THE MESS OF "LET IT BE"

 It was the summer of 1970 when I told my mother I was going somewhere that I can't remember.  Probably to one of my friends house or something.  In truth I was heading to the Ruskin Twin Theater to see the new Beatles movie titled "Let It Be".  I had no idea what to expect as I entered the theater and sat down in the nearly empty auditorium.

The film was a documentary of The Beatles recording songs in a big warehouse then movie to the new Apple Studios to end the movie with their last live performance as a group on the roof of Apple.  I did not think it was a very good movie at the time.  The film was dark and grainy.  My four heroes did more talking and arguing then they did playing music.  After I saw the movie I was not sure what I had just witnessed.  I spent many hours trying to figure out why this film was made.  In my eyes at the time, I could see that this great band would not last much longer.  They were done.  I was frustrated after seeing it and a little irritated.  The Beatles should go out on a high note, not this grainy movie where they were always on each others back about something.  An hour and a half of The Beatles not being the Beatles.

The previous year The Beatles had released the album "Abbey Road".  This album was a great album and became one of my favorites.  There were hints in that album though that would be reflected in the LET IT BE film.  ABBEY ROAD had a lot more Paul and a markedly less presence of John.  Almost the entire second side of the album was Paul with a couple of short songs by John.  The big take away from ABBEY ROAD was that it seemed like George had learned how to write masterful songs out of nowhere.  After seeing the film I wondered of there would be another Beatles album or if the catalogue was done.

Not too long after the release of the movie an album titled LET IT BE was released.  Sensing that this could well be the last Beatles album from what I had seen in the movie, I bought it. As I listened to that album the first several times I was immediately put off by it.  This thing did not sound like The Beatles I had come to know.  I checked the credits on the back of the album and found out what had changed.  George Martin, The Beatles iconic producer from the very early days of the band was not listed as the producer.  He had been replaced by Phil Spector known for his "wall of sound" producing.  That was what I was hearing and that is why I had felt like I was listening to the YELLOW SUBMARINE soundtrack or MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR only maybe a little worse.  

The songs on this album were good.  As I listened to them more I felt like these songs had the potential to be very good.  It just didn't sound like The Beatles.  Spector had over produced the songs.  He had dubbed in a full on choir backing on some of the tracks and an orchestra that over powered The Beatles not only instrumentally but almost drowned out the vocals.  The two songs that Spector destroyed the most were Paul's beautiful ballads "The Long and Winding Road" and the title track "Let It Be" along with John's "Across The Universe".   I rated this album toward the bottom of Beatles releases.  The album did go to number 1 in both the UK and the States, but that was expected of a Beatles album.

Now is the time to address the history of this album and why it turned into a mess.  For the most part it is still a mess although there have been attempts to rescue it.

As you know LET IT BE was recorded before ABBEY ROAD even though it was the last album they released.  If you don't know that 53 years after the fact, shame on you.  You need to brush up on your Beatles history.  You appall me.

The original plan for LET IT BE was that it would be a project that would include three things.  First off, the album would recorded "live" in the studio and would be produced with each song having a single take.  There would be no vocal or instrumental over dubs.  Just the best take of each song mixed and cleaned up a little but finished without anything extra except for what was recorded in the studio.  There would be a film documenting The Beatles taking these songs from their creative infancy to the final product in studio and finally there was the possibility of the Beatles doing a live performance for the first time in four years.  It sounds like a great plan, and I think it would have been except things kind of went sideways.

As the band tried to record these songs with the idea of no overdubs using only the single takes of each song they found it difficult to do the songs the way they wanted them to sound with only the four of them.  Enter Mr. Billy Preston.  Preston was a keyboard player who The Beatles had met in Germany when they were just starting out.  Preston happened to be in the UK and stopped by to visit with the band.  They immediately recruited hm to play the keys to fill in voids in the sound of the songs.  "Get Back" is labeled as being recorded by "The Beatles and Billy Preston".  Preston saved these recordings from ending up even worse than the production by Spector.

The Beatles had a lot of songs they were working on for LET IT BE that would not make the cut but would show up on ABBEY ROAD and some that even made it to their early solo albums after the break up.  After the band finished recording the songs for LET IT BE they took a short break and began working on ABBEY ROAD since they had many of the songs almost ready to record bu this time.  As they waited for the film to be edited and released the LET IT BE album was shelved waiting for the release of the movie. 

Glyn Johns was a well respected recording engineer that worked with the band here and there.  He had recorded the vast majority of the album before having to leave early because of contractual obligations in Los Angeles.  He returned after all the recording had been done to finish what he had started.  He made his own mix of the album knowing what the intent of the group was and gave his work to Apple, leaving it there for approval and release.  His work would not see the light of day until 2020 it would finally be released as part of a release marking the 50th anniversary of the albums release.

Meanwhile The Beatles had signed a new agent by the name of Alan Kline.  From everything I have read, Kline was not the most honest agent around looking out more for making a quick buck instead of quality.  If I read the history correctly, it was Kline who decided to release the LET IT BE album bringing in Spector to produce and mix the album and that was where the disaster began. 

After hearing the album, George Martin said he immediately looked at the credits to see if he was listed as a co-producer.  He was not.  Only Phil Spector's name was listed as producer.  This could be a good or bad thing for Martin.  Paul has said when he first heard the final product he was fit to be tied.  This release was not what the group had intended.  John and George seemed to take a "whatever" attitude and I haven't heard what Ringo's reaction was at the time.

By the time the film and album were released The Beatles were basically finished as a band.  Paul had started working on McCARTNEY during the production of ABBEY ROAD.  John had likewise started working on his first solo album and had let the Beatles slide into his past.   George had his own publishing company and had a slew of songs from over the years that had not made it onto Beatles albums.  He was working on a three disc collection of these songs as his first solo project. The album became settled into the lower third of The Beatles canon and was left there.  It was what it was.

In 2003 McCartney decided to revisit LET IT BE and try to fix it.  His idea was to bring it back to the way the Beatles intended it to be.  It would be difficult.  He had to get rid of all of the strings and choirs and the overdubbing of vocals and instruments.  The problem was that to do this he would pretty much have to toss the takes that Spector had ruined and use takes that were not necessarily the best of the bunch.  What Paul ended up with was a very raw sounding recording of the songs.  He titled it "LET IT BE-NAKED".  To be honest it was a valiant attempt by Paul but with the inferior takes it didn't quite bring the songs out with their full potential.  It sounds very rough.  Actually, to me, it sounds like an unfinished album.  The album was met with mixed reactions.  It was nice to hear the songs without all of the over producing but left a lot to be desired.

 Then came the year 2020 and Giles Martin.  Giles is the son of George Martin and is a excellent producer and engineer.  Apple had hired Giles in 2017 to remix SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND" for the albums 50th anniversary.  Giles took the original mix and did a remix using new technology and brought out a very clean sounding album that made the album sound totally different. The result was almost like rediscovering the Beatles.  It was a vast improvement.  Apple decided to follow through and in 2018 Giles did his magic on "The Beatles (The White Album)" with the same result.  This was followed in 2019 with the same treatment for the 50th anniversary of ABBEY ROAD.

It only made sense then that in 2020 Giles would rework LET IT BE.  Giles has said that LET IT BE was quite a challenge.  He had to use Spectors original mix and somehow try to make it sound new.  It was not an easy task.  He tried to put as much of the "wall of sound" into the deep background as he could to bring out more of the Beatles.  I must say, given the mix he had he did a very good job.  The Spector still there but it isn't as messy sounding.  At the same time that Giles was working on trying t fix the Spector mess, Apple dusted off the Glyn Johns mix from the vault.  The two were released together in the deluxe release of LET IT BE for the 50th Anniversary.  In my opinion, Glyn Johns mix is about as close as you can get to what the Beatles started out wanting.  It is a totally different sound.  Johns used a lot of little tricks without crossing the line of over dubbing or adding anything.  He used a lot of reverberation in his mix.  He included some banter and joking between the group before a recording started.  This version is my go to version of LET IT BE now without taking anything away from Giles Martin.  

So is LET IT BE finally fixed?  I don't think so.  Spector took the best takes that there were and just took it entirely in the opposite direction that the Beatles were aiming for.  But Giles Martin did as good of a job as possible with these Spector mixes and Glyn Johns mix of the album is very refreshing.

With this 2020 release I move LET IT BE up the chart of the Beatles albums.

Addendum:  After LET IT BE was rereleased in 2020, Peter Jackson used new technology that is able to separate sounds using artificial intelligent programs to remake the LET IT BE movie.  He took hundreds of hours of footage from the recording sessions and created a HD 8 hour long film titled "GET BACK".  His film brings out the real story of those few weeks of recording.  Yes there was some friction but it wasn't as dark as the original made it out to be.  It was good to see the four working together on each others songs and working hard to record them correctly.  If anything, it is Peter Jackson's GET BACK that finally saves LET IT BE from the disaster that was released in 1970.

