Showing posts with label the rewind button. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the rewind button. Show all posts

June 04, 2012

the rewind button :: catch up sessions

i am pretty far behind in my reviews for the rewind project so i thought i would but three out in one post and only providing my tips for each album!

in short all three of these albums are well worth a listen.  blonde on blonde has always be highly regarded but its never been my personal favorite in dylan's line up.  highway 61 revisited wins my love for dylan!  the white album needs no introduction or review for that matter.  in my opinion that album is to my music collection what salt is at a dinner table: mandatory.  elvis's sun sessions are well, just amazing!

my tips for you with each album:

bob dylan :: blonde on blonde
*wonder why bob couldn't put as much artistic direction in to his album covers as he does in his lyrics

the beatles :: white album
*listen to this album on a weekend in the sun
**my favs: blackbird & ob-la-di ob-la-da
**jay's fav: helter skelter

elvis presley :: sun sessions
*dance around to this album on a summer night with wine

for other great blogger takes on these albums you can go:
next up:

May 01, 2012

the rewind button :: exile on main street


lets just call it like it is- late. again.  i am starting to like my tardiness on this project though because i find myself  reading all other bloggers reviews as i listen to the album a second time in a few short days.

this was the album i thought would be a breeze.  everyone likes the stones right?  wrong!  after reading a few other bloggers reviews many have admitted their dislike or neutral take to the rolling stones.  and so the glory of different opinions towards albums finally shows itself {well for me at least}.  i have had a pretty similar disposition so far during this project as the other bloggers.  but now, now i strongly stand as one of the few  of us who love love love this album!

 am i more of a die hard stones fan then i originally thought?

if someone had told me they didn't like the rolling stones, i would immediately grab this album as evidence of why they should love them!  this is an album that has a rock type of romantic soul!  a rock album that is gritty and raw and all sorts of rock-wonderful. it is smooth and sexy and oh, all sorts of rock-wonderful!  

to me, this is a summer album.  one i would rather listen to on a warm summer night then an afternoon outside.  one that makes me want to dance around barefoot in my kitchen cooking.  it's an album i have listened to so many times on warmer days i can almost feel warmth on my shoulders. apparently i am more of a die hard stones fan then i originally thought.

proof of why this project is awesome:  at first i felt insulted there were so many "meh"'s with this album and then quickly realized this is exactly what is so great about this blogging project!  music is subjective and it's nice to read such honest opinions- no matter how hard it may hurt my rolling stones fanatic love.

my tip for you: 
*listen to this album on a balmy evening with the windows open


for other great blogger takes on this album you can go:


next up:
{!!!}

April 23, 2012

the rewind button :: what's going on




i was so excited for this album.  so excited!! while i am familiar with a few of the songs from the album i have not {this is hard to admit openly} listened to the album in it's entirety.  

*blush*

don't you just want to love everything about marvin gaye?  his voice, his political standing, his groove and soul. i know i do, at least i know i did.  what i am about to say is as hard to say as i'm sure it is for some to hear.  i barley made it through this album.  wait a sec though, i wanted to!  so badly did i want, which was the only reinforcement i had to finish.  

marvin gaye can do no wrong in my eyes, despite my lack of connection to this album.  i think i was ready for something else, something more spectacular, not just the really amazing song that comes here and there.  i was ready for a full set of "whoa rachel, why has it taken you this long to listen to this album?"  instead i got "whoa rachel did you really just skip a song titled save the children?"  and i did!  twice....oh shame.

i feel like i have a lot of you out there just shaking your head at me, at that i'm sorry, i am so so sorry! i tried, really i did.

my tip for you: 
*love this album for it's message, it is so much more impactful
*keep to the tops: what's going on, mercy mercy and inner city blues

for other great blogger takes on this album you can go:

next up:

April 12, 2012

the rewind button :: rubber soul



oh rubber soul, oh how i love thee. 

this album is all over the place- but in the best of ways!  i have always thought how funny it was that this album is wedged between revolver and sgt. pepper's in the beatles anthology.  if you took every song of this album and listened to it one by one you'll see there is a bit of early folk, early pop, a little blues and again, that freak'n sitar!  it works though.  

