come together... no pun intended. However, the album version of "Let it Be" > than single version.

10. Beatles For Sale- Again, this is by no means a terrible record.  "No Reply" and "I'm a Loser" were both great leaps forward for the band, as was "Eight Days a Week".  However, much of the album was a step back, not only to the "Rock and Roll" covers of their earlier albums (the preceding album, A Hard Day's Night had been composed of all Lennon-McCartney originals) but also original material that was more derivative of early rock.  This trend was also present (although to much greater success) with the band's most recent single ("I Feel Fine"/"She's A Woman"). I suppose today this might be seen as a "return to their roots" sort of move.

9. Please Please Me- Their first album.  I have to say I learned to appreciate this one a lot more after the 2009 remaster.  This and With The Beatles probably benefit more than any of the other recordings from the update.  It is quite a charming album, however, it doesn't quite have the energy there that would eventually make them great.  However, "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Twist and Shout" are probably two of the greatest rock performances ever committed to record.


8.With the Beatles- Here, the band takes a step closer towards their signature sound (or at least the signature sound of the bands' early era).  It packs a bit more of a punch than Please Please Me, the covers rock harder and the originals are more original.  Altered slightly, this would, of course, become Meet the Beatles in the states (see this month's Album of the Month).



7. Help!- My favorite Beatles' era is their 'middle-period' and that period begins in earnest with this album.  "Help!" is one of my favorite songs and "Ticket to Ride" was probably the most unique thing they had recorded at that point.  Rubber Soul is my favorite Beatles' album and it actually starts on the second half of Help!  In fact, "I've Just Seen a Face" was even used to open the original US version; in fact, tunes like "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" and "Yesterday" would make more sense on Rubber Soul than they do here.

6. Abbey Road- This was the band's 'one more for the road' album--- after the disaster that was the sessions for Let It Be the band came together to make one last great album and, for the most part, I think they succeeded.

5. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band- So much has been written about this album by much more knowledgeable and credible individuals than myself.  I will just say that it is perfectly deserving of the title of 'Greatest Rock Album of All Time' (a title also bestowed on Revolver from time to time).  I'll just say that it's not quite my favorite because my admiration for it as a technical achievement is slightly greater than my admiration for its songs.

4. A Hard Day's Night- I'm planning on doing a more in depth analysis of this later in the year so, for the time being, I'll just say that, for me, this was where the 'early Beatles' sound was most perfectly crystallized. This, coupled with the film of the same name, are a perfect time capsule of the era of 'Beatlemania'.

3. The White Album- Initially, this album received some of the most mixed reviews of the band's career.  Admittedly, it can be a difficult album.  It's a bit of a mess if not somewhat schizophrenic. But that's why I love it--- it was the Beatles doing everything that they had ever done all on one album. It was a band growing apart but not yet falling apart.  There may be more diverse albums out there but none are as palatable as The Beatles (as it is properly titled).  

2. Revolver- Narrowly edged out of the top spot by Rubber Soul, Revolver finds the band pushing boundaries in the studio while, at the same time, keeping their feet in a firm foundation of guitar, bass, and drums.  Unlike much of Sgt. Pepper, many of the songs from this album could still, more or less, be performed live by the band as a four piece. So, while it raised the bar artistically, it still managed to rock pretty hard, too. Also, Paul's raga-style guitar leads are brain-melting!

1. Rubber Soul- Two factors contribute to this being my favorite album.  First of all, even more than Revolver, Rubber Soul is a guitar rock album; every song on here could easily be performed live.  Secondly, while I find I like Revolver, as a whole, a little better, it is definitely a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.  Individually, I like my favorite songs on Rubber Soul just a bit more than my favorite Revolver tunes.  In any case, it's a tough call between these two.


Other Collections and Recordings: 

Past Masters - Originally available as Vol. 1 (1962-1965) and Vol. 2 (1966-1970), today it is usually sold as a single collection.  This collects all of the band's non-album singles and EP tracks.  As a result, it serves as a sort of Greatest Hits collection.  If I had to list my 10 favorite Beatles songs, half of them would probably come from this collection.

