In the battle of Britpop, it was often said that Oasis were The Beatles, mainly because they ripped off so many of their songs. The truth is, The Beatles never really had 'a sound' in the way that The Rolling Stones did. What marks The Beatles out is their restless creativity, which surely peaked with 'Yellow Submarine'.
I'm kidding of course . To quote the late, great Bill Hick's, 'they were so high they even let Ringo sing'. It's hard to know if with their later albums, The Beatles reached a creative plateau, and never fulfilled their potential of becoming the band they could have been. Although according to Alan Partridge, that was the band 'Wings'.
It's impossible for this record not to be swept away by 'Song 2', a mosh-pit anthem for the blipvert generation. So when this comes on, I'm reminded of dancing to it in sweaty clubs in Leeds. And I don't mean just as a punter, but also as a DJ. And I don't really mean dancing, I mean jumping up and down, with my fists clenched and my arms outstretched, feeling every little bit stress leave my body as I make myself one with the heaving mass of dancers, all screaming in unison, WOO HOO!
Catharsis. It feels good.
Usually when Bill Hicks or Alan Partrdige is quoted it's the best thing in the piece of writing, but I think your description of Blue being Blur is about the most succinct and accurate thing I've seen in a...for want of a better word album review (sorry).
ReplyDeleteAnd the Beatles never did have the sound nor swagger of the Stones, but ultimately its a comparison as silly as Radiohead versus Muse.
Fletch - thanks, that's very kind. The nice thing about this blog is that sometimes I very vividly remember something associated with the record, and sometimes it makes me think critically about the record. Music is great for accessing forgotten memories.
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