What Goes Online - Jul 2019

My new album is finally out on all digital platforms! 

Fifty Five Stories Down is a 12 song collection sung live in an abandoned Police Station with only a baritone electric guitar for accompaniment. Personal and political, intimate and irreverent, boneheaded and beautifully-crafted, you can buy or stream it wherever you do those kind of things (I like Bandcamp).

And if you're a Spotifier please follow me and add my music to any playlists you have lying about the place.

Podcasts

I recently had the honour of being a guest on the Musicality Podcast talking about (what else?) songwriting as part of 'Beatles Week'. Download it here or stream it below. Be sure to check out some of the other guests too.

My buddy Lee Pat has a cool video that I'd recommend - digging deep into the line cliches of Something - he's found a few more than me!

More on line cliches? Check out the descending root, descending flat 7th, and the ascending 5th (aka James Bond). Oh, and I've updated the Circle of Fifths playlist page too.

Live Chat

The legendary Mark Lewisohn is on tour! I've booked my tickets - how about you?

Long time friend of the site Famous Patrick paid me a visit from Minneapolis via Berlin. As well as viewing the 'holy city' he had to come and check out "where the Beatles played the Odeon in '63". Nice having you Pat!

Join the mailing list to get the free, exclusive, Beatles Songwriting Academy podcast!

70+ Songwriting Tips From The Beatles
The Be-Atletudes
About Beatles Songwriting Academy
Music by Matt Blick

What Goes Online (May 2017) - Everywhere Is Somewhere

Lennon: Penny Lane – the bank was there, and that was where the tram sheds were and people waiting and the inspector stood there, the fire engines were down there. It was just re-living childhood.
Rolling Stone: You really had a place where you grew up.

Lennon: Oh, yeah. Didn't you?
Rolling Stone: Well, Manhattan isn't Liverpool.

Lennon: Well, you could write about your local bus station.
Rolling Stone: In Manhattan?

Lennon: Sure, why not? Everywhere is somewhere.

John Lennon 1968 Rolling Stone interview

Podcasts

I've been enjoy a diverse bunch of Beatles audio recently

First and foremost the Fabcast guys talking to Mark Lewisohn about McCartney's collaboration with Elvis Costello was riveting. The style is a little strident in places, (think Howard Stern), but if you can get past those opinionated patches it's full of interesting stuff.

Beatles Anthology Revisited is like a greatly expanded audio version of the TV show. Apparently the whole thing runs to 28 hours - I'm still working through the Revolver episode. The downloads are hidden about halfway down this page and here's a Pitchfork article about the project.
(Thanks to John Morgan for the recommendation).

My search for outtakes and stems has turned up the now defunct Dave McPhillip's Podcast which you can still download from his podomatic page and reverb-drenched producer Anthony Robustelli has The Beatles Multi-track Meltdown a kind of radio show of board mixes and other oddities. Anthony also features artists like Steely Dan and David Bowie from time to time.

Books

I was fortunate to get my hands on a pre-release copy of Aaron Krerowicz's Beatlestudy Vol. 2 – a massive conCHORDdance – covering every single chord change in every single song in a myriad of ways. It's a mind-bending work of scholarship and it's out now. There's also a sister book on structures that looks just as crazily detailed. Info  - Buy in US  - Buy in UK.


Websites

The White Album Project looks like an interesting place to hang out. And Every Sound There Is - 'Guitar Stuff For Beatles Fans'? I'm in!


Posts

Aaron Krerowicz has a interesting article about harmony and Gary Ewer writes about making downward key changes (like Penny Lane) work


From Matt

I co-wrote a bizarre kid's song called A Little Spillage with the aptly named New Zealand lyricist Stephen Wordsmith which you can hear here and reposted the interview I did with the Creative Gibberish site here.


Parody/Tribute

Dan Amrich and Jude Kelley aka Palette-Swap Ninja have done something fairly extraordinary. Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans is basically the complete story of Star Wars Episode IV sung to the tune of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I don't mean the song, I mean the WHOLE ALBUM – in order. Kind of like watching Wizard Of Oz while listening to Dark Side Of The Moon except it makes complete sense even if you aren't stoned. Dan says “We’ve released song parodies before, but nothing this ambitious. Once we settled on merging A New Hope with Sgt. Pepper’s, we completely committed ourselves to turning these two sacred cows into the ultimate double cheeseburger.”

Watch the whole thing here or download the album here

Join the mailing list to get the free, exclusive, Beatles Songwriting Academy podcast!

70+ Songwriting Tips From The Beatles
The Be-Atletudes
About Beatles Songwriting Academy
Music by Matt Blick

Conan O'Brien Interviews Mark Lewisohn

Mark Lewisohn is always worth reading or listening to, and here he has a great interviewer (and Beatle fan) - Conan O'Brien

If the video above doesn't work here's a direct link

Would you like to receive exclusive bonus Beatles Songwriting Tips? Join the mailing list right here!

70+ Songwriting Tips From The Beatles
The BeAtletudes
About Beatles Songwriting Academy
Let's Build An Airport EP

Mark Lewisohn Spills The Bean At Google

Mark Lewisohn is the daddy of Beatles research and here he is being interview by Joe Pesci at Google.

And though the quality isn't so good these two Q&A sessions reveal some interesting stuff. 'Tune In' is highly recommended.

Links

70+ Songwriting Tips From The Beatles
The BeAtletudes
About Beatles Songwriting Academy
Let's Build An Airport EP

Get Back To The Drawing Board

Boring And Unimportant

Disclaimer: This may interest you if your an uberFABnerd otherwise feel free to give this post a miss. Even I find it boring!

It takes a brave man or a fool to say Mark Lewisohn has got his facts wrong, especially when he's backed up by producer Paul Hicks, but I am that man. And though I hate myself for descending to this level of geekiness I have to include this footnote. While The Beatles Chronicle, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions and Mix Online's interview with the Let It Be … Naked production team all state that the album and the single versions of Get Back use different takes...

THEY DON'T.

How do I know? I used my ears. While there are numerous edits and mixes involved the body of the track is exactly the same. And while the Beatles even at this late stage could be very consistent there are too many little details that no one could reproduce.

Here are three examples from McCartney vocal track and the places they occur.

Laugh 1:03 LIBN - 1:03 PM - 1:23 LIB
Weird vocal noise 1:09 - LIBN 1:09 PM - 1:29 LIB
Two woops 1:59 PM - 2:19 LIB - 1:59 LIBN

I don't know for certain whether the session is 27th or 28th of Jan, but I'll go for the former as The Beatles Bible says so, and it's the only source I've read that agrees with me.

Just be glad I haven't got into the “who is really blowing his nose on Dig A Pony?” controversy...