A Lifetime-Plus of Music

     A day spent near the beach was perfect for todays selection, “All Summer Long” by the Beach Boys.  Believe it or not, by July of 1964, this was actually their 6^th album.  It continued to demonstrate the advancing production capabilities of Brian Wilson, as well as his more prominent role on lead vocals.  This album also was the beginning of their shift away from surfing and cars as their primary song topics, and you can see the early roots of Brian’s experimental shift taking hold here.

     “I Get Around” is the most well-known track on the album, and it is a great one, but there are some less prominent gems as well.  The title track “All Summer Long” is perfect in theme and in harmonies.  “Little Honda” is a motorcycle song, not a car song, but it is a classic Mike Love-led track with supporting vocals from Dennis Wilson.  “Wendy”, ultimately a name Brian chose for one of his daughters, is another stunning harmony-rich melody, as is “Girls on the Beach”.

     As noted, there are some more experimental moments here.  “Carl’s Big Chance” is an odd guitar instrumental, and “Our Favorite Recording Sessions” comes across to me as a fairly altered state recording, even if it wasn’t intended that way.

     Rivalries stretched across the ocean, as Brian Wilson continued to push the boundaries of pop music just as Lennon and McCartney were doing back in the UK.  This sensation only gets more profound from here, but this album is a nice intro and somewhat of a farewell to the early days for the Beach Boys all at the same time.

     I picked a good day yesterday to drive in my car for many hours, as the album of the day is one of my all-time favorites.  It is no secret that I’m a big fan of the Beatles, and yesterday was the soundtrack album to the mockumentary film, “A Hard Day’s Night”.  Although the movie is a bit absurd and cashes in on the charisma and the dry comedic timing of the band, the album is absolutely outstanding.  It might be my favorite Beatles album of all-time, which is no small statement, and if not, it is definitely my favorite from their early years of 1963-1966.  It is also the 263^rd rated album of all time on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Albums of All Time.

     This has to be the most Lennon-centric of all of the Beatles albums.  There are 13 songs (all originals by Lennon/McCartney), and aside from 3 songs with Paul on lead vocals and 1 with George (none for Ringo this time), the other 9 songs feature John Lennon on lead.  There is so much to like here.  Casual fans will quickly recognize the title track and “Can’t Buy Me Love”, which are certainly classic Beatles songs, but to me, the real treasure lies within 4 other songs on side one, and 1 song on side two.  “And I Love Her” is a beautiful McCartney ballad done right, with Harrison’s lush acoustic-flamenco guitar.  “You Can’t Do That” and “Tell Me Why” perfectly fit my favorite early formula for the Beatles, with Lennon on lead vocals and Paul and George adding amazing harmony backing vocals.  These songs are the Beatles at their early upbeat best, and it is easy to see why they consistently rose above the other acts of their kind.  “I Should Have Know Better” features John on both lead vocal and harmonica, and like the last two noted above, is just an excellently written and highly infectious melody.

     I reserve my highest praise for “If I Fell”, a soft Lennon ballad that is again just bursting with beautiful backing harmonies, in the same rare air as “This Boy”.  Sometimes it just boggles my mind that three singer-songwriters, each with such an individual gift, somehow found each other at such an early age in the same English town and blended their voices so perfectly.   Paul’s higher pitch is the perfect contrast and compliment to the slightly deeper and more similar voices of John and George.

     I listened to this album multiple times on my drive yesterday, and songs like this melted the miles away quickly.  If I could only take ten albums with me to a desert island, this one would probably be on the list.  Even if Ringo didn’t get a single song…

     As popular music is exploding in 1964, with acts like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys and Bob Dylan, musical theater still holds its tight grip on the overall population.  1964’s #1 selling album?  The original soundtrack to Hello, Dolly!, was released in 1964 as this blockbuster show won 10 Tony Awards.  This version features the unique and unusual Carol Channing as Dolly, with other featured leads including David Burns, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Eileen Brennan, who I always associated as the grumpy Captain in “Private Benjamin”.  She actually has a very pure voice, on the high end, cast as Irene.

     This is a show I have seen in full at least once, and in part, countless times.  As a parent who was immersed in the world of musical theater, this show takes me back to the classic format of a Broadway musical, with the all-knowing “Prologue”, often known as an overture.  Several songs are sung by various supporting cast and leads, with the powerhouse number featuring the star and the ensemble to close the first act.  In this case, it is “Before the Parade Passes By”, and like many of these, it starts slow with just the lead, gaining volume and power until the entire ensemble closes the curtains for intermission.

