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Assessing the post-breakup albums of the Beatles

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

In my previous post, I ranked the Beatles’ studio albums from least best to best. This time around, I’m looking at the most significant post-break-up releases that you are likely to come across. And I’ll reverse the order, so that I’m starting with the “best”. My criteria is simple: which releases are best for repeated listening?

Past Masters, Volumes One and Two

I could end the list here. These are the only truly essential post-breakup releases. They contain every non-album track (singles, EPs) ever released while the Beatles were together. Volume One is solid, with a slew of classic singles.

But Volume Two is light years beyond. “Day Tripper”, “We Can Work It Out”, “Rain” (the drumming!), “Lady Madonna”, “Hey Jude”, “Revolution”…even the B-sides such as “Old Brown Shoe” and “The Inner Light” still stand up nearly 60 years later. Although it is technically a compilation, I would easily rank this in the top half of the Beatles’ studio albums. It’s hard to believe that they left all of this stuff off their regular albums.

Love

Whatever you think of the Cirque du Soleil show for which this remix/mash-up was created, this album remains a surprising and thoroughly enjoyable listening experience. The songs are truncated, turned inside-out, and even mashed together with other songs. In my view, those mash-ups are the ones that truly reward repeated listening. The collision of “Drive My Car”, “The Word”, and “What You’re Doing” takes two unheralded tracks, adds a third, and somehow creates a roller-coaster of middle-period magic. The mash-up of “Within You Without You” and “Tomorrow Never Knows” is almost as good.

Let It Be…Naked

The original Let it Be album was a mixed bag. (Very) Overproduced by Phil Spector after the band had called it a day, it frustratingly veers between unpolished “back to basics” tracks like “One After 909” and overproduced goop like “The Long and Winding Road”. Did that simple ballad really need strings, harps, and choirs? Let it Be…Naked seeks to rectify that, by presenting a crisper collection of songs without the overproduction. And it mostly succeeds. It’s no Abbey Road, but it’s a marked improvement on the original Let it Be. (And it’s also better than Get Back, the shelved first attempt at making a listenable album out of the Let it Be-era material).

1962-1966, 1967-1970 , and 1

All of these are perfectly serviceable compilations for the casual listener. The 2023 remixes/expansions of 1962-1966 (the “Red” album) and 1967-1970 (the “Blue” album) get my vote for adding songs that were left out of the original 1973 releases…and in most cases, the additions deserve the inclusion. Some of the remixes are especially good: “You Can’t Do That” and “I Saw Her Standing There” come to mind. But most of these early songs come to life in their newly-demixed/remixed form. Paul McCartney’s bass playing is a particular revelation.

I’m not as enamoured with 1. In part, this is because I don’t think all of the Beatles’ best songs were singles. “A Day in the Life” and “Here Comes the Sun” are just two examples of songs that are absolute classics but were never released as singles when the band was still together. There is also a certain degree of overexposure with the songs on 1 too, as every one of them was (as the title suggests) a chart-topping single. But I’m not the target audience for 1 anyway. It is still a great introduction to the band for those who are less familiar with their work.

Anthology, Volumes 1 to 4

When I first listened to the three Anthology albums released in the mid-1990s, I thought they were great. In addition to the “new” songs “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love”, they contained a bunch of previously unreleased/unknown songs that had only been rumours…or available only on dodgy bootlegs (“Leave My Kitten Alone” was much stronger than a number of songs officially released by the Beatles in 1964). The alternate takes were fascinating. And some of the live tracks were tremendous recordings, full of the energy of the band’s early days.

Over time, however, my opinion has changed. Yes, they are essential listening for serious fans. But, in most cases, the unreleased stuff was in fact inferior to what was released the first time around. as the years go by, I listen to them less and less. I cannot see myself ever needing to upgrade my mid-1990s Anthology CDs to vinyl. And, in a telling gesture, I have yet to acquire a copy of the new Anthology 4 (released in 2025)…which duplicates many tracks from the various “Super Deluxe” editions that have been issued in the recent past.

Live at the BBC (Volumes 1 and 2)

These releases features songs that the Beatles recorded for their BBC appearances in the early years of Beatlemania. In addition to many of their best-known tracks, the two Live at the BBC collections also include songs that the Beatles never released on their albums. For me, those are the treasures of these compilations. And I like how they recreate radio shows of the era, with brief interviews and introductions. But even there, my appreciation of these collections is qualified. For the most part, these recordings can be described as…fine. Without a true audience, there is no urgency. There are no lost classics. Just competent, but quickly recorded, renditions of songs in their repertoire. And given that these albums are both in excess of two hours long, it is hard to get excited about repeat plays.

Live at the Hollywood Bowl (2016 version, released with Eight Days a Week movie)

While this remixed collection of concert recordings from 1964 and 1965 sounds better than the 1977 Live at the Hollywood Bowl LP that it replaced, it still suffers from rough sound quality, rather sloppy performances, and less than ideal recording conditions. It definitely has historical interest, and shows just how insane the concert conditions were. However, like the BBC and Anthology recordings, I can go years without playing this record.

This ends my Beatles “mini-series”. I’ll continue to include the occasional music-related post, but the next post will definitely be travel-related!

[The copyrights in the album covers lie with Parlophone/Apple Records. And the photo at the very top of the post is of the famed Abbey Road studios in London, England.]

Posts from Base Camp

Ranking albums by the Beatles

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

One of the most-read posts on this blog was my early 2025 post about my interview with Bob Dylan. While this remains a travel blog, I see no problem with doing the occasional post about music. Especially when I have written related posts in the past, such as the posts about my 2005 visit to Liverpool, my Beatles pilgrimage in 2014, or my broader “Beatles journey.”

So, today, I will take on the difficult task of ranking the Beatles studio albums from “least best” to “best”. I could probably write an entire post about each album, but I’ll keep my comments as short as possible.

13. Yellow Submarine (1969). This album had only one side of Beatles music, and even then only four of those songs were previously unreleased. “Hey Bulldog” is a good song, but these leftovers can’t hope to compete with their other proper albums.

12. Beatles for Sale (1964). Their fourth album in two years sounded tired. They looked tired on the cover. Even their cover version choices seemed uninspired. “Eight Days a Week” and “I’ll Follow the Sun” are highlights, but this will never be a Desert Island Disc for me.

11. Please Please Me (1963). Their debut album contains three incredible performances: “I Saw Her Standing There”, the title track, and “Twist and Shout”. The rest is generally fine, but they haven’t really found their feet yet. It wouldn’t take long: their second release of 1963 would be much better.

10. Help! (1965). When I listen to this album, I think of the word “competent”. They tentatively explored some different directions here, but I still get the feeling that they are in a bit of a holding pattern. “Yesterday” was ultimately overplayed, but who can complain about the melody? “Help!”, “Ticket to Ride”, and “You’re Going to Lose that Girl” are among the other highlights.

9. Let it Be (1970). Millions of words have been written about this trying phase in their career. I will just say this: despite some acknowledged classic singles, I just don’t find this album as enjoyable as the ones ranked above it. It’s a different kind of fatigue from “Beatles For Sale”, but it is fatigue all the same. Some questionable production decisions don’t help. The “Naked” version that came out in 2003 was preferable in that regard.

8. Magical Mystery Tour (1967). Side two, which collected their recent singles, is mostly brilliant. “Penny Lane”/”Strawberry Fields Forever” may be the best single ever released. How could you call either of those a “B”-side? “Hello Goodbye” and “All You Need is Love” also keep the quality high. But side one is a tougher slog, and keeps this from ranking higher.

7. A Hard Day’s Night (1964). An amazingly consistent release, with all 13 songs written by Lennon-McCartney. And pretty much any of them could have been a single. Indeed, some of them became successful singles for others. The title track, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, and “And I Love Her” are justifiably classics. Maybe the lyrics were still simple, but by now they had mastered the musical side of the equation.

6. The Beatles (a.k.a. “The White Album”) (1968). Some people would rank this a lot higher. And I admit, there is a lot here to like. “Back in the U.S.S.R.”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Blackbird”, “Dear Prudence”, and “Helter Skelter” are undoubtedly among their very best. But, as a listening experience, this double album might be just a little too long. I think I would have left “Revolution 9” as a B-side or an EP track, and culled some of the undeveloped fragments. “Hey Jude” and “Revolution” came out as a single around this time: wouldn’t they have made an excellent addition?

