Republican Vs. Democrat, Male Vs. Female, War Vs. Peace, Light Vs. Dark, Good Vs. Evil, Man Vs. Machine, Love Vs. Hate, Dog Vs. Cat, Sun Vs. Moon, Brain Vs. Brawn, Oscar Vs. Grammy, Angel Vs. Demon, Laurel Vs. Hardy, Beer Vs. Wine, TV Vs. Radio, Pitcher Vs. Batter, Paper Vs. Plastic, Reality Vs. Fantasy, Yeshua Vs. Beelzebub, Conservative Vs. Liberal, You Vs. Me, House Vs. Senate, Offense Vs. Defense, Kramer Vs. Kramer, Spy Vs. Spy, Fischer Vs. Spassky, W.C. Fields Vs. Sobriety, Harold Gimpy, Jr. Vs. Sheldon J. Pismire, Rock Vs. Paper Vs. Scissors, Islam Vs. Everything, Singer Vs. Singer, Band Vs. Band...
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THE BATTLE OF THE
BANDS!
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Shoop-Shooby
–
Shooby-duh-Dooby-Doop-Dooby-Dooby-Doo-Wah
–
Buh-Doo-Wah!
Yes, it’s time once again for ‘Battle Of The Bands’ (BOTB).
Yes, it’s time once again for ‘Battle Of The Bands’ (BOTB).
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| EUGENE MARTONE VS. JACK BUTLER |
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Ordinarily,
‘Battle Of The Bands’ blog bits get posted on the 1ST and 15TH
of every month. This one is going up a couple days early because I won’t be in
town (Phoenix, Airheadzona) this weekend. As Robert Plant sang: “Made up my mind to make a new start; going To California with an aching in my
heart. Someone told me there's a girl out there with love in her eyes and
flowers in her hair.”
Well,
that’s more than I could hope for. Actually, I’m just
going to get the hell out of Hell for 3
days. However, that does give YOU, the voter, two extra days to make up
your mind about the following versions of the same song and cast your vote for
the one ya likes best.
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| GODZILLA VS. KING KONG |
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In 1966,
The Beach Boys released their album ‘PET SOUNDS’. David Leaf has
written: The release of PET SOUNDS was “Independence
Day” for rock ‘n’ roll.
Paul
McCartney says that PET SOUNDS is “still
one of my favorite albums of all time just ‘cause of the musical invention”. In
1966, McCartney, The Beatles’ bassist and pop idol, said that ‘God Only
Knows’ was the best song ever written.
Brian
Wilson, the leader and principal visionary of The Beach Boys, was the guiding
force behind the concept and musical approach of the group’s most highly
acclaimed album ‘PET SOUNDS’.
George
Martin, The Beatles’ longtime producer, is on record as having stated: “If there is one person that I have to select as a living
genius of pop music, I would choose Brian Wilson”.
What was
so great about Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys, and what was the “musical
invention” that Paul McCartney referred to? Well, one part of it was the fact
that Brian Wilson had incorporated so many non-Rock musical instruments into
his compositions for the ‘PET SOUNDS’ album. Along with the usual – electric
guitars, bass, and drums – Brian was utilizing sounds not normally found on
Rock recordings (e.g., French horn, sleigh bells, harpsichord, clarinet,
flutes, accordion, strings, dog barks, and train whistles, etc., etc.), and he
was structuring and recording the tracks in very different, non-Rock ‘N’ Roll
ways!
Paul
McCartney has said "[‘Pet Sounds’] was the big thing for me [in 1966]. I just thought: Oh, dear me! This is the album of all time.
What are we [The Beatles] gonna do?"
The
following year – 1967 - The Beatles’ answer to The Beach Boys’ album ‘Pet
Sounds’ was ‘SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB
BAND’, with its advanced musical compositions and iconic album cover.
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Listen
carefully and you will notice the multiple non-Rock instruments utilized on
‘SGT. PEPPER’S...’ and the many shifts in tempo – all of it a conscious attempt
to take what The Beach Boys had done on ‘Pet Sounds’ and one-up them with it.
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‘Sgt.
Pepper’s...’ is frequently found at the #1 position of many critics’ lists of all-time
greatest Rock albums. In 1978, Joel Whitburn, the mastermind behind the
Billboard music charts, named The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s...’ #1 on his own
personal list of favorite Rock albums and said that, “SGT.
PEPPER’S was then and still is one of the greatest listening experiences for
the rock ear.”
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Some of
the songs that particularly illustrate The Beatles’ new, complex arrangements -
intended to compete with Brian Wilson and his Beach Boys - are the title track,
and ‘Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!’, and the album’s closing, grand finale
‘A Day In The Life’.
In the
recently published guide to ‘The Beatles’ 100 Greatest songs’, Rolling Stone
magazine put ‘A Day In The Life’ at #1 – the all-time greatest Beatles song. In
other words, according to Rolling Stone, ‘A Day In The Life’ is the number 1
song on what a good many Rock music critics consider to be The Beatles’ number
1 album. Let’s listen to that song while noting the tempo changes and various “movements”
within the song:
If you
were paying attention to what I wrote in my ‘BOTB #1’ blog bit, then you know
that I have a particular fascination for how drastically a musical arrangement
can alter (even make or break) a song. In that spirit, I offer you a cover
version of The Beatles’ (best?) song ‘A Day In The Life’.