ENTRY NUMBER 499

Like ENTRY NUMBER 498, I will not be posting this on Facebook so I can pretty much say whatever I want without offending anybody.  More or less, as the mind speaks my fingers put down the words.  I was pretty pleased with ENTRY NUMBER 498 so let's try it again.

 My neighbor Sally turns 86 years old next month.  She is a petite lady rising above the 5 foot mark by about 2 inches.  Her mind is sharp.  She has a friendly and helpful personality.  You have to be careful though because she can also be a fiery lady as well.  She and her husband, Bob, moved into the house across the street back in 1996, good neighbors the whole time.  Bob passed away about 15 years ago and it seemed that Sally made the transition pretty good although it was difficult for her.

Sally is independent.  She is strong and does not like to ask for help although she readily gives help when she sees a need.  During the time when Barbara's health began to deteriorate, Sally, along with my other neighbor Charlene, kept a close eye on Barbara.  Barbara was as much of an independent as Sally is.   During the time when Barbara was still able to drive and able to accomplish things with difficulty, Sally was there.  Barbara would come home from grocery shopping and start to carry a bag at a time to the front porch where she would then carry a bag at a time into the house.  Sally would come over and talk Barbara into letting Sally carry the bags from the car to the porch so Barbara could carry them into the house.  As Barbara's health worsened, the more help our neighbors gave.  I am lucky to have the neighbors that I do have.

Sally, as I said, does not like to ask for help.  She has begun to acknowledge that at her age, she does need help here and there but that doesn't mean she likes to ask for it.  A couple of weeks ago I received a call from Sally asking me if I was busy.  The light bulbs in Sally's garage door opener and her overhead light in the garage were burned out.  Her garage door would not open.  I went over and replaced the lights and Sally pressed the button to open the garage door.  It would not open.  After looking at her door I discovered it was locked.  Somehow Sally had accidentally locked her garage door. I walked her to the door, explained what was wrong and showed her how to unlock the door if it should happen again.  As she was walking me back through the house and thanking me, she slowly broke into tears.  She expressed how she felt so alone and didn't know how to do things.  I told her that her, Charlene and myself were there for each other.  That's what friends and neighbors are for.  We lean on each other.

What I want you to take from the telling of that event are four things.  First, of course, is that Sally is very independent.  Second is that she feels vulnerable as she gets older.  Third is that the lady loves to drive her car.  That is not a bad thing.  Not yet anyway.  She is sharp minded.  She is a good driver and she knows her limitations while driving.  For example she does not drive on the highways.  She knows that her reflexes aren't what they use to be and so she stays on the side roads and never drives far from home.  The last thing is that Sally like a routine.  She does not like change or things that take her out of her comfort zone.  She does not like surprises. This leads us to what happened last Friday.

Last Friday morning Sally had gone to the DOV to renew her drivers license.  While she was there something happened that had never happened to her before.  She failed the eye test..  The lady at the DOV gave her a piece of paper to give to her eye doctor when she went to get glasses.  The paper was a sign of Sally getting older.  It was a paper that the doctor would tell the state if Sally was fit to drive or not.

She showed up at my front door shortly after noon that day.  She was anxious.  A wrench had been thrown into her day to day machinery and she did not know exactly what to do. At the DOV they had given her the name of an eye doctor that is approved by the state who was located in Belton.  To Sally, Belton might as well be a hundred miles away.  She did not know the town.  She wasn't sure how to get there and she certainly did not have a clue as to where the address of the eye doctor was located.

I did my best to calm her down and we talked about what had happened that morning.  I would make sure that we got this taken care of.  I had nothing else to do so I would drive her to Belton for the exam.  We called the phone number and made an appointment for Monday afternoon. After telling her not to worry and giving her a pat on the back, she headed home.

Saturday morning Sally called me again to make sure I hadn't forgotten about Monday's eye exam.  Her anxiety was building and I think she was a little scared that she would not be able to drive anymore.  The way I figured it, she was driving around the neighborhood without any problems so the adjustment to her eyes would be minimal.  That seemed to calm her down a bit for the time being.  I would not hear from her until Monday.

I had told Sally we would leave around three on Monday and so a little before three I stepped out of my house to find Sally walking up my driveway.  I smiled at her and she told me to let's get this over with and off we went.  It was a long appointment.  Sally is a talker and loves to tell stories to people.  I imagine there was a lot of story telling going on during her exam.  She came out of the exam with the paper the doctor had signed telling the state that her eyesight, with corrections, would allow her to drive safely.  She picked out some frames and we headed home with a much relieved Sally.

She insisted on buying me an early dinner on the way home so we stopped at Freddie's and got some pattie melts and fries before heading back home.  Sally was happy.  Today she mailed the paper to the state and now all she has to do is wait for her new glasses before heading back to the DOV for her license and her day to day routine returning to normal. 

Having good neighbors is important.  I am saying that from my perspective.  Me having good neighbors is important and I have two great neighbors, Charlene and Sally.  The three of us are single and live alone.  Sally losing her husband several years ago, Me losing Barb in 2018 and Charlene just lost her husband last July weekend.  We are the same the three of us and each of us need help from time to time.  I put a couch and a chair in the dumpster Charlene had rented last fall and Sally put a microwave and some boxes in the dumpster I rented a few weeks ago.  The theme between the three of us is that we are all in this together and we watch out for each other.  

Good neighbors are hard to find.  I am extremely lucky.  You get a good neighbor, help them.  It is indeed a rarity to have such fine ones.

It is 10:30 pm tonight.  It has been overcast but a nice temperature most of the day.  When I went to the store to pick up my prescriptions, a lady who was walking just in front of me into the store informed that it was a nice day but we would pay for it with storms tonight.  I did not ask for her weather forecast, she just offered it to me.  It is nice to have people feel relaxed enough in this day and age to talk to strangers like that.  It felt good.  She was right though.  Thunder, lightning and rain have arrived in Kansas City.

I like the rain.  I like the sound and the smell of it.  The only problem with rain, especially when accompanied with thunder and lightning is getting Dutch outside to do his business.  He doesn't mind the rain but the lights and the sounds make him rather skittish.  Tonight he will more than likely sleep close to my bed during the night as if I could protect him from it.

This rain is also a good thing for my dogwood tree.  It was one of my gifts from Dit-MCO on the occasion of my retirement.  They gave it to me as kind of a replacement for Barbara not being able to be there.  It was a thoughtful gesture and one that I very much appreciated.

Life is marching on.  I was thinking about that this morning as I sat quietly by myself eating oatmeal for breakfast.  Life does not stop and soon I will be a memory just as Barbara, all my grandparents, my sister, my dad and all those aunts and uncles as well as many friends have become.  Just a memory that will fade to obscurity as the generations come and go.

Going to school for the first time.  Playing baseball, then football and finally basketball and making the school team.  That first kiss from Valerie, who is now herself but a memory.  Time with Debbie and meeting Barbara then marrying her.  Working for dad and finding my place in the labor force. Meeting Ronnie for the first time and all the fun we had discovering music together to spending time with Larry and all the evening in the church parking lot playing basketball.  Seeing Brett for the first time and bringing home as my son followed by raising him on Beatles tunes.  Watching Barbara leave this world and telling people at my fathers memorial service in Alabama about my dad.

Memories.  We hold onto them as much as we can.  We lose a lot of those memories over the years due to time or age.  My dad was starting to lose his memory when Barbara died.  Barbara adored my dad and I think dad kind of like her as well.  To be honest dad "kind of liked" me too.  That was dad's answer all the time.

Me: Love you dad

Dad: yeah well I kind of like you too

It brings an unusual smile to my face these days.  I don't smile much anymore.  I am thinking that maybe I am forgetting how to smile.  What about a laugh?  Almost unheard of coming from me.  My sense of humor is fading like the memories.  I look at this world, in these times we find ourselves and I don't think there is much to laugh about.  As Americans we are divided and there is almost a hatred among the people of my country.  I remember studying and observing the fight to desegregate our country and it feels like just as we are right there. I look around and see that re-segregation is on the rise and moving fast.  The strange thing is that the very people who fought so hard to integregate the country are leading it back into segregation.  It saddens me.

I do not understand America anymore.  Hell, I don't think I even understand human beings anymore.  Everything seems to be upside down and sideways inside out.

I want simplicity to make a comeback.  I want critical thinking to become a thing again.  I want the Constitution of the United States to stand for something.  I want to see a return to true ... TRUE ... freedom of speech in this country.  Without that, this country means nothing.  That is what makes The United States so special.  The right to a free and open exchange of ideas.  We do not have that anymore.  The public square has been dismantled.