5. With The Beatles (1963). This starts with the breathless “It Won’t Be Long” and doesn’t let up until “Money (That’s What I Want)”, the fierce closing track. As an album, it is perfectly paced. And despite having six cover versions, they don’t diminish the album at all. Both “Money” and “You’ve Really Got A Hold on Me” achieve the rare feat of dwarfing the Motown originals. And the bass on “All My Loving”…

4. Rubber Soul (1965). This was a significant leap forward from “Help!” and the albums that came before. A couple of soft spots mean that it doesn’t quite make my Top 3, but by and large the songs are outstanding. “In My Life” is a remarkable accomplishment that thankfully hasn’t been overplayed over the years. Any other band would have killed to have this as a single, but the Beatles never bothered.

3. Revolver (1966). My Top 3 is basically interchangeable. If you pitted the individual songs from those albums against each other, I think Revolver might prevail. “Taxman”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “I’m Only Sleeping”, “Here, There and Everywhere”, “She Said She Said”, “Good Day Sunshine”, “And Your Bird Can Sing”, “For No One”, “Got to Get You Into My Life”, and “Tomorrow Never Knows”…all amazing, and also mostly without precedent. The only reason why I don’t rank it higher is the top two albums hold together as albums just a little bit better. But this is really splitting hairs.

2. Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). It’s very hard for me to rate this album objectively, as it contains “A Day in the Life”…my favourite Beatles song, and possibly my favourite song period. Nothing had ever sounded like that before (or since). And tracks as diverse as “She’s Leaving Home” and “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” push the envelope of popular music too. By virtue of having a theme (for a couple of songs at least), it just sneaks past Revolver.

1. Abbey Road (1969). It’s definitely the best-sounding Beatles album. And even if the songs aren’t as uniformly great as Revolver, I currently think this is the best Beatles album experience. The huge medley that concludes side two is a stunning suite of music, despite being bunged together from a collection of half-finished fragments. And don’t sell the other songs short: “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something” are my two favourites, and are justifiably famous, but “Oh! Darling” and “You Never Give Me Your Money” are two of the many underappreciated and lesser-known tracks. To me, this album sounds like a band knowing it is going to split up, but is still determined to set the standard even higher…just one more time.

[The copyrights in the album covers lie with Parlophone/Apple Records. And the photo at the very top of the post is a photo of me crossing Abbey Road at that zebra crossing.]

Posts from Base Camp

Arrive without travelling

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

As much as I like to travel, it is not feasible to go everywhere I want to go. But I can still enjoy things from other countries in the comfort of my own home. Today’s post features food and music from countries that I have never visited.

The Ukrainian “Prague” cake, right before we started to eat it.

The vivid cover photo at the very top of this post is the packaging for a “Prague” chocolate cake. While Prague is of course in Czechia, the cake itself is from Ukraine. And the photo right above this paragraph is the cake you see when you take the lid off the packaging. The cake is now gone, but it definitely tasted like Europe! It’s always fun to try new products like this.

Ukrainian sour cherry jam

Speaking of new Ukrainian products, we’re trying the above cherry jam. We wanted to replace the cherry jam we previously used. This Ukrainian one tastes better, and sour cherries are actually the first ingredient! This is a big win because most jams have sugar as the first ingredient. As a bonus, this jam was also less expensive than the one we previously used.

Smoky salsa from Mexico

While I have visited a number of Latin American countries, I have never made it to Mexico. I love very spicy food, but it is sometimes a challenge to find a spicy salsa that has no garlic. This spicy Mexican salsa is packed with smoky flavour and isn’t runny. The regular price is “above average”, so I bought four jars the last time it went on sale.

I’m looking forward to trying this snack from India

Speaking of spicy food…that’s one of the reasons I like Indian cuisine. This snack from India is a little different, as it is a sweet and sour mix. I wasn’t sure that sour would work in a dry snack, but I tried some khatta meetha recently and was pleasantly surprised. India is a very long way to go, but I am sure that I will find plenty to like if I’m ever able to visit there.

Side 2 of Bob Marley’s classic “Exodus” album. One of my favourite sides of music.

To accompany all this tasty food, I turn to my (vinyl) record collection. When I’m in a more meditative mood, Bob Marley’s “Exodus” album hits the spot. While I have never made it to Jamaica, my luggage has! When I was returning from a business trip to San Antonio many year ago, the airline messed up my luggage and sent it to Kingston, Jamaica, rather than “my” Kingston.

