Attention: Please take a moment to consider our terms and conditions before posting.

CL's Favourite Albums QF 4: Blood on the Tracks vs Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

135

Comments

  • Good morning.

    Pepper.
  • edited November 2017
    Nadou said:

    seth plum said:

    Ironically the personal influence of Dylan on the Beatles propelled the Beatles away from moon and juneism, and (very questionable) trifles such as 'I saw her standing there'. The Beatles encountered Dylan and his interest in lyrics being essential and groundbreaking was part of the road to Pepper for the Beatles.
    .

    Did you PWR again Seth? :wink:

    Anyway, just as pertinently, Dylan went electric directly in response to the influence of the Beatles.
    Absolutely not true. Dylan recorded his first electric track, Mixed Up Confusion, in 1962 before America had heard of the Beatles. And in his High School leaving book he wrote that he was "Going to join Little Richard." If there was any influencing it was the other way round with all four of the Beatles (but especially John and Paul) endlessly listening to The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan when it came out in 1963. Dylan was also recording a lot of electric tracks (including a version of Mr Tambourine Man) in early 1964 before the British Invasion happened.
    I'm happy to be corrected, but as far as I recall: -
    I want to Hold your hand was recorded in 1963 and released January 1964.
    The famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan show in USA was February 1964, which cause a sensation in the USA. and changed everything.
    I believe Bringing it all back home was recorded in summer 1964 and released in 1965.
    Dylans famous Newport electric gig was also 1965.

    Mixed up confusion is a red herring and the Little Richard quote totally irrelevant.

    I have already noted Dylan's influence on the Beatles and certainly their lyrics, but if you seriously believe his move to electric wasn't primarily influenced by the Beatles I think you are living in cuckoo land.

    EDIT: -
    I found this quote, as yet unattributed: -
    "They were doing things nobody was doing," Dylan said in 1971. "Their chords were outrageous. It was obvious to me they had staying power. I knew they were pointing in the direction of where music had to go. In my head, the Beatles were it."

    I'll try to find the source for this.
  • Indeed they were aware........and with things like phasing, mono (Hendrix and Kramer went on to stereo) with the Beatles and George Martin. As you cite Hendrix, who played it at the Saville theatre a couple of days after it's release, and Clapton was a contributor to the Beatles sound via Harrison, and of course Traffic was on Electric Ladyland with Mason, Chris Wood, and Winwood and co.
    So there was an immense collaboration, and exchange of ideas at the time. Hendrix 's idol was Dylan!......
    I will vote for Pepper, simply because it had an immediate impact at my age and is a wonderfully constructed album, as it happens I prefer the early Dylan material, but of course this is my choice.

    I will always listen to these album's, Still voting for Joni's "Blue' though........
  • Six bag of nuts - I don't think that Bob saying he was going to join Little Richard in 1959 is irrelevant since it indicates that what he was listening to and loving and had been influenced by was AMERICAN electric rock and roll and AMERICAN electric blues music that he heard all the time and that was what he wanted to play - he even joined the Bobby Vee band for a short time. And Mixed Up Confusion isn't a red herring because it was an electric guitar led pumping bit of rock n roll recorded when the Beatles were unknown in the USA. Of course he became aware of The Beatles and enjoyed them but, like them, it was AMERICAN electric music that influenced him. Remember The Beatles and The Stones etc started out playing covers of AMERICAN rock n roll after all. And if you listen to Dylan's electric stuff it sounds nothing like UK rock n roll. The stuff that he was immersed in and which really formed him when he was growing up and which he longed to emulate was Chicago electric blues and 50s rock n roll by people like Elvis, Buddy Holly (whom he went to see a few days before Buddy's death and he's spoken about how Buddy looked straight in his eyes and that he - Bob - felt that he was passing the mantle to him) Fats Domino etc. His first electric hit, Subterranean Homesick Blues, is directly influenced by Chuck Berry not The Beatles. Ever the chancer, Bob saw that he could get ahead singing 'folk' music but his "folk protest" period was actually relatively short and as soon as he had enough control to be able to do so he went back to his first love AMERICAN electric music. PS, I've stressed American because he has stressed it so many times that he is playing the music that he grew up with. In 1966, for example, during the rowdy tour where he was barracked by audiences he took pains to tell them that they didn't understand that he was playing American music. By the way, the quote might be from Chronicles - but I'm not sure.
  • Nadou said:

