Here is a list of Music Blogs ordered by Newest, posted by members. A Blog is a journal you may enter about your life, thoughts, interesting experiences, or lessons you've learned. Post an opinion, impart words of wisdom, or talk about something interesting in your day. Update your blog on a regular basis, or just whenever you have something to say. Creating a blog is a good way to share something of yourself with others. Reading blogs is a good way to learn more about others. Click here to post a blog.
REVOLVER...
Music of The Beatles changed my life. Sure other artists influenced me too, but it's said The Beatles were inspired from many of the American musical artists.
Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bob Dylan to name a few.
Oddly, I never really followed the music of the musicians who influenced The Beatles. What a concept!
Early Beatles trivia I learned was from the album covers and 'teen' magazines that were filled with stupid things unrelated to their music. Like, Ringo's birthday or John's favorite color and had little or nothing to do with the music.
Usually on the weekends, I immerse myself in YouTube videos. Sometimes they are instructional, or science related... but there is always room for music and a few documentaries about musicians.
It seems the more I research things about The Beatles, the more I realize what little I really knew along the way.
55+ years later I found out that Abby Road Studios was really EMI studios. I knew that the recording equipment in America was far superior to what was in use in England at the time and I'm not sure why they didn't import those tape recording machines.
EMI studio was setup to have full musical scores used in movie soundtracks. One large room where a symphony of 40 musicians, lots of microphones and a control panel would record as though the listener were present in a live performance. Sound was recorded to 4-track machines. That means while recording, 4 discreet channels could be filled. Let's say drums, bass and rhythm guitar could be on the first track, piano and lead guitar on the second track, main vocal on the third track and backing vocals on the fourth track. That's it. If something wasn't right, either a mistake or a wrong recording level, the entire track had to be done again... including all the instruments or voices on that track. That would take days to perfect one song.
What happened then is, after each take was right, the recording engineer would 'mix down' the good parts to another 4-track machine so they have room for more parts. Maybe sound effects or orchestra arrangements added to the original recording. Often I would read about the original tapes used to create other versions of a song that would be decided later which version would make it to a record. Remastered is a word to describe when they make a new version (mix) using the original tapes.
I know all of this 'technology' existed, I didn't know exactly how it was applied to each song of every album. It originally came as a surprise, but it's been documented and there are lots of recording engineers who have all that information.
Many recording studios in the United States used 8-track recording machines giving a track for each voice or instrument. An example, if the piano track had a mistake, they only had to rerecord that one part and not an entire section where drums, guitar and piano shared a single track.
Paul McCartney made famous a bass guitar manufactured by the German company Höfner. It had a unique hollow body violin appearance, 30" long scale and he was seen in all live performances with that bass guitar. He also used a British VOX amplifier by Jennings Musical Instruments.
The song 'Come Together' was recorded in 1969 and to my ear, the bass guitar didn't sound like a Höfner. I later learned McCartney had switched to an American made Rickenbacker with a solid body, 34" long scale and an American made Fender bass amplifier. Much of his later recordings and performances with Wings had his Rickenbacker bass with Mesa-Boogie amplification.
The Beatles music changed with a few short years. It evolved from the live band sound to a more complex studio band, probably due to many factors... that included their experiments with psychedelic drugs, study of Eastern philosophy and the use of recording machines that could vary speed/pitch, double track for added voices, playback in reverse.
That brings me to the 1966 album REVOLVER...
Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bob Dylan to name a few.
Oddly, I never really followed the music of the musicians who influenced The Beatles. What a concept!
Early Beatles trivia I learned was from the album covers and 'teen' magazines that were filled with stupid things unrelated to their music. Like, Ringo's birthday or John's favorite color and had little or nothing to do with the music.
Usually on the weekends, I immerse myself in YouTube videos. Sometimes they are instructional, or science related... but there is always room for music and a few documentaries about musicians.
It seems the more I research things about The Beatles, the more I realize what little I really knew along the way.
55+ years later I found out that Abby Road Studios was really EMI studios. I knew that the recording equipment in America was far superior to what was in use in England at the time and I'm not sure why they didn't import those tape recording machines.
EMI studio was setup to have full musical scores used in movie soundtracks. One large room where a symphony of 40 musicians, lots of microphones and a control panel would record as though the listener were present in a live performance. Sound was recorded to 4-track machines. That means while recording, 4 discreet channels could be filled. Let's say drums, bass and rhythm guitar could be on the first track, piano and lead guitar on the second track, main vocal on the third track and backing vocals on the fourth track. That's it. If something wasn't right, either a mistake or a wrong recording level, the entire track had to be done again... including all the instruments or voices on that track. That would take days to perfect one song.
