Conference back40::soapbox

 I enjoyed it, particularly some of the shots of them (the Beatles, not
 Them w/Van Morrison) performing.  




 Jim

    
    Channel surfing, I came across about a dozen different stations
    showing something or other to do with the Beatles.  I passed on all
    of them.  I figure I know all I really care to about the lives of
    John, Paul, George, Ringo, Pete and Stu.
    
    Don't get me wrong...I really enjoy their music, but...
    

    
    the infatuation is gone.  i love their music and have purposely
    tried to keep it from my girls until they reach adolescence and
    might appreciate it in somewhat of the same light as i did
    thirty years ago.  had john lennon lived, there still could have
    been some interesting music made.  not cutting edge but still
    artistically worthy.
    
    

    Hah... I could probably write a few hundred lines on this, but I'll
    be merciful.  I love the Beatles' music, and there aren't many days
    that I don't listen to some of it.  I've also read a few books about
    them, and so on.  I'm not one of those "I must have everything even
    remotely related to the Beatles" fanatics, though.
    
    At the same time, I have a serious distaste for hype campaigns and
    mental images of drooling guys in business suits with illuminated
    dollar signs in their darting eyes.  Thus, I've been mostly turned
    off by the recent campaign, mostly because it's completely artificial,
    created just for this Anthology.  If this had all come about as part
    of something like the "30th Anniversary of Beatles in America" in
    February 1994, then it might have been easier to take.
    
    As it was, it became so bad that I actually found myself groaning
    when yet-another-Beatles-song would come onto the radio, and would
    frequently just change the station in exasperation.  My kids were
    astonished... :-)  "Dad, *you're* turning off a Beatles song?!"
    And it was almost never one of the more obscure (and frequently
    more interesting) songs, it was always the same old Top Ten junk.
    Hey, try "There's a Place" or "Every Little Thing" once in a while...
    
    The hypocritical radio stations like Oldies 103 have done their best to
    avoid the Beatles most of the time (whilst drenching us with hourly
    Elvis, for example), so their jumping on this bandwagon was highly
    suspicious.  We note with interest that they're not playing anything
    from the newly-released CD's.
    
    As for the TV documentary, I have mixed feelings.  The concert scenes
    and other performance scenes were great.  I could have done without
    most of the rest of it.  I was disappointed in the Beatles' own
    remembrances as being mostly superficial, covering mostly "meta-issues"
    like "what it was like being a Beatle".  I don't care about that... it
    would have been great to hear some more of their insights about
    creating and performing this music.  For me, it always comes back to
    the music.
    
    There was also more than a fair amount of rewriting history here.  One
    of the more blatant examples of such was the "wonderful" time they
    spent with the "guru" guy in India, whatever his name was.  Every
    single account I've ever read of this had the Beatles leaving in
    various states of disappointment, disillusionment, and resentment.
    John even wrote a bitter song about the whole thing (I forget which
    one, it was during the "White Album" phase that I mostly ignored).
    And yet, if your only exposure to this was the account on this
    documentary, you'd think it was a wonderful vacation.  In any event,
    why did they linger on this silly event for so long?  Much of the
    documentary, completely under their control, was self-indulgent
    in this manner.
    
    Another history-rewriting incident was the glossing over of their
    awful performance in that Japanese concert.  This documentary played
    a clip of "Paperback Writer" that wasn't all that bad.  But other
    documentaries play more of that concert (particularly "If I Needed
    Someone") as evidence that the band was clearly and extremely burned out.
    
    There were some outstanding moments, though.  It takes some degree
    of nerve to play "I Feel Fine" in concert (with John playing an
    acoustic guitar??)... I've never seen that clip before.  I wish there
    were more scenes like this one.
    
    Oh well, better than nothing, but I would've done it differently.
    I'd have gone through each album and 45 sequentially, with a "So,
    what's the story on this song?" kind of approach.  They did that with
    a tantalizing few (and obvious) songs.
    
    I'm left with the vague feeling that a great opportunity to get lots of
    "insider" information on this music has been squandered in favor of
    other matters.  Not surprisingly, George's insights were the best.  I
    loved his comment that went something like "They used us as an excuse
    to go mad, all of them, and then they blamed us for it."  If you could
    sum up the whole Beatlemania thing in one line, that's just about
    perfect.
    
    Chris

 I managed to miss the hype on the radio, thanks to WCRB.





 Jim

    
      Didja have a hard day's night ?
    
      bb

 Well, I didn't need any help

      Wasn't the song on the Maharaji 'Sexy Sadie'??
    
