Phoenix

Thanksgiving. For years it’s brought people together to feast on turkey. In honor of this joyous American holiday, 20 Watts has decided to elucidate you, fine reader, on the many bands named after a variety of fowl. We bring you our very special Thanksgiving 20, based on artists named after a variety of avian creatures.

So what’s the very best of bird-themed music? 20 Watts’ STAFF has the answer in our tenth 20 installment. Watch for new 20s each Thursday, only on 20 Watts, and check out our previous 20s below!

Well.

Been AWOL for a while, but I now return with another entry in my ever expanding cache of pointless lists that nobody asked for.

Recently I was involved in a discussion about cover songs. No, I don’t know why. The point is, it spawned this little ditty -

The Top Ten Cover Songs You Probably Didn’t Even Realize Were Cover Songs.

It really is exactly what it says.

Ten: “The Man Who Sold the World.” (Nirvana)

I almost hate to admit it, but I think I genuinely prefer Nirvana’s live, unplugged version of this song to David Bowie’s 1970 original album version. While such a statement may seem somewhat blasphemous, in Nirvana’s defense I heard their version first – and, to add insult to injury, it’s really good. I suppose that your enjoyment of this song, like most on this list, simply boils down to when you were born, or when you first heard it. If you’re a child of the ’70s, you’ll probably prefer Bowie’s version. If, however, you are a child of the glorious ’90s, you’ll probably go for Kurt’s take on it. Regardless, the irony of the situation does not seem lost on Bowie himself. Thanks to Cobain covering it, even to this day when Bowie performs the song himself he comes across “kids that come up afterwards and say, ‘It’s cool you’re doing a Nirvana song.’ And I think, ‘Fuck you, you little tosser!’”

I think even Kurt Cobain could get behind that one. And he wasn’t really known for shooting off his mouth. (Just the area above it.)

Nine: “Black Magic Woman.” (Santana)

I honestly was not aware, literally up to this very moment, that this was originally a Fleetwood Mac song. Peter Green wrote it in 1968; Santana made it a hit in 1970. Better luck next time, Peter Green. Well, at least you still have Fleetwood Mac who I’m sure is going to be huge andOH YOU QUIT THE BAND.

BTW…who the fuck is Peter Green?

Eight: “Mr. Tambourine Man.” (The Byrds)

Bob Dylan is probably one of the most covered artists of all time. I say “probably” because I don’t know for sure and I’m too lazy to look it up. But rest assured, he’s gotta be, like, top twelve at least. Anyways, this is another instance of a song taking me by surprise. I’m sure more people are familiar with the Byrd’s trippy version of this song than Dylan’s original – myself included. Either version is solid, though – in fact, it has the (meaningless) honor of being only one of three songs to be included twice on Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Songs. Not too shabby for a song about tambourines that (at least in Dylan’s version) doesn’t include any tambourineing.

Seven: “Lovers in a Dangerous Time.” (The Barenaked Ladies)

Little bit of Canadian content for y’all.

The Barenaked Ladies are a strange beast. They’re all fairly talented musicians who can write a hook filled pop masterpiece seemingly whenever they want to. It’s usually combined with bizarre to nonsensical lyrics that range from obscure pop culture references, to abstract fragments, to genuinely insightful commentary – all the while being either rapped by Ed Robertson or operatically sung by Steven Page with gleeful abandon.

Occasionally, they have curbed their wackier tendencies to produce something much more subdued and restrained, which can at times border on being fully beautiful.

Like their cover of this Bruce Cockburn song. After it’s release in 1991 (fittingly for a Cockburn tribute album) it became a Canadian radio staple – a certifiable hit for the band. Even now it continues to crop up on the radio from time to time, though you rarely – if ever – hear Cockburn’s original.

Six: “No More I Love Yous” (Annie Lennox)

This song easily could have made my Thirteen Guilty Pleasure Songs You Hate to Love. (Or Love to Hate) list as well. But it didn’t, and luckily it’s found itself a new avenue for infamy on my blog as being a catchy as hell song we all instantly recognize as an Annie Lennox ditty, but was in fact originally written and performed by some band called “The Lover Speaks.” No, I’ve never heard of them either, and when I type the name into Google image search, a confusing array of pictures, none of which features anything remotely similar to a band, comes up. So apparently even the internet has forgotten about them as well.

I think that what I’m trying to say is, cover though it may be…I think Annie’s pretty much got a monopoly on this song. Good for her!

Five: “Downtown Train.” (Rod Stewart)

Rod Stewart covers Tom Waits. There’s something funny to be said here, but I honestly don’t know what it is.

No, not funny – weird.

The Stewart song is the radio friendly one; the Waits version is the “good” one. In fact, if there ever comes a time when you’re contemplating downloading or buy Rod Stewart’s entire discography, I urge you to just download Wait’s 1985 masterpiece Rain Dogs instead. You can thank me later.