What happened then is, after each take was right, the recording engineer would 'mix down' the good parts to another 4-track machine so they have room for more parts. Maybe sound effects or orchestra arrangements added to the original recording. Often I would read about the original tapes used to create other versions of a song that would be decided later which version would make it to a record. Remastered is a word to describe when they make a new version (mix) using the original tapes.
I know all of this 'technology' existed, I didn't know exactly how it was applied to each song of every album. It originally came as a surprise, but it's been documented and there are lots of recording engineers who have all that information.
Many recording studios in the United States used 8-track recording machines giving a track for each voice or instrument. An example, if the piano track had a mistake, they only had to rerecord that one part and not an entire section where drums, guitar and piano shared a single track.
Paul McCartney made famous a bass guitar manufactured by the German company Höfner. It had a unique hollow body violin appearance, 30" long scale and he was seen in all live performances with that bass guitar. He also used a British VOX amplifier by Jennings Musical Instruments.
The song 'Come Together' was recorded in 1969 and to my ear, the bass guitar didn't sound like a Höfner. I later learned McCartney had switched to an American made Rickenbacker with a solid body, 34" long scale and an American made Fender bass amplifier. Much of his later recordings and performances with Wings had his Rickenbacker bass with Mesa-Boogie amplification.
The Beatles music changed with a few short years. It evolved from the live band sound to a more complex studio band, probably due to many factors... that included their experiments with psychedelic drugs, study of Eastern philosophy and the use of recording machines that could vary speed/pitch, double track for added voices, playback in reverse.
That brings me to the 1966 album REVOLVER...
We're putting the band back together...
Whenever I speak to a former band mate, my opening line is from the move The Blues Brothers as we are always joking about about putting the band back together.
It's getting harder to make that statement when so many of my musician friends are gone.
Phil... disappeared.
Chuck... hasn't been seen in years.
Harold... murdered.
Bill... died of a heart attack.
Larry... died of lung cancer.
Frank... died of pancreatic cancer.
Bob... died in his sleep.
Billy... drug overdose.
Danny... heart attack.
Paul... retired, not interested.
Jay... undergoing cancer treatments, would attend a jam if possible.
Carlos... full-time job, does studio work and weekend gigs.
Interestingly, I called a cousin who recently moved to South Florida to update him on my brothers kidney transplant and we got to talking about his retirement and that he and his younger brother still play music. I got the invite as they need a bass player because they are getting a band together!
Occasional parties and social events. They don't play Rock & Roll and chances are, I'll need to buy a tuxedo!
It's getting harder to make that statement when so many of my musician friends are gone.
Phil... disappeared.
Chuck... hasn't been seen in years.
Harold... murdered.
Bill... died of a heart attack.
Larry... died of lung cancer.
Frank... died of pancreatic cancer.
Bob... died in his sleep.
Billy... drug overdose.
Danny... heart attack.
Paul... retired, not interested.
Jay... undergoing cancer treatments, would attend a jam if possible.
Carlos... full-time job, does studio work and weekend gigs.
Interestingly, I called a cousin who recently moved to South Florida to update him on my brothers kidney transplant and we got to talking about his retirement and that he and his younger brother still play music. I got the invite as they need a bass player because they are getting a band together!
Occasional parties and social events. They don't play Rock & Roll and chances are, I'll need to buy a tuxedo!
Zebra Crossing...
The Beatles released their 11th album in 1968 (correction) 1969 (September in England and October in America) with the iconic cover of them walking across Abbey Road. I'm doing some YouTube videos and a little history about The Beatles and saw a reference to the famous crosswalk. Well.. it's called a crosswalk in America and 'Zebra Crossing' in England. My response to that was "Zebra crossing?... get the fuk outta here."
There are NO ZEBRAS to be seen anywhere... however if you consider it coming from the land of strange names and short cuts, zebra crossing makes sense... to them.
Yeah, I get it. The white stripes are the zebra part.
One big question is the stripes on a zebra. Are they white with black stripes or black with white stripes?
The underside is white, so I'm saying white with black stripes. Yes, that's my final answer.
Back to The Beatles and Abbey Road. You see, the studio/studios where they recorded at is named Abbey Road Studios. Pretty catchy name that didn't take much thought.
I read that a zebra crossing really exists outside the location of the studio. It's a historical landmark, but now I learned the actual album photo came from somewhere else. Please, I'd like to leave my childhood memories intact.
Google maps has the exact location. Amazing.