I think, at the moment I am typing this, that I am kind of glad I won't be around to see the path this country is headed down and where it ends up.  I truly believe that this country, this Democratic Republic that has proven itself, in my mind, is the greatest country in modern history.

My heart is truly saddened by what I have seen happening to it.

Enough for ENTRY NUMBER 499 in this blog.

SHOULD HAVE HAVE BEEN DOUBLE ALBUMS

This is a subject that has rolled around in my mind for a very long time.  Not often, but once in a great while, an artist or band put out two albums back to back that become a defining moment in time for the artist.  Every now and then two albums are released that are so good, close to masterpieces, that it is difficult to separate the two albums from each other.

Other than live albums, the first group to thrive on double albums was Chicago.  Their first three albums were double and they needed to be.  It was those three albums that threw Chicago into the forefront of rock in the late sixties and early seventies.  Chicago is often compared to Al Kooper's Blood Sweat and Tears because of the huge presence of horns giving their recordings a touch of jazz into the rock and roll.  Where Chicago and Blood Sweat and Tears part ways is that Chicago using the double album format were able to actually record jazz and introduce the rock and pop world to the world of jazz.  They still had their rock singles from those albums but when the listener purchased the album they were gifted with a mixture that no other bands were doing.  Their fourth album was a FOUR record set of live performances from those first three albums.  As Chicago was starting to prepare for the fifth album, Columbia Records made it known that Chicago was big enough now that the company was losing profits on the double album format and it seemed that casual Chicago fans were starting to think it a bit too much music to absorb and frankly, the public were starting to hesitate on dishing out the price for a double record from Chicago.  So Chicago made the fifth album their first single record.  The effect of this was a great album but at the expense of a lot of the jazz influence.  The album were all songs that would play on AM radio.  The public apparently was grateful that they could buy a cheaper single disc from the band instead of a jazz filled double record.  It changed the overall Chicago sound that would progress through time and Chicago was never the same band that they were during those first three albums.

I have always thought that an artist could stand to put out at least one double record once in a great while that would have created some absolutely awesome albums that would rocket up the charts.  This piece is about a few select set of albums that would fit together wonderfully as a double record set.  Some groups have done this as Bob Dylan did with "Blonde On Blonde", The Beatles "White Album", Elton John "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and ELO did "Out Of The Blue" as very successful double records.

So let's start at the top.

The Beatles: "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver"
These two albums are special in The Beatles discography.  They seem to slowly divide the old Beatles sound with the new sound that would lead to the Sgt Pepper's album.  This was the beginning of the metamorphosis  of the Beatles when they began to experiment with different sounds and Harrison became more involved in creating the new sound.

Tracks for "Rubber Soul":
1. Drive My Car
2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
3. You Won't See Me
4. Nowhere Man
5. Think For Yourself
6. The Word
7. Michelle
8. What Goes On
9. Girl
10. I'm Looking Through You
11. In My Life
12. Wait
13. If I Needed Someone
14. Run For Your Life

Tracks for "Revolver":
1. Taxman
2. Eleanor Rigby
3. Love You To
4. Here, There And Everywhere
5. Yellow Submarine
6. She Said She Said
7. Good Day Sunshine
8. For No One
9. I Want To Tell You
10. Got To Get You Into My Life
11. Tomorrow Never Knows

Quite a line up of tunes and it ends with a very Sgt Pepper's sound in Tomorrow Never Knows.  These two albums, when played back to back, sounds seamless between the two records.

Bob Dylan: "Blood On The Tracks" and "Desire"
These two albums still have a little political content included but what ties these two albums together is not only the greatness of the songs between the two, but Dylan goes into full story telling mode.  They are entertaining because of this.  You are listening to not only songs, but stories and it began a new style for Dylan.

Tracks for "Blood On The Tracks":
1. Tangled Up In Blue
2. Simple Twist Of Fate
3. You're a Big Girl Now
4. Idiot Wind
5. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
6. Meet Me In The Morning
7. Lilly, Rosemary and The Jack Of Hearts
8. If You See Her Say Hello
9. Shelter From The Storm
10. Buckets Of Rain

Tracks for "Desire":
1. Hurricane
2. Isis
3. Mozambique
4. One More Cup Of Coffee
5. Oh Sister
6. Joey
7. Romance In Durango
8. Black Diamond Bay
9. Sara

Bob Seger "Night Moves" and "Stranger In Town":

These albums show Seger at his absolute best, his peak.  While he did do some great albums later, every song on these two albums are Seger classics.  Personally, I can not listen to one without wanting to listen to the other right after it.  You can shuffle all the songs on these two albums and it still sounds perfect, each song having the sound that it belongs on the album.  It was his live album released right before these two that brought him into the main stream of rock, but these two albums cemented his presence there.  While Seger would have a few more classic albums, none surpassed the quality of music that these two hold.

Tracks for "Night Moves":
1. Rock and Roll Never Forgets
2. Night Moves
3. The Fire Down Below
4. Sunburst
5. Sunspot Baby
6. Mainstreet
7. Come To Poppa
8. Ship Of Fools
9. Mary Lou

Tracks for "Stranger In Town":
1. Hollywood Nights
2. Still The Same
3. Old Time Rock and Roll
4. Till It Shines
5. Feel Like A Number
6. Ain't Got No Money
7. We've Got Tonight
8. Brave Strangers
9. The Famous Final Scene

Bad Company: "Bad Co" and "Straight Shooter"

Imagine a new band coming on to the scene.  The vocals sound familiar but you can't really place who it is until you see them.  That was the case with Bad Company.  Paul Rogers was in a band named "Free" who had one hit song "All Right Now" and people liked it.  They loved it.  But the band wasn't working out and Rogers wanted more freedom to do what he wanted to do and so he formed Bad Company.  The first album was a smash and by the end of their first tour as an opening act, fans were wondering why they weren't headlining.  Then within a year the second album "Straight Shooter" is released and it is, by most pundits, better than the first album and Bad Company's second tour had them as the headliners.  Every song on these two albums are instantly noticed as a Bad Company song and each one of these songs has fans asking "Why wasn't that a single?  These two albums go hand in hand with each other.  Bad Company would never again have a backlog of songs to release all at one time and the group would fade a little bit after these two albums.  If this had been a double record set, it could have been their first greatest hits album.

Tracks for "Bad Co":
1. Can't Get Enough
2. Rock Steady
3. Ready For Love
4. Don't Let Me Down
5. Bad Company
6. The Way I Choose
7. Movin' On
8. Seagull

Tracks for "Straight Shooter":
1. Good Lovin' Gone Bad
2. Feel Like Makin' Love
3. Weep No More
4. Shooting Star
5. Deal With The Preacher
6. Wild Fire Woman
7. Anna
8. Call On Me

Rod Stewart: "Every Picture Tells A Story" and "Never A Dull Moment"

Rod Stewart had already known some pretty good success with the group Faces with his pal Ronnie Wood before breaking out on his own.  He first few solo attempts were fairly good but overlooked as Stewart was still putting out Faces albums.  Then he decided to make a full break and focus on a solo project.  The result was the epic "Every Picture Tells A Story" which featured one of his best known songs "Maggie May"  The album is non-stop good with a different sound than the Faces had.  It is considered one of the greatest albums of all time and I still consider it so.  Within a year he did the follow up "Never A Dull Moment" which had some cover songs that Stewart breathed new life into.  The second of the two seemed to pick up where the first one left off.  In this case again, when put together, these two disc sound like they came off of the same album.  I think if Stewart had released these as a double disc would have really shot his solo career to a point where it would take a few more years to achieve.
 
Tracks for "Every Picture Tell A Story":
1. Every Picture Tells A Story
2. Seems Like A Long Time
3. That's All Right
4. Tomorrow Is A Long Time
5. Maggie May
6. Mandolin Wind
7. I'm Losing You
8. Reason To Believe

Tracks for "Never A Dull Moment":
1. True Blue
2. Lost Paraguayos
3. Mama You Been On My Mind
4. Italian Girls
5. Angel
6. Interludings
7. You Wear It Well
8. I'd Rather Go Blind
9. Twistin' The Night Away

Well I have some other ideas but they would not have worked out due to the circumstances surrounding the times.  I could see Elton John double up "Don't Shoot Me" with "Honky Chateau" but he already had "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" in the planning stages.  Eagles "On The Border" and  "One Of These Nights" would have been a classic double set, but then they would have been out of material waiting for Joe Walsh to come along.  In the seventies, when there were so many great rock albums coming out, the possibilities are infinite for possible double record sets.  These that I selected I feel would have really made a difference in the discography of the seventies.  They individual albums that seem to have a sibling type disc to go along as a double.

Next time you listen to one of your discs, think of one that truly is a companion disc and think what it would have been like if the two had been released simultaneously as a double record set.

This was a short and not too deep entry but one that I wanted to do just to put an idea out there.  Hope you enjoyed.

