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Post by tory on Jan 10, 2023 13:28:03 GMT
When you think of this coming out in 1966, you almost have to double check that you have the year right. One of the first things I ever heard by them, and it stunned me. I just hadn't considered music could DO that! And it still sounds absolutely thrilling. There's a kind of arrogance behind it all - they've got this story and this unique band driving behind it and they're kicking without compromise. To be honest, this blows Revolver out of the water the more I listen to it in terms of "what was happening at the same time".
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Post by riggers on Jan 10, 2023 13:28:31 GMT
This. The reason this track is still held up as groundbreaking is because of the fact that it was on an album by the biggest band in the world. Avant Garde music and art had been around for years, but the average man in the street in 1966 would most likely have never even heard the expression 'Avant Garde', never mind any of it's exponents. Even if it didn't feature the tape loops, it would still be a groundbreaking track, because of the drums. Drums had never been recorded like that before. If it had all the other elements, maybe with a bit of distorted, raga flavoured guitar on, it would still have been remarkable. Members of the Byrds and Jefferson Aiplane are on record, saying that when they heard it, it sounded like the future and they knew instantly that The Beatles had changed the game again. But as a composition it goes hardly anywhere. It is a dirge in many ways. It has a particular sound that appeals because of the context of when it was released, which was that here was a band that was composing simplistic songs 4 years previously. However, as a composition in itself, it has little in the way of any memorable change beyond that (admittedly fantastic sounding) drum break and a few tapeloops. It is still an achievement in many ways, but as a song in itself it, beyond that initial, arresting first minute or so, there isn't exactly much going on. Sure, no-one else was doing anything like this beyond the fellow explorers such as Stockhausen and other Musique Concrete composers. They are to be lauded for it, but these days, to be honest, I'd much rather listen to Doctor Robert or Eleanor Rigby. But who says it has to be anything other than a 'dirge'? That in itself (eschewing melodic and harmonic norms, the influence of Indian music) was groundbreaking.
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Post by Reactionary Rage on Jan 10, 2023 14:00:46 GMT
1966
Could be the best year ever. Expanding horizons, carefree experimentation, so much colour and beauty and some of the very post pop music ever. I still think Good Vibrations really dazzles. That classic mid 60s Beach Boys instrument palette (flute, piccolo, sleigh bells, cello etc) is gorgeous and there's some really wonderful, pictorial touches that beautifully mirror the lyrics too casually thrown in but possessing a touch of genius; for example the gossamer organ on the verses suggesting the "sunlight that plays upon her hair" (seriously, listen to it, it's like sunlight on water) or, of course, the famous theremin which represents the vibrations floating round the ether. So many magical touches and the way Wilson weaves all these different sections together is mindblowingly good. Churlish to pick out one highlight among such riches but the instrumental breakdown (Jews harp! Yes!) after the 2nd chorus segueing into "I don't know where...." followed by the "got to keep" section is go ridiculously great it almost makes you weep. Incredible stuff really. Has any 3+ minute pop song contained This much music? This many hooks? I mean seriously. Ridiculous fucking record.
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Post by DayoRemix on Jan 10, 2023 14:41:24 GMT
"I'm waiting for the man" came out in 1967..
"All tomorrow's Parties"/"I'll be your mirror" and "Sunday Morning"/"Femme Fatale" were the singles released in '66 from VU & Nico..
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rayge
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Post by rayge on Jan 10, 2023 18:52:09 GMT
For my tastes, a HUGE year. I wince at the choices I couldn't nominate. You know...as a matter of fucking fact - we don't need to get in to dicking around with this sort of thing now until the CANON is well and truly over with, but...a few of these years (including some in which I've had to fiddle around with my nominations a few times in order to really stick the landing) have had me wondering if someday in the future we MIGHT really dig into certain years and DO personal lists of ten or a dozen. I feel your pain. Vent here: preludin.proboards.com/thread/6516/coulda-bin-contender
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Post by blue on Jan 11, 2023 1:15:36 GMT
Just going back to Tomorrow Never Knows, the process can be compared with the 60s avant garde but the overall sound is from somewhere pretty different from most of the composers mentioned above, isn't it? They could have made it a clear Stockhausen pastiche with a bit of a beat just to show off the references but they stuck it (mostly) all on a single chord with the Eastern drones and visions, and created something that was original.
