A Lifetime-Plus of Music

     Catching up tonight with The Doors’ second album, both second overall and second released 1967, “Strange Days”.  This was one of the first albums to be directly influenced by “Sgt. Pepper” as the Doors were inspired to advance their sound and build upon their own success as well as the monumental Beatles release that impacted many artists in mid-1967 and beyond.  This album did not prove to be quite on the same level as their debut album earlier in the year, but there is still a lot to like here.

     The first two songs on side one aren’t considered classic hits, but I do consider them classic Doors songs.  The title track “Strange Days” and “You’re Lost Little Girl” perfectly marry Jim Morrison’s distinct voice and unique lyrics with the inimitable keyboard sounds of Ray Manzarek.  “Love Me Two Times”, one of the two big hits from this album is next, and side one ultimately ends with an iconic Doors song, particularly in its historical context.  “Moonlight Drive” is an outstanding mix of imagery and cosmic ragtime blues, if there is such a thing.  Moreover, this song represents the first song Jim Morrison ever shared with Ray Manzarek when they discussed the possibilities of forming a band on the beaches of Venice, California.  The movie “The Doors” really captures this scene and it is worth a watch (this scene and the movie as a whole).  If you think it is “too Hollywood” to be real, like many biopics, there are several interviews with Ray Manzarek where he describes this moment verbatim as it appears in the film.  I’ll say it again, it is quite impressive how quickly these film students pulled their act together as a top-shelf band.  I’m not quite sure why “Moonlight Drive” was passed over until the second album, but it is an absolute favorite of mine.

     Keeping it rolling, Side Two opens with what I probably consider my all-time favorite Doors song, “People Are Strange”.  Again, this soft and sad observation of the world through the eyes of Jim Morrison paints a vivid picture, and it is musically beautiful at the same time.  The interplay of Robbie Krieger’s guitar and Manzarek’s piano work so well together, especially as a second track with Manzarek on organ blends in on the second verse.  As good as that all is, Morrison remains the centerpiece and irreplaceable face of this band, on this song and throughout the album.  The album’s last song, “When the Music’s Over”, replicates the dramatic and extended end of “The End” from the first album.  Like “The End”, I think this song could have possibly been slightly compressed in duration, but overall, I like this song and its powerful concluding theme.

     This follow-up carries a lot of weight and proves the staying power and overall quality of the Doors in a highly dynamic musical era.  With these two albums alone, the band produced as many quality songs as some acts do in a career, but fortunately there was still more to follow in their limited time.

     Today’s album is a complicated choice as we drift further into the world of psychedelia with the debut album from Pink Floyd.  “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, rated as album #253 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, is a historically significant album from this powerhouse British rock band who had multiple monumental albums to follow.  This first album is the only Pink Floyd album that highlights and features founding member and original lead influence Syd Barrett, who is the primary lead vocalist and lead guitar on this record.

     This album forces me to confront the rhetorical question, “How much experimentation is too much?” with an art form like music.  Full disclosure, Pink Floyd is a highly impactful act in my life that has served as a soundtrack for me and others during some of the darkest and most solitary moments of life.  I can think of at least two Pink Floyd songs that completely nail the feelings of devastating sadness and crushing isolation unlike any other songs… they serve as perfect mergers of word and music.  Admittedly, on this album, I struggle to find that impact.

     Like the Velvet Underground, I made sure to give this album several listens to make sure I wasn’t rushing to judgment.  It is an interesting blend with small blends of pop, larger slices of experimental sound, and it is certainly a foreshadow of some of the most thoughtful music to follow from Pink Floyd.  Listening closely to Syd Barrett for the first time, his voice, and even some of his songs, remind me a bit of Keith Relf from the Yardbirds.  Authentic British rock, and if you listen to the beginning of the album on “Astronomy Domine” or the end of the album on “Bike”, even without Barrett in subsequent releases, there are many continuations of sound and theme.

     Ultimately, Syd Barrett was overcome by the combined demons of mental health illness and excessive drug use, and not long after this album was released, he was ultimately, and somewhat ironically, replaced by his long-time friend David Gilmour.  Although this may agitate some Floyd purists, I consider Gilmour to be an incredibly essential component of the sound of Pink Floyd, and his distinctive voice and powerful lead guitar are noticeably absent on this first album.