i find myself wondering if i think it works because i know the beatles music as a larger scope of work rather then remembering each album and their specific release date.  not sure, but would love the hear your thoughts if you remember the release of rubber soul!  was it satisfying? 

though this album isn't my favorite beatles album, it does have some of my favorite songs.  i wont bring you back to my last gushing post, but there may or may not be another fond wedding song taken from this album.  okay fine, i'll tell you!  it was in my life, so great naturally and in instrumental! 

hmmm, what else to say about this album?  its the beatles.  what else can i say that i haven't already?

my tip for you: 
*connect with the unconventionally popular songs on this album

for other great blogger takes on this album you can go:

next up:



April 10, 2012

the rewind button :: highway 61 revisited



i'll admit it, i'm a dylan lover.  i'm a folk lover.  a blues and blue grass lover.  i hear a harmonica and instantly my foot starts tapping and all i want to do is dance around in circles.


it's no wonder that this is one of his most acclaimed albums.  aside from his political reputation in the early 60's, i have always loved the raw music dylan creates.  every song is it exactly how i would imagine it to be if he were playing live.  there is something so poetic about his music i have always been attracted to.  personally, i could listen to this album at anytime of day, anywhere, doing anything.  this has been my chosen album on a number of road trips, a number of patio lounging afternoons and a number of weekend cleaning hours.  in fact, this was what i listened to on this day.

of course like a rolling stone gets the majority of credit from this album but my favorite song without a doubt is queen jane approximately- which i have recently read is considered the worst song apparently.  ah, to each there own right?  aside from the beat of queen jane approximately, this song always made me think if dylan writing about himself, but as a woman.  it could be a stretch, but have a listen, you might find a lot of similarities you didn't find before! 

my tip for you: 
*sing along with a puckered face while tapping your feet to the beat
*ask yourself, would you have pegged bob dylan to wear the jacket he is wearing on the cover?  i think not.

for other great blogger takes on this album you can go:

next up:

March 31, 2012

the rewind button :: revolver


eek, late again!  sadly, even late with an album i am so familiar with already....sheesh...
in the spirit of this project i had to listen to the album again.  who knows, i may have heard something new that i hadn't discovered or perhaps something i had forgotten.  both of which, wasn't really the case. 

i'm starting this post with a wee bit of my introduction to the beatles music.  i very obviously wasn't able to follow along or get excited about any newly released beatles' albums. i mean, i was born after john lennon died, the wings had already come and gone and the traveling wilbury's were probably in talks about how to make popular 80's music stop sucking.  my dad was more of a stones/doors/the who fan and my mom, while a fan of the beatles usually gravitated to music of the current times.  mine and my sister's first real introduction to the beatles was when the anthologies were released on disc and when a.b.c. aired a weeks worth of concerts, movies and interviews back in the mid 90's.  i remembered that week so vividly though.  i stayed up late with my mom and sister watching movies like a hard day's night and help!  i saw the 1964 ed sullivan show appearance, screaming teens, and conspiracies about paul's death that coincided with the conspiracies around sgt peppers lonely hearts club band.  basically, the gamut of their lives, career and influence in music in a week.  that was the week i became so hypersensitive to all things beatles.  i had to own all of their movies.  i wanted to wear bell bottoms every day.  i would stare at the whole green apple and half green applefrom the anthology set in awe.  i remember the stack of beatles sheet music my aunt cindy had in her piano room and being so excited when my older cousins taught me how to play eleanor rigby that i memorized every word so i could sing along.

all of that to say, i was familiar with the beatles' music song by song rather then album by album.  i had a basic understanding of their work but it wasn't until i got older and began collecting albums that i started to realize which song fell to which album and the importance of that album in the career and evolution of the their music. 

so, here falls revolver.  revolver and the white album were the first beatles albums i bought that didn't link themselves directly with a movie.  gasp!  i know but this is how i started collecting their music.  we started with hard days night, then help!, then yellow submarine.  once i knew where revolver fell in the line-up of albums i remember feeling dumbfounded more then anything.  how did all of these songs that i love for totally different reasons like taxman, eleanor rigby, and your bird can sing, and the original release of yellow submarine all wind up on the same album?   and seriously, yellow submarine was released before yellow submarine? 

