The Beatles at Candlestick

Today marks the 45th anniversary of the Beatles' final concert performance -- Candlestick Park, San Francisco, August 29th, 1966. The band did of course famously perform on the roof of Apple Studios in London in 1969, but that wasn't so much an authentic concert as a short, staged jam session -- sort of a final public performance for the band (and goodbye to the fans) as the group was in the process of disintegrating.

The Candlestick show was the final engagement on a 14-stop tour that criss-crossed the US and Canada. The short set list includes a nice mix of early Beatles tracks ("Rock and Roll Music", "I Wanna Be Your Man") along with cuts from the 1966 album Rubber Soul ("Nowhere Man", "If I Needed Someone".)

There's a great article with more details about the concert here and if you'd like to download all the tracks, just click this link. A word of warning though -- although this is one of the Beatles most popular bootlegs, the audio quality is pretty terrible; it's almost painful to listen to. If you'd like a better quality concert, try this one from 1964, recorded at Convention Hall in Philadelphia.

Five Live Albums You Really Should Own

Many people (myself included) aren't big fans of live albums. They are too often purely money grabs by music labels and/or artists themselves as they attempt to cash in on their popularity by quickly assembling and marketing a new release without having to write or record new songs. But even more often, live albums disappoint because, let's face it, the majority of artists today don't sound anywhere nearly as good without the polish that comes from a studio. Despite this, true fans always seem willing to bite the bullet and shell out for live albums from their favorite acts. 

Still, every once in a while there's a live album of such quality or significance that it's definitely worth the money. If you're a fan of pop, rock, soul, or R&B, here are five "lives" you really should give a listen to:

Paul McCartney - Tripping the Live Fantastic

The Beatles last concert (apart from their famous 1969 one-time performance atop the Apple studios roof) was in 1966. The band, however, continued making music until their breakup in 1970. This means many of the Beatles best and most popular recordings were never performed live by them. As solo acts, John, George and Ringo rarely performed Beatles tunes in concert and when they did, they most often stuck to those they had composed themselves (e.g., George’s "Here Comes the Sun" and Ringo’s "Octopus’s Garden".) 

Tripping the Live captures tracks from Paul’s 1989-90 world tour, which marked the first time hits from classic Beatles albums like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road were ever performed in concert. (Incidentally, the famous recordings of what purportedly are Linda McCartney’s horrible backing vocals during "Hey Jude" supposedly came from the concerts chronicled on this album.)

Highlights: "The Long and Winding Road", "Things We Said Today", "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End"

The Supremes - The Supremes at the Copa 

Recorded in 1965, back in the days when the top acts still headlined in nightclubs or on the Vegas strip. The Supremes were one of the very first black artists invited to perform at the famous Copacabana in New York City. These performances helped elevate them to the top of Motown roster and paved the way for the label’s other artists (like Marvin Gaye and The Temptations) to also play the club.

Highlights: "Stop! In the Name of Love", the group’s vocal segue into "Baby Love"

Bruce Springsteen - Live 1975-85

Box sets used to be reserved for artists who had been in the business for 25 years or more, or whose early recordings were somehow never commercially available before. This release (issued in November of 1986) changed all that and now it seems anybody that’s had more than three albums issues a box set. Live 1975-85 captures ten years of Springsteen during the height of his popularity and does its best to recreate the experience of his legendary 3-4 hour concerts.

Highlights: "Rosalita", "Born to Run", "Jersey Girl"

The Fixx – React

As mentioned earlier, many bands don’t sound anywhere nearly as good live as they do in the studio. Synth pop/new wave group The Fixx bucked this trend and lead singer Cy Curnin’s haunting voice is just as rich and penetrating on this album as it is on any of their studio tracks.

Highlights: "Saved By Zero", "Secret Separation"

The Jacksons – Jacksons Live

For as much attention as Michael Jackson has received for his solo efforts and his early work with The Jackson 5, the years he spent in between as part of The Jacksons are often overlooked. The Jacksons were essentially a disco-infused continuation of the Jackson 5 (with brother Randy taking the place of Jermaine) except the group now took far more creative control of their music. From 1976 to 1980, The Jacksons released four albums that spawned hits like "Shake Your Body Down", "Enjoy Yourself", "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Lovely One". Jacksons Live chronicles the group's Triumph tour (named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the best tours of the era) and includes hits from the J5 as well as Michael’s solo debut, Off the Wall.