    Six bag of nuts - I don't think that Bob saying he was going to join Little Richard in 1959 is irrelevant since it indicates that what he was listening to and loving and had been influenced by was AMERICAN electric rock and roll and AMERICAN electric blues music that he heard all the time and that was what he wanted to play - he even joined the Bobby Vee band for a short time. And Mixed Up Confusion isn't a red herring because it was an electric guitar led pumping bit of rock n roll recorded when the Beatles were unknown in the USA. Of course he became aware of The Beatles and enjoyed them but, like them, it was AMERICAN electric music that influenced him. Remember The Beatles and The Stones etc started out playing covers of AMERICAN rock n roll after all. And if you listen to Dylan's electric stuff it sounds nothing like UK rock n roll. The stuff that he was immersed in and which really formed him when he was growing up and which he longed to emulate was Chicago electric blues and 50s rock n roll by people like Elvis, Buddy Holly (whom he went to see a few days before Buddy's death and he's spoken about how Buddy looked straight in his eyes and that he - Bob - felt that he was passing the mantle to him) Fats Domino etc. His first electric hit, Subterranean Homesick Blues, is directly influenced by Chuck Berry not The Beatles. Ever the chancer, Bob saw that he could get ahead singing 'folk' music but his "folk protest" period was actually relatively short and as soon as he had enough control to be able to do so he went back to his first love AMERICAN electric music. PS, I've stressed American because he has stressed it so many times that he is playing the music that he grew up with. In 1966, for example, during the rowdy tour where he was barracked by audiences he took pains to tell them that they didn't understand that he was playing American music. By the way, the quote might be from Chronicles - but I'm not sure.

    Agree with @Nadou

    You only have to look to who he chose as his backing band, The Band, on the "Judas" tour to see his influences. 50s rock and roll, blues, country, which is what the Band (the Hawks) had been playing for years with Ronnie Hawkins and then went on the play solo.
  • Dylan divides people and even Dylan fans cannot agree on his best. My fave is Blonde on Blonde.
    I even like Self Portrait which nearly all Dylan followers hate ...
  • In Rolling Stones top 100 albums of all time, Peppers is No 1, and BOTT is 16th with many other Dylan albums in front of it.
    Interestingly, I didn't notice before, but London Calling by The Clash is 8th.

    Like a lot of people, I could never get used to Dylans whiny voice.

    #justsaying
  • Dylan divides people and even Dylan fans cannot agree on his best. My fave is Blonde on Blonde.
    I even like Self Portrait which nearly all Dylan followers hate ...

    I really like Self Portrait.

    All the tired horses in the sun.
    How'm I supposed to get any riding done. Hmm.
  • Sponsored links:


  • Pepper

    I think you mean,Condiment.
  • I also have both albums on vinyl and for me it has to be BOTT. Tangled Up In Blue is simply awesome
  • Nadou said:

    Six bag of nuts - I don't think that Bob saying he was going to join Little Richard in 1959 is irrelevant since it indicates that what he was listening to and loving and had been influenced by was AMERICAN electric rock and roll and AMERICAN electric blues music that he heard all the time and that was what he wanted to play - he even joined the Bobby Vee band for a short time. And Mixed Up Confusion isn't a red herring because it was an electric guitar led pumping bit of rock n roll recorded when the Beatles were unknown in the USA. Of course he became aware of The Beatles and enjoyed them but, like them, it was AMERICAN electric music that influenced him. Remember The Beatles and The Stones etc started out playing covers of AMERICAN rock n roll after all. And if you listen to Dylan's electric stuff it sounds nothing like UK rock n roll. The stuff that he was immersed in and which really formed him when he was growing up and which he longed to emulate was Chicago electric blues and 50s rock n roll by people like Elvis, Buddy Holly (whom he went to see a few days before Buddy's death and he's spoken about how Buddy looked straight in his eyes and that he - Bob - felt that he was passing the mantle to him) Fats Domino etc. His first electric hit, Subterranean Homesick Blues, is directly influenced by Chuck Berry not The Beatles. Ever the chancer, Bob saw that he could get ahead singing 'folk' music but his "folk protest" period was actually relatively short and as soon as he had enough control to be able to do so he went back to his first love AMERICAN electric music. PS, I've stressed American because he has stressed it so many times that he is playing the music that he grew up with. In 1966, for example, during the rowdy tour where he was barracked by audiences he took pains to tell them that they didn't understand that he was playing American music. By the way, the quote might be from Chronicles - but I'm not sure.

