helterskelter.ca

THE BEATLES
1963 - Please Please Me.
1966 - Revolver.
1967 - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
1968 - Yellow Submarine.
1968 - The Beatles.
way more Helter Skelter.

March 22, 1963 - 2023: 60 years of: Please Please Me.

Ground Zero of the rocknroll lifestyle: the British Invasion starts here.

England, to-be land of hard rocknroll and from out the WW2-destroyed island, these young boys would craft the "rocknroll-stardom format" that originated not from London, not from Manchester ...but from Liverpool.

They are:

They are THE BEATLES and they are the Second Coming. From single-45s to full-length long-player, the rocknroll spell is cast ...rock-music was now part of Western culture.

Choose your pretty girl and dance to the rockabilly "I Saw Her Standing There", sing-along to the choir-rock of "Misery" and cry-to-joy to the harmonica-led "Love Me Do" ...resistance is futile. The addictive progressive melodies of "Do You Want To Know A Secret" and "There's A Place" keeps the rocks rolling, while the ravage rage of THE TOP NOTES's "Twist And Shout" gets the British hyperactive treatment.

Produced by to-be-long-time partner George Martin AKA "the fifth BEATLE", this first collection was recorded at the then EMI Studios, now world-renown for it's famous street-address on Abbey Road. The LP paved the way to a seven year Chart-domination and reshaping of the entire global entertainment modus-operandi.

And just like Elvis did a few years earlier, masses of youth gathered for a sacred rite, to the dismay of 50s Church loving parents worldwide. Evil was again at their doorstep ...but now they were four of them.

The rock-band format was now official and revered and THE BEATLES are the genesis of this unorthodox lifestyle. Through the instant chaos and revolution from the Fab Four, this success also became a springboard for EMI Records's lead into the record-selling business ...the oldest of the initial "Big Six" of the record-industry.

Please, please us ...once more. The boys would strike again rapidly, in Autumn '63, with the release of With The Beatles LP.

Welcome to Beatlemania !

*
Please Please Me = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxwAB3SECtc&list=PLF8degF-CITi6MhbrOOuk10yLb6JZLiSY
Interview in 1963
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlRWokXBXwc
Live in Stockholm in 1963
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYpVNpXCAls

August 5, 1966 - 2021: 55 years of: Revolver.

The Invasion is at full swing ...more popular than Jesus !

After the 1965 Rubber Soul LP worldwide hip-craze, these boys could do no wrong. On top of the rocknroll food-chain and leaders of the UK counterculture, everything changed. Sounds, looks and thoughts, the world was in full motion and the electric songtrack was provided, courtesy of our lovely Fab Four.

The Beatlemania kicks into high-gear with the "Taxman" ...the IRS's favorite cut. Dive head-first inside the colorful "Yellow Submarine", an immortal sing-along and one of the band's most famous piece. Good 'ol rock-cuts are present with "Doctor Robert", "And Your Bird Can Sing" and the piano-driven "Good Day Sunshine".

Innovation into violin + cello rhythms makes a cameo with the adventurous "Eleanor Rigby" and it's counterpart, the horns-supported "Got To Get You Into My Life". Some hints of to-come esoteric psychedelia is apparent on "Love You Too" and the extra-terrestrial experiment of "Tomorrow Never Knows".

On tour, the globe was helpless and at their feet, literally. Gazillions of please, please us screaming teenage-girls and rocknroll controversies lead the final ever world-tour, that included five sold-outs at Tokyo's Budokan. The first rock-concerts for this legendary Nippon sport-arena.

The RIAA-certified 5x Platinum Revolver LP is a revolutive revolving-door, the end of a chapter and the beginning of a new era, a darker and hazier Beatlemania: the psychedelic-era.

Next step ...a meeting with the Sergeant.

*
Revolver = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0zaebtU-CA&list=PLg5pp7nrH0IqV2ESEZmmgWtECbzkS8d3O
Interview in 1966
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8MgItRRaTo
Live in 1966
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWIscnd2J4k

May 26, 1967 - 2022: 55 years of: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Paul is not dead.

A turning-point in rocknroll, when the world's biggest band is bigger than Jesus, they know they are in command. Following the hot cylinder firing of 1966's Revolver LP, the lads would dig deeper, experiment to the fullest extend and create a psychedelic juggernaut.