     I can’t see myself coming back frequently to this record in the future, but given what I’m trying to accomplish in learning more about the history, roots, and evolution of the music I love, spending time with this album was long overdue and a notable event with its release.

     During this experience, there are a limited number of albums I greatly anticipate and look forward to hearing again.  There may not be another record through all of this that collectively reflects the influences that preceded it, as well as had as much of an influence on subsequent popular music as today’s selection, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”.  Rated as the #1 album in their original rankings, today “Sgt. Pepper” is rated as album # 24 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

     There are so many milestones to note on this album.  First, this album took cover art, including an opening middle section, to a new level, with the four Beatles surrounded by dozens of oddly selected figures from history and pop culture, including their early selves as the “Fab Four”.  Second, embracing the persona of this fictional band, the Beatles effectively built further on the concept album as a combined and integrated deliverable from beginning to end.  And lastly, it is my opinion that this album clearly reflects Paul McCartney asserting full command and artistic control over the band, a condition that while fruitful musically, sowed the seeds of tension that only grew stronger through the end of the Beatles.

     I believe this is one of those highly praised albums that actually deserves much of the praise it has yielded.  Paul stated that he felt compelled after hearing “Pet Sounds” by the Beach Boys to deliver something bigger and better in response.  Opening with the title track, the album flows smoothly into Ringo’s lead on “With a Little Help from My Friends”.  Like many of the songs on this album, double-entendres of psychedelia and experimentation intertwine with an extremely catch melody and the Beatles’ signature rich harmony backing vocals.  Continuing on, “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”, a Lennon lead, continues this highly colorful imagery with altered vocals and rich texture.

     The album then shifts back to Paul for the next three songs, but at this point, while they are all lead McCartney songs, they don’t feel like Paul McCartney solo songs.  They still feel like Beatles songs, a notable difference from the work that follows this album.  All three songs have outstanding second lead vocal lines from John, especially the melancholy “She’s Leaving Home”, which follows “Getting Better” and “Fixing a Hole”.  Side one ends with the carnival-carousel replication, “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite”, sung by John.

     Side two kicks off with George Harrison’s only track, the Indian-inspired “Within You Without You”.  The song was performed with a collection of Indian musicians, and does not include any of the other Beatles.  An odd turn for some, I think this song fits well in the exploratory times of the late 1960s, and allows George to shine in his authentic manner, just as Paul and John’s styles were becoming more pronounced.  As if to completely reverse course, the simplest, and most Paul-like song immediately follows, “When I’m Sixty-Four”.  When I first heard this warm ode to aging, I wondered what Paul would be like at 64.  Now, I wonder myself as I’m a little closer to that number than I would care to acknowledge.  Another McCartney song, “Lovely Rita” follows, succeeded by another Lennon song, “Good Morning, Good Morning” as the album frenetically races towards its conclusion.  It also should be said, that this song, as well as many others on this album, include some of Ringo Starr’s best work on drums.  He wasn’t as flashy or dramatic on the drums as many of his peers, but Ringo was and is a great drummer who was chosen for this band as an upgrade for a reason, and he added greatly to their music and their overall performance and presence.

     The final act begins with the reprise of the title track, which blends and fades into the perfection of “A Day in the Life”.  This song is one of the last great Lennon-McCartney collaborations.  While John wrote and sang lead on most of the song, there is a perfectly-Paul bridge in the middle that adds balance and shifts direction for this remarkable ending, concluded with a final chord on the piano that echoes for almost a full minute.

     1967 has already seen the debut of many hallmark artists as we near the “Summer of Love”, but this defining moment from the Beatles took rock albums to an entirely different level.  Many of the albums that follow beyond this will reflect the musical and artistic influence of “Sgt. Pepper”, appropriately paying homage to a legendary band of four artists doing some of their very best and most transformative work ever.

     We go back to the world of the blues today, with a slightly more modern twist.  Today’s album is “Born Under A Bad Sign” by Albert King, a contemporary of B.B. King who sang and played guitar.  Although less hailed than many of the blues legends we have already discussed, this record is rated as the #3 blues album by digitaldreamdoors.com.

