(Apple, 1969)Harrison’s lush “Something” is his most direct and “big”-sounding song yet, and clearly points the way to the following year’s All Things Must Pass album. At this stage in the game, Lennon was a back-to-basics junkie and McCartney was interested in cute (though oft-successful) stylistic exercises; Harrison was focused and had the grandest songwriting aspirations of the three as the Beatles wound down (or perhaps just a whole lotta songs stored up and an artistic chip on his shoulder). To his credit, though, Lennon contributes the other side of this single, and, continuing in his recent rock vein, tosses off a good one: “Come Together” – all sleek, menacing groove and unsettling imagery – is essentially the r’n’r cousin of “I am the Walrus.” Funky electric piano!
Oh, and Ringo’s totally about the toms on both of these songs… praise ye the Lord for that; can rarely go wrong when pitching some fine thumpa-thumpa into the stew. To beat the point to death: That guy’s drumming (and drumsound) was great throughout the band’s career – absolutely the right man for the job – and listening to all these singles back-to-back for weeks has really drilled that into me. Cock an ear drumwards sometime soon and hear what I mean.
3 comments:
Yeah Ringo was The Man. Just like Charlie Watts was The Man. And the beringed one's drums were perhaps nowhere crisper than on "Abbey Road." I've always loved that album for that reason.
But what gives? According to the Apple label -- Apple outside A side, Apple inside B side -- "Come Together" was the A side. All the revisionism about "Something" as "the greatest love song ever written" (from Ol' Blue Eyes himself in a generous mood) doesn't change that fact, or does it?
Hmm, my French copy (pictured) has the opposite label layout, and the matrix numbers also indicate that "Something" is the A-side. I had, however, always been under the impression that it was a double A-side in the US. I also seem to recall -- and unfortunately I don't have access to the book that details this right now -- that it was during this single's chart run that Billboard changed the way it handled A-sides and B-sides, leading to some weirdness with its chart history (they had initially allowed A's and B's to rank separately at the same time, I believe, but then changed the system to consider both as one release, making "Something" / "Come Together" a double-#1). Will have to search for a link to confirm.
well yeah, Billboard's practice is Billboard's practice. But the Apple doesn't lie! They never made a label that was just an apple on both sides...
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