      Excellent song, imo.

    since I had to listen to my sister listen to the Beatles the first go
    around, I wouldn't listen this time.
    
    Not Roger
    

    The Beatles are the reason many of us became Rolling Stones fans :-}
    
    

    
    I did watch some of the 1st show.
    
    What I found ironic was that the Beatles didn't "click" and
    until Ringo came on board.
    
    The hype for the new release was insulting!
    
    							Hank

 ZZ   The Beatles are the reason many of us became Rolling Stones fans :-}
   
    Yes Karen my dear and I hope they find a cure for you real soon! :-)

    Well Jack m'dear, it's getting a little late in the game to convert
    me to a Beatles fan isn't it?  Don't get me wrong, John and Paul
    (and George upon occasion) wrote some terrific music; I just prefer
    to hear someone else perform it ;-)
    
    

    It was actually an indictment on the Stones.  They look like they just
    woke up, they don't sing well, and alot of their songs plain stink! 
    Sorry.
    
    Smooch!

    the Beatles suck, just like the Canucks!
    
    Not Roger

    i gotta confess, i never liked the Beatle's (wrong note?)

    >> ...I just prefer to hear someone else perform it ;-)
    
    Riding around in elevators all day though makes it hard to really
    appreciate the alternate renditions and I find sitting in dentists
    offices to be far less enjoyable than just about anything else.

    
    .16
    
    Apostrophe surfeit alert.
    

    
    	mz_debra, perhaps it was merely misplaced ?
    
    	He may have meant to type:
    
    	i gotta confess, i never liked the Beatles' (wrong note?)
    

    I didn't mean Beatle's music should be relegated to elevator music.
    Just last week I heard George Benson doing some of their stuff and
    he was excellent (as was the quality of the music he was performing).
    
    I think Paul and John are/were excellent songwriters; it's just that
    I never tapped into Beatlemania (and I was in high-school during
    that era).
    
    

    
    <-- apostrophe trouble continues.
    
    

    >> It was actually an indictment on the Stones.  They look like they just
    >> woke up...
    
    Or "toke up"...
    
    
    re: Prefer others doing Beatles music
    
    You wouldn't say that if you could hear Billy J. Kramer or one of
    those other similar-era Brits mangle "Do You Want to Know a Secret"
    and "Got to Get You Into My Life".  :-)
    
    By the way, as long as I'm talking about Del Shannon in the Lyrics
    note, he released his cover of the Beatles' "From Me to You" in 1963
    before the Beatles released it in America.  His version went higher
    on the charts than the Beatles did (the Beatles never broke the
    Top 100 with it; this was before "Beatlemania", which imho was at
    least partially a cultural reaction to JFK's assassination, as I've
    probably said in here before).
    
    A related topic involves other performers doing songs that the Beatles
    wrote especially for them (and never performed themselves).  There's
    one particularly excellent one done by Cilla Black (if I'm recalling
    correctly), called "It's for You".  Veddy British style, from that era.
    I can't even imagine the Beatles singing it... it just wouldn't sound
    right.  But they'd probably have found a way to do it in their style.
    
    Chris

    The Beach Boy(')s said it was ok to surfeit.

    
      Yesterday
      All my troubles seemed so far away
      Now it look like they are here to stay...
    
      bb

 Back when the Beatles (note lack of apostrophe) were making movies, Gerry
 and the Pacemakers made one which I thought was quite good (at least the
 music in it was good).




 Jim

>>      Now it look like they are here to stay...

	Now it looks as though...

    >>                     -< suddenly, i'm not half... >-
    
    Was that a Beatles song?  I thought the Bobbitts sang it...
    
    Chris

    
        >> It was actually an indictment on the Stones.  They look like
    	>> they just woke up...
    
        > Or "toke up"...
    
    	HEY! Don't rank on the Stones.
    	There is no finer entertainment than listening to
    	an interview with Keith Richards.
    
    						Hank

    oh ya such a handsome devil :-)

    And so articulate :-)
    

 
Keith Richards has looked dead for the last 25 years or so.





Jim

    Separated at Birth:
    
    		Keith Richards and Warren Christopher
    

    Several years ago, a music critic described two of the Rolling Stones
    as looking like 'dead crows', actually.

    (It's a pretty funny image even if you love the Stones.)  :)

    Suddenly....Glen's not half the man he used to be.....

    Oh relax...I'm just busting ya.

    
    anthology #1 sold 1 million copies since Nov 21.
    rating it the highest first week sales for a double album.
    
    (looks like those supermarket displays paid off)