Side 1 of Jorge Ben’s “África Brasil” album. Nice gold vinyl too.

A little more adventurous is Jorge Ben’s “África Brasil” album. This 1976 album is a fusion of various types of music, but still very Brazilian. I have a lot of Brazilian music in my collection, and this is one of the best. Even if you think you don’t know this music, you probably will recognize at least one song. Rod Stewart had a hit in the late 1970s that lifted the melody from “Taj Mahal”. Ben successfully sued Stewart, and the royalties went to Unicef instead.

“The Indestructible Beat of Soweto” – a 1985 compilation from South Africa

Long-time readers know that I really enjoy a lot of South African music. It’s another faraway place that I’ve never visited. The above compilation album (“The Indestructible Beat of Soweto”) features mostly mbaqanga music, which is what formed the basis of Paul Simon’s very successful 1986 “Graceland” album. But this album was released the year before Graceland. It was one of the first albums of contemporary South African music to be widely available outside the country.

The title of today’s post is from “The Inner Light”, by the Beatles. It is a George Harrison composition that uses Indian instrumentation, while the lyrics are based on the Tao Te Ching. Another good line from the song: “The farther one travels, the less one knows.” Maybe that will be the title of a blog post some day!

Posts from Base Camp

My interview with Bob Dylan

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

On New Year’s Day, I went to the Screening Room (our local independent cinema) and watched “A Complete Unknown”. It’s a new biopic about Bob Dylan, touching only on the period between 1961 and 1965. It made me think about a Dylan experience I had 35 years ago, in the spring of 1990.

At that time, I was the Music Director of CFRC-FM (Queen’s University Radio). My role involved liaising with the record companies. They would provide us with new releases, and we would provide them with feedback on how our programmers liked the new stuff. College radio success was often a stepping stone to bigger and better things.

Sometimes, we would get special opportunities. A band might stop by the station for an interview or even a quick performance. And we would occasionally get free passes to concerts. Most of my interviews involved Canadian bands such as the Northern Pikes or the Grapes of Wrath. I have to admit, it was cool to go the show and be acknowledged by the band from the stage.

As bands became better known, they tended to become very selective with their interviews and appearances. International stars usually didn’t need to do promotion with university stations, although some might make an occasional appearance out of nostalgia (a lot of musicians had been college radio DJs themselves). But even the more prominent acts would still reserve a few tickets for local media, including our station.

One day, I received a call from the Canadian rep for Columbia Records. Bob Dylan was playing at the Kingston Memorial Centre the next night…would I be interested in a pair of tickets? Of course, I said yes. I played some Dylan on my show from time to time. But then the rep continued: would I be interested in interviewing Bob?

Deep breath.

I said I would be happy to do that. The rep told me to get to the arena in the late afternoon, pick up the tickets at the box office, and let the box office staff know that I was there to interview Mr. Dylan.

Needless to say, I didn’t sleep too well that night. Not only is Bob Dylan one of the most famous musicians ever, but he also had a reputation for doing very, very few interviews. And even when he did them, he had a reputation for being…a challenging interview. Nothing would be worse than being unprepared for an interview with Bob Dylan.

I worked very hard to come up with questions that were informed, but not obsessive. Unique, but not silly. The parameters were challenging indeed. I felt like I was preparing to defend my doctoral dissertation on contemporary popular music…in front of the guy who revolutionized it.

On the day of the concert, I arrived at the Kingston Memorial Centre with the 97th draft of my profound but cool interview questions. I confidently strode to the box office, and picked up my free tickets. And then I asked the clerk…would Mr. Dylan be available for our interview now? She asked me to wait a minute, and disappeared from view. This may well have been the longest minute of my life. It was all becoming very real. Bob Dylan was in the building, and I was about to interview him. I was 21 years old.

The clerk eventually returned. She said that the label rep had indeed mentioned the interview to the venue management. Alas, in a very apologetic tone, she said Mr. Dylan was unfortunately no longer able to do any interviews that evening.

At the time, I was naturally very disappointed. But, in retrospect, maybe it was better that Bob wasn’t available. No matter how good my 97th draft of questions may have seemed then, I think I would do a much better job now. I probably wasn’t ready to defend my dissertation in 1990.