FIVE YEARS OF JOHN LENNON

John Lennon only lived on this earth for forty years.  During this forty years, a transition took place as to how John Lennon presented himself and his philosophy.

Lennon's life was very complicated.  As a child his father abandoned he and his mother Julia.  His mother turned the young boy over to the care of his Aunt Mimi.  He was extremely intelligent and talented.  He was an artist in all aspects.  He could draw, write prose, write music, play several instruments and had a mind that saw the world and came up with a philosophy that was his and his alone, as most philosophers do.

His professional music career began with a group called The Quarrymen which would later morph into what became one of the world's all time great pop bands, The Beatles. When The Beatles solidified into the final line up of Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Richard Starkey (Commonly known as Ringo Starr) John found his life turned upside down.  Sudden fame that towered over the fame of Elvis and Dylan forced his outward life into a mold that the public wanted The Beatles to be.  He was married and a father in real life but in public, John was expected to be seen as one of "the boys" single and fancy free.  This forcing of his personification would put a strain on his marriage to Cynthia and he would drift away from her as well as his son Julian.

It seemed that everything The Beatles put out went to the top.  They could not do anything wrong when it came to music.  He and McCartney collaborated on songs giving each credit for the majority of songs The Beatles released.  As the group grew through the years Lennon, McCartney and Harrison began to be able to get away from the simple love songs they had been writing and Lennon, McCartney and Harrison began to write songs with a deeper meaning incorporating their individual styles and messages into their music.  By the time their 1968 album was released, known as "The White Album" each of the three were writing songs that were easily picked out as to who wrote what.  While McCartney stayed mostly with his pop love songs, Lennon and Harrison began to write more songs that expressed their ideologies that they were beginning to form.

Just to be clear, this was and is my own personal take on John Lennon's philosophy that he was forming.  I have always admired and respected Lennon as a philosopher, just as I do most philosophers.  And just as I do most philosophers I did not agree with a lot of it.  Anyone who can form a complicated view of life and nature and be able to present it in a form that is understood gets my respect.  It is not an easy thing to do and something that I have tried but come up very lacking in that ability.

The first song of Lennon's that I think was an in your face philosophical statement was "Revolution".  It was here that Lennon showed pure genius with his words to get a point across.  I think this song was written, not as Lennon lecturing us, but as Lennon saw society lecturing him and others of his generation.    Here are the lyrics and perhaps you can see what he was doing with the words:

You say you want a revolution

Well, you know

We all want to change the world

You tell me that it's evolution

Well, you know

We all want to change the world

But when you talk about destruction

Don't you know that you can count me out

Don't you know it's gonna be

All right, all right, all right

You say you got a real solution

Well, you know

We'd all love to see the plan

You ask me for a contribution

Well, you know

We're doing what we can

But if you want money for people with minds that hate

All I can tell is brother you have to wait

Don't you know it's gonna be

All right, all right, all right

You say you'll change the constitution

Well, you know

We all want to change your head

You tell me it's the institution

Well, you know

You better free you mind instead

But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao

You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow

Don't you know it's gonna be

All right, all right, all right

He continued to write songs as The Beatles slowly grew apart and eventually broke up. When they went their individual ways and began to record solo albums, Lennon was totally free to do and write whatever he wanted.  He did a biographical song called "Mother" in which he was able to express his disappointment with his childhood and lack of relationships with his mother and father.  He wrote about his religious views and his belief in only his wife, Yoko, and himself, called "God" telling the world that he doesn't' believe in Jesus, buddah, or any cult or religion.  He expressed his anti war sentiment in several songs before writing his most beloved song "Imagine".

This song musically is so very beautiful.  The words of the song, however, show his political thinking and that was one of communism/socialism.  The words are often taken out of context and quoted to make statements of people getting along, of humankind's desire of love for one another.  If you take the lyrics as a whole however, you see the true political philosophy of John Lennon.  No God, No Satan, no heaven or hell, a one world government, the idea that everything belongs to everyone, there are no individual possessions.  It is "Revolution" as written from Lennon's point of view instead of from the western philosophy of a republic or democracy.  Here are the lyrics taken as a whole:

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people living life in peace, you

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope some day you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people sharing all the world, you

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope some day you'll join us

And the world will be as one

In a live recording of this during a concert in Madison Square Garden, When he gets to "Imagine no possessions" he says under his breath "I try"  because let's face it, John Lennon had a LOT of possessions.  He owned a few mansions, lots of private land and was doing fairly well monetary wise. The song, to me, kind of like mostleaders in a socialistic system, where those at the top, those who condone the system the strongest, also live against everything the philosophy states.

Lennon continued writing and recording this type of philosophy until 1975 when he suddenly stopped recording and entered into private life in New York.  He and Yoko had a son, Sean, and Lennon retired from music to live the life of a father and husband.  After he had done to Cynthia and Julian much the same thing that his own parents had done to him, he had a chance to do things right and that was what he wanted to do. He became an average New Yorker. He could be found walking through Central Park with his son on his shoulders.  He never hid from people, but embraced them as friends, fellow New Yorkers.  There are clips of him stopping and just chatting with people in New York, not acting as though he were anything special.  I believe he was extremely sincere during this time of his life. He had become just an everyday normal man living his life while raising his family. For five years he lived this life, playing music in private but not releasing any new music to the public.  Music had become a hobby for him.

Then in 1980 after five years away from the music, he and Yoko released a new album titled "Double Fantasy".  This album showed a new Lennon.  It showed the family man, the loving husband and the father of a son he dearly loved.  The songs were of a more personal nature and more biographical than philosophical.  "Watching The Wheels" is a song on this album that somewhat explains what he had been doing for five years, where he had been and what he was about.  It was a mature Lennon that came out.  He may have still held onto his philosophy from the past, he he put it in a different place as far as importance was concerned.  He had a new perspective on what was important in life.

People say I'm crazy

Doing what I'm doing

Well, they give me all kinds of warnings

To save me from ruin

When I say that I'm okay, well they look at me kinda strange

"Surely, you're not happy now, you no longer play the game"

People say I'm lazy

Dreaming my life away

Well they give me all kinds of advice

Designed to enlighten me

When I tell them that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall

"Don't you miss the big time boy, you're no longer on the ball?"

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round

I really love to watch them roll

No longer riding on the merry-go-round

I just had to let it go

Ah, people ask me questions

Lost in confusion

Well, I tell them there's no problem

Only solutions

Well, they shake their heads and they look at me, as if I've lost my mind

I tell them there's no hurry, I'm just sitting here doing time

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round

I really love to watch them roll

No longer riding on the merry-go-round

I just had to let it go

Lennon had spent five years putting the things of life in what he thought were their proper perspective.  He had come out on the other side a more mature man and the respect that came with this release was much more than five years previous.  Sadly, this album brought Lennon back into the spotlight and he once again became a public figure.  The new mature John Lennon's 1980 statement on his view of life would lead to his death shortly after the album was released.

This is the Lennon I hope that the world will remember.  The ordinary family man finally happy with life and where it had taken him

MY MUSICAL INFLUENCES WHO HAVE PASSED

This is a lit of musicians who had a direct influence over my love of music so far during my lifetime and have passed on.  The list is by no means complete.  The names listed in all uppercase are the big guns, the ones that I felt their loss to the world was huge.  The ones who not only influenced me and the world, but influenced the direction of music.  These are the greats.

