Rock And Roll Music

Just let me hear some of that rock and roll music
Any old way you choose it
It's got a back beat, you can't lose it
Any old time you use it
It's got to be rock and roll music
If you want to dance with me.

Those are lines from 'Rock and Roll Music', one of the tracks on Beatles For Sale, released sixty years ago just in time for the Christmas market. Of course, it wasn't one of their own compositions. Chuck Berry had written and released the song back in 1957, the year that John Lennon and Paul McCartney commenced a musical partnership (in the Quarrymen) that was destined to change the world in 1964, a sort of annus mirabilis (wonderful year) in so many ways. More on that later.

Beatles For Sale was, however, the group's second LP in a year (and in fact their fourth in just under two years - the sort of recording and release schedule that would be unthinkable nowadays), so only eight of the fourteen tracks were originals, the balance being favourite covers that had been part of their repertoire during those Hamburg residencies of 1960 and 1961

Surprisingly, Beatles For Sale has its detractors, seemingly because nearly half the material is cover versions, in comparison to A Hard Day's Night earlier in the summer, which had been their first LP to feature all original Beatles compositions. 

The Beatles' excuse, as if one was needed, was that 1964 had been such an intense year for the Fabs (as they were becoming known), what with touring the UK, Europe and 'conquering'  America, making a feature film, writing a book of poetry (in Lennon's case), that they just hadn't had the time to write half a dozen additional songs for Beatles For Sale. (It must also be remembered that they chose not to include the contemporaneous hit single 'I Feel Fine' c/w 'She's A Woman' on the LP because they wanted to give their fans value for money.)

Beatles For Sale album cover photoshoot, Hyde Park 1964 (Robert Freeman)

Commentators have added that the LP's artwork, photographs of the group taken by Robert Freeman in Hyde Park, makes them look somewhat world-weary, and the ironic title for the album (surely Lennon's suggestion) encapsulated their frustration at being seen as 'product' as the downside of becoming a global phenomenon, theories which have contributed to a sense that Beatles For Sale is somehow below par in the group's canon. All I can say is that those detractors really need to listen to the record with fresh ears. It's time for a revaluation.

Some of you will be familiar with Philip Larkin's wryly ironic poem about the social changes in motion at the beginning of the Sixties. (I'm supposing he named it after an earlier poem by John Dryden celebrating London's survival in 1666 after the twin threats of plague and fire). 

Annus Mirabilis

Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.

Up to then there'd only been
A sort of bargaining,
A wrangle for the ring,
A shame that started at sixteen
And spread to everything.

Then all at once the quarrel sank:
Everyone felt the same,
And every life became
A brilliant breaking of the bank,
A quite unlosable game.

So life was never better than
In nineteen sixty-three
(Though just too late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.

                                               Philip Larkin (1967)

Larkin pinpoints 1963 as the crucial year, but for me personally 1964 was the momentous one, for all of the following reasons. As mentioned earlier, it was the year in which the Beatles became a global phenomenon (starting with their appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show in the USA in February), the year in which Labour ended thirteen years of Tory misrule, the year in which I stepped up from Junior to Secondary school (and from short trousers to long), the year of our family's move from industrial Peterborough to academic Cambridge, the year in which I first went to bed with a girl (see my poem 'Stephanie Re-Maps The Stars'), the year when it began to seem that all was change for the better and all things were possible. Optimism was boundless and the Beatles, ensconced in EMI's Abbey Road studio number 2, were busy laying down the soundtrack of our unshackling.

Beatles For Sale recording session, Abbey Road 1964 (Robert Freeman)

I think that's one of the reasons why Beatles For Sale, released at the end of my own annus mirabilis, remains one of my favourite Beatles records, right up there with their best LPs. I'm pleased they chose to give needle time to those cover songs, as a reminder of their roots, and of what a terrific beat group they were. But that record also provides the first hints of them transitioning into the complex artists they would become, a foretaste of that brilliant run of recordings from Rubber Soul to Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. 

Beatles For Sale opens with one of the strongest trio of songs on any of their albums in 'No Reply', 'I'm A Loser' and the sumptuous 'Baby's In Black' (all essentially Lennon compositions). It's followed by John's infectious rendition of 'Rock And Roll Music', the Paul McCartney's ballad 'I'll Follow The Sun', another top notch cover by Lennon of 'Mr Moonlight' before the side closes with a ridiculously rocking rendition by Paul of 'Kansas City'.

