twenty-three

I’m currently sitting on the floor of my living room, plugged into my CD player, listening to the opening tracks of "The Beatles" (aka the White Album). It’s a very good experience, let me tell you.

I’ve had a slight fascination with the Beatles for quite some time, but I’ve never really spent much time engaging their music. I just know they influence so much of what I listen to (British rock, American indie rock) that at some point, I have to give them some attention. So here it is. Yesterday I picked up two albums, "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" and the "White Album".

So far, I think I’ve listened through "Sgt. Pepper’s" 3 times in the last 24 hours. Twice with the iPod and the Bose headphones and once through my parent’s old Koss K-6 stereo headphones with the CD in my old Panasonic disc man. Now, we’re on to disc 1 of the "White Album", back to the Bose headphones, still sticking with the CD, because I haven’t ripped it onto the computer. And, as Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da comes on, I’m very happy with this moment.

There’s so much influence and history bottled up in these songs. The way our musical culture has been shaped by artists of this period is so hard to ignore. While I listen to old albums like this, I like to sit and read up on their history on good ‘ol Wikipedia. Where’d they record this? What techniques were special to this recording? It’s interesting that the "Sgt. Pepper’s" album is seen as one of the last "united" efforts by the four members of the band, before the real strife began, which is much more characteristic of the "White Album" recordings.

Some of my curiosity with the Beatles at this point is coming from my recent viewing of "Across the Universe", a great new musical that came out last year. Stacy and I watched this a couple weeks ago and loved it and since then I’ve been on this fascinated kick with the Beatles. Up to this point, I’ve really only had interactions with their music in the same way many of us have - over the cheap elevator speakers (so sad), on the radio, in the background. I haven’t really spent much concentrated time just listening to their work. One exception, and a very memorable one for me, was when I bought the "1’s" album at the Times Square Virgin Records store in New York City, senior year of high school. We were there for a choir performance over Martin Luther King weekend. Riding around in that tour bus, staring out the window, seeing the city for the first time, with this same CD player I sit here with tonight, listening to the spanning #1 hits of the Beatles, driving past John Lennon’s house, it sticks with me.

I’m excited for more memories to be formed with this music. Anyone else there have a Beatles album that sticks out to them? An experience they remember about hearing their music? I know some parents, in-laws, maybe even grandparents who read this blog might remember their impact a little more vividly. I’d love to hear your stories.

** Update: I went back to the Koss headphones for disc 2 of the "White Album" just for kicks.

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