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Thread: Sgt. Peppers: Is it prog?

  1. #301
    Quote Originally Posted by Vic2012 View Post
    I don't have any George Harrison albums. Just never interested in solo Beatles. Like I'm not interested in solo Led, although I love Jimmy's solo Outrider.

    Anyway I guess George influenced me enough to dip my toe in some Indian music. It was the DVD of the Concert For George (2002) that made me go out and buy an Anoushka Shankar CD. It's one of those albums I've only played twice in 15 years but wouldn't think of getting rid of.
    I am not a great fan of Beatles solo albums either. McCartney was a big disappointment. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band I think is very good. I was also impressed by All Things Must Pass the first times I listened to it. There are many good songs there. But the last time I listened to it I thought that many songs were produced to death. I would have preferred a "naked" version. Since I bought these albums my musical interest went in another direction, and I haven't listened to any of it until a few years back. Since then I have listened to most of Lennon and Harrison's albums, but I don't find much gold. Imagine is produced to death also, and the title song is played to death. The rest of Lennon's solo albums are so so. Harrison's albums I think are mostly light weight pop albums with just a few memorable songs. I haven't listened to all of McCartney's albums yet. I always thought that his solo songs was mostly too easy listening for my taste, judging from the songs I heard on the radio. Ram has several good songs though. But none of them could reproduce The Beatles magic alone. They needed each other, plus George Martin.

    But Wonderwall Music is an album that I can return to. It is an instrumental album, so it doesn't compare to any of the pop albums the ex Beatles made later on. Harrison was still in The Beatles when he made it. The Inner Light, the B-side to Lady Madonna, was recorded in the same session as the Indian pieces on this album, and is also a very good Indian sounding song. And the album contains the first released sound collage from a Beatle, preceding Number 9. A very good piece also.

  2. #302
    Quote Originally Posted by Skullhead View Post
    I agree, "All Things Must Pass" is Harrison's masterpiece, aside from a few fillers on there. "Band on the Run" is McCartney's pillar in my opinion, and I suppose "Imagine" was Lennon's strongest moment post Beatles.

    I would also think Dark Horse, Venus and Mars and Plastic Ono Band are must have albums if you are just sampling post Beatles releases.
    I always loved the quirkiness of 1970 McCartney album and most of Lennon's Mind Games


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  3. #303
    I like Paul McCartney solo, but I think he seems to prefer the stuff he did with The Beatles. On Live in New York City, more than half of the songs are from The Beatles.

  4. #304
    Progga mogrooves's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by trondis23 View Post
    I am not a great fan of Beatles solo albums either.... But Wonderwall Music is an album that I can return to.
    +1 on both points.
    Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes

  5. #305
    Quote Originally Posted by Progmatic View Post
    I always loved the quirkiness of 1970 McCartney album and most of Lennon's Mind Games
    me too; LOVE "That Would Be Something," from McCartney, in particular...fun, quirky, funky and...possibly the very first human beatbox in history!
    John Kelman
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  6. #306
    Quote Originally Posted by Rarebird View Post
    I like Paul McCartney solo, but I think he seems to prefer the stuff he did with The Beatles. On Live in New York City, more than half of the songs are from The Beatles.
    Welll not sure how much is preference or the knowledge that his fans definitely want to hear a good chunk of Beatles from him...and if there's one thing you can say about McCartney (and there are many), it's that he's always been generous with his audiences.
    John Kelman
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  7. #307
    Quote Originally Posted by jkelman View Post
    Welll not sure how much is preference or the knowledge that his fans definitely want to hear a good chunk of Beatles from him...and if there's one thing you can say about McCartney (and there are many), it's that he's always been generous with his audiences.
    Still, if it is about pleasing the audience, I suppose the audience would it appreciate it probably even more if he would have worked with some real brass and reeds, like on Wings over America. I know I do.

  8. #308
    Quote Originally Posted by Progmatic View Post
    I always loved the quirkiness of 1970 McCartney album
    Several of those songs were being worked on as a Beatle. I have a few takes from the infamous "Get Back" sessions. One I don't have is "Maybe I'm Amazed," which he did work on in early '69.
    "The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"

  9. #309
    Quote Originally Posted by trondis23 View Post
    But none of them could reproduce The Beatles magic alone. They needed each other, plus George Martin.
    I am quite sure that Maybe I'm Amazed and Uncle Albert would have been huge Beatles hits even if released just as Paul did them. As sappy as "My Love" sounds at first, that guitar solo is magical. I would have loved to hear more of that kind of tasteful melodic soloing in a lot of The Beatles songs.

  10. #310
    Estimated Prophet notallwhowander's Avatar
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    I should mention that the Unplugged album, the audio of McCartney's appearance on the Mtv series in '91, is a damn fine recording. Here's a link to the tracklist.
    Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.

  11. #311
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rarebird View Post
    Still, if it is about pleasing the audience, I suppose the audience would it appreciate it probably even more if he would have worked with some real brass and reeds, like on Wings over America. I know I do.
    It just occurred to me that maybe Paul hired the horn section (Steve Howard – trumpet, flugelhorn; Howie Casey – saxes, flute; Thad Richard – saxes, clarinet, flute; Tony Dorsey – trombone) to compensate for Linda's shaky musicianship. In a pop road band like that, the electronic keyboardist typically reproduces the orchestral arrangements appearing on the records. Linda, though, couldn't do so reliably (or sometimes at all) - yet for obvious reasons Paul couldn't marginalize her by adding a more expert player. So he made an end-run around the problem: hired four horn players, had them cover the string parts as well, got the big, full, and professional sound the music needed, and yet left Linda with her role as the keyboardist..