DUANE ALLMAN, Lynn Anderson, Louis Armstrong, Eddy Arnold, CHET ATKINS, Hoyt Axton, John Baldry, Mike Bloomfield, Marc Bolan, Tommy Bolin, John Bonham, Sonny Bono, Mike Botts, DAVID BOWIE, Delany Bramlett, Eric Braunn, James Brown, Jack Bruce, DAVE BRUBECK, Paul Butterfield, David Byron, Tommy Caldwell, Troy Caldwell, J.J.CALE, Jim Capaldi, Karen Carpenter, JOHNNY CASH, HARRY CHAPIN, RAY CHARLES, Clarence Clemons, Patsy Cline, Joe Cocker, Nat King Cole, Allen Collins, John Coltrane, SAM COOKE, Floyd Cramer, Papa John Creach, Jim Croce, King Curtis, Rick Danko, Bobby Darin, Hal David, Miles Davis, Jimmy Dean, John Denver, Bo Diddley, Lee Dorman, Donald Dunn, Jerry Edmonton, Duke Ellington, Cass Elliot, John Entwistle, Brian Epstein, Danny Federici, Freddy Fender, Dan Fogelberg, Tom Fogerty, Glenn Frey, Rory Gallagher, JERRY GARCIA, Marvin Gaye, Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb, Gerry Goffin, Andrew Gold, Leslie Gore, Bill Graham, Dobi Gray, Rick Grech, Jimmy Greenspoon, James Griffin, James Gurley, Marvin Hamlisch, GEORGE HARRISON, Richie Havens, Isaac Hayes, LEVON HELM, JIMI HENDRIX, BUDDY HOLLY, JOHN LEE HOOKER, NICKY HOPKINS, Michael Jackson, WAYLON JENNINGS, Brian Jones, Davy Jones, JANIS JOPLIN, Paul Kantner, Terry Kath, Albert King, B.B. KING, Don Kirshner, Larry Knetchel, Ronnie Lane, Nicolette Larson, Peggy Lee, JOHN LENNON, Jon Lord, Richard Manuel, Ray Manzarek, BOB MARLEY, Steve Marriott, Dean Martin, Curtis Mayfield, Bob Mayo, Ian McLagan, Freddy Mercury, Mitch Mitchell, Keith Moon, JIM MORRISON, Dee Murray, Rick Nelson, HARRY NILSSON, LAURA NYRO, Berry Oakley, ROY ORBISON, Patti Page, Robert Palmer, Gram Parsons, LES PAUL, Dan Peek, Carl Perkins, John Phillips, Wilson Pickett, ELVIS PRESLEY, Billy Preston, Ray Price, Eddie Rabbit, Gerry Rafferty, Lou Rawls, Otis Redding, Jerry Reed, LOU REED, Jim Reeves, Paul Revere, Charlie Rich, Marty Robbins, Billy Joe Royal, David Ruffin, Dan Seals, PETE SEEGER, Joe Shermie, Del Shannon, FRANK SINATRA, Percy Sledge, Phoebe Snow, Joe South, Dusty Springfield, Chris Squire, B.W. Stevenson, Ian Stewart, Joe Tex, Mary Travers, Ronnie Van Zant, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters, Bob Welch, Cory Wells, HANK WILLIAMS, Johnny Winter, Bobby Womack, FRANK ZAPPA, WARREN ZEVON ........................

Like I said, not a complete list but for me, this list brings about a mish mash of styles in music that has shaped my wide appreciation of music.

The web site http://www.classicbands.com/heaven.html was a big help in constructing this list.  There is no way I could have remembered all of these influences over my lifetime.

HEROES - THE PASSING OF ROCK

"We could be heroes .. if just for one day....." - David Bowie

I have been thinking about writing this post since the morning I woke up, turned on the news and then I was started to make my way to start to get ready for the day I heard "David Bowie, dead at 69" and I stopped in my tracks.  David Bowie was gone and the thought came to me that all of the Bowie I had heard would be all the Bowie I would hear.  No more Bowie.  It became clear, for the first time, that the golden age of rock was coming to an end.

I know there will be people who don't agree with me about the golden age of rock thing, but for me it was.  I have always considered a generation to be twenty years.  For me the opening generation of rock and roll was from 1960 to 1980.  Those twenty years was when rock grew up and went through changes and gave us the true legends  of rock.

Yes there were the pre-1960 legends.  Those that laid the foundation for the generation that was about to burst upon the scene.  Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry were a few of those whose music is the solid base for rock.  The world learned early about losing icons and having their music silenced.  Buddy Holly and Patsy Cline died in plane crashes.  All the Buddy Holly we have now is all we will ever get and to many, including me, it just isn't enough.  The Buddy Holly catalog should be much larger than it ended up being.

With the arrival of the sixties rock came into it's own with far too many artists to list here.  There were different sounds or styles depending upon where the music originated.  There was the British invasion that gave us the Beatles and the Rolling Stones early on.  Some of the American artists congregated in a city called Detroit and the Motown sound was created by Berry Gordy.  San Fransisco brought it's own sound and New York became a hotbed of song writers in the Brill Building in Hell's Kitchen who would become iconic performers in their own right.

I could write for hours on this but I could not give this period of time justice.  This piece isn't about the artist during the generation but rather the passing of a generation.  We went though losing kings and queens through accidents which robbed the world of their art long before the world was ready to let go.  We lost music to drugs and to mental illness.  Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendricks, Jim Morrison had so very much more to give but were taken.  Terry Kath, the genius and soul behind the group Chicago killed himself with a bullet shortly after the release of their fifth album.  Chicago never matched the quality of the first five albums after Kath's passing.  John Denver's brilliance in songwriting went down with his little plane one afternoon A brilliant young songwriter named Jim Croce who had just begun to be noticed by the world from his wonderful songs was in a plane that went down.  Stevie Ray Vaughn, one of the undisputed greatest guitar players in history died in a helicopter while heading to a stage.

The heroes of southern rock suffered as well.  The group Lynyrd Skynyrd took away one of the greatest voices from the south when their plane found a group of trees instead of the runway.  Duane Allman, by my standards the granddaddy of southern rock slid his motorcycle into a truck on a sunny afternoon.

Then there was John Lennon.  If you are familiar with this blog, you know how I feel abut John Lennon.  It has been thirty five years since his voice was silenced by a mentally disturbed soul.  I won't go off on a tangent about Lennon.  There are plenty of entries to read on this blog about him and his talent and his death.  The Lennon catalog is closed like so many others.  No more Lennon.

Lately though I have noticed that the first generation of rock was beginning to be effected by old age.  Joni Mitchell and her wonderful voice was silenced by disease as was Linda Ronstandt's.  Lou Reed passed away one day and I was saddened.  It didn't hit me that time was taking away our rock heroes until that morning when I heard that Bowie had died.  A couple of days later, we learned that Glenn Frey of Eagles fame had died.  This was when it hit me and believe me it hit me hard.

Bowie was one of the true geniuses of the art and definitely one of my favorites.  I truly admired Bowie and his talents.  Bowie could transform himself into different personas as his art progressed and became more diverse and finally main stream.  Bowie is not with us anymore.  He was 69.  Glenn Frey was 67.  Lou Reed was 71.  George Harrison was 58.

I began to think of other rock icons, heroes and realized that most are in their 70's, and closing in on their 80's.  Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Pete Townsend, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Carol King, James Taylor, Steven Tyler, Jackson Browne, Robert Plant, John Fogerty plus many many others are more or less in a race against time, a race to continue to produce their art while they still can.

As far as this generation thing goes, I consider U2 to be the last of the generation of 1960-1980.  The Magic Generation.  The star of U2, Bono, is 55.  Bono is still producing art and hopefully he will be for a very long time but there is this thing about time.

You see "Time waits for no one"  as the Stones told us many many years ago.  We never know when another of these great artists from that great generation will be silenced and there will be no more of their art to appreciate.

When Bono leaves us, the great generation of rock will have come to an end.

Rock on people.  Rock on while you still can.

That includes you Mom and Dad.

TRAGEDY IN THE ART WORLD - DECEMBER 8, 1980

This isn't the first post I will write about John Lennon and I promise it won't be the last.  He was too much of an influence on the arts to forget him or let his birth or death slip by without notice.

John Lennon was one of a kind.  People will argue that his song writing partner, Paul McCartney, was just as much of an influence if not more and that may be.  John and Paul were different.  They thought along different lines.  While Paul was indeed a great song writer and performer, he seemed to stay out of putting his thoughts, his philosophy out front.  Not so with John Lennon.

John was a complete artist.  He was a philosopher.  He was, in some ways, a politician.  He wrote books and poems.  He drew sketches portraying his life experiences.  He also,of course, wrote music.  His music changed over the years with each topic being a mirror as to what he was going through life at a particular time.  He was one of a kind.

Even the titles of some of his songs tell you what he was thinking or going through. Such song titles as "Crippled Inside", "Gimme Some Truth", "Instant Karma", "Power To The People", "Mind Games", "Imagine", "All You Need Is Love" and "Revolution" are examples of this.  There have been plenty of writers who wrote songs along such topics but in my opinion none came close to touching the genius of John Lennon.

One the most infamous events in Lennon's career was when he said  on March 4, 1966 that "We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity".  The world, especially the Christian world too great offense at this statement and it created a huge backlash against The Beatles which produced huge record burning parties and boycotts.  Lennon was soon to apologize for something that he said that he did believe. “I’m not anti-God, anti-Christ or anti-religion. I was not saying we are greater or better. I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I’m sorry I said it, really. I never meant it to be a lousy anti-religious thing. From what I’ve read, or observed, Christianity just seems to be shrinking, to be losing contact.”

I look back at that time in 1966 and what Lennon said had some truth to it.  The Beatles were huge.  They were filling stadiums.  Their fans were more or less worshiping them.  No doubt more people, especially kids, were showing more interest and belief in The Beatles then they were into religion.  That is all Lennon was saying.  But that one line was pulled out of context "We're bigger than Jesus" was all that was heard.  Lennon's foresight that he would have to apologize for something that he thought he was in the right about was a part of his maturing process.  The initial statement and following apology was probably the most important statements Lennon ever made.