     In many of these shows, the story turns with the featured song of the show, in this case, the highly memorable “Hello, Dolly!” which appears early in the second act, featuring Channing and the full ensemble.  The story then flows through the climax of the show, the resolution of the plot and several more tracks, before the bombastic show finale, aptly named “Finale” where the producer, director and cast aspire to leave the audience wowed by the lush sounds, the vivid colors, the highly complex coordinated choreography, and one last concluding number that builds with key changes and increases in tempo and intensity.  I have seen musicals like “Hello, Dolly!” at every level from middle school to Broadway, and each has left an impact, and in many cases, stunned me with the overwhelming multi-sensory caliber of the performance.

     It does surprise me that this soundtrack outsold all of the breaking musical sensations of 1964, but that being said, it is quite the show and representative of the spectacular musicals that have graced our theaters for over a hundred years now.  We can only hope and pray that our theaters reopen soon; this art form is a meaningful and integral part of our culture, our society, and an excellent venue for those young and old who seek a stage, a spotlight, and an audience.

     As I had noted, big things were beginning to happen in 1964.  In April, the Rolling Stones released their debut album.  Like many of their peers and rivals of the day, their earliest release is mostly cover songs, with only one Mick Jagger / Keith Richards original, “Tell Me” on the list.  Technically, there is one other original song, “Now I’ve Got a Witness”, credited to Nanker Phelge.  This non-person was a pseudonym used for any song written by the entire band as well as their manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham.  As advertised, the Rolling Stones were very true and committed to their blues roots as they splashed on the scene shortly following the Beatles, beginning a friendship and rivalry that lasts to this day.

     The common belief was that the Beatles were the clean-cut good boys, and the Rolling Stones were the rough kids from the wrong part of town.  In reality, it was the Beatles who came from working class Liverpool, while the Stones were mostly raised in middle-upper class London.  Of the two bands, the Stones definitely leaned further in on the blues for their core sound.  They named their band from a nearby Muddy Waters album.  Both Brian Jones and Mick Jagger were accomplished harmonica players, and with Keith Richards, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, this first album is raw and rough and everything one would hope for the early Rolling Stones.

     It all starts with the American road-trip ode “Route 66”, followed by “I Just Want to Make Love to You” by Willie Dixon.  Other standout blues numbers include “I’m a King Bee” and “Little by Little”.  Turning slightly more pop, they deliver an outstanding take on Chuck Berry’s “Carol”.  Even on this first album, particularly on “Walking The Dog” the supersized personality of Mick Jagger shines through.  There has never been anything that complicated about the Stones.  It starts with Keith Richards and whoever he is paired with (In this case, Brian Jones) blending rock and roll, blues, funk, rockabilly/country and anything else they can find with dueling chords, almost always hitting the perfectly imperfect rhythm sound.  Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman are never flashy, but always drive the tempo that makes the Stones sound a little harder, and a little dirtier, than those who came before them. 

     Like Bob Dylan, the Beatles and many others, they will eventually reach greater heights as they grow as a band and sharpen their own catalog of songs.  That said, this starter-kit of blues classics was the perfect mix to separate themselves from the happy pop sounds of their contemporaries and lead an extended reach-back to American blues that continues even now.

     After several days of emerging blockbusters from some of the most widely celebrated artists of the 20^th century, we return to the late-night mellow vibe of evolving jazz.  Today’s album, “Getz/Gilberto”, performed by the combination of American saxophone player Stan Getz and Brazilian guitarist Joao Giliberto, with help from composer and pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim, is the 3^rd rated album on the Top 10 Jazz Albums of All Time by gq.com.

     “Getz/Giliberto” is definitely a different sound of jazz, a very sultry and smokey sound that most likely presents this unique sound as a by-product of the varied cultural backgrounds of the artists.  If you can transport yourself to a softly lit loft full of warmth and groove, this is the soundtrack for you.  Even if you think you may not know this album, and I initially put myself in that category, I guarantee all of you have heard the lead song, “The Girl from Ipanema”.  I found this entire album, including this great song, to be very soothing and easy to listen to as I pushed through another day in my virtual office.  With less of a horn ensemble focus as classic jazz legends like Miles Davis or John Coltrane, perhaps this is what some refer to as “smooth jazz”.  I won’t get hung up on the label, I just really enjoyed the entire album.

     Like the rest of this journey, it is great to hear this genre evolve and remain relevant and significant while the world around it was exploding with change and turmoil.  It is easy to understand why jazz offers such sanctuary to those who seek a subtle accompaniment to get them through the ups and downs of daily life.