Brian Auger,
another English musician - specializing in Jazz-Rock fusion - was introduced to
‘A Day In The Life’ by a friend at a party in Italy. I’ll let Auger give the details:
I was at a party in Milano, Italy, with some Italian
musician friends when my friend Maurizio clamped a pair of headphones on me and
said, “Hey, Brian, listen to this.” He put on The Beatles’ ‘Sergeant Pepper’
album which I had not previously heard. I listened until the last piano note of
‘A Day In The Life’ carried my imagination far out into space. I thought the
album was brilliant and took rock & roll to a completely new level. I
determined to record a version of ‘A Day In The Life’ and got the chance in
1968 while making my … album ‘Definitely What!’
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| BRIAN AUGER & TRINITY [WTH? Second From The Right: IS THAT 'BEER BOY BRYAN' WITH LONG HAIR?] |
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So, let’s
listen to Brian Auger’s [instrumental] cover of the song now, and then
you can vote on which version you prefer and tell us why you voted the way you
did. Although Auger’s arrangement does not alter the song as drastically as did
the two arrangements of Bebel Gilberto’s song ‘AGANJU’ in ‘BOTB #1’ (you will
certainly recognize the melody and tempo shifts within Auger’s take on ‘A Day
In The Life’), you may be surprised by the tune’s overall difference, due to
the choice of instruments being used at various points and HOW those
different instruments are being employed. [This is another excellent example of
the massive difference an arrangement can make in the same musical composition!]
I welcome EVERYONE – whether I know you or not - to vote for your favorite of these two songs in the comment section below. And feel free to tell us WHY you chose one song over the other. (NOTE: Comment Moderation is activated. All submitted comments that do not transgress "Ye Olde Comment Policy" will be posted as soon as possible. Thanks for taking the time to comment.)
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After
voting here, I suggest - actually I insist - you
pop over to FAE’s ‘Far Away Series’ and
Arlee Bird’s ‘Tossing It Out’ blogs
to see which songs they have chosen and vote there also. (If their BOTB
blog bits aren’t posted yet, pour yourself two shots of ‘Grand Marnier’ over
ice – do it twice – and then return to ‘Far Away Series’ and ‘Tossing
It Out’ to vice your voice ...vote your vice ...voice your
vote.)
Voice Your Vote @ ‘FAR
AWAY SERIES’ by clicking HERE.
Voice Your Vote @ ‘TOSSING
IT OUT’ by clicking HERE.
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| RIDDLER VS. BATMAN |
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Find The True Purpose For Voting On ‘Battle Of The Bands’
Installments: Win Compact Discs!-Compact Discs!-Compact Discs! Spectacular,
Super-Colossal Blogosphere ‘Battle Of The Bands’ Voting
Contest!
Here’s
The Deal: By
voting on the ‘Battle Of The Bands’ blog bits here and at the ‘FAR AWAY SERIES’
and ‘TOSSING IT OUT’ blogs, you can win the compact disc of your choice. Every
4 months, FarAwayEyes, Arlee Bird and I will add up how many times you voted on
our blogs, and the person who has participated most often (i.e., submitted the
most eligible votes) will get to select one compact disc that contains any one
of the songs that were included in any of our ‘Battle Of The Bands’
installments (“Super-Colossal” expensive boxed-sets, imports, and
‘out-of-print’ compact discs not included). In the event of a tie, the names
will be put in a Stetson and the name drawn from the cowboy hat will win the
CD.
Rules
For Voting: FAE,
Arlee Bird and I post new ‘Battle Of The Bands’ blog bits on the 1st and 15th
of each month. We also post our own personal votes for the respective blog bits
on the 7th and 21st of each month (i.e., six days later). For your vote to be
counted, it must be submitted in our comment sections BEFORE we post our
own votes (BEFORE we make our own votes known on the 7th and the 21st).
Every 4
months there will be a new compact disc winner. In other words, ‘Battle Of The
Bands’ #1 was posted on August 1, 2013, so at the end of November, one of you
lucky voters is going to win a CD that includes one of the songs we’ve featured
in our ‘Battle Of The Bands’ installments (you get to choose, and it doesn’t matter
if the song won or lost its battle – if you like it, it’s YOURS!)
Alright,
now... VOTE ON and ROCK ON! (while we
‘Count On...’)
~ Stephen T. McCarthy
Links To Previous 'BOTB' Installments:
Links To Previous 'BOTB' Installments:
YE OLDE
COMMENT POLICY: All comments, pro and con, are welcome. However, ad hominem
attacks and disrespectful epithets will not be tolerated (read: "posted").
After all, this isn’t Amazon.com,
so I don’t have to put up with that kind of bovine excrement.
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