In common with so many people, I have an appreciation for the music of the Beatles. Throughout their career, they produced music that appealed to so many people. I mean people with very different tastes - even needs - they can find common ground in what the Beatles produced. No two fans will draw up the same list of their favourites. They crossed so many boundaries - appealed to all four quadrants of musical appreciation - energetic versus calm, dark versus positive. One of my favourite albums, which was among the CDs I borrowed, was 'Beatles for Sale', which although an early release, was a welcome departure from their positive pop into a more introspective and a darker space.
In terms of the quadrants, I am very much a fan of the dark (melancholic) and the calm. It explains my favourite songs, though my tastes are definitely not confined to this quadrant - there are many positive and energetic songs that I adore. Still, whilst I have never gone to the lengths of drawing up a top ten or a Desert Island Discs selection, I know that some of these would be among them:
Behind Blue Eyes - The Who
For a Friend - The Communards
11am - Incubus
Space & Time - 009 Sound System
And Bill Withers, of course. Who could leave this song out of their list...
I love these little bits of story behind the story.
ReplyDeleteAn interview with David Mason, a contributor to a much loved Beatles track. The only time this instrument has been used in rock music. He died this April aged 85.
Before listening to the clip, the inclusion of this musician and this instrument was inspired by Paul McCartney listening to the Brandenburg Concerto.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=mQyBRS8Nby8
It's a great story. I think the story of the Beatles is fascinating. It demonstrates that many great success stories are the result of many disparate but necessary factors coming together at just the right time. Beatles' talents & personalities + Hamburg + Brian Epstein + George Martin + social revolution of the sixties. Take any element out and it probably wouldn't have happened. But George Martin, with his classical influences led them to experiment and stories like this are the result. Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteDid you guess what it was before you watched the clip?
ReplyDeleteYes. I knew the story about Paul watching Bach on TV one evening and bringing his interest to the attention of George Martin. George described it as a Bach Trumpet - so-called because of Bach's use of it in the Brandenburg Concertos. George scored the trumpet part himself and got David Mason in to perform it. The rest is history... What an inspirational story - changing pop music incrementally over the space of just a few years. Between the Beatles and the Beach Boys - who were doing their own experiments with studio technology - pop went from Del Shannon to Jimi Hendrix in the space of about 5 years. Fantastic!
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