On The Records

Is this the way it’s going to be?  People who must be too young to understand The Beatles are writing articles, and they obviously don’t research very well either.  We’re getting articles about The Beatles that don’t make sense.

Recently, one young writer was listing artists who influenced The Beatles, and included Creedence Clearwater Revival.  Apparently the writer didn’t know that it was the other way around, and that CCR’s burst into popularity came in the last year the four Beatles recorded together, 1969.

An article about the worst Beatles songs had “Yesterday” at #5, and called it “schmaltzy drivel”.  Apparently a beautiful melody, heartfelt lyrics, great arrangement, and excellent vocal are not enough to place the most recorded song of all time on the plus side.  It would be okay to do an article on The Beatles’ worst songs, but at least make an honest effort.

There are often articles about individual songs.  Almost invariably they mention how the song did on the charts.  They’ll write that some Beatles song was not a hit.  Well that’s because it was never released as a single!  After doing this for some time, the writers finally realized the problem, so now they mention whatever album it was on, and how it did on the charts.  Then they’ll say something like… “Even though the song wasn’t popular….”.  With album cuts, there’s no way to definitively measure their popularity.

One writer on this site, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, seems to have a goal of slamming Lennon & McCartney’s best songs.  His comments would never be made by anyone who knows music.  The songs he tries to diminish have inspired  generations of musicians and songwriters, but this guy thinks he knows more than all of them.  He needs to be removed from his current assignment, so he can write about something he knows and likes.

Now there’s outrage over Ringo Starr’s 1973 hit “You’re Sixteen”.  A writer for Showbiz Cheat Sheet says it’s “gross” and “reprehensible” that Ringo would sing about a sixteen-year-old girl, because when the record was released he was 33!  The song goes back to 1960 when professional songwriters Robert and Richard Sherman wrote it for singer Johnny Burnette.  The recording went to #8 on the Billboard singles chart.  The writers and singer were all too old for a 16-year-old girl.  But they weren’t writing about themselves as possible boyfriends for the girl, they were writing a song for teenage boys and girls who could imagine themselves in the song.

Ringo likes singing old Rock & Roll songs, and “You’re Sixteen” is a fun one.  Can’t we all imagine ourselves being sixteen?  The recording was extremely well produced by Richard Perry, and there’s great piano work by Nicky Hopkins.  The public agreed, and the song was a number-one hit from the best-selling 1973 album, Ringo.

The term “teenager” was coined in the 1950’s and applied to the “Baby Boomer” generation…the largest demographic in U.S. history.  This was the group buying records, and especially 45-RPM singles.  So, professional writers and performers aimed their songs at teenagers.  It was the same way for some of the songs by the writing teams of Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, and Gerry Goffin & Carole King.  Even The Beatles originally wrote songs with teenagers in mind.

Another common mistake by the writers of numerous Beatles articles is that they grab one moment in history, or a comment one of The Beatles made.  They make a big deal about that comment, but don’t provide any historical perspective of how that moment in time played out, or was amended by later comments or circumstances.

There was also a recent article about Beatles songs that the author said “made no sense”…that the lyrics didn’t mean anything.  Examples he used included “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”.  Specifically pointed out was the “Strawberry Fields” line… “No one else is in my tree.  I mean it must be high or low.”  John Lennon always knew he was different, and wasn’t sure how he fit in, but the article’s writer thought the words were just nonsense.  Do they even know that Strawberry Field is a real place from John’s childhood?   As for “Lucy”, it’s an Alice In Wonderland style of song, and is using words to paint a psychedelic world.  The song title was taken from a drawing done by John’s young son, Julian.

When it comes to some of the recent writers of Beatles articles, maybe a John Lennon “nonsense” line said it best… “Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.”

Although The Beatles never got back together, we can put them together with our playlists.  Placing John, Paul, George and Ringo’s songs together makes for a more satisfying listening experience than playing their solo albums separately.  And the most enjoyable way is album-style playlists.  This is not an attempt to say what The Beatles would have done.  Instead, each artist’s songs are spread across the timeline of all four of their solo careers.  It’s a fun way to add more high-quality Beatles albums to your life.

(Each album list can be clicked to enlarge.)

These Beatles solo songs, mostly from 1970-71, form a strong album.  Six of the tracks were hit singles.  Placing their best solo songs together not only boosts the quality, it provides a variety of styles and voices that make listening more interesting.  Each of these playlists includes a title (like Karma for this one), it gives a hint as to the basic timeline of each album and what it might include.  There’s also a light attempt to provide a visual for each album.  The photos on this one are all from 1970.

