Here's my take on some of the new techniques that The Beatles used on their album Revolver.
Here's the link to my youtube page to view it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8vlSuXlhcc
Monday, October 10, 2011
The Velvet Underground & Nico
The Velvet Underground & Nico is a very interesting band to sit down and listen to. At first, like myself, you might say, “Wow, these guys are all on drugs and have no idea that they are so out of tune,” but then you realize why they do that.
The Velvet Underground didn’t really care what their sound was that they were playing. It was more about the message of the words. Like the podcast was talking about, the songs were an extremely easy chord progression. They would have three chords for the whole song sometimes. While they were on drugs a lot of the time, they concentrated on having fun and not carrying wither or not people liked them.
John Cale was one of the main songwriters for the band. He was originally from Wales but then came over to America to pursue a scholarship he received. He started in orchestras and that’s where his influence of the viola came from, which later became modified into more of drone instrument.
Lou Reed was the other primary songwriter of the group. He spent a lot of his time talking about sexuality and drug use. One of his most popular songs, heroine is a great example of this. He was very open about his drug use. This was very different than other mainstream bands of that era. Andy Warhol saw this in the band and decided to take this band under his wing and help them create the music they wanted.
Andy was the artist that used the banana as the cover art for one of The Velvet Underground’s albums. They tied art and music together very tightly. The production quality in the recordings of the albums wasn’t the greatest. There would be songs they would just do a take of and call it good. There was also a lot of feedback in the recordings and they didn’t really seem to car. They didn’t really use the traditional way of recording for their albums and this gave them another big difference in their music.
The Velvet Underground & Nico is a very unique band to listen to. When I first heard them, I couldn’t believe that this was really going to be a band that I would study. Honestly, I still don’t really enjoy their music but I definitely have more respect for what they did. They were innovators of the rock era. They wanted to be different, even if people didn’t like what they were playing. They just wanted to write songs that they enjoyed. I respect them as a band but probably won’t listen to them again in my life unless I need some “different inspiration.”
The Velvet Underground didn’t really care what their sound was that they were playing. It was more about the message of the words. Like the podcast was talking about, the songs were an extremely easy chord progression. They would have three chords for the whole song sometimes. While they were on drugs a lot of the time, they concentrated on having fun and not carrying wither or not people liked them.
John Cale was one of the main songwriters for the band. He was originally from Wales but then came over to America to pursue a scholarship he received. He started in orchestras and that’s where his influence of the viola came from, which later became modified into more of drone instrument.
Lou Reed was the other primary songwriter of the group. He spent a lot of his time talking about sexuality and drug use. One of his most popular songs, heroine is a great example of this. He was very open about his drug use. This was very different than other mainstream bands of that era. Andy Warhol saw this in the band and decided to take this band under his wing and help them create the music they wanted.
Andy was the artist that used the banana as the cover art for one of The Velvet Underground’s albums. They tied art and music together very tightly. The production quality in the recordings of the albums wasn’t the greatest. There would be songs they would just do a take of and call it good. There was also a lot of feedback in the recordings and they didn’t really seem to car. They didn’t really use the traditional way of recording for their albums and this gave them another big difference in their music.
The Velvet Underground & Nico is a very unique band to listen to. When I first heard them, I couldn’t believe that this was really going to be a band that I would study. Honestly, I still don’t really enjoy their music but I definitely have more respect for what they did. They were innovators of the rock era. They wanted to be different, even if people didn’t like what they were playing. They just wanted to write songs that they enjoyed. I respect them as a band but probably won’t listen to them again in my life unless I need some “different inspiration.”
Marvin Gaye: What's Going On?
Marvin Gaye was probably the best listening homework we have had so far. I really enjoyed his album “What’s Going On.” While the Beatles and the Beach Boys have their place, I would much rather listen to someone like Marvin Gaye.
Before Marvin Gaye was a solo artist, he started as a studio musician in the Snake Pit studio of Motown. He spent hours of his life recording and arranging songs for big name artists of that era. He finally found his place in music once he got his record “What’s Going On” distributed.
This album was greatly influenced by people around him that were going through hards times and even people he didn’t know. His brother shared many stories with him about people in Vietnam while he was there for the war. He decided to sort of “call out” people on all the hate going on in the world.
Once the album was recorded and finished, the hardest part was getting it cleared by the higher ups. His biggest obstacle was actually his wife’s brother, Gordy. He refused to send this album up to the next person in line for approval.
Marvin did not want to be like the normal Motown style artist. He went as far as getting a whole new set of studio musicians to come in and help him record the album. All the other albums had the same producers, engineers, arrangers, and writers. He decided to not use any of them and have his own sound. His engineer accidentally played two different tracks of Marvin’s vocals at once created a double of his voice. When Marvin heard this he feel in love with it and this become sort of his signature sound of that time.
As an engineer, I really liked this album. Marvin, as rebellious as he was, realized the importance of sound quality and made a really good sounding album. I liked how he talked about needed to love each more. I love the idea of loving each other and helping your neighbor. It’s a very powerful message he presents to us.
Before Marvin Gaye was a solo artist, he started as a studio musician in the Snake Pit studio of Motown. He spent hours of his life recording and arranging songs for big name artists of that era. He finally found his place in music once he got his record “What’s Going On” distributed.
This album was greatly influenced by people around him that were going through hards times and even people he didn’t know. His brother shared many stories with him about people in Vietnam while he was there for the war. He decided to sort of “call out” people on all the hate going on in the world.
Once the album was recorded and finished, the hardest part was getting it cleared by the higher ups. His biggest obstacle was actually his wife’s brother, Gordy. He refused to send this album up to the next person in line for approval.
