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Post by BSJ on Sept 16, 2014 0:22:19 GMT
A very interesting video about "Nowhere man"'s vocal harmonies: This is a riot! Love it!
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Post by Helmut83 on Sept 16, 2014 0:28:03 GMT
A very interesting video about "Nowhere man"'s vocal harmonies: This is a riot! Love it! For unomusette: related to the question you made last week, here's a clear example of how you can dissect music you already know and enjoy it on a different level. Well, at least BSJ enjoyed it, hopefully you too.
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Post by jrmugz on Sept 16, 2014 1:15:35 GMT
A very interesting video about "Nowhere man"'s vocal harmonies: Very awesome cool video, that enhanced my appreciation of a song I already love. Thanks for posting it, Helmut! Jim
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Post by Horacewimp on Sept 16, 2014 9:34:15 GMT
Good choice BSJ, I've had a listen and actually know more songs than I thought. A very easy album to listen to, would be great to relax too having a few drinks, soaking up the sun, generally doing nothing.
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Post by unomusette on Sept 16, 2014 10:41:13 GMT
Firstly I must thank BSJ for making this such an easy album to review. Glancing down the tracklist I was already smiling at so many familiar classics, but amazed at them all being on the same record (see above for grovelling apology at my ignorance)
Even today that would be quite an achievement without it being a "best of", but to produce it back then is simply stunning.This is a little bomb of fabulousness, and you can easily see how it influenced the likes of The Idle Race and The Move.
The tracks:
Drive My Car - Great up-beat opener, nice lively vocals, classic pop but with a bit of an edge
Norwegian Wood - Lovely unusual melody, the creepy ending has always intrigued me ("So, I lit a fire...") Pyromania well before Def Leppard.
You Won't See Me - The tune is sterotypically Beatles, so much so that it reminded me of The Rutles (but in a good way). Happy and catchy.
Nowhere Man - I've always thought of this as a slow song for some reason, but it bops along quite smartly after the layered opening lines and the vocal harmonies are great.
Think For Yourself - Really interesting bass line in the background here, or is it keyboards? Puts a lot of depth into what might otherwise be more of a filler. Can imagine lots of freaky dancing going on to this one
The Word - Hmm, same-ish tempo as Think for Yourself so doesn't stand out being put right after it. Nice harmonies though, and good sixties atmosphere. Love the keyboards at the end.
Michelle - Pretty tune, probably not as shockingly different to other contemporary songs as other stuff on this album, but I'm always a sucker for squeezing a foreign language in.
What Goes On - Country and western, yee-har! Does Ringo get an outing on every album? Probably suffers from being overshadowed by all the other songs on here.
Girl - Similar to Michelle but much better lyrics, heartfelt sighing and interesting bazouki style guitar. Wins the ballad race for me.
I'm Looking Through You - Liking the guitar on here, all different sorts of texture (jangly, punchy, twiddly and the sort of Bzz Bzz bit after "..treat me right"
In My Life - Ahh, gorgeous. Drums maybe sound a bit flat but everything else is spot on. And it has harpsichord in it. Winner!
Wait - Sound is a bit tinny to my ear, like a demo which needs polishing and filling out. Not one of the best but who's complaining?
If I Needed Someone - Jangly Byrds-like guitar makes this special, and the great vocal harmonies. Can't decide if it's this or In My Life which is my favourite.
Run For Your Life - This one is Kinks-alike, it's a quirky toe-tapper you can just imagine them shaking their mop-tops to it onstage.
Can easily see how this would make a fab party record, listening to it was most uplifting - thanks!
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Post by queenofthehours on Sept 16, 2014 19:31:27 GMT
I want to apologise to BSJ that my review of the sonic world of Rubber Soul is going to be delayed for a while as I’ve been spending all my free music time watching some guy in sunglasses and a beard singing the most amazing pop tunes on a loop via the BBC Red Button. He’s really good, I think everyone here would like him. Sounds like the Beatles were a big influence on him.
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Post by BSJ on Sept 16, 2014 19:38:30 GMT
Firstly I must thank BSJ for making this such an easy album to review. Glancing down the tracklist I was already smiling at so many familiar classics, but amazed at them all being on the same record (see above for grovelling apology at my ignorance) You are most welcome and you may rise. All is forgiven. More on reviews later.
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Post by BSJ on Sept 16, 2014 19:47:30 GMT
I want to apologise to BSJ that my review of the sonic world of Rubber Soul is going to be delayed for a while as I’ve been spending all my free music time watching some guy in sunglasses and a beard singing the most amazing pop tunes on a loop via the BBC Red Button. He’s really good, I think everyone here would like him. Sounds like the Beatles were a big influence on him. I did think, at the time of changing weeks with Unomusette, that that guy would over shadow a bit, this is why I chose a Beatle album to review to help keep us in the spirit of things. No shocks to our systems.
I've been listening to that guys concert from the Discovery site - it's just music that I Ipad to stereo. If I didn't I would starve to death.
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Post by 88keys on Sept 17, 2014 6:26:24 GMT
Rubber Soul is probably my third favorite Beatles record, right behind The White Album and Revolver. These were no longer the silly mop tops's from Hard Day's Night and Help!, these were sophisticated, mature songwriters who were giving us a preview of greater things to come.
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Post by jrmugz on Sept 17, 2014 11:15:01 GMT
Rubber Soul is probably my third favorite Beatles record, right behind The White Album and Revolver. These were no longer the silly mop tops's from Hard Day's Night and Help!, these were sophisticated, mature songwriters who were giving us a preview of greater things to come. But even on "Hard Day's Night" and "Help!", songs like "Yesterday" and "Help!", weren't exactly silly mop-top! Jim
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Post by jrmugz on Sept 19, 2014 1:10:42 GMT
OK, here is my breakdown of the songs.
