Random Music Thread - CXII Mofo, it's Halloween, Change your avatar plz.

[lazarus]

We already have Magical Mystery Tour, which I personally prefer to Pepper on a song-for-song basis (though Pepper gets major points for its breathtaking sonic innovation). I know you don't take that one seriously as an album, but I think SFF fits extremely well alongside Fool on the Hill, Flying, Blue Jay Way and I Am the Walrus in large part because mellotron is so prominently featured throughout the album, as it is on the intro of SFF.

Penny Lane could fit in OK on Pepper in place of one of the second half's more forgettable tracks, but it also fits in well just a few tracks away from the bubbly Hello Goodbye and Your Mother Should Know.

I'm glad we have two fantastic albums instead of one top 5 album and one solid but inessential movie soundtrack. Spread the wealth.

Well, it's not about me not taking it seriously as an album--it isn't an album, even if I agree with you about it being a more pleasurable listen. You can call it what you want but factually, it's a 6-song EP that had singles and b-sides added to it for its US release, which was later accepted into canon with the CD releases. Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane (as well as When I'm Sixty-Four) were recorded at the beginning of the Sgt. Pepper sessions in November and December, whereas most of the MMT songs were done in September 5 months after the last tracks from that album were completed. So while it's all from a general psychedelic period, they don't come from the same developed project.

And I'd also refer you to George Martin's quote that not pushing for the inclusion of those two songs on the album was one of the biggest mistakes of his entire career.

Move Within You Without You to the end of Side One, and then insert Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane at the beginning of Side 2.

Run time on Side 2 would be a bit shorter, so add Only A Northern Song after Penny Lane to even it out.

Your first move is an interesting choice, and I read earlier that those two songs along with "Sixty-Four" were all thematically linked to the bands' childhood, the latter initially written when Macca was 16. So it's a nice little trio to have all in a row.

I thought about throwing Only A Northern Song in there to give Harrison another contribution, but it's not a universally-loved song, nor would it necessarily improve the album. IMO I think it's better than Good Morning, Good Morning, for what it's worth. It's too bad we can't include It's All Too Much instead, because that's an underrated mind-blower. But as it was recorded a week before the album came out we really can't count it as part of those sessions.

Using your suggestion:

Side One
Sgt. Pepper's
With A Little Help From My Friends
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Getting Better
Fixing A Hole
She's Leaving Home
Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite
Within You Without You

Side Two
Strawberry Fields Forever
Penny Lane
When I'm Sixty Four
Lovely Rita
Good Morning
Sgt. Pepper's (reprise)
A Day In The Life


If you want to really start messing around, you could move She's Leaving Home (which I've always felt was a bit of a buzzkill on Side One) and stick it somewhere on Side Two, but I'm not sure where. It's a pretty sad, downbeat track that might not work between the humorous Sixty-Four and the flirty and frivolous Lovely Rita, for example. Perhaps with Only A Northern Song alongside it would transition better.

 

[david]

Did anyone mention the free Foo Fighters EP they dropped?

 

[Danny Boy]

I downloaded it, but I haven't listened to it yet.

I was impressed that they gave it away for free in 24/192 FLAC.

 

[u2popmofo]

I downloaded it, but I haven't listened to it yet.

I was impressed that they gave it away for free in 24/192 FLAC.

Omg u r obsess wit flax

 

[LemonMelon]

Well, it's not about me not taking it seriously as an album--it isn't an album, even if I agree with you about it being a more pleasurable listen. You can call it what you want but factually, it's a 6-song EP that had singles and b-sides added to it for its US release, which was later accepted into canon with the CD releases. Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane (as well as When I'm Sixty-Four) were recorded at the beginning of the Sgt. Pepper sessions in November and December, whereas most of the MMT songs were done in September 5 months after the last tracks from that album were completed. So while it's all from a general psychedelic period, they don't come from the same developed project.

And I'd also refer you to George Martin's quote that not pushing for the inclusion of those two songs on the album was one of the biggest mistakes of his entire career.

I'm aware of the recording dates. In fact, wasn't SFF written in 1966 on the set of John Lennon's How I Won the War? That song is incredibly old. But it taps into a sense of nostalgia that I feel permeates MMT.

Furthermore, there are subtle differences in the lyrical content of the two projects. Pepper's lyricism is very character driven and the tracks often feature a central protagonist (it was meant to be a concept album, lest we forget). Sgt Pepper, Billy Shears, Lucy, the man Fixing a Hole, Mr Kite, Lovely Rita and so on. MMT centers on time, place and travel. The fact that Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane are locations rather than people tie them closer to Magical Mystery Tour, Flying and Blue Jay Way (another street!) than anything on Pepper.

I think George Martin is wrong on this one. Or, rather, he was right the first time. Regardless of its initial date of acceptance, MMT a classic in its own right at this point and I think there are enough (subtle) thematic differences not to mix them. That's my argument for it anyway.

 

[Danny Boy]

Not arguing with the point that MMT is an EP + singles compilation, but the 11-track "album" was released in the UK in 1967 on 8-track and in 1976 on vinyl, so it's at least arguable when it was "canonized."