The title-cut slides in, with an orchestra supported backing-track. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is a rock track that defines the album. From the left-side, to the right-side, the stereo-mix is a circus by itself, an adventure in sonic spheres. Other rock pieces includes the guitar-driven "Getting Better" and the heavy rhythm of "With A Little Help From My Friends".

The ultimate nirvana, all senses are on with the dreamy "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" a play on the L.S.D. acronym. More parallel voyages includes "She's Leaving Home" and the high-flyin' "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite !". Sitar and Indian spiritism makes a statement on "Within You Without You", total curve-ball for a rock-band.

The upcoming Summer Of Love had zero effect on our British boys. They were focused and dedicated to perfection. Crafted during the height of the US / UK popular counterculture movement, the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP is a stellar laboratory of art ...of both sights and sounds. The immortal covert-jacket is a gigantic montage of famous historical personalities that includes Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe and Aleister Crowley. They all surround the Lonely Hearts band an even if you're not a fan, you have seen this iconic canvas. On the other side of the spectrum, the studio trickery / wizardry and multi-tracking became the new modus-operandi for decades of future artist-recordings.

Originally scheduled for a June 1st release, EMI rushed it to May 26th at the very last hour, to further hype the record. The trendsetting Sgt. Pepper's LP would again catapult THE BEATLES into the stratosphere, solidifying their enormous status and reach the very exclusive RIAA-certified Diamond award milestone.

*
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlgNMZnLsIQ&list=OLAK5uy_kXTCtXTKA6DMJOSGKweNRGC0aoPn1iBF8
Interview with Paul in 1967
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufor1B9y7Xw

July 17, 1968 - 2023: 55 years of: Yellow Submarine.

Nothing is real !

Rocknroll, drugs and animation ...the new mix. During the over the top post-Sgt. Pepper and pre-White Album era, both evolution and revolution would get electrified. Not new to the movie-format, the Fab Four would push the envelope and go beyond, beyond. Following the 1967's lukewarm Magical Mystery Tour movie-cycle, the boys would put faith into The Beatles Cartoon filmmaker George Dunning and craft a full futuristic cartoon-anime: the ultimate nirvana.

Destination: Pepperland !

The ethereal territory is suddenly attacked on all front by the Blue Meanies. Looking for help, traveling in the Yellow Submarine, the Hearts Club conductor seeks for help. One by one, he will unite The Beatles to save music and reinstigate peace.

New hot rock music would be provided for the soundtrack, including the stomper "Hey Bulldog" and the psychadelic "Only A Northern Song", while George Martin would generate the original score ...a tour de force of it's own.

Sadly the band-members themselves do not appear in the movie, their voices being portrayed by actors. Yet the wildness and super-natural feel of the action, makes this display, an 80mins fun run into an adventurous child-like mindset. Through time, the movie became a fan-favorite, as well as, an experience for the recreational use of drugs and LSD, opening the inner gates deeper into Pepperland.

Beyond colors and beyond designs, musically the band would change the course of history and hit another Grand Slam: Autumn 1968's The Beatles double-LP.

RIP George Dunning (1920-1979)

*
Yellow Submarine = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2uTFF_3MaA
Hey Bulldog = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4vbJQ-MrKo
Yellow Submarine = movie trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefJAtG-ZKI
Yellow Submarine = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztHxu-13UqI&list=PLycVTiaj8OI-Ob2F_f7E7mq6XDfeYTYOP
Interview in 1968
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WJ-ebidHrU

November 22, 1968 - 2023: 55 years of: The Beatles AKA The White Album.

"Now is the time for Helter Skelter." - Charlie

High up there in the hierarchy of rock-royalty, there are the greats, then there are the greatest and then there is the united continuum of: Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr. And no album polarized rocknroll's history more than THE BEATLES's ninth record, the simply entitled: The Beatles ...all white all pure, like milk like snow, nothing more nothing less ...The White Album.

The innocence of the art-less artwork LP-cover is puzzling. Like a blank sheet of paper, waiting to be written-on or drawn-on, this cover could just be that: anyone's memo-sheet ready for some personal insight and adventure ...and this record is just that, an open adventure. Following their spiritual uplifting in India and once again behind the wheel, the creative force of Lennon + McCartney managed to write most of the material, while leaving room for Harrison who made a few well appreciated appearances.

