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kleermakerQuote
walkingthedogQuote
kleermaker
Abbey Road is indeed fantastic. Best Beatles album. Better than Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed. At least on par with Sticky Fingers.
Abbey Road is one of my least favourite Beatles albums. Way too much McCartney, the Harrison songs are too sweet for my taste and Lennon's material is not his best. The only decent song is I Want You (She's So Heavy). Not even close to BB or LIB.
I'd rather hear Emotional Rescue any day!
You're kidding!
What about Pepper and Mystery Tour? Both initiated (and dominated) by McCartney too. Both great.
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kleermaker
To be serious: the question is what really IS serving the song. Until now it's a subjective thing: you have your ideas about it and I have mine. We still don't agree on the concept what serving the song really is.
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kleermakerQuote
DoxaQuote
His Majesty
Comparing The Beatles with the post Jones Rolling Stones is a bit silly because any band can bring in some younger hot shot musicians and move in different, arguably better ways than they can in their original form.
I think you have a point there. And also a good reminder what a big change occurred at the time when the band was 'updated' with Mick Taylor. It doesn't look like that any longer, since they came out as winners, but there was a big risky involved there (even though I don't think the Stones had a choice really). Not musically but imagewise, and The Stones tried to be as diplomatic as they ever could when announced the change.
A bit like if The Beatles had replaced George Harrison by, say, Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page (musically the band even might have sounded better and surely more competent if hey have decided to continue and go back to road...). Or if we continue the analogy, if the Stones had acted like they did in 1969 to 'update' the band, they should have kicked out Ronnie Wood in 1982 and had replaced him by some more current and relevant player (according to the times), someone from Eddie Van Halen generation of guitar players. Malmsteen?(Besides, by the 80's guitar standards, what was the worth of Ronnie Wood? Wood was a suitable guitarist in the late 70's when a rough guitar playing was a trend, but that was gone by the 80's, when the skillful guitar gods were back...)
- Doxa
Remember the Stones kicked Jones out because he didn't function anymore, so they had no choice. If he was still active and not 'wasted' he would still be in the band. Besides it's not fair to compare Harrison with Jones, because Harrison acted more like Taylor during the last years of the Beatles (his guitar playing on the last Beatles albums is splendid). With Harrison they were already 'update'. Second thing is that Taylor never had the role of the dominating lead guitar hotshot, but he added something special the way Jones did during his tenure in the band.
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Doxa
the point is that I don't think The Beatles never should have needed that kind of 'updating' - they could have managed just well by their own, as splendid song-writers and good enough musicians. They were so damn big.
- Doxa
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His MajestyQuote
Doxa
the point is that I don't think The Beatles never should have needed that kind of 'updating' - they could have managed just well by their own, as splendid song-writers and good enough musicians. They were so damn big.
- Doxa
Other than to replace a non functioning band member, the stones didn't either. They, with he, had already proven that they could adapt to changes in musical styles quite easily and successfully.
There is only what is of course, so blah blah blah.
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treaclefingers
Haven't the Beatles won this yet? I keep checking back for confirmation and the jury stills like it's out.
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treaclefingers
Haven't the Beatles won this yet? I keep checking back for confirmation and the jury stills like it's out.
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BluzDudeQuote
GumbootCloggeroo
Funny, for a band being "soft and pop" they certainly had a drummer that played heavier and louder than The Stones have.
Agree, McCartney did play drums a little louder and heavier than Charlie.
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DoxaQuote
treaclefingers
Haven't the Beatles won this yet? I keep checking back for confirmation and the jury stills like it's out.
Glastonbury, my friend, Glastonbury.... by the way, where is he?
- Doxa
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His MajestyQuote
xke38
I'd say this quote from Greg Kot/BBC Culture sums it up nicely:
"Were the Stones as revolutionary as the Beatles? No, but their reign of good-to-great albums was nearly twice as long, and their best music from this era – 1963 through 1981 – has a consistency, durability and variety that few bands from any era could match. Not even The Beatles, it turns out."
Nonesense.
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drbryantQuote
His Majesty
It doesn't have to be all or nothing eh.
Of course not. My only point is that Pepper, MMT and Abbey Road don't have much rock and roll, and I like rock and roll so I prefer Let it Bleed. Hey, I love the Beatles - in fact, I'll see Paul McCartney perform twice this month in Tokyo. But if forced to choose which to take to a desert island, I would take my Brown Sugar/Bitch/Let it Rock 45 over all my copies of Pepper, MMT and Abbey Road.