Sent from my TI-99/4A using Extended BASIC

 

[LemonMelon]

While we're talking about the album, I just want to say props to Ringo for the beat on Baby You're a Rich Man. He always worked well in a psychedelic framework, I thought. Besides that track, Strawberry Fields Forever and Rain also had some of his best work.

Also: Flying> Blue Jay Way> Only a Northern Song>I Am the Walrus> Strawberry Fields Forever would be as weird and wonderful a stretch of psychedelic music as anything Pink Floyd was making during that period. The Beatles were always an eclectic band, but the material is there for a truly dense and brilliant psychedelic album with few concessions to pop sensibilities.

 

[Mack_Again]

Did anyone mention the free Foo Fighters EP they dropped?

i almost did mention it and i listened to it already. it's good.

 

[u2popmofo]

It was incredible. Hearing For Real and Black live was worth the price of admission, but the whole album (plus the Appendix) sounded great. I think this is the first "band-plays-entire-album" show I have been to, so I wasn't sure how I was going to feel. But it was good. Knowing what comes next removes the whole "are they going to play XYZ" anxiety, and I just enjoyed it more.

A Stone, So Come Back, I Am Waiting, and The Latest Thoughts were the other highlights for me. And because I don't go back to the Appendix all that often these days, I had forgotten how fun No Key, No Plan really is.

This was my first concert post-Bataclan attack, and it felt weird. They played at the Bowery Ballroom, which is a kind of New York equivalent. Maybe I'm just overreacting, but it feels like the sanctity of the music venue has been violated, and I was on my guard most of the time. I'm sure it will go away at some point, but this sucks.

Was Meiburg there? I considered trying to go to one of the shows in DC with a friend who lives there, but have been busy at work and couldn't make it happen. I actually saw the band the day before Black Sheep Boy released, opening for The Decemberists. Had only heard a few of their songs at the time. Definitely wouldn't have guessed at the time that they'd end up being my favorite band of the next 10 years.

 

[gump]

Was Meiburg there? I considered trying to go to one of the shows in DC with a friend who lives there, but have been busy at work and couldn't make it happen. I actually saw the band the day before Black Sheep Boy released, opening for The Decemberists. Had only heard a few of their songs at the time. Definitely wouldn't have guessed at the time that they'd end up being my favorite band of the next 10 years.

Yup. He was sitting in the corner of the stage playing guitar/steel lap/keyboard.

Here's a photo from BrooklynVegan:

They also had a female singer for Get Big and some other vocals, but I didn't catch her name. I don't think it was Amy Annelle.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

While we're talking about the album, I just want to say props to Ringo for the beat on Baby You're a Rich Man. He always worked well in a psychedelic framework, I thought. Besides that track, Strawberry Fields Forever and Rain also had some of his best work.

Also: Flying> Blue Jay Way> Only a Northern Song>I Am the Walrus> Strawberry Fields Forever would be as weird and wonderful a stretch of psychedelic music as anything Pink Floyd was making during that period. The Beatles were always an eclectic band, but the material is there for a truly dense and brilliant psychedelic album with few concessions to pop sensibilities.

Who is that in your avatar/what is it from? I dig it.

 

[bono_212]

Who is that in your avatar/what is it from? I dig it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_Moments

 

[cobl04]

I am not paying one second of attention to a Sgt Peppers bullshit tracklist change that doesn't have Good Morning Good Morning.

 

[iron yuppie]

https://www.instagram.com/p/-csshny1F0/

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_Moments

Nice. Thanks.

 

[u2popmofo]

Yup. He was sitting in the corner of the stage playing guitar/steel lap/keyboard.

Here's a photo from BrooklynVegan:

Very cool.

 

[namkcuR]

On the Beatles discussion above - I pretty much agree with Travis that MMT has its own musical cohesion - despite the way it was put together - separate from Pepper. For me, Penny Lane, Hello Goodbye and Strawberry Fields occupy the same musical landscape as Fool On The Hill, Blue Jay Way, and I Am The Walrus, and that is similar yet, imo, clearly distinguishable musical landscape to that of Pepper. The former is a little dreamier, a little fuzzier in places, a little more buoyant, while the latter is a little more grounded, a little more reigned in in terms of song structure.

While we're talking about the Beatles, has anyone else noticed that the entire catalog has disappeared from YT? Apparently the label did it. Seems kind of odd, that after it's all been there for years, they just all of a sudden decide to have it all removed.


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[cobl04]

Good Morning Good Morning is fucking baller. Discuss.

 

[lazarus]

On the Beatles discussion above - I pretty much agree with Travis that MMT has its own musical cohesion - despite the way it was put together - separate from Pepper. For me, Penny Lane, Hello Goodbye and Strawberry Fields occupy the same musical landscape as Fool On The Hill, Blue Jay Way, and I Am The Walrus, and that is similar yet, imo, clearly distinguishable musical landscape to that of Pepper. The former is a little dreamier, a little fuzzier in places, a little more buoyant, while the latter is a little more grounded, a little more reigned in in terms of song structure.