     In short, I really enjoyed this album from beginning to end, and it would serve as a great blues intro for someone not terribly familiar with the genre.  I think one thing that made it was an easy listen, besides the natural vocal and guitar strength of Albert himself, was the production, rich on horns to fill out the sound.  The song choices were a great mix as well.  The album featured multiple King originals, but my favorites were the title track, “Born Under A Bad Sign”, the down-and-out classic “As the Years Go Passing By”, the well-known “Kansas City”, and “The Hunter”, which re-emerged in part on “How Many More Times” by Led Zeppelin.  And if all of that isn’t enough, who can’t love (and relate to) a song named “Laundromat Blues”?

     I look forward to adding this album and especially some of the tracks cited above to my playlists and mix of songs going forward.  Even with so many recognizable classics among the albums I’m listening to now, there is a great joy that comes from finding something new and unexpected. 

     We have already seen some amazing debuts in 1967, today is no exception.  The world of guitar and the world of rock music would never be the same after the debut album from James Marshall Hendrix, aka Jimi Hendrix.  “Are You Experienced”, from the Jimi Hendrix Experience, entered our world in the spring of 1967.  It is currently rated as the #30 album on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

     From the initial blunt impact of the opening power chords of “Purple Haze”, it was clear the electric guitar was on a new level.  As Eric Clapton, the reigning king of guitar said after the first time he saw Hendrix play, “He walked off, and my life was never the same again.”  His style, his sound, his flair, and his technical innovation and creativity were something the world had never seen up until this time.  This first release is loaded with Hendrix hits, most of which were his original songs.  The album was released in many formats, so I’m citing the current version available on my streaming service.  “Manic Depression” and “I Don’t Live Today” stand out on side one, as well as his passionate cover of “Hey Joe”, his bluesy and lamenting take on a relationship that goes way, way off track.

     Side two is a bit more experimental, after the first two songs. With “The Wind Cries Mary”, like many dual instrumentalist-vocalists, Hendrix was very self-conscious as a singer, but this song proves he absolutely could hold his own as a singer with his one-of-a-kind guitar playing.  The pace then dramatically shifts with one my all-time favorite Hendrix songs, “Fire”.  Hendrix is certainly the centerpiece, but Noel Redding on bass, and particularly Mitch Mitchell on drums, absolutely stand out on this track, with Mitchell doing his best Keith Moon impression.  I love this song so much that I featured it during my junior year in high school in the annual air guitar contest.  Like my hair, my earring, and my jump-shot, my basketball coach was not very impressed with my performance, but it is a great memory nonetheless.

     After the title track and an assortment of psychedelia and cosmic sounds, this version of the album wraps up with my all-time favorite Hendrix song, which doubles as my all-time favorite blues song, another Hendrix original, “Red House”.  The authenticity, tone, and sound of his guitar are just perfect, as are the lyrics and his vocal performance.  Jimi confronts the sadness and surprise of a departed love, but demonstrates the art of picking himself up and moving on.

     “I might as well go back over yonder, way back upon the hill, ‘cause if my baby don’t love me no more, I know her sister will”.

     Way to stand back up Jimi, and like Eric Clapton, once I heard Hendrix, my view of the music world would never be the same again.

     From the Queen of Soul to the very earliest days of punk, new wave or alternative music, whichever label may appeal to you, today we explore “The Velvet Underground & Nico”, one of the earliest offerings from Lou Reed and company.  When released, this album was essentially ignored, but has subsequently evolved in consideration, and is now viewed as one of the most significant albums of any era, and is rated #23 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