Four: “Hallelujah.” (Jeff Buckley)

Now, to be fair, I think people are about as aware of the Buckley version of this beautiful song as they are of the Leonard Cohen original. Both versions are excellent, by the way – thanks to Cohen’s poetic lyrics and simple, yet evocative melody. But it will forever be associated with Buckley – partly due to his untimely and tragic death, and partly do to his stunning and haunting arrangement of it. Cohen wrote a classic, artistic ballad; Jeff Buckley perfected it.

Three: “Nothing Compares 2 U.” (Sinead O’Connor)

I had no idea this was originally a Prince song. I suppose the number “2″ and the letter “u” in the title should have helped tip me off, but it didn’t. I truly thought this was an original song by Sinead. And, after hearing Prince’s version, I’d like to continue thinking that, please.

Incidentally, this song title was the inspiration behind U2’s name.

No it wasn’t.

Two: “Respect.” (Aretha Franklin)

“Respect” is to Aretha Franklin what “Nothing Compares 2 U” is to Sinead O’Connor – a signature song. A song that we immediately identify with these artists, and, when thinking about these artists, it’s usually the first one that pops into our noggins’. It seems odd then, that both these womens signature songs should be covers. I don’t really know what that says about them, except that they both totally own these tunes. Otis Redding may have been the first to spell out the word “respect” for mass audiences, but it was tailor made for the Queen of Soul. I’ve never heard Otis Redding’s version of the song, and have no need to; no one could possibly come close to matching Aretha.

One: “All Along the Watchtower.” (Jimi Hendrix)

Dylan’s was good. HIS was better.

From the iconic opening guitar riff, to the whacked out solo, this is the definitive version of Bob Dylan’s tune. It’s been covered countless times since, but Jimi’s 1968 version remains the one to top. It’s a song that makes people go “REALLY?” whenever somebody mentions that it’s not a Hendrix track, but one of Dylan’s.

Which I think perfectly sums up just what this list is all about.

Well.

There were a few more songs that I came across that would have fit this list, but I tried to wittle it down to the best ten. Feel free to tell me what I missed and mock my attempt in general below.

So, until tomorrow, enjoy some Annie Lennox.

And you damn well know you will.

Doo doo doo doo doo doo…WHOA OH.

Gene Clark (November 17, 1944 – May 24, 1991), American singer and songwriter for The Byrds,

Stephen Stills had already attracted considerable attention to his songwriting and musicianship skills before his first solo album was released on November 16, 1972. As a founding member of Buffalo Springfield, Stills was a central figure in the highly-regarded and influential late 60s folk-rock and country-rock pioneers. He authored several of their important songs, including the hit “For What It’s Worth, “Blue Bird” and “Rock & Roll Woman.” Following the break-up of the band in 1968, Stills teamed up with Al Kooper (of Blood, Sweat & Tears) and Mike Bloomfield (Electric Flag and top session man) in a one-off project, Super Session (highly recommended album, buy here) in June 1968. Stills then joined with David Crosby (The Byrds) and Graham Nash (The Hollies) to form the folk-rock supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash, whose 1969 debut LP (with the Stills-penned “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”) and its follow-up, 1970’s Déjà Vu (with Neil Young on the team) were instant and lasting classics.

Stephen Stills was Stills’ debut in the solo limelight. It’s a blend of different genres (all songs were his originals) with backing vocals by Crosby, Nash, Cass Elliott and others, plus guitar work from Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix (to whom the album’s dedicated). Interestingly, it’s the only album in history on which Clapton and Hendrix appear simultaneously, although on different tracks. It also features the #14 pop-rock hit, “Love The One You’re With” and the #37 single “Sit Yourself Down.” Stephen Stills briefly hit the Billboard Top 5 in December 1970 and is available as download tracks from iTunes (click here) and as a CD from Amazon (click here).

Magnet and Gemma Hayes Cover Dylan's Lay Lady Lay

PREVIEW: STREAM “Lay Lady Lay” by Magnet and Gemma Hayes
PREVIEW: STREAM “Lay Lady Lay” by Bob Dylan

We all know “Lay Lady Lay” is a classic, and you can never beat the original, however Magnet and Gemma Hayes did a pretty descent job covering one of Bob Dylan’s biggest US hits from way back in ‘69.

Lay Lady Lay has been covered in official album releases from 26 different artists. Basically everyone from The Byrds, Duran Duran, Everly Brothers and Buddy Guy to Cher. Yes, Cher has reinterpreted the release. Magnet and Hayes give an already melodic piece a lighter more appealing  tonality. While in its first release by Dylan on Nashville Skyline, the song got the crowd’s attention because it was viewed to be so much smoother and softer in comparison to the rest of his work, Magnet and Hayes’s take on it sounds like pop lullaby.