Admittedly, side two with its country and western influence dips slightly after the opener 'Eight Days A Week', including as it does the obligatory George Harrison and Ringo Starr vocal spots, but 'Words Of Love' and 'I Don't Want To Spoil The Party' are great songs, the rockabilly Carl Perkins covers are inspired and the musicianship is excellent throughout. Beatles For Sale has so many wonderful memories for me and still gets played to death annually in the run up to Christmas and New Year. It's long been a family tradition to play it while the Christmas tree is being decorated, and I've been listening to it in the gym for several days in a row recently as well. 

As Derek Taylor wrote in the sleeve notes: "There's priceless history between these (LP) covers. When in a generation or so, a radio-active cigar-smoking child picnicking on Saturn asks you what the Beatles affair was all about...just play the child a few tracks from this album and he'll probably understand."

       

Beatles For Sale album cover photoshoot, Hyde Park 1964 (Robert Freeman)

I've no new poem for you this week. Instead, for what it's worth, gentle reader, here are my top ten albums of 2024, as trailed in the musical advent calendar I posted daily on Facebook in December (along with musical clips):

01 Natural Magick - Kula Shaker

02 Moon Mirror - Nada Surf

03 Why Is The Colour Of The Sky? - Bananagun

04 Iechyd Da - Bill Ryder-Jones

05 In This City They Call You Love - Richard Hawley

06 12 - White Denim

07 Half Cut - Sarah Gillespie

08 Daniel - Real Estate

09 Across The River Of Stars - Beachwood Sparks

10 Here In The Pitch - Jessica Pratt

Finally, as an audio bonus, that song: Rock And Roll Music as performed by The Beatles. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading. Happy New Year, S ;-)

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The Matrix?

The Matrix is considered one of the best science fiction films of all time and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being culturally, historically and aesthetically significant. It was written by the directors, the Wachowski sisters, specifically for film. But I want to take the term Science Fiction and give my top ten of actual books made into films.

10 Soylent Green. Based on a 1966 science fiction novel Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison. It starred Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young and Edward G. Robinson and was directed by Richard Fleischer. It tells the story of New York in the year 2022, when the population has swollen to 80 million, and people live in the streets and line up for their rations of water and Soylent Green which is plankton. Maybe.

9 Minority Report. Based on a story by Philip K. Dick and directed by Stephen Spielberg the film follows a police officer (Tom Cruise) in the year 2054 working in the PreCrime department, which arrests people before they commit crimes foreseen by psychic "precogs."

still from Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris

8 Solaris. I’ve read that the author of this film, Stanislaw Lem, is the best science fiction writer ever, and Solaris is his most famous book. I much prefer the 1972 version of the film which was co-written and directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. The plot centres on a space station orbiting the fictional planet Solaris, where a scientific mission has stalled because the three scientists have fallen into emotional crises. Psychologist Kris Kelvin travels to the station to evaluate the situation, only to encounter the same mysterious phenomena as the others.

7 Frankenstein. Written by Mary Shelley in 1818. There’s no point in going over the story as it has developed a life of its own. But I would urge you to read the actual book it is fantastic. However, I would point you to the spoof version ‘Young Frankenstein’ directed by Mel Brooks. The screenplay was co-written by Brooks and Gene Wilder. Wilder also starred in the lead role as the title character, a descendant of the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein. Walk this way.

6 Arrival. Based on Ted Chiang's novella, Story of Your Life and directed by Denis Villeneuve, this story follows linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) when she is tasked with communicating with aliens that have arrived on Earth in a massive, black spacecraft. But it’s more than that.

5 Dune. The first in the series of novels entitled the Dune saga written by Frank Herbert. I remember being absorbed by this back in the 60s. I wonder if I still would be. The story is based around a future thousands of years away and concerns various empires feuding. Sort of. The current film has received rave reviews. I haven’t seen it yet. Previous ones have been turkeys.

still from Sir Ridley Scott's Blade Runner

4 Blade Runner. Based on Philip K. Dick's book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and directed by Ridley Scott in 1982. The film is set in a Los Angeles of 2019, in which synthetic humans known as replicants are bio-engineered to work on space colonies. When a fugitive group of advanced replicants led by Roy Batty ( Rutger Hauer, ) escapes back to Earth, burnt-out cop Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) reluctantly agrees to hunt them down. It’s the atmosphere of it all and Batty’s amazing speech at the end ‘I've seen things you people wouldn't believe....’

