10 Dec '09 - 18:05 Macca Magic
I honestly admit that I was a bit apprehensive, say sceptical, of the concert by Paul McCartney that awaited me yesterday in Arnhem. Many people laughed right in my face; "Paul McCartney? You must be joking". But hey, I'm a Beatles fan, so it's my holy duty to attend. And was I sorry I did? I would say no. This is no has-been rocker who simply stands there to pay-off his mortgage. This was simply a great show. The man is 67 but rocks like a 20-year old. A splendid performer with a great band to support him. Many Beatles songs ofcourse, a few Wings-things and some new stuff. A truly great show, I can only bow in respect for the man.
He played for almost three hours, almost without any break. Paul McCartney is still considered somewhat 'uncool' by many due to his 'silly love songs' no doubt (not to mention certain frogs), but if he continues like this, ditches a few more soppy Wings songs and puts still more strong songs in there then his 'status' will change without doubt.
The audience was pretty varied. Next to me sat a man who had been to a Jefferson Airplane/Doors concert in The Hague in the late '60. But I also saw a lot of young people and young 'Beatle-girls' (dressed with Beatles T-shirts, bags etc.) about who I wondered where they had been during my highschool years ... would have made those days a lot more interesting.
The set-list:
Magical Mystery Tour, Drive My Car, Jet, Only Mama Knows, Flaming Pie, Got to Get You Into My Life, Let Me Roll It (met een flard van Foxy Lady), Highway, The Long and Winding Road, (I Want To) Come Home, My Love, Blackbird, Here Today, Dance Tonight, And I Love Her, Mrs Vandebilt, Eleanor Rigby, Band on the Run, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Sing the Changes, Back in the U.S.S.R., Something, I've Got A Feeling, Paperback Writer, A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance, Let It Be, Live and Let Die, Hey Jude, Day Tripper, Lady Madonna, Get Back, Yesterday, Helter Skelter, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise), The End.
Below some impressions I made with my IXUS camera.
15 Sep '09 - 20:16 The Difference
'The Beatles in Mono' box arrived today. Beautifully packaged I have to say. All albums true to original including inserts, posters and pictures.
Someone asked me; what's the difference between 'The Beatles in Mono' and 'The Beatles in Stereo'.
The answer is: in Stereo, they are a Pop-Band. In Mono, they are a Rock-Band.
12 Sep '09 - 14:36 The Acid-Test
The big test today - let's see what this Beatles Remaster Hype is all about. I've done a straight compare test, running all formats simultaniously and then switching between the formats for an immediate comparison. All devices linked to the same receiver. I don't care about the technicalities, it's just a question of; what sounds best to me. Tested was the album Revolver in the following Stereo-formats (mono will follow later):
1. Vinyl
2. CD (1987)
3. Remastered CD (2009)
The remastered CD wins on points compared to the 1987 CD. It's crisper and cleaner and has more 'body', more punch. Between the remastered CD and the Vinyl I couldn't make my mind up, I would say they are pretty much equal though not the same. The Vinyl sounds a bit more 'flat-compact'. More 'highs-and-lows' on the remastered CD. Would I buy the entire stereo-box if I were a 'casual listener' based on this? No. But if you want to buy the catalogue and both CD's are priced the same, go for the remastered ones. The 1987-CD's can now retire. Vinyl is always good ofcourse but for those dust-speckles.
The differences are subtle (although on the 2009 CD however, there is notably more bass) but apart from this, that's it. So in a sense EMI are right; they've updated the lot to current standards. Nice for those who do not own anything by the Beatles yet. Poor buggers like me have now bought the same album three times though. I must own huge amounts of EMI-shares by now. My picture hangs in their boardroom. But I'm not in a hurry buying the entire stereo-box, that will come in good time. I do however, look forward to the mono-box which will be delivered sometime next week.
Verdict: The remastered CD wins (certainly due to it's nice packaging), but only Beatles-fans like me will note the difference and find this important. Casual music fans are advised to keep their 1987 CD's. The real eye-opening difference I expect (and hope), will come with the mono-box. I have copies of the Magical Mystery Tour EP's in both Stereo and Mono, and Mono wins hands-down.
