December 2, 2011 Playlist

MAXIMALISM
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"The Beatles" (White Album) by The Beatles (1968)
 
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
The Beatles  "The Beatles" (aka "The White Album")  1968 (UK)
The theme of this month's special is MAXIMALISM.  What is that?  Why, it's "the opposite of minimalism" of course!  Although there is a book on the subject as it relates to music, I have never read it, but like the idea of what that word represents.  The musicians that fascinate me the most are the ones who seem to jump between and join together so many different styles without regard to "the rules", that their music becomes almost unclassifiable.  As is the case with so much of late 20th century music, a legendary quartet from Liverpool plays a central role in the story.  By 1968 the Beatles were an unquestioned cultural force who could do no wrong, yet the group was already beginning to disintegrate due to internal pressures.  The album they released that year was a baffling collection of disparate songs -- folk, country, rock, blues, ballads, ska, metal, swing, strings, schmaltz, in-jokes, and even a notorious avant-garde tape collage.  The notion that a "pop group" would even be allowed to release such an unfocused double album was outlandish enough, but even crazier still it became the Beatles' best-selling album of all time!  Indeed, this record was so against the grain of what "pop albums are supposed to be" that to this very day critics will often refer to any new "challenging" or "sprawling" or "unclassifiable" record as being that  artist's "white album".
The Beatles stopped performing live in 1966, so they pioneered the use of "music videos" (or "promotional films" as they were then known) as a way of letting their fans "see" what they were up to -- in fact the group's biggest hit song was recorded during the sessions for the "white album", although "Hey Jude" was released as a non-album single.  Here's some more promotional material for the Beatles' other major undertaking of 1968, the launch of their own Apple records company;  also, a 10 minute interview with John and Paul.  Other genre-defying maximalists featured on our show this week include the angelic but deeply weird crooner Scott Walker, iconoclastic fuser of rock-jazz-n-classical Frank Zappa, and the immortal Sun Ra who explains his maximalist approach to music making.
(N) = New Release
      
Artist Song Album Year Country
Emerson Lake & Palmer
Take A Pebble
Emerson Lake & Palmer 1970 UK
Magma
Ork Alarm
Köhntarkösz 1974
France
 
 
The Beatles
Helter Skelter
The Beatles (White Album)
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
1968UK
The Beatles
Piggies / Rocky Raccoon
The Beatles (White Album)
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
1968UK
The Beatles
Revolution 9
The Beatles (White Album)
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
1968UK
   
 
Buffalo Springfield (Neil Young)
Broken Arrow
Buffalo Springfield Again1967USA/Canada
Neil Young (with the London Symphony Orchestra)
A Man Needs A Maid
Harvest1972Canada
Neil Young
Don't Cry
Eldorado EP1988Canada
Neil Young & The International Harvesters
Get Back To The Country (live)A Treasure (N)rec. 1984-85 (2011 Reprise)Canada/USA
Joni Mitchell
The Jungle Line
The Hissing Of Summer Lawns1975Canada
   
 
The Walker Brothers (Scott Walker)
The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore
A-side 7" single
1966
USA/UK
Scott Walker
Next (Jacques Brel)
Scott 2
1968
USA/UK
The Walker Brothers (Scott Walker)
The Electrician
Nite Flights
1978
USA/UK
Scott Walker
Track Three
Climate Of Hunter
1984
USA/UK
Scott Walker
Jesse
The Drift
2006
USA/UK
 
 
Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra
Interplanetary Music
Interstellar Low Ways
rec. 1960, rel. 1966
USA
Sun Ra
Crystal Spears
Crystal Spears
rec. 1972, rel. 2000
USA
Yochanan (with Sun Ra & His Arkestra)
The Sun Man Speaks
A-side 7" single (Rocket Ship Rock Sun Ra CD compilation)
1957
USA
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Freaks For The Festival
The Case Of The Three-Sided Dream In Audio Color
1975
USA
Alice Coltrane
My Favorite Things
World Galaxy
1972
USA
 
  
Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention
Inca Roads
One Size Fits All
1975
USA
Frank Zappa
Little Umbrellas
Hot Rats
1969
USA
Frank Zappa (Ensemble Modern)
Dog Breath Variations / Uncle Meat The Yellow Shark
1993
USA
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
(produced by Frank Zappa)
Hobo Chang Ba
Trout Mask Replica
1969
USA
 
 
Miles Davis
Full Nelson
Workin' With The Miles Davis Quintet
1957
USA
Miles Davis
Saeta
Sketches Of Spain
1960
USA
Miles Davis
Honky Tonk
Get Up With It
1974
USA
               
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