 | The Cavalier daily Tuesday, October 7, 1969 |  |
'Abbey Road'
Beatles: Putting It Back Together
By Charles Ribakoff II
Special To The Cavalier Daily
(Boston) - It is by now, I
suppose, a little blase to still be
excited about the Beatles. It's all
been said before. But the reason
that the Beatles have been around
longer than any other popular
group, and sell more records than
anyone, is simply because they are
better than anyone else yet to come
along. This is a point worth
considering.
It does not bode great good
fortune for the future of a fast-evolving
art form when the three
best performers of 1970 turn out to
be the same three best performers
from 1965 (The Beatles, with the
Rolling Stones, and Dylan). But
that's the way it's going to be. One
of the reasons for this is the way
that rock has evolved over the past
few years. The Beatle-led excursion
into the hydrosynclastic Sgt. Pepper
stage simply left most less
professional groups, who could not
assimilate the Beatles eight previous
years of experience, somewhere
west of the Wrigley Stadium
bleachers. The Beatles are now
leading the whole thing back.
Personal Tightness
One of the things that the
Beatles have always done that other
groups seem to have forgotten
about, is to have fun. They are four
friends whose music reflects their
personal tightness. Rock is mostly
about having fun; when it gets away
from this, it's in big trouble, the
sort of trouble it's in now. Has
anyone ever seen Eric Clapton
smile? His groups are loose concoctions
whose personal looseness is
often reflected in their music, even
though he is a great musician, but
that is no reason for him - and he's
look like someone's put glue in his
mustache. Rock, at least serious
rock, has gotten so serious and
self-consciously intellectual that it's
stagnating.
All of which brings us back to
the Beatles, and their two new
albums "Abbey Road," (released
last week) and "Get Back," out for
Christmas. Everywhere that Mary
went the lamb was sure to go, so
what the Beatles are doing has
important ramifications for the
whole scene.
Neither album is out at this
writing, although semi smuggled
tapes of both are circulating freely
through the Boston underground.
They are two very interesting, and
very important albums.
Early Style
"Get Back," the second album to
be released, was actually the first to
be recorded. It's made up of some
random practice sessions, a couple
of leftover tracks from the Beatles
double pocket album, both sides of
the single "Get Back," and some
new material in their early style,
including "999." a song they claim
to have written around 1959. All of
it is done with no over dubbing. The
material seems in some ways a
complete retrogression there are
mistakes included, and at times the
group is not together at all.
This, coupled with the albums
weird production, has promoted one
local authority to dub "Get Back,"
"Let Them Eat Cake." There are
rumors that the album is going to
come pre-scratched, to make it
sound like an old record. All the
tapes around are recorded like that.
This is the logical extension of the
Mothers' "Rubin & The Jets"
album, which they recorded a 45
rpm tick on, to make it sound like
an old single.
Creative Package
The album will come in a
massive package, including a large
book of pictures and comments
taken during the recording sessions.
All in all, it should be one of the
most intensely creative packages in a
long time.
"Abbey Road," the album just
released was done after "Get
Back," produced by the Beatles to
prove they could still put together a
tight album. It is a most impressive
work, the tightest hard rock album
I've ever heard.
The Beatles jam 18 songs onto
one record, ten of them in a fifteen
minute medley that leads off side
two. They are songs that they claim
they liked, but never had time to
finish. Paul McCartney, who wrote
most of the songs on the set, is
reported to have said "It (the
medley) lasts about as long as it
takes you to have a bath, got out,
and get dressed," While I don't
know anyone who's timed this yet,
it is an interesting concept in
packaging.
Rock To Jazz
The Beatles get into many things
in the new package, from hard, late
'50 rock (Oh, Darling" and "Come
Together") to jazz and blues in the
long "I Want You (She's So
Heavy)," a song which seems
theatrical. The singer turns to the
girl, and goes through the "I Want
You" thing, then turns to the
audience and explains "she's so
heavy." Also included are one of
Ringo's rare compositions, "Octopus
Garden," and undrugged Yellow
Submarine, a couple of beautiful
ballads, one by George Harrison,
and even a tribute to the Royalty,
done in the style of folksinger
Nilson, "Her Majesty's a very nice
girl, but she doesn't have a lot to
say." The lyrics are relatively
uncomplicated.
The album is named after the
street in St. John's Wood where the
studio which the Beatles used to
record in is located. This seems to
sum up the get back theme, getting
back to a time when things were a
little simpler and a lot more fun.
They may start a bunch of good
things, in the future and right now.
And with a love like that, you
know you should be glad.
Copyright By
Charles Ribakoff II
| The Cavalier daily Tuesday, October 7, 1969 | |