Highlights: "Can You Feel It", "Off the Wall", the brothers’ extended banter before the "I Want You Back/ABC/The Love You Save" medley.

Beatles Rock Band is Best at E3

Hello PopCultureFiend readers! Oh wait, I almost forgot, NO ONE READS THIS BLOG. 

But on the off chance that there is someone out there who may be wondering why I was only able to get one blog post up last week, it's because, well... I ran out of gas. I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake... A terrible flood!... Locusts!... IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!!!! 

 No seriously, I was preoccupied with E3 and other miscellaneous crap. And speaking of E3, with all due respect to Microsoft's motion sensing controls, the PSP redesign, and the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMOG, the news and game that created the most excitement at E3 was when Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr made a brief appearance to plug The Beatles: Rock Band. 

By all accounts, the game offers much more than simply adding Beatles music to the Rock Band franchise (although that in and of itself would more than satisfy many.) Gamers will get brand new Rock Band graphics and menus, incredibly detailed 3D avatars of the Fab 4 that change their look and dress based on the era (mop top, psychedelic, Abbey Road, etc.), and even new instruments, including replicas of John Lennon's Rickenbacker guitar and Paul's Hofner bass. Beatles: Rock Band will also be the first game of its type to allow more than one singer at a time, thereby giving players the chance to imitate the band's signature rich, intricate harmonies. 

 Judging from the opening cinematic and gameplay trailer (below), the game's look is absolutely stunning. Plus, Beatles Rock Band was created with cooperation and input from Paul, Ringo, and John Lennon's and George Harrison's widows, which should give an indication of what to expect from the game in terms of quality since the four have been notoriously protective about how the Beatles' music, likenesses and brand are used. 

Songs from the Beatles' catalog that will be part of the game include "I Saw Her Standing There", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Day Tripper", "Octopus’s Garden", and "Here Comes The Sun" (with the rest of the Abbey Road album to follow shortly after the game's release), plus 40 more tunes. Personally, I'm crossing my fingers for "Helter Skelter", "Nowhere Man", "And I Love Her", "You Won't See Me", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and "Yer Blues".

In anticipation of the game's September 9th release, I've create this official Beatles: Rock Band countdown clock. 

Related Posts:

The Beatles at Candlestick

Happy Anniversary Leaping Winged Horse

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Where the Boys Are '84, which was a remake of a popular 1960 beach comedy featuring Dolores Hart, Paula Prentiss, George Hamilton, Frank Gorshin (best known as The Riddler from TV’s Batman series) and Connie Francis, who also sang the hugely successful title track. 

Where the Boys Are '84 had an equally eclectic cast that featured actress turned country singer Lisa Hartman, figure skater turned actress Lynn Holly Johnson, Lorna Luft (daughter of Judy Garland), Wendy Schaal (now the voice of Francine on American Dad), and Christopher MacDonald (Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmour.) The film wasn’t nearly as successful as its predecessor but will forever have a place in cinema history as the very first theatrical release from Tri-Star Pictures. 

Tri-Star was a joint film production and distribution company formed in 1982 by HBO, CBS, and Columbia Pictures. The company went on to produce and/or distribute a number of successful (Rambo: First Blood, Part II, Glory, Sleepless in Seattle, My Best Friend’s Wedding) and not so successful (Meatballs 2, Night of the Creeps, Nothing in Common, Jawbreaker) features before it was eventually folded into Columbia (and later into Columbia's parent company Sony Pictures.) And though Tri-Star’s still around today, it’s a much smaller player than it used to be. 

 

Related Links:

Where the Boys Are '84 at IMDb

The Music of The Flintstones

Before Family Guy, before South Park, before The Simpsons, the first prime time animated series was The Flintstones, which ran from 1960 to 1966 on ABC. I watched the reruns every day after school for years. Then suddenly, about ten years ago, I couldn't find the show anywhere on the dial. Come to find that the series' broadcasting rights in the U.S. had been acquired by Boomerang.