A valiant attempt on the duo’s part, we dare call it the best cover of the Dylan classic to date. (And yes we listened to all 26 of them)

– Irina Dvalidze, Multimedia Editor

This is an old Bluegrass standard, done by many groups. Doc Watson and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band do a much faster version.

TRAVIS

“COMING AROUND”

b/w “Just The Faces Change”/”The Connection”/”Rock N’ (Salad) Roll”/”The Weight” (The Band cover)

Released 6/5/00

(Fran Healy)

I used to really love Travis; from 2000 til around 2003, I would say they were one of my favorite bands. I was won over by their second album (the massive U.K. smash The Man Who) and subsequently picked up their debut, Good Feeling. By the time The Invisible Band was released in the summer of 2001, my Traviphile tendencies were at a fever pitch. My friend Ryan and I even went to a Dido concert just because Travis were opening. In the middle of this period of devotion came “Coming Around”, a non-album single released to help ease the wait between records.

Now, the first thing you might notice when you hear “Coming Around” is that it sounds like The Byrds. Not just kind of like The Byrds. Just like The Byrds. My knowledge of guitars is nil, but I’d bet dollars to donuts that’s the 12-string Ricky on the track, the kind Roger McGuinn made famous. But I’ve never let blatant borrowing ruin my appreciation of a good song (Oasis is one of my favorite bands, after all), and almost a decade later, I still really like “Coming Around”. It’s got a good Fran Healy-supplied melody, and I’ve always been a fan of jangly guitars/ Now, it’s sounds like more of a transitional song to me than it did then; the melancholy of The Man Who being replaced by the (perhaps overly) sunny tones of The Invisible Band.

Unfortunately, that change also marked the beginning of the end for my time as an ardent Travis fan. I enjoy Band still (though it’s been years since I listened to it), but I think my affection may be borne more out of nostalgia than enthusiasm. I actually liked 2003’s 12 Memories, though after that my interest in keeping track of Travis faded. I bought The Boy With No Name, but it was out of habit more than anything and I seriously doubt I’ve ever listened to it all the way through. I didn’t even bother to get Ode To J. Smith. Some bands stay with you, and some bands are destined to fall by the wayside. But I still love The Man Who and I still love “Coming Around”…like I said, it was a transition, but I think it still has enough of a sweet spot for me, enough residual TMW qualities to make the cut-off of my Travis love. I also remember listening to it on a plane ride to Japan in the summer of 2000, and anytime a song can take you back to some of the best days of your life, it’s bound to have a positive effect on you.

Here’s the video…there’s a giant egg in it:

G.

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Today was Gram Parsons’s birthday.

De har kallats världens bästa band av fler än en osnuten tonåring inom en upphetsad skara indiepoppare som gjorde i brallan för ett par år sen, när de dök upp med ett sound som var en perfekt summering av pophistoriens allra bästa stunder i melodier som samtidigt var de unga killarnas alldeles egna tolkning av det vi älskar mest. Jag var en av dem som fick byta byxor av musiken som strömmade ur radions P3 Pop, de där fyra låtarna som fanns på Myspace och även hittade till datorn i form av mp3 och fråga mig inte var jag hittade dem; jag var bara överlycklig över att kunna spela dem om och om igen och det jag gjorde jag och Downhill och Simple thing letade sig snabbt upp i topp på min last.fm. Jag talar om Days, och de var den perfekta fusionen av The Go-betweens och Pet Shop Boys. Tidiga Primal Screams stilbildande The Byrds-gitarrslingor snirklade sig kring en röst som flöt omkring nånstans mellan Morrisseys tragikomiska vemod och The Embassys avlsappnade göteborgsengelska, i korta poplåtar med fantastiska melodier.

Jag har sedan dess haft lyckan att se detta band två gånger live, och det var oförglömliga upplevelser. Speciellt första gången, i ösregnet på Rip it up. Det skulle dröja ett år innan första skivsläppet kom, en CDEP + 7″ på Shelflife i bolagets 1000-series. De där fyra låtarna fanns där, kompletterade med ytterligare tre spår. Låtarna spelas fortfarande regelbundet hos mig, men det är förståss glädjande nyheter att Days släpper nytt nästa år, återigen på Shelflife.

När vi är inne på Shelflife kan jag också nämna att Dub Noir samt fantastiska finska bandet Burning Hearts, som har gjort en av årets bästa låtar med Lost my color vsion på debutplattan Aboa sleeping, även de kommer med nytt nästa år på samma bolag. För den som blev intresserad av inlägget om Katsen lite tidigare, kan också nämnas att de har lagt ut ett spår, Where nobody can find us, för gratis nedladdning på bolagets hemsida.

