The Man Who Gave Us The Beatles

If it weren't for Brian Epstein there likely would not have been The Beatles and therefore the music we have today. So who was Brian Epstein? Brian was the original manager of The Beatles. Brian originally met The Beatles on November 9, 1961. They performed a show at The Cavern Club, The Beatles usual place to play at this time. This meeting would forever change the world. Brian Epstein said that he was instantly attracted to their music and charm, before and after meeting them. He was quick to offer them a 5-year managerial contract. And they were quick to sign.

In the beginning, before fame, Epstein had a great influence on the band. They were accustomed to very casual shows, often wearing jeans and leather jackets and performing whatever and whenever they felt like. Mr. Epstein would soon make sure that they would wear suits and ties and organize their shows. Epstein would spend time from here trying to find them a record deal. And that he did. Epstein met George Martin and The Beatles ended up signing with Parlophone. If it weren't for Epstein they would not have been signed. And their signing is what caused their ultimate fame.

Paul McCartney called Epstein the "Fifth Beatle". John Lennon said that his death (which was August of 1967) was what ultimately brought about the collapse of The Beatles.

When (and why) The Beatles Stopped Touring

The Beatles didn't officially break up until 1970. However, they stopped touring and playing live shows much before this. Their last "real" concert was at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on August 29, 1966. It was never announced to anyone that this would be their last concert. But they were fed up with being attacked and ravaged by fans. Their crowds were so loud that they couldn't even hear themselves play. Up to this point they had played over 1,400 shows. Their constant travel and troubles on the road made it much harder for them to write and record music. And at this point they would rather become more secluded. And that they did.

Their last concert only lasted a bit over a half-hour. But The Beatles were certainly glad that they wouldn't have to deal with the hassle for awhile. They would go on to focusing on writing and recorded albums such as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour. These albums sold very well, and Sgt. Pepper's was rated the best album of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. In their time not touring they also traveled to India and worked on their movies Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine.

Another reason that they abandoned touring was because of the new complexity of their music. While touring many of their songs were very performable, in that their were a normal number of instruments and simple recording techniques. When they recorded Revolver things changed. They started experimenting with effects. One such effect was backmasking. In some songs they recorded backwards guitar solos or drums solos - something that would be impossible to perform live. They also used obscure instruments and even orchestras. One such obscure instrument was the ondioline, a vacuum powered organ. This was used in "Baby You're A Rich Man". There are very few ondiolines in existence today.

Overall, I believe that their time off from touring greatly helped boost their creativity and their songwriting. They felt as if they had much more time to record and they had no limits. Although they would return to play a set on the rooftop of the Apple building, The Beatles touring ended long before their creativity.

The Cult Following of The Grateful Dead

Nearly every band dreams of having what the Grateful Dead had - extremely loyal fans. In fact, their fans were so loyal that much of their popularity came from their popularity. Meaning that they were sometimes known as a band that had extremely loyal fans. These loyal fans were known as "deadheads."

So who were the Grateful Dead? They were formed in San Francisco in 1965. This was a great time and place for a band to start. They are now known as the godfathers of jam band. However, they played many genres. Some of these genres include rock, blues, jazz, bluegrass, psychedelia, country, americana, and reggae. Their broad list of genres attracted a large audience. Their lengthy jams and exciting improvisations kept them. They may have had the most loyal fans of rock history.

Their fans traveled with them wherever they went. When they toured their fans would tour with them, often attending every concert on a tour. They would make and sell various items like tie-dye shirts and food at each concert in order to have the money necessary for living. Drug use as a spiritual ritual was common at many of these concerts. They would often use peyote or LSD to enhance their musical experience or keep a spiritual connection with the music.

There are not many bands like this nowadays. The simple, carefree lifestyle of traveling with a band has become rare, but it still does exist. Take the band Phish for example. They took obvious influence from the Grateful Dead, notably in their lengthy jams and improvs, but mostly in their loyal fans. Their fans operate in the same way as the Grateful Dead. They sell items at shows and they always travel with them.
(If you don't know Phish you should check them out; I'll be hoping to see them this June in their reunion tour)

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar. His impact on 1960's rock is certainly a bewilderment considering that he did not play rock music. He played Indian classical music. But his mastery of the sitar amazed many musicians and influenced raga rock (which I wrote about in a previous post) and psychedelic rock. One such musician was George Harrison. The above picture is Ravi (at age 47) with George Harrison in 1967. George traveled to India to take lessons from Ravi and learn more about Indian music and culture in 1966. These travels would greatly influence the rock music scene abroad. It is these travels that would make Ravi internationally famous.

