WABX strikes again. The Phantoms of Underground Radio deliver yet another coup d’etat with their broadcasting of nine cuts from the new Beatles album.
I really don’t believe anybody would name an album “Sexy Sadie.” Now there’s several old ladies in Bloomfield Hills who are gonna have to buy this for somebody. And are they going to say the word “s-e-x-y” in a public record shop? No way!
Anyway, happy, smiling, man-of-the-moment Dan Carlisle socked it to us and here it is.
“Back in the U.S.S.R.” should have been preceded with the opening bars of “8 Days a Week.” I don’t know why but it just seems so right “U.S.S.R.” is fun music a la Chuck Berry-Beach Boys type McCartney-Lennon.
“Birthday” is almost the same as “U.S.S.R.” Not only that but it follows immediately after (assuming the tunes on the album are in the same order as on the tape).
Weird instrument sounds like Al Kooper’s organ underwater. At least I imagine Kooper’s organ would sound this way underwater. It’s weird anyway.
More rocking follows with “Helter Skelter.” Electronic rock and roll is what it is. “Lennon’s got a brand new bag.” Rumours fly thick and fast about whether Eric Clapton plays guitar on the new album as well as on their last single.
So I prepared to tape the next cut and in came the Lovin’ Spoonful. I cursed—stopped the tape and started it again in time to hear Jerry Lubin read a commercial. Quote, “and the next cut you’re gonna hear is “Does It Mean You Don’t Love Me Anymore?”—implied fanfare and then 23 seconds of deadly silence and then Mary Hopkins.
“Does It Mean” never appeared but at 9:23 pm we heard “Desmond & Molly” or “Life Goes On.” There’s a dance in Trinidad called the “ska” pronounced “scar” and you can do it to this cut. You can do anything to this cut, it’s unreal but it’s only what I’ve come to expect from a new Beatles album.
I seem to get the impression that the song is about faggots who have “the operation” but I’m not really sure ‘cos I haven’t had time to make out all the words yet (the tape which ABX has is not very good quality).
“Dylanesque” is how Dan describes “Rocky the Raccoon” which is about the nearest thing, imaginable to Dylan—for the first two lines until Paul forgets the accent he borrowed from someone. Actually only the harmonica sounds like Dylan—the accent sounds more like Jethro from the Beverly Hillbillies, another all-American classic.
Paul McCartney sings some more Scouse Scat at the end. Very tuneful, too. Except it was announced as Ringo’s voice singing lead on “Rocky” when it was Paul’s.
“Mother Nature’s Son” is the new “Yesterday.” When I was eleven years old I used to sing (soprano) a hymn with the same tune but I can’t remember the name of the hymn. “M-N Son” is very beautiful!
“Sexy Sadie” roars in and drops tempo immediately after the first word. George and Paul have sung
“oo-Wah-Wah-Wah
oo-Wah-Wah-Wah”
before on an album around the Rubber Soul era, almost exactly the same. I’m glad they remembered it.
“Take It Easy” is “Lady Madonna.” I told this to a friend who said I was right except “Take It Easy” is 1965 whereas “Lady Madonna” is 1956. I vaguely understand what he meant and can neither simplify nor add to what he said.
“Gonna Die:” Psychedelic!
Meanwhile, back at the wah-wah:
“My mother was of the sky
My father was of the earth
But I am of the universe
And you know what it’s worth.”
I don’t even pretend to have the vaguest idea what it’s worth. I hate to have to say it but there’s a cut on “Truth” that sounds very similar to “Gonna Die,” that’s all I can say.
101 strings are opening “Goodnight.” A Simple song saying Goodnight! That’s all it is. Somebody, I think George, says “Goodnight, everybody, everybody everywhere.” They really mean it too.
Dan Carlisle then says that Capitol are uptight and that they can’t play it anymore.
In other words,
“Goodnight everybody,
Everybody everywhere.”