I suspect that Bob Dylan remembers little about his May 30, 1990, visit to Kingston. After all, he calls his 60+ years of performing the “Never Ending Tour.” He’s done thousands of concerts all over the world. But we’re all human. Maybe, just maybe, he felt bad about not doing the interview. And if he did, it’s not too late. He can have his people call my people. I might be able to carve out some time for him.

Posts from Base Camp

Great Music Trips

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Near the end of 2014, I went on a “musical pilgrimage” to southern England. Based mostly in Cambridge and London, highlights included Paul Carrack in Southend-on-Sea, Jools Holland at the Royal Albert Hall, the London production of “The Commitments”, Los Pacaminos (featuring Paul Young) in a Putney pub, and a bunch of Beatles sights (including crossing Abbey Road, in the above photo).

It’s been a while since I’ve done a trip like that, although I still attend a lot of concerts. So, where would I go now?

The first place that comes to mind is South Africa. Regular readers of this blog will know that I saw (and met!) the late Johnny Clegg many times. Paul Simon’s “Graceland” album remains one of my all-time favourites. “The Indestructible Beat of Soweto” is a great compilation of music from South Africa. I really enjoyed seeing Ladysmith Black Mambazo when they came to Kingston. And Ladysmith Black Mambazo recently collaborated with South African Jeremy Loops on a fun single called “This Town”. It would be great to see this live, in the country where it was made.

I enjoyed seeing a small tango orchestra in Buenos Aires, Argentina. But since then, I have discovered the music of Bajofondo. The band members are from both Argentina and Uruguay. They use local music, such as tango, as a starting point…but take it in some very interesting modern directions. Since poor weather stopped me from getting to Uruguay, wouldn’t it be cool to see something like this in Montevideo?

But it is not necessary to go halfway across the world. There are some American artists who could form the basis for a fun musical trip. I have great respect for Jon Batiste from New Orleans, Louisiana: I was singing the praises of his “We Are” album even before it received a bunch of Grammy nominations. A trip to New Orleans could also include Trombone Shorty, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (who we recently saw in Kingston)…the list goes on.

I’ve already seen the Weeklings perform live…in Monmouth, New Jersey, of all places. However, they were so compelling that I’d love to see them again. Their cover versions (especially of Beatles songs) are amazing, but their original compositions are great too. And I recently discovered that they sometimes play live at Daryl’s House, in Pawling, New York. It’s a cozy venue, and is operated by none other than Daryl Hall (of Hall & Oates fame). Wouldn’t that be a fun part of a trip to New York City?

I shared some Weeklings videos in a music-related post from a couple of years ago…if you like the above two, you’ll probably find these ones even better.

And what about all those Canadian music trips I could do? Pagliaro in Montreal…trips like that could keep me occupied for years!

Posts from Base Camp

2021 (Re-) Discoveries, Part 2

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

Following up on my Boxing Day post, here are some more things that I appreciated musically in 2021. Today’s focus is on music with a connection to this travel blog.

In 2018, I went to a music conference in New Jersey. We saw a great band called the Weeklings: you can read more about it here. A couple of the songs they debuted at that conference (see photo at the top of this post) have since made it onto their 3rd studio album (logically, called “3”). I think the above cover of “Baby You’re a Rich Man” improves considerably on the Beatles’ original version…which is not something I say very often!

But I also like the Weeklings’ original music. “In the Moment”, “Running Away”, and the title track from “3” may not sound like 21st century recordings: hearing them is like finding previously unreleased power pop gems from the last century. And what’s wrong with that?

Another vinyl compilation I picked up in 2021 was Stevie Wonder’s “Original Musiquarium I”. This double album collects some of his best 1970s tracks along with a handful of new recordings from the 1980s. It’s hard to imagine a better sequence of music than the beginning of side 3: “Higher Ground”, “Sir Duke”, “Master Blaster (Jammin’)”, and “Boogie on Reggae Woman”.

An urgent live version of “Higher Ground”

But Side 1’s opening comes close: “Superstition”, “You Haven’t Done Nothin'”, and “Living for the City”. Despite being quite a distance from the stage, seeing Stevie Wonder a few years ago in Toronto is one of our fondest concert memories. Here’s a link to that post.