The Anthology 1, 2, and 3 - I'm not sure if this is appealing to those aren't complete Beatles fanatics, but it does collect some brilliant early live performances, out takes, and, in particular during the studio era, radically different versions of songs.  I actually favor the acoustic version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" to the full band version with Eric Clapton. It is a fascinating look into the band's evolution.

Live at the BBC Vols. 1 & 2-  I covered these in greater detail here but these serve as an excellent document to what the Beatles always were at the end of the day: a great little rock band.

February's Album of the Month: Meet the Beatles

Well, here it is... the big bang! The very source from which all I love about music is drawn; ladies and gentlemen: The Beatles! This month will be the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' appearance on Ed Sullivan and what was, quite possibly, the most significant event in popular music in the second half of the Twentieth-Century... hell, I'll just say it, the most significant event in popular music in the  entire Twentieth-Century.  So, in honor of that, this month's album of the month will be the band's breakthrough album in the US, Meet the Beatles.

Meet the Beatles is not my favorite Beatles album (that would be Rubber Soul); it's not even my favorite early Beatles album (that would be A Hard Day's Night) but, in terms of what it represents in terms of cultural impact, it is perhaps their most important album. Until very recently, I actually didn't own this album--- at least not in a hard copy form.  My parents were not Beatlemaniacs, so I grew up with the Beatles on CD and the CD releases were the original UK versions of the albums and, in the UK, Meet the Beatles did not exists.... well, sort of.

Meet the Beatles is actually the American version of their second album, With the Beatles.  However, there are a few significant changes that make the American version the more compelling musical artifact.  First of all, the album was stripped of all of its early rock and Motown covers (Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven", "Please Mr. Postman", "Money (That's What I Want)", "Devil in her Heart").  This left Broadway ballad, "Til There Was You", as the only unoriginal work on the album.  Then, the one-two punch of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" were inserted as the album's opening assault (which were the A and B side respectively of the band's first big stateside hit).

The result was an album composed almost entirely of original numbers (and, in the case, of "Til There Was You" a very original arrangement) that was perfect for showcasing just how the band was already redefining popular music. All but one of these originals was, of course, the product of the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team that, over the next 6 years, would produce nearly 200 songs (the album also features George Harrison's first songwriting effort "Don't Bother Me"). The liner notes to the original album state, "It isn't rhythm and blues. It isn't exactly rock 'n' roll. It's their own special sound, or, as group leader Lennon puts it, 'Our music is just --- well, our music' ".   And that, very succinctly, sums up the importance of what the Beatles were doing musically, even very early on; they took everything from the popular music of the previous decade, Rock 'N' Roll, Country and Western, Motown, Soul, Doo-Wop, Rhythm and Blues, traditional Pop and Jazz, and the fused it into their own unique sound.  They had the guitars from rock and roll, the vocal harmonies of the Motown and soul groups, the rhythm of rhythm and blues, and the song writing chops of  the great pop songsmiths.  The result was they didn't quite sound like anything else that had come before.  Sure, one track might evoke the Everly Brothers, another Little Richard or Buddy Holly, but rarely did anyone bring all of these styles together. It was a sound that would come to define what popular music would sound like over the next couple of decades.


Admittedly, they hadn't quite perfected their early sound yet (that would come a little later in the year on A Hard Day's Night) but the first hints are here.  And there is no more obvious example of this than "I Want to Hold Your Hand", the band's first truly great record.  It's opening guitar assault is pure rock, with a romantic pop middle eight and chorus that soars to the heavens. It might very well be the most important two and a half minutes in pop music history. And then, to follow that with "I Saw Her Standing There", a barn burner whose opening line is "She was just seventeen and you know what I mean"... Seriously? How did they get away with that in 1964?

