Davey Moore

Giant things have giant titles that describe them. Some musicians are so big that regular names just wont do. Elvis, the King. James Brown, the godfather of soul, hardest working cat in show business. Eric Burdon was The Eggman, so named because he liked to crack eggs on the back of his sexual partners(I’m not joking, and yes, this is the same Eggman from “I Am The Walrus.”) But what about The Velvet Underground, that crazy bunch; Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker. What about them? It’s quite simple really, they’re bananas.

About five months ago, I was strolling along the many aisles of my local record store(on an unrelated note, why are they still called record stores? Probably because CD Store sounds stupid) and an unusual looking album cover caught my eye. It was a banana. That’s it. Banana.

“Oh my, I believe that is quite a strange album cover I am seeing” proclaimed I. Who would put out such a weird, wacky, daffy, demented album cover? These thoughts plagued me.

On closer inspection of said album, I noticed something which I had not realized previous: a signature! Andy Warhol. But of course! Oh you wacky fella, with your Marilyn Monroe’s and Campbell’s Soup! But wait a minute. Andy Warhol isn’t a musician! I proceeded to do a very thorough inspection, and I flipped the CD over to the back to ingest its contents. THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO. Well that’s a strange name. But, there’s something to it. I like it. Hip name. I’d actually heard about this band before, The Velvet Underground. I’d heard they were pretty influential. Hastily I ran up to the cashier and shouted “I WISH TO PURCHASE THIS FINE ALBUM SIR, HERE IS MY CURRENCY AND I SHALL BE ON MY WAY!” I sprinted five miles back to my house and threw this CD into my player.

“SUCH STRANGE MUSIC! I AM UNUSED TO THIS, THEREFORE UNSURE HOW TO RESPOND” exclaimed I. Dubious would be the best word to describe my first Velvet Underground encounter. Bitter from my seemingly unsatisfactory purchase I put this album on my shelf and let it lay dormant. I got on with my life.

Empires rose and fell, and finally I gave the CD another shot. It was quite a different experience. I started noticing things I didn’t notice before. The complexities of some songs, the ingenious melodies. I was very impressed. My god, the trance like “Heroin” was addicting. I had that song on repeat for hours. The thing was literally audio heroin. And how could you forget Nico’s hypnotic vocals on “All Tomorrow’s Parties”(which was Warhol’s favorite song by the band)

But what about the Bananas? There are two pieces of text on the album cover. One is Andy Warhol’s signature, the other is a phrase at the tip of the banana: “Peel Slowly and See.” For the longest time, I never paid attention to the artwork, I just knew it was cool. The other day though, it hit me like a mack truck. The banana is The Velvet Underground. The outside of a banana is bitter, inedible. Judging the banana by the skin alone would be foolish, considering the tasty treat that it surrounded. With The Velvet Underground, you have to really peel them open, really get inside their music. Then only does the majesty reveal itself. The same theory applies with so many other bands and artist. Just peel slowly and see, you might like what you find inside.

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Davey Moore

I saw this image of The Beatles yesterday(pun intended? No clue) and I was pretty amazed. Right now in school I'm currently taking a film and literature class and I've been more conscious lately of what a picture is telling you, and the symbolism and ****.

This picture is so perfect it looks almost staged. This is picture literally sums up the Third act of The Beatles saga, if you will. By that I mean from the White Album to the Breakup.

Notice George in the corner. He's the most isolated of The Beatles. That white line in the wall separates him from them. You can just sense how fed up and bitter he is. Many people know that Eric Clapton played on While My Guitar gently weeps. What they may not know is that the reason he invited him is because when Lennon or McCartney played guitar, they never put anything into it, the playing was lazy and passionless. They treated him like the "little brother" and weren't taking him seriously despite his songs at the time being among the best they were doing. Even when they complimented him, it was a backhanded compliment, like McCartney saying about Something "It came out of left field"

Poor Ringo. Out of all The Beatles, he gets sh*t on the most. I just want to pause and look at a few quotes about Ringo's drumming:

- Phil Collins(jackass, but knows drumming)

(Teach Yourself Rock Drumming, 1979)

Ringo most of all was disillusioned with The Beatles. He was probably the most sensitive of The Beatles, he couldn't stand all the fighting. Usually he would just lay down a drum track, then the rest of The Beatles would do overdubs as he sat around and did nothing. Now notice where he is placed. Right next to a bunch of wires, or is it tape? Tape makes more sense as a symbol anyway, but either way it's a nice little bit of positioning. Very, very interesting.