…and an urgent live version of “Superstition”, from the same 1974 German TV appearance

2021 saw me listen to a lot of Marshall Crenshaw’s music again. We saw him perform in upstate New York in 2013, and I managed to get him to sign my copy of his self-titled 1982 debut album (the original vinyl pressing, of course). He was happy to hear that I played his music on my radio program at CFRC-FM.

My signed copy of Marshall Crenshaw’s debut album

That album remains a great blast of fresh air, but I also like playing his lesser-known 1996 Miracle of Science LP. It was recently reissued on vinyl, and included a bonus single with a Michel Pagliaro cover!

Someday, Someway is from Marshall’s debut album

Michel Pagliaro may not be well-remembered, but this Quebec singer wrote and performed “Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy”. The title is rubbish, but musically it has more hooks than almost any other single ever released. When we saw the Trans-Canada Highwaymen perform at the Grand Theatre in Kingston a few years ago, they performed this song as an encore. An absolute highlight! Pagliaro is still performing in Quebec to this day; maybe we’ll get a chance to see him soon.

Music has been an important part of our travels. While the pandemic is crushing any travel ideas right now, I’m hopeful that in a few months we’ll be journeying and listening to live music again.

Posts from Base Camp

2021 (Re-) Discoveries

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

This post was going to be about the difficulty of planning travel during a pandemic. But my heart just wasn’t in it: we already read enough about isolation, quarantines, cancellations, and those dreaded words “tentatively scheduled”. I also appreciate that leisure travel cannot be prioritized over more serious concerns. Instead, I’ve decided to write about some of the music I discovered (or re-discovered) in 2021.

You’ll probably be seeing some of this at the 2022 Grammy awards

Music has continued to be a wonderful refuge from the pandemic. Most of my music purchases this year were on vinyl: at home, it is very easy to enjoy the ritual and warmer sound of vinyl records.

“I Need You”, by Jon Batiste

Some records were new to me. One of my favourites was “We Are”, by Jon Batiste. I first saw him as the bandleader for Stephen Colbert, but that is only a small part of his career. While loosely based on the music of New Orleans, “We Are” ranges from jazz, swing, and old-school R&B to hip-hop and gospel. And it is nice to see that it was released on the legendary Verve record label. I wasn’t surprised to see that it has just received a bunch of Grammy nominations. I’ve included a couple of video links – these are probably the most “commercial” of the tracks.

“Freedom”, by Jon Batiste

Another record that was “new” to me was actually released in 1978: Earth Wind & Fire’s “Greatest Hits, Volume 1”. I knew some of the songs beforehand, but I enjoyed practically everything on it. It seems to be from the sweet spot of vinyl: it sounded absolutely spectacular on my turntable. Sometimes these compilations would have a token new song that didn’t measure up to the rest. In this case, however, the token new song was “September”: it may well be their best song.

“September”, by Earth Wind & Fire

I took a chance on an LP called “Al Zman Saib”, by long-dead Moroccan singer Fadoul. The first track is called “Sid Redad”…but it is actually a startling Moroccan Arabic version of James Brown’s “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag”. While the LP contains a couple of other covers, even the original songs ae fascinating. Unpolished, to be sure, but the musicians do seem to be having a lot of fun.

Sid Redad (Paps’s Got A Brand New Bag)

The year also saw me rediscover some albums that I originally owned on CD. I’ll be mentioning some of those in a future post, but I’ll focus on one for now: The Beatles’ 1966 “Revolver” LP.

Tomorrow Never Knows – truly without precedent

Many people consider it the best album of the modern era, and the songs are of a uniformly high quality despite being incredibly diverse. It’s hard to believe that the Beatles recorded this LP less than 4 years after “Love Me Do”. But even though I’ve heard “Revolver” hundreds of times, listening to again on new vinyl was a revelation. I heard things I had never heard before. Whenever I want a quick jolt of the sound of innovation, nothing does the trick quite like “Revolver”.

Got to Get You Into My Life – by the Beatles
It’s hard to top the Beatles’ original version, but Earth Wind & Fire gave it a good shot!

If you enjoyed this post chronicling travel of a different sort, stay tuned. I’ll be posting some more music discoveries soon!

Posts from the road

Celebrities and the Jersey Shore

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(West Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.A.)

One of the interesting parts of the New Jersey conference was interacting with people whose names I knew…but whom I had never actually seen or met.

As this was an academic conference, many of the attendees and presenters were authors.  I brought along a few books for signing, as it appeared that time would be available to meet the authors.  In each case, the authors were unfailingly polite and it was abundantly clear that they were also big fans of the music.

The Jersey Shore

There was another attendee who might be a little more famous (by work, if not by name) to those outside of the Beatles’ world.  He has a very significant Beatles connection, but he has also reached the pinnacle of his profession through his work with other musicians.  However, he rarely attends events like this…and I wondered if he might not be too thrilled to meet “fans”. 

Science Hall at Monmouth University

While I did obtain his autograph and briefly speak to him, I was most struck by his keen interest in the conference.  Although he was a featured guest, he did not just zip in and out of the conference for his assigned slot.  He arrived early and stayed for several days (and these were long days)…perhaps even longer than I did!   And it was evident that he was just as polite with, and considerate of, other “fans” as he was when I met him.  

Woodrow Wilson Hall, Monmouth University, Long Branch, New Jersey

This made me ponder the whole idea of celebrity.  If I were famous and pursuing one of my interests, my patience with being approached by strangers might eventually get worn down.  Imagine  having to deal with that all of the time!  And so, given the grace with which this person was handling things, I have decided not to name him or post a picture.

Bey Hall, Monmouth University

Almost exactly four years ago, I came across a similar issue when I visited the Abbey Road recording studio in London, England.  The building (and the pedestrian crossing outside of it) are, of course, iconic in the Beatles world.  I readily accepted a stranger’s offer to take my picture while I walked across Abbey Road.  However, one of the most famous musicians of all time also lives quite close to that studio…only a few minutes’ walk away.

I had to take a look, as I was curious about the style in which this musician lived.  I thought about taking a picture and posting it on this blog.  In the end, however, I decided that posting a photograph would just contribute to the “siege” that this musician must often feel.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania…on the way back home

As a result, rather than posting “celebrity” photos, I have decided to illustrate this post with some more travel-oriented photos of the conference trip.  The final stop was a  brief visit to the nearby Jersey Shore (see photo at the very top of this post), which I had heard about but never actually seen.  After taking some final pictures and ceremonially touching the chilly Atlantic Ocean, it was time to begin the long journey back home.

Posts from the road

Return to Academia

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(West Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.A.)

After the great concert on the first night at Monmouth University’s music symposium (see my previous post – and also photo above), it was time to get a little serious.

There were roughly 50 “elective” seminars spread out over 10 time slots, so it was impossible to see everything.  I decided to challenge myself and attend something that sounded really obscure…a seminar on “irregular hypermeters”.  As I was never able to fit any music electives into my university timetable, I braced myself for the worst.  I have a good grounding in the basics of music theory, and have always been intrigued by odd time signatures, but haven’t really studied music seriously for about 35 years.  Even with the conference’s underlying Beatles theme, perhaps this was taking things too far?

The back of Woodrow Wilson Hall (Monmouth University)

My fears were groundless.  Yes, some of the language was challenging, especially when the professor also incorporated a philosophy called “aesthetic realism”.  And irregular hypermeters weren’t actually odd time signatures, as I had originally thought.  But then something very cool happened:  the professor was so enthusiastic about the material that the required intellectual gymnastics suddenly became attainable.

The “OceanFist Bank Center” at Monmouth University

The basic idea was that the musical phrases in Beatles music are often captivating because they do not comply with the “rules” for popular music.  For example, instead of the expected lengths of 4, 8 or 12 bars, the phrases would be 5 bars (“Eleanor Rigby”) or 7 bars (“Yesterday”).  This is what you call an “irregular hypermeter”.  Sure enough, if you count out the beats and bars, these songs (and many others) do not fit the expected pattern.  The predictability so often found in blues and country music, and by extension much popular music, just isn’t there.  Is this why the Beatles’ music still sounds fresh and inventive today?

Front entrance to Woodrow Wilson Hall

The professor was a gifted musician…in fact, it turns out that he has won awards as a composer.  But instead of leaving us with just an interesting theory, he actually demonstrated on the piano what “Yesterday” would sound like if it contained “standard” verse phrases of 8 bars rather than 7 bars.  It was corny, and almost painful to hear.

After showing how (via the music of Burt Bacharach) the unusual phrasing and chord changes in “Eleanor Rigby” also surprise and delight, the professor took some questions from the class.  At one point, he erupted into a vocal passage from an opera (in German!) to demonstrate his point.