09 Sep '09 - 21:28 En Dan Nog Dit
Mag dan wel Beatles-fan zijn (een beetje in ruste, dat wel), maar ik word nu al doodziek van heel die hype rondom die nieuwe schijfjes. En dan vooral door al die 'keukentafel-experts' die lopen te neuzelen over het krukje van Ringo of het ruisje op 'I want You' ... ik voorspel een hele nieuwe lading aan "Paul Is Dood'-achtige complottheorieën na het beluisteren van die nieuwe dingetjes.
UPDATE 11-9-2009:
Ik heb m'n verzet al opgegeven; de mono-box is al besteld. En met betrekking tot de stereo-box: 14 januari ben ik jarig ... ik kan dat Beatles-virus gewoon niet de baas.
08 Sep '09 - 19:19 Leo Blokhuis Is Een Beatles Onbenul
Mijn broek valt werkelijk waar van pure ellende van m'n kont af. Zojuist; De Wereld Draait Door. Ene Leo Blokhuis loopt bij een clipje van The Beatles met droge ogen te vertellen dat het 'zeldzaam' is. Maar het gaat verder; tevens beweert hij dat het is 'ingekleurd', want volgens Leo 'bestond er in 1963 nog geen kleuren TV'. Nu heb ik veel onzin over The Beatles gehoord, maar dit slaat alles. Even de feiten:
1. "Zeldzaam"; alles rondom The Beatles wordt automatisch als 'zeldzaam' en 'rare' voorgesteld. Zo ook het YouTube-clipje onder. Echter het betreffende clipje is zo ongeveer het meest bekende clipje van The Beatles die She Loves You zingen dat er bestaat. Ik had dit in 1985 al op video om maar eens wat te noemen. Zit in bijna elke documentaire. Zit ook in 'The Beatles Anthology' bijvoorbeeld.
2. "Ingekleurd want geen kleurentelevisie"; bullshit. Is gemaakt voor het bioscoopjournaal, derhalve in kleur gefilmd.
Speciaal voor meneer Blokhut de gehele bioscoopversie hieronder. Dat iemand het niet weet is tot daar aan toe, want niet iedereen is zo'n Beatles-anorack zoals ik, maar loop dan svp live op televisie niet zo'n onzin uit te kramen.
Zo ... dat lucht op. Mijne hemeltje zeg.
14 Apr '09 - 20:22 Let It Be Murder
Justice has been done. Finally, this criminal has been caught and convicted 39 years after he committed his inexcusable crime: the crime of Phil Spector producing/murdering the Beatles album Let It Be.
The Beatles album that never was. This overproduced earsore. Phil Spector, give my regards to Bubba.
------
To Phil Spector, stinging slaps on both wrists.
He's rendered "The Long and Winding Road," for instance, virtually unlistenable with hideously cloying strings and a ridiculous choir that serve only to accentuate the listlessness of Paul's vocal and the song's potential for further mutilation at the hands of the countless schlock-mongers who will undoubtedly trip all over one another in their haste to cover it. A slightly lesser chapter in the ongoing story of McCartney as facile romanticist, it might have eventually begun to grow on one as unassumingly charming, had not Spector felt compelled to transform an apparently early take into an extravaganza of oppressive mush. Sure, he was just trying to help it along, but Spectorized it evokes nothing so much as deweyeyed little Mark Lester warbling his waif's heart out amidst the assembled Oliver orchestra and choir.
"I Me Mine," the waltz sections of which reminds one very definitely of something from one of The Al Jolson Story's more maudlin moments, almost benefits from such treatment—it would have been fully as hilarious as "Good Night," after all, had Spector obscured its raunchy guitar with the gooey strings he's so generously lavished on the rest of it. As he's left it, though, it, like "Winding Road," is funny enough to find cloying but not funny enough to enjoy laughing at.
Elsewhere, Spector compounds his mush fixation with an inability to choose the right take (it is said that nothing on the "official album" comes from the actual film sessions, mind you). Inexplicably dissatisfied with the single version of "Let It Be," for instance, he hunted up a take in which some jagged guitar and absurdly inappropriate percussion almost capsize the whole affair, decided that it might be real Class to orchestrally embellish the vocal, and thus dubbed in—yes!—brass. Here the effect isn't even humorous—Spector was apparently too intent on remembering how the horns went on "Hey Jude" to listen closely enough to this one to realize that they're about as appropriate here as piccoloes would have been on "Helter Skelter."
04 Mar '09 - 18:16 All Together Now
And here we go again ... you just can't avoid them ...