 I did not always agree with John Lennon's philosophies, but I do respect any man who can present his thoughts in an intelligent manner without getting offended or offending.  Lennon simply spoke what was on his mind and you could take it or leave it.  It didn't really matter to him.  I learned a lot from this part of John Lennon and the world is a better place for allowing him to express ideas that were not necessarily mainstream.

The lyrics to his songs were the most efficient way that Lennon got his message across.  One of  his most popular songs titled "Imagine" has become a mantra for peace and equality and held up as a slogan by most people who only hear what they want to hear in the song.  These people do not really listen to the lyrics though.  The same people who were so very upset at the "bigger than Jesus" remark hold "Imagine" up as a great song that lays a blueprint down for how mankind should live. Yet the opening verse in "Imagine" is "Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try. No hell below us. Above us only sky". The second verse also attacks religion with "Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion too.    "Imagine" is a song about socialism, close to communism and yet not only Americans, but people all over the world have held this song as a blueprint for life because they do not listen to the words.  Don't get me wrong, "Imagine" is a great song, even a masterpiece and I love it.  I love the lyrics to it but I don't agree with them very much.  It was, at that time, Lennon's philosophy however.

One thing that John Lennon did that impressed me was that he was able to listen to new ideas and often he would accept new ideas and throw away old ideas that he thought were flawed.  Not many men, especially artists, have that ability.  Lennon did.

By the time 1980 rolled around, John Lennon had been out of the public eye for five years.  He had not recorded or written during that time but had evolved into a more stable, down to earth man with family being one of the most important things in his life.  As this thinking progressed he began to write again and his last album, released just months before he was murdered, reflect a philosophy of love and family and people just getting along.  The music was toned down and not as angry as some of his earlier works were.  One of my personal favorite Lennon songs come from this album.  It is almost a biographical song which explains where he was at that moment in time.  It is titled "Watching The Wheels".

WATCHING THE WHEELS

People say I'm crazy doing what I'm doing,
Well they give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin,
When I say that I'm o.k. they look at me kind of strange,
Surely your not happy now you no longer play the game,

People say I'm lazy dreaming my life away,
Well they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me,
When I tell that I'm doing Fine watching shadows on the wall,
Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball?

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,
I really love to watch them roll,
No longer riding on the merry-go-round,
I just had to let it go,

People asking questions lost in confusion,
Well I tell them there's no problem,
Only solutions,
Well they shake their heads and they look at me as if I've lost my mind,
I tell them there's no hurry...
I'm just sitting here doing time,

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,
I really love to watch them roll,
No longer riding on the merry-go-round,
I just had to let it go.  

Despite all of the controversy that followed him, despite all of the brilliance in his words, his music, his writing and his art, John Lennon was a true renaissance man.  He was a man who was always true to himself even if it did temporarily cost him some fans and admirers.   It seemed like they always came back because when John Lennon said something it was truth in his own mind.  He was a special artist that come along in history all too rarely.  Part of the reason that Mark David Chapman gave for murdering Lennon was that Lennon had stood for helping the poor and yet all Chapman saw was a man with tremendous wealth.  In other words, Chapman saw Lennon as selling out.  To this I say read some of Lennon's lyrics and you will hear him talk about the poor and disenfranchised and how we, as mankind, should help them out.  You will also find that Lennon believed in working for what you get and deserve.  Read the lyrics to "Revolution" and you find that he is telling people to get things straight before you go off and just rant about revolution in the streets.  There is a right way and a wrong way, and Lennon was seeing that it was being approached the wrong way.

REVOLUTION

You say you want a revolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be alright
Alright Alright

You say you got a real solution
Well you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well you know
We're doing what we can
But when you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be alright
Alright Alright

You say you'll change the constitution
Well you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well you know
You better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know know it's gonna be alright
Alright Alright 

The world could use a few John Lennons these days.  On December 8, 1980, the world lost one of it's finest thinkers and artists.  His works will live for a very long time if we are lucky.

It Don't Come Easy - George Harrison/Richard Starkey

It don't come easy,
You know it don't come easy.

It don't come easy,
You know it don't come easy.

Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues,
And you know it don't come easy.
You don't have to shout or leap about,
You can even play them easy.

Forget about the past and all your sorrows,
The future won't last,
It will soon be over tomorrow.

I don't ask for much, i only want your trust,
And you know it don't come easy.
And this love of mine keeps growing all the time,
And you know it just ain't easy.

Open up your heart, let's come together,
Use a little love
And we will make it work out better.

(ah -)
(ah -)
(ooh-ooh)
(ah-ooh-ooh)

Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues,
And you know it don't come easy.
You don't have to shout or leap about,
You can even play them easy.

Peace, remember peace is how we make it,
Here within your reach
If you're big enough to take it.

I don't ask for much, i only want your trust,
And you know it don't come easy.
And this love of mine keeps growing all the time,
And you know it don't come easy.

BEAUTIFUL MUSIC - POP

I was listening to some of my music this afternoon and came across some truly wonderful beautiful songs.  I began trying to think what songs I consider the most beautiful songs that effect me.  The rules I set for myself were simple.  The melody had to be one that catches in your mind and keeps coming back over and over.  The melody also had to carry the meaning of the song working hand in hand with the lyrics.

The lyrics had to be meaningful and have a purpose.  Sappy lyrics are not permitted.  The words have to convey the emotion that the writer is trying to get across.  It has to let the listener know what the message is without being cryptic.

The song has had to stand the test of time.  It has to communicate from generation to generation.  /this is the most difficult part of the test for a song to past.  There are different ways a song can accomplish this.  The original recording can be unsurpassed  and be the  best recording possible and able to touch the hearts of generations to come.  Another way is for each generation to have a new recording of the song that easily speaks to the generation it is recorded for.

There are a few song writers that immediately jump out as being great song writers with several songs worthy of making the cut.  Paul Simon, Carol King and Hank Williams Sr fit into this category.  After giving it much thought here are a few songs that I think meet the criteria

I expect there to be many disagreements pertaining to my choices.  That is the way it should be.  Music is as individual as those that listen to it and appreciate it.  This is my list as of today.  If I had written this yesterday or tomorrow, the list might be completely different.  It's music.  The way you look at music a lot of times depends on your mood or where you are in life.  

Number ten finds us with Otis Redding's "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay."  The story of a man lost in the world and not able to find himself.  After searching everywhere he finds himself in San Francisco with the realization that he has no life and the thought process leading up to suicide.

Number nine I see a song that has been covered too many times to count. Each time it is recorded it sounds new but still brings about the emotion of lost love.  "Faded Love" is this song.

Number eight is "Love Hurts"as recorded by Graham Parsons and Emmy Lou Harris.  The voices in this recording match the beauty and the pain that love can bring.

Number seven I decided was Harry Chapin's "Cats in the Cradle".  Any parent who has raised their children can relate to this song on some level.

Number six is Willie Nelson's masterpiece "Crazy".  While I prefer Patsy Cline's recording, I have yet to hear a bad recording of this song.

Now we get down to the REALLY good songs and the most difficult to choose.

Number five is George Harrison's "Something".  Easily a contender as one of the Beatles best recordings.  John and Paul never seemed to get in touch with their emotions as deeply as George did on this song.

Number four is Roy Orbison's "Crying".  Not enough can be said about this song. The melody follows the lyrics Orbison's voice puts the finishing touch on it.

Number three brings Carol King to us with "You've Got A Friend".  The same year she recorded this wonderful song, James Taylor recorded it.  It is his version that is better known but this is a song for the ages.

Number two slot is filled with Paul Simon's signature song "Bridge Over Troubled Water".  Art Garfunkels voice on the original recording is filled with passion.  you can not listen to this song without memories of someone in your past that faced tough times or a time when you were facing tough times and someone was there for you.

Number one was probably the easiest choice for me to make.  I knew it would be my number one when I first started thinking about this list.  "I'm so lonesome I Could Cry" by Hank Sr. can be recorded by almost anyone and when you sing it, you can't help but feel the loneliness and heart break of someone who feels totally alone and isolate from the world.  In my opinion it is the most beautiful pop song ever written.

I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
Words and music by Hank Williams
Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I'm so lonesome I could cry

I've never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind the clouds
To hide its face and cry

Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves began to die?
Like me he's lost the will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry

LET IT BE - A MEMORY

The local movie theater had gone through some changes.  It had originally opened as a bowling alley before turning into a two screen movie house.  Two screen movie theaters were the thing back in the late sixties and early seventies along with drive in theaters.  Later the theaters would turn into four screens followed by eight and then twenty until huge theaters with thirty some screens would arrive in the late nineties.  The Ruskin Theater Complex was just a two screener though and had already had its hay day in the early seventies.  It had gone from showing first run movies to making itself a baby sitter for a weekly moms day off by showing kid movies once a week for a quarter.