3 Alien. Daniel Thomas O'Bann wrote the screenplay for the 1979 film, adapted from a story he wrote with Ronald Shusett and it was directed by Ridley Scott. And it stars Sigourney Weaver as Ripley (gulp). I presume that you will know the plot but just think on that scene with John Hurt. In 2002, Alien was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

2 The Martian. The book was written by Andy Weir and published in 2014. ‘A book I just couldn’t put down! It has the very rare combination of a good, original story, interestingly real characters and fascinating technical accuracy’ so says Astronaut Chris Hadfield, Commander of the International Space Station’. I’d go further and say it’s the best science fiction book I’ve read. It is nail bitingly thrilling. I stayed up until 2 am to finish it and my heart was thumping. The trouble is that it is so good I don’t want to see the film although it has great reviews.

still from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey

1 2001: A Space Odyssey. Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick wrote this together although it was based on Clarke’s 1951 short story The Sentinel. I saw the film in 1968 on probably a Friday night in Birmingham and went back on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It was the Ultimate Trip. I don’t know how many times I have watched it. Everything about the film is perfect. I say no more. Except Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do.

That’s my list and I’m sure people would disagree. And here’s a poem on the very subject:

Science Fiction

Once upon a time
density span and speed
L = (1/2) ρ v2 s CL

as beautiful as a 747
departing the fact
of Terminal 3

guided past Control Towers
into that crumpled paperback
Asimov or Clarke
where this is a game
played in a maze
by something beyond
Tuesday Manchester

only rain makes sense
blurring binoculars
on the airport car park
spotters casually scribbling
the number of Flight 6122
reaching for coffee
as wheels leave the ground

to a single gasp
lost in the roar

of elegant lines
where L is the force
that lifted wings
in text book problems
that now and then
came to the same conclusion
as answers in the back
where total disbelief
that I’d got it right
equals eight thousand hundredweight
turning south over Wilmslow.

(First published in The Journal, 2019)

eight thousand hundredweight getting airborne

Thanks for reading, Terry.

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The Changing Face of Music

Music has always been an important part of my life. It is central to many of my experiences and at the core of my memory bank. It is difficult for me to make a withdrawal from said bank without hearing a snippet from “The Soundtrack of my Life”.

Today is Sunday, and thirty-odd years ago the whole day would have been planned around making sure I was in the bath for the all-important “Top Ten”. My younger brother and sister would have their baths before me. House rules. My sister would go first and then my brother would follow. They would use the same bath water. I was allowed fresh water. If you could see the state my brother would get into at the weekend you would understand why.

 

My brother, fully aware of my plans, would stay in the bath as long as possible. At that age his sole mission was to do nothing more than to make my life a misery. Only a yelled threat of punishment from mum would drag him from the waters.

 

Eventually, and usually with seconds to spare, I would close the bathroom door on the world and settle down into a bath more bubbles than water. Water levels were parentally controlled and letting the taps run a little longer was not worth the penalty. I was in my late teens before we had the luxury of a shower.

 

Full of anticipation at the upcoming countdown, my cassette recorder was strategically placed beside the bath so that I could press record on all ten songs without having to stretch too far. With ease I would cut out the cheesy ramblings of Tony Blackburn et al and over the following seven days play the well-worn cassette non-stop.

How things have changed.
 

There’s no waiting anymore. No anticipation. The kids of today have instant access to an infinitesimal amount of music with the touch of a fingertip. And yes, it’s a good thing. My own kids introduce me to a variety of weird and wonderful songs that would never make the mainstream. Not for a lack of talent that’s for sure, as those they listen to are the real artists of today, but more for a lack of supposed commercial appeal. Image is as important, if not more so, as talent these days.

At least YouTube and other on-line platforms give these non-commercial artists a platform. Here’s one of my favourites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsvlsuLau5c

Last night I went to watch my son’s band play at a local pub. They were anxious about the gig as they were supporting a heavy metal band and felt their indie tunes would be met with a stony wall of hostility from the baying crowd of rockers. They launched into their eight-song set, only one of which was a cover, with gusto. With each song, those at the back of the dimly-lit venue moved forward, heads bobbing with appreciation. By the end there were people up dancing to songs they’d never heard before. 

For me, the joy was in seeing how much fun my son and his two bandmates were having on the stage. Even though they announced with disgust afterwards that it was the worst they’d ever played. 

The short poem I have written today was inspired by an article I read online yesterday. If you’re interested to read it, here is the link:

http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/the-hidden-meaning-behind-this-sad-poem-will-blow-you-away--b1Nmlv1PXg

 

Artist vs Celebrity

I just want to play

To make music

I don’t want

A life in the spotlight

I crave

Meaning in the words

I don’t need

To sell a million records

But I need

To write a song that moves you

I don’t have

An agenda

I have

Me

(Now read from bottom to top)

Thank you for reading,

Fiona

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