    Nadou - thanks for coming back on this. I've been trying to find time all day to respond, but have been tied up with other things.
    Firstly an apology, I was wrong to dismiss the significance of the Little Richard and Mixed Up Confusion references in such a glib way.
    Your knowledge of Dylan's early rock career and leanings is matched by my ignorance of it.
    Bob Stanley in his brilliant book "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah - The Story of Modern Pop" goes as far as to say "the acoustic period was effectively a long interlude in his rock career".
    Furthermore, Mixed up Confusion was, as you say, way too early to be influenced by the Beatles and was in fact I learn, released as a single (albeit sunk without trace).
    So, to my contention that Dylan "went electric" due to the influence of the Beatles.
    Of course, that isn't my original idea.
    In fact it has been mentioned so many times over the years that it almost appears like received wisdom.
    In Q magazine's "Dylan - Collectors Edition" special, writer Steve Lowe states "The Beatles listened to Dylan. Dylan listened to the Beatles. He went electric. They discovered there was more to life than Yeah, Yeah, Yeah"
    This is just one superficial, throwaway example of a view stated many times in pop/rock essays over the years.
    Much has been made of the first meeting between Dylan and the Beatles, contrived by Al Aronowitz.
    In his essay on this event writer Jonathan Gould ("Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles, Britain and America") makes reference to their respective audiences "Dylan's core audience was comprised of young people emerging from adolescence - college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism and a mildly bohemian style. His music appealed to their maturity, their sensitivity, their morality and their verbal sophistication".
    He goes on "The Beatles core audience by contrast, was comprised of veritable teenyboppers"
    "Within six months of their meeting ...Lennon would be making records that openly imitated Dylan's.. introspective vocal persona. Within a year Dylan would walk out to the stage at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival in the height of mod fashion with a five-piece group"
    I really don't think there is any doubt there was a powerful symbiosis between both parties.
    I will no doubt search in vain for a quote by Dylan that he went electric because of the Beatles.
    But to me the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming.
    Dylan may well have been a rock and roller at heart and perhaps he always was waiting for the opportunity to return to his first love. And just maybe the Beatles showed him the way.
    I have found a fuller version of the quote I mentioned earlier (I believe it may have originated from Anthony Scuduto's biography? ( Emphasis mine)
    "They were doing things nobody was doing. Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous. You could only do that with other musicians. That was obvious. And it started me thinking about other people. But I just kept it to myself that I really dug them. Everybody else thought they were for teenyboppers, that they were gonna pass right away.But it was obvious to me that they had staying power. In my head the Beatles were it. It seemed to me a definite line had been drawn"
  • Nadou said:

    Six bag of nuts - I don't think that Bob saying he was going to join Little Richard in 1959 is irrelevant since it indicates that what he was listening to and loving and had been influenced by was AMERICAN electric rock and roll and AMERICAN electric blues music that he heard all the time and that was what he wanted to play - he even joined the Bobby Vee band for a short time. And Mixed Up Confusion isn't a red herring because it was an electric guitar led pumping bit of rock n roll recorded when the Beatles were unknown in the USA. Of course he became aware of The Beatles and enjoyed them but, like them, it was AMERICAN electric music that influenced him. Remember The Beatles and The Stones etc started out playing covers of AMERICAN rock n roll after all. And if you listen to Dylan's electric stuff it sounds nothing like UK rock n roll. The stuff that he was immersed in and which really formed him when he was growing up and which he longed to emulate was Chicago electric blues and 50s rock n roll by people like Elvis, Buddy Holly (whom he went to see a few days before Buddy's death and he's spoken about how Buddy looked straight in his eyes and that he - Bob - felt that he was passing the mantle to him) Fats Domino etc. His first electric hit, Subterranean Homesick Blues, is directly influenced by Chuck Berry not The Beatles. Ever the chancer, Bob saw that he could get ahead singing 'folk' music but his "folk protest" period was actually relatively short and as soon as he had enough control to be able to do so he went back to his first love AMERICAN electric music. PS, I've stressed American because he has stressed it so many times that he is playing the music that he grew up with. In 1966, for example, during the rowdy tour where he was barracked by audiences he took pains to tell them that they didn't understand that he was playing American music. By the way, the quote might be from Chronicles - but I'm not sure.

    Nadou - thanks for coming back on this. I've been trying to find time all day to respond, but have been tied up with other things.
    Firstly an apology, I was wrong to dismiss the significance of the Little Richard and Mixed Up Confusion references in such a glib way.
    Your knowledge of Dylan's early rock career and leanings is matched by my ignorance of it.
    Bob Stanley in his brilliant book "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah - The Story of Modern Pop" goes as far as to say "the acoustic period was effectively a long interlude in his rock career".
    Furthermore, Mixed up Confusion was, as you say, way too early to be influenced by the Beatles and was in fact I learn, released as a single (albeit sunk without trace).
    So, to my contention that Dylan "went electric" due to the influence of the Beatles.
    Of course, that isn't my original idea.
    In fact it has been mentioned so many times over the years that it almost appears like received wisdom.
    In Q magazine's "Dylan - Collectors Edition" special, writer Steve Lowe states "The Beatles listened to Dylan. Dylan listened to the Beatles. He went electric. They discovered there was more to life than Yeah, Yeah, Yeah"
    This is just one superficial, throwaway example of a view stated many times in pop/rock essays over the years.
    Much has been made of the first meeting between Dylan and the Beatles, contrived by Al Aronowitz.
    In his essay on this event writer Jonathan Gould ("Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles, Britain and America") makes reference to their respective audiences "Dylan's core audience was comprised of young people emerging from adolescence - college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism and a mildly bohemian style. His music appealed to their maturity, their sensitivity, their morality and their verbal sophistication".
    He goes on "The Beatles core audience by contrast, was comprised of veritable teenyboppers"
    "Within six months of their meeting ...Lennon would be making records that openly imitated Dylan's.. introspective vocal persona. Within a year Dylan would walk out to the stage at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival in the height of mod fashion with a five-piece group"
    I really don't think there is any doubt there was a powerful symbiosis between both parties.
    I will no doubt search in vain for a quote by Dylan that he went electric because of the Beatles.
    But to me the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming.
    Dylan may well have been a rock and roller at heart and perhaps he always was waiting for the opportunity to return to his first love. And just maybe the Beatles showed him the way.
    I have found a fuller version of the quote I mentioned earlier (I believe it may have originated from Anthony Scuduto's biography? ( Emphasis mine)
    "They were doing things nobody was doing. Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous. You could only do that with other musicians. That was obvious. And it started me thinking about other people. But I just kept it to myself that I really dug them. Everybody else thought they were for teenyboppers, that they were gonna pass right away.But it was obvious to me that they had staying power. In my head the Beatles were it. It seemed to me a definite line had been drawn"
    Only on CL can a simple Yes/No vote turn into a full page diatribe. Can I start the next one.....were One Direction influenced by Take That ?
  • Sgt Pepper by a country mile.
  • Sgt. Pepper
  • surprised so many Lifers have heard BOTT in its entirity or enough of it to give an opinion ...
  • surprised so many Lifers have heard BOTT in its entirity or enough of it to give an opinion ...

    I play it at least once a week, and never tire of it
  • surprised so many Lifers have heard BOTT in its entirity or enough of it to give an opinion ...

    I'd be surprised if they hadn't. We're a discerning bunch of people with taste and curiousity after all.
  • Sponsored links:


  • Nadou said:

    Six bag of nuts - I don't think that Bob saying he was going to join Little Richard in 1959 is irrelevant since it indicates that what he was listening to and loving and had been influenced by was AMERICAN electric rock and roll and AMERICAN electric blues music that he heard all the time and that was what he wanted to play - he even joined the Bobby Vee band for a short time. And Mixed Up Confusion isn't a red herring because it was an electric guitar led pumping bit of rock n roll recorded when the Beatles were unknown in the USA. Of course he became aware of The Beatles and enjoyed them but, like them, it was AMERICAN electric music that influenced him. Remember The Beatles and The Stones etc started out playing covers of AMERICAN rock n roll after all. And if you listen to Dylan's electric stuff it sounds nothing like UK rock n roll. The stuff that he was immersed in and which really formed him when he was growing up and which he longed to emulate was Chicago electric blues and 50s rock n roll by people like Elvis, Buddy Holly (whom he went to see a few days before Buddy's death and he's spoken about how Buddy looked straight in his eyes and that he - Bob - felt that he was passing the mantle to him) Fats Domino etc. His first electric hit, Subterranean Homesick Blues, is directly influenced by Chuck Berry not The Beatles. Ever the chancer, Bob saw that he could get ahead singing 'folk' music but his "folk protest" period was actually relatively short and as soon as he had enough control to be able to do so he went back to his first love AMERICAN electric music. PS, I've stressed American because he has stressed it so many times that he is playing the music that he grew up with. In 1966, for example, during the rowdy tour where he was barracked by audiences he took pains to tell them that they didn't understand that he was playing American music. By the way, the quote might be from Chronicles - but I'm not sure.

    Nadou - thanks for coming back on this. I've been trying to find time all day to respond, but have been tied up with other things.
    Firstly an apology, I was wrong to dismiss the significance of the Little Richard and Mixed Up Confusion references in such a glib way.
    Your knowledge of Dylan's early rock career and leanings is matched by my ignorance of it.
    Bob Stanley in his brilliant book "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah - The Story of Modern Pop" goes as far as to say "the acoustic period was effectively a long interlude in his rock career".
    Furthermore, Mixed up Confusion was, as you say, way too early to be influenced by the Beatles and was in fact I learn, released as a single (albeit sunk without trace).
    So, to my contention that Dylan "went electric" due to the influence of the Beatles.
    Of course, that isn't my original idea.
    In fact it has been mentioned so many times over the years that it almost appears like received wisdom.
    In Q magazine's "Dylan - Collectors Edition" special, writer Steve Lowe states "The Beatles listened to Dylan. Dylan listened to the Beatles. He went electric. They discovered there was more to life than Yeah, Yeah, Yeah"
    This is just one superficial, throwaway example of a view stated many times in pop/rock essays over the years.
    Much has been made of the first meeting between Dylan and the Beatles, contrived by Al Aronowitz.
    In his essay on this event writer Jonathan Gould ("Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles, Britain and America") makes reference to their respective audiences "Dylan's core audience was comprised of young people emerging from adolescence - college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism and a mildly bohemian style. His music appealed to their maturity, their sensitivity, their morality and their verbal sophistication".
    He goes on "The Beatles core audience by contrast, was comprised of veritable teenyboppers"
    "Within six months of their meeting ...Lennon would be making records that openly imitated Dylan's.. introspective vocal persona. Within a year Dylan would walk out to the stage at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival in the height of mod fashion with a five-piece group"
    I really don't think there is any doubt there was a powerful symbiosis between both parties.
    I will no doubt search in vain for a quote by Dylan that he went electric because of the Beatles.
    But to me the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming.
    Dylan may well have been a rock and roller at heart and perhaps he always was waiting for the opportunity to return to his first love. And just maybe the Beatles showed him the way.
    I have found a fuller version of the quote I mentioned earlier (I believe it may have originated from Anthony Scuduto's biography? ( Emphasis mine)
    "They were doing things nobody was doing. Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous. You could only do that with other musicians. That was obvious. And it started me thinking about other people. But I just kept it to myself that I really dug them. Everybody else thought they were for teenyboppers, that they were gonna pass right away.But it was obvious to me that they had staying power. In my head the Beatles were it. It seemed to me a definite line had been drawn"
    Only on CL can a simple Yes/No vote turn into a full page diatribe. Can I start the next one.....were One Direction influenced by Take That ?
    Yes :wink:
  • What is the point of this discussion?

