The Beatles,
The Beatles (Apple) - Released: November 22, 1968
A wondrous treasure of songs and styles. Not four solo albums rolled into
one as some say, but at least partly a full fledged group effort, though
most of Paul McCartney’s contributions ended up as solo recordings thanks to
the evil moods of John Lennon, who’s sharp tongue kept lashing out both at
him and his songs. John was high on heroin, Yoko and his own ego, so Paul
preferred to work on his own songs alone (or with Ringo).
Paul, bless him, did not reciprocate, but rather threw himself
wholeheartedly into both Lennon and Harrison’s songs, recreating the old
group magic, his contributions to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, for
instance, are crucial. The irony is that because Paul’s own recordings
differ from the group efforts, they actually turn the album into a richer
listening experience. John Lennon must have appreciated this in the end as
his acoustic solo performance of “Julia” was the very last song recorded for
the “White Album”.
I don’t think there is a single genre or style in popular music not present
on “The Beatles”. The greatest double album of all time? I think so.
Contents: Back in the U.S.S.R./Dear Prudence/Glass Onion/Ob-La-Di,
Ob-La-Da/Wild Honey Pie/The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill/While My
Guitar Gently Weeps/Happiness Is a Warm Gun/Martha My Dear/I’m So
Tired/Blackbird/Piggies/Rocky Raccoon/Don’t Pass Me By/Why Don’t We Do It in
the Road?/I Will/Julia/Birthday/Yer Blues/Mother Nature’s Son/Everybody’s
Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey/Sexy Sadie/Helter
Skelter/Long, Long, Long/Revolution 1/Honey Pie/Savoy Truffle/Cry Baby
Cry/Revolution 9/Good Night
The Rolling Stones, Beggars Banquet (Decca) - Released:
December 6, 1968
The Stones going back to basics after the psychedelic (but actually quite
underrated) “Their Satanic Majesties Request”. Some tracks are almost
unplugged acoustic blues, and even the thundering “Street Fighting Man” is
actually an acoustic number, there’s no electric guitars on it.
The mood of the album is a disillusioned and resigned response to the
chaotic 1968, a year of aggressive student demonstrations, assassinations
(Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.), bloody battles in Vietnam (the
Tet-offensive and the battle of Khe Sahn), the Soviet invasion of
Czechoslovakia. The hypnotic and dark “Sympathy For The Devil” opens the
album, while the gospel like “Salt Of The Earth” closes it, offering some
sort of bleak consolation.
Contents: Sympathy for the Devil/No Expectations/Dear
Doctor/Parachute Woman/Jig-Saw Puzzle/Street Fighting Man/Prodigal Son/Stray
Cat Blues/Factory Girl/Salt of the Earth
The Band, Music From Big Pink
(Capitol) - Released: July 1, 1968
“Music From Big Pink” came as a revelation when it arrived in July 1968. No
studio tricks, no backwards guitars, no interstellar overdrives, just a
plain and simple record consisting of songs about basic values performed by
a collective of musicians who loved each other’s company and who treated
each song, every note they played, with love and awe. They looked like men
from the mountains, men of soil - so distant from Carnaby Street that they
probably had travelled through time.
I won’t say that “Music For Big Pink” saved rock, but it did show that there
were other paths to walk, and it sure reclaimed some of what was being lost
in the drugged out mumbo jumbo of psychedelia. Levon Helm, Rick Danko and
Richard Manuel have all left us. On “Music For Big Pink” they shine forever.
Contents: Tears of Rage/To Kingdom Come/In a Station/Caledonia
Mission/The Weight/We Can Talk/Long Black Veil/Chest Fever/Lonesome
Suzie/This Wheel’s on Fire/Shall Be Released
Mothers Of Invention, We’re Only In It For The Money
(Verve) - Released: March 4, 1968
The sleeve is a hilarious parody of “Sgt. Pepper”, already an icon in 1968,
but EMI interfered. Zappa had to invert the concept, so the inner gatefold
became the outer sleeve. He blamed The Beatles, but Paul McCartney who loves
the cover, claims that it was not their decision at all.
The record itself satirizes the hippie movement so cleverly that the targets
at first didn’t realize the joke was on them. It also lashes out at left
wing politics and right-wing squares without missing a beat, the punch line
being that anybody belonging to a movement should be approached with caution
and contempt.
The songs themselves are very funny and extremely easy on the ear, sometimes
almost infantile, but never outstaying their welcome as the music constantly
takes some unexpected left turns. I’d say this is Frank Zappa’s first
masterpiece. Even if the record company censored some snippets of the lyrics
behind his back.
Contents: Are You Hung Up?/Who Needs the Peace Corps?/Concentration
Moon/Mom & Dad/Bow Tie Daddy/Harry, You’re a Beast/the Ugliest Part of Your
Body?/Absolutely Free/Flower Punk/Hot Poop/Nasal Retentive Calliope
Music/Let’s Make the Water Turn Black/The Idiot Bastard Son/Lonely Little
Girl/Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance/What’s the Ugliest Part of Your
Body? (Reprise)/Mother People/The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny
