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Location: Tennessee | If you haven't listened to the Love album that was recently released, it is very much worth a listen or three. It is the soundtrack to the Cirque de Soleil show, and it puts a whole new spin on Beatles music. George Martin (and his son Giles) took all of the available Beatles material and spliced it up into a fantastic sequence of all things Beatles (and it includes an acoustic version of George doing While My Guitar Gently Weeps). joebobbo sez check it out. |
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Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | OK, Wabbit, I'll grant you that SOMETIMES their words were OK, but couple them with that bouncy, to my ears bubblegum tune, and the value of the words is obscured.
As far as classical music goes, those who don't like it should try live symphony, maybe some Bach. Just like a lot of music, you will feel the power of it when hearing it live, get into the individual musicianship of the performers, and come away breathless. |
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Location: Location Location Location | Thanks for your opinions, well with the exception of Losov who had no opinion, and just wrote to ask for mine; odd I thought. The discussion was enjoyable.
I'll stand by my reverence for the Beatles, and with my thinking that they're up there with the best composers in time, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, all of them. They were all prolific. Someone mentioned that John & Paul would write a song for a 'swimming pool' or a 'car'. Mozart wrote on contract as well. These were not wealthy people to start out, and they all had to get paid. Their music was based on what came before. All 12 tone scale. All relevant to the popular music of the time.
Beatles' melodies are memorable, their lyrics were positive, and they changed pop music. Those are facts. Is the music of the Beatles relevant today? To some, and to some it isn't. Same with classical music. Relevance is personal, just as music appreciation is personal. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Originally posted by AlanM:
So many people think that, as someone said above, classical music is just to be listened to in the background.
Not at all.
It's meant to be jacked WAAAAAY up, and listened to repeatedly and with concentration, on a good stereo system. I guarantee THAT kind of listening will reveal all the layers, the complexity, the textures, the dynamics, the riveting, compelling, gripping, challenging, mind- and horizon-expanding beauty of so many compositions.
I have done that...and I assure you that my sound system cost more than some high end imports and I can shake the neighbors house if I truly desired...
but the signs of an extraordinary system is not how loud it can go but how revealing it can be and I would conservatively rank mine in the top 15% of potential.
Having said that, playing classical music LOOOOUUUUD will not increase the pleasure but merely increase the annoyance of clashing cymbals and horns blaring.
I have listened to the majority of great composers on well recorded Lp's and CDs and with the exception of a few, it has never make the hair on the back of my neck stand up and shiver.
For me.....best suited for background music and not worth the wasted time I would spend sitting and dedicating my time to pure listening.
YMMV :cool: |
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Location: south east Michigan | Now I'm sure no music major.
But when I when I play Beatles songs I am playing plenty of differnt chords than when I play others songs of that era and before.
Maybe it's a cliche' now but you didn't hear the type of major to minor chord changes before them.
Again, I'm no theorist.
I just know that a Beatle song feels very different to play.
Before someone sites examples to the contrary, I know there are a number of them. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Brad,
I always considered Beatle tunes simple yet complex. They make me smile both when I listen and when I play them. |
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Location: los angeles | Totally agree. Simple yet complex. |
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Location: Location Location Location | Maybe it's a cliche' now but you didn't hear the type of major to minor chord changes before them.
That was a cool, Beatly thing. Simple and complex too. I always thought of the earlier Beatles tunes almost like marches. They were tight and driven, like Please Please Me. Listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9cbMZZTRQQ
OR I SAW HER STANDING THERE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpCdDwvhgcw&feature=related |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Lennon & McCartney studied the writers of an earlier generation to learn their craft. Lerner & Loewe, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Geo. & Ira Gershwin which led both to their decision to attribute all their songs to the duo, and use the more complex structures of earlier pop music.
As to 'doing it for the money'.... Dr. Samuel Johnson famously wrote; "Who writes not for money, is a blockhead." |
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Location: Newington, CT | Originally posted by fillhixx:
Lennon & McCartney studied the writers of an earlier generation to learn their craft. Lerner & Loewe, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Geo. & Ira Gershwin which led both to their decision to attribute all their songs to the duo, and use the more complex structures of earlier pop music.
As to 'doing it for the money'.... Dr. Samuel Johnson famously wrote; "Who writes not for money, is a blockhead." And I think it was John McLaughlin who said, "Art and commerciality are diametrically opposed." Another perspective. One thing is sure: reasonable people can disagree, and this has been a really fun discussion with some well-expressed perspectives. Thanks, Brooklyn, for bringing it up. |
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Location: closely held secret | Alan, the McLaughlin quote you might be thinking of is "There are two kinds of success. One is musical or artistic and the other is commercial."
He doesn't say you can't achieve both. He certainly has.
He also said, "I have a great faith in every generation's ability to come up with its own music." |
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Location: Newington, CT | Originally posted by The Wabbit Formerly Known As Waskel:
Alan, the McLaughlin quote you might be thinking of is "There are two kinds of success. One is musical or artistic and the other is commercial."
He doesn't say you can't achieve both. He certainly has.
He also said, "I have a great faith in every generation's ability to come up with its own music." I think I got the quote right (see it here ), but in re-reading the interview (after 31 years!), I may have misplaced the context.
I think that McLaughlin is suggesting that he wishes that riches could accrue to the really talented, by virtue of the masses' upgrading and broadening their taste in music.
Not sure whose viewpoint this buttresses, but I think it DOES indicate that he believes that the more sophisticated (for lack of a better term) musics are for the masses, not just for the elites.
The rest of the interview seems to confirm that McLaughlin believes "classical" music to be in this realm.
Again, just my humble opinion.
Also, the original question could, itself, pose a BUNCH more clarifying and refining questions, such as: Compared to which musicians? Compared to what music? Compared to to what era? Which "version(s) of the Beatles? and many more.
Still GREAT food for thought. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Beatles were the best of their (my) era. Sme has held up well, some has not. But frankly I think a lot of their solo stuff is way better. I'll take All Things, Imagine and BOTR over just about any three beatles LPs |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | ? Bridge Over Troubled Water?
But I do agree....I actually always heard All Things Must Pass as the next/posthumous Beatle album. |
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Location: Location Location Location | Band On The Run..took me a while too. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Originally posted by stephent28:
I have listened to the majority of great composers on well recorded Lp's and CDs and with the exception of a few, it has never make the hair on the back of my neck stand up and shiver. You should hear it when you're seated "among" the musicians, like directly behind the French horns with the brass on your left and the timpani on your right, or alongside the harp, or in between the bass and cello players. Gives you a whole new perspective. If you've played in a band with four, five or more players, you can appreciate how easy it is to lose synch. Can you imagine the train wreck that could happen when there are 200 musicians! |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Brad, makes sense. The only time I really enjoyed listening was many years ago when I went to several live performances back when I lived in Houston.
Maybe I need to check out the CSO and see how I feel afterwards. |
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The Beatles