     I can certainly understand the influential significance, and had to give it multiple listens to fully wrap my head around this album.  I have no idea if this was the case, but I feel like the album was designed in the following manner.  It is as if the band decided to start with the easiest songs to digest, and gradually stretched and expanded further into realms of experimentation.  The album kicks off with the relatively benign but surreal song “Sunday Morning”, and then steps it up with a full-on Lou Reed display on “I’m Waiting For The Man”.  This trend continues throughout the album.  Along the way, the song themes and subjects cover many of the expected bases associated with this hidden world.  Drug use, sexual experimentation, rejection of societal norms of any sort, wrapped in glam, goth and dismay.  Female vocalist Nico leads us through “Femme Fatale”, which perfectly compliments the Andy Warhol vision of detached coolness that defines this album and the Velvet Underground.  The emotion-less irony of “All Tomorrow’s Parties” is followed by Reed’s blunt “Heroin”.  The song races and slows, I assume to replicate the high and low of each new dose, ultimately crashing in a cacophony of intolerable noise, again I assume to replicate the hopeless rabbit hole that is heroin addiction.  The album straightens out for “There She Goes Again” and “I’ll Be Your Mirror”, before really charting new territory in dark industrial noise with the last two tracks, “The Black Angel’s Death Song” and “European Son”.  Modern contemporary music intended to match modern contemporary art, beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder here.

     I’m glad I invested the extra time to really dig in on this album.  It was a challenging listen at times, but each run through it opened my eyes further to the emerging sound of almost every song, and it absolutely is the first of its kind, at least when compared to the more traditional genres of the time.

     Occasionally there is a song, album or artist that is just bigger than life.  I think all of those applies with today’s record, “I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You” by the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.  Not surprisingly, this album comes in very high on the Rolling Stone Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, at #13.  This classic is also the #3 album on Top 10 Soul albums of all time, as rated by digitaldreamdoor.com.  This was her first album on Atlantic Records, and features one of the most famous songs in popular music history.

     Originally written and performed by Otis Redding, “Respect” remains an anthem for all of those who have been treated unfairly or without the basic dignity and yes, respect, we all deserve.  Regardless of skin color, gender, appearance, background, religion, sexual orientation, or any other component of our identity, Aretha gives everyone an anthem for the ages that speaks up loud and proud.  An artist of her stature has multiple “signature” songs, but her take on Redding’s “Respect” may be at the top of that list and is an unbeatable way to kick off any album.

     Of all the artists on this list, there may not be another who commands such universal appreciation and adoration across the industry, so it feels a little ridiculous even trying to apply critical discussion to the rest of this album.  A mixture of originals and well-selected covers, Aretha is at the top of her unmatched game here, with a great collection to showcase her greatness.  “Drown in My Own Tears” takes you to church, and if you don’t feel something listening to this song, I don’t think I can help you.  There is a more subtle coolness to the title track, but it just hits you with a hammer of urgency and passion that is immeasurable.  If you listen to the upbeat track “Good Times”, I’m pretty sure James Taylor had to be listening to this right before he wrote “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”.  The similarities in tempo and melody are uncanny, at least to me.

     As if this album didn’t already pack a wallop, it closes with another home run version of Sam Cooke’s epic “A Change is Gonna Come”.  Some people don’t realize how talented Aretha was on the piano in addition to her amazing voice, and just as when I listened to Sam Cooke and Otis Redding sing this song, I can only begin to imagine what this song means to every African-American who has had to deal directly with our shameful and horrific treatment of their presence in this country for most of their lives.  Unlike Cooke and Redding, at least Aretha was able to live a full life and witness some of the much-needed progress, although as we watch the legal proceedings in Minnesota and witness daily, this journey is far from complete.

     With an album of this magnitude, ratings don’t matter.  I’m just grateful we were all able to be blessed by Aretha Franklin, and have music like this that will live on forever.

     We continue to approach the infamous “Summer of Love” in 1967, when counter-culture expanded their broad-based rebellion against the norms of society, the Vietnam War, and lingering battles against hatred and racism.  Centered in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, California, the most commercially successful and visible band within this movement was Jefferson Airplane.  Today we listen to their signature album, “Surrealistic Pillow”, the #448 album on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

     Fronted by Marty Balin, Paul Kantner and the legendary Grace Slick, this album included two standard hits from this era and movement.  “Somebody to Love”, featuring Slick on lead vocals, set the stage and laid the foundation for their substantial success.  As great as that song is, I think their defining moment from this album is “White Rabbit”.  Tied to the fantasy novel “Alice in Wonderland”, the song builds with power and passion.  Again featuring (and written by) Grace Slick on lead vocals, this song drips with the double-entendre of mystical childhood fantasy and psychedelic hallucinations.  To this day, this song is one of my all-time favorites.  Simple, yet urgent, Grace Slick and her band takes us on a journey deep inside her mind (and perhaps our own), filled with the curiosity, anxiety, and amazement of exploration.

