Saturday, March 21, 2009

B.ay A.rea R.apid T.ransportation

I feel obligated to finish this thing before I can actually post about anything else, so let's do this.
Up until now: Album 5, Album 4, and Album 3. If, for whatever reason, you have no idea what's going on, "Album 5" has the low-down. Down-low. Either/or. Moving along.


#2: Rubber Soul

What is there to say about The Beatles that hasn't been said a thousand times over already? The greatest band to ever bless Mother Earth with music. That's not opinion; it's fact. Look it up. Even a person of my limited musical knowledge knows at least 5-10 Beatles songs. The first Beatles album I ever owned was 1, which was fine, but just went right along with my tendency to listen to an artist/band's singles. Shortly after my Coldplay revelation, I decided that I should use my newly found motivation to develop an actual opinion of The Beatles' work. Not just of how good they were/are, or even of what songs I liked, but of what albums stood out to me the most. After all, anybody who's anybody can tell you what their favorite Beatles album is (kidding). Luckily, I had the resources at hand to take on what would have otherwise been too daunting of a task for me to try. During the 2nd semester of Sophomore year, Mike gave me quite a few albums (Sgt. Pepper's, Revolver, Rubber Soul, Abbey Road, Help!, Magical Mