The Year 2023 in Music

Continuing with our year in review, Matt Lynn Digital invites you to look back at the last year in reviews of books, movies, music and television. We look at these with individual categories, one per day through Sunday. Today we share music reviews offered by Matt Lynn Digital in 2023.

(Cover art for the Weathervanes album by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit).

Beginning with our most recent review with a guest review of the Weathervanes album by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, as reviewed by friend of the blog Cobra. The 2023 album presented alternative country-rock that mixed in with roots rock and southern rock to entertain their fans. Our review of the Rick Rubin book The Creative Act: A Way of Being also represented 2023 with a top notch look into how creativity works in music production and other fields as well.

(Cover art for the 2011 Tedeschi Trucks Band album Revelator).

The 2011 release of the album Revelator by the Tedeschi Trucks Band offers the first of two albums from the 2010s in our annual review. Offering a taste of American traditional rock, blues rock and roots rock from a guitar virtuoso opens an album that I can and do listen to over and over again. The 2010 A Christmas Cornucopia album by Annie Lennox also presented a more contemporary music mix.

(The biopic Walk the Line depicted aspects of the lives of Johnny Cash and June Carter).

The movie Walk the Line (2005) provided a mostly autobiographical portrayal of the musical life of country musician Johnny Cash and his second wife, June Carter. Music from both performers were featured throughout the movie, which offered a compelling movie experience of the respective lives of the couple up to the point of their marriage.

(Cover art for the R.L. Burnside album Mr. Wizard).

A modern sound for the delta blues comes to us with the 1997 album Mr. Wizard by R.L. Burnside. The music tends to more of a jam format than some of Burnside‘s earlier work with influences on musicians making music into the current day.

(Cover art for the Van Halen album OU812).

The 1988 album OU812 (Oh, you ate one too!) by Van Halen incorporates the most hard rock or pop metal sound for the three albums we reviewed for the 1980s. Both the 1986 album The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby and the Range and the 1985 No Jacket Required album by Phil Collins delve more into the so-called adult contemporary genre with a focus on message and sound this still hit for a somewhat different audience.

(Cover art for the Christopher Cross album Christopher Cross).

We’ve taken the 1970s decade seriously with a review of nine separate albums. The self-titled 1979 album Christopher Cross by Christopher Cross continues the adult contemporary appeal before the 1974 soft rock appeal of the Jackson Browne album Late for the Sky. Second Helping by Lynyrd Skynyrd gave 1974 a more southern rock or boogie rock sound with their second album.

(Cover art for the Dr. John album In the Right Place).

The 1973 Dr. John funk and piano blues album In the Right Place gives way to the more progressive rock sounds of Pink Floyd‘s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon and Yes‘ 1972 album Fragile.

(Cover art for the Chuck Mangione Quartet album Alive!).

The contemporary jazz and easy listening album Alive! by Chuck Mangione Quartet from 1972 introduces the final three albums with a largely instrumental sound. The soft rock album Teaser and the Firecat by Cat Stevens stands next to the blues rock, hard rock and heavy metal sound of Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin for the music of 1971.

(Cover art for the Miles Davis album Sketches of Spain).

Jazz and rock and roll provide our 2023 soundtrack for the 1960s. Holiday music for 1968 leads us to Christmas Album by Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass. The seventh album for The Beatles gave us the rock and roll in the form of 1966’s Revolver. The John Coltrane album Giant Steps and the album Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis round out 1960 with jazz performances that warm our heart.

Matt Lynn Digital appreciates your continued interest in the content we offer. Should you have albums that you’d like us to review, please be sure to let us know.

Matt – Friday, December 29, 2023

The Beatles and the album ‘Revolver’

A still relevant band in the history of Rock and Roll, The Beatles released their seventh album Revolver on August 5th, 1966. Song writing duties with this album included John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, with drummer Ringo Starr getting to sing. Tune in for the fourteen (14) songs that are this phenomenal album, with the initial song offering a surprise.

(The album cover for Revolver by The Beatles, which was released August 5th, 1966).

Opening Revolver with Taxman is a bold choice in giving voice to the quality of the songwriting offered by George Harrison. Inspired musically by the theme song for the 1960s television series Batman (1966-1968), the song was complained “about how much money The Beatles were paying in taxes,” as mentioned here.

Eleanor Rigby is a story that wrote itself lyrically in pieces, McCartney said as quoted here about the opening line, “It just came. When I started doing the melody I developed the lyric.” McCartney added that he “wasn’t sure what the song was going to be about until he came up with the line “picks up the rice in a church where a wedding has been.””

(Eleanor Rigby was released as a double A-side single with Yellow Submarine in support of the album Revolver by The Beatles).

John Lennon wrote I’m Only Sleeping, as mentioned here, “as a tribute to staying in bed, which he liked to do even when he wasn’t sleeping.” The notion of backwards guitar playing, as done on this song, was suggested by George Harrison after “a studio engineer accidentally flipped a tape and Harrison was amazed at the effect.”

