Jackie Lomax - "Is This What You Want?" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1969 (Apple)

It seemed that a new world was opening up for The Beatles when they started their own record company Apple Records. One of the key releases from that label in 1969 is Jackie Lomax's "Is This What You Want?"  In the spirit of the times, like Leon Russell's first solo album, this is a record that had many big-named musicians playing along with Jackie, mostly due to its producer, George Harrison.   Who is also listed as arranger and wrote "Sour Milk Sea" for his old Liverpool pal.  Somewhere in the background, there's George, Paul, Ringo, Hal Blaine, Nicky Hopkins, Tony Newman, Klaus Voormann, Eric Clapton among others.  

Still, it's very much a Lomax album, due to his songwriting and voice.  He had a beautiful soulful voice, that's rich in quality and tailor-made for soul, but his work is very much crafted in the sense that it's a proper form of songwriting.  "Speak To Me," the opening cut, is very much Lomax pleading to a lover, and the Harrison production kicks in with the female backup vocals and almost a Spector like intensity.  The title song "Is This What You Want?" is my favorite piece here.  A perfect marriage of melody and Lomax's voice, which builds as the song becomes more intense.  

For an artist-run label, Apple was pretty good and had artists like Badfinger, James Taylor, Ronnie Spector, and of course Jackie Lomax.  It's a shame (or not) that Harrison didn't produce more artists.  His work with others I think are some of the strongest aspects of his talent. Lomax's album is a very solid work.  The famous names help, but in actuality, it's Jackie's presence that makes this album essential. 

The Beatles "Rubber Soul" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissued, Remastered, Mono, 2014/1965

As a gentleman (if I may call myself that) born in 1954, The Beatles were truly a band that I grew up with, as the albums were released.   It's so odd for me to hear such a sophisticated album "Rubber Soul" when I was 11 years old.  How could I possibly understood "Norwegian Wood" at that age, yet, on its original release I played that song over and over again.  Even as a young child I like songs that sounded sad, that somehow I felt was a reflection of my being at the time.   Of all the Beatle albums, "Rubber Soul" is an album that I can listen to in my head by just reading the songs off the back cover.  They're etched not in color, but in black and white, just like the photos on the back cover of the album.  A very contrast black & white, compared to high definition images replaced by "Revolver" their next album. After that, it was all bright technicolor photos of The Beatles from "Sgt. Pepper" to "Abbey Road."

The sound I hear on "Rubber Soul" is four men, who seemed to be older (of course) and perhaps wiser, yet, in reality, it's a record of reflection of men still young.  Almost like a soldier who came from the front lines of a war, young, but bitter from the experience.   In reality, there is not one bad song on this album, yet, it's not my favorite Beatles album anymore.  I recently purchased the album in mono (all the Beatle records I own are in mono, except "Abbey Road") and as I played it, I didn't feel any emotional attachment to "Rubber Soul" whatsoever.  Yet, as a child, it had a huge impact on me by how it brought a sense of sophistication into my world.  If you think of the pop music (almost all great) being made in 1965, especially by the British Invasion bands of the time, "Rubber Soul" in comparison is a rainy day with thick clouds in the sky type of record.  "Michelle" is probably the first time I heard a song that is sung in partly French.   How could I possibly relate to that, except I loved how the language was sung by Paul in that song.  Not exotica in the sense of an American tourist in a foreign part of France, but conveyed a sense of bitter romanticism just by Paul's voice and instrumentation.  

"Rubber Soul" is an important album, and when you think of it as being released in 1965, the Fab Four were somewhat distanced from all the others in the music market at the time.  It reminds me image-wise of Fellini's early film "I, Vitelloni" (1953) when one of the characters at the end of the film moves on from his childhood/teenage friends to a new world, but traveling alone.  In a sense, The Beatles were waving goodbye to their contemporary fellow musicians and some fans, that they are moving on, to territory that is not yet formed or idealized at the time. 

The Beatles "Revolver" Vinyl, LP, Album, The Beatles in Mono Series, Reissue, Remastered (Parlophone)

I already have the original American Mono edition of this album, which has fewer songs than the British version.  I bought the new remastered / reissue mono "Revolver" mostly out of boredom while waiting for a bus in Pasadena, and I was nearby the great Canterbury Records store on Colorado Boulevard.   For new year's day, and in a quiet series of moments during the early evening, i put this album on the turntable with my headphones on my ears.  It wasn't like visiting an old friend, in fact, I haven't listened to this album for some years. More of a meditation on what seems so perfect, and marveling what must have been so new in 1966.

"Revolver" always struck me as a violent title for an album.  Especially considering how John Lennon died years later, yet for some reason, I now see the title in a new light or awareness.   I think of it more as "revolve" as in moving in a circle on a central axis.   As one grows older they change, in other words, they revolve as in a verb.  Yet, it's a clever title, because most of us will think of the title as a revolver gun.  I have to imagine it was John Lennon who thought up of the title as a pun of sorts. Then again it could have been Ringo!  Nevertheless, this is an album in motion.  Their next album "Sgt. Peppe"r strikes me as a beginning, middle, and end.  Revolver just keeps turning round and round, with no start or no stop.  

"Revolver" may be the first proper 'modern'  power-pop format album. The guitars, the aggressive but melodic bass playing (by Paul) is upfront and always driving the song.  Also, incredible piano playing throughout the entire album as well.  Not sure if it's Paul or George Martin handling the keyboards, but it's an essential part of the overall sound, and especially when you included Indian instrumentation here and there.  Their previous album "Rubber Soul" is the first Beatle album to sound grown-up, and "Revolver" is made by wise men who tasted life in their own time-frame.  It exposes the inner world of 1966 than say the news of the day or time.  "Taxman" by Harrison is a bitter song about of course, the rich man's number one hatred 'paying taxes.'   Harrison's songs are always odd because at one point it can deal with spirituality and then make a sharp turn about the bitterness of romance or being pissed off about taxes.  I suspect the average Beatle fan in 1966 could care less about the tax issues among the wealthy.  Still, Harrison was an amazing songwriter when he was good.  "Taxman" is a funk machine of sorts that is mechanical in format, but driven by it's seductive (not necessarily sexual) rhythm.  

The only song that makes me frown is "Yellow Submarine" not due that it's a bad song, because it's not horrible, but just tattoed on my brain from so many years ago.  I never need to hear that song again.  On the other hand "Here, There, and Everywhere" is like butter melting on a hot biscuit, it's a perfect melody word combination that is classic Lennon/McCartney.   "Tomorrow Never Knows" is the perfect ending or beginning of "Revolver."  As mentioned, the circle is completed but I feel it can go on until one has enough of the album.   I reviewed the American edition, writing that it's an old friend that one doesn't need to really revisit anymore.  Hearing the full British version (and in mono) the album is not new, but I realize the delights that come up on "Revolver" is consistently fresh (except for "Yellow Submarine") and one just marvels at the tightness of the playing and the brilliance of George Martin's production.  

The Beatles - "Abbey Road" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1969 (Apple)

Under the illusion of the last work or even death, "Abbey Road" is a suitable end to one of the iconic bands of all time.   Not the final Beatles release ("Let it Be" I believe is the official last album, although recorded before "Abbey Road") this is the one where they held their breath to make sure they get everything down before departing to other adventures.  After their Sgt. Pepper/Magical Mystery Tour year, the Fab Four went out of their way to look minimal, not only with the White Album but also with the cover of "Abbey Road."   Four guys are walking across the street looking like they're going to work.  Not on a vacation, or a place of pleasure, but a sharp direction toward labor or work mode.  Or even coming back from lunch but now the lunch hour is over, and it's back to the mines of creating some new Beatle sounds.

The music within "Abbey Road" is very much the finalization of what they were working on at the time.  Side two is a suite of songs that are half-finished or short bursts of creativity.  Almost like a sketch book, but one made by sonic geniuses.  "Abbey Road" is very much the escape route after recording/filming their failure "Let It Be" (or "Get Back") and realizing that it will take a great amount of focus to do "Abbey Road."  It's an album of energy or focus, and it's an amazing document as well as a work of pop perfection.  