    Comparing Sgt Peppers to the Stone Roses and now Bob Dylan doesn't make any sense. They are each from different decades and of different styles.

    Doing this in quarter finals and semi-finals is supposed to lead us to what? A winner in The Final?

    So therefore we are supposed to arrive at the best album of all time. I don't think that we can say such a thing exists.

    All this has been done countless times before. The best list is probably from Rolling Stone magazine:

    'The RS 500 was assembled by the editors of Rolling Stone, based on the results of two extensive polls. In 2003, Rolling Stone asked a panel of 271 artists, producers, industry executives and journalists to pick the greatest albums of all time. In 2009, we asked a similar group of 100 experts to pick the best albums of the 2000s. From those results, Rolling Stone created this new list of the greatest albums of all time.'

    Here's a link to the top 100: http://www.listchallenges.com/rolling-stones-top-100-albums
    Sgt Peppers is n°1 by the way

    or try this: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/jul/16/popandrock.shopping
    Sgt Peppers is n°2 here

    I quite like this one partially because I love Revolver: http://www.nme.com/photos/the-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-100-1-1426116
  • I looked at the Rolling Stone 100. Can't really argue with that for rock stuff.
  • What a load of bollox in the NME list .
    Does the guy like The Smiths ??!!
    LMAO.
  • Fecking Libertines in the top 5 - is the guy on speed?
  • Interestingly BBC4 showed the making of Sgt Pepper (of sorts) tonight. The amount of work that went into the songs was incredible - like using 9 pianos for the final note on A Day in the Life, merging 2 different vocals that were at 2 different speeds on Strawberry Fields and cutting & then re-splicing in random order the Wurlitzer sound on Being for The Benefit of Mr Kite.

    Sorry, but I don't think Bob Dylan done that on BOTT.
  • Interestingly BBC4 showed the making of Sgt Pepper (of sorts) tonight. The amount of work that went into the songs was incredible - like using 9 pianos for the final note on A Day in the Life, merging 2 different vocals that were at 2 different speeds on Strawberry Fields and cutting & then re-splicing in random order the Wurlitzer sound on Being for The Benefit of Mr Kite.

    Sorry, but I don't think Bob Dylan done that on BOTT.

    No, he didn't need to.

    That's the point.

  • edited November 2017

    What is the point of this discussion?

    Comparing Sgt Peppers to the Stone Roses and now Bob Dylan doesn't make any sense. They are each from different decades and of different styles.

    Doing this in quarter finals and semi-finals is supposed to lead us to what? A winner in The Final?

    So therefore we are supposed to arrive at the best album of all time. I don't think that we can say such a thing exists.

    All this has been done countless times before. The best list is probably from Rolling Stone magazine:

    'The RS 500 was assembled by the editors of Rolling Stone, based on the results of two extensive polls. In 2003, Rolling Stone asked a panel of 271 artists, producers, industry executives and journalists to pick the greatest albums of all time. In 2009, we asked a similar group of 100 experts to pick the best albums of the 2000s. From those results, Rolling Stone created this new list of the greatest albums of all time.'

    Here's a link to the top 100: http://www.listchallenges.com/rolling-stones-top-100-albums
    Sgt Peppers is n°1 by the way

    or try this: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/jul/16/popandrock.shopping
    Sgt Peppers is n°2 here

    I quite like this one partially because I love Revolver: http://www.nme.com/photos/the-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-100-1-1426116

    Each can take it as they will, but my thinking behind it is that it's a case of deciding which one resonates with you the most, regardless of the reason. It isn't supposed to be a definitive list of the greatest albums of all time. I'm positive that if we did the initial vote again, we'd end up with a different final 16. The title is 'CL's Favourite Albums', not 'The Greatest Album of All Time', so perhaps we'll be left with one that at the moment, is the favourite of the selected finalists. So, to answer your question, there will be a semi-final and a final. You are welcome to participate.
Sign In or Register to comment.

Roland Out Forever!