Shelflife
Days – Downhill
Days – Simple thing
Burning Hearts – Lost my color vision
Katsen – Where nobody can find us

Concerto de The Byrds gravado no Forest National Hall de Bruselas o 18 de maio de 1971, época na que a banda formábana Roger McGuinn, Clarence White, Gene Parsons e Skip Battin.

O concerto non está completo, son pouco máis de 20 minutos, pero o que aquí se escoita e se ve é impresionante.

The original line-up for the Byrds lasted just three short years, from 1965 through mid-1968, long enough to produce the timeless tracks “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” (among a dozen others), plus four great folk-, psychedelic- and early country-rock albums. But guitarist Roger (nee Jim) McGuinn was forced to reconstitute the band when, over an 18-month period, original members Gene Clark quit, David Crosby left for Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Michael Clarke and Chris Hillman left for the Flying Burrito Brothers. From 1968 to their eventual breakup in 1972, McGuinn and the in-name-only Byrds underwent several other rounds of personnel changes, the middle of which led to the October 29, 1969 release of The Ballad of Easy Rider. The album has (obvious) close ties to the terrific July 1969 cult counterculture movie, Easy Rider, starring Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson. The film soundtracked several Byrds tunes, including the title track and the wonderful, rambling, spacey, folk-rock gem “Wasn’t Born To Follow.” Interest in a revitalized Byrds peaked after the movie’s summer release, and the working title of the album was originally Captain America (after the film’s anti-hero character). Despite all the hype, The Ballad Of Easy Rider peaked at just #36 in the U.S. Nonetheless, it’s a great late-60s country-rock album.

Check out my Byrds playlist at DrRock.com. The Ballad Of Easy Rider is available as download tracks from iTunes (click here) and as a CD from Amazon (click here).

Tras abandonar los Byrds cuando estos estaban en la cima de su popularidad, Gene Clark no tuvo demasiada suerte, por lo menos comercial, y eso a pesar de facturar varios discos excelentes –WHITE LIGHT, ROADMASTER, NO OTHER…– repletos, como no, de bellísimas canciones. Durante su carrera en solitario se mostró más afecto al folk y los sonidos roots que al rock propiamente dicho, y destacó por un personalísimo y empañado lirismo, que daba voz alternativamente al ermitaño ensimismado y de corazón exhausto o al perdedor errabundo y entristecido. Mis temas preferidos de Clark son los medios tiempos y las baladas que giran en torno a la mística del vagabundeo, canciones como “Silver Raven”, “Spanish guitar” o la que enlazo en este vídeo, la magnífica “Gipsy Rider”, perteneciente al SO REBELLIOUS A LOVER, el excelente disco que sacó en el 86 a pachas con la rubísima Carla Olson. Your music gives our lives meaning, Gene!

The United States of Andragogy

Whilst Hard Days Night represented the peak of the “pedagogic” phase of the Beatles development, many factors were already in place that would help them move to a more andragogic, or collaborative, phase in their writing and recording. George Martin would shift from taskmaster to facilitator to collaborator (from Yesterday onwards) and the Beatles would shift from producers of Merseybeat hit singles, to learning from their new peers, such as Bob Dylan and David Crosby, to becoming complex album artists.

The key to this was collaboration. They already liked writers to “hang with them” and spend time in their company, both Hard Days Night and Love Me Do, the first book about them, came from this welcoming openness. At the time much was made about who was the “Fifth Beatle“; when they arrived in New York in February 1964 the New York DJ Murray the K created this appellation and claimed the title, and it is an enduring debate with many contenders to be that magical fifth element. Last week we argued that the Beatles critically benefitted from More Able Partners who solved problems for them, like Epstein, or provided support, like Martin. In this andragogic phase, through until Rubber Soul at the end of 1965, the critical developmental factor was the range of “Fifth” Beatles who emerged to stretch and challenge them.

George Martin also went through a sophisticated, and critical, change of role. Whereas “in the early stages there was a certain lack of communication and we had to find common ground to talk about music” they developed “a rapport (where we) could talk to each other,” during this post-Beatlemania phase.

Well a word about Andragogy before we analyse The Beatles andragogic phase. This can be described as a theory addressing “self-directed” learning in post-compulsory education, although not in higher education, where learners increasingly take responsibility for their decisions. Knowles describes it as a shift from taught to self-directed education being typical of college and community learning processes. Knowles identifies four principles; “learners” should be involved with planning activities facilitated by “teachers”, it should be based on  experiences, with immediate relevance to work  and with a focus on problem-solving. The Beatles learning was always work-related and they solved endless problems, with notable grace.

