FOR ZEALSTER....

[Electric ~soul~]

I'll stick it on over the weekend, Gazza. Probably Friday night when avoiding the Bridget Jones and popcorn!

 

No point playing it here at work - I get the feeling this little baby needs playing LOUD!!

[GazzaBTFC]

Yes, that little baby does need a bit of volume...try 11!!!

[Electric ~soul~]

Quote:

GazzaBTFC said:
Oh and I played "Somewhere" over the weekend and that sounds better than I remember...

Finally got round to listening to Sometime In New York City this morning. Not sure what all the negativity is about. It's not that bad.

Admittedly, I wasn't really listening to the lyrics (which are most people's bone of contention, I think) but it's a lot better than some of Macca's "worst efforts". (Wildlife and Press To Play spring to mind)

I'm quite enjoying re-discovering Wings, actually. Haven't really listened to any of their albums for about ten years (Venus And Mars - my fave - aside), but I've been playing London Town a lot over the last few days, and it's actually a really good album!

Gonna attempt Red Rose Speedway this afternoon.

[GazzaBTFC]

I find Red Rose a bit twee (a typical Macca complaint) but Big Barn Bed and My Love are top tunes!!!

 

Actually I don't mind Wildlife but I will say Press To Play is truely awful.

 

I would agree that Venus And Mars is a great album but I prefer Ram...Whenever I do a re visit of the "solo" albums, that is the Macca album I turn to...

 

I have recently also started to play Mind Games a lot...Quite a gentle album for old Johnny Boy...

[Electric ~soul~]

Yeah, I've got Wildlife on at the minute actually - plumped for that this afternoon instead of Speedway. You're right - it's not as bad as I remember, once you get past that dreadful opener.

 

Can't have listened to Red Rose Speedway since I was about 15. Apart from the two you mentioned, I'd probably struggle to name any of the songs on it. Something about a dragonfly, I think. And another one about a native American Indian? It's been that long.

 

Totally agree about Ram - a truly brilliant album, and easily in my Top 5 Macca post-'70 (along with McCartney and Flowers In The Dirt for sure!)

 

What I meant was that Venus & Mars was my favourite Wings album of the five or six they recorded. Always quite liked Back To The Egg too, but find Band On The Run overrated, the two singles aside. Oh, and Let Me Roll It, which is superb.

 

Only one I don't think that's been mentioned in this thread is Wings At The Speed Of Sound. Very weak, if I recall.

 

re: Mind Games. Great track on there - Bring On The Lucie. The Charlatans have had two hit singles nicking from that song alone!! (Just Lookin' and Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over)

 

I'm pleased though - I'm right back into my Beatles, even playing some of the pre-'65 stuff which is unheard of for me!

[GazzaBTFC]

Pre '65!!! Bloody hell...I still think that for tough rock 'n' roll you can't beat "You Can't Do That" - complete with JL sneer vocal (unheard of before then) and top chunky solo...

 

And the harmonies on "This Boy" and "If I Fell" are just out of this World...dispite the subject matter being a bit over romantic...And then there is "I Feel Fine". And some of their covers are well worth re visiting..."Slow Down", "Bad Boy" (again, top rock 'n' roll vocals by JL, proving that he was the best vocalist to tackle that kind of material) and the over the top "Long Tall Sally".

[Electric ~soul~]

I hear you, Gazza - it's just that usually, if I have a choice between listening to Abbey Road or Beatles For Sale for example, I'd plump for Abbey Road each time.

 

Revolver or With The Beatles? Always '66 for me!

 

But it's a habit I'm trying to get out of and I'm enjoying it!

 

Been listening to a lot of Beatles For Sale the last few days. There is some great early Lennon self-doubting cries for help on there - always his best mood, I reckon. I'm A Loser and I Don't Want To Spoil The Party. Great stuff.

 

And you mentioned If I Fell and You Can't Do That - you must be psychic as A Hard Days Night was one of the three albums I brought into work this afternoon. Certainly their best album from the pre-Rubber Soul era, in my view.

 

I generally don't like the rock'n'roll covers, though - probably why I like the Hard Days Night album best from that era. The only track on the Long Tall Sally EP I really like is I Call Your Name, the one original.

 

Talking of which, did you watch the Lennon 10th Anniversary Concert from 1990 on TV? Ringo did a great version of I Call Your Name. I used to have it on video, but sadly I've lost it over the years. I don't remember which song George performed (if any), though I do remember Paul doing a particularly crap medley of Love Me Do and PS I Love You, which appeared as the b-side to a solo live recording of Birthday later that year.