While we're talking about the Beatles, has anyone else noticed that the entire catalog has disappeared from YT? Apparently the label did it. Seems kind of odd, that after it's all been there for years, they just all of a sudden decide to have it all removed.

Some fair points, but I wouldn't call Mr. Kite, Good Morning, or Day In The Life "reigned in in terms of song structure". And I think Pepper's is a little more eclectic sonically than what you're describing, even if MMT overall is looser and more out-there.

Pepper's lyricism is very character driven and the tracks often feature a central protagonist (it was meant to be a concept album, lest we forget). Sgt Pepper, Billy Shears, Lucy, the man Fixing a Hole, Mr Kite, Lovely Rita and so on. MMT centers on time, place and travel. The fact that Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane are locations rather than people tie them closer to Magical Mystery Tour, Flying and Blue Jay Way (another street!) than anything on Pepper.

This also seems reductive to me. "Lucy" isn't the protagonist of that song, Lennon is addressing the listener: "(You) picture yourself in a boat on a river/with tangerine trees and marmalade skies". Sounds pretty location-specific to me, even if it's a dream landscape. The same goes for Mr. Kite, which is not "about" the title character but is clearly describing a whole circus show which is...a destination (and location). And conversely, Baby You're A Rich Man is certainly character-driven, with Lennon addressing (and dressing down) a certain type of person. It certainly doesn't fit in with the "time, place, and travel" theme. Nor does All You Need Is Love. Hello Goodbye is basically nonsense.

Pepper's to me is, to use Bono's words "A mixed-up kid of a record". The concept thought up by McCartney midway through the proceedings is a bit of a lark that didn't have much follow through, none of the other band members interested in supporting it. I take issue with the notion that it's about character and not place, as there's a domesticity present in a good number of tracks. Getting Better, Fixing A Hole, She's Leaving Home, When I'm Sixty-Four, Good Morning, A Day In The Life; some feature character portraiture but they're grounded in a milieu of the mundane, daily rituals, etc. Of course, scattered within are the whimsical departures of Mr. Kite and Lucy, the inspirational With A Little Help From My Friends (a warm-up for All You Need Is Love), and the introspective existentialism of Within You Without You. So there's a lot going on and it's hard to describe it under one umbrella.

By bringing Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane back into the mix, you don't make the album more schizophrenic, but actually bring it a little closer to the album's origins before McCartney got the Pepper's idea, which can be argued resulted in a weaker result from a song perspective. And as I said before I think Penny Lane fits well with When I'm Sixty-Four, and your "suburban skies" setting also helps this link to Fixing A Hole, Good Morning, A Day In The Life. Strawberry Fields is a nice continuation after Within You because both are very reflective, so maybe breaking the sides up between them isn't the best idea.

Going to keep playing with this and try to offer up a running order for people to check out soon.

 

[IWasBored]

Good Morning Good Morning is fucking baller. Discuss.

Doesn't Laz hate that song with the passion of 1000 firey suns?

I always kind of liked it.

 

[lazarus]

I can't think of a Beatles song I legitimately hate.

Good Morning is my least favorite on that album, though.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

The "chorus" or whatever you wanna call it (GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING UHHHH) is a little grating but I think the verses are awesome. They paint some strong, memorable pictures. At least for me. Nice little guitar solo in there, too.

 

[Mack_Again]

I can't think of a Beatles song I legitimately hate.

Good Morning is my least favorite on that album, though.

there's no way you can hate Beatles songs; there is a way to hate some Stones songs, thou

 

[IWasBored]

I can't think of a Beatles song I legitimately hate.

Good Morning is my least favorite on that album, though.

Not even Honey Pie?

 

[bono_212]

there's no way you can hate Beatles songs; there is a way to hate some Stones songs, thou

Oh, there are plenty of Beatles songs I hate.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

there's no way you can hate Beatles songs;

If you don't like The Beatles there definitely is a way.

 

[LemonMelon]

There are definitely some White Album songs I dislike, as well as a clunker or two on Let It Be and a few throughout the early albums that are notably substandard, but there's not much that I hate until the solo albums. There's just too much charm and color in their music.

 

[Axver]

there's no way you can hate Beatles songs; there is a way to hate some Stones songs, thou

It's actually really easy.

 

[cobl04]

The "chorus" or whatever you wanna call it (GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING UHHHH) is a little grating but I think the verses are awesome. They paint some strong, memorable pictures. At least for me. Nice little guitar solo in there, too.

Agreed on the verses, definitely the highlight. Paints a great picture of someone trapped in a dreary life trying to psych him or herself up, and they are rollicking great fun. Even the final chorus/outro is a lot of fun, too. Glad there's a fan.

Not even Honey Pie?

Haha, that was the first one I was gonna suggest. Awful, awful song.

 

[nielsgov]

Yeah, they are playing the Appendix in full as well. And the show started with Will playing some solo acoustic songs from Down the River of Golden Dreams (on Saturday, which I didn't attend, he played most of the Sleep and Wake-Up Songs EP).

Man, I'd kill to here Another Radio Song live. The second half of that song is Okkervil River's greatest moment.