     The rest of the album is a diverse mix, with sounds inspired by folk, electric folk rock i.e. The Byrds, with even a mix of blues and country blended in.  “Today”, “My Best Friend”, “Embryonic Journey”, and “J.P.P. McStep B. Blues” all stand out as great representations of their diverse but linked sound.  Listening to this album, it is very time specific and an essential soundtrack for understanding this important moment in our musical and societal history of the late 1960s.

     With all of the exciting new peaks as top artists inspired, challenged, and built off of one another, I was a little surprised by how ordinary I found the next Rolling Stones album, “Between The Buttons”.  There are familiar sounds and influences, with a more diverse collection of instruments and sounds.  The second song “Yesterday’s Papers” is a good example.  There is a bit of a “Pet Sounds” feel to it, but it is really pretty bland in general.

     Like every Rolling Stones album, there are multiple well-known hits, but even those are not my favorites.  Whenever I listen to a Stones playlist or collection, “Let’s Spend The Night Together” and “Ruby Tuesday” are usually there, but rarely do I double back to either of those for a second listen.  My favorite recollection of “Let’s Spend The Night Together” is when they were required by Ed Sullivan to begrudgingly change the chorus to “Let’s Spend Some Time Together”.  Apparently the thought of an unmarried couple spending the night together was just too much for Ed and popular America, even in 1967, following on the heels of the Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”.  Between that and The Doors refusing Ed’s direction to change the lyrics to “Light My Fire”, it was clear the gap was widening between pop culture and counter-culture.

     As I said, the rest of the album is pretty unremarkable, with some quirky moments like “Cool, Calm and Collected” and “Something Happened To Me Yesterday”, that remind me of The Who’s “A Quick One”, which as you know, is not a favorable comparison.  I will say there are a couple of moments on this album when I really stepped back to appreciate the drumming of Charlie Watts, which doesn’t always jump out with the Stones.  He is a very solid and always consistent drummer and perfect for the band, even if he doesn’t earn the same recognition as some of his peers.  “Complicated” is a great example of his sound, a highlight on this album.

     Overall, my favorite song by far is “Miss Amanda Jones”, which frankly sounds way ahead of schedule.  It is a great preview of the blues-honkey-tonk-rock mix sound they perfected on albums like “Exile on Main Street”.  The guitar sound is so raw and rough and the perfect precursor to where they were headed musically.

     As noted, as Rolling Stones albums go, this one will never rate at the top of my list, but even with a mid-level offering, there are several highlights worth a listen.

     1967, the year I was born, the “Summer of Love”, and yet another groundbreaking year in popular music.  Amazing debuts, historic steps forward, and the continued expansion of live music as a phenomenon at locations like the Monterey Pop Festival.  Which of these world-changing albums was the #1 selling album of 1967?  You guessed it… “More of the Monkees”, by the made-for-TV band created to build on the pop-culture humor and phenomenon initiated by the Beatles.

     The Monkees worked hard over the years to eventually gain greater creative control and demonstrate that to varying degrees, they were musicians as well as actors and could perform with some credibility.  However, for better or for worse, this album was mostly the creation of rock producer Don Kirshner and songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart.  This album was released without the band even knowing it was going to happen, and while it did produce a stellar run on the charts with 20 weeks as the #1 selling album in the U.S., besides “I’m A Believer” and a lesser-known song, “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone”, the rest of the album ranges from mediocre to much worse.

     I appreciate the Monkees for what they were, simple entertainment.  I do find it amazing that beyond people watching their TV show, that their music actually outsold many of the greatest artists at their peak.  They remain a notable part of the pop culture of the 1960s, and ultimately had a successful career with positive returns for all of the members of the group.

     “Hey, Hey, we’re the Monkees, and people say we monkey around…”