The first solo albums by Paul and George both hit #1 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart, and with his impressive second album, Imagine, John joined them at #1.  Ringo’s self-titled and best album made it to #2, and he had multiple singles hit #1.  Ringo was the only solo album that included appearances by all four Beatles.  Side 2 of this fantasy album has a theme, and places related songs together.  They include John’s bashing of Paul with “How Do You Sleep”, Paul’s answer, “Dear Friend”, John’s possible admission of jealousy of Paul “Jealous Guy”, and George’s “Isn’t It A Pity” about “How we break each other’s hearts, and cause each other pain”.  Fortunately, The Beatles eventually made peace with each other.

Here’s another collection of hits and great songs.  Besides Paul McCartney’s #1 title song, it has George Harrison’s definitive version of Bob Dylan’s “If Not For You”, one of John Lennon’s most beautiful songs, “Oh My Love”, his #1 hit “Whatever Gets You Through The Night”, and Ringo’s fun #4 hit “Oh My My”. 

This is a fun album.  Each of the individual Beatles recorded early Rock & Roll songs during their solo careers.  This album puts them together.  Ringo kicks it off with his #1 version of “You’re Sixteen”.  It’s nice to have him start a Beatles album for a change.  There’s also his Top-10 hit “Only You”.  Paul was just a natural at performing early Rock & Roll, so he has five tracks here.  John’s songs are great too, but if you can, try to get the remixed versions, because his voice sounds so much better on those.

More great songs from some top-ranked albums, brought together in one Rock Show.  If only we could have had these four talents come together in the late 70s to play their songs for us at a show.  Paul McCartney was the most prolific solo Beatle, and he provides most of the rocking on this album with “Rock Show”, “Helen Wheels”, “Junior’s Farm”, and “Letting Go”, plus the #1 hit “Listen To What The Man Said”.  The somewhat less well known songs by the other three are excellent too, with “Nobody Loves You (WhenYou’re Down And Out)” and “Watching The Wheels” standouts.

More songs from #1 albums, including John Lennon’s Double Fantasy.  This suggested playlist is stacked with many hits (two #1’s and multiple Top-10’s) in a wide variety of styles.  There are a couple of album tracks from Paul McCartney that you might not know.  “Summer’s Day Song” and “Love Awake” are segued together to make one track, because the two ballads are so closely linked by their themes.  (You can listen to the track at the end of this article.)   “Cloud 9” is the title track from George Harrison’s big comeback album that was produced by Jeff Lynne.

In the latter part of George Harrison’s career, he took time to look back at The Beatles with “When We Was Fab”.  Near the same time, George gathered his A-list friends to form the Traveling Wilburys.  Their first hit, “Handle With Care” is included.  George’s “All Those Years Ago” sets the stage for Side 2.  The song is a tribute to John…Ringo Starr’s “Never Without You” is a tribute to George…and Paul McCartney’s “Here Today” is his tribute to John.  The two John Lennon songs “I’m Stepping Out” and “Borrowed Time” were released over three years after he died.  Plus, he wrote “Grow Old With Me” (with Ringo in mind to record it), and Ringo does John proud with his version.

The final playlist of Beatles solo recordings is by Paul, George and Ringo.  The photos on the mock album cover are from their last photo session before George passed away.  “Heading For The Light” is an excellent solo-sounding song George recorded with The Traveling Wilburys.  His other two songs, “Any Road” and “Run So Far” were released posthumously.  Paul McCartney’s songs are mainly from one of his best albums, Flaming Pie.  There is one John Lennon song, “Real Love”, which was a demo recording that was augmented by the other Beatles when Anthology 2 was released.

Whether you’re able to utilize these playlists or not, you can see how there could have been many more great Beatles albums.  Wish these four musicians could have combined their best music for at least another decade.

Bonus:  Thought you might like to hear “Summer’s Day/Love Awake”.  The lyrics to the mostly instrumental “Summer’s Day Song” end with “For the world will soon be waking to a summer’s day”…and the next song starts with the words “Love awake.”, and ends with “It’s never too long before the summer comes again”, which wraps it all up.  Paul McCartney plays the almost classical-style synthesizer instrumental and sings all the vocals for “Summer’s Day Song”.  “Love Awake” picks up the tempo and has more of a Beatles’ sound.  Here’s the track with the two songs put together.

There’s never been a lot of film available of Creedence Clearwater Revival.  They were popular in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.  That was before music videos were common, and a decade before MTV made artist videos necessary.  Although CCR played Woodstock, John Fogerty was not satisfied with their performance, so they were not included in the film.  There was also film of a 1970 performance at The Royal Albert Hall in London, but it was lost.  Decades later, it’s been found.

If you have Netflix, you can watch a 90-minute documentary called Travelin’ Band/At The Royal Albert Hall.  The Travelin’ Band portion of the documentary is a really good history of CCR, with lots of video and photographs, plus narration by Jeff Bridges.  It was good to see all of the band members talking on camera during their rise to fame.  The film was actually released this past fall, but wasn’t on my radar at that time.  Hopefully, it will continue being discovered.

(Doug Clifford, Tom Fogerty, John Fogerty, and Stu Cook)

It’s been long known that John Fogerty became estranged from the rest of the band, and the bad feelings were never resolved.  So the documentary is a way to see the group during better days.

CCR’s first recording success started with their Creedence Clearwater Revival album in 1968.  It was filled with cover songs like “I Put A Spell On You”, and “Susie Q”.  That established their “Swamp Rock” style, but it was the next year’s explosion of great songwriting by John Fogerty that made them popular.

In 1969 CCR had three major albums, Bayou Country, Green River, and Willy And The Poor Boys.  They included an enviable string of hit singles including “Proud Mary”, “Bad Moon Rising”, “Lodi”, “Green River”, “Down On The Corner”, “Fortunate Son” and more.  Rarely has a band produced so many hits so quickly.

The next year, 1970, brought two more albums, Cosmo’s Factory, and Pendulum.   Those had the hits “Travelin’ Band”, “Who’ll Stop The Rain”, “Up Around The Bend”, “Lookin’ Out My Back Door”, and “Have You Ever Seen The Rain”.  With all their memorable singles, it’s obvious why CCR’s greatest hits album is still a big seller.

After the history of the band, the documentary ends with CCR’s 1970 concert at The Royal Albert Hall.  The performance of twelve songs is a combination of hits up to that time, plus some album tracks.  The band may not have gotten along later, but here their playing is tight.

(CCR at The Royal Albert Hall in 1970)

Unlike today’s big concert productions, CCR only takes up about 20-feet of the stage.  There are no big screens, no backdrops, and very little interaction with the audience.  John Fogerty is the definite focus of the band.  He’s the songwriter, the lead guitarist, and the lead singer.  The rest of the band is solid, but there’s only one star.  CCR broke up in 1972, only four years after having their first hit.  John Fogerty went on to a successful solo career.

If you’re a fan, you’ll find the Creedence Clearwater Revival documentary on Netflix well worth your time.

There’s a new documentary called…What The Hell Happened To Blood Sweat & Tears?

The main answer is…“What goes up, must come down.” (but we’ll get into specifics).

That line from their song “Spinning Wheel”, sums up what happens to every successful band, but the down part came pretty quickly for BS&T.  The group’s first album in 1968 didn’t propel the band into national prominence, but their second album became a major hit in 1969.

Their self-titled album brought the term Jazz Rock into our vocabulary.  Blood Sweat & Tears had three platinum hit singles…  “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy”, “And When I Die”, and “Spinning Wheel”.  The sound was groundbreaking.  The brass arrangements were played by members of the band, instead of session players, as was the norm.

Instrumental breaks were heavily jazz influenced, and featured some exceptional trumpet solos.  The producer was James William Guercio, who also produced The Buckinghams and Chicago.  The other big change for BS&T was that David Clayton Thomas had taken over the lead vocals from Al Kooper.

(Click or zoom to enlarge.)

Besides the three hits, FM radio played almost all the songs, including “Smiling Phases”, “Sometimes In Winter” and “God Bless The Child”.  Blood Sweat & Tears won the Grammy for Album Of The Year.  It beat out Abbey Road, and though that seems wrong now, BS&T was hot.

So what happened to all that popularity?  They released more albums, but the quality just wasn’t there.  Also, their own songwriting was limited, so most of their recordings were cover versions.

I really enjoyed Blood Sweat & Tears, so I also bought their first album, Child Is Father To The Man (despite the creepy cover).  Although some people really like the album, it lacks the energy and commercial appeal of their hit album.  The follow-up to their successful album was Blood Sweat & Tears 3.  Because their second album was a phenomenon, their third album sold well at first, but the magic just wasn’t there, and it faded.  BS&T 4 was a little better, but also had disappointing sales.  In 1972, David Clayton Thomas left the group to try a solo career.  With a new lead singer, the band released New Blood.  It was after this one that I stopped buying their albums.  There were other album releases, but none had much impact..

The successful portion of BS&T’s recording career was only from 1969 to 1971.  After those three hit singles (that all made it to #2) they had only three more modest Top-40 hits, with each ranking lower than the last.

BS&T’s concerts were very popular for a couple years, and then they ran into the problem featured in the new documentary.

When Canadian David Clayton Thomas was still in the band, the U.S. State Department threatened to revoke his green card.  To keep that from happening, the band reluctantly agreed to do a concert tour behind the Iron Curtain.  The idea was to give those countries a taste of America’s spirit and freedom.  Unfortunately for BS&T, the Vietnam War meant working for the Nixon government was frowned upon by the youth of America.

Foreign audiences responded enthusiastically to BS&T, but the band received some undeserved animosity when they returned to the U.S.  The documentary covers the controversy.  It’s in limited theatrical release in major markets.

That Blood Sweat & Tears only had one truly great album, does not take away from the band’s innovative sound, nor the fact that their best songs are still a treat to hear all these decades later.

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Just for fun:  BS&T should probably have sued their record company over the really bad album covers.

Child Is Father To The Man looks like the guys are holding doppelgänger ventriloquist dummies.  Blood Sweat & Tears appears to have black and white cutouts of their heads, and they kind of look like a line-up of Jack The Ripper suspects.  For Blood Sweat & Tears 3, someone said…”It’s a gloomy gray day.  Let’s have you all stand in the mud, and I’ll take your picture.”  BS&T 4 is an incomplete graphic with lots of white space and a cloud in the middle.  And finally, the New Blood cover represents the band by using flowery peacocks and butterflies.  The group should have been able to collect damages from Columbia Records.

There’s a new addition to the world of fictional Rock bands.

The movies gave us a great 60s one-hit-wonder band, The Wonders, with That Thing You Do!  Almost Famous, from the real-life story of a young journalist, Cameron Crowe, included a fictional band, Stillwater, based partially on The Allman Brothers Band.  The film Eddie And The Cruisers had songs played by the real John Cafferty and The Beaver Brown Band.  And, Hard Rock humor came in the form of a fake “Rockumentary” with This Is Spinal Tap.

Of course there have also been fictional Pop bands based mainly on light-weight TV shows (The Archies, The Partridge Family, etc.).  That doesn’t include The Monkees, which became a real band even though the members were brought together for the show.

Now, there’s a ten-episode TV series on Amazon Prime with the fictional Rock band Daisy Jones & the Six.  It does a masterful job of visually recreating Rock & Roll in the 1970s.  Oh, the original songs are not quite up to the quality of the real 70s bands, but they’re good enough to provide the illusion we need.  Plus, there are a lot of real 70s hits played during the show.  We even hear Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman” near the end.

The series is from the 2019 bestselling novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid.  She was inspired to write the book after she saw Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham performing.  The book’s featured musical couple are Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne.  The two are played by Riley Keough (granddaughter of Elvis Presley) and Sam Clafin.  Though neither are professional singers, they provided strong and convincing vocals.  The music was produced by Blake Mills.  He also wrote most of the original music with help from co-writers, including a little bit of assistance from Jackson Browne, Marcus Mumford, and Phoebe Bridgers.

We see how the band comes together, their rise with the help of Daisy and Billy’s songwriting, and all the problems with egos, drugs, drinking, and relationships within the band.  The series is rated for ages 16+.

The emotional center of the show is a love triangle with the two main characters and Billy’s wife & band photographer Camila (Camila Morrone).  The other pairing in the band is Billy’s brother and lead guitarist Graham (Will Harrison) and keyboardist Karen (Suki Waterhouse).

The series does such a great job of recreating the era of the mid 1970’s that you almost believe the band was on the cover of the Rolling Stone, and that you may have owned their popular album Aurora.

As you watch the series, it’s fun to pick out the touches of Fleetwood Mac (and other bands), even though this is a fictional story.  In the longer concert scenes, Daisy does the twirling style of Stevie Nicks, and in the final concert she even dresses like a “white winged dove”.

Although Daisy Jones & The Six doesn’t quite reach the level of That Thing You Do! and Almost Famous, it is time well spent for anyone who wants to immerse themselves in a fantasy of 70s Rock & Roll.  No spoilers, but if you like the show, be assured that the finale episode is a satisfying conclusion.

Extra:  Here’s the link to an article on That Thing You Do!:

https://ontherecords.net/2018/01/that-thing-you-do/

No singer-songwriter in history (male or female) has matched the accomplishments of Taylor Swift.  Billy Joel said Taylor Swift is like her generation’s Beatles.  It sounded like an exaggeration when he said it, but he may be right…or at least not crazy.

At age 34 (as of Dec. 13th, 2023) Taylor Swift has a total of 13 #1 albums.  Only The Beatles have spent more weeks at #1 (132 weeks) on the Billboard album chart.  Swift is second with 69 weeks (1/10/24).  The Beatles and Taylor Swift are the only artists to have five albums stay at #1 for six-plus weeks.

When Taylor Swift’s re-recorded Speak Now album was released on July 7th, 2023, it was Swift’s 12th album in a row to debut at #1.  It features six never-released songs, and has a total of 22 tracks.  The original Speak Now was Swift’s third album, and to prove a point, she wrote it completely on her own.  It had six hit singles, spent six weeks at #1, and went six-times platinum.

Once artists break through, they typically have the greatest success of their careers in the first five to ten years.  After that, their recordings start to sell less (and stream less), even if they’re still major concert draws.  Yet Taylor Swift has sustained her career, and is at her peak over 17 years after she started.

Like Elton John, Carole King, and Brian Wilson, Taylor Swift often uses co-writers.  For example, on two of her best albums, Folklore and Evermore, many of the songs were co-written by Aaron Dessner.  During the time of COVID in 2020, Dessner would send instrumental “song starters” to Swift.  She would then write the melody and lyrics to go along with the chord progressions.  It’s basically the same way guitarist Mike Campbell provided chords and riffs for Tom Petty for some songs, like “Runnin’ Down A Dream”.  Taylor Swift has also written enough songs all by herself to fill five albums, and has written hits for other artists..

The women singer-songwriters of the classic era of the 1970s…like Carole King, Carly Simon, and Joni Mitchell…wrote some historically great songs, but they never had to also be able to sing them while performing dance choreography.   Sure, other female Pop stars do choreography, but their careers have not kept up with the accomplishments of Taylor Swift.  In just over three years, she’s had seven #1 albums.  No other singer-songwriter has done that.  She also has won the Grammy for Album Of The Year a record four times (2/4/24).

Of course Swift can simply grab a guitar or sit at a piano and deliver performances in the classic singer-songwriter style. 

In a 2023 poll, 53-percent of Americans said they are fans of Taylor Swift. That’s a major accomplishment in these days of scattered media and niche music.  On an international level, Taylor Swift was the Global Recording Artist of the Year for 2022 & 2023.  She’s earned the award a record four times in the ten years of its existence.  In other years, she’s placed second twice, and third twice.

When Taylor Swift released her 2022 album, Midnights, she became the first artist to have all of the Top 10 Billboard singles at the same time.  Unlike the old days when artists would only release one or two singles at a time, album tracks are now considered singles as the albums are played on the streaming services.  The most notable aspect is that no other singles were able to keep Taylor’s 10 songs from taking over.  She also writes and directs her own award-winning music videos.

And Taylor Swift is setting new records for live performances.  Despite some problems with Ticketmaster, she sold more tickets in one day than any other artist in history.  It became the highest grossing tour in history.  Her “Eras Tour” started with two sold out shows at a 70,000 seat stadium in Arizona.  She’s also sold out even larger stadiums for as many as six nights.  Unbelievably, Swift performs 44 songs during a show that lasts over 3-hours.  Bruce Springsteen comes to mind as someone who’s done shows that long, minus all the choreography and stage production.

Let’s hope Taylor Swift can keep up the pace!  Besides her 66 stadium concerts in 2023, there are 85 shows for 2024.  Those stops include concerts in Asia, Australia, the U.K. and Europe, ending with U.S. and Canadian dates in the fall of 2024, for a total of 151 performances.

It was reported in December of 2023 that the Eras Tour is the first to break a gross of one-billion-dollars, and new projections show it could top 2-Billion after the tour is completed in 2024.

Whew!

Bonus:  Getty Images provided some great photos that show the size of the production on the “Eras Tour” (tap or click to enlarge).

And these are just a sample of the many production designs.  A great effort was made to give fans a unique experience.  Taylor Swift’s concerts have had such a large positive financial impact in each of the cities she’s played that the Fed says she is helping to lift the overall U.S. economy.  Market research firm QuestionPro estimates Swift’s tour could add over $5-billion to the world economy.  Other projections show she has already reached that figure with her 2023 shows.

Update:  As Taylor Swift approached the final 2023 U.S. Eras shows in L.A., she gave bonuses to her entire crew, truck drivers, and backup musicians totaling 55-million-dollars!  The bonus given each truck driver was $100,000.

Update:  At her final concert in L.A. (8/9), Taylor Swift announced her album 1989 (Taylor’s Version).  It was released on October 27th (the same date the original album was released nine years ago).  It has five new “from the vault” tracks, and is her 13th #1 album.  It was Swift’s biggest first week in sales ever.  In December of 2023, Billboard said Taylor Swift had five albums in the Top 10 for five weeks, that’s never been done for even one week (by a living artist) before.  Out of he thousands of albums available on vinyl, one out of every 15 sold in 2023 was a Taylor Swift album.  She dominated the year.

On October 27th, 2023, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) made Taylor Swift the most-streamed artist in a single day, passing the record she had previously set with Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) earlier in 2023.

Update:  The Eras Tour concert film opened in North America & many international theaters on October 13th, 2023, just two months after Taylor Swifts’ final U.S. concert in August.  The film sold a record 37-million-dollars in tickets the first day.  It made a total of 123.5-million-dollars the first weekend, and passed 261-million-dollars in sales.  The concert film started streaming on Disney+ on March 14th, 2024.  There are five added songs, including “Cardigan”, and four of her acoustic performances.

Update:  

Taylor Swift is the only entertainer to be Time’s Person Of The Year.

Coming April 19th, 2024:

Taylor announced the new album during the Grammy Awards telecast.  She won Album Of The Year for a record 4th time.

Here’s the new album’s track list.  It also breaks down the vinyl sides:

The album comes with a (limited time) choice of covers, with four different bonus tracks…“The Manuscript”, “The Bolter”, “The Albatross”, and “The Black Dog”.

It gives you a different perspective of The Beatles’ albums when you see the tracks listed in the order of quality.  If you’re trying to find the elusive answer to which Beatles album is the best, you can compare the lists of songs to see which you think has the greatest number of their best songs.  This method also lets us see the peaks for each of the songwriters.

After enjoying The Beatles since 1964, and years of programming their songs on multiple radio stations…here’s how I rank the tracks for each of their original British albums.  See how the lists match-up with your own thoughts about these songs.  (Each list can be enlarged with a click.)

On their first album, The Beatles had two of their very best rock recordings, “I Saw Her Standing There” & “Twist And Shout”.  The latter is the song they played the most during their touring years.  Because of its strong melody, “P.S. I Love You” is listed just ahead of the historically more important “Love Me Do”.  It’s too bad “From Me To You”, was not ready for the album, since they included six cover songs.

The second album by The Beatles didn’t have any singles, even though “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “This Boy”, and “She Loves You” were available to be included.  “All My Loving” is the obvious choice for what could have been a single, and was the first song they played on The Ed Sullivan Show.  “Money” is another great rock vocal by John Lennon, and The Beatles put their own touches to R&B songs “You Really Got A Hold On Me” and “Please Mister Postman”.

A Hard Day’s Night is the first album of all original songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.  The first ten songs on the list are especially strong, even though this 1964 album was still early in The Beatles’ career.  In the U.S., we only had seven of these songs on the A Hard Day’s Night movie soundtrack.  Having the whole album shows how great it really is.  This list starts with two #1 hits, followed by one of McCartney’s best ballads, and the quality continues down the list.

The Beatles had eight really good original songs on this album, but also included six cover songs like on their first album.  It would have elevated the project if they had included the two songs they recorded for a single during these sessions, “I Feel Fine” and “She’s A Woman”.  They could have replaced the last two songs on this list.

Help is another great album that probably gets less love than it deserves, because Capitol Records only put seven of these songs on the U.S. soundtrack.  The first three songs are #1 hits, including the most recorded song of all time, “Yesterday”.  The final two songs on the list were the last cover songs The Beatles included on their albums (except the brief song snippet “Maggie May” on Let It Be).

Even though there was a six song difference between the U.K. And U.S. versions of Rubber Soul, it was loved on both sides of the Atlantic.  This was another impressive songwriting showing for John Lennon (like Help).  He wrote three of the four best songs, and they are among his finest efforts.  Of the seven Lennon songs, only one is a lyrical miss.  “Run For Your Life” has the “I’d rather see you dead” line he took from a song that had been recorded by Elvis.

Paul McCartney had already written some of the most recorded songs in history, including “Yesterday”, “And I Love Her”, and  “Michelle”.  Revolver was another step forward for him, and he continued to have a major impact on the remaining albums and singles.  He’s the main songwriter on six of the songs, and the quality is very high.  “Eleanor Rigby” is another “most recorded song”, and “Here, There And Everywhere” is the song McCartney has mentioned as his favorite.  This album is rightly known for its studio innovations, but it’s also an album with great songs.

John Lennon tended to refer to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as Paul McCartney’s album, but when you look at the song list, Lennon’s contributions were impressive.  “A Day In The Life” is a critically acclaimed group effort that started with Lennon’s songwriting.  He also wrote the excellent “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”, the extremely clever “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite”, and “Good Morning Good Morning”.  George Harrison contributed “Within You Without You”.  Paul McCartney was the main writer on the remaining eight tracks, so Lennon’s perspective was not entirely wrong. There’s not a bad song on the album, and the creativity in both the arrangements & the recording process is off the charts.

Magical Mystery Tour was not an album The Beatles planned, but rather a combination of songs from a TV special (released as an EP in England), and an album side of previous singles that were not on any other albums.  You can see how strong the songs are.  It has three #1 singles “Penny Lane”, “All You Need Is Love”, and “Hello Goodbye”…and as you can see on the list…it has another three songs better than two of those #1’s.

Because it’s a double album with 30 tracks, The White Album is divided into two parts…the 15 best songs, and the 15 remaining.  There’s an amazing variety of musical styles on the album, with beloved songs like “Blackbird” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”.  Beatles fans will recognize most of the titles, even though none of the tracks were released as singles.

Although there are some good songs in the bottom 15, there are not enough of them to make a good album.

The two best songs on Abbey Road are by George Harrison.  Despite not being a single, “Here Comes The Sun” is the most streamed Beatles song, and “Something” is a classic love song.  The next two songs are by John Lennon.   Paul McCartney contributed the best songs that are in the popular side-two medley.

Maybe Paul McCartney was a little light on songs for Abbey Road, because of his very impressive contributions for the album recorded just a little earlier in 1969, Let It Be.  Paul wrote the three #1 hits, “Get Back”, “Let It Be”, and “The Long And Winding Road”, plus the equally good “Two Of Us”.  In fact, considering the quality of the first eight songs (plus the should-have-been-included “Don’t Let Me Down”), Let It Be is a strong album.  Even back when I was using a reel-to-reel recorder, “Don’t Let  Me Down” was always on my Let It Be playlist.

Looking at each Beatles album with these lists shows how many great songs they included on each one.  We were so lucky to have been a part of it.

(This article is updated, with ages as of January 10th, 2024, and birthdates included for all the artists.)

With the recent losses of…David Crosby 81, Christine McVie 79, Jeff Beck 78, Randy Meisner 77, Robbie Robertson 80, Jimmy Buffett 76, Gary Wright 80, Gordon Lightfoot 84, Denny Laine 79, and Dickey Betts 80…We’re reminded that the music is running out for many of our favorite artists of the Classic Rock era.  Some of us can certainly identify with their situation.

Here are the current ages (as of January 10th, 2024) of the rest of CSN&Y…Stephen Stills 79 (1/3/45), Graham Nash 81 (2/2/42), and Neil Young 78 (12/12/45).

David Crosby’s band from his younger days, The Byrds…Chris Hillman is 79 (12/4/44)  and Roger McGuinn is 81 (7/13/42)

Christine McVie’s Fleetwood Mac mates are…Mick Fleetwood 76 (6/24/47), Stevie Nicks 75 (5/26/48), John McVie 78 (11/26/45), and Lindsey Buckingham 74 (10/3/49).

The remaining Beatles are both in their 80’s…Ringo Starr 83 (7/7/40), and Paul McCartney 81 (6/18/42).  Both have been very active, including touring.  John Lennon was murdered in 1980 at age 40, and George Harrison died of cancer in 2001 at the age of 58.

Eagles singer-songwriter Glenn Frey died in 2016 at the age of 67 and bassist Randy Meisner at the age of 77 in 2023.  The remaining Eagles are all 76…Timothy B. Schmit (10/30/47), Don Henley (7/22/47), and Joe Walsh (11/20/47).

(JT & JB…photos I took at their concerts in 2014 & 2015.)

Two of our best solo artists really are ‘70s singer-songwriters.  James Taylor and Jackson Browne are both 75, and turn 76 in 2024.  James Taylor (3/12/48) and Jackson Browne (10/9/48).

Tom Petty died just 18 days before his 67th birthday in 2017.  Heartbreakers’ keyboardist Benmont Tench (left)  is 70 (9/7/53), and guitarist Mike Campbell is 73 (2/1/50).

Two of our greatest country songwriters and performers are at the upper range of ages.  Kris Kristofferson is 87 (6/22/36), and Willie Nelson is 90 (4/29/33).

Here’s a selection of some of our classic artists listed according to their current ages (as of Jan 10th, 2024).  Each one includes their birth date, so you can track their ages as we move into the future.