 

This Boy - their first use of close three-part harmony, and a great track, though I prefer their next attempt at such harmony - Yes It Is, the rarely-heard b-side of Ticket To Ride. Blimey, I haven't heard that for years either! Really must dig out the Past Masters Vol 1 for re-appraisal!

[GazzaBTFC]

A Hard Days Night is definately an album of a group at the top of their trade (in that style of music) and my fav Beatlemania album.

 

Well Beatles For Sale does boast Rock 'n' Roll Music...I tend to listen to the performance as well as note that they wrote the song (or didn't)...And in some cases, they never shirked from derlivering a damn fine version of a cover (most cases the bettered it).

 

The thing is there are many facets of The Beatles and although people have preferences, you can't take it away that they were a damn fine group for all moods.

[GazzaBTFC]

Oh and I have been playing a couple of Enuff Z'Nuff Cd's today...top band and some of their stuff draws some comparison to Lennon & McCartney...A top band...

[Electric ~soul~]

Just don't like rock'n'roll full stop, really. Apart from Rock'n'Roll Music, which is great, I think their best covers were on the first album - A Taste Of Honey, Anna, Chains etc. I'm not even a particularly big fan of Twist And Shout.

 

Enuff Z'Nuff? Never heard of them. Should I check them out??

[gertcha EFM]

I thought the Beatles were Rock 'n' Roll.

 

And Oasis.

[Electric ~soul~]

It's too easy to use the term "rock'n'roll" to describe anything with loud guitars. That's not really the case.

 

A "rock'n'roll lifestyle" (see Oasis, Sex Pistols, the Stones etc.) is very different to the genre of music that is rock'n'roll - ie. Chuck Berry, Elvis, Bill Haley, Carl Perkins etc.

 

Oasis are rock. Simple as.

 

The Beatles, on the other hand, are far too diverse to lump into any pigeon-hole.

[gertcha EFM]

I have to admit I do like Rock around the Clock. Great song.

Would you say rock 'n' roll died out after the 60's ? I can't think of any modern rock 'n' roll bands.

 

On the subject of Oasis, did you and Yellow get tickets for one of the gigs this summer ? I can't remember what you decided in the end.

[Electric ~soul~]

I'd say rock'n'roll, in its original form, pretty much died out by about 1961/62. All the classic rock'n'roll records were written and recorded in the fifties, really. When the Beatles recorded straightforward rock'n'roll on their earlier albums, they were all 1950s covers.

 

Showaddywaddy and the Stray Cats (I think) both had success doing rock'n'roll during the 70s, but they were nothing more than tribute bands really.

 

Most rock'n'roll records, however, are based around the 12-bar blues, and even today a lot of records use 12-bar blues as the basis for its structure.

 

re: Oasis. Did you not ask me this last week?

 

I replied that I've already seen Oasis three or four times, and generally find that people who watch the same band over and over again to be a little on the sad and obsessive side, and lacking a little balance in their life.

 

I'll see if I can find the thread in question.

[Electric ~soul~]

Thread in question is HERE!!!!

[gertcha EFM]

Nice one SK. I remember now. Which band have you seen the most ?

In my teens, I saw Sheep on Drugs about 30 times, but King Duncan's anticts meant every show was unique.

 

Whilst I enjoy rock 'n' roll, I'm more into the mellow sounds that the bands on Stax records produce. Echo Beach is currently my favourite song.

 

Are you going to take Yellow up to St.Andrew's with you in May as you aren't doing Oasis then? I still reckon he should go to Art Brut with Thornsy and myself.

[Electric ~soul~]

Seeing Duran at St Andrews, mate. My sister bought me a ticket for my 30th!

 

The band I've seen the most are the Charlatans. Seven times at the last count, though three of them have been as support band. I haven't seen them since Finsbury in 2002, but would be very keen on seeing them again. A very accomplished live band, whose recorded output has once again become criminally underrated.

[gertcha EFM]

they are playing Hammersmith Apollo in May I think. They are one of the best live bands I've seen to. I thought they were brilliant at Reading that year we went.

[Electric ~soul~]

To be honest mate, I thought the Reading show was about the weakest one I've seen them do. They're that good!

 

They were amazing at Knebworth supporting Oasis, just after Rob Collins died, and the first time I saw them (Brixton '92) they blew me away.

 

I've always loved the Charlatans, ever since I heard Then and The Only One I Know. Makes me laugh how the music press wrote them off as Stone Roses/Mondays wannabes. Even Carpets wannabes.

 

They've outlived all three, and only the Roses now could possibly be held in higher acclaim. (is that the right word!!)

[gertcha EFM]

Agree with you totally there.

 

Regarding the Carpets though, how good where they live first time round in the early 90's ?