The Flintstones was groundbreaking in many ways. Among other things, it was the first cartoon series to include a laugh track and story arcs (e.g., Wilma's pregnancy.) The show was also revolutionary for its regular inclusion of guest star voices (Tony Curtis, Hoagy Carmichael, Elizabeth Montgomery, and James Darren, among others) and for its acknowledgement of and spoofs of pop culture icons and personalities. These included people like Alfred Hitchcock ("Alvin Brickrock") and Ed Sullivan ("Ed Sullystone") as well as TV and movie characters like James Bond ("James Bondrock") and Perry Mason ("Perry Masonary".) 

The Flintstones also made a point to recognize and sometimes parody various pop culture phenomena taking place during the 60s, such as the British Invasion ("The Way Outs" and "Bug Music"), the beatnik movement, the country's space program, surfing craze, and even "The Twist" ("Twitch".)

One of the most unforgettable things about The Flintstones is its music, which incorporated everything from vaudeville tunes, to commercial jingles, to modern pop music. Around the time the first Flintstones movie was released in 1994 (and by the way, how badly did they miss the mark on that one -- thirty-two different writers and that's the best they could do?) I wandered into a long since defunct music store called The Wall and picked up The Flintstones: Modern Stone Age Melodies, which featured many of the most memorable songs from the show's six year run. The best of these include "Rockin' Bird" (from the episode where Fred becomes singing idol "Hi-Fye") and "Open Up Your Heart and Let the Sunshine In" (which was later covered by Frente'.) 

As a bonus, the album also includes lots of dialog from the show, extra tracks consisting of instrumentals used for the show's transition and chase scenes, and background music.

I only wish Modern Stage Age Melodies included the two songs Ann-Margret performed when she appeared on the show in 1963 (the same year her breakthrough movie Bye Bye Birdie was released) -- "I Ain't Gonna Be Your Fool No More" and "The Littlest Lamb". 

Margret was on Phil Donahue's show many years ago and she fondly recalled her appearance on The Flintstones. A woman in the studio audience then remarked on what a beautiful song "The Littlest Lamb" was and asked Margret to sing it, but she politely declined.)

Top 10 "Rain" Songs

We’ve been deluged with rain here for the last three days and I’m getting a little sick of shining my damn shoes. (And don’t even get me started on how my living room carpet and car floor mats look.) 

Anyway, the foul weather got me thinking about rain-related songs, so, with apologies to James Taylor's "Fire and Rain", Blind Melon's "No Rain", The Dramatics' "In the Rain", Gene Kelly's "Singin' In The Rain", Madonna's "Rain", The Doors' "Riders on the Storm", Milli Vanilli's "Blame it on the Rain" and of course the gay anthem “It’s Raining Men” by The Weather Girls, here are the Top 10 "Rain" Songs:

10. "Have You Ever Seen The Rain"
This mournful Credence Clearwater Revival entry reached #8 on the Billboard charts in 1971.

9. “I Wish It Would Rain”
One of the lesser known Temptations hits features the stirring vocals of David Ruffin as he laments a lost love.




8. “Run Between the Raindrops”
Shamefully overlooked, the lyrics of this haunting, little-known gem from Pat Benatar’s Seven the Hard Way album urge us to carry on even through the hard times.

7. “Rhythm of the Rain”
San Diego’s Cascades gave us this masterpiece of easy listening.

6. “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”
B.J. Thomas cut multiple versions of this adult contemporary classic that was featured in 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.



5.“The Rain, The Park, and Other Things”
This psychedelic blend of dreamy harmonies, trippy arrangements, and a unique strong structure came to us courtesy of The Cowsills, a singing family from Rhode Island that served as the basis for TV’s The Partridge Family.

4. “Rainy Days and Mondays”
The sweet, sweet voice of Karen Carpenter sings about two things that depress us all.

3. “Here Comes the Rain Again”
This 80’s synth-pop classic from the Eurythmics blends Dave Stewart’s “plinky” keyboards and an eerie Annie Lennox vocal.

2. “Purple Rain”
The power ballad’s crushing, orchestral sound is superbly complemented by Prince’s scorching guitar licks.

1. “November Rain”
And speaking of an orchestral sound, Guns N’ Roses’ surging, soaring (nearly nine minute) opus mixes gentle strings and lush piano with explosive drums and virtuoso solos from guitarist Slash.