Andragogy can be characterized variously; by an increased respect for the learner, who is voluntarily choosing to learn, it is usually interest-driven with a matching focus on their interests, and should be nurtured by the building of relationships. The development of the learner and their success in meeting their own goals and solving meaningful problems, rather than just answering subject questions, becomes the real focus of education. Andragogy also contains elements of co-creation, but perhaps its strongest concern is with building relationships. Interestingly George Martin describes how at this time he made a “tactical withdrawal, recognizing theirs was the greater talent.” This withdrawal of the control from a more able partner is a key element in making the Open Context Model of Learning work.

As a teacher I always saw learning as a social process and was concerned to build up strong relationships between my students. Making an andragogic approach work requires learners to be part of a mutually supportive learning community and I reckoned that they learnt better in groups. Clearly The Beatles were a group who worked, and learnt together, developing their group identity as a “musical instrument”. Throughout 1963 and 1964 the pressures of Beatlemania kept them necessarily close and supportive of one another. Interestingly on several occasions Paul also talks about how all the Beatles had to agree on something before they would do it; if one of them didn’t like a song, “even Ringo” then they would abandon it. So their collaborative group ethos and identity was very strong, at least until 1967.

Back from the USA

Although George Martin says that once The Beatles became the cash-cow for their record company EMI the power relationship between him and them changed, I reckon that the strongest reason for their shift down the PAH Continuum was The Beatles success in America.  It wasn’t so much that they were phenomenally successful, it was more than the country that they had looked up to musically turned out to be far more interested in them. They said that they didn’t expect much of a reception in the USA but that at least they would be able to buy new records. They went as fans looking up to American musicians and instead found that they were being asked How Do YOU Do It? The Beatles did want to be famous but this was transcendent. Their first live TV performance on the Ed Sullivan Show is still the single most watched TV show ever in the USA and crime dropped off for the night as hoods pulled up the shades. Inspired by their performance any number of American bands (The Byrds) were created, and Robert Zemeckis started his directorial career with his film I Want To Hold Your Hand. To paraphrase Eno on the Velvet Underground, only 75 million people watched The Beatles but everyone one of them wanted to be in a band. As ever The Beatles made lots of money for others as they inspired the British Invasion.

George Martin saw a change in them as they finished recording Cant Buy Me Love on their return from the USA. But before they could change their customary way of working they were straight into the already planned Hard Days Night, attendant  film premieres and yet another American Tour. Up till then they had needed a producer needed to ensure that “the records were commercially viable.” Now they were breaking sales records around the world, many of which have not been broken since, and things were about to change.

The literal metaphor of the Fifth Beatle

On August 28 1964, after a huge Shea Stadium concert closing their American Tour The Beatles met Bob Dylan in Delmonico’s Hotel. Harrison had discovered Dylan and played his first two albums constantly until John and Paul were also confirmed fans. Dylan congratulated them on singing “I get high” on I Want to Hold Your Hand and offered them some ‘pot’.  They pointed out that they had actually sung “I can’t hide,” so Dylan turned them on and left them hysterical with laughter as their stress dissolved. McCartney records that pot opened up his “everyday consciousness” causing him to look far wider for inspiration.  Whilst marijuana became their best friend for the next couple of years Paul points out that they worked straight. They had a creative song-writing process worked out and typically wrote for two to three hours everyday, with tea and toast for stimulation. They usually turned that song into a record in around the same time. But after a typical working day pot helped them to relax and get into their reflective metacognition on all things fab and groovy.

Initially their response to meeting Dylan, in songwriting terms, was pedagogic. Lennon’s I’m A Loser, on Beatles For Sale, and You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away on HELP! were Dylanesque, but by the time of Rubber Soul Dylan’s influence was one of many that shaped that album. George also spent time with David Crosby of The Byrds picking up tips about “folk-rock”; the US version of Rubber Soul deliberately highlighted this  dimension of their work as folk-rock was already very popular in the USA.

As the centre of the emerging social scene characterized as the Swinging Sixties the Beatles were involved in many scenes that extended and informed their awareness. They “hung with” most of their musical contemporaries such as The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Moody Blues, Spencer Davis Group and The Who, they wrote songs and worked with most of the Parlophone Artists. When John, George and Ringo bought suburban mansions and lived family lives Paul moved in with Jane Ashers’ parents in Wimpole Street. This location was itself a “Fifth Beatle” as it provided Paul with the cultural life of a typical upper-middle class London family;  Jane’s mother was a music teacher who had taught George Martin the oboe at the Guildhall School of Music.

What was happening was that the Beatles willingness to work with and learn from others, their ability as quick studies, enabled them to respond to influences and bring them back to their work in the studio, at least once their recording qualities were recognised by EMI. They were surrounded by many who were the “Fifth Beatle” and I take this to be a resource that provided something new which the Musical Instrument known as The Beatles absorbed and then moved on.

What happened in the Andragogic phase?