Beyond Ringo Starr on tambourine, Love You To, George Harrison was “likely the only Beatle to play on the track,” as stated here. This song was “the first one George Harrison wrote on sitar.”

(Writing credit for Love You To went to George Harrison, pictured here. Harrison also wrote Taxman and I Want to Tell You).

Here, There and Everywhere invokes beautiful harmonies, having been “at least partly inspired by The Beach Boys‘ song “God Only Knows“” while “Paul McCartney…was lounging at John Lennon‘s pool,” as mentioned here. McCartney would add that the harmonizing came through in this song due to the inspiration of the mentioned song.

Yellow Submarine, as Paul McCartney is quoted here as having said shortly after the song’s release, “is very simple but very different. It’s a fun song, a children’s song…Paul purposely used short words in the lyrics because he wanted kids to pick it up early and sing along.”

(Ringo Starr sang Yellow Submarine, a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney).

She Said She Said introduces the psychedelic point-of-view associated with the album. As stated here, this “song was inspired by the actor Peter Fonda, who was on an acid trip along with George Harrison and John Lennon while they were together at a party. Accounts vary as to how events unfolded, but there is a consensus that Fonda kept saying “I know what it’s like to be dead,” which ended up being a key line in [an opening] lyric” for the song.

Good Day Sunshine is stated here as having been inspired by The Lovin’ Spoonful song Daydream. “[P]roducer George Martin added the piano solo on a tape recorder running a step slower so [the song] would sound sped-up,” adding to “the same traditional, almost trad-jazz feel” that McCartney reportedly wanted with Good Day Sunshine.

And Your Bird Can Sing includes a couple of interesting yet widely varying interpretations about meaning, at least as speculated at here. One points to Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones while the other points to Frank Sinatra. The musicality of this song is quite strong, with the notes of the instruments and John Lennon‘s singing being of additional note.

For No One was written “in a chalet while on holiday” by Paul McCartney, as noted here. That McCartney had been dating Jane Asher at the point in time, and her schedule was sufficiently full to cause relationship conflict can be seen to explain the lyrics.

(From left, the primary song writers for The Beatles were Paul McCartney and John Lennon).

Doctor Robert invokes “Doctor Robert Freymann, a “Speed Doctor” in New York who supplied many celebrities, including The Beatles, with drugs,” as stated here. “John Lennon did indeed peg this song as autobiographical, stating in interviews that he was the one who carried a pocket full of pills on tour. However, both he and Paul McCartney deny going to this specific doctor, but say that this song was kind of a piss-take at the idea, which struck them as funny.”

I Want to Tell You gets into the songwriting difficulty George Harrison sometimes encountered. Thematically, the song is” [a]bout the avalanche of thoughts that are so hard to write down or say or transmit,” as noted here.

Got to Get You Into My Life reportedly does not wax about love. As quoted here, “[t]his beatific love song is actually about marijuana.” Paul McCartney added that “I’d been a rather straight working-class lad but when we started to get into pot it seemed to me to be quite uplifting.”

The title for Tomorrow Never Knows “came from an expression Ringo Starr used,” as reported here. Adding to the psychedelic persona for the album, “[t]he proper idiom is “tomorrow never comes,” meaning that when tomorrow arrived, it would become today. Ringo‘s variation of the phrase took the edge off the heavy philosophical lyrics.”

Additional musicians on Revolver by The Beatles included Neil Aspinall on vocals, Anil Bhagwat on tabla, Anvil Bhagwat on tabla, Alan Branscombe on tenor saxophone, Alan Civil on French Horn and horn, Peter Coe on tenor saxophone, Les Conlon on trumpet, Geoff Emerick on vocals, Mal Evans on vocals, Tony Gilbert on violin, Ian Hammer on trumpet, Patti Harrison on vocals, Jurgen Hess on violin, Norman Jones on cello, George Martin on organ, piano and vocals, Sidney Sax on violin, John Sharpe on violin, Stephen Shingles on viola, Derrick “Duckie” Simpson on cello, Eddie “Tan Tan” Thornton on trumpet and John Underwood on viola.

Matt – Saturday, August 5, 2023

The Beatles and the album ‘Abbey Road’

The Beatles may still be the most successful Rock and Roll band in the world.  The Fab Four are so popular as to have earned the first entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica in more than fifty (50) years.  The band composed of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in fact would have enjoyed the fiftieth anniversary of their iconic Abbey Road album cover photograph, which was taken by photographer Iain Macmillan on August 8th, 1969.

A December of 2010 listing in Rolling Stone magazine revealed the 100 Greatest Artists, with The Beatles earning top billing.  The album Abbey Road in fact was voted the second best album by The Beatles in a February 2011 Rolling Stone magazine readers poll, behind Revolver (album by The Beatles).

(The album Abbey Road by The Beatles, as photographed by Iain Macmillan in August 1969).

Abbey Road as an album starts off with “Come Together“, an expansion of “Let’s Get It Together”, a song John Lennon originally wrote for Timothy Leary‘s California gubernatorial campaign against Ronald Reagan. The song has no cohesive message to it, which is well enough as the campaign it was to support ended when Leary was caught with marijuana.

The song leads into “Something,” the first song written by George Harrison to be featured as the “A-side” of a single release of two songs on one release by The Beatles. The song itself is a love song to Harrison‘s first wife, Pattie Boyd.

The album then leads into “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” a playful song written by Paul McCartney after the band’s trip to India in 1968. While longtime roadie Mal Evans played the anvil sound in the chorus for a song, which is the playful storytelling, not to be taken literally, of how Maxwell Edison invites a girl named Joan on a date only to strike her dead with his, Maxwell’s, silver hammer.

“Oh! Darling” is a doo-wop style song written by Paul McCartney. While John Lennon felt that he should have sung the song owing to it being more in “Lennon’s style,” though the song largely succeeds for its passion, longing and lyrics about an intense desire to get close with a lady of his, McCartney‘s, fancy.

“Octopus’s Garden” is one of two songs released by the Beatles with Ringo Starr receiving full-writing credit, though Harrison helped write the melody. The song is reportedly inspired by a trip Starr took aboard Peter Sellers‘ yacht while Starr left the band for two weeks during the sessions for The White Album. The song itself inspires feelings on being on a boat at sea.

“I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is a prime example of what John Lennon meant when indicating that he wanted to sing Oh! Darling. The song itself is an extended take on Lennon’s love for Yoko Ono. The persistence of Progressive Rock is argued for in this New Yorker magazine article, of which I Want You (She’s So Heavy) is sometimes considered a precursor.

“Here Comes The Sun” gives us the opening song for what was the second side of the vinyl release of the Abbey Road album. Written by George Harrison, Harrison is joined by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr on the song while John Lennon recuperated from a 1969 car crash. The song sings of optimism with themes of rebirth, akin to the early signs of spring following a snow-filled winter.

“Because” is a classically inspired foray by John Lennon, which involved playing Ludwig van Beethoven‘s Moonlight Sonata backwards. George Harrison played the Moog synthesizer while George Martin played the harpsichord at the beginning of the song. The song itself inspires a dreamlike state.

Abbey Road follows with what is considered a medley of eight short songs, starting with “You Never Give Me Your Money“. Songwriter Paul McCartney has said that the band’s disputes with Allen Klein, which per this Billboard magazine article settled in 1977. The lyrics in this meandering story of a song with piano does tell the tale of a relationship slowing coming to an end.

“Sun King” was primarily written by John Lennon, with credit also for Paul McCartney.  The song shares a dreamlike quality not unlike Because. Sun King abruptly ends  with the drums of Mean Mr Mustard.

“Mean Mr Mustard” grants writing credit to Lennon and McCartney. John Lennon gained inspiration for this while the Beatles traveled in India in 1968. Lennon had seen a newspaper article about a miser hiding his cash so that we wouldn’t be compelled to spend it.

“Polythene Pam” flows directly from Mean Mr Mustard, as the lyrics to Mean Mr Mustard suggest a sibling relationship. John Lennon again wrote the song, with credit shared with Paul McCartney. The feel of this song is much more classically Rock and Roll in composition and arrangement than perhaps any other on the album. Given Pam’s relation to Mr. Mustard, the notion of a polythene bag perhaps makes more sense.

“She Came In Through The Bathroom Window” with lead writing credits for Paul McCartney and credit shared with John Lennon. McCartney has said the song was inspired by people who hung around the Abbey Road studios where the Beatles recorded. Some of these people broke into one of McCartney‘s homes, thus becoming the stuff of a Rock and Roll song.

“Golden Slumbers” with lead writing for Paul McCartney comes from the poem Cradle Song in Thomas Dekker‘s 1603 comedy Patient Grissel. The song reflects a lullaby that might be sung from a mother to a young child, aiming to help the child sleep.

“Carry That Weight” moves into more of a march with horns, and almost feels like Paul McCartney continuing his snippet of You Never Give Me Your Money. Carry That Weight features unison vocals from all four of the Beatles. The song thematically gets into the difficulty the business side of being the Beatles had on all four of its members.

“The End” draws the eight mini-song medley to a close, also reflecting the last recorded song by all four of the Beatles. Naturally flowing from Carry That Weight sequentially, the heartwarming goodbye from the band is evident. Lead songwriting responsibility went to McCartney with writing credits being shared between Lennon and McCartney.

The album closes with “Her Majesty,” which lasts for 25-seconds.

Abbey Road was the last recorded album by The Beatles. Let It Be as an album was the last released. The debate over which album was last is addressed in this Rolling Stone magazine article. Personally, my heart is in Abbey Road being the last. Musically, I find much joy in the album. That there is much joy in the album and the band, empirically, is hard to dispute. Whether for nostalgia or to learn the joy for the first time, I challenge you to take another listen.

Matt – Saturday, August 10, 2019