This was, of course, just the opening salvo in what would become a full frontal assault of British rock bands over the next few years: The Kinks, The Who, The Stones.  Then, there would be the counter assault: countless American garage bands, Dylan would go electric.  Suddenly, it wasn't Rock 'N' Roll anymore it was just simply Rock, and it was upon that rock that I have built the foundations of my own musical preferences.  And, in the end, it can all be traced back to this moment and this band--- at the end of the day, what is this album?  It is a collection of catchy, electric guitar driven Pop and, more than anything else, that will always be the music that I love more than anything.

Key Tracks: ALL OF THEM!  ... but especially "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "I Saw Her Standing There", "All My Loving" "It Won't Be Long", "All I've Got To Do", "This Boy"

My favorite Music of 2013

Some people say music isn't geeky and, to them, I say "HAVE YOU MET ME?" So, here are my top 10 lists for 2013. Keep in mind that this is by no means an impartial list, these just happen to be the albums that I got the most enjoyment from in 2013. Honestly, nothing really blew me away this year. At the end of the day, I'm a rock fan and rock didn't have a very good year.

Top 10 Albums

10. Random Access Memories - Daft Punk


In all honestly, this maybe isn't quite in my top 10 but, considering the fact that I normally loathe EDM music and I actually found this album enjoyable (with the second best tune I heard all year, no less), it earned its place here. Although, I have to point out that Daft Punk did set out to make this album as much NOT like an EDM album as possible, which might be why I like it. Key Tracks: "Get Lucky", "Lose Yourself to Dance", "Instant Crush" "Touch"


9. Mechanical Bull - Kings of Leon

I don't know why everybody wants to hate on Kings of Leon so
 much.  Soulful vocals, nifty guitar parts, lyrics that aren't terrible; they may not be the future and/or saviors of Rock music but they're a solid unit.  Key Tracks: "Supersoaker", "Temple", "Wait for Me",
"Coming Back Again"






8. New - Paul McCartney

Sir Paul's best music in about a decade. Even at 70, he's able to make an album of music that sounds this fresh (not to mention rock as hard as he did on last year's "Cut Me Some Slack" with the Nirvana guys). Key Tracks: "Save Us", "Alligator", "On My Way to Work", "New"

7. Lightning Bolt - Pearl Jam

This is probably the band's strongest album since No Code.
Granted it doesn't reach the raw power and immediacy of their early work, it's still nice to hear guitars played loudly sometimes and "Future Days" might be their finest ballad since "Wishlist". Key Tracks: "Mind Your Manners", "Lightning Bolt", "Future Days"

6. Amok - Atoms for Peace

I have the same relation to this album as I have had with pretty much every Radiohead album since Kid A.  That is, I don't care for it at first but, the more I listen to it, the more I dig it.
Key Tracks: "Before Your Very Eyes", "Ingenue", "Judge, Jury, Executioner"






5. Wolf's Law - Joy Formidable

Shoegaze guitars, a sweet female vocal, catchy tunes--- these guys would have been HUGE in 1995.
Key Tracks: "This Ladder Is Ours", "The Maw Maw Song", "The Turnaround"






4. The 20/20 Experience (1 and 2)- Justin Timberlake

I'm lumping both albums together because they really are part of a larger whole; part one is the stronger of the two but part two has the best song ("Take Back The Night"). JT continues to grow as an artist, making some of his most sophisticated music yet.  What he may lack as a lyricist he makes up for with knack for writing killer hooks. . Key Tracks: "Take Back The Night", "Mirrors", "Let the Groove Get In", "Pusher Love Girl", "Tunnel Vision"


3. Reflector - The Arcade Fire

While I find their artsier aspirations a bit pretentious if not obnoxious at times, they still managed to make the best rock album I heard all year. And, while I feel their pretentiousness sometimes gets in the way of their ability to just get in a room and play, it is  also why they were able to make the only rock album that was the least bit inventive. Key Tracks: "Normal Person", "Reflektor", "Joan of Arc"





