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Author Topic: Contemporary Sounding album ?  (Read 2968 times)

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DaveRam

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Contemporary Sounding album ?
« on: May 26, 2008, 10:19:26 AM »

Which albums of The Beatles to your ears sound the most contemporary with todays music . I think  " Abbey Road " and  " The White Album " always seem to sit very nicely with whats around at any given time .
They seem very timeless to me .
Some of the earlier Beatles albums however seem of their time , but from  " Rubber Soul " onwards i think there albums hold up remarkably well with todays sounds ? (smoking3)(smile)
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alexis

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Re: Contemporary Sounding album ?
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2008, 03:38:00 PM »

Quote from: 971
Which albums of The Beatles to your ears sound the most contemporary with todays music . I think  " Abbey Road " and  " The White Album " always seem to sit very nicely with whats around at any given time .
They seem very timeless to me .
Some of the earlier Beatles albums however seem of their time , but from  " Rubber Soul " onwards i think there albums hold up remarkably well with todays sounds ? (smoking3)(smile)

I've been thinking about this recently too, and came up with the same conclusion at first, then changed my mind a lot - based mainly on the instrumentation. So much music nowadays is NOT guitar oriented, and even if it is,  so much is NOT vocal oriented (especially with harmonies) either! With the exception of country music and oldies stations, the major part of most hit songs on the radio dial is either sample/electronic based, or if it is guitar oriented it is not melodic/harmony oriented with the voices.

It's sort of like, play 15 seconds of any vocal/guitar song to a 12 year old and they'll say "that's so old school, it's like for my parents".

Just my opinion FWIW!
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Alexis

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Re: Contemporary Sounding album ?
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2008, 05:36:57 PM »

Interesting observation, Alexis. No doubt you're right. I have never forgiven disco because it came out and ruined my life, which had been filled with all those guitar-oriented songs which I just loved. I think the move away from guitars started in the 70s and ... wait, wait, and idea is forming here ... perhaps that's one of the reasons why the Beatles as solo artists had such a hard time making the transition. The instrumentation and style had changed away from their core strength.

I mean, there were kids at my school who actually liked disco, who played it and listened to it. Compared to all the wonderful artists out there! You could have CSNY, and they would play some repetitive stupid thing with 3 notes and one phrase and they liked it! (You can see how this has scarred me for life.) But I bet those kids would also have said  "that's so old school, it's like for my parents". (or older sister/brother)

Now, to DaveRam's point, there is a whole other aspect to the Beatles remaining "contemporary", and I think it's the strength of the songs and music. Yeah, it might sound old, or not modern, but it's still good. The young listeners the band continues to acquire to this day proves that. So there is something transcendent about the music, the way people can still enjoy that raucous noise that young hotshot Mozart produced. Yeah, it sounds a little dated now... but it's still good. :)
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Mellotroniac

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Re: Contemporary Sounding album ?
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2008, 06:32:31 PM »

Abbey Road is the most comtemporay to me, I think a major reason for this is the switch to the transistor EMI TG Console instead of the tried and true REDD 51 tube console. Most comtemporay in production at least. In RTB Book it goes in depth about how Abbey Road sounds almost out of place to all the other albums including Let It Be as Phil Spector used the REDD 51 for remixing. 8 track and 16 track tape machines were phasing out the J37 Studer 4 track of Pepper & others fame. I don't know truly know about lyric content as contemporary, but production of course their last album will sound the newest technically.
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Mairi

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Re: Contemporary Sounding album ?
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2008, 12:41:29 AM »

Abbey Road definitely sounds more contemporary to me. It has that "clean" sound that can be found in today's recordings.
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Bobber

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Re: Contemporary Sounding album ?
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2008, 07:05:58 AM »

Quote from: 551
Interesting observation, Alexis. No doubt you're right. I have never forgiven disco because it came out and ruined my life, which had been filled with all those guitar-oriented songs which I just loved. I think the move away from guitars started in the 70s and ... wait, wait, and idea is forming here ... perhaps that's one of the reasons why the Beatles as solo artists had such a hard time making the transition. The instrumentation and style had changed away from their core strength.

I mean, there were kids at my school who actually liked disco, who played it and listened to it. Compared to all the wonderful artists out there! You could have CSNY, and they would play some repetitive stupid thing with 3 notes and one phrase and they liked it! (You can see how this has scarred me for life.) But I bet those kids would also have said  "that's so old school, it's like for my parents". (or older sister/brother)

Now, to DaveRam's point, there is a whole other aspect to the Beatles remaining "contemporary", and I think it's the strength of the songs and music. Yeah, it might sound old, or not modern, but it's still good. The young listeners the band continues to acquire to this day proves that. So there is something transcendent about the music, the way people can still enjoy that raucous noise that young hotshot Mozart produced. Yeah, it sounds a little dated now... but it's still good. :)


Maybe one step further: is it because of the void after the Beatles breakup that disco even become possible?
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BlueMeanie

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Re: Contemporary Sounding album ?
« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2008, 08:45:37 AM »

I don't think any of their albums sound contemporary today. They sound of their time. Which is OK for me.
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Paul Doherty

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Re: Contemporary Sounding album ?
« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2008, 09:15:01 AM »

I think that John's 'Tomorrow never know' in 1966 is what the Chemical brothers are doing in 2008.......maybe which songs are contemporary would be an easier one?
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DaveRam

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Re: Contemporary Sounding album ?
« Reply #8 on: May 27, 2008, 10:39:44 AM »

Quote from: 483
I don't think any of their albums sound contemporary today. They sound of their time. Which is OK for me.

I think the later albums are contemporary sounding BlueMeanie " Abbey Road " in particular sounds modern to my ears .I think you could release that album today and it would blow away the likes of  " Coldplay " mind you that would'nt take much doing .

(jumping)
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harihead

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Re: Contemporary Sounding album ?
« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2008, 02:58:48 PM »

Quote from: 63
Maybe one step further: is it because of the void after the Beatles breakup that disco even become possible?
If this is true, I will never forgive the Beatles, ever. My favorite band has now moved to the doghouse. *weeps*

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sewi

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Re: Contemporary Sounding album ?
« Reply #10 on: May 27, 2008, 03:00:11 PM »

Revolver and Abbey Road.Probably Abbey Road.
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Geoff

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Re: Contemporary Sounding album ?
« Reply #11 on: May 27, 2008, 08:53:06 PM »

I was going to say Revolver, but that would surely just date me.  ;D BlueMeanie's right; The Beatles don't sound particularly contemporary, and the smug and increasingly noisy curmudgeon in the back of my head is quite content with that.
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bruno232

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Re: Contemporary Sounding album ?
« Reply #12 on: May 28, 2008, 12:58:42 AM »

The Beatles will allways sound contemporary, for all contemporary music is based on the group, contemporary music tries to achieve - mostly without succeeding - the sonic exploits of the Beatles. I don't think they sound dated, an album like Revolver doesn't sound like it is was made 40 years ago, ditto white album and Rubber Soul. Maybe Sgt. Pepper sounds the most like a sixties product, but that's because the music on the album captivates the sixties.
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