Althouse: "The Beatles... got carried away. Why not? If you're the Beatles in the Sixties, you just get carried away..."

August 6, 2015

"The Beatles... got carried away. Why not? If you're the Beatles in the Sixties, you just get carried away..."

"... you forget what it is you wanted to do. You're starting to do Sgt. Pepper. Some people think it's a genius album, but I think it's a mishmash of rubbish, kind of like Satanic Majesties – 'Oh, if you can make a load of shit, so can we.'"

Said Keith Richards.

SPEAKING OF THE BEATLES: I was walking down the lake path the other day, listening to my "Jennifer Juniper" channel on Pandora, and a song began that I was sure was Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man." It turned out to be George Harrison's "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)." He lost a lawsuit over his excessive use of "He's So Fine" in his "My Sweet Lord," but I'd never noticed this other borrowing before. "Give Me Love" is a pretty nice recording, and the "rip off" of Dylan is quite short. Interestingly, at 0:46 in the song, it gets very like "MacArthur Park."

40 comments:

Scott said...: Rubber Soul (US release), The White Album, Abbey Road are enduring works of art. I agree with Keith Richards about Sgt. Pepper. It's an album with a concept that never got past the first song.; 8/6/15, 8:18 AM
Jaq said...: The Beach Boys tried the same thing, but people weren't buying it twice. My young daughter, however, has confessed to starting to like "Pet Sounds" after a couple of listens.; 8/6/15, 8:42 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Keef is starting to sound like the requisite British-actor-James-Bond-Villain explaining how the World is a Disappointment to Him.

Oh yes: deploy the solo album.

I am Laslo.; 8/6/15, 8:46 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: If I were the kind to conduct a poll...

.Is Keith Richards Douchey?

1. Never. He is the Essence of Rock and Roll.

2. Yes. He has always been a bit of a twat.

3. Only in the Eighties.

4. Ever since the Eighties.

5. But what about Mick?

I am Laslo.; 8/6/15, 9:00 AM
CJinPA said...: I loved the Sgt. Pepper album...cover.

My friends and I listened to nothing but the Beatles when were ages 10-15 or so, which was nearly a decade after the band broke up. Just a fun phase.

Which made it shocking when, out with my family at a restaurant, the piano player/singer introduced a Beatles song by saying, "From the band that almost killed rock and roll."

I came to realize he was referring to their later work, including Sgt. Pepper. Lots of cool sounds and interesting songs, but much of it could not be replicated on stage with a four-man band. It was something, but it wasn't rock.; 8/6/15, 9:09 AM
CJinPA said...: Re: the George Harrison/Bob Dylan similar song opening...

It's mainly the result of each of them strumming a guitars with capos (those clasps guitarists attach to the strings to raise the key.) They are strumming similar chords, though I can figure out which ones.; 8/6/15, 9:16 AM
madAsHell said...: Keith Richards....how can you not like that guy??; 8/6/15, 9:38 AM
Robert Cook said...: "The Beach Boys tried the same thing, but people weren't buying it twice. My young daughter, however, has confessed to starting to like 'Pet Sounds' after a couple of listens."

The Beatles made SGT. PEPPER as a direct response to hearing PET SOUNDS--which preceded SGT. PEPPER--which was Brian Wilson's response to RUBBER SOUL. The Beatles considered PET SOUNDS a thundering masterpiece, and they were determined to equal it, or beat it.

Where PET SOUNDS is rooted in Brian Wilson's very personal concerns, and is rather a sad album, SGT. PEPPER is mostly rooted in British music hall whimsy. Song by song, it's not bad, but it is no masterpiece. The only song on SGT. PEPPER whose absence would diminish the Beatles' discography is "A Day In The Life."

PET SOUNDS is the better of the two albums.; 8/6/15, 9:46 AM
Scott said...: I never liked the Beach Boys much when I was a kid, and I never bought Pet Sounds. But now that Tim and Cookie have praised it, I will have to listen to it on the 45 minute walk back to Penn Station tonight.; 8/6/15, 9:53 AM
Jaq said...: I recommend premium Spotify to any old timers who remember putting the arm down on a vinyl album and listening to a side start to finish. The premium version doesn't have every album, but they have a lot of them, and they are played from start to finish. It is kind of jolting to hear album you listened to and the transitions between songs the way you heard them decades ago.; 8/6/15, 10:04 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Peter Frampton's uncredited session work on Sgt. Pepper is deserving of more widespread acclaim.; 8/6/15, 10:08 AM
Fernandinande said...: Satanic Majesties' "Citadel" is a great song. Both albums are a bit odd but still a lot better than nearly all other stuff from that era. Not to mention the current era.; 8/6/15, 10:15 AM
~ Gordon Pasha said...: Back in the USSR is Paul McCartney knocking off a better surf song than the Beach Boys ever produced.; 8/6/15, 10:18 AM
William said...: The Beach Boys seem to be gaining in appreciation. In their own era, they were dismissed as lightweights. As time goes by, I like them more. I no longer have the energy level or libido to properly appreciate the Rolling Stones. There are some sunny notes in the Beach Boys songs that sound comforting in old age.; 8/6/15, 10:20 AM
PDG9 said...: Interesting re the Harrison song. Others have stated that “Give Me Love” is based on Dylan’s “I Want You” – the Wikipedia entry lists the critic Roy Carr as writing that “Give Me Love” “bore more than a distant resemblance” to it. Myself, I only hear the resemblance in the piano part for “Give Me Love” and the harmonica part in “I Want You.”; 8/6/15, 10:24 AM
Anonymous said...: Keith is trying to get some attention for his solo project with a hyperbolic comment about Sargent Pepper. But a replay of "A Day in the Life" or "She's Leaving Home" (Leonard Bernstein's favorite Pepper track) should reassure you that the record is sublime. And this is not to detract in any way from Richard's essential and original contributions to pop-rock; his unusual guitar tuning was a palate for some splendid riffs like "Jumping Jack Flash". Turn it up!; 8/6/15, 10:24 AM
William said...: Before my time, but I'm sure that there were many informed and contentious discussions over which big band had the better sound: Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, or Tommy Dorsey? Does anyone still care? I have a lot of big band songs on my iPod. It's all good.; 8/6/15, 10:26 AM
Who Am Us Anyway? said...: "Hal, now here’s how I want to do it," -- said the great Brian Wilson to the great Hal Blaine, and he was right as usual.; 8/6/15, 10:38 AM
lgv said...: I thought Sgt. Pepper was awful. It was gargbage. There. I said it. All these years I thought I wasn't allowed to say it without looking like a fool who knew nothing about music or the Beatles. Thanks, Keith. I feel better now.; 8/6/15, 10:48 AM
mikee said...: There exists technology capable of determining with statistical rigor the amount of similarity and dissimilarity among any group of musical works, both words and music.

It is not a novel idea that artists' influences include prior works. The only question is how much an artist can legally use an influence in new work, without paying acknowledgement, or a royalty, to the original.

I for one look forward to the statistical analysis of everyone who ever used a 4/4 beat, to see just how much they are all alike, who did it first.

That will still leave the question of who did it best, but that can be settled by inflation-normalized sales figures.

Data is beautiful, statistics rules.; 8/6/15, 10:48 AM
Rumpletweezer said...: Music is like food. Tastes vary. I like Sgt Pepper a lot. I like Pet Sounds a lot. The Rolling Stones are still touring and writing new stuff, but Rock 'n Roll is a young man's game, and nobody I know cares about the new stuff. Truth be told, I'm 60 and I like a lot of Taylor Swift's stuff. And escargot.; 8/6/15, 11:06 AM
Scott said...: Taylor Swift and dead snails. Trying to keep my lunch down...; 8/6/15, 11:14 AM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/6/15, 11:30 AM
MarkW said...: "Rock 'n Roll is a young man's game, and nobody I know cares about the new stuff."