2.  Yeezus - Kanye West

Yes, Kayne is an egotistical ass.  Yes, the fact that he's married to Kim Kardassian makes him even more obnoxious.  And, yes, that video for "Bound 2" was egotistical, obnoxious, and annoying. But, you know what, this album rocked harder than anything else this year. It's not the masterpiece that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was but, after a triumph like that, sometimes the best thing to do is to strip down and go in a different direction. Key Tracks: "Black Skinhead", "Blood On The Leaves", "I am a God", "New Slaves", "Bound 2"

1. Because the Internet - Childish Gambino

I loved the first Chidlish Gambino album; what Donald Glover may have lacked in subtlety and lyrical maturity, he made up for in sheer enthusiasm, energy, and wit.  It was a breath of fresh air that I felt mainstream Hip-hop was sorely in need of.  On Because the Internet, Glover improves on his flaws and maintains his strengths while further exploring new musical territories.  Key Tracks: "3005", "Telegraph Ave", "Shadows", "Life: The Biggest Troll", "Earth: The Oldest Computer (The Last Night)"

Top 10 tunes:

10. "I'm Talking About You"- The Beatles

Technically, this is 50 years old but this is the first time the Beatles have every released this song commercially and it rocks!

9. "Dope"- Lady Gaga

8. "3005"- Childish Gambino

7. "Holy Grail"- Jay Z and Justin Timberlake

Unfortunately, Magna Carta Holy Grail didn't live up to the promise of its opening track.

6. "Black Skinhead"- Kanye West

Attention Mr. West: the 300 were Greek not Roman....

5. "Take Back The Night"- Justin Timberlake

4. "Normal Person"- The Arcade Fire

This is exactly the kind of song I wish Arcade Fire would do more of...

3.  "Sacrilege" - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Easily the best thing they've done since "Maps".

2. "Get Lucky"- Daft Punk

Noel Gallagher said it best recently when he stated that this is one of those songs that's so good that it just feels like it has always been around.

1. "Teenage Dream" (Live)- The Horrible Crowes

Brian Fallon & Co. turn Katie Perry's teen pop into a long lost Springsteen tune.... best thing I heard all year.

So, that's all for the NEW music I liked this year but what did I REALLY enjoy more than any of my other musical purchases this year?

The Beatles - Live at the BBC and On Air (Live at the BBC vol 2)

As I've already mentioned here on this very blog, The Beatles BBC collection was a pleasant reminder of what a great little Rock and Roll band the Beatles could be once you boiled them down to their basic elements.

But,even more than the fab four, was this

Viva Hysteria! Live at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino- Def Leppard (CD/DVD combo)

Full disclosure: I am an old school Def Leppard fan and they were the first band I ever saw live.
No, it is not cool to like Def Leppard. I realize that. I am ok with this. I am enlightened. People often attribute the band's success to the studio wizardry of Mutt Lange but, what they often forget, is how awesome these guys are live; after all, they would have to be in order to create a reasonable facsimile of their studio creations.  This was recorded as part of their residency at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino where they played their classic album Hysteria in its entirety.  And it's actually the best they've ever sounded live: the road worn hits hit harder and with more energy than their studio counterparts and the songs from Hysteria's 'Side Two' ("Don't Shoot Shotgun", "Run Riot"), often overlooked by most fans, are brought to life with more power than the band managed to capture in the studio 25 years ago.

But, for old school fans like myself, the real treat is a bonus disc that contains the show's opening act: Ded Flatbird.  In order to break up the monotony of playing the same thing every night, the band created an alter ego as 'the world's best Def Leppard cover band' and used it as an opportunity to perform long forgotten gems like the 1980 b-side "Good Morning Freedom"; they even performed 'Side One' to their woefully underrated 1981 album High N' Dry in its entirety. After years as a 'nostalgia act' who are forced to play the same greatest hits set-lists year tour after tour, you can tell the guys are really having fun pulling out some of their old favorites and hits that never were.