[Edit] just checked - actually have tickets for THREE McCartney shows this month, as well as Atoms for Peace and the Vienna Philharmonic. Wonder how I'll get any work done.
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Doxa
Yep, they had proven, but to adapt to the demands of late-60's/early 70's live performances, it was handy to have a technically high-class player in the team.
- Doxa
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His MajestyQuote
Doxa
Yep, they had proven, but to adapt to the demands of late-60's/early 70's live performances, it was handy to have a technically high-class player in the team.
- Doxa
Handy, but not essential. The essential came from Mick and Keith, ie their songs.
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Doxa
But honestly of any red and hot British blues players, I can't think anyone could have been a better choice than Taylor (taking his skills, style and still rather low profile name). Were they lucky or just damn smart in picking him up, I don't know...
- Doxa
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treaclefingers
So, Abbey Road is like Exile, and The White Album's a bit like Sucking In The70s60s?
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Doxa
True, but the songs themselves don't perform, you need someone to deliver them convincingly, one after other, here and now.
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Doxa
Were they lucky or just damn smart in picking him up, I don't know...
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His MajestyQuote
Doxa
True, but the songs themselves don't perform, you need someone to deliver them convincingly, one after other, here and now.
No shit sherlock.
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CanYouHearTheMusicQuote
drbryantQuote
His Majesty
It doesn't have to be all or nothing eh.
Of course not. My only point is that Pepper, MMT and Abbey Road don't have much rock and roll, and I like rock and roll so I prefer Let it Bleed. Hey, I love the Beatles - in fact, I'll see Paul McCartney perform twice this month in Tokyo. But if forced to choose which to take to a desert island, I would take my Brown Sugar/Bitch/Let it Rock 45 over all my copies of Pepper, MMT and Abbey Road.
[Edit] just checked - actually have tickets for THREE McCartney shows this month, as well as Atoms for Peace and the Vienna Philharmonic. Wonder how I'll get any work done.
Abbey Road doesn't have much rock and roll on it? I Want You (She's So Heavy)? Come Together? Oh Darling? The End? You Never Give Me Your Money? Seriously man?! Abbey Road and The White Album were the *only* ROCK albums The Beatles made. They have tons of variety, but through and through they're the only two Beatles albums you can call "rock" as opposed to psychedelic pop, classic pop, whatever you wanna call their (GREAT) earlier work. Abbey Road has about as much rock on it as Sticky Fingers, which has a TON of mellow stuff, and that's a good thing.
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His Majesty
Taylor was the lucky one although it some what ruined his life for quite some time so maybe not so lucky.
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DandelionPowderman
Oh Darling is pretty heavy in places...
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DoxaQuote
His Majesty
Taylor was the lucky one although it some what ruined his life for quite some time so maybe not so lucky.
Like Brian Jones was the lucky one to meet these two musical geniuses from Dartford but it some what ruined his life in the end so maybe not so lucky...
- Doxa
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LieB
Regarding the Exile vs White Album, discussion ... I think the White Album is great but it's a bit like four solo artists collaborating (sometimes barely) and everybody gets to put whatever they want in the stew. Cool songs but a bit of a hodge podge, like a bunch of single A- and B-sides thrown together randomly. You need to enjoy a lot of silly little styles and genres to fully appreciate it.
...Whereas Exile is very cohesive in its sound and styles. There's variety there, with country and gospel and all that, but if you like Hip Shake, chances are you're gonna like Shine A Light too. It sounds more like a tight band effort to me, where the songs really sit well beside each other (and sometimes sound weaker when heard on their own).
Perhaps Abbey Road is the Beatles' Exile? It shorter, but it has that cohesiveness. It's hard and tight, more '70s sounding than the White Album. It has several songs that are just little ditties on their own but work very well together and really belong on that record. It has more of a band feel than the White Album, despite the Beatles being on the verge of splitting, sort of how I picture the Stones working in the south of France -- a bit of a mess on a personal level but producing good music.
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His MajestyQuote
DoxaQuote
His Majesty
Taylor was the lucky one although it some what ruined his life for quite some time so maybe not so lucky.
Like Brian Jones was the lucky one to meet these two musical geniuses from Dartford but it some what ruined his life in the end so maybe not so lucky...
- Doxa
No, not the same.
Brian was already doing a great job of ruining his own life before he even met them.
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kleermaker
Well, they helped him doing the job 'properly'.