The Beatles, “Happiness Is a Warm Gun”
Equal parts past-recalling doo-wop and ahead-of-the-curve future-rock, this song is a personal favorite and a sing-along classic that a friend and I must tag-team whenever the opportunity presents itself. It’s got four separate pieces (and even more time signature shifts) that somehow fit together to complete a debatable jigsaw puzzle. Is it about heroin? Is it protesting war? Should it be taken literally? Think what you will, just remember to close your eyes and give in when Lennon digs in and goes to his (and my) special place at 2:21.
Elton John, “Bennie & The Jets”
I love that this song is so simple to just lay back and dig on. I’d heard it a thousand times over the years but never really heard it until recently. Recorded in a studio, the crowd noises were added in post-production for whatever reason; I couldn’t imagine the song without them.
The Smiths, “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others”
An unremarkable track that doesn’t really go anywhere, it serves as a vessel for Johnny Marr to repeat a scintillating finger-picked phrase on his guitar, over and over again. Morrissey tosses off some lyrics without much thought, always returning to the title refrain. I don’t exactly know why, but this is easily my favorite Smiths song.
The Yardbirds, “Shapes of Things”
In an apparent effort to capitalize on the fascination with Eastern philosophy that the Beatles were popularizing at the time, this Yardbirds jam has a kind of Indian drone to it and some raga-inspired soloing that somehow translate into a rock song. East meets West on the 1966 single as Jeff Beck achieves nirvana at 1:35, playing a pseudo-Indian descending passage drenched in controlled feedback and fuzztone. Far out!
New York Dolls, “Human Being”
Employing the tried-and-true blues scale that formed the basis to many of their songs (mired in muddy distortion on this track), the Dolls kick out a nearly six-minute jam that drips with attitude. Johnny Thunders gets his licks, David Johansen rants about artificiality, and the rest of the Dolls sweat to keep up, hoping their makeup doesn’t run too much.
Equal parts past-recalling doo-wop and ahead-of-the-curve future-rock, this song is a personal favorite and a sing-along classic that a friend and I must tag-team whenever the opportunity presents itself. It’s got four separate pieces (and even more time signature shifts) that somehow fit together to complete a debatable jigsaw puzzle. Is it about heroin? Is it protesting war? Should it be taken literally? Think what you will, just remember to close your eyes and give in when Lennon digs in and goes to his (and my) special place at 2:21.
Elton John, “Bennie & The Jets”
I love that this song is so simple to just lay back and dig on. I’d heard it a thousand times over the years but never really heard it until recently. Recorded in a studio, the crowd noises were added in post-production for whatever reason; I couldn’t imagine the song without them.
The Smiths, “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others”
An unremarkable track that doesn’t really go anywhere, it serves as a vessel for Johnny Marr to repeat a scintillating finger-picked phrase on his guitar, over and over again. Morrissey tosses off some lyrics without much thought, always returning to the title refrain. I don’t exactly know why, but this is easily my favorite Smiths song.
The Yardbirds, “Shapes of Things”
In an apparent effort to capitalize on the fascination with Eastern philosophy that the Beatles were popularizing at the time, this Yardbirds jam has a kind of Indian drone to it and some raga-inspired soloing that somehow translate into a rock song. East meets West on the 1966 single as Jeff Beck achieves nirvana at 1:35, playing a pseudo-Indian descending passage drenched in controlled feedback and fuzztone. Far out!
New York Dolls, “Human Being”
Employing the tried-and-true blues scale that formed the basis to many of their songs (mired in muddy distortion on this track), the Dolls kick out a nearly six-minute jam that drips with attitude. Johnny Thunders gets his licks, David Johansen rants about artificiality, and the rest of the Dolls sweat to keep up, hoping their makeup doesn’t run too much.
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1 comment:
I like your "Shuffle" posts. Have you thought about publishing the cover art from each album that the track are from. I think that would be cool.
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