Complexity or Simplicity

joepee · Post by **joepee** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:10 pm

I'm not sure why, but tonight I kept going back to the PPM album (1963). Anna and Ask Me Why were the two songs I was drawn to listen to over and over. Just listen to the guitars. These guys were definitely at their live playing peak.

Is Arthur Alexander's "Anna (Go To Him)" simple or complex?

Then look at Lennon writing chord progressions in "Ask Me Why". I know many who look at this song as a rookie attempt at song writing, yet the chords are almost jazz, which Lennon claims to hate at the time. Listen to those harmonies weaving in and out of the chord progressions. Harrison learning how to accent certain hops amongst Lennon's rhythm guitar.

I don't thing I could pull off an even close attempt at the emotion in the voices, much less the guitar at the same time.

Fear? The whole album blows Decca out of the water. Confidence? Cockiness. What is it about these two recordings you love or hate?

wolfgang · Post by **wolfgang** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:09 pm

Joe P.,
I love Ask me why. To me, it's the first real lennonish ballad.
The Beatles were influenced by the latin music from Cuba to Brazil, which was so popular in Europe in the late fifties and early sixties.

So we have a nice bunch of early Beatles' pop songs, not being Mersey Beat, nor Rock'n'Roll.

By the way, Harrison and McCartney almost ruined Ask me why with their embarrassing back ground singing. I_I_I_I

Ask me why was played with two J160Es plugged in , with Abbey road's delayed reverb on the vocals.

Using E F#m7 G#m7 for the simple "I love you" or "ask me why" line and the bridge with its A,B,E,Eaug progression.
Superb. What a nice track.

dale_fortune · Post by **dale_fortune** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:48 pm

Simple Songs are the hardest ones to write because they are from the heart and soul and are so complex in their simplicity.

gregga41 · Post by **gregga41** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 12:39 am

If you listen to the Hamburg tapes,just about every song they perform on that recording is pretty "rugged". However, the standout track is definitely "Ask me why".It is stunningly close to what they actually released on PPM.
Very few bands ,then or now,could reproduce what they did on album onto stage as accurately as these guys!
I've always loved this track, as well as "Anna",but my favorite ballad would have to be "This boy".

revolver323 · Post by **revolver323** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 2:36 am

Nothing beats the energy of having the band play the song at the same time in studio. Although there were overdubs on PPM, you can tell this was a band fresh from the clubs. There's a tightness that comes from playing live that can't be easily recreated if you play only in the studio. No matter how good today's studio recordings may be,I much prefer the sound of a band live. Peter Gabriel is a good illustration -- a master of the studio, but his live shows are much more vibrant.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 5:45 am

I put Ask Me Why near the top of the all time top ten Beatle tunes. I have always loved that song and that album and don't think their harmonies ever ruined anything. Their harmonies for me were very fresh and new when they broke and was part of what made them completely different form everything else that was out at that time.
The early beatle Albums have an energy that the later ones don't have as they played them live probably many times and were done very quickly in the studio (my guess).
Over here their first album was called Introducing the Beatles on VJ records although Meet The Beatles came out first. I still have those LP's.

lennon211 · Post by **lennon211** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 6:40 am

I would agree with the above sentiment. Much of the early Beatles material has an urgency to it that a band that's fresh in the studio is characterized by. There is something about the early stuff, particularly on the first two albums that just shows the energy that they brought into these songs after performing them in various club and theater dates over and over, compared to the calculatedness of the later material. I think that the arrangements that they had on both the aforementioned songs are impeccable and really showcase the idea that things don't have to be complicated or developed over many months in the studio to be great.

wolfgang · Post by **wolfgang** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 6:42 am

Bob,
maybe there was something lost in translation.
What I wanted to say was, the t_I_I_I_I_me, wh_y_y_y_y, singing from Paul and George was too "funny". John took the song serious, as he ever did, even when he was singing schmaltz.
The Beatles' harmony singing was state of the art.
From This Boy to Because.
Unlike the barbershop harmonies or Bachs counterlines, they tried not to sing three or more ("horizontal") melody lines together, they tried a more "vertical" singing, that means: one harmony (one chord) after the other (but of course with one melody line in it).
To me, they went even beyond: to me there is no real melody line in "And your bird can sing".
This song can not be sung from only one singer.
You need a small choir.
At least they came close to that.

revolver323 · Post by **revolver323** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 8:32 am

Please Please Me was recorded in about 9 hours on Feb. 11, 1963 -- my 14th birthday! Little did I know how much my life would change -- along with everyone else's -- within a year.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 9:23 am

Wolfgang, if I heard it for the first time today I may find the Why yi yi yi a little schmalzy, I don't know but I love it. The I love you you you you you you etc. are great for me. I'm too close to a lot (all?) of these songs to criticize them without bias.
Feb 11 was one month exactly before my 10th birthday, they exploded into my world like many others here, Ed Sullivan, etc.

wolfgang · Post by **wolfgang** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 9:55 am

Bob, I'm a bit younger, my 10th birthday was May 15
1964. My first record, bought in April 64, was I want to hold your hand.
And then there was Can`t buy me love /You can't do that. I could'nt have had a better start...

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 11:37 am

Well I would dare say that we are close enough in age then you young whippersnapper.