@51.5320966,-0.1777321,116m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x48761aa33eb87a9b:0xe406bb492eaf555b!8m2!3d51.5321771!4d-0.1778452!16zL20vMDExazNt?entry=ttu
Abbey House, 1A Abbey Rd., London NW8 9BX, United Kingdom
GRJF+R3 London, United Kingdom
Producer Rick Beato was fortunate to get a tour of the Abbey Road Studios and went over some of the microphones and equipment The Beatles and many other famous groups used to create their albums.
There are NO ZEBRAS to be seen anywhere... however if you consider it coming from the land of strange names and short cuts, zebra crossing makes sense... to them.
Yeah, I get it. The white stripes are the zebra part.
One big question is the stripes on a zebra. Are they white with black stripes or black with white stripes?
The underside is white, so I'm saying white with black stripes. Yes, that's my final answer.
Back to The Beatles and Abbey Road. You see, the studio/studios where they recorded at is named Abbey Road Studios. Pretty catchy name that didn't take much thought.
I read that a zebra crossing really exists outside the location of the studio. It's a historical landmark, but now I learned the actual album photo came from somewhere else. Please, I'd like to leave my childhood memories intact.
Google maps has the exact location. Amazing.
@51.5320966,-0.1777321,116m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x48761aa33eb87a9b:0xe406bb492eaf555b!8m2!3d51.5321771!4d-0.1778452!16zL20vMDExazNt?entry=ttu
Abbey House, 1A Abbey Rd., London NW8 9BX, United Kingdom
GRJF+R3 London, United Kingdom
Producer Rick Beato was fortunate to get a tour of the Abbey Road Studios and went over some of the microphones and equipment The Beatles and many other famous groups used to create their albums.
Travelin' Man...
I'm not sure why the Ricky Nelson song Travelin' Man popped into my head. For me, Sunday morning usually means 4 hours at the model aircraft field but we had rain, so I responded to a few customer emails, made some sketches for a client and did some errands.
The rain eased up in the afternoon and radar showed no immediate storms, so I took a quick trip to the flying field.
Since I was the only one there, I was able to get 9 flights that totaled more than an hour flight time... typically, when 8 to 10 guys show up on a Sunday, I only get 1 flight per hour.
Maybe I should rethink and fly in the afternoons. No lines, no waiting.
Back to the song... I can't get it out of my head right now, so I did a little research.
Throughout musical history, there were songwriters and artists who performed their songs. Why? Lots of reasons. some songwriters were older, perhaps their looks weren't marketable, so they would have a young handsome semi-talented performer who would become famous and both the songwriter and performer would get rich!
Travelin' Man was the perfect example. Written by singer-songwriter and record producer Jerry fuller who wrote the song with soul singer Sam Cooke in mind. As fate would have it, Cooke's manager wasn't impressed with the song and the demo passed into the hands of Ricky Nelson who recorded the song. Released in April 1961, it was on the 45 with Hello Mary Lou. Both songs were considered to be on the "A" side as many had an A and a B, this was a double A. Nelson was a success with Travelin' Man reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Short song with simple lyrics, it was about a world traveler who had a girlfriend in every port he visited. 2:24 in length. Probably like his women, he got in and got out!
Song credit: Jerry Fuller
I'm a travelin' man, I've made a lot of stops
All over the world
And in every part I own the heart
Of at least one lovely girl
I've a pretty señorita waiting for me
Down in old Mexico
If you're ever in Alaska stop and see
My cute little Eskimo
Oh, my sweet fräulein down in Berlin town
Makes my heart start to yearn
And my China doll down in old Hong Kong
Waits for my return
Pretty Polynesian baby over the sea
I remember the night
When we walked in the sands of the Waikiki
And I held you oh so tight
Oh, my sweet fräulein down in Berlin town
Makes my heart start to yearn
And my China doll down in old Hong Kong
Waits for my return
Pretty Polynesian baby over the sea
I remember the night
When we walked in the sands of the Waikiki
And I held you oh so tight
Oh, I'm a travelin' man
Yes, I'm a travelin' man
Yes, I'm a travelin' man
Oh, I'm a travelin' man
For the guitar geeks... the backup band wasn't actually playing the song and the guy with the Fender Telecaster smiled, but he didn't know the solo.
The rain eased up in the afternoon and radar showed no immediate storms, so I took a quick trip to the flying field.
Since I was the only one there, I was able to get 9 flights that totaled more than an hour flight time... typically, when 8 to 10 guys show up on a Sunday, I only get 1 flight per hour.
Maybe I should rethink and fly in the afternoons. No lines, no waiting.
Back to the song... I can't get it out of my head right now, so I did a little research.
