Revolver or Sgt.Pepper

ARP:

Settle Down!!!

Seriously though, I think more significant than your point of the surviving Beatles being separated from John's Anthology songs by mindsets of decade, is the plundering Jeff Lynne production that tries to turn everything into a Travelling Willburys record.
 
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,... I'm calm now.

There's nothing I can do to punish Chapman or bring back John. I would if I could, believe me, 'just one shot' is all I need.

Other than that, we just have to resign John Lennon to history, may he RIP. Chapman, on the other hand, can rot in a jail cell the rest of his pathetic life, as far as I'm concerned.

John's dead, but his musical legacy lives on. Play and share his music. I do.

-PS, I know what you mean, with the 'Jeff Lynn-izing' of the newest Beatles music, to the point where it sounds so slick, it slides right off the platter. That was not characteristic of 'real' Beatle music, not at all, but that slickness was a '90's phenomenon, layered on top of the original, classic Beatles sound.

Thanx, I've calmed down now. I don't mean to get overly philosophical on you, but I do sometimes get carried away.

Hey, I still have strong feelings about the subject of John Lennon, the Beatles, and Mark Chapman. I just needed to vent, a little.
 
I consider Revolver and Pepper to be equally great, but very different records.

To me, Revolver is like Rubber Soul Part II. The albums have a seamless quality, played back to back. Both albums are about the individual songs. The songs mean more than the albums do. In fact, I daresay you could trade four or five tracks between Revolver and Rubber Soul without making much difference in the albums. Yes, Rubber Soul was a bit more "acoustic," but the albums sound as if they were cut out of the same cloth. Both are chock full of fabulous songs.

Sgt. Pepper is a different story. Yes indeed, it was Paul who came up with the idea of a "concept" album -- an idea that was copied and overdone by many imitators. The album was not LITERALLY a concept album -- lyrically one song did not flow into the next, and spaces of silence separate most of the tracks. But.... there are clear themes. The Beatles were looking, I think, to escape their identities, to "put on a show" by assuming alternative personas. This freed them to explore a range of emotions -- exhuberance, joy, loneliness, the shallowness of life, the search for spiritual meaning. It is certainly the most ambitious of their works. In a way, it captured the BEST of what Lennon and McCartney had to offer. Look at A Day in the Life - a microcosm of the songwriters' catalogue. Set against Lennon's melancholy, despairing verses is McCartney's breezy, gotta-get-to-work bridge, like a bracing splash of cold water after a dreamy sleep. And that crescendo... what a masterpiece.

For me, however, Abbey Road beats them both. After the drug-drenched navel-gazing that marred much of the output of 1968 (see Blue Jay Way, You Know My Name (Look Up the Number), etc.) and the shear acrimony of the sessions that became Let it Be, the Beatles crawled back to George Martin, agreeing to give it one last go "like you used to do," as Martin said. They came up with their most beautiful, and certainly most poignant work, IMHO. And George finally became the songwriting equal of his elders. Golden Slumbers, Something, Come Together, Here Comes the Sun.... Sheer bliss, marred only by Maxwell's Silver Hammer (itself a demonstation of why exactly the other Beatles tended to resent Paul).

Finally, I would say this to those who say Paul was soft, John was hard, or that John was really the rock musician, and Paul the theatrical crooner..... listen to (in no particular order) I'm Down, Helter Skelter, Why Don't We Do It in the Road, Birthday, I Saw Her Standing There..... You get the picture.
 
Re: Paul was never dead,

A Reel Person said:
but unfortunately, John is.

I must still be in denial, because I can hardly believe it's been 20 years! All our lives have changed so much in the past 20 years, but John's gone, and his legacy was frozen in time, a long, long time ago.

He was a victim of the insane.

There's nothing that any of us could do, to prevent that, turn it around, or bring John back. The world lost a great artist, no doubt. He was one of a kind. Even Julian, with all John's best genes, still can't be John, or do what John did.

Also, the surviving Beatles, I've enjoyed almost everything they've put out. There's a lot of great music, there, with the Post-Beatle-Beatles.



Reel,

I feel the same way. But give this a turn in thought. Listen to
Julian's "Valotte" track "Too Late For Goodbye". I actually think
that if there were ever to be a "reunion", the only one who could
pay due homage to John would be Julian.