Side entrance to Woodrow Wilson Hall

Before we knew it, we had run way past the scheduled end of the seminar.  In a sign that the message got through, I later enthused about this previously unknown subject to my friend…and, over the next several days, anybody else who would listen.  I also found myself counting out the lengths of melodic phrases in every piece of music I encountered (note: don’t try this when you are driving).  Sure enough, the most cliched-sounding songs rigidly follow the same old patterns.

Just in case you missed it – another view of Woodrow Wilson Hall (with previously unnoticed pink glow)

While this topic continues to fascinate me, I think the key take-aways are a lot simpler.  First of all, being passionate about what you are teaching can break down a lot of barriers.  Secondly, learning out of pure interest is far more effective than learning out of necessity.  And finally, you’re never too old to learn.  If you can find something you’re passionate about, those rusty old learning skills will come rushing back!

Posts from the road

An awesome concert in New Jersey!

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(West Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.A.)

On very short notice, I decided to join a friend on a road trip to a four-day academic music conference at Monmouth University in New Jersey.  This was purely for fun and had nothing to do with my employment.  I was free to attend whichever seminars and events caught my interest.

My previous exposure to New Jersey consisted only of passing through Newark Airport on my way to and from New York City.  Most of what I saw was concrete.  This time, however, I found myself at an idyllic college that seemed far removed from urban America.

Stop for gas in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains

The conference itself was scheduled to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ eponymous 1968 album (popularly known as the “White Album”).  While most of the seminars had some connection to that album, the topics ranged from the media in 1960s Germany to “irregular hypermeters” (more about that in a future post).

Yes. New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway passes through a place called Cheesequake!

In addition to the daytime seminars, there were “working” lunches with keynote speakers, dinners with live entertainment, evening presentations for all attendees, vast numbers of books for sale…and, on the first night, a concert by a band called “The Weeklings“.  They seemed to be fairly well known, so we decided to attend as the tickets were included with our conference fees.

I was so impressed with Cheesequake that I took another picture

I had no idea that this concert, by a band that was completely unknown to me,  would be one of the very best that I had ever attended.  The Weeklings are primarily a Beatles tribute band, meaning that they replicate the songs of the Beatles in concert.  I’ve seen plenty of these bands before, and many of them are quite good.  My brother-in-law even portrayed John Lennon in one of them. However, the Weeklings (see photo at the top of this post) don’t look anything like the Beatles, nor do they even try.

The interior of Monmouth University’s Woodrow Wilson Hall, where we ate our dinners and attended a number of presentations

The concert was a live recreation of (most of) the White Album.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with that double album, it is by far the most musically varied of any Beatles album.  The songs range from acoustic ballads to heavy metal, ska to music hall, and everything in between.  The songs are also full of musical tricks, including multiple time signature changes within the same song or even the same verse. Playing it live is an extreme test.  But the Weeklings were up to it…for this special event, they even had a 5-piece string section and a 6-piece horn section.

Descending the marble staircase into Woodrow Wilson Hall’s dining area

It was astonishing.  Even with Paul McCartney’s vast financial resources, the string and horn parts at his concerts are generally played by one guy with a fancy keyboard.  To hear these songs live, with the actual arrangements and instruments that appear on the record, was really something special.

The Weeklings on stage at Pollak Hall

But that wasn’t all – the Weeklings then proceeded to play a handful of their original compositions (with obvious Beatles influences)…and then play even more Beatles songs that are rarely performed live with full string and horn sections.  While their string-heavy and amped-up version of “I am the Walrus” was deeply impressive, it was “A Day in the Life” that really took things to the next level.

“A Day in the Life” is, in my opinion, the Beatles’ finest song.  The recording, with its unprecedented and seemingly random 24-bar orchestral crescendos, represents one of the highest points of 20th century popular music.  To hear it live, with that instrumentation, was like nothing I had ever heard.

The musicians acknowledge the crowd at the end of the show

It has been said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture:  it is very difficult to do well.  But If I haven’t conveyed it clearly enough, please just take my word for it…this was amazing, and you should definitely see these guys if you ever get the chance.  They don’t always have the strings and horns with them in concert, but even as a 4-piece band with a keyboard player on the side, they are still incredible.  What a great way to start the conference!