Throughout musical history, there were songwriters and artists who performed their songs. Why? Lots of reasons. some songwriters were older, perhaps their looks weren't marketable, so they would have a young handsome semi-talented performer who would become famous and both the songwriter and performer would get rich!
Travelin' Man was the perfect example. Written by singer-songwriter and record producer Jerry fuller who wrote the song with soul singer Sam Cooke in mind. As fate would have it, Cooke's manager wasn't impressed with the song and the demo passed into the hands of Ricky Nelson who recorded the song. Released in April 1961, it was on the 45 with Hello Mary Lou. Both songs were considered to be on the "A" side as many had an A and a B, this was a double A. Nelson was a success with Travelin' Man reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Short song with simple lyrics, it was about a world traveler who had a girlfriend in every port he visited. 2:24 in length. Probably like his women, he got in and got out!
Song credit: Jerry Fuller
I'm a travelin' man, I've made a lot of stops
All over the world
And in every part I own the heart
Of at least one lovely girl
I've a pretty señorita waiting for me
Down in old Mexico
If you're ever in Alaska stop and see
My cute little Eskimo
Oh, my sweet fräulein down in Berlin town
Makes my heart start to yearn
And my China doll down in old Hong Kong
Waits for my return
Pretty Polynesian baby over the sea
I remember the night
When we walked in the sands of the Waikiki
And I held you oh so tight
Oh, my sweet fräulein down in Berlin town
Makes my heart start to yearn
And my China doll down in old Hong Kong
Waits for my return
Pretty Polynesian baby over the sea
I remember the night
When we walked in the sands of the Waikiki
And I held you oh so tight
Oh, I'm a travelin' man
Yes, I'm a travelin' man
Yes, I'm a travelin' man
Oh, I'm a travelin' man
For the guitar geeks... the backup band wasn't actually playing the song and the guy with the Fender Telecaster smiled, but he didn't know the solo.
my heart.. is........
afraid of saying anything.
Mera dil bhi kitna paagal hai
ye pyaar to tum se karta hai
par saamne jab tum aate ho
kuchh bhi kehne se darta hai
mere saajan, mere saajan
saajan saajan, mere saajan
Kitna is ko samjhaata hoon,
kitna is ko behlaata hoon,
naadaan hai kuchh na samajhta hai
din raat ye aahein bharta hai.
Har pal mujh ko tadpaata hai
mujhe saari raat jagaata hai
is baat ki tum ko khabar nahi
ye sirf tum hi pe marta hai
Mera dil bhi kitna paagal hai
ye pyaar to tum se karta hai
par saamne jab tum aate ho
kuchh bhi kehne se darta hai
mere saajan, mere saajan
saajan saajan, mere saajan
Movie: Saajan,
Singers: Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik.
Mera dil bhi kitna paagal hai
ye pyaar to tum se karta hai
par saamne jab tum aate ho
kuchh bhi kehne se darta hai
mere saajan, mere saajan
saajan saajan, mere saajan
Kitna is ko samjhaata hoon,
kitna is ko behlaata hoon,
naadaan hai kuchh na samajhta hai
din raat ye aahein bharta hai.
Har pal mujh ko tadpaata hai
mujhe saari raat jagaata hai
is baat ki tum ko khabar nahi
ye sirf tum hi pe marta hai
Mera dil bhi kitna paagal hai
ye pyaar to tum se karta hai
par saamne jab tum aate ho
kuchh bhi kehne se darta hai
mere saajan, mere saajan
saajan saajan, mere saajan
Movie: Saajan,
Singers: Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik.
Moyun and the Guzheng...
The Guzheng is a multi-stringed instrument from China that dates back more than a thousand years. Moyun is a young woman who plays pop songs on the Guzheng and posts videos on Youtube and the Chinese equivalent site Bilibili.
Guzhengs come in several sizes, vary in the number of strings and depending on the sound desired can be metal or nylon strings. Plucked with finger picks similar to a Western Zither, the Guzheng has a series of bridges dividing the strings with high notes on a short side and low notes on a long side. This allows for more resonance in the sound and gives the player a full range of high and low notes. Typical of the style, pressing one string on the long side gives a vibrato or pitch bend sound typical of Chinese music.
Here is a short introduction of Moyun and her Guzheng:
Guzhengs come in several sizes, vary in the number of strings and depending on the sound desired can be metal or nylon strings. Plucked with finger picks similar to a Western Zither, the Guzheng has a series of bridges dividing the strings with high notes on a short side and low notes on a long side. This allows for more resonance in the sound and gives the player a full range of high and low notes. Typical of the style, pressing one string on the long side gives a vibrato or pitch bend sound typical of Chinese music.
Here is a short introduction of Moyun and her Guzheng:
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