     Today delivers the second studio album by the “Fab Four”, “With The Beatles”.  A similar version was released in the United States, titled “Meet The Beatles”, and it is this very album I spent years and years of my early youth listening to and beginning my lifelong appreciation for the band.  My mom purchased this album during her brief indoctrination into Beatlemania in 1964.  (Paul was her favorite, little did she know then that Paul and I would share the same birthday).  Like the first album, this one has a healthy mix of covers to compliment the original compositions, but the band continues to progress and advance the overall performance once again.  This album is rated #197 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

     John Lennon remains the dominant voice in the band at this phase, and the album opens with two strong Lennon vocals on “It Won’t Be Long” and “All I’ve Got to Do”.  “All My Loving” is one of the best and most famous McCartney songs, and probably the most durable hit from this album.  George Harrison actually gets three songs to sing lead on, including his first original track, “Don’t Bother Me”.  I was surprised to see George with as many lead tracks as Paul, and his version of “Roll Over Beethoven”, by Chuck Berry, was the first song the Beatles ever played at a live concert in America.  Ringo sings lead on his standard one song per album, recording the Lennon-McCartney track “I Wanna Be Your Man”, which while a Beatles live standard, would also appear as performed by another emerging British sensation in the not-too-distant future.  John and George take a rare duo lead (with those two, at least) on the Miracles’ “You Really Got a Hold on Me”, and like the first album, their ability to harmonize and deliver really hits home in this song.  Not unlike “Twist and Shout” on the first album, this album ends with another rousing Lennon cover, this time rocking “Money (That’s What I Want)”.

     It’s not hard to detect my enthusiasm for the Beatles, they are certainly one of my all-time favorite artists for many reasons.  Even with that, like every act, they occasionally released something I just don’t quite get.  Paul’s obsession with sappy ballads is a recurring theme, and for some reason, he latched on to “Till There Was You”, from the musical “The Music Man”.  They frequently performed it live, they used it for successful and unsuccessful demos, and included it on this album as well… and I just don’t know why.  I’m sure there are many (including the legend himself) who would disagree with my take here, but this song has puzzled me for as long as I have known it, especially considering their developing talents as master songwriters and much more appealing covers like “Please Mr. Postman”, “Roll Over Beethoven”, “You Really Got a Hold on Me” and “Money”.

     That’s one of the many merits of art in any form.  What is spectacular to one may fall flat with another, and the next example just might completely reverse those opinions.  Despite not fully embracing “Till There Was You”, I have listened to the American version of this album hundreds of times since my youth.  The American version also includes “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “This Boy”, which to me is the Beatles version of “Surfer Girl”.  I could listen to the respective harmonies and vocal performances on those two songs over, and over, and over.  In fact, I probably have. 

     On February 9^th, 1964, the Beatles made their debut appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.  They played “All My Loving”, “Till There Was You” (really??), and “She Loves You”, with an encore performance of “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.  I do find it interesting how many “Paul” songs made the setlist that night compared to John, a notable contrast to the album mix.  That aside, Beatlemania exploded across the country and around the world, and music fans would never be the same again.

     As we reach 1964, I have realized this exercise is as much a study in history and sociology as it is music.  America and the world entered 1964 under dark the shadows of civil rights unrest, a rapidly expanding war in Vietnam, and the jarring reality of a tragic day late in November in Dallas, Texas.  While both pop music and other genres continued to reach new heights, the music continued to more noticeably reflect these unsettled times.  Just as today’s album from Bob Dylan proclaimed, “The Times They Are A-Changin’”.

     Just as Brian Wilson was expanding his creative control and influence over the Beach Boys music and production, this third album from Dylan represented the first to only include original compositions.  The title track is one of the most influential and telling songs of the early 1960s, and the entire album directly confronts the challenges of the day.  “With God On Our Side” is a powerful anti-war song, ending with the memorable and profound line, “If God’s on our side, He’ll stop the next war.”  “Only a Pawn In Their Game” is a brutal recanting of the murder of Medgar Evers, exposing the savagery and overt ignorance of white southerners who continued to cling to their outdated and horrific beliefs and values.   I always knew Bob Dylan was an iconic voice for the counter-culture of the 1960s, but experiencing the evolution of his message and music helps me fully appreciate the passion behind his songs.

     One of the trademarks of Dylan music is how widely covered and reinvented his songs are by other artists.  There are several Dylan songs that are much more commonly recognized by their subsequent cover version.  Both the “Ballad of Hollis Brown” and “With God On Our Side” appear on one of my all-time favorite albums, “Yellow Moon” by the Neville Brothers, performed by the angelic voice of Aaron Neville.  And thus, there we have the true magic of Bob Dylan.  His vocals are heartfelt, soulful, and authentic, but it is his stories and words, often carried further by others, that carry the day.

