Tag Archives: Sitar

Rubber Soul #1

8 Jan

Rubber Soul was the eleventh album released by the Beatles in the US. It was released three days after the British LP by Capitol Records in both the mono and stereo formats.Rubber Soul thus began a 59 week chart run on Christmas Day. It topped the Billboard Album chart for six weeks starting on 8 January 1966. The album sold 1.2 million copies within nine days of its release, and to date has sold over six million copies in America.

Rubber Soul really opens the flood gates for experimentalism in rock and roll. It is a folk rock album,[1] and also incorporates pop and soul music styles.[3]  Among other notable experiments, the sitar makes it’s debut on “Norwegian Wood”. The album was described as a major artistic achievement, attaining widespread critical and commercial success, with reviewers taking note of the Beatles’ developing musical vision.[4]

Notice that it doesn’t have the Beatles name on the cover.

Rubber Soul was successful commercially and critically, and is often cited as one of the greatest albums in music history.[5][6][7][8] In 2012, Rubber Soul was ranked #5 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.[9]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney except where noted.

Side one
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. “I’ve Just Seen a Face“ McCartney 2:07
2. “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)“ Lennon 2:05
3. “You Won’t See Me“ McCartney 3:22
4. “Think for Yourself” (Harrison) Harrison 2:19
5. “The Word“ Lennon, McCartney and Harrison 2:43
6. “Michelle“ McCartney 2:42
Side two
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. “It’s Only Love“ Lennon 1:55
2. “Girl“ Lennon 2:33
3. “I’m Looking Through You“ McCartney 2:31
4. “In My Life“ Lennon and McCartney 2:27
5. “Wait“ Lennon and McCartney 2:16
6. “Run for Your Life“ Lennon 2:18

Personnel

According to Mark Lewisohn,[41] Ian MacDonald[42] and The Beatles Anthology.[43]

Released 3 December 1965
Recorded 17 June and 12 October, 11 November 1965 at EMI Studios, London
Genre Folk rock[1]
Length 35:50
Language English, French
Label Parlophone (UK), Capitol (US)
Producer George Martin

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Ravi Shankar 1920- 2012

12 Dec

Labeled “the godfather of world music” by  George Harrison, Ravi Shankar inspired many professional musicians as well as millions of lovers of music to explore the traditions of Indian music.

“He was legend of legends,” Shivkumar Sharma, a noted santoor player who performed with Shankar, told Indian media. “Indian classical was not at all known in the Western world. He was the musician who had that training … the ability to communicate with the Western audience.”

I am one of many that met Ravi Shankar through the Beatles, and Shivkumar Sharma has a point. But I rather think this notion is more accurate for popular music and it’s audience. All types of  music from the east was making inroads into the western sound-scape. Many composers in the west were influenced by Asian and middle eastern music long before George Harrison of the Beatles became entranced with it.

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)  was one western composer of many. Debussy’s principal influences included the music of Russia, the exotic colors of Asian music (which he first heard at the Paris International Exposition in 1889), and the ideas of writers and poets like Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Verlaine, and Charles-Pierre Baudelaire.

An introduction to Indian music by Ravi Shankar.

Shankar on music.

Chants of India. George Harrison produced Shankar’s album Chants of India (1997), in which classical Indian forms (mantras and chants based on Sanskrit prayers) were combined with a choir and Western instrumentation including vibraphone, harps, violins and cellos. Harrison also edited Shankar’s autobiography, Raga Mala (Garland of Ragas, 1999), and once dubbed him “the Godfather of world music”.

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