I had gone to some of the kid movies before I entered middle school and remember how rowdy it would get in there. Any chance of actually watching a movie was totally gone.  Basically the parents would pay to drop the kids off to watch a movie, the movie operators would lock the kids in a full theater for a couple of hours and open the doors when the movie was over.  Apparently they were turning a little profit on this scheme because they kept it going for several years.

It finally came to be on its last legs when they started running movies that had left the first run movie houses for a dollar.  You should remember this was before the video cassette recorders had arrived and so if you wanted to see a movie uncut and in its entirety the last chance to do so was the dollar movie houses.  I had come to this situation in seventy one when what would become the last movie the Beatles arrived at the Ruskin Theater for a dollar.

It was summer and during this particular summer I did not have many friends that I was hanging around with.  It was the pre Ronnie and Larry era and a lot of us had gone separate ways when school let out.  I was still going up to Mr. Allard's ball field a few times a week to play baseball but other than that I was pretty much on my own.  This was the thing that could make that particular summer stand out for me.

I remember the day clearly right down to what I was wearing.  one of my favorite shirts back then was a yellow striped oxford button down that fit me really well.  Sporting my favorite shirt and a pair of white jeans with an extremely wide double buckle belt holding them up along with a pair of sandals I left the house to head for the theater.  At the time I thought I was dressed pretty cool.  I looked the part of a typical suburban hippie want to be.  I had parts of the making of looking like a hippie but not all by far.  Our family was so un-hippie that my sister actually went to a "hippie" party where they dressed up to try to look like hippies based on what we saw on the news.  She had painted flowers on her face and her blue sweatshirt and jeans.  Suburbanites in the sixties and seventies were so un-cool but really tried to be cool.  My white jeans and wide belt with sandals was my attempt at being as cool as I could coming from the suburbs.

I walked across the shopping center parking lot towards the theater with a dollar in my pocket.  On the marquis were the simple words "LET IT BE".  That was about all I needed to know.  I loved the Beatles music since I was about seven years old.  My aunt and myself had a few of their singles and listened to them all the time.  I was not so much a Beatle aficionado as to be able to say who sang what song but I knew I loved the music.

The Beatles music had changed somewhat since I had started listening to them at the beginning.  The sound was more experimental then it was back in the early sixties.  It seemed to go more with the other music that was coming out in those days like Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf and Three Dog Night among many others.  I felt a bit of excitement as I entered the theater and paid admission then walked through the doors to an empty auditorium.  I would be watching this last effort by the Beatles by myself and that was fine with me.

From the beginning of the movie I could tell that this was the Beatles movie I had been waiting for.  Previous movies were silly things that did not play to reality at all.  Stupid stories that were written in order to incorporate as many Beatles songs as possible.  They had even done a cartoon called "Yellow Submarine" that was the silliest of all the Beatles attempts but also had the best music for all their films.  That was about to change.

This movie was a documentary of the Beatles recording in the studio.  It had some great songs that would become classics.  It left nothing to the imagination as to what was going on with the Beatles at the time.  They were on the brink of a break up and you could feel the tension in the air as they discussed songs, walked through songs and then tried to lay down recordings of the songs.

Ringo seemed completely aloof from the others during the sessions.  Sitting behind his drums, he looked bored as Paula and John wrestled with what the songs would sound like.  When it became time to play Ringo would do his job.  It never failed that not too far into a song someone would stop and Ringo would get this look of impatience on his face and wait for the discussion to end so they could record again.

George Harrison looked to really be trying to put out a good product.  He by far was the best musician in the group as far as his guitar playing was concerned but he had little say in how the songs of Paul and John would end up sounding like.  He would sit and get lectured by Paul McCartney over and over again on how to play a rift and I had the feeling that George was trying his best to give Paul what he wanted without succeeding very well.

You could feel a tug of war for control of the music between Lennon and McCartney.  Each of them were vying for leadership of the group even though long ago it had been John who led the group in all things.  The burr under the saddle that triggered this wrestling match sat next to John during most of the recording session.

Yoko Ono had recently married John and he insisted that she be by his side at all times.  It was clear that this perturbed the other three greatly.  Women had never had a place in the inner workings of the Beatles until now and Yoko was pushing for everything to go the way John envisioned it.  The longer Yoko was in the movie the more tension filled the screen.

Eventually they vacated the warehouse that they had been recording in and went back to their studio on Abbey Road to put the finishing touches on the album.  At the studio was where Paul played that marvelous rendition of Let It Be.  John and Paul seemed more at ease with each other in the studio setting and the music began to sound a little more tight, but there was still that tension in the air.

The film finished off with the Beatles last performance in public from the top of the recording studios.  While people in the streets stopped to look up at the Beatles playing songs that had not been heard before the police moved in to keep things moving.  They instructed the Beatles to leave the rooftop after about twenty minutes of superb performance footage.  By far this was the best live performance footage that had ever been taken of the Beatles.  They left the roof top and it was over.

I left the theater feeling that I had seen the greatest rock movie ever.  It was by far superior to the other attempts at film that the group had done.  I am glad I took the opportunity to see that film. 

Both the movie and the album of LET IT BE was shelved for a year or so as the Beatles tried to decide what the future of the group was going to be.  During this time they recorded on of their finest albums entitled ABBEY ROAD which featured John on one side and Paul on the other, an indication of the split that was happening inside the studio.  It was on the ABBEY ROAD album the George Harrison made his mark with two of his greatest songs.  It was all too little too late.  After ABBEY ROAD was released McCartney recorded a solo album followed by an album by John.  George recorded an album of songs he had been saving up through the years with the Beatles when he was restricted to two songs per album.

After the break up Phil Spector took the recordings from the Let It Be sessions and finished mixing and producing them.  The result was a somewhat watered down version of Beatles music.  For the first time female vocals showed up on a Beatles album.  The album was good, but not up to Beatles standards and when it was finally released, it arrived without much of a splash.  The movie did not do much better, hence my chance to see it for a dollar.  It made a brief appearance on VCR tapes before disappearing from memories and catalogs.

A few years ago, someone got a hold of the original recordings for Let It Be. before Phil Spector had watered it down.  It was released in its original raw style as Let It Be-Naked and brought forth the sounds that made the songs memorable from the movie.  This was the way the Beatles intended it to be released.  I am convinced of it.

Since then the Theater has turned into what is now a Thrift Store for Good Will.  The movie still has not shown itself after all these years.  I keep hoping that one day someone will put it out on DVD or whatever the format is at the time.  I would love to see it again in its entirety and its rawness.  As for now, I can only re watch that great documentary in my mind, from a hot summers day when I was thirteen years old.

PLAYING WITH THE BAND

I suppose that there comes a time in most teenager's lives with any musical ability a fantasy of playing in a rock and roll band.  I certainly had this fantasy and learned to play rock songs on the piano instead of practicing the lavish classical pieces of music that were my piano lessons with Mrs. Allard.  Seldom would I arrive at my lessons as prepared as I could have been because I had been buying sheet music or music book and learning to play the popular songs of the day.  It was much more invigorating playing pop songs than classical although my mother would disagree with that statement from a listening standpoint.   Several times I would be told not to play so loud or not to play certain music at all.

I had a distinct disadvantage in trying to get by playing pop songs because my sister turned out to be such an excellent piano player and she played songs that my parents liked.  She was playing Bobby Goldsboro and Frankie Avalon while I was playing Three Dog Night and Iron Butterfly.  I would prefer to learn how to play the Beatles while Elaine played classics such as the Missouri Waltz and Love Is Blue and songs of that sort.  My parents would love to listen to Elaine play and would encourage her to play when guest came over to the house.  Not so with my piano playing.  Soon I would quit taking the lessons because it was just too frustrating for both Mrs. Allard as well as myself.  After I quit taking lessons I concentrated all of my time on the piano to rock songs which wasn't appreciated.  Slowly I started to withdraw from playing the piano except when I was alone so that I could really enjoy it without getting the speech about breaking the piano because I was playing it too loud and what about playing some of these other nice songs like Elaine played.

My sophomore year in High School gave me a chance at the rock and roll fantasy.  One of my class mates, Steve, was forming a band and needed a keyboard player.  I offered my services immediately and it was arranged for him to stop by my house one day after school to give me a listen.  Mom was home the day Steve stopped by and I played some of my better tunes for him.  He liked what he heard and said we were going to do this thing.  Steve went and got Kenny to play guitar, emlisted Howard to play bass, and then got Allen to play the drums.  Steve didn't play an instrument except for his voice and it wasn't too shabby.  I started to think that this just might work.

We met over at Steve's house that first night and decided on a name for the band.  I have no idea how we came up with it or what it meant but we called ourselves "Redweld".  No idea what it means.  Sometimes it is best just to accept a fact whether it makes sense or not and try not to over analyze it.  We then went out to Steve's garage and set up the instruments.  I was playing on a little electric keyboard with no amplification to it.  We laid to microphones over the top of it to pick up the sound.  We just had these little amplifiers and really couldn't get very loud but that wasn't important anyway.  First we had to find out if we could play together.

