Beatles Revolver

The Beatles have created many hits that have changed the face of music forever. Revolver was the panicle of their creative albums and is considered one of the greatest albums of all time.  

            Before Revolver the Beatles were contending with the Beach Boys for control of the Pop world. The Beatles would come out with a single only to have the Beach Boys also put out a single. This “feud” went one for quite a while as the two band always tried to out do the other. Even when they started down the experimental track both bands experimented more and more.

             During the creation of Revolver the Beatles were influenced by something completely non-musical, DRUGS. They had discovered weed and LSD’s, which had a large effect on what the music sounded like that they were producing.  The more drugs The Beatles did the more out there their music got.

            Revolver is one of their best. They were getting into doing drugs and really experimenting with their sound. They were trying new things in the studio, really using the studio as another instrument. They created new production methods that would become standards for all music to come after them.   They doubled up many of the instruments to give them a much bigger fuller sound. They also started to do the same with their vocals.

            As a listener I love Revolver. Even though Abby Road is and always has been my favorite Beatles album, but Revolver is still one of their most influential albums.

Many of the tracks off this album remind me of my childhood. Riding with my parents. Their music has played a big role in my life as both a musician and as a Recording Engineer.  As a Industry Professional this album is very important. During the production they were doing a lot of drugs and experimenting and pusjhing the envelope on what they could produce in the studio.

Podcast2

The Beach Boys- Pet Sounds

My musical interests where shaped buy my parents much like a lot of other people. My mother and father had wildly different tastes in music, one was a hippy rocker, listening Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, King Crimson, and Jefferson Starship, and the other listened to 50's doowop and Elvis. Although there were a few bands that managed to bridge the gaps between both my parents musical tastes the Beach Boys where one of those bands.  At any point during my day I spent with either parent I would listen to all different kinds of songs and albums by the Beach Boys.

The light surf feel to their songs about surfing or their songs of automobile love like ‘409’ or ‘Little Duce Coup’ of were direct results to their California up bringing.  These songs seemed to reach someone in am walk of life at the time. No mater where they lived from the hills of West Virginia to the coasts of California there was something for everyone. 

Bryan Wilson is the songwriter and “Mad Scientist” of the band. He wasn’t the kind of mad scientist that you normally think of.  There were no Jacobs ladders or beakers of bubbling gaseous liquids lying around but he did implement many strange and new “instruments” into Beach Boy recordings. Most notable is the Theremin, a new electronic instrument that to this day has not been able to find its true home in music.

There was an almost an unspoken battle between The Beach Boys and The Beatles the two top groups at the time. This almost, feud between these two giant bands drove Bryan to constantly strive and try new techniques in the studio.  But because of it these bands where able to put out two of the most influential albums, Pet Sounds and Revolver.

The Pet Sounds album was big on vocal harmonies. Those harmonies played a large role in the types of music that the Wilson brothers had always listened to Bryan especially.

The Velvet Underground

The velvet Underground was a avant guard band from the 60’s and 70’s. Up until now there hadn’t been many bands like them. With the help of famous Pop artist Andy Warhol The Velvet Underground was able to produce 5 albums before their break up. 

Their music has influenced many bands after them because of their songwriters, Lou Reed and John Cale. As founding members and song writers there was tension between Reed and Cale. Before Cale left The velvet Underground in 1968 he recorded the first to albums ‘The Velvet Underground’ and ‘ White Light/White Heat’ with the band.  Thought Cale did many things for the band.  Songwriter Co-writer of music for many tracks his greatest contribution to The Velvet Underground was the amplified viola. Lou Reed was The Velvet Undergrounds main songwriter. The Velvet Underground was never a big mainstream hit but the did and still have a growing cult following. With the commercial failure of the band Lou Reed left the band to peruse a solo career.  He enjoyed a bit of success with ‘Walk on the wild side’ but that was it. Four years after leaving The Velvet Underground he would return.

Like I said in my opening paragraph Velvet Underground was able to exist because of Andy Warhol. He had lots of pull because of his successful art career.  After becoming a famous painter Andy gave up that medium to create his art with. He started to create performance art and in a way The Velvet Underground was one of his on going performance pieces.

To an untrained ear The Velvet Underground recordings sounded like unorganized unrehearsed noise.  But the band knew completely what they were doing. Minus the drummer they were fairly talented musicians and were able to pull off something like this. The other think that set them apart was Andy Warhol himself. Even though he wasn’t a member of the band just having his endorsement brought in people to their shows at least early on in their career.

I enjoy their music as a listener and I enjoy Lou Reed’s Transformer album. Outside of enjoying the music they really don’t do much for me both as a listener and as a industry professional.

Peer Comment

            Kelly I liked your research project. Producers aren’t someone that I am really that interested in. So with that being said it was quite informative to see all of the different artists that Quincy Jones has worked with.  I knew that he worked with Michael Jackson it’s kind of hard for someone NOT to know that. However I did not know he also worked with Celine Dion, Barry White and, L.L. Cool J.

            I never thought I would look at a Producer as an inspiration but Quincy Jones is. He has more Grammy’s than anyone else in U.S. music history.  That is truly a good goal for anyone in the Recording Arts program to strive for, whether you want to be a producer or not.

Peer Review of Kelly McConkey

            Kelly I liked your research project. Producers aren’t someone that I am really that interested in. So with that being said it was quite informative to see all of the different artists that Quincy Jones has worked with.  I knew that he worked with Michael Jackson it’s kind of hard for someone NOT to know that. However I did not know he also worked with Celine Dion, Barry White and, L.L. Cool J.

            I never thought I would look at a Producer as an inspiration but Quincy Jones is. He has more Grammy’s than anyone else in U.S. music history.  That is truly a good goal for anyone in the Recording Arts program to strive for, whether you want to be a producer or not.

Independent Research

In 1991 Dave Grohl joined a little band from Seattle called Nirvana and for the next three years they flip the music world on its head. After the passing on front man Kurt Cobain in 1994, Grohl decided to put together an album of his own work. This would be the start of one of the most successful rock bands in music history, the Foo Fighters.

            Dave had two very important roles on that first Foo Fighters album. Dave was both Producer and Musician. Since he was doing this album out of his own pocket there was no label provided prouder. All of the songs were put onto the record just as Dave had heard them in his head.

            Since it was the first thing he had done since the end of Nirvana and because of this he played every interment. This in itself was a feet. Normally the drummers are looked at as the least intelligent member of the band. What they don’t realize is that without a great drummer good guitar riffs and catchy lyrics wont go anywhere. Dave Grohl was that drummer, not only did he play the drums but he was also capable of playing every other and writes songs.  Foo Fighter was completely produced and preformed by the “least intelligent” member of the band.

            Dave has been able to impact many people with the resulting 16 year career he has turned the Foo Fighters into. From many young kids who would listen to Nevermind so they could learn how to play the drums. I know this because the first song I ever learned to play was ‘In Bloom’ off that album; to this day it is still one of my favorite songs to play.  Now today he is influencing the music committee as a whole.  The newest Foo Fighters album is the bands fist number one hit and it was recorded and editied completely on tape. They decided that they were going to make this album the way all of thie favorite albums had been made. They were able to show that recording 100% to tape is still a viable money making endeavor.

            As a listener I love what Grohl is doing. He is staying true to the music he wants to play and not pumping out what the industry say we want to hear.  As and industry professional he is an inspiration.  He is a multi talented musician, who has created one of the most successful bands in the history of rock and roll. He is all so the nicest man in rock and roll. A lot of horror stories are told about how ruthless this industry can been but it is refreshing to hear that there are still people out there that aren’t full of themselves and complete a$$holes.