Kind of -- but not necessarily because the new stuff is lousy, but because the culture has moved on. I have a little mini-collection of long-past-their-heyday albums that are really excellent but were pretty invisible.; 8/6/15, 11:34 AM
Christopher said...: The Wikepedia entry on Sgt. Pepper is incredibly detailed and to those who care, fascinating. Having been around at the time, I think there was a common (not unanimous) perception that it blew Pet Sounds out of the water. I love both now. Sgt. Pepper was an engineering masterpiece and made so much else coming out at the time sound like the musical equivalent of banging rocks together. Indeed some of the criticism was that it was all mere trickery. It was an overwhelming commercial success and per the Wiki entry, first rock ("rock"?) album to win a Grammy for album of the year. It also generated lots of over-the-top cultural announcements ( "a decisive moment in the history of Western civilisation") but such were the times.; 8/6/15, 12:02 PM
Jaq said...: I had the thought recently that if I were forced to choose one of two bands whose songs I could never hear again, and the other I could keep, and the two bands were Arrowsmith and The Rolling Stones, I would have no problem saying I'm keeping Arrowsmith.

I just don't get the Stones.; 8/6/15, 12:16 PM
Jaq said...: I think the Love and Mercy movie about Brian Wilson has created a little Beach Boys revival. I think that is why my teenage daughter plays The Sloop John B. on her ukulele sometimes.; 8/6/15, 12:21 PM
Bob R said...: Sgt. Pepper is (currently) my fourth favorite Beatles album. I believe George Martin said he regretted not putting Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane on it. (They left the singles off at that time.) Those songs (one of John's best, in the top 20% for Paul) would certainly have raised the level of the album. Where would you put them in a play list. (Someone should ask Paul and Ringo this question.); 8/6/15, 12:44 PM
Sigivald said...: I prefer Majesties over pretty much the entire rest of the Stones' catalogue.

Seriously, never understood why anyone thought they were particularly interesting or good, outside of their little psychedelic side-show and Aftermath.; 8/6/15, 12:59 PM
Christopher said...: I believe George Martin said he regretted not putting Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane on it.

Per the Wiki entry:

"Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were subsequently released as a double A-side in February 1967 after EMI and Epstein pressured Martin for a single.[52] When it failed to reach number one in the UK, British press agencies speculated that the group's run of success might have ended, with headlines such as "Beatles Fail to Reach the Top", "First Time in Four Years" and "Has the Bubble Burst?"[53] After its release, at Epstein's insistence the single tracks were not included on the LP.[54][nb 6] Martin later described the decision to drop these two songs as "the biggest mistake of my professional life".[56] Nonetheless, in his judgment, "Strawberry Fields Forever", which he and the band spent an unprecedented 55 hours of studio time recording, "set the agenda for the whole album".[57] He explained: "It was going to be a record ... [with songs that] couldn't be performed live: they were designed to be studio productions and that was the difference."[58]; 8/6/15, 1:00 PM
Bob R said...: I prefer Majesties over pretty much the entire rest of the Stones' catalogue.

Sticky Fingers/Exile on Mainstreet is the peak for me. I don't like the lo-fi DIY sound of Exile, but the performances and songs are great (even if there are no hit singles.) Kieth at his best - open G tuning gave him a new lease on life.; 8/6/15, 1:10 PM
SteveR said...: I am fortunate to see no need to criticize or to pretend I'm some sort of expert with a profound insight. I like what I like.; 8/6/15, 1:14 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/6/15, 1:22 PM
Brando said...: I thought the Stones were pretty solid with few misfires up through 1980. Then somehow it was like they became another band, without a single memorable song or album.

It makes one wonder if the Beatles would have had the same dropoff if they stayed together post-1969. Maybe at some point, the muse disappears and they're coasting on former glory.