Actually a lot of what happened as The Beatles gained greater power was that they could also use the creative/learning strategies they had developed before they became recording artists. Their refusal to record anything other than their own material for singles, whilst severely problematic for them early on, ultimately meant that EMI would listen to their ideas and allow them to bring new influences into the studio, not least as they would always be proved right.

Paul had studied A–level English and was fascinated by the Theatre, having a good teacher and with the Liverpool Everyman down the road. Lennon was violently anti-school but created The Daily Howl, his satiric self-produced cartoon newspaper. In Many Years From Now Paul discusses how they would try and be creative with anything. They wrote a play (about “Pilchard”) once but it ran out after two pages as they weren’t sure if playwriting was a planned activity or just a stream of consciousness; a question they tried to answer again with Magical Mystery Tour. However the first element of andragogy to effectively manifest itself in the Beatles was John and Paul’s songwriting at Paul’s house in Forthlin Road. Being right and left handed meant they developed a collaborative style of sitting opposite each other and first learning, and then writing, songs by watching how each other made chords on the guitar. Paul described this creative process as so satisfying that it was ‘better than sex.’

In March 1958 just after his fifteenth birthday George Harrison joined them and extended their range by being able to play guitar solos enabling them to copy more songs and also introduce their notable three part harmonies. By the end of 1958 they had a tight way of working with each other and a repertoire of over 100 songs. But it would be almost four years until Ringo joined and another two before their collaborative way of working would drive the Beatles recording process.

Yesterday and the Fifth Beatles known as George Martin

In All You Need is Ears George Martin explicitly identifies Yesterday, on the HELP! album, as the “turning point” when “I started to leave my hallmark on the music”. I agree. Having listened to all the Beatles albums again in sequence it is clear that a change occurs around the time of Yesterday. George Martin sees that “a style started to emerge which was partly of my making” So he was not just a more able partner brokering their relationship with the world of recording he was also a creative partner from then on as well.

Andragogic Excellence

So what makes Rubber Soul reflect an andragogic excellence? Hard Days Night was about mastering styles given to them, the “ideal-type” of Merseybeat, whereas Rubber Soul played out a far wider range of styles. Ironically they looked like the folk-rock gods The Byrds on the Cover. But within the tracks they had improve lyrically and extended the musical dimensions of their work.

Beatles for Sale was really Christmas product, admittedly with four classic tracks, and although HELP! saw them as “extras in their own movie”,the album was outstanding, and the Long Tall Sally EP really rocked. I’ve suggested in my post Unbutchered that if they weren’t forced to deliver so much product we would instead see an unbroken run of classic albums from Hard Days Night.  However with Rubber Soul they went in to the studio to make an album for entirely musical reasons, and delivered a classic.

The Beatles work always served the song and now they could extend the definition of what a song comprised. This time George Martin wasn’t constraining them to the hit single template, he was signed on as full-time collaborator. And George was also in touching distance of Lennon and McCartney as a songwriter.

Drive My Car rocks, Norwegian Wood is a clearly different, more Dylanesque lyrics, with Paul “lighting the fire” at the end and subverting the usual Beatles lyrical conceits; George, inspired by the Indian restaurant scene in HELP!, just picked up a sitar and provided a qualitative change in the Beatles sound. Nowhere Man is the first third person Beatles classic and Think for Yourself sees a fully confident George starting to comment on the values of those around him.

Is Michelle the follow-up to Yesterday? The Beatles are now collaborating with each other rather than essaying service to the hit single template. Ringo’s What Goes On is a fully realized country tune and the only song ever attributed to Lennon, McCartney and Starkey as songwriters. George also provides some hot Chet Perkins picking and it’s All for One and…

Girl was the song at the time picked up by older kids than me with “relationship problems” and is yet another song from the new Beatles and features the daft chorus of tit, tit, tit, which admittedly scans better than house martin.

I’m Lookin Through You is the best skiffle song The Quarrymen never recorded and then In My Life is a word perfect Liverpool tribute with a “solo by Martin. Oh and just to demonstrate the quality of their work the outstanding double A-side single Day Tripper and We Can Work It Out was recorded in the same four week process. The Beatles had produced another chart-topping Christmas album, no surprise there, but this time it was something that said listen, and think for yourself, from start to finish.

Complete Control

So on Rubber Soul The Beatles had “complete control” (Lennon) and produced the first great album (Brian Wilson). The andragogic outcome was an album produced much more collaboratively with Ringo, George and George Martin having far greater creative input, reflecting the quality of the working relationships they had developed. It is often difficult to characterize the outputs of andragogy in a distinctive fashion as they often look very similar to pedagogic outputs; in this case songs. Now, however we also have coherent albums, produced more collaboratively, but the point about the PAH Continuum is to deliver the participants to a heutagogically creative phase. For me this is the proof of the effectiveness of the andragogic phase. So can the Beatles get more creative than Rubber Soul and realize their heutagogic destiny? Well tune in for the next revolution in this discussion a week from now.

