There was not much sonically that you could distinctively tell the difference between the Beatles and the Beach Boys in the 1960’s other than the different voices. They were both writing happy music for everyone to enjoy. The Beach Boys primarily focusing on surfing while the Beatles focusing on love songs.
Eventually, with some time off between albums, the Beatles took a trip they would never forget. LSD was introduced to them before the “Revolver” album. There was also a lot of marijuana use after Bob Dylan introduced them to it. There were definitely songs that were written about these drugs. For instance, “Got to Get You into My Life” was later disclosed by Paul McCartney as being about marijuana. There were many others as well.
At the beginning of “Revolver”, they have a countdown into the first song. The goal of this album was to not be able to be played live just like it sounds on the cd. Obviously, they played a simplified version of it when they did play live. They wanted to be crazy and inventive with their album. This album was hinting at a new genre of music with things like reverse guitars. They were the innovators of the psychedelic music. They used a lot of new techniques to produce the sounds they got.
For instance, they were one of the first people to record Paul McCartney’s bass with another bass amplifier instead of an ordinary microphone. They got a very unique sound that had not been heard before this time. Another example of the innovations that came about during this album was the vocal doubling. When the Beatles would record doubles, it was very difficult to match the same timing for words for some of them. They brought up the idea of having a machine automatically do the double for them. One of the engineers on the album came up with a way to take a duplicate of the voice and delay it just slightly to the other and create the effect of almost two vocal tracks instead of one. They were also one of the first people to use compression on their tracks.
Before this class, I had never really listened to the Beatles. My parents were never fans and I myself never really got into them. As far as their music goes, I have an appreciation for what they did as far as inventions and creating these different sounds for us to enjoy, but I would much rather listen to music of our day. I will forever be in debt to their creation, but I feel we have taken these techniques and have mastered them. It is always very cool to go back to the roots of where it came from and see how good of a job they did right of at the start though. If the Beatles in their prime today, with all the things we have learned from them, I feel like my opinion would be greatly different.
Kyle,
ReplyDeleteYour paragraph detailing the use and innovations the Beatles came up with in their recording process was very on point. Their use of compression and instrumentation was especially important and critical during this time, and their use of compression on the drum set became a standard sound on Revolver. One of the things I would like to point out is in your paragraph on their drug use. I believe that a little more detail on the effects that drugs had on their songwriting process would have furthered your theory that a lot of songs were written about the drugs they consumed. With that being said I thoroughly enjoyed your post, especially the last paragraph. I thought you did a really good job closing with your beliefs and respect for the band.
Sammy