I didn't think "Satanic Majesty's" or "Sgt. Peppers" were bad albums--a bit experimental, but in the late '60s that's the way music was going--lots of multitrack recording, using orchestras, odd lyrics, and drug influence.; 8/6/15, 1:43 PM
CachorroQuente said...: "It's mainly the result of each of them strumming a guitars with capos (those clasps guitarists attach to the strings to raise the key.) They are strumming similar chords, though I can figure out which ones."

I listened to it a couple times and it seems to be in the key of F. If you listen to it a bit, you should be able to recognize the chord change from the +9 to the main triad which is very, very common in the D fingering. It is achieved by just fingering the standard D chord (F chord when you're capo III) and then strumming the chord while lifting the finger on the first (high E ) string to add the 9 note (thus, removing the 3 note) and then replacing the finger to go from the +9 to the main triad -- reinserting the 3 note (F# in D). Very bog standard folk style guitar playing. The Harrison song also seems to my ear to be a 12 string. If it is a 12 string, it's likely tuned to standard pitch as the clangy sound often associated with a 12 string tuned a tone or so down isn't present.

So, the reason it sounds like Dylan's Tambourine Man is because it's that particular inversion (I,V,I,III) and that particular strum pattern.

Interesting thing: there is a youtube video from one of the Newport festivals with Dylan playing the song (introduced by Seeger)and he appears to be playing in drop D tuning capo III which puts him back in F. That chord with that strum has a distinctive sound. I sure do not have perfect pitch, but it seems to me that it wouldn't sound nearly as distinctive if the capo were placed to achieve E or G or A. That's interesting. In the bit of the video that I watched, Dylan doesn't appear to be using the +9 or the +4 (also very common with that D shape inversion) but for some reason, that change (+9 to 3) seems very Dylan like to me. Probably from a different Dylan tune.

While searching on youtube, I found this very nice version of the Dylan song. Somebody called Helio Sequence who I've never heard of.

As long as we're thinking of Dylan and "rip offs," consider this Paul Clayton song from 1960.

Or, compare Dylan's "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat" to Hopkins's "Automobile Blues". That version (my favorite), I think, is from about 1959 though Hopkins recorded it at least as early as 1949.; 8/6/15, 1:43 PM
Bricap said...: Sgt. Pepper's has always been overrated. To me, Revolver was their best album. Not a single weak song on that one. They took a lot of risks throughout their history, but it was most apparent on this album. Tomorrow Never Knows was absolutely brilliant.

Magical Mystery Tour does seem like it could have been part of a double album with Sgt. Pepper's. I like both albums, don't get me wrong, but they just don't hold a candle to Revolver.; 8/6/15, 1:46 PM
Who Am Us Anyway? said...: Robert Cook: In addition to the complex masterpiece of a Day in the Life, the poignant and deceptively simple call & response of A Little Help From My Friends also enhances this band's discography i think & stands the test of time extraordinarily well.; 8/6/15, 1:49 PM
madAsHell said...: I prefer Majesties over pretty much the entire rest of the Stones' catalogue.

Really?? They were trying to catch the psychedelic wave, and failed miserably. They don't even look comfortable with the funny outfits on the album cover, and it was a rip-off of Sgt. Pepper. "Let It Bleed" was a play on the Beatles "Let It Be".

I think their peak was 1977 through 1982. Some Girls, Emotional Rescue, Tattoo You. All good albums.; 8/6/15, 2:29 PM
Alex said...: Peter Frampton's uncredited session work on Sgt. Pepper is deserving of more widespread acclaim.

What was he the water boy?

Oh and Sgt Pepper has many classic songs:

Title track
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Getting Better
She's Leaving Home
Within You Without You
A Day in the Life

now imagine if they had put Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever on that...; 8/6/15, 4:47 PM
Charlie said...: Help! was released 50 years ago today.; 8/6/15, 5:06 PM