1968: the pinnacle of the counterculture, on both sides of the Atlantic. Either you were from London, San Francisco, New-York or Liverpool, the new hip young adults of the mid 60s had enough of the sterile redundant establishment, righteous political views and unilateral religions ...and loud rocknroll was the antidote, a revolution !

"Death To Pigs" - Patricia

Hardrock before the term was even coined, flying high West-to-East, we landing "Back In The U.S.S.R.". Rough and tough rocknroll sets the globe on fire with "Birthday", the humorously titled "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey" and the rabid-rage electrified overkill of both "Helter Skelter" and amp-melting B-side track only: "Revolution".

Hard-shuffle of "Savoy Truffle", "Yer Blues" and "Glass Onion" shakes the ground and the band gets into local bar-rock territories on "The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill" and the happy swing of "Martha My Dear". Testing our senses with the space-effects of "Wild Honey Pie", the delicious dirt of "Piggies" and the wicked steel obsession of "Happiness Is A Warm Gun". We are beyond, beyond.

The party goes into fiesta-mode with "Why Don't We Do It In The Road ?", to clap-along "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" and the forever-loop of the A-side single "Hey Jude". The pace slows down for the everlasting tears of "Julia" along with the heartfelt blues-patterns of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" ...featuring lead-guitar from a certain Eric Clapton.

A colorful nirvana that started with 1967's tour-de-force Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP, this new album was again written and recorded in the studio during the course of four months. A mammoth thirty tracks, ninety-three minutes in total, all very different from one to another, displaying many faces of music: from rock to jazz, from pop to vocal, from acoustic to folk and from piano-driven to the 8min+ soundscape climax of "Revolution 9". Experimentation is the lifeline of this opus that is also widely credited to contain the first heavymetal song of all-time with "Helter Skelter". And some controversy: 1968, the heated Cold-War, worldwide-paranoia and a British-band releasing a song entitled "Back In The U.S.S.R.". A simple line that could be easily perceived as: "Backing The U.S.S.R."... were they Commies ?

"I've got blisters on my fingers !!!" - Ringo

The White Album and the dirt, behind the mixing-console inside EMI Recording Studios, the posh rocknroll lifestyle was far from glamorous. Like jogging into a mine-field: the turmoil, the arguments, the tensions, the drugs and Yoko, were the daily dilemmas between the four lads ...Starr even quitted the band for a brief period. Isolated day-in and day-out, working on this long-term project with cutting-edge 1968 technology, felt like they were splitting the atom. Yet thru adversity, the impossible was achieved, eventhough this double-LP sometimes feels more like four mini-albums made by four different individuals, packaged under the same brand.

"Number Nine, Number Nine" = "Turn me on, Dead Man." - played backwards

The White Album goes beyond music. It quickly became Charles Manson's favorite LP and he had a very special interpretation of the album and it's lyrics. This manic obsession eventually led him and his followers to assassinate seven innocent people ...and inadvertently killing the 60s. This ain't no rocknroll mythology, this is a real-life massacre, read the full story here:

The White Album mesmerized audiences. Influencial and trailblazing, the 2LP broke rocknroll's modus-operandi. It is also the last BEATLES recording to receive both mono and stereo mixes. Now RIAA-certified 24x Platinum, it's colossal cult-status with both young and lesser-young generations will continue on universally, forever. THE BEATLES would land back on Earth in 1969, right here down the street ...on Abbey Road.

The White Album: when rocknroll goes from Mania to Revolution.

"But when you talk about destruction, don't you know that you can count me out (in)." - John

RIP John Lennon ~~MBE~~ (1940-1980)
RIP George Harrison MBE (1943-2001)
RIP George Martin CBE (1926-2016)

*
Revolution = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGLGzRXY5Bw
The Beatles = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOYArc7mFiE&list=PLWO-qREiYs0eFu-tD5InEr7nzHAcNjCiY
Recording Hey Jude in Summer 1968
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdrb1vFTtJI
PHISH performs The White Album in 1994 in Glens Falls NY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brPmq2-3U3g&list=PL69F22F7472C9CCFB
THE ANALOGUES performs The White Album in 2018 in Liverpool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NMR6F-NJYI&list=PLXTTD72FwognT14uedXG3i5Nl60bmoFDR
some band performs The White Album in 2018 in Edinburgh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb0bJerl4J4