James Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I'm sure most thought some of Stephen Foster's songs (written in the 1800s) were silly, and wouldn't last past a generation. But we're still singing "Way Down Upon The Swawnee River....." 150 years later. The same could be said for Woody Guthrie. But good is good, and great is great. I say they'll be listening to "Sail On Sailor", "God Only Knows", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "Heroes & Villains", "Sloop John B" and "In My Room" in the year 2060. And I (James) will still look marelous.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seattlesteve Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Wow, there's even a discussion whether Brian Wilson knows his way around a melody? He's on my pop Mt. Rushmore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvin Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 Lew Bundles said: Who else covers "God Only Knows?"...Its not a standard...Good songs arent great... While certainly not in the huge numbers of "Something" or "Yesterday", there are a few hundred cover versions of "God Only Knows." "GOK" is also a much tougher song to tackle than the other two songs. For what it's worth, Mojo Magazine ranked the song as the "13th greatest song of all time." Pitchfork Media named it "the best song of the 1960s", and it is ranked 25th on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 greatest songs of all time." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMMY TUNES Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I would rank the first four albums by Queen very high myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMMY TUNES Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 God Only Knows is a perfect TUNE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvin Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 TOMMY TUNES said: I would rank the first four albums by Queen very high myself. Yes those are amazing as well, as are Springsteen's and the Byrds and ____________, but for the purposes of this discussion, I chose what I thought were the biggest UK (Stones, Beatles, Who, Kinks) and US (Eagles & Beach Boys) bands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim From Wisconsin Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 As much as I love the Raspberries first 4 albums, I would also throw in the following groups: Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Heart, KISS, Ozzy Osbourne, and Van Halen. The first 4 albums by all of these artists were excellent and influenced countless bands in their particular genre. I'm sure there are lots of others.Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim From Wisconsin Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Sorry to go off on a tangent there Marvin, but I think the floodgates are open on this thread. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvin Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 Tim From Wisconsin said: Sorry to go off on a tangent there Marvin, but I think the floodgates are open on this thread. Tim We needed to set some boundaries / parameters but, yeah I know what you mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMMY TUNES Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I'd be interested in hearing the first four albums by The Ad Hoc Band before finalizing this thread. While we await their eagerly awaited debut album here's a teaser: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnO Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Marv - If your point is simply stating that, had every band on the planet split up or dissolved after 4 albums, Raspberries would have been perhaps the very best band ever...then I think you're preaching to the choir here at ec.com!On countless other music boards over the past decade, though, I've seen similar statements made for a band's/artist's debut album (Moby Grape, Guns'n'Roses, Boston), first 2 albums (The Stooges, Dwight Twilley, 13th Floor Elevators), first 3 albums (Buffalo Springfield, The Clash, The Ramones), first 4 albums (Artful Dodger, Raspberries, The Byrds, The Saints), and so on and so on.....In your first post here, you're doing an apples vs. oranges thing, though, comparing a band like Raspberries against a bunch of acts who, for the most part, peaked later in their recording careers. (The Who & Eagles both, IMO, peaked early...the rest a little bit later). A closer comparison might be The Dave Clark Five, who recorded their first 6 albums in less than 3 years, had a bunch of great hit singles (and they were better known for their singles than for their albums), and were gone in about 4 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvin Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 John I did mention that most of the bands that I listed went on to greater heights, but just for the sake of argument, I wanted to get peoples' opinions of the first four albums of those bands compared to the 'berries first (and only) four. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMMY TUNES Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------I think "Tonight" is better than "Ecstacy." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvin Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 TOMMY TUNES said: I think "Tonight" is better than "Ecstacy." Hmm...where have I heard this before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelina Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 marvin said: Hmm...where have I heard this before? Heneiken Light! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMMY TUNES Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 angelina, Have you heard this before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollies65 Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 See what happens when I leave the board?Bottomline, cover versions have nothing to do with musical genius or a song's greatness.Beach Boy songs are just a tougher nut to crack for most singers.I could go on about Brian's chord progression...they are FAR outside the realm of pop music at the time of their release. Once again 'Warmth Of The Sun for instance...musicians on the board will back me up that the chord progression that starts the song, A C major to a A minor supporting the phrase "What good is the dawn" followed by a E flat major and a C minor underlying the words, "That grows into" could be an extenstion of the first phrase...but in another key, the exact tone center is not obvious. The linkage to the pairs, the A minor to the E flat major, is an extrodinary move that wouldn't be out of place in jazz harmony, or a Four Freshmen arrangement, but is virtually unheard of in popular music. This is 1963 folks. The sequence of descending fifths in the bassline leading from the refrain to the beginning of the next verse [A-D-G-C] resembles the bassline of a doo wop progessionin the key of C, although in a pure doo wop progression the A and D chords would be minor, not major. What Brian has done, in other words is unfold a kind of long range doo wop varient over the entire verse and refrain, starting with the unusual interplay of C major and C minor at the beginning, and eventually continuing to the A,D,G and C chords in the refrain and the beginning of the next verse. The progression back to and arrival at C provides the comfort and stability that at first, in the song seemed so elusive. Genius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvin Posted February 24, 2009 Author Share Posted February 24, 2009 hollies65 said: See what happens when I leave the board? Huh? When did you leave the board? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollies65 Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 To go to work...you guys let Lew run down Brian.Leaving the board has been a hot topic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnO Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 "John I did mention that most of the bands that I listed went on to greater heights, but just for the sake of argument, I wanted to get peoples' opinions of the first four albums of those bands compared to the 'berries first (and only) four."Understood, but it's still apples versus oranges, considering most of the acts you decided to choose for comparison (Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks, Beach Boys) were all young kids in their very first bands, as far as recording anything....unlike being in, let's say, Cyrus Eire or The Choir prior to recording their first 4 albums. Raspberries were much further along the learning curve, and their albums were consequently more advanced at the time than the earliest LPs of the other bands (Eagles, who had Leadon & Meisner, excluded).....Now, comparing them to The Byrds, who used the best LA studio aces for their debut LP, and had Dylan's blessing to use his songs, isn't exactly fair, either......IMO, each of these acts stands on their own, and I'm still wondering what the point of any comparisons is....(other than the board gets boring as Hell when it's been over a year since the band's played anywhere, and we're reduced to playing games with idiotic lists published in various mags, or arguing about The Beatles versus The Beach Boys, etc.........) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvin Posted February 24, 2009 Author Share Posted February 24, 2009 JohnO said: IMO, each of these acts stands on their own, and I'm still wondering what the point of any comparisons is....(other than the board gets boring as Hell when it's been over a year since the band's played anywhere, and we're reduced to playing games with idiotic lists published in various mags, or arguing about The Beatles versus The Beach Boys, etc.........) Bingo! I'd rather talk about music anyday, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMMY TUNES Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 JohnO said: ( IMO, each of these acts stands on their own, and I'm still wondering what the point of any comparisons is....(other than the board gets boring as Hell when it's been over a year since the band's played anywhere, and we're reduced to playing games with idiotic lists published in various mags, or arguing about The Beatles versus The Beach Boys, etc.........) ...or Playing TOMMY TUNES' New Sesame Street Game ...or talking politics...or fighting with fellow board members ...or calling Dianed or writing her to complain about TOMMY'S constant posting of After The Prelude video by The Ad Hoc Band because the complainer has nothing better to do than to cause trouble and aggravate Dianed like she's getting paid to do this job. Yes we'd all (myself included) prefer to be talking about an upcoming concert or new CD by Eric or Raspberries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvin Posted February 24, 2009 Author Share Posted February 24, 2009 TOMMY TUNES said: You'd think you'd know the song by now after posting it so many times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMMY TUNES Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 oOPS!! I meant Prelude's version of the Neil Young penned TUNE "After the Goldrush" by The Ad Hoc Band. There's a video of it on youtube. Anyone care to see the video? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Mc Carthy Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Its a tough thing to do trying to sustain a high level of performance throughout the first four albums But The Raspberries acheived it A TOTAL TEAM EFFORT Just like a great run in a team sport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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