  12. #312
    Quote Originally Posted by Rarebird View Post
    Still, if it is about pleasing the audience, I suppose the audience would it appreciate it probably even more if he would have worked with some real brass and reeds, like on Wings over America. I know I do.
    I wasn't suggesting there was anything wrong with Paul making that decision...given that no other Beatle would touch the Beatles catalog (ok, who knows what John might have done had he lived, and George did perform some of his tunes) so extensively, I think it's great he's still keeping it alive.

    And I love WoA. A knockout live album...
    John Kelman
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  13. #313
    Quote Originally Posted by Skullhead View Post
    I am quite sure that Maybe I'm Amazed and Uncle Albert would have been huge Beatles hits even if released just as Paul did them. As sappy as "My Love" sounds at first, that guitar solo is magical. I would have loved to hear more of that kind of tasteful melodic soloing in a lot of The Beatles songs.
    Or, perhaps, this: how would those songs have sounded had George Martin been able to put his wonderful producer's hands on them? Tremendous songs, both, to be sure; but when it came to arrangement ideas there's a reason he was called the fifth Beatle. And who knows how he might have transformed them?
    John Kelman
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  14. #314
    Quote Originally Posted by jkelman View Post
    Or, perhaps, this: how would those songs have sounded had George Martin been able to put his wonderful producer's hands on them? Tremendous songs, both, to be sure; but when it came to arrangement ideas there's a reason he was called the fifth Beatle. And who knows how he might have transformed them?

    Pretty nice arranged for Uncle Albert don't you think? It really sounds the most like a Beatles song off one of their later albums. Fit right on Magical Mystery Tour?


  15. #315
    Quote Originally Posted by Skullhead View Post
    Pretty nice arranged for Uncle Albert don't you think? It really sounds the most like a Beatles song off one of their later albums. Fit right on Magical Mystery Tour?



    This one, too.

    Aside from these two tracks, I don't really care for "Ram."
    "The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"

  16. #316
    Quote Originally Posted by Baribrotzer View Post
    It just occurred to me that maybe Paul hired the horn section (Steve Howard – trumpet, flugelhorn; Howie Casey – saxes, flute; Thad Richard – saxes, clarinet, flute; Tony Dorsey – trombone) to compensate for Linda's shaky musicianship. In a pop road band like that, the electronic keyboardist typically reproduces the orchestral arrangements appearing on the records. Linda, though, couldn't do so reliably (or sometimes at all) - yet for obvious reasons Paul couldn't marginalize her by adding a more expert player. So he made an end-run around the problem: hired four horn players, had them cover the string parts as well, got the big, full, and professional sound the music needed, and yet left Linda with her role as the keyboardist..
    Sounds reasonable, but still, it beats the keyboard-arrangements. And yes, I love keyboards and I can even appreciate synthetic brass, but it isn't the same as real brass.

  17. #317
    Quote Originally Posted by Skullhead View Post
    Pretty nice arranged for Uncle Albert don't you think? It really sounds the most like a Beatles song off one of their later albums. Fit right on Magical Mystery Tour?
    As I said, I know it and like it very much. That doesn't mean George Martin mightn't have sprinkled a little extra fairy dust on it....but it's all moot, and the version on Ram is, without a doubt, beautiful...but I don't believe it would have fit on a Beatles album as-is. But hast my opinion.
    John Kelman
    Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
    Freelance writer/photographer

  18. #318
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    Yeah, like Rarebird I'm not too keen on the syn-brass sounds of Paul 'Wix' Wickens...well, not him particularly, I've just never liked that sound in anyone's hands.

    Ram is a magnificent album as it is, IMHO. His debut album is a little more rough-around-the-edges but still has a charm some of the Wings albums don't.

    When I saw him in 2010 he did 'Ram On', a delightful bit of nonsense I've always loved.

  19. #319
    I see a lot of love for "Ram," but just don't get it.
    "The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"

  20. #320
    Quote Originally Posted by ronmac View Post
    I see a lot of love for "Ram," but just don't get it.
    I agree, a lot of fluff and filler from Paul, and the only album that really feels solid to me is Band on the Run. However, if I take his best stuff
    from all the Wings albums and compile them, he's a guy who hits a lot of home runs... a lot more than the other Beatles and pretty much everyone else. He could have been a great "prog" artist had he wanted to focus more on that direction. I think he just liked to write simply lazy songs and very complex stuff, then group them all together. I think it was just how he "rolled".
    Last edited by Skullhead; 07-18-2017 at 06:03 PM.

  21. #321
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    I can listen to something like 'Dear Boy' on Ram and be knocked out every time by its almost casual brilliance. Ram has built in stature over the years. When I first heard it (probably 30 years after its release!), I thought it was only me that liked it! It didn't have much status at the time but that has changed. The same happened with McCartney II.

    My least favourite McCartney album is Off The Ground. That's him in uninspired 'craftsman' mode IMHO, and has some real lyrical low points.

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