Marvin did not want to be like the normal Motown style artist. He went as far as getting a whole new set of studio musicians to come in and help him record the album. All the other albums had the same producers, engineers, arrangers, and writers. He decided to not use any of them and have his own sound. His engineer accidentally played two different tracks of Marvin’s vocals at once created a double of his voice. When Marvin heard this he feel in love with it and this become sort of his signature sound of that time.
As an engineer, I really liked this album. Marvin, as rebellious as he was, realized the importance of sound quality and made a really good sounding album. I liked how he talked about needed to love each more. I love the idea of loving each other and helping your neighbor. It’s a very powerful message he presents to us.
Peer Comment
Devon,
You put a really good summary together for the Beatles’ Revolver Album. You took all the things we learned and put them in a concise couple of paragraphs telling us some of the more important facts.
The only thing I would have liked to have seen differently, primarily in the last paragraph, is some more personal opinions. I feel like you took your opinions and said it as the majority’s opinion. Not that that is bad necessarily, but I think since it was a question directed towards you. I think your opinions could have been stated with “I think,” or “I feel,” and it would have been a little more personal.
I feel like you covered the main topics very well though. Overall, very good job.
Kyle Ballard
You put a really good summary together for the Beatles’ Revolver Album. You took all the things we learned and put them in a concise couple of paragraphs telling us some of the more important facts.
The only thing I would have liked to have seen differently, primarily in the last paragraph, is some more personal opinions. I feel like you took your opinions and said it as the majority’s opinion. Not that that is bad necessarily, but I think since it was a question directed towards you. I think your opinions could have been stated with “I think,” or “I feel,” and it would have been a little more personal.
I feel like you covered the main topics very well though. Overall, very good job.
Kyle Ballard
References for The Velvet Underground & Nico and Marvin Gaye
The Velvet Underground & Nico
Musicdox.net. The Southband Show - The Velvet Underground. Retrieved from:
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v18444087ZF6xZy9c
Marvin Gaye
Ben Edmonds (December 7, 2010). What Went On. Retrieved from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/dec/08/extract, and
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/dec/08/extract1
Musicdox.net. The Southband Show - The Velvet Underground. Retrieved from:
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v18444087ZF6xZy9c
Marvin Gaye
Ben Edmonds (December 7, 2010). What Went On. Retrieved from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/dec/08/extract, and
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/dec/08/extract1
Monday, October 3, 2011
References for Pet Sounds and Revolver
Pet Sounds
Bob Edwards. Brian Wilson Podcast. Retrieved from http://soundcloud.com
/chrispyspears/brian-wilson-podcast
Revolver
Paul Ingles (May 15, 2006). Everything Was Right: The Beatles' Revolver. Retrieved
from http://www.prx.org/pieces/15368-everything-was-right-the-beatles-
revolver
Bob Edwards. Brian Wilson Podcast. Retrieved from http://soundcloud.com
/chrispyspears/brian-wilson-podcast
Revolver
Paul Ingles (May 15, 2006). Everything Was Right: The Beatles' Revolver. Retrieved
from http://www.prx.org/pieces/15368-everything-was-right-the-beatles-
revolver
The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds
The Beach Boys had a very humble beginning. The sound they started off with was a lot of fun. The first albums were all very happy surfing music with lots of vocal harmonies. They were inspired by Dennis’s passion for surfing. Brian saw this huge fad that was about to start and decided to use surfing as the primary focus of their songs.
Brian Wilson was the writer of all the Beach Boys music. He was also the bassist for the band. A lot of the responsibilities of the band came onto his shoulders with having to write full length albums for him and his brother and having a full tour to play for. Right before a tour date, he flipped out on the plane and announced his stepping down from performing live. He wanted to just spend all of his time in the studio to write and record. He also experimented with drugs.
Pet Sounds was greatly influenced by Phil Spector’s work. While Phil would be producing, Brian would sit in the back and listen and see how Phil worked in order to learn the tricks of the trade. He would watch to see where he put microphones, levels on the boards and so on. While recording Pet Sounds, the Beach Boys used a lot different techniques. While the other brothers were on tour in Japan, Brian and his good friend Tony Asher recorded all the instruments for Pet Sounds. They used studio musicians to record this album. When the other brothers came back, they then recorded all the vocal tracks and doubling for the album. They also used sounds from animals to create very unique music. The album was also written as a complete album instead of just a bunch of singles compiled into the same album.
The album Pet Sounds is a very different album. I really like the fact that the album is a true album just flowing from one song to another. The harmonies that the Beach Boys created for this album and really all of their albums are really cool. I wish more artists today would create harmonies like the Beach Boys.
Brian Wilson was the writer of all the Beach Boys music. He was also the bassist for the band. A lot of the responsibilities of the band came onto his shoulders with having to write full length albums for him and his brother and having a full tour to play for. Right before a tour date, he flipped out on the plane and announced his stepping down from performing live. He wanted to just spend all of his time in the studio to write and record. He also experimented with drugs.
Pet Sounds was greatly influenced by Phil Spector’s work. While Phil would be producing, Brian would sit in the back and listen and see how Phil worked in order to learn the tricks of the trade. He would watch to see where he put microphones, levels on the boards and so on. While recording Pet Sounds, the Beach Boys used a lot different techniques. While the other brothers were on tour in Japan, Brian and his good friend Tony Asher recorded all the instruments for Pet Sounds. They used studio musicians to record this album. When the other brothers came back, they then recorded all the vocal tracks and doubling for the album. They also used sounds from animals to create very unique music. The album was also written as a complete album instead of just a bunch of singles compiled into the same album.
The album Pet Sounds is a very different album. I really like the fact that the album is a true album just flowing from one song to another. The harmonies that the Beach Boys created for this album and really all of their albums are really cool. I wish more artists today would create harmonies like the Beach Boys.
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