"Oh, Ravi Shankar's
Music made me cry"
That is a line from the song "Monterey" by The Animals. It is referencing Ravi Shankar's revolutionary performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. It was certainly a different genre than what the rest of the performers were playing, but the crowd absolutely loved it. This diversity in music really proved that the audience was open-minded. Ravi's performances like the one at Monterey made him a crowd favorite. He was also invited to Woodstock, but soon after he seldomly played Western concerts because of the drug use.

Another one of Ravi Shankar's great contributions was his involvement in the Concert For Bangladesh. He organized this concert with his now great friend, George Harrison. This concert helped raise over $240,000 for Bangladeshian war relief. The concert was held in Madison Square Garden for over 40,000 fans. The sales of the movies and such resulting from this concert still are helping people today. Ravi was willing to perform, and his influence in the concert and it's planning was historic.

After all of those years of greatly advancing the music scene, Ravi is still playing today at age 88. This year is the 70th year he has been active as a musician. Although his concerts are not as frequent as they once were, he is still getting a good crowd and a lot of support.

Ravi's website:
http://www.ravishankar.org/

Performance at Monterey (pt.1):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6pVcN8Eoyw

Performance at Monterey (pt. 2):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnsv9g06jac&feature=channel

The Advent and Popularization of Raga Rock

What is "raga rock"? Basically raga rock is a broad term used to describe any rock with South Asian influence. This new genre became popular in the mid-60's. The very first songs to be known as raga rock were "Heart Full Of Soul" by The Yardbirds, and "See My Friends" by The Kinks. Upon listening to them, the trance-like quality of the guitar becomes obvious. These sounds were produced to sound like a sitar, a very popular Indian instrument. However, even after these great, groundbreaking songs were released, the genre was still not popular. Two songs by The Beatles, "Norwegian Wood" and "Love You To" popularized the genre. Not only did they have a huge South-Asian influence, but they also used the traditional instruments.

George Harrison's newly acquired love of the sitar influenced many raga rock musicians and songs. The above picture is him playing his sitar. The sitar has a very distinctive sound. It is a psychedelic droning sound. Harrison learned to control this sound from the master of sitar: Ravi Shankar. Ravi Shankar was a classical Indian musician. One that had complete mastery and control over this 23-stringed instrument. One who is familiar with The Beatles' discography knows that many of Harrison's songs had very strong use of sitar, thanks to Mr. Ravi Shankar, whom is 88 years old and still performing.

One of the most famous raga rock songs was "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones. Brian Jones was the one who wrote the famous sitar riff. Who influence him to write this riff? George Harrison, of course. After a visit with George Harrison, he decided to take up the sitar. He taught himself how to play, and eventually wrote the great riff for this song. It was certainly a great song for both the raga rock and psychedelic rock scenes, which seemed to go hand-in-hand.

The raga rock scene peaked at the same time as the psychedelic scene, in the mid-to-late 60's. It lost it's huge popularity at the same time as the psychedelic scene, which was the late-60's and early 70's. This just goes to show that the psychedelic scene and the raga rock scene were very similar. This is why Ravi Shankar stopped playing festivals in the U.S for awhile after Woodstock. The psychedelic scene was known for blatant substance use and this substance use was also being associated with raga rock. Although Ravi Shankar did not play raga rock, many associated his classical music with it. He did not want to have any part in drug culture.

Here are some famous raga rock songs that I mentioned:
The Yardbirds - "Heart Full of Soul"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9mQkFpkShg

The Kinks - "See My Friends"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2Al7u0cKRk

The Beatles - "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kar0pIIjK9U

The Rolling Stones - "Paint It Black"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjoeLpVCNr0&feature=related

George Harrison's sitar lesson with Ravi Shankar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erLZ-zW9Ti4

Album Review: Rubber Soul by The Beatles

Rubber Soul. One of the greatest albums of all time (in my opinion). In fact, it was rated the 5th greatest album of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. It was obvious that The Beatles were really starting to expand their horizons. For example, they used a sitar in Norwegian Wood. They also altered a piano to sound like a harpsichord on In My Life. The strangest instrument used in the album was featured on I'm Looking Through You. It was a pack of matches. Yes, Ringo decided to tap on a pack of matches and it was ultimately used as percussion.

One of the greatest parts of the album is sheer brilliance of the bass lines. Paul was experimenting with different bass effects. A distinctive fuzz effect was used on a couple songs. The bass just seemed to flow perfectly and compliment both John and George's guitars and Ringo's drums (or match boxes for that matter). Apart from that, the tone of the bass is very smooth and soft, yet still loud and punchy enough for you to feel the groove.

"Norwegian Wood" was a very influential song from the album. It is widely regarded as the first pop song to use sitar and strong Indian influence. It started a huge interest in raga rock and other forms of Indian influence rock. The sitar also gave a psychedelic vibe to the song. The Beatles would explore this style deeper on their next album, Revolver, but this is the first song with a slightly psychedelic style that gained a following. The mellow qualities were beloved by a newly forming hippie movement. Prior to this song, hippies were nearly non-existent. I would argue that the interest brought about by this song greatly contributed to the hippie movement.

"The Word" was another song on the album that created great interest. George Martin played a harmonium on this song, which is a keyboard similar to an organ. The lyrics and vocal pattern also open up to future themes such as love and psychedelia. Lennon was also said to have played a compressed piano, which also adds to the unique sound. Also, Lennon used the theme "love" to mask political references he was trying to make.

"In My Life" was a favorite among The Beatles. Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison all regarded it as one of their favorite songs that they ever wrote (Lennon mainly wrote it, with McCartney adding some last-minute touches and George Martin writing a piano solo). It is known by many as one of the greatest songs of all time. So it fits naturally with all of the other great songs on this album.

Overall, I would find it very difficult to not give this album a perfect 10/10. It is a timeless masterpiece that will forever endure the test of time. Although the chord progressions and key changes are complex, the songs are still very simple-sounding. This is because all of the instruments and vocals mesh perfectly. I give this album:

9.8/10
Nearly perfect

*Scale is based off of "0" being horrible, "5" being average, and "10" being perfect.

Relationship of Drug Use and the 1960's Music Scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtqcrI3TRkA&feature=related

The first 5 seconds of the above video sum up a lot of what the 1960's was about: drug use. Whether you like it or not, it is undeniable that the use of drugs had a huge impact on the era's music. Once the psychedelic scene started to develop in the mid-sixties music as we know it was transformed.

Take The Beatles, for example. They were first introduced to marijuana on August 28, 1964 (yes, somehow the exact date was recorded). How were they introduced to it? Bob Dylan. After they became regular users of the drug their music noticeably transformed. From there on their music started to slowly drift away from such a pop image. Some became more mellow and relaxed, as seen on Rubber Soul, and even on Help!. The Beatles also first used LSD in April of 1965. Some of the influences from this were apparent in the song "Help!", however they didn't truly become front-runners in the psychedelic music scene until Revolver.

Many music fans used drugs while listening to the music as well. Fans of The Doors and other notable bands were known to use mescaline, LSD, and of course marijuana while enjoying their music. The truth is that nearly all musicians from the 60's at least tried drugs. Most of them used them to open up creative pathways for writing. Some even used them while performing. Carlos Santana. During his Woodstock performance he was tripping on LSD. He claimed that his guitar turned into a snake before his eyes. Here is the famous performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnamP4-M9ko

So did their use of drugs ultimately harm, help, or not affect their music at all? I'm interested in opinions on this subject.

P.S: Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. Also I apologize for this not being a very long post. I've been busy lately but hopefully I'll be posting a lot more. Thanks!

I'm still here...

Hi everyone. I'll be posting a LOT more after tomorrow... I was just about to post something but it somehow erased. >:( I'll post something real tomorrow. Sorry about that.

Alvin Lee - A True Guitar God

Now I know a thing or two about guitar. For one, I'm the guitarist in a band. So I think its fair enough for me to declare Alvin Lee a guitar god. The most important attribute for a guitarist to have is soul. They need to feel the music. That is one of the reason Hendrix was so good. He truly could feel the music and control it. So could Alvin. Today I see so many guitarists "shredding" furiously up and down the neck. Some find this impressive. I do not. They stand there, emotionless, playing as fast as they can. They don't feel the music. Alvin could play fast and feel the music at the same time.

Alvin was made famous as being the guitarist of a classic rock/blues rock band named Ten Years After. You may have seen their Woodstock performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNPX-9QXgGM
Amazing work.

Oh, and he could sing too. Here is another video containing more amazing Alvin Lee guitar work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUokMbJC3P8&feature=related

Alvin and Ten Years After have some much more astounding work that they created during the late 1960's and early 1970's. Unfortunately its hard to find. You can find some good stuff at last.fm.

Every guitarist should try to emulate Alvin Lee.

It Was 40 Years Ago Today...

40 years ago to the day, January 30, 1969, The Beatles made rock history by performing on top of the Apple headquarters building. It was their last gig that they would ever perform, and their first since 1966. The police deemed the gig a public disturbance, and they were ordered to shut it down. Several police officers were sent to the rooftop. They were seen unplugging George's amp, but he didn't hesitate to plug it right back in. The police threatened to have them arrested, but they ultimately were able to shut them down by turning off the building's power. The set list of the gig included a couple songs from "Let it Be."

Here is a video of a song performed at the "Rooftop Gig". You can see the police trying to shut them down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM0K21EOCwk

Beatles Unreleased Tracks

Since the birth of the Internet, there have been rumors floating around about unreleased songs by The Beatles. This includes your average story about bootlegs, or "beatlegs" as fans call them. Most of these stories end up being false. They are usually audio recordings of bands that have a similar style to The Beatles. However, there are some unreleased songs that you should know about.

"Carnival of Light" is perhaps the most famous of these songs. McCartney says that it isn't really a song, but an experimental mix of Beatles jams and sound effects. The track is 14 minutes long. It was recorded in 1967. Don't expect to find it anywhere on the Internet. Paul McCartney has it, and he is pushing to release it. He will need to permission of Ringo Starr and the estates of Lennon and Harrison. It was supposed to be put on the Anthology, but this never happened. Hopefully it will be released soon.

"Helter Skelter," take 3 is another track that has been subject to interest. This version of "Helter Skelter" is said to be 27 minutes long. It is basically just a long jam of "Helter Skelter." This is not available on bootleg, and there are no current plans to release it.

Recently, a man in Liverpool (the birthplace of The Beatles) discovered something amazing in his attic. It was a tape of various Beatles hits including "I Feel Fine," "I'm A Loser," and "I'll Follow the Sun." Nothing great, other than the fact that they were unreleased alternate versions of the hits. The 30-minute tape was auctioned off last year.

That is all I know of for now. I have heard of some other tapes, but I forget the stories. If you have any more information feel free to post it here.

Woodstock No-Shows

How would you feel if you were invited to play at Woodstock? The answer is obvious. Woodstock was one of (if not) the greatest concerts of the 1960's. And probably the most famous. However, before the actual concert took place, many bands did not perform because they were either advised not to, or they thought it wouldn't be a big deal.

The Beatles were reportedly invited to play at Woodstock. They obviously did not. Why? Surely this would have been a great performance. But at this point in time, mid-to-late 1969, The Beatles were collapsing. They had spent most of the summer out of the collaboration that they all were accustomed to. Not to mention that they had not played a real live show together since 1966. So needless to say, The Beatles turned down their offer. John Lennon thought that his side project, the Plastic Ono Band, would be a suitable replacement. The Woodstock organizers declined.

Led Zeppelin were also reportedly offered an invitation. Why did they not play? Well, their manager, Peter Grant, turned it down for them. He didn't just want to be "another band" performing at the festival. If Led Zeppelin were to have played it could have been very good for them. It could have also been bad though. Zeppelin was a fairly new band on the scene, forming in 1968. I, for one, think that they should have played the show. Although they were fairly inexperienced, it would have added a whole new dimension to an already amazing concert.

The Doors were originally scheduled to perform at the festival. They were very popular, and their performance would have certainly been one of the main spectacles of the 3 days. So why didn't they perform? They canceled. There have been many rumors as to why they canceled. One of the rumors is that Jim Morrison was having legal altercations at the time due to his arrest for indecent exposure. This was not why they canceled, however. They stated that they disliked outdoor venues. This may connect with another rumor that Morrison was afraid that someone would take a shot at him. This has not been confirmed as one of the reasons they did not play Woodstock.

Bob Dylan planned on making the show. However, his son had medical problems, and this caused him to cancel his suspected performance.

Jethro Tull refused to perform. They said that Woodstock wasn't a big deal, and they likely thought it would have been a waste of time. Oh, how they were wrong.