Anyway I love the story of Paul playing it to Dylan, and BD saying "oh, I get it, you don't want to be cute any more" and walking out.
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Post by neige on Jan 11, 2023 9:35:04 GMT
"I'm waiting for the man" came out in 1967.. "All tomorrow's Parties"/"I'll be your mirror" and "Sunday Morning"/"Femme Fatale" were the singles released in '66 from VU & Nico.. True that.
Discogs lists a test pressing of the VU & Nico album from November 1966, but I'm not sure whether that counts.
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rayge
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Post by rayge on Jan 11, 2023 10:10:14 GMT
"I'm waiting for the man" came out in 1967.. "All tomorrow's Parties"/"I'll be your mirror" and "Sunday Morning"/"Femme Fatale" were the singles released in '66 from VU & Nico.. True that.
Discogs lists a test pressing of the VU & Nico album from November 1966, but I'm not sure whether that counts. I think the criterion is first official release, so it doesn't.
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Post by ernie on Jan 11, 2023 15:18:17 GMT
1966
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Post by neige on Jan 12, 2023 22:36:40 GMT
It's nearly impossible to pick just one for 1966.
But I haven't yet and while I regret all other omissions, this is closest to my heart right now and probably always will be.
1966
The Left Banke - Pretty Ballerina
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loveless
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Post by loveless on Jan 12, 2023 22:37:41 GMT
Thank you, neige. It killed me not to pick it.
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Jan 13, 2023 16:22:59 GMT
Agree wholeheartedly. I think if you'd never heard anything but pop music, then "TNK" would be jaw-dropping. However, the Beatles had been dipping their toes in the avant-garde for a couple of years (well McCartney had), they were fabulously wealthy already and had access to recording studio TIME that was beyond most other musicians of the era. It's really not that great - the idea is great - but beyond the first few bars, it becomes something of a dirge. It's like a previous generation's "Fool's Gold" - a swerve in a different direction for a short time that has somehow become indicative of greatness, when in actual reality, beyond Strawberry Fields Forever (which is obviously far more sophisticated), A Day in the Life and Revolution #9, their avant-garde psychedelic pretensions did not run that far. Couldn't disagree more. There'd been nothing like it in pop music ever, and more crucially nothing like it in any other music either. And if I'm wrong about that then post the evidence. You'll post some avant-garde Stockhausen thing probably, but it won't sound anything like TNK It was ground breaking and a game changer and still sounds fantastic today with those driving beats and weird punctuations of electronic noise and samples.
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Sneelock
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Post by Sneelock on Jan 13, 2023 17:35:42 GMT
Help! came out in '65! Revolver came out in '66. you can count on me to state the obvious but I think that's really something worth considering.
I get what DF & toby are saying - the FABS weren't exactly climbing Mount Everest. well, looking back, it sure the fuck looks like they were climbing something! I admire the confidence of assuming others would go along. I did. I still love TNK. the shock of the new may be blunted or over stated but it is, at the very least, a pretty singular track.
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Jan 13, 2023 22:49:02 GMT
Help! came out in '65! Revolver came out in '66. you can count on me to state the obvious but I think that's really something worth considering. I get what DF & toby are saying - the FABS weren't exactly climbing Mount Everest. But they were. DF and Toby haven't made a convincing argument at all, they just find Beatles worship boring.
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toomanyhatz
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Post by toomanyhatz on Jan 13, 2023 23:37:39 GMT
Yeah, I don't particularly care if it's not to Toby's or DF's taste - but the idea that this was in any way precedented in the mainstream (which is what I tried to make clear is what I was referring to) is patently ridiculous. Even if you can pinpoint its influences pretty neatly. Point is, it's canon because it changed the way we heard pop music. Again, fine if you don't care to acknowledge that, but you're going to have to make a better case.
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