Now lets look at the most interesting one, John and Yoko. Notice they are the only two people whose bodies overlap. Notice how she is looming over him. She's literally sunk her claws into him. The whole time, Yoko was fueling John's resentment towards the rest of the band, telling him how they were holding him back, that he's a genius. Yoko was largely in control of John at that point. Notice John's pose, he reminds me of a little kid, with his mother looming over him.

Now lets look at Paul. Can't you just see the disgust on his face. Paul is the only one with his hands on the recording equipment. John and Yoko at this time were taking heroin, and John got really paranoid that Paul was trying to take over the group. In a sense, that's true, he was the only one trying to keep the group together. It's because Paul's stubborn leadership that they stayed together. Notice how Paul's right arm is really dark, the other is really light. Paul is the foremost individual in the photograph.

Notice how none of the people in the photograph are looking at the same thing, facing away from each other.

- Paul McCartney

Note the vertical lines on the wall behind them all. It really gives a sense of confinement, like they are trapped.

This picture looks like it could be a portrait. It certainly tells quite a story.

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right-track

Great post ^
Look forward to reading more like it Davey.

Molecules

lolol
my new favourite thread. You should have hung out with us in uni, we were always coming up with silly analogies for albums. See, if the Beatles career was a trifle...

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Substix blog
'Institutionalised cruelty is one thing. But the twisted brainwrong of a one-off man-mental is quite another.'

Urban Hatemonger

Really great posts.

I don't really like the VU & Nico album and i'm not really a huge Beatles fan but both posts were really interesting reading.
Can't wait to read more like them.

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sleepy jack

The Velvet Underground & Nico read was interesting and being a Beatles fan I enjoyed reading that one of course. It always bugged me how Paul & John treated George he wrote basically all my favorite Beatles songs.

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You're so evil and I'm so good,
I'll make it up to you someday.

Rainard Jalen

They were pretty cruel to George. I always found it mildly amusing how on Hard Days Night they purposely wrote a work song/formula song/dud/filler just in order to have something for George to sing, and had no shame in admitting to that (song in question is "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You").

The filler songs with that intent in mind are quite amusing tracks for their obviously intentional badness. Another one is "Little Child" on With The Beatles, originally planned for Ringo to sing but I think sung by Lennon in the end.

Rainard Jalen

Really realy great post btw. Out of interest where does the Collins quote come from?

Davey Moore

1967 - Most Influential Year In Music For the Latter Half Of The 20th Century

Even though my title is quite a mouthful(say it five times fast, I dare you) it makes it no less true. 1967 is the year everything would change in the face of music. The seeds of new genres that would sweep the nation were first sewn. The process of recording music itself was revolutionized. A man would burst onto the scene and inspire and influence every guitarist after. This list is in no particular order, just as they came to mind.


1. The Velvet Underground & Nico Released

One of the most influential bands in rock burst onto the scene without much fanfare. Nevertheless, the seeds of punk had been sewn, and future musicians like David Bowie and Iggy Pop were inspired to become musicians. I don’t need to elaborate on the influence of The Velvet Underground.

2. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Released

Do I really need to explain why this album is so influential? Every music publication ever has explained why it's so influential, I don't want to sound like a broken record(ha ha ha ha get it I'm so witty)

3. Are You Experienced? Released

If you play guitar and claim not to have been influenced by Jimi Hendrix you’re probably insane.


Other not as important stuff:

-First issue of Rolling Stone was released
-"Summer of Love"
-Monterey Pop Festival

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jackhammer

Missing out Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is a crime! Other than that, interesting posts. Keep them going.

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My music collection.cough cough enjoy.

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