People seem to love this album. It's crazy actually. Those dorks at Rolling Stone call it the best thing ever, and I'm convinced that whenever Greg Kot hears it, he craps his pants while holding back Jeff Tweedy's hair as he pukes - like any husband would do for his wife.
And what you got here is a wide variety of styles.
Like the idea of the CONCEPT ALBUM! which the Beatles invented. Just like the invented rock and roll, lemons, and Jesus, who they were subsequently bigger than. Pshhh, my Jesus was a TALL man. Not some teeny-tiny frisbee golf grave digger. So take that RINGO!
Sorry, I meant TAKE THAT BONO! (By Bono, I mean Sonny Bono, by who I mean James Bond, who becomes this lovely man known as Chef Boyardee. Spaghettios are better.)
But the concept last all of two songs...and how bout that?! There's that song that Ringo sings that Joe Cocker did (one of my friends said "Christ, this song sucks" and didn't believe me when I said that the Cocker version was a cover). And the first song with a french horn/brass solo that is so bad, people are laughing during it!
The album turns into a living lava lamp as we get translated to the world of John Lennon's son's drawings complete with lyrics like "rocking horse people eating marshmallow pies" and "getting really fricking high, and like, dude, let's go to McDonald's man, I want some fries". "Getting Better" talks about a guy who beats his wife and has anger problems. Who said Big Black was misogynistic? Cleary, Sir Paul has no problem beating up grocery cart. "Fixing a Hole" is a little dippy dippy do pop song, and "She's Leaving Home" is freaking beautiful.
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" is a cute little ditty about building fires. "Within You Without You" is 5 minutes of George Harrison groping a tabla and mumbling some crap about talking about the space between us. Yeah George, its called "AIR!". Stupid english blokes. "When I'm 64" surprised me the most. I always knew the lyrics could be heartbreaking if read correctly, but then I heard the song and its this thing with bassoons and crap! I mean, its cute, but not heartbreaking! I mean, when can I cry listening to the Beatles?! I guess the closest I get is with "Ram". "Lovely Rita" is some trippy rock tune thats really nice and fun to sing to. "Good Morning Good Morning" is lots of fun on the Rock Band where you can make the dog barking noises and get bonus points! Then there's the Sgt. Pepper reprise that's just a 1.20 ditty thats even harder rocking than a jackhammer to the face of a cinnabon employee.
The album ends with some long song and yeah.
OVERALL RATING - Definite plus here. Really good album. Solid stuff.
KEY TRACKS - a day in the life, she's leaving home, getting better.
Yeah, I can't lie. I absolutely, positively ADORE this album. I remember my dad used to play it on a RECORD PLAYER (!!!!!) when I was really little. 'A Day In the Life' is definitely in my Top 5 favourite Beatles songs.... probably even my favourite Beatles song, for that matter. In the house we lived in when I was really little, when we would listen to this on a record player, the giant speakers were on the floor, right at my eye level (I was maybe... 4? 5?) and the part where the orchestra slides up chromatically used to scare the CRAP out of me. But I still always really loved this album. I loved it even more when I was older and waaaay into things like Radiohead.
ReplyDeleteAnd the funny thing is that even now it still sounds fresh, epic, and relevant.