82:  Bob Dylan (8/14/41), Paul Simon (10/13/41), Art Garfunkel (11/5/41)

81:  Carole King (2/9/42), Brian Wilson (6/20/42)

80:  Mick Jagger (7/26/43), Roger Waters (9/6/43), Steve Miller (10/5/43), Joni Mitchell (11/7/43), Keith Richards (12/18/43), Jimmy Page (1/9/44)

79:  Roger Daltry (3/1/44), John Sebastian (3/17/44), Ray Davies (6/21/44), Peter Asher (6/22/44), Rod Stewart (1/10/45)

78:  Eric Clapton (3/30/45), Bob Seger (5/6/45), Pete Townshend (5/19/45), John Fogerty (5/28/45), Debbie Harry (7/1/45), Van Morrison (8/31/45), JD Souther (11/2/45)

77:  David Gilmour (3/6/46), Linda Ronstadt (7/16/46), Justin Hayward (10/14/46)

76:  Elton John (3/25/47), Carlos Santana (7/20/47), Jeff Lynne (12/30/47)

75:  Steven Tyler (3/26/48), Cat Stevens (7/21/48), Robert Plant (8/20/48)

74:  Billy Joel (5/9/49), Mark Knopfler (8/12/49), Bruce Springsteen (9/23/49), Bonnie Raitt (11/8/49)

We’ve enjoyed an abundance of fantastic music from this generation of musicians, but as Jackson Browne sang…“All good things gotta come to an end.”

Here are some lyrics from a Cat Stevens song that can be applied to the situation.  “And though you want them to last forever, you know they never will.  You know they never will.  And the goodbye makes the journey harder still.”

Hopefully, a good portion of our classic artists’ songs will be enjoyed for many decades to come.

In February of 2018, Apple launched the HomePod smart speaker.  We bought one immediately, and then added another one as soon as HomePods could be linked in stereo.  The price was $350 each.  Our old stereo system had well-reviewed components that cost a lot more, but didn’t sound as good as the HomePods.  We absolutely love the convenience of just asking for the playlist we want.  Here’s our setup in the living room.

About three years later, Apple stopped producing the HomePod, and instead introduced the $99 HomePod Mini.  It was a fraction of the cost, and a fraction of the sound quality.

As of February 3rd, 2023, the full size HomePod is back!

The new HomePod (second generation) looks like the original HomePod, but there are some differences.  The lighted display now covers the whole top, and the dark color is “Midnight” black instead of a dark gray.  Inside is Apple’s S7 chip with “enhanced Siri”.  The new HomePod has the same size woofer, but five tweeters instead of seven, and 4 microphones instead of six.  It would be hard to believe that the 2nd generation of HomePods could possibly sound better.  The original has impressive bass, and balanced midrange & treble, without distortion, even at high volume.  Most reviews say the original and the new HomePods sound nearly identical.

We mainly use our HomePods to play our entire music collection we have stored on iTunes, but HomePods can also serve as a hub for smart home devices.  By the way, the white covers on our 5-year-old HomePods look as good as the day we got them.

The price of the new HomePod is $299, which is the same price they eventually used for the original HomePod.  It’s surprising the price isn’t a bit lower, since price seemed to be the biggest concern in the past.  Maybe Apple hopes that since a lot of people have experienced the HomePod Mini, they may be ready to move up to the excellent sound of the full size model.

Buried deep in a report by Luminate on 2022 music buying, was the statistic that only 50% of people who purchase vinyl records even own turntables.  What’s going on is that some people are buying records as keepsakes to have a physical connection to the artists and music they’re streaming.  Besides being cool souvenirs, buying albums is a way for fans to support their favorite artists.

The 50% “no record player” number was shocking.  My guess might have been that 10% of buyers bought records only as souvenirs.  But let’s face it, it’s a lot easier to ask Siri or Alexa to play your favorite album than it is to get out a record, play it on a turntable, and flip it over halfway through.  A stereo system like the one above costs about the same as three years of a music subscription service.  Plus, records are not a portable music form.

The statistic doesn’t mean that half of all records bought go unused.  People who have turntables buy a lot more records than those who don’t, and those records are being enjoyed.

No demographic statistics were given, but record company executives believe that some albums being bought as keepsakes are new releases by artists like Taylor Swift and Harry Styles, who had the two biggest selling albums of 2022.  Classic albums by artists like The Beatles and Pink Floyd are probably getting played by fans who want to enjoy the original vinyl experience from when those albums were new.

According to the new report, Taylor Swift is the vinyl queen.  She has the modern record (since 1991) for most vinyl sold for her Midnights album from October of 2022.  It’s the first album in 35 years to sell more vinyl records than CD’s.  Overall, Swift sold the most albums in all forms in 2022.  Second place wasn’t close.  That was Harry Styles, and Swift nearly tripled his sales.  She had nine albums simultaneously in the Top 200 in 2022.  Third place went to The Beatles, who had the Revolver remix release and their catalog of albums.

Music consumption in the U.S. was up 9.2% in 2022.  Streaming accounts for a whopping 84% of music income.

Now, we just need to get turntables to some of the younger music fans.

(Photo & stereo by Mark Gallagher)

We’d be glad to show the younger generations how to set-up stereo systems and use them, as long as they’re willing to keep helping us with our phones and apps.