Right now, the Spring sky is as wide open as the weekend. And as always, I’m colouring my Saturday morning with a burst of that new folk sound. Hope it paints your sky as big as you like…

Ten Paces Away – The Gin Club

The belting first single from Brisbane’s folk/country/rock collective The Gin Club’s last album Junk. These guys are something to see live, with four (or is it five?) vocalists/lyricists, leading the band through country rave ups, folk ballads and staright up rock ‘n’ roll. Personally, I love it when Ben Salter (also of Giants of Science & Wilson Pickers fame)  takes the wheel as he does here on Ten Paces Away. He is without a doubt, one of Brisbane’s best singer/songwriters. You can catch them live at The Zoo in Brisbane on November 27!

Wagon Wheel – Old Crow Medicine Show

Drawing on the long history of hillbilly, bluegrass, folk & country, Old Crow Medicine Show, have gone from busking on street corners to playing sold out shows with the likes of Merle Haggard, The Felice Brothers & Dolly Parton. They are one of those bands that makes you want to drink good whiskey and sing loud… ‘rock me mama like a wagon wheel…’

Lover of the Bayou – Mudcrutch

This is Tom Petty’s pre-heartbreaker band and man do they rock. Their debut album from last year (that’s right… it took em over thirty years to get around to making it) is raw and filled with some of the best guitar playing you will ever hear. And just check these lyrics…

‘I was raised and swam with the crocodile/snake eyes taught me the mojo style/suckled and weaned on chicken bile/I’m the lover of the bayou’

Tom has always been the master of southern-fried rock and this rave up of The Byrds classic is up there with his best.

On the other hand, this is “good and lovely and great”, so at least I got the order right. Maybe starting school has turned Junior all militant, because – on learning the Bangles were an all-girl group – she announced, “I only want to listen to music by girls now.”

So of course I told her this was written by a boy. Well, Prince anyway. Along with his ‘Take Me With U’, this was meant for the debut album by Apollonia 6, but the sly old dog kept the former for his own Purple Rain and used this as leverage for a go at Susanna Hoffs. Who can blame him? She was cute; even more so when perched all petite in front of her somewhat butch bandmates. Come on, one of them was called Michael.

‘Manic Monday’ is a pretty ditty, buoyed by rolling piano fills and the other girls’ Byrdsian harmonies. It broke the Bangles over here, but they could never consistently capitalise, only ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’ and ‘Eternal Flame’ providing sporadic highs while the rest of their output took the middle ground. Still, ‘Manic Monday’ was a No.2 hit in the UK, and runner-up in the US too, losing out Stateside to a certain purple pompatus and a certain record which we may or may not return to in a bit.

Wish it was Sunday (there’s football on):

Segurament els germans Gallagher matarien per firmar un tema com Two of a Kind, o Courtney Taylor i els seus The Dandy Warhols vendrien la seva ànima al diable per tenir una cançó com Journeyman. Els creadors d’aquetes dues joies pop són quatre australians que responen al nom de The Lovetones i que acaben d’editar el seu quart treball, Dimensions. Amics d’ Anton Newcombe, el líder/gurú dels The Brian Jonestown Massacre, qui col·labora en el disc, aquest australians van néixer al 2002, obrint els concerts de Mosrrissey per Austràlia, i han editat un bon grapat de singles i tres albums plens de bones maneres. Però és en aquest nou treball on les composicions del grup han adquirit majors magnituds. S’allunyen de la distorsió per crear unes textures molt properes a les creades pels Beatles de Rubber Soul; Two of a Kind o Look at the Waves són dos bones exemples. També miren a Bowie per composar Song to Humanity, als Byrds més descaradament pop a Journeyman o a Pink Floyd en el tema instrumental que obre el disc, Moonlite Suite. Atrevint-se amb el A New Low in Getting High dels Massacre d’Anton Newcombe, tema que es troba en el disc d’aquests …And This is Our Music, el mateix on varen col·laborar els Lovetones; de fet, la banda de Newcombe és una de les màximes influències d’aquest Dimensions, juntament amb els Beatles de Lennon

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Sense arribar al nivell dels àlbums de The Brian Jonestown Massacre, aquest Dimensions és un excel·lent treball de pop psicodèlic, senzill en plantejament i concepte, però molt ric en textures i melodies. El resultat és un disc immediat, de temes curts i variants, que un cop arriba a la seva fi es inevitable tornar-lo a punxar.