     Even in 2021, “The Times Are A Changin’” remains highly relevant and serves as a bold reminder that music and art can be simply entertaining, or highly impactful in meaning and message.  A lot of great music lies ahead in 1964, as Dylan and all of the voices of this time stretched their boundaries and challenged the norms of society and music.

     In today’s release, we can hear the dramatic growth in roughly one year’s time as Brian Wilson full asserts himself as the leader and dominant creative force within the Beach Boys.  The album “Surfer Girl”, released in September of 1963, is the third studio album for the band, and the first completely produced by Wilson.

     The title track remains as one of my single most favorite ballads, harmonies, and songs ever released.  The beauty of Brian’s falsetto, backed by the rich and unequaled harmony vocals of the band is simply spectacular.  This was the perfect song and perfect album for a cold day in February, looking ahead to warmer days and rich ocean breezes.  It’s hard to believe how much more evolved this album is in production and song quality from their initial release just one year before, but it underscores how gifted Brian Wilson was as a songwriter, singer and producer. 

     Several other Beach Boy classics are also on this album.  “Catch a Wave” is another beautiful Wilson lead, and “Little Deuce Coupe” features Mike Love with Wilson on the chorus lead.  The song formulas are simple and still draw from the 50s rock roots, with most of the songs about some mix of surfing and cars.  The other absolute vocal masterpiece on this album is “In My Room”.  Not only is this a stunning and haunting melody with even more harmony magic, it sheds some initial light on the highly introverted and painful struggle Wilson wrestled with, even while on top of the musical world.

     I know there will be more Beach Boys greatness ahead, but it will be difficult to find a single album, even with some of the less inspired filler content elsewhere on this album, that hits as many high points as this album does.  Their recurring delivery of hits through this period is unprecedented, at least on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

     Among the genres I included in my list was folk music, another musical form rooted deeply in America.  Today’s artist comes with historical significance as well as a great sound.  Odetta was a key musical figure in the civil rights movement, and her voice carried great weight during the difficult 1950s and 1960s.  Today’s album, “Odetta Sings Folk Songs”, is the 6^th rated folk album of all time on nme.com.

     Folk music tends to affect me in one of two ways.  The best of it takes me to a happy place, hopefully with lots of sunshine, open space, and fresh air.  In contrast, I typically struggle with some of the more brooding and down-tempo tunes, when I suddenly feel the urge to turn into Bluto Blutarsky on the stairway.  This album has a little bit of both, but the good songs far outweigh the others, and in many ways, this album exceeded my expectations as much as anyone I have listened to so far.  It was probably mandatory to include her take on Dylan’s “Blowin’ In the Wind”, and her version of the gospel classic “This Little Light of Mine” was a great surprise.  My favorite song on the album was the lead track, “900 Miles”, which has a blues feel as much as it is folk in structure.  Her original composition “Maybe She Go” has a soft island feel that makes it an easy add to my beach playlist. 

     Like I said, I can’t say I loved every song on this album, but I can probably say that about most albums.  I’m definitely better for spending a night on the road listening to Odetta, and I look forward to expanding my view of folk music and all music with each new day.

     As I chose this list, I allotted ten slots for my son to select any albums he felt were somehow missing from the collection.  With a set of musical tastes different and diverse to mine, I believe he set out to challenge me and make sure I was listening to new sounds I had not yet contemplated along the way.  That is most certainly the case with my first “Z” selection, “The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady” by jazz composer, pianist and bassist Charles Mingus.

     Although a bit surprised after researching this selection that it didn’t crack the Top 10 Jazz albums list that I inserted, this highly regarded four song album is all original work, composed as a collective four piece performance by Mingus.  Charles Mingus walked in the same hallways and performed on the same stages as legends like Charlie Parker.  However, he distinguished himself with his relative calm and collected state personally, and his diverse multicultural background helped fuel a very different and notably more progressive sound than any jazz album I have listened to so far.  My favorite piece of this four-part album is the second song, “Track B – Duete Solo Dancers”.  Downbeat and at times even a bit ominous in its sound, I almost feel as I am being stalked late at night as the music slows then methodically picks up urgency as the chase begins.

     I will acknowledge I listened to this album with curiosity, trepidation, and discovery, with a mild twist of confusion.  I don’t know if the intent was to soothe, jar and disrupt the listener all at once, but that is certainly my cycle of reception to Mingus.  The musicianship is outstanding, and the sound and recording quality builds upon any of the previous jazz pieces, particularly the solo piano at the beginning of “Track C – Group Dancers”.  I appreciate placing this jazz classic alongside the emerging popular sounds of the day to understand the breadth and variety of music coming forward quickly.