Album: It was 50 years ago this week that four Liverpudlian lads came to our shores, played on the Ed Sullivan Show, and influenced millions of our parents’ generation (and subsequent generations) to become musicians, grow their hair long, and form a counterculture built around peace, love, and tolerance. The album that started it all is the one I’ll be looking at this week. Meet The Beatles is a compilation of their first two English albums, Please Please Me and With The Beatles, and was released by Capitol Records on January 20, 1964, just as Beatlemania was sweeping the nation after the success of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” on both sides of the Atlantic. Most of the songs on here are either from With The Beatles or from singles and EP records they released between their first and second albums, and it’s easy to see why America fell in love with this band from this album.
The A side of the record has their hits such as “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” “This Boy,” and “All My Loving,” songs that someone who’s not particularly a fan of the Beatles would still know by heart. The B side has a few lesser-known (for such a popular group) tracks, such as Lennon’s rocker “Little Child,” the brooding George Harrison composition “Don’t Bother Me,” and their remake of a tune from Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man called “Til There Was You.” All told, this album is one of the most historically significant albums in the history of recorded music, a fantastic album, and it’s crazy to think that John, Paul, George, and Ringo came to America half a century ago and that Paul and Ringo are still performing as much as ever.
What I’ve Been Listening To:
1. Producer/Musician Steve Albini, who has worked with artists such as Nirvana, PJ Harvey, and the Amherst-bred Pixies, is also a musician in his own right with his band Shellac, and it is shown on their 2000 album 1000 Hurts. The crux of this record is Albini’s slashing guitar, bassist Bob Weston’s hypnotic grooves, and drummer Todd Trainer’s slamming percussion, without much else to distract from it. Songs like “Prayer To God” and “Mama Gina” do contain a fair amount of lyrics, as does “Squirrel Song,” but large chunks of this album are instrumental, which is cool because they play well off of each other. Check this out if you like your rock music kind of weird.
2. One of the albums I was playing while working on another article may have to be one of the heaviest albums I’ve listened to, and it’s one of the influences for almost all heavy metal and hard rock thereafter. Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality shows the fact that infectious grooves don’t have to be delivered by a funk group or a DJ spinning some fresh tracks, but that four demonic English guys can groove with the best of them and make it heavy. While this album doesn’t have the huge hits like “Iron Man” and “Paranoid” on it, songs like “Sweet Leaf” and “Children of The Grave” are every bit as good in their own right at delivering the heaviness Sabbath is known for. Also, tracks like “Solitude” and “Embryo” reveal that the Ozzy Osbourne and his cohorts are pretty adept at delivering some tender ballads. You won’t regret giving this a listen if you’re into classic rock or newer bands like Queens of the Stone Age.
3. I’ve also been listening to a fair amount of one of my guitarist’s favorite bands called RX Bandits, and specifically the album…And The Battle Begun. They started as a ska band like Reel Big Fish or Less Than Jake, but have since branched out into progressive rock, post-hardcore, and many other styles. Songs like “Apparition” and “Only for The Night” see them blending reggae, punk, and other styles to create a complex yet undeniably danceable amalgam of styles. Listen to them if you like bands such as Reel Big Fish, Sublime, or No Doubt.
Local Music Happenings:
1. UMass AMP’s concert has been postponed to February 27 in Thompson 102. Come and check out what you’ve probably heard in Herter late at night and support your fellow students’ endeavors. And it’s free, so it’s a no-brainer to come check it out.
2. Amherst-based trio June & The Bee will be performing at the Elevens in Northampton on February 21. Come out and support your local artists and see this innovative folk trio that’s been making waves up and down the valley.
3. On any given Sunday from 9pm-12:30am the Pub in Amherst hosts its open mic/blues jam, featuring bands from UMass, around the valley, and some good-time rock and roll from the house band featuring members of Outer Stylie, Wolfman Conspiracy, and Brotherhood of Thieves. This is the perfect cap to your weekend, so come and check it out!