Happy Birthday this week to:
Oct 18
1926 ● Chuck Berry →
1938 ● Ronnie Bright → The Coasters
1943 ● Russ Gigure → The Association
1947 ● Laura Nyro →
1961 ● Wynton Marsalis →

Oct 19
1934 ● David Guard → Kingston Trio
1944 ● Peter Tosh (Winston Hubert McIntosh) → “(You Gotta Walk) Don’t Look Back” (1978)
1945 ● Jeannie C. Riley → “Harper Valley PTA” (1968)
1946 ● Keith Reid → Procol Harum
1950 ● Patrick Simmons → Doobie Brothers

Oct 20
1945 ● Ric Lee → Ten Years After
1950 ● Tom Petty →
1951 ● Al Greenwood → Foreigner
1964 ● Jim “Soni” Sonefeld → Hootie and The Blowfish

Oct 21
1917 ● John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie →
1940 ● Manfred Mann (Manfred Lubovitz) → Earth Band, solo
1941 ● Steve Cropper → Booker T & the MGs
1942 ● Elvin Bishop → Paul Butterfield Blues Band, solo
1947 ● John “Rabbit” Bundrick → Free, solo, The Who
1952 ● Brent Mydland → Grateful Dead

Oct 22
1942 ● Annette Funicello →
1942 ● Bobby Fuller → Bobby Fuller Four
1945 ● Leslie West → Mountain, West Bruce & Laing
1946 ● Eddie Brigati → The Rascals

Oct 23
1939 ● Charlie Foxx → “Mockingbird” (1963)
1940 ● Fred Marsden → Gerry & The Pacemakers
1943 ● Greg Ridley → Humble Pie, Spooky Tooth
1956 ● Dwight Yoakham →
1959 ● Weird Al Yankovic →

Oct 24
1930 ● The Big Bopper (J. R. Richardson) →
1936 ● Bill Wyman → Rolling Stones
1944 ● Ted Templeman → Producer
1950 ● Dale “Buffin” Griffin → Mott The Hoople

este post faz parte da maratona 1.001 discos para ouvir antes de morrer

Mais uma banda para segurar a invasão britânica dos anos 60 nos Estados Unidos. The Byrds traz um disco de versões de Mr Tambourine Man e All I Really want to do do Dylan  mas também com composições próprias como a We’ll Meet Again  que foi música tema do Dr. Fantástico, filme do Kubrik que satirizava a atual ordem mundial

Sendo minimalista, The Byrds é uma mistura de Bob Dylan com Beatles

1. Mr. Tambourine Man
2. I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better
3. Spanish Harlem Incident
4. You Won’t Have to Cry
5. Here Without You
6. The Bells of Rhymney
7. All I Really Want to Do
8. I Knew I’d Want You
9. It’s No Use
10. Don’t Doubt Yourself, Babe
11. Chimes of Freedom
12. We’ll Meet Again
13. She Has a Way
14. I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better
15. It’s No Use
16. You Won’t Have to Cry
17. All I Really Want to Do
18. You and Me

1. Eight Miles High 7″. Hoewel Zen Arcade m’n favoriete album is, en vermoedelijk een van de sleutelplaten in m’n leven, is het beste wat ze ooit opnamen de cover van “Eight Miles High” van The Byrds. De song werd als single uitgebracht en is niet op een album of compilatie terug te vinden. Ooit schreef ik er dit over: “ If you thought that the original version already had an eerie, paranoid vibe to it, I dare you to check out the devastating cry of anxiety that Hüsker Dü’s version is. Although you could label it ‘hardcore punk’, ‘alternative guitar rock’, ‘modern psychedelica’ or whatever, it’s more than just a piece of music. It’s a statement, a gut-turning blast of emotion, a sonic thunderstorm and one of the most intense things you’ll ever hear. The bass intro is replaced by Mould’s distorted guitar, which rages on throughout the entire song. To today’s standard, the song sounds horrible, the Gibson sounds like a blanket of confused noise, the drums sound trebly and the vocals are muffled, but MAN… The Byrds never recorded anything this intensely melancholic, insane and desperate. Mould’s vocals become increasingly manic and by the time he gets to the third verse, he’s barely understandable. During the second part, his vocals might as well be meaningless, nothing but an outcry, howled passion over a dense guitar racket. As Azerrad also argues: at this point, the band went way beyond the confines of “punk”, they were making music you could cry to, music that could turn you upside down, make that made you feel you were alive and alter your perception of music. It’s exactly the core of the song, the honest, bare-naked passion and intensity that’s the key element of all the rock ‘n’ roll that I love. Music doesn’t have to be measured in insane dB-levels, but when its intensity and sincerity are thisreal, it makes more of an impact than any amount of amplifiers can conjure up. Never ever has any song by any artist made such an impression on this guy.”  Hey, ik was wat jonger en nog onnozeler dan nu.
2. Zen Arcade
3. New Day Rising
4. Warehouse: Songs And Stories
5. Flip Your Wig
6. Metal Circus
7. Candy Apple Grey
8. Everything Falls Apart
9. Land Speed Record
10. The Living End

NP: John Zorn – Femina