Key Tracks: "Women", "Rocket", "Don't Shoot Shotgun", "Run Riot", "Excitable", "Good Morning Freedom", "Rock Brigade", "Wasted", "Let It Go", "Mirror Mirror (Take a Look Into My Eyes)", "Bringin' On The Heartbreak".

So, what does it say about me that my favorite musical releases of the year were archival recordings of a band from 50 years ago and a live compilation from a band that hasn't been relevant in 20? I may be getting to old for this shit.

The Beatles: Live at the BBC revisited

In college, I knew these guys who were in a band and all lived together. They played shows regularly and, about once a month, they would put on shows at their own rented house where they and other local bands would play in the basement.  On one of the support beams in the basement, there was a list of about 200 songs, a mixture of originals and covers; these were the songs could play on the fly, no rehearsal necessary.

It may be hard to believe but, before Sgt. Pepper, before Rubber Soul, even before Ed Sullivan, this was pretty much exactly what the Beatles were: a tight little rock and roll combo with an arsenal of a few dozen rock tunes that they could bust into at a moment's notice. The two volume collection, Live at the BBC and On Air- Live at the BBC Volume 2 capture this period in the band's career. In all, the collection contains over 30 tunes never released by the band on any album, EP, or single before the 1994 release of the first volume. Over 80 different songs are performed over the two volume, 4 CD collection and it is a testament to how versatile and tight the band was as a live unit.

The first volume was originally released in 1994 and I owned it on cassette, which was still a viable audio format at the time. It was, in fact, my introduction to the early Beatles as the only other Beatles cassette I owned at the time was the so-called 'Blue Album' which collected their best between 1967-1970.  And early is the operative word here, most of these recordings date from 1963, when Beatlemania was a national rather than an international phenomena and the band had time for their own weekly show (as well as regular appearances on other shows) on the BBC.

The band showcased the depth of their pop knowledge, performing hits and lesser known material from such early Rock N' Roll pioneers as Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Little Richard as well as early Motown and, really, just about anything they could get their hands on.  Some of these songs were hits for the original artist ("Johnny B. Goode", "Lucille") others weren't and the Beatles actually managed to transform those into their own ("Hippy Hippy Shake", "Some Other Guy").  In fact, their "Some Other Guy", despite not being officially released until 1994, was arguably more associated with The Beatles than the song's original performer, Richard Barett.

The second volume, On Air- Live at the BBC Volume 2 was just released this fall and, while it doesn't come close to unearthing the number of buried treasures its predecessor did (in fact, their is quite a bit of redundancy between the two), it is still just as charming and continues to capture the warmth and energy of the previous collections live performances. In fact On Air seems less concerned with unearthing new tracks than it is in documenting the performances of more well known tracks from the Beatles 'official' recordings. In fact, many of the band's early hits and standbys that were conspicuously absent from the first collection appear here.  Among these are "Twist and Shout", "Money", "Please Mr. Postman", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and "She Loves You".

That being said, it is not without its surprises.  What the band's take on the long forgotten Chuck Berry number, "I'm Talking About You" may lack in terms of quality of recording, it makes up for in sheer ferocity of performance with John Lennon screeching his vocals a la "Twist and Shout" and rest of the band playing at their most raw and raucous. Meanwhile, the band's thirty second performance of "Happy Birthday Dear Saturday Club" might be the first recorded example of what would later become known as punk rock.

All in all, Live at the BBC and On Air-Live at the BBC Volume 2 serve as a pleasant reminder of what the Beatles really were when all was said and done:  a rock band.

Key Tracks: Live at the BBC- "Some Other Guy", "Soldier of Love", "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You)", "Crying, Waiting, Hoping", "The Hippy Hippy Shake", "Ooh! My Soul", On Air- "Words of Love", "Boys", "Please Please Me", "Please Mr. Postman", "Twist and Shout", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Money (That's What I Want)", "Beautiful Dreamer", "I'm Talking About You"