Thursday, September 10, 2009
One more Beatles post, because the wealth of writing accompanying the re-mastered reissues has been so rich. From Pitchfork's review of "Abbey Road":
"The Beatles' run in the 1960s is good fodder for thought experiments. For example, Abbey Road came out in late September 1969. Though Let It Be was then still unreleased, the Beatles wouldn't record another album together. But they were still young men: George was 26 years old, Paul was 27, John was 28, and Ringo was 29. The Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, had come out almost exactly six and a half years earlier. So if Abbey Road had been released today, Please Please Me would date to March 2003. So think about that for a sec: Twelve studio albums and a couple of dozen singles, with a sound that went from earnest interpreters of Everly Brothers and Motown hits to mind-bending sonic explorers and with so many detours along the way-- all of it happened in that brief stretch of time. That's a weight to carry."
There are other great album runs-- the Miles Davis run that starts with "Cookin", on Prestige in 1955 through-- what? "Kind of Blue?" "Sketches of Spain"? You could probably take that one all the way out to "Jack Johnson" in 1970. Sinatra's Capital output, from 1955's "In the Wee Small Hours" through "Only the Lonely" (1958) or 1960's "Nice 'n' Easy". "Beggars Banquet" through "Exile on Main Street". There are a few others, but the lists of tears like that is a pretty sort one.
"The Beatles' run in the 1960s is good fodder for thought experiments. For example, Abbey Road came out in late September 1969. Though Let It Be was then still unreleased, the Beatles wouldn't record another album together. But they were still young men: George was 26 years old, Paul was 27, John was 28, and Ringo was 29. The Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, had come out almost exactly six and a half years earlier. So if Abbey Road had been released today, Please Please Me would date to March 2003. So think about that for a sec: Twelve studio albums and a couple of dozen singles, with a sound that went from earnest interpreters of Everly Brothers and Motown hits to mind-bending sonic explorers and with so many detours along the way-- all of it happened in that brief stretch of time. That's a weight to carry."
There are other great album runs-- the Miles Davis run that starts with "Cookin", on Prestige in 1955 through-- what? "Kind of Blue?" "Sketches of Spain"? You could probably take that one all the way out to "Jack Johnson" in 1970. Sinatra's Capital output, from 1955's "In the Wee Small Hours" through "Only the Lonely" (1958) or 1960's "Nice 'n' Easy". "Beggars Banquet" through "Exile on Main Street". There are a few others, but the lists of tears like that is a pretty sort one.
// posted by Bill @ 8:12 AM 
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