I am not saying that Julian would replace John- like you said he
"still can't be John, or do what John did." Julian is pure Brit, like
John was, and yes all of John's best genes are his. Besides,
Julian is his firstborn son.

No. There is only one John Lennon. Who else in this world could
create a song called "Woman is the Nigger of the World"? or name
his group the "Plastic Ono Band"?

Everybody's smokin'
But no one's gettin' high...

faithmonster
Click to expand...
 
FM,
I was amazed at how much those tracks sounded like John. I didn't really follow the story, but what I caught from the trailer for the Julian Lennon "Behind the Music" was that the record company was forcing that on him, and he didn't really want to sound like John. I'm sure you'd recognize the similar sounds no matter what he (Julian) does, but I doub't he's interested in pursuing a career of trying to be his father....

Queue
 
Have you guys listened to Julian's latest album? Man, it's terrific. But be warned: it's more Paul than John!
 
Julian takes-the-cake,...

as being "most like John". No doubt, he looks and sounds like John. Having all of John's best genes, this is only natural.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as they say. Julian is John's kid.

Sean Lennon, overall, [I think] is more like Yoko, but that's another post, altogether.;)
 
This is a tough one. I don't think I like either one OVER the other. The coolest thing about the Beatles is that their careers are so perfectly charted by their recordings. You can palpably sense the personalities in each subsequent album. I can't think of another band in history whose lives are so well preserved on tape.

I was never a big fan of the White album. I feel that it was far too undisciplined. But then, hey, that's the beauty of it I guess.

As far as hating Chapman for what he did...I don't. I wish he hadn't done that, but there's no use being burned up inside about it. John surely would've wanted everyone to move on. Be glad you got the music you did get. I am.
 
I love 'em both, but if I was ever in a position where I could only have ever heard one of them, it would have to be Sgt. Pepper, simply because of "A Day In The Life"......what a song.......

and getting off topic again, I think maybe Julian and John were getting tighter before John was murdered.....and I think that Julian's music will eventually have some rage to it, post the pop sensibilities that he's expressing now.......

John, by his own admission was not a good father to Julian, and kinda referred to his birth as a mistake in so many words.....that would tend to make for some pent-up emotions coming to the surface eventually....or maybe he's already worked that out, I dunno......John's references to his own mother, Julia, and his dislike of his own absent father made for some pretty good music......

Wonder where Sean will get his angst?....he was so young at the time of the killing.......and he was having a great childhood til then.....depends on what he remembers, I suppose........gibs
 
Hard to pick a favorite between to two I guess if I had to it would be Revolver.Julian's stuff was pretty good.Too Late For Goodbys is a really good pop song IMHO.Sean might have some angst if his mom "sang" him lullibys as a baby ..LOL
 
Back on topic: Sgt. Pepper vs Revolver?...

It's really a tough choice to make, which one is 'better'. They both have their own strengths and individual 'personalities', for sure, as do all the other different Beatle Albums.

I like Revolver better, because it's a great collection of individually strong songs. I still like Sgt. Pepper, because even though I think, overall, that the individual songs on Pepper may not have been as strong as Revolver, I think the overall concept of Pepper, as a cohesive work, was stronger.

Fact: Sgt. Pepper & Revolver: I like them both, for different reasons.

No doubt, A Day in The Life, Sgt. Pepper Reprise, Fixing a Hole, Mr. Kite, Lucy in the Sky, With a Little Help and Lovely Rita are some of my most favorite tunes, ever. Also, "Within You and Without You", I think is an outright masterpiece.

Then again, songs like Taxman, Good Day Sunshine, For No One, And Your Bird Can Sing, I'm Only Sleeping, Got To Get You Into My Life, Tomorrow Never Knows, Eleanor Rigby, Here There & Everywhere, are also some of my all time favorites, too.

Which one of those songs I just named, is NOT a certifiable classic??

Ah, heck, like I said before, I like all the Beatle Albums, but maybe all for different reasons. They definitely do each have their own personalities, as albums,... so to speak.

-----------

As far as the Lennon legacy goes, I think it will go on nearly for ever. John Lennon cast a HUGE shadow on the world, and his voice is still echoing, around the world, to this day.

