Robert Bunter: Right from the beginning, with the crowd noise and scattered accordion notes, you can tell the Beatles are saying to you, "Hey, this time, we're going to try something really different." What a surprise when the next thing you hear is the worst guitar tone of all time, with that irritating trebly acid-rock vibrato in a feeble attempt to mimic the then-saleable "San Francisco sound" of groups like Jefferson Airplane and Col. Tucker's Medicinal Brew & Compound. Luckily this song redeems itself. Listen to those trombones! LOL!Richard Furnstein: This song is a real trombonerfest. I guess this kicks off the concept-album-that-never-was (it loses momentum after track three). Absolute pathetic effort, guys. Still, this did confuse the hell out of me when I was a kid. The band was playing dress up on the cover, they were welcoming the Rolling Stones (three years too late), and making up daft characters that only existed in their acid-addled minds. I'm a kid, help me out here!
Robert Bunter: McCartney turns in his usual bravura performance on lead vocals, and proves the wisdom of the old "less is more" adage with his simple yet appropriate basswork. Not bad at all, but they're really just setting us up for the one-two punch of "With A Little Help From My Friends" and "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," unquestionably the two finestsongs ever waxed by human men.
Richard Furnstein: Sick demented guitar lead at 1:54. It really pops on the mono version. Leave it in there said a blissed out Magic Alex!
apparently it's the album that started bands recording without bassdrum heads and Ringo coined his spaced out drum fills. I love those because they make me think i can play drums sometimes. i'm a little upset that you didn't mention how Hendrix covered this the same night it came out or whatever.
ReplyDeleteOh, funny. I hear SIR PAUL McCARTNEY tell me that story in person last year in a hockey arena. So, face. In your face.
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