The Jeff Beck Group was invited, and they intended on performing. That is until they disbanded one week before the event. Ouch, bad timing.

Iron Butterfly were fully intending on showing up and performing. Unfortunately, they were stuck at an airport and they never arrived in time to play.

Joni Mitchell wanted to play, but her agent insisted that she did not. Instead, he wanted her to play on The Dick Cavett Show. Ironically, the two other bands that performed on the show with her did play at Woodstock.

So there is a list of bands that had the chance to perform at the historic event. Just imagine how they felt after the saw the turnout of approximately 500,000 people. Joni Mitchell's agent said that there would only be 500 people. Try 1000x that. Of course we find this shocking because we know how Woodstock turned out. They had no idea.

Country Joe & The Fish: A Largely Underrated Band

"Country Joe & The Fish?" you ask. "Oh, that's that band that played that Vietnam song at Woodstock!" Yes, but that (amazing) performance only captures the smallest idea of what the band was. The band formed in 1965 in Berkeley California. It consisted of "Country" Joe McDonald and Barry "The Fish" Melton, as well as other assortments of great bassists, drummers, and keyboardists, etc.. Their first real studio album was Electric Music for the Mind and Body. It perfectly captures the essence of what psychedelic rock is. Here is "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" from the album. It is live at The Monterey Pop Festival (1967):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDhLYJMPlYg&feature=related

And here is "Section 43" from the same show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYwH3XBtfo8&feature=related

Many just thought that they only preached their political beliefs. This is not at all true. Although many of their great songs are about their political beliefs, there are also other songs about love and life. Their most famous performance was at Woodstock as I mentioned earlier, but they did not get the recognition they deserved for their other works. There is a petition to get them (as well as Canned Heat) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/cjfish/petition.html

I highly encourage everyone to further explore their brilliant music. You can buy their albums on Amazon.com or you can find a torrent.

The Rise and Decline Of Great Music

As many know, music is not nearly as great as it once was. For many this is baffling, considering the great technological upgrades. Musicians of the 1960's were much more limited in the studio. One would think that with better technology comes better music. This has obviously not been true. Today, musicians have everything they could possibly need to make amazing music. But most of them do not (in my opinion). Sure, there are some good artists today (which perhaps I will cover in a future post) but there should be many more.

Above is a graph of my opinion of the decline of great music. It started with the huge leap of popularity of rock 'n roll. Artists such as Chuck Berry came and changed everything. John Lennon once said "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'." Rock and roll was something new. It exemplified a young, rebellious spirit. The youth caught on and ran with this new style of music. Four of those young people that enjoyed this music would soon after change the world of music forever. We now know those four boys as "The Beatles." They easily were the greatest band of all time in my opinion. THEY were the reason that so many great bands sprouted in the 1960's. They helped many bands gain popularity, including The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Animals, and many more. These were all bands that influenced artists. So as you can see, there became a long line of bands influencing bands. A new youth spirit started to arise.

In the late 1960's, great music was at its peak of popularity. Many used drugs, and other illegal substances such as marijuana and LSD to enhance their enjoyment of music. Many devoted their mind, body, and spirit to music. Rebellion and opposition to the Vietnam war sparked creativity and passion through music. The Monterey Pop Festival, and Woodstock were points of popularity in this musical movement. Hippies and those who enjoyed great music came to these festivals by the thousands. In Woodstock's case - hundreds of thousands. A lot of this optimistic attitude was cut off at Altamont, where a young man was beaten to death by the Hell's Angels.

Starting at this music has slowly declined. The 1970's was an era that had some good music. I suspect that this was just what was left over from the 1960's. The Beatles had broken up. The hippie movement fell apart. The war in Vietnam was over. So what became of all this? The creative and great hits that were seen only years before were becoming hard to come by. Glam rock formed. Disco formed. Great music was declining. And then a huge blow to music: The death of John Lennon. Lennon, in many ways, represented great music. It is arguable that great music died along with him.

The 1980's was a time in which the "bad" music started to take over. Glam rock and metal began to take over.

The 1990's moved slowly with great music just as the 1980's did. Grunge, metal, and alternative rock were at the top of their popularity.

Today? Great music is nearly non-existent anymore. Everything is generic pop punk, rap and pop. There are very few bands that would have survived in the 1960's.

What are your opinions? I realize that not everyone shares the opinion that music has gotten worse. Thanks for reading! This is my first blog post.

Peace.