Friday, August 29, 2008

It was 40 years ago today.


Last Night Carol and I had a date with our past. 40 years ago the Beatles album "Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" ruled the charts. It has been deemed by many as being the greatest rock album. Last night an all star band performed the album in its entirety at the Brady in Tulsa. This is significant because the Beatles never performed these songs live! If you are not familiar, this collection included very diverse songs both simple like "When I'm 64" or "All We Need is Love" and complex like "A Day in the Life". a 17 piece band including violins, organ, Cello, Harp, Sachs and Clarinet joined the Rock band and the vocals were by Todd Rundgren, Lou Gramm (of Foreigner), Christopher Cross ("Sailing"), Bo Bice & Danny Lane (of Moody Blues & Wings). These guys rock!

The first set was of their own individual hits and the second set was the Beatles. It was a walk through Rock history. It was a concert worthy of an Arena but there were less than a thousand in attendance. It was a shame that more music lovers were not present, but it instantly moved toward the top of the concerts I have witnessed. Funny thing is, it was not on my concert calendar (see list on this page)! I happened to hear a spot on the radio. Tulsa was one of only 8 cities to get this.

Listening again to the Beatles in this format makes me see the true artistry of their music. It transcended Rock (although I did not know that in 1968) and cannot be classified as a "type".
If you listen to "Shes leaving Home", you find a simple story of a father and mother finding a note from their daughter that she has left home. I connect to that song very differently as a parent than as the kid, but the depth of the telling with the music is masterful especially when witnessed with strings, harp, etc.

A great night.

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