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Which is better, the Rolling Stones or the Beatles, and why?
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Hey Mona and Lisa, have you had a chance to play around with a dulcimer yet?
The Rolling Stones – “Lady Jane” (featuring Brian Jones on dulcimer), Ed Sullivan Show 1966
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UK Radio (BBC), “Top Gear”, July 1964, Featuring Brian Jones on “Bo Diddley’s” guitar.
The Rolling Stones – “Crackin’ Up” (Ellas McDaniel), 1964
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The one and only Bo Didley live with Ronnie Wood in 1987. Bo Didley was a huge influence on groups like the Rolling Stones.
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Nifty photo, Howard! All it lacks is a Beatle just beyond the blue car, facing away from the camera.
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Why did the Beatles’ ‘White Album’ have a blank cover?
By John Donfrancesco
Before the Beatles “white album” was released, Paul had a discussion with Richard Hamilton, the artist who designed the now-famous poster that would be included with this album. Hamilton talked about the great importance of the white spaces in between the individual photos that made up the poster, impressing on Paul how white space took as much thought and consideration as the position of the individual photos themselves. Paul was so intrigued with this idea of white space that he came up with the idea that the album cover should be ALL white space and NO photos, giving it an air of significant importance. When he took the idea to John (Lennon) he actually agreed with Paul, saying “Brilliant, it’s the last thing they’d expect from us”.
In my humble opinion, I believe that the idea of an all-white album cover went towards the promotion of The Beatles as four individual artists, as opposed to being a cohesive band. This theory is endorsed by the fact that there were four individual headshots – one of each Beatle – that came inside the album, where one would normally expect a photo of the four lads together as a band. In fact, there were NO photos of the four Beatles together as band mates found anywhere in the entire album and poster. The all white cover gave rise to the idea that The Beatles began thinking of themselves as individual musicians – with their own musical ideas and offerings – rather than continuing on as that crazy one-headed monster.
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Richard Hamiltons comment about importance of white space in between the individual photos from an artistic perspective I think aligns more with a similar concept Mozart impressed:
“The Music is not in the notes, but in the silence in between”
The white space seems analogues to the silence in between from an artistic concept.
I dont see a promotion for 4 individual artists.
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Claude Debussy, as well as Miles Davis and Bob Dylan are purported to have said something similar, that music is the silence in between the notes.
A music theorists explains this concept as follows:
“The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.”
“So what exactly goes on in between the notes? It’s not always a literal silence, is it? Each note is usually still ringing out before the next one is played, right? But yes, something is happening that relates to silence.
You’re listening to the silence.
This is part of what Mozart may have been trying to convey with this somewhat nebulous statement. It’s something that every good improviser or composer knows. You write or play a note, and then where does the next one come from? The silence. But only if we’re listening for it. Otherwise, our playing becomes a stream of run-on sentences that has no meaning. No subtlety. No breath.
So… the next time you sit down at the piano to play jazz, rock, pop, blues, classical, or whatever else you may enjoy playing, become aware of the silence between the notes. Listen to the silence, and see what notes appear. This is a game-changer.”
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About the “White Album” cover, if I remember correctly, Paul said that they were trying to be as different as possible to Sgt. Pepper and John was starting on his “white” period. The numbering was the out-of-the-box innovation, which only they could pull off.
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Is Paul McCartney’s drumming better than Ringo Starr?
I think this question is best answered by Sir Paul McCartney.
In 2015, Paul gave the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech for Ringo Starr. Here is an excerpt about the moment the Beatles were formed:
“One night our drummer then, Pete Best, wasn’t available, so Ringo sat in. And I remember the moment. I mean, Pete was great, and we had a good time with him. But me, John and George, God bless ’em, were on the front line singing, and now behind us we had this guy we’d never played with before, and I remember the moment when he started to play – I think it was Ray Charles, “What’d I Say,” and most of the drummers couldn’t nail the drum part, it’s a little bit [sings a bit of it]. It was a little difficult to do, but Ringo nailed it. Yeah — Ringo nailed it! And I remember the moment, standing there and looking at John and then looking at George, and the look on our faces was like, fuck you. What is this? And that was the moment, that was the beginning, really, of the Beatles.”
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I see Mona and Lisa have a lot in common with John Lennon. Following a comment on their first live concert performance about their pronunciation of a particular word, they indicated they were amused by their performance and thought they may have been trying for an American accent. While I could only marvel at the beautiful performance, all they could see were the flaws.
When John Lennon told interviewers he wished he could go back and re-do most Beatles tunes because he didn’t like them, might he have been goofing with the reporters?
By Connor Wielgoss
“I doubt it.
When most artists listen to their own work, they notice the flaws in them. Lennon said in his famous 1980 Playboy interview that he can barely listen to any Beatles song without thinking about the people and sessions behind it.He continued to notice the flaws years later because he spent more time with the songs than nearly anyone. A general listener listens to the song and takes it at face value. A creator can easily pick out everything wrong with their work. That’s not just true for Lennon and The Beatles, but for nearly all writers, musicians, painters, etc.