01. "Drive My Car" - Great riff and rhythm. Childish and immature lyrics with too much innuendo. 02. "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" - They admitted it was about a woman who wouldn't put out for a guy, so he burned her house down. But it's a good musical arrangment, and the lyrics lend itself to making what we want of them, so not quite as perverse as the first song. 03. "You Won't See Me" - Great pop rock song, all the nice ingredients, maybe too much bubble gum and pop, but it's a nice hit of chocolate bar as well. 04. "Nowhere Man" - Can't say enough good things about it, and ingenious harmonies, per the Helmut video. 05. "Think For Yourself" - I love the fuzz guitar, the upbeatness of it, and the message to be self-reliant, etc. 06. "The Word" - It's mind-boggling to think that after so many quality songs, that the train keeps rolling with one so colorful and such a nice message. Reminds me of the first chapter of the gospel of John (the apostle, not Lennon). 07. "Michelle" - One word: Wow. I mean, "Wow". What an amazing song. 08. "What Goes On" - Nothing fancy, but I love it. 09. "Girl" - Thoroughly entertaining. 10. "I'm Looking Through You" - Great song, on the one hand it would sound wonderful done in pure country mode, but then they would have to get rid of the cool funk after the "you're not the same" words. 11. "In My Life" - One of those songs like Bohemian Rhapsody or Baba O'Riley where I was completely speechless when I first heard it, and I am still moved by it. 12. "Wait" - I think like someone said or alluded to, if stuff like this is filler for The Beatles, what an absolutely incredible band they are/were. I say "are" because they clearly live on. 13. "If I Needed Someone" - Excellent song, verse, chorus, bridge, guitar, vocal arrangement, etc. Kudos to George. 14. "Run For Your Life"? - Sometimes I'm taken aback at the line "I'd rather see you dead", but hey at least it comes off more as lighthearted humor, and has a great chorus and arrangement.
All in all, a truly amazing classic album. Thanks for picking it BSJ, I thought I already had a good feel and appreciation of it, but analyzing song by song, and gleaning the greatness from all of them and writing it down, made me realize even moreso what a truly timeless classic ingenious album it is. I can really see where it inspired even Brian Wilson to expand HIS horizons.
Jim
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Post by Helmut83 on Sept 19, 2014 16:22:01 GMT
Hey, Jim, with all due respect, maybe you should just try relaxing a bit about the lyrics because I get the notion that they are disturbing you a bit from fully enjoying music. Lyrics are that, just lyrics. No one is killing anyone, no one is being disrespectful to any god there may exist, and sex, lust and desire are strong components of daily life and thus inspirational for many artists, and I don't see why they should be considered a bad thing in itself.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not intending to mess up with your beliefs or tell you what to do. It's only that I'm get the feeling that if you could get rid of all that unnecesary stricness you would be able to enjoy music better without letting lyrics get you uncomfortable.
Talking about which, when is it that I should post my CD of the week?
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Post by BSJ on Sept 19, 2014 16:44:36 GMT
Talking about, when is it that I should post my CD of the week? Do you mean your Week of - Set. 21, or the time to post?
I post mine Saturday night. It's AM in UK, so when the moment they wake up they know they can head straight to the CD of the Week site in excitement!
Can't wait to see what your offering is!
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Post by BSJ on Sept 19, 2014 16:51:44 GMT
I’m very pleased with the responses toward this album. Someone wrote that some songs are stereotypically Beatles, but you can hear the change of direction. This is what Hubby and I were aiming for when choosing.
I was 8 when I bought this album and appreciation for it has changed through the years, but reading all your reviews places me in a whole different level of appreciation. The video Helmut83 posted help me understand how talented they are. I’m not a musician so I take for granted from not understanding the work and talent involved. Thanks Helmut83. And thank you all for taking the time to listen and write your reviews. It is time consuming. Yes, Unoprobie! Ringo sings a song on most albums (true gang?). And I can’t help loving them all. It’s Ringo!! He always sounds like he’s having a great time. One song stands out for me is Girl…. pure Lennon. A man head shaking thinking; I can’t believe I’m mixed up with this Loon, and I can’t find a way out. That intake of breath. No Love Me Do, this song.
Does it seem that most of the songs are of Lennon singing, or am I just loving his vocals and his songs stand out?
Let’s see – burning a house down, threating to kill someone. Fore runners of Punk? Makes me have to rethink these bad boys!
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Post by Helmut83 on Sept 19, 2014 18:04:13 GMT
Someone wrote that some songs are stereotypically Beatles I think you can talk about "stereotypically Beatles" during their first 6 albums, of which "Rubber Soul" is the last one, and even like that there were a lot of exceptions. From "Revolver" on I think there was no longer anything "stereotipically Beatles" because they went so wide and diverse in what they did that they didn't really have a defined stereotype or style. You could no longer take common features of their style because their style went to be an amoeba. Ringo sang one song per album, except in the White Album were he sang two (because it was a double album) and in "Let it be", were he didn't sing any. Yes, his voice definitely has something funny on it. As for the others, no, Lennon doesn't sing on most of them, at least not lead voice. The rule with the Beatles was that whoever wrote the song sang it, and there were very few exceptions ("In my life" being one, as it was sung by Lennon but apparently written mostly by McCartney), so Lennon sings like 40% of the songs of this album. You are welcome about the video. And yeah, for dissecting music, there's no other band like the Beatles. They were fantastic in so many aspects that it's hard to realize with a normal listen.
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