The first song that Redweld played was a Three Dog Night classic "Family Of Man".  We were standing around and I started to play the opening chords to the song.  Kenny started matching me with his guitar and before we knew it, we were performing the song like a true amateur band would.  It was sloppy and didn't sound real good.  We decided to concentrate on that one song the first night and then see where it took us.

The second practice was again in Steve's garage.  Steve had borrowed some big amplifiers from his friend Byron who had a really good band.  Byron's band was well known through south Kansas City and their signature song was Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way"  Byrons group sounded professional.  Maybe using the borrowed amps would improve our sound as well.

The borrowed amplifiers did not contain the magic we were hoping for.  All it did was make us louder which made the sloppiness that much more pronounced.  Still Steve got it in his head that we were sounding pretty good and so he opened up the garage door.  He walked around and cranked up the volume on everything and we played a little for the neighborhood.  Soon we saw doors starting to open across the street as irritated neighbors came out to hear our festive music making.

We did two songs that night.  I can't remember what they were.  Surely one of them was Family of Man but I am not sure.  I remember in between songs Steve took the microphone and announced to the world the arrival of Redweld.  They would be hearing of us for a long time to come.  I really think Steve believed that but I looked over at Kenny and the look in his eyes was one of amusement.  We both knew at this point that this band was going nowhere.

Over the next couple of weeks whenever Steve would run into one of us he would talk up the band and how great it was and what we were going to accomplish.  Kenny and I both just listened and while not totally disagreeing, didn't really agree with Steve either.  I think Steve was getting the feeling that his dream band was falling apart before it would get started.

When Steve tried to get a third practice together I backed out.  I told Steve that I just didn't have the time to devote to such a project.  School came first with me which was a total lie.  School hadn't come first with me for years.  I told Kenny the next day that I had backed out of the band and he informed me that he as well was not going to take it any further.  It was a fun thing to mess with but he just didn't feel the desire to really devote time to it.

Redweld must have ended that day because Steve was really upset with not only me, but the rest of the guys as well.  He wasn't talking to us and pretty soon we found out he was trying to get another group of guys together.  He eventually succeeded in getting a band together and they were not all that bad.  They weren't close to the quality of Byron's band but they would do for a cheap birthday party or something.  The name of his new band wasn't Redweld and I can't remember what it was called.  Steve was able to hold that band together for that summer between sophomore and junior years of school before it faded off into forgotten history.

I had my chance and I enjoyed the two times that Redweld played together.  Two times was enough for me though.  I had started dating my future wife in May of that summer and I wanted to spend a lot of time with her.  As for my piano playing, I faded back off into the background doing most of my piano playing when I was alone.  I didn't need anyone to hear me play.  I began playing for myself and I enjoyed that.  It would be a few years before Barb would get me to play piano in public again.  These days, I don't play much at all and when I do it is when I am totally by myself.  It feels like a nice fit to me.  My fingers playing piano for my ears.  I don't hear a lot of complaints from my audience anymore.

ROYAL STADIUM ROCK

August the second, nineteen hundred and seventy three.  It was a day that thousands of people in the Kansas City area will never forget.  They shouldn't forget it anyway.  For the first time since The Beatles came to Kansas City there was going to be a happening at the new stadium.

Royals Stadium had opened in April of seventy three with a baseball game.  It was a brand new state of the art stadium that probably created lust in the hearts of millions of baseball fans across the country.  The stadium was built as a baseball stadium.  Across the parking lot waiting to open at the end of August sat Arrowhead Stadium which was built as a football stadium.  It is fairly common place today for a city to have two stadiums for each of the sports but back in seventy three it was the first of its kind.  Everything was indeed up to date in Kansas City.  Actually things were way ahead of being up to date in Kansas City with the building of the Truman Sports Complex.  It was the crown jewel of the city and they wasted no time in showing it off as often as they could.

In July of that year it was announced that a concert would be held in the stadium.  It would be the first of dozens of concerts held in either Royals or Arrowhead.  This was the concert that would open the door to stadium rock in Kansas City.  Although tickets were rather pricey at six dollars a head, the tickets went fast.  They estimated over thirty four thousand tickets were sold to the event.

The line up was a good one that I could not refuse.  A Frank Zappa created group called Reuben and the Jets would open the evening.  Leslie West and his new group The Wild West Show would follow.  I had seen Leslie West with his old group, Mountain, and had a couple of his albums.  The man could play guitar.  The appearance of West would be worth close to the six dollar price tag.  After West performed, Marc Bolin and T-Rex were scheduled to appear.  The headliner was the act that caught my eye though.  Three Dog Night was going to perform in the stadium.  My heart nearly stopped when I heard that they were the headliners for the evening.

Three Dog Night had been without a doubt my favorite band up to this time.  The arrangements they did for songs were unbelievable.  Most times they would put the original songwriter/artist to shame when they did a rendition of a song.  Randy Newman's "Mama Told Me Not To Come" was a number one hit for Three Dog Night.  They made the song come alive while Newman's rendition was slow and lazy and would put you to sleep.  Three Dog Night bettered other artist with their arrangements as well.  The out did Nilsson on the hit "One".  They put Elton John to shame when they recorded "Lady Samantha" and "Your Song".  The biggest one they did though was to take a small silly country song by Hoyt Axton and make it into one of the top selling singles of all time.  "Joy To The World" became Three Dog Night's signature song.  This was going to be a night for the ages.

I asked my then girlfriend and future wife, Barb, to go with me.  She had not been to too many concerts and I had been trying to teach her about the world of music since we began dating back in May of that same year.  This was the chance of a lifetime for her.  Little did we know at that time that we would go together to see Three Dog Night eight more times during our lifetime together.  Each time we saw them they just kept getting better it seemed.  We were even able to take our son at the age of two to see them one year.  It was important to me that Brett see these guys perform, even if he would not remember it.

We got to the Stadium and picked some seats behind the first base dugout.  I always preferred sitting on the first base side for some reason.  Since I was a kid every time we would go to a game it seemed dad got tickets on the first base side so it was natural for me to go there on this night.

During the course of the evening the stadium took on a carnival like atmosphere.  I saw a man juggling down on the field during the show.  Frisbees were flying all over the place long lost from the hands of their original owner.  A couple of beach balls began to be bounced into every corner of the stadium.  One of them even made it to the upper deck.  A couple were married that evening over at third base between acts.  When I reminisce about the night I often wonder if the marriage was blessed by rock and roll or cursed by it.   At any rate it would make one great wedding album of pictures.

After Marc Bolin had left the stage you could feel the excitement start to build.  People were ready.  The night had been predicted to be a troublesome one with so many young people gathering in one place for a rock spectacle.  Things were calm though.  There wasn't any violence at all.  People were relaxed and happy.  I admit this could be due to the heavy layer of weed smoke hanging over the stadium like a fog on an early San Fransisco morning.  I didn't get high that night but could have easily achieved it if I had been in the upper deck.

When I saw the limousine drive from the bullpen to the back of the stage I started hitting Barb on the shoulder.  There they were.  They were in that car.  The whole place was starting to calm down with anticipation of the lead act on what had been a wonderful night.

Three Dog Night depended upon harmony vocals in their songs.  The first time I heard them sing live though, it was awful.  The three of them could not hear themselves singing up on the stage and their voice went in three different directions.  It wasn't long before the sound people had the problem fixed and suddenly the three singers sounded like a well tuned piano playing a grandiose concerto.  They went through all of their hits plus a lot of songs from the new album they had just released.  At the end of the concert a fireworks display went out over the stadium.  The night was over.  I had finally seen Three Dog Night and Barb had been there to see them with me.  Personally, I think she was impressed by the quality of music during the course of the night.

People left as politely as they had arrived.  There was no trouble to report from the concert.  The reviews could only say good things about the performers and the crowd.  The city fathers had to be a little disseminated I think because they were so sure that their predictions of violence and damage to the stadium would come true..  Not one of those things happened.  What did happen was that some frisbees were thrown around, some beach ball were tossed about, a couple pledged their lives to each other and stadium rock arrived in Kansas City. This concert would be the forerunner of such acts as the Rolling Stones, Micheal Jackson, The Beach Boys, The Doobie Brothers, Chicago, The Allman Brothers Band and a host of others.

Concerts aren't held at the stadiums much anymore.  The era of stadium rock has slowly died out.  From my experience a stadium concert brings an atmosphere to the show unlike anything an indoor concert can provide.  You feel free, you feel the music and you feel the hypnotic linkage of the crowd to each other.

This concert blew me away.  All it did was make me wish I had been old enough to go to Woodstock to see what a real outdoor concert would have been like.