There’s a point in time with all work when it’s just the author and their creation. They tirelessly work to get it right before release, but eventually they can grow to feel regret about it, like they could’ve done better.
For example, Leo Tolstoy ended up dismissing War and Peace. He was embarrassed by it and resented it later in his life. The same goes for Anthony Burgess and A Clockwork Orange. Burgess wrote of his own book:
the book does also have a moral lesson, and it is the weary traditional one of the fundamental importance of moral choice. It is because this lesson sticks out like a sore thumb that I tend to disparage A Clockwork Orange as a work too didactic to be artistic. It is not the novelist’s job to preach; it is his duty to show. I have shown enough, though the curtain of an invented lingo gets in the way—another aspect of my cowardice.
When Lennon would hear a Beatle song, he would only hear the flaws and the potential for what could’ve been. He always thought he could’ve done better with them. The same goes for most creators. Authors will be the only ones to vigorously hate their own ending decades after release. Painters will always be the ones to recognize a spot that could’ve use more detail. Musicians, like Lennon, will always think of the string arrangement they could’ve added, the lyrics they could’ve changed, and the riff they could’ve amplified.I don’t think Lennon was kidding. I genuinely believe that he was unable to enjoy The Beatles like we can, because he was one of the creators.”
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The Cavern Club, Liverpool, September-October 1962.
Comments:
“In just the next five years they would do three major tours, make two films, release more than a dozen singles and eight albums, including Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt Peppers. Over 50 years later they still matter. There is no word to describe them but miraculous.”“Ringo as solid as he always was. Many of the top drummers in the world today deservedly still rate him as one of the best. Rock on Ringo.”
“That’s one tight little band from Liverpool.”
How lucky have we been to have these four boys reincarnated in the MonaLisa Twins. They must have been so excited to have also performed at the Cavern Club with their two year residency.
The Beatles – Rehearsals at the Cavern Club (September-October 1962)
Some people think it is Pete Best playing on the first number. What do you think?
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What did Bob Dylan think of the Rolling Stones?
Bob Dylan said this about the Rolling Stones:
“The Rolling Stones are truly the greatest rock and roll band in the world and always will be. The last too. Everything that came after them, metal, rap, punk, new wave, pop-rock, you name it… you can trace it all back to the Rolling Stones. They were the first and the last and no one’s ever done it better.”
What can I say but touché Bob Dylan.
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Here is what Bob Dylan said of Paul McCartney (Bob Dylan interview with Rolling Stones Magazine 2007):
“I’m in awe of McCartney. He’s about the only one that I am in awe of. He can do it all. And he’s never let up. He’s got the gift for melody, he’s got the rhythm, he can play any instrument. He can scream and shout as good as anybody, and he can sing a ballad as good as anybody. And his melodies are effortless, that’s what you have to be in awe of. . . . He’s just so damn effortless. I just wish he’d quit [laughs]. Everything that comes out of his mouth is just framed in melody.”
Bob Dylan may have seen his equal in the Rolling Stones but he was in awe of the Beatles, especially Paul’s genius.
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Now Jung, don’t put words in Bob’s mouth. He never suggested anyone was his equal or his better. He made no comparisons at all and certainly wasn’t suggesting he was in awe of The Beatles, but rather Paul McCartney. However, there was mutual respect between Dylan and The Beatles. McCartney goes so far to state that Dylan was “our idol”, adding, “I could feel myself climbing a spiral walkway as I was talking to Dylan. I felt like I was figuring it all out, the meaning of life.”
Dylan offered John Lennon tips on song writing and suggested they try a more acoustic sound. He on the other hand acknowledged their commercial success and went electric. Dylan was fairly close to George Harrison and they collaborated, particularly during their time with ”The Travelling Wilburys”.
Over the years Bob has had much to say on McCartney:
“They were fantastic singers. Lennon, to this day, it’s hard to find a better singer than Lennon was, or than McCartney was and still is.”
When McCartney was asked the question “Which Dylan track would he cover” this was his answer:
“That’s a very difficult question to answer, as there are so many great songs. ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ comes to mind because it’s something you could cover.” He continued, “Singing Dylan songs can be difficult because something like ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, it’s so Dylan that it would be hard to get the spirit that he puts on it. ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ is another good one, you know. I’d put that on a list as well.”
The MLT have already brilliantly covered ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ and it would be nice to see their take on something like ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’. I know they’re capable of mastering this one. Time is the big issue for them doing covers with so much riding on them producing their third album of originals. Fortunately their Duo Sessions have made it possible for them to fit more covers into their schedule for the benefit of the MLT Club.
John Lennon on Dylan, 1970.
“I loved him because he wrote some beautiful stuff. I used to love his so-called protest things. But I like the sound of him. I didn’t have to listen to his words. He used to come with his acetate and say, “Listen to this, John. Did you hear the words?” And I said, “That doesn’t matter, just the sound is what counts.”…I respected him, I respected him a lot.”The Beatles on Dylan:
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