When I bought this album as a teenager, I thought nothing could be better than this.  I also didn't realize that it was the end of The Beatles as well.  The news came to a shock to me, but of course, the press at the time were reporting troubles in the Apple offices and homes of The Beatles.  Listening to it now, I'm impressed with how fresh some of the music is.  To me, it's John Lennon's last great umph in his songwriting talents (besides his early Plastic Ono singles and first solo album).  "Come Together," "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" on side one is a fantastic beginning and ending for that side of the disc.  The McCartney associated songs are not bad, but not dynamic as the opening and closing number on side A.   McCartney comes through the second side as parts of the suite/melody becomes an urgent sense of tension such as "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window" and "You Never Gave Your Money."  "Golden Slumbers" and "Carry That Weight" is also a sign of relief on the part of the band, or more accurately (at least musically) McCartney.   

Lennon also shins with "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam."   What is beautiful at this point in my life, I'm not sure which is the Paul or John songs.  I suspect I can tell, and I'm not cheating by reading the backup material.   Also noted is the strong presence of George Harrison's work on the album.  Still, it is a sound of people cleaning up their closet, or wiping the table clean before leaving the room for the last time.  

The Beatles - "Hard Day's Night" Vinyl, LP, Album, Remastered, Mono, 2014 Orig 1964 (Parlophone)

As a kid, I had all the American Beatles releases as it happened.   Seeing the film "Hard Day's Night" was like going to another planet for me.   My dad and mom took me to the Village Bruin to see the movie, which I think was the first weekend of its release.  The theater was full of screaming children and teenagers.  I couldn't hear a word of dialogue throughout the screening.  Instead of upsetting me, it was a new way for me to see a movie -with the audience being a bigger part, even bigger than the actual film.  Even when I watch the film now, I still expect to hear screams coming somewhere, maybe under the living room couch.   The American version of "Hard Day's Night" never seemed like a proper Beatles album.  Due to that side one, was all the Beatle recordings, and side two was the George Martin stuff - which I never listened to as a kid.  

Around 2015 I had the urge to buy the mono reissue of "Hard Day's Night, which the British edition is issued throughout the world.  Two sides of Beatle recordings!  Now it sounds like a proper Beatles album.   The real main reason why I wanted to buy the album was to hear the mono mix (just like what I heard in my childhood) but also for the song "Things We Said Today."  For me, this is the secret or underrated song to go under the radar of pop Beatle culture.  It's mysterious and very sexual, and it has that singer communicating with the listener effect - where I feel it's a secret message that John and Paul are telling me.  What is that secret?  That, I don't know.  It's the mood of the piece. It has layers of depth that I would need a diving suit to truly understand the song.   The album is great, but "Things We Said Today" is the real deal.  

Yoko Ono - "Plastic Ono Band" Vinyl, LP, Album (Secretly Canadian)

A brilliant album.  Yoko Ono's voice is like a wind instrument.  Perhaps a sax.  The more I listen to this album, the more I think of her voice as an instrument.  It mashes perfectly with Ringo, Klaus, and John.  The production is straightforward with the echo in the right place or aural location.   The ending of "Why Not" as it merges into the sound of a train is awesome.  It's beautiful work.  The whole album is perfect. Without a doubt, Public Image's Metal Box album is at the very least the cousin piece to this LP. 

John, Klaus, and Ringo are amazing.  Ringo is a great drummer, but here he goes nuts, especially on "Touch Me."   It's strange to hear this album at this moment because it feels like it was recorded this year.  Not in 1970.   The mixing of the drum set, the sturdy never failing bass playing, and John's guitar is a groove monster.   "AOS" is Yoko with Charlie Haden, Ornette Coleman, Ed Blackwell, and David Izenzon, recorded in 1968. It's a great piece of music and performance.  It's interesting to hear Yoko's voice, and again I think of it as a wind instrument, against or with Ornette's sax.  Sex as a performance!   And oddly enough it fits in perfectly with the rest of the album.  I think in 1970, John and Yoko were at their heights with respect to vision and doing their art.  And the packaging on this re-issue is excellent.  Comes with a poster of the Ornette Coleman/Yoko concert as well as a small booklet of photos - just a perfect package with the perfect "Plastic Ono Band."

