“Eight Days a Week”
Lennon-McCartney – Beatles for Sale – 1964.12.04
It’s definitely a good song, even if the band isn’t too fond of it. It’s the ‘dark-horse’ of The Beatles’ fourth UK album, with its brighter composition in comparison to the rest of the original compositions’ darker overtones, as well as the possible double-meanings that are present. All of that makes this one a favorite of mine. [8/10]
“A Day in the Life (Anthology Edit)”
Lennon-McCartney – Anthology 2 – 1996.03.18
“Do You Like Worms”
B. Wilson-Parks – The Smile Sessions – 2011.10.31 [iTunes]/2011.11.01 [Worldwide]
Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks’ original mostly-instrumental, when presented in this collection, seems to still be in its unfinished condition. While the individual pieces by themselves sound good, they do not really benefit each other as a comprehensive composition, especially owing to the fact that few of the couplets that Parks wrote for this song were known to have been recorded. It would later be completed as “Roll Plymouth Rock” for Wilson’s SMiLE 2004 album, but even that version has its own share of problems. [4/10]
By Patrick J. Miller | Observer Contributor
Title: Our Sweet Love/
Artist: The Beach Boys/
Writers: Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson & Al Jardine/
Album: Sunflower/
Release: 31 August, 1970
The Beach Boys are a group of five, maybe six young and cute Californians composed of brothers Brian, Carl & Dennis Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, childhood friend Al Jardine, and later on, Bruce Johnson. Together, these six lads would compose many high-hitting compositions that would end up as hit singles [California Girls, Good Vibrations]. They would be best known for their brilliant harmonies and their work leading up to their monumental “Pet Sounds” album.
By Patrick J. Miller | Observer Contributor
Song: A Day in the Life [Anthology Version]/
Artist: The Beatles/
Writer: Lennon-McCartney/
Album: Anthology 2/
Release: 18 March, 1996/
Recorded: 19-20 January & 10 February, 1967/
Label: Apple
Anthology 2 is the second of three compilation albums dedicated to Beatles outtakes. They mainly hosted a large set of studio outtakes, home demos, and even live performances that were either bootlegged in large numbers before, or making their debut here.
`Overall, I felt that the compilations helped tell the story of the band’s rise to the top, and their descent towards their last few days. However, my main problem with this set is its gratuitous need to combine certain outtakes in order to form a “complete” product, especially when this uses otherwise unavailable outtakes.
“A Day in the Life”, an already great song that would really benefit from a progressive look at outtake-wise (one outtake at a time), it is instead represented by a smörgåsbord of Takes, numbered 1, 2, 6 & an orchestra outtake, all compiled to form a “complete” version. However, I can’t really complain too much, because both Take 2 and the orchestra piece is available, consumer-wise, for the first time.
By Patrick J. Miller | Observer Contributor
Song: Do You Like Worms/
Artist: The Beach Boys/
Writers: Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks/
Album: The Smile Sessions/
Release: 31 October, 2011
I promise you that not every Beach Boys review that I’ll do first will originate from the now-”finished” SMiLE project, but this song has been stuck at the back of my head for some time, that I had to give it a closer look.
Do You Like Worms, better known since its reinvention in 2004 as “Roll Plymouth Rock,” is another song that was considered for the SMiLE album. It was meant to be a lyrical journey across the United States of America, from coast to coast by means of Manifest Destiny and westward expansion, but in its original 1966-1967 state, it feels more like a journey half-recorded.
By Jason Greenough | Arts & Entertainment Editor
They’ve done it again. My God, the Seattle Hip-Hop superstar duo known as Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have done it again.
With the February release of sophomore effort This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, Macklemore has broken down more barriers in not just Hip-Hop as a genre of music, but one of social and political awareness, as well. From the opening horns of Light Tunnels, the Seattle native begins to share a chronicle of success following his debut smash-hit album, The Heist. In the four years since that release, there have been many dips and turns in the road for Macklemore, and he says that to you, upfront and unfiltered. Unprecedented fame and notoriety, the ups and downs of that fame, a relapse in sobriety, learning he was going to be a Father, and being cited and approached for political and social advice are all covered and discussed in this new record, and quite artistically I might add.
Song: Mother/
Artist: Pink Floyd/
Writers: Roger Waters/
Album: The Wall/
Release: 30 November, 1979/
The problem with reviewing these kinds of tracks is that, in a narrative, there are going to be multiple parts that aren’t going to make sense in context, which is usually delivered at the beginning of the story. On the Wall, “In the Flesh?” starts the story going and “The Thin Ice and Another Brick in the Wall Parts 1 & 2” continue building onto the narrative. Mother is the first track on the album that I really feel that the overall story really took off.
By Patrick J. Miller | Observer Contributor
In each “Shorthand,” I will cover multiple songs and talk briefly about each of them, all tied to a theme. This month’s theme is “Early Beatles Edition.”
“Love Me Do”
Lennon/McCartney – Non-Album Single [17 (UK)/1 (US)] – 1962.10.05 [UK]/1964.04.27 [US]
“Love Me Do” works as a really simple song that does not need any sort of encryption in order to find a deeper meaning but it would be overshadowed by almost everything else The Beatles would release in the future. [5/10]
By Patrick J. Miller | Observer Contributor
“On the Run” could be one of the more uninteresting pieces of the Pink Floyd album “The Dark Side of the Moon.” Written by Roger Waters and David Gilmour, it is a composition that was created by entering an 8-note sequence into an EMS Synthi AKS synthesizer and speeding it up with a white noise generator creating the “hi-hat” sound effects. Originally recorded in January, 1973, the song feels more like an experimental piece than an actual finished song. While I get the meaning of this song intending to be representative of travel pressures, as well as the fear of death at any point, I just kind of don’t get this song at all. At the very worst, it is just “there.” The overall composition feels a bit underwhelming overall, even considering what its original genesis was one year earlier.
By Sam Ingemie | Observer Reporter
Lady Gaga’s highly anticipated second single “Judas” off her new album Born This Way, was leaked to the internet April 14, just 4 days shy of its original release date. Regardless of the leak, Lady Gaga did not disappoint.
In “Judas,” Gaga treads in familiar territory with a fast-pace, huge beat, and insanely catchy dance tune. It is not, however, some substance-less song that is only good to dance to. “Judas” maintains a deeper meaning throughout the song, another strong point of Gaga’s.