-----------

- Julian Lennon, I think, is a good kid, who's definitely talented, but he's got a LOT of angst to deal with. He may have looked fresh-faced in '88, but all these years later, his personal angst shows, and is written all over his face. Those are SAMSONITES under his eyes. Julian has a VERY similar life to John's, phsychologically, complete with the inner angst. That's what makes Julian Lennon a better artist than Sean Lennon: angst. Let's hope Julian can get it out of his system, and develop some really great songs from it, before he burns out, or self destructs.

- Sean Lennon, just doesn't seem to have the angst that Julian has. Sean had his daddy, in the most important, formative, bonding years. Julian's childhood was disfunctional from the word go, but Sean was coddled for AT LEAST 5 years, if not much longer. Also, Sean's like John, ok, but he's much more like Yoko. Yoko, herself, is more of a serene, calm presence, and very philosophical. John was a hot head, but Yoko was always serene, and so is Sean. Yoko's a non-commercial, much misunderstood, non-linear, artistic thinker, who's outside of the norm, and I think, probably so is Sean. Sean should try to develop his talents, whatever they may be, and truthfully, I've never heard any Sean Lennon albums, but I've been curious about what Sean's recordings sound like. I did, however, see the Yoko act that featured Sean, on TV in the early '90's, and I did like that. I don't think Sean Lennon is totally untalented, but I think he's just more like Yoko, overall, and I'm fairly sure Sean Lennon doesn't have the angst that Julian Lennon has, and therefore, Sean doesn't have the calibre of songs in him, as Julian has.

... as usual, just MHO, and 2c.

/DA
 
PS: re: Sean Lennon/Julian Lennon:

[Again, I think]...

-Sean Lennon probably knows his dad loved him, and feels it too, which would tend to make him feel secure and stable.

-Julian Lennon probably 'knows', deep down, that his dad loved him, but Julian probably doesn't really 'feel' it, deep inside himself, hence, all the angst.

... Not to mention, Sean has lived in the lap of luxury all his life, and Julian grew up on the other side of the tracks. Relatively speaking, [ha- pun], Julian Lennon was REALLY deprived as a child, in many ways, as compared to Sean Lennon.

Sean v Julian: there's some real inequities, there.
 
Julian had a kitten he named Puffy. Yoko was hyper-sensitive to the cat's need for fresh fish on a daily basis. When he was older, she would make jokes about Puffy choking on fish bones. I've often wondered how that made Julian feel.
Sean used to call and tell Julian that John implied that he (Sean) was really the favorite son. Julian says that he would compensate by conjuring intimate images of he and Yoko. This was before he realized that she harbored aggressions for Puffy.
I think it's sad that he finally found out that he was number two in the love pool and that his primary confidant secretly despised his kitten.

I sent him a pack of Lifesavers and Ferris Beuller's phone number. :)
 
Yeah, it's speculation, but I'm all out of speculation, for now.

I think, before I speculate more on Sean & Julian Lennon, I should go check out each one of their discs.

What I've heard of Julian's is ok, musically, and has a lot of potential. I think I should listen to Sean's albums, before I make any more assumptions about his talent or his songs.

--------------

I still like Revolver, a little better than Sgt. Pepper.
 
Why the Beatles Were so Great

My personal tastes at this point in my life run toward John Coltrane and Miles etc....but my wife is an absolute Beatle fanatic and she is in the process of turning my 11 year old daughter in to one too....but everyday I am reminded what the fab four had when I hear that minor chord going into the bridge of "I Want to Hold Your Hand". a feeling in your gut that no body else ever even came close to on a percentage basis song for song....and thats why pop music is so popular....i think............
 
The Beatles had it all goin' on, for sure!

Not only did they put all the right elements together,
but they were in the right place, at the right time.

The one that gets me, [that I remember], is on "Live at the Hollywood Bowl" LP, during the song "Things We Said Today", where at the break, Pauls goes "Yeah!", and the whole place explodes with screams,... absolute madness,... friggin' pandemonium, of thousands of girls screaming their brains out!

Wow, listening to that, really makes chills run up my spine!

The whole scene was just explosive, exploding into sheer madness! Not only is it spine chilling to hear this, on record, but it makes me wonder just HOW much talent and charisma you need to get THAT kind of reaction, on stage!

The Beatles had it all goin' on, for sure!:eek:
Whatever it is: they had it.
 
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