The Beatles - "Free As A Bird" 45 rpm vinyl single

The Beatles - Free As A Bird

Vinyl 7” 45 rpm, U.S. 1995

Apple Records

Doctor Frankenstein  made this album.  John Lennon recorded this demo in 1977, and the Fab Three did overdubs, etc in 1995.  Morbid?  The weird thing for me is to pretend that somehow someone can come back from the dead to make a new recording.   Death is final.  But not in the pop music world.   But beyond that it’s a nice Beatle record.  The additional Paul like chorus or bridge is pure magic in conjunction with this being a Beatle record. Nevertheless it is a depressing record on many accounts.  The B-side is quite interesting.  The Beatles through out most of the 60’s made Christmas greetings on record for their fan club, and this one I believe was done in 1967, has a slight psych touch to it. 

The Beatles - "Baby It's You" Vinyl 7" EP

The Beatles - Baby It’s You

Vinyl 7” EP, 45 RPM, Mono, U.S., 1995

Apple Records

The fab four on BBC radio.  Four songs on this EP, each track features all four Beatles’s lead vocals. The key track here is their version of the Bacharach & David classic with a great Lennon vocal.  Overall this EP covers the Beatles love for the American girl group sounds.  Besides the title cut they also cover “Devil In Her Heart” (George sings it), and Ringo’s “Boys.”  Paul being the spoil sport does his “I’ll Follow The Sun.” 

The EP is a nice snapshot of a time, and one wonders if they knew, at the time of these recordings,  that they could never go back there again.  When I hear early Beatles material, I think of it as a time capsule, and it doesn’t place me in that time frame or point in history, but I feel that they were living for the moment, and they truly didn’t know what will happen around the corner. 

The Beatles - "The Beatles" (White Album) Vinyl Canadian

The Beatles – The Beatles

2 x vinyl LP, Reissue, Canada, 1976

Capital Records

The first thing I think of when I hear the words “White Album” is Rutherford Chang, who is an artist that only collects The Beatles' The Beatles, better known as the White Album. He even opened up a shop in Soho New York featuring his record collection. The beauty of it is that he doesn't sell his copies, but buys them from people who come to his shop/gallery. What a wonderful way to pay tribute to The Beatles.

Beyond that this is another iconic album cover from the Fab Four. British to the core, they had Richard Hamilton design and make the artwork for this incredible minimal package. If Sgt. Pepper was the maximum of packaging, then this album will be the totally opposite, but here less is way more than Pepper or any other Beatle album.

And since it is a minimal package (of sorts) it is ironically the largest Beatle album, because it's a double vinyl album with 30 songs. The Beatles is a supermarket of Beatle sounds and concerns. It's a shame that this wasn't their last album, because it says everything that is possible regarding a Beatle world. Let It Be and Abbey Road always represent a house cleaning of sorts. Just getting the left-overs, and of course The Beatles' left-overs are someone else's gourmet meal. 

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The Beatles - "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band"

The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Vinyl album, Mono, 1967

Capital Records

Around the summer of 1967, a cultural bomb went off that was called Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Was it the greatest album ever made, no I don't think so. But it was the album of that year just by its presence. Either the stars were alined perfectly or there was a cultural shift happening, this became the soundtrack of that moment and place.

I knew of the album maybe a few months before it was released, because my dad Wallace Berman is one of the faces on the cover. I was home alone and in the mailbox was a giant envelope from London England. I opened it and out came this black n' white photograph of the album cover. At first I couldn't make out what this was a photograph of. With the image was a letter from Brian Epstein asking for my father to sign a document, within the envelop, and to send it back as soon as possible. I called my Dad who was at a friend's house, and told him about the package. While I was talking to him that I realized that it came from The Beatles, and they were asking his permission to use his image for the cover. It took me awhile to find the image of Wallace, because the letter to my father wasn't really that specific. Also keep in mind that The Beatles were rarely or never publically photographed with beards or mustaches on their faces. So that too took me awhile to figure out the four figures out front were The Beatles themselves.

It was one of the first albums I heard where it seemed that the songs were not separated from the rest of the package. In one sense it was a musical or even a narrative of sorts, so it had a beginning and an ending. At least that is how I read the album when it first came out.

The dream quality of the music and the so-many cultural references on the album cover made people's head swim in those days. 45 years later it is still an iconic piece of work that is still debated whatever it is a masterpiece or not. For me personally it is not my favorite album by them, but at the same time it is foolish not to accept it as a major 20^th century iconic piece of art.