to quote another rewind button blogger, zachary stevenson perfectly: 
"Some people simplify the Beatles stylistically in two eras – pre-drug and post-drug.  If this is true, let’s say that Revolver is the gateway."

that is exactly how i felt about the beatles as i started to get more involved in knowing their music.  sgt. pepper's is from a very obvious time.  rubber soul you get a glimpse into where they are going but for the most part, it still relates to the pop/folk albums before it {outside of norwegian wood of course}. to me, revolver was that album that was the grey area right before the total departure.  i adore every song on this album and contribute taxman to me taking a liking to george the most {yes, i'm a george harrison fan above all the rest}.  I do still find myself wondering if they were unsure of how this album would have been received and then correct myself to thinking probably not.  in all seriousness,  could the beatles do any wrong in the 60's or ever for that matter?  i like to think not.


my tip for you:
 
*just sing along, you know all of these songs already
*colour the album cover something funky

for other great blogger takes on this album you can go:

next up:

March 22, 2012

the rewind button :: pet sounds


you can't get more innocent then the beach boys.  okay well, you could, but still.  there is something incredibly uplifting, sweet, and void of complicated feelings about the beach boys in whole, specifically with this album that i sort of love.  

i find i have more personal connections with a song from pet sounds, rather then the album in its entirety.  handsome and i walked down the aisle to the instrumental of god only knows and danced our first dance to the song as well.  it was also the song he sang to me post birthday festivities when we first started dating.  i know, enough already, but i can't help but gush about the memories that song specifically holds for me.

also, we may or may not have used another song from this album in our wedding video.  cough, sneeze, wouldn't it be nice was the song.

for some reason, i usually see this album as a montage to the 1960's advertising world.  simple words with sunny lovey moments packed behind them makes me think of playful beach ads, young scout ads, smiling cigarette and ironing ads.

in short, this album makes me think this is the way the 60s sweethearts would like to be remembered, and the hopeless romantic in me sort of loves that no matter how unrealistic it may be.

a girl can dream right?

my tip for you: 
*clap along to the beat
*listen on a sunny patio with someone you love

for other great blogger takes on this album you can go:

next up:

March 19, 2012

the rewind button :: sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band

image via here

i recently started this awesome group blogging activity which i have sort of dubbed the digital book club for music lovers. 

our first album, sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band, is an album i think isn't just a common name in the beatles anthology, but a common name amongst most household playlists. so you can imagine my shock when i realized i didn't have it! i'm sure i do on cd somewhere {at least i hope that's the case} 

admittedly, this is not my favourite beatles album. with that said, it is their only album to make me dance around on my toes one song, and feel completely annoyed by the over mixing of studio sounds the next. seeing as it followed one of my favourite beatles albums, revolver, i do sort of love how it took the spirit of that album and just blew it out of park. i do find it impressive that the sounds from this album can transend into a lot of today's music and then usually find myself feeling resentment to a few lyrics. but one thing i can for sure decided on, is i have always adored this album's theatrical presence. 


my tip for you: 
*listen to this album on the go as it will instantly push rhythm into everything you do  
*dance to one or two songs on your toes and take a break when you hear the sitar 
{or skip to the next song to continue your dance party}

for other great blogger takes on this album you can go:

next up:

March 15, 2012

the rewind button


not too long ago i was approached by my friend reb to see if i wanted to participate in a group blogging activity inspired by her personal friend, rachel's, new years resolution plan.  the idea is, in one word: awesome!!  i think i even responded with a lot of these:
!!!!!
what is it you may ask?  it happens to be a bunch of bloggers going through the rolling stone's top 40 albums of all time week by week and writing our personal experience, thoughts, opinions, you name it!  the great part of it all is we will be listening to the same album each week and as many of us live in different areas and have never met, our takes on each album should offer up a lot of different thoughts.

currently i am already behind deadline, but will post soon!  we are kicking it off with an album i have listened to hundreds of times and definitely don't mind switching on again.  so expect my take on sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band very soon!  i will also be sure to tag each post with "the rewind button" so you can follow along! if you want to participate, let me know!  in the meantime check out a few of the bloggers participating and some who have even posted already, eek!  they are: