Rolling Stones warm up gig

[Big_Stu]

Sure it was indulgent. So was Sgt. Pepper (which probably started * decade of pop and rock indulgencs all the way up to punk, no Sgt. Pepper, no Tales of Topographic Oceans).

Jeez, it's worse than I thought - they've got a hell of a lot to answer for!

[nofi]

that is one hell of a leap, uwe. there were enough early proggies around that sgt. pepper would not be an influence. yes would have happened anyway, like 'em or not.

[uwe]

Chris Squire was a Beatles buff, right down to playing a Ric.

[nofi]

that by itself means nothing. geezer butler once said he loved stevie wonder...

[uwe]

That is why they dedicated Snowblind to him which is nothing to sniff about!  

Geezer also likes Macca though I find his style more a molten lava Jack Bruce.

You're sure you don't hear any Beatles in Yes? That surprises me, the way Anderson and Squire harmonise, the un-proggish emphasis Yes put on vocals and especially harmony vocals sounds decidedly Beatles-inspired to me. Well, certainly not Rolling Stones, though Squire calls an early sixties autograph of Wyman his own.  

Anderson and Squire - even when they are not speaking to each other as has lately been the case - have both often cited The Beatles as an influence. And of course Simon & Garfunkel (who in my ear share with The Beatles that Everly Brothers influece).

[Big_Stu]

The list is growing...............
........... just goes to show that if you want to see (or hear) something in the way she moves - even when it's not here there or everywhere - if you look long and winding road enough you'll find it.

[uwe]

But Brother Stu, the bespectacled one and Yes even shared a drummer!



And you hear him (Alan White) here as well (Yoko thankfully only on knitting though a mike is threateningly near and she's only blind-folded rather than gagged) or let's just say: You hear what Phil-li-lililililili Specto-to-to-to-to-tor's death chamber of echo-o-o-o treatment has left of his drumming.  



Who says the Fab Four and prog don't mix (with a little America added):

[Big_Stu]

Oh no - solo Lennon was even more  than the Beatlezzzz were!

[uwe]

You are difficult, you know?! 

[dadagoboi]

You are difficult, you know?! 

But correct. 

[westen44]

Anyone wanting to do an anti-Beatles rant can always go to TalkBass where they have one of those every few months.  In fact, this thread does feel like a rerun.  It's always the same arguments--the Beatles were boring, they were overrated, they didn't have enough technical skill, their influence is exaggerated, they were "overhyped,"  their songs were pop and not rock, Paul played with a pick and wasn't a real bassist, Paul didn't have enough technical skill on bass, Ringo wasn't really a very good drummer, John Lennon was  a failed hippie, etc.  I've seen all of that and much more.  Usually, this comes from people who are actually good musicians but who personally don't like the Beatles.  But sometimes it comes from people who take all of this out of context and don't take into account how revolutionary the Beatles were for their time period. 

[dadagoboi]

...But sometimes it comes from people who take all of this out of context and don't take into account how revolutionary the Beatles were for their time period. 

And sometimes it comes from people who were around at the time and aware of all the bands of the period as well as their and the Beatles influences.

I'm in general agreement with Stu.  I'm not anti Beatle but I do feel they get too much credit from those with a less complete knowledge of the period.  They had a lot of influences from predecessors to contemporaries.  IMO

[Big_Stu]

You are difficult, you know?!  
[/quote]

A quote from a film by one of my fave bands, ............... "No, no no no no ................... it's got no balls!"

I've been lucky to see a few of the greatest live bands ever (IMHO - FWIW - YMMV - I've taken everything you say, all the influences stuff, all the live stuff, all the achievement stuff - as just being your own opinion, not documented fact - which is all good.)......... see if you can spot a pattern........ Slade, Motorhead, Status Quo, Thin Lizzy, Nazareth, The Sweet (not orig)............ Rolling Stones  . If a band can't cut it live then to me they aren't all that. And IMHO when The Beatles quit gigging so early on they lost a lot of credibility and IMHO that's when George Martin & dope took over.

Oh yeah ........ and I not long ago found this on Youtube - the only other band I saw more times than Slade was this crowd - even Motorhead I saw less, & I've been a fan of them since their second, maybe third year........ but Wolfstone? Now THEY were a gig!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwXtBHNuLgw&feature=BFa&list=ULWrRZI9SpLuI

[Big_Stu]

............ and if you liked that, this is one of their drinking songs - which I love dearly - and which I did from memory - solo - a few months ago in a nearby bar that has an acoustic night every Friday, where you can be demanded to have a go. I couldn't sing to save my life but when I said it was a drinking song it went down quite well ............ I do a very passable Scots accent   .......... and even know what the words mean
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmRt7himVOU&list=ULdX8HljBIafE&index=9

Only two points worth commenting on I thought in this reply..................

Anyone wanting to do an anti-Beatles rant can always go to TalkBass where they have one of those every few months.

I wouldn't know, I never see threads like that there for all of the "What colour scratchplate should I buy?" and "Who wants to join my Paisley Tele bass with a blue scratchplate and Baddass bridge II club #2?" threads that are in the way for me to read them; but it sounds like the kinda place you'd feel right at home so tell them I said "Hi" would ya?

Paul played with a pick and wasn't a real bassist

Well .... that's me scr*wed then!

I think Uwe has been doing this gig long enough to know when there's a bit of banter going on - I mean, it's not like he's got no musical taste at all is it?

[uwe]

I'm not even a Beatles fan, but I do not deny their huge contribution to and influence on popular music. And yes, George Martin was an excellent producer (which is why the early Beatles recordings sound better than the early Stones, Yardbirds or Kinks stuff, The Beatles obviously had a different budget) and arranger, but even he could not turn crap into gold, there are enough bands out there who were at one time produced by him and did not become the 2nd Beatles (eg UFO, America, Stackridge). And when the Stones consciously tried to emulate The Beatles on Their Satanic Majesties Request (which I do no think is such a horrible Stones album at all) they failed miserably.

People not liking The Beatles doesn't bug me so much as it has me scratching my head in incomprehension. 

And not liking The Beatles, but liking Slade is a bit like saying you like butter, but not milk! Lennon/McCartney is all over Jim Lea's songwriting.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA2rLmGvXOg&feature=related

The argument that the Beatles bowed out of live dates because they couldn't play is news to me. They could at that time with the then technical means not recreate the sound of Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour (nobody could have), but had no trouble replicating the aurally scaled down Let it Be sound on the roof a few years later. Nor have I heard anyone accuse Ringo (whatever you think of his albums), George, Paul or John (whatever you think of his wife   ) of ever having given bad or sloppy concerts. Macca is legendary as a hard task master as U2 laughingly complained when they rehearsed Sgt Pepper's Hearts Club Band (the song) with him. And it takes three notes from George Harrison to recognize it's him plus his guitar playing is lauded by people who could technically play circles around him (Clapton, Gary Mooore).

I was seven or eight when I first heard Sgt. Pepper - it sounded like nothing had before then. The aural impression (even over my big brother's then Dual mono record player) was overwhelming, I can only compare it to seeing your first fiilm in color after years of black and white.