Without a doubt there's beautiful music here, that reinforce The Beatles as major players in the pop music format. In a sense they built a wall with this album, and ever since then people have been trying to either tear it down or climb over it.

The Beatles - "Revolver" Vinyl LP, Mono

The Beatles – Revolver

Vinyl LP, Mono, 1966

Capital Records

The emotional favorite for a lot of Beatle fans, but for me there are few surprises on this album anymore. The only songs that are fresh to me is “She Said She Said” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.”

Also keep in mind that there are no bad songs on this album, even “Yellow Submarine” is imaginative and witty. But, this is one of the few albums where I can just look at the cover and all the songs come to mind – recording, voices, just everything. Most of the Beatles albums have that affect on me. I grew up with them, and after awhile I just say 'ta-ta.'

But the funk of “Tax Man” and the two Lennon songs still give me that goose-bump feeling in the back of my neck. Also this is a very sophisticated album with respect to where they were two years ago when they recorded this material. It is kind of amazing to me that bands or artists these days make an album every four or five years or even longer, and it basically has the same sound as their last album. But The Beatles changed so radically over their career, that what they did was really unique. Beatles For Sale turns to Rubber Soul and then Revolver. How did that happen?

If someone came up to me and told me that Revolver is the greatest album ever made, I wouldn't disagree. But funny enough the visuals of this album is stronger than actually listening to the record. Similar to Proust eating that cookie that brought up memories, this album does the same for me.

The Beatles - "Magical Mystery Tour" Vinyl Album

The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour

Vinyl Album, Stereo U.S. 1967

Capital Records

Another timeless album for me, Magical Mystery Tour, which actually is really an EP, with singles on it. So in a sense this album is just a cash-in for the film. But in my book the throw-a-way cuts are always the most interesting. If not mistaken six of the songs are from the film, better known as the A side, and the b-side is the stuff to fill up a 12 record.

First of all “Baby You're A Rich Man” is such a great title, and the song isn't bad either. A put-down? What I do know is that I love the noise that's in this recording. Moroccan melody played against the bouncy tune, this is a record that is beautifully and adventuresomely arranged. “Strawberry Fields Forever” is still a haunted piece of work and the sinister sounds of “I Am The Walrus” is still a thrill

The problem that people have with Sgt. Pepper is that it is almost too precious and special. Magical Mystery Tour the album, is loose with surprises like the instrumental “Flying” and the drone-pop of Harrison's “Blue Jay Way.” There is a lot of adventure here, and it all fits well on this album. From McCartney's nostalgic “Penny Lane,” wishful “The Fool On The Hill” to the Utopian “All You Need Is Love.” Which have been less moving if it didn't have the darker songs on this album – and the mystery tour is both darkness and lightness combined.  

The Beatles - "For Sale" Vinyl LP, Mono

The Beatles – For Sale

Vinyl LP Mono, Reissue, Remastered, Gatefold sleeve, 1995, Europe

Apple Records

As a child I was a Beatle fanatic, but now an adult I can barely listen to them. Not because I dislike their music, but because it was so much part of my personal soundtrack while growing up. I think there are people like me out there, but still, I do have some faves from this band, and For Sale to me is a masterpiece that still delivers the goods.

The emotional punch of “No Reply,” “I'm a Loser,” and “Baby's In Black” still hits me hard. It has to be one of the best sequencing of songs ever on an album. And three songs about being a loser on top of that – how can a child not be affected by such pure honesty in an aural way? The other two songs that nailed me down to the wall is their version of Buddy Holly's “Words of Love” and their great “Every Little Thing.” Their vocals are so superb on this album, but especially John Lennon. This is the ground zero of Lennon's angst that showed up on his first solo album. In fact this is the first Beatles album where I felt the music was cutting me deep. The others were fun, but here I was introduced to depression via the Beatles world. Perhaps this is their first grown-up album.

Also recently I became obsessed about getting Mono editions of their recordings, because I believe this is what the guys heard in the studio. I'm trying to capture the original sound or approach, but it is hard to capture a memory that way. In the end it is all illusion.