The Beatles Tarot

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welkin
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Joined: 29 Sep 2017, 10:07

Re: The Beatles Tarot

Post by welkin »

ah yes, i see what you're getting at now. no, i never knew about paul's interest in stockhausen myself until researching for the deck. the thing about psychedelic is it was around in nascent form, influenced obviously by cannabis and LSD use, but also indian music and some jazz like john coltrane. this seemed to affect guitars and lyrics and approach most, as with the yardbirds and 13th floor elevators. then there was pet sounds. this helped push the beatles to introduce weird sounds - things never heard on record before. the tape loop approach was used later, in being for the benefit of mr. kite (where it was undercut by the 19th century carnival atmosphere), the unreleased carnival of light, and revolution 9. so, in other words, it wasn't really used much again - on revolution 9 paul wasn't even there and its lennon's early solo albums that most feature tape loops.
the introduction of orchestration certainly continued on sgt. pepper, but it itself doesn't seem such an aspect of psychedelic music as the introduction of new or unusual instruments - the sitar, the theramin, the melatron for example. This was something the beatles had begun with rubber soul. this is what i was getting at when i suggested that, sure, the beatles influenced pop music, but they were also abreast of the wave which was a natural maturity of popular music at that time. the influential bands around were making the music themselves; they were young people in an era that was becoming socially conscious, global, searching spiritually; and they were working with a new technology - electric instruments, effects, and the recording studio. one of the key aspects of psychedelic is the unnaturalness of the basic sound - highly compressed drums, vocal through a leslie speaker, tape loops faded in and out, things played backwards or their speed altered, and effects such as fuzz. All the aforesaid factors suggest the way music had to move, away from the cliff richard or pat boone example of formulaic 3 minute pop songs written tin-pan alley style and recorded in a conventional manner, and all essentially manicured by the record company.
all this said, tomorrow never knows is an amazing song. do you know john's original idea - to have the background music the chanting of a thousand monks on a mountainside? or the plan to hang him upside-down in the studio and swing him like a pendulum while he sang the lyrics? good thing they came up with the revolving leslie speaker idea instead!

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Serpentwand
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Re: The Beatles Tarot

Post by Serpentwand »

If only the era of the music video had arrived, or maybe if they were making another film - they might just have gone ahead with John's vision :thumbup: . The Elevators album is the one I most like from 1966, the Yardbirds not so much. Also the Seeds who went from Rolling Stones influenced rock to all sorts of weirdness with harps, tubas etc. the next year. And the Stones themselves - love the mellotron on 2000 Light Years From Home :icon_cool: . Last year though while investigating what I could have listened to 50 years ago and not being greatly impressed by the available rock music, I eventually realised of course that older music would have been around and followed up a few listed influences to discover a few surprisingly experimental artists I hadn't known about as they hadn't come from the "rock" tradition :icon_eek: . Stockhausen's electronic works are quite atmospheric like alien soundscapes, Pierre Henry and Iannis Xenakis did some great work with sound processing in the studio, Gyorgi Ligeti with eerie ambient type sounds as used in the 2001 film, Edgard Varese incorporating tapes of industrial noise into orchestral performances and Olivier Messaien to an extent for using Theremin and Ondes Martineau. I actually like Varese's purely orchestral pieces now, having bought his Complete Works, but don't think I'll be venturing far into 20th Century Classical, just a bit in the mix is enough :icon_e_wink: . I'm detecting some of these influences now in a number of my favourite 1970s artists which adds to the interest so I'm pleased I found them in the end. It just goes to show that if you want to find something really novel and creative in music, the past is the place to look.

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katrinka
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Joined: 20 Sep 2017, 23:47

Re: The Beatles Tarot

Post by katrinka »

I'm pleasantly surprised to see mention of the 13th Floor Elevators. Virtually everybody in Austin knows the Ericksons, but even here just 50 miles away, most people aren't familiar with Roky. They love him in Europe, though. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.

The Beatles, I think, were just the right thing at the right time. I read something once where a lady described Beatlemania as a "collective jailbreak". Think about it in context of what came before, and what came after. ;) They were a boy band then, yeah, but not a manufactured one - they were already honed in the clubs in Hamburg. Epstein just revamped their image and handled the business end of things. We don't see that kind of thing anymore.

And then they didn't just cash in and keep doing the same thing, they were always expanding into something else. And the world just kind of followed them. I think that's why Lennon was on Nixon's enemies list. Lennon could say "Plant a tree for peace" and a lot of people would actually go out and buy a little tree, dig a hole in the ground and plant it. He had more power than the president that way. :clap:

But I do agree that Sgt. Pepper is overrated. It's great, but I don't listen to it often anymore. The Elevators still get a lot of play at my house, though. :icon_e_biggrin:

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Serpentwand
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Re: The Beatles Tarot

Post by Serpentwand »

I got the Elevators remastered CD box set - the "Live" album is now actually quite listenable :icon_lol: .

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katrinka
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Re: The Beatles Tarot

Post by katrinka »

I've been meaning to get that. Even less-listenable Elevators is a staple, like bread and coffee.

But Roky is great no matter who is backing him. In some ways, he's a "musicians' musician", he attracts the best. One of my all time favorite albums is Halloween.

The last time I saw Roky was at the Austin Music Awards in 2011 (Gods, I need to get out more!) He fronted the Meat Puppets for "Starry Eyes" and "You're Gonna Miss Me". It's all on youtube, distorted little phone videos, but the vibe is there.

Roky kind of shuffled out, and Billy Gibbons hung his guitar on him, and you could see the man come alive. It happens again and again, but it's the damnedest thing. I love it every time it happens. If you watch the videos you can hear a woman going "ROOOOKKKKKKKYYYYYYYYYY!" That's me. And Roky standing there all childlike, just digging it, before he played. Then he got all primal and the demons came out. :icon_mrgreen:

Bubble Puppy had just played, and the crowd wasn't that into Roky (idiots!) so Shandon Sahm (yes, Doug's kid) (Meat Puppets drummer) spoke up: "You know who that was, right?" naming Roky and his dad Doug Sahm <3 as the best of Austin, ever. And he was utterly correct. May the Sahm family rule, forever and always. <3 They do in my world.

If it hadn't been for all that, I wouldn't even remember that night. But that made it memorable. To the grave.

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Serpentwand
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Re: The Beatles Tarot

Post by Serpentwand »

It's great to hear that some of these historic figures in music have been getting some recognition and appreciation later in life. Returning to the Beatles there was a question about Ringo Starr solo albums on a quiz programme a few days ago and looking on Wikipedia I am amazed to find he's released 19 studio albums :icon_e_surprised: .

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welkin
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Re: The Beatles Tarot

Post by welkin »

i'd just like to iterate 2Dogs' wonderful observation:
"It just goes to show that if you want to find something really novel and creative in music, the past is the place to look."
And i'd just add that this is true for all the arts - and not just art, but history always has something to tell us about politics and human nature.

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welkin
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Re: The Beatles Tarot

Post by welkin »

just to update everyone: The Beatles Tarot and The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot are now available on their respective websites, which are:
beatlestarot.com
&
goldenageofhollywoodtarot.com

with the decks and book now printed and available, i have reduced the price. The Beatles tarot deck & book is now $60 for the set, as is The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot deck & book.

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