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The Art of Making Great CDs
Today as I was driving out of town to start my vacation, I put on the two new Beatles and More CDs. What a sweet treat! Now I’ve made previous posts about how wonderful these two new CDs are but I’ve never actually listened to them from start to finish. The surprise was how well all these songs work together.
I also think I know why so many of the brand new songs are on 3- actually 7 of the 9. Although 2 is a wonderful album, 3 is a breakaway album where they experiment with new sounds and flex their muscles to do much harder edged songs than they’ve ever done. Almost all of these harder songs are new recordings and they all absolutely sizzle. White Room is unlike anything they’ve previously done and a song that a couple of sweet, pretty women just can’t do. Glass Onion is more of the same. Hey Bulldog hits the same edgy notes, vocally and musically. So does You Really Got Me. And their version of Time of the Season updates the Zombies classic without losing an ounce of the rock edge that makes it so unforgettable.
I had listened to all of these songs numerous times since the release of the CD but I never realized that Mona, Lisa and Rudolf had placed these songs together in such a way as the sum of all of them together is greater than their being listened to individually. In other words, they are versed in the art of making an album!
As I listened to WWT as I was finishing off my trip, I realized that they knew this from the beginning. I think it’s obvious that Rudolf deserves a lot of the credit here. Making albums that hold together kind of died off a long time ago. Today almost all CDs are just a collection of songs. MLT once again goes beyond the norm to make music that’s innovative, insightful, entertaining and artistically rich.
I would compare BAM 2 with Help and BAM 3 with Revolver. I love Help. The songs have an energy and innocence that for me will always be timeless. But Revolver is one of the top 3 or 4 albums ever produced. Part of the difference lies in the weightiness of the songs. Part of the difference lies in the complexity of the arrangements. I think BAM 3 has similar differences. Lisa’s lead guitar solo on Time of the Season just seems so much more intricate than anything I’ve heard before.
I believe we can look forward to a similar leap forward when they record their next CD of all originals. And for that, I’m really excited!
I’m going to be gone till Sunday. Have a good week and I look forward to seeing all of you when I get back. -
1 Reply
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Tim, you got it right on about Orange, and BAM 2 & 3.
When I first heard Orange, I just couldn’t help but draw comparisons, in my mind anyway, to Pet Sounds and Sargent Peppers just for it’s artistry as an album and the impression it leaves on me. It is so much more than a collection of songs like most albums I’ve come across are, but has a theme and overall grand design such that as an album it is greater than the sum of it’s songs indeed.
The very first track, “The Future”, sets a theme and a kind of unity across the entire album. Positive outlook for the future and hope in the world is reflected in tracks like “No More Worries Company”, “It’s Alright”, “Waiting for the Waiter” and “In it For Love”. There is also a sense of mystery and wonder about life and love in songs like “Count on Me”, “That’s Life”, “Close to You”, Still a Friend of Mine”, and “Club 27”. “Once Upon a Time”, and “Sweet Lorraine” are just joyful and brilliant as life can be.  The album comes to a climactic end with a kind of emotional roller coaster if you will taking us up on a hard rock and roll high in the Jimmy Hendricks tradition with “Club 27”, immediately followed by a heart string pulling “Still a Friend of Mine” which are polar opposites to each other in terms of speed and emotion. The album ends with quite a statement that leaves a lasting impression.
I personally think Orange is a masterpiece of an album, with the same kind of artistically themed vision Brian Wilson had for Pet Sounds and John Lennon and Paul McCartney had for Sargent Peppers. If the MonaLisa Twins didn’t intentionally do it with that kind of vision in mind, some of the genius from the Beatles certainly rubbed off on them after 10 years of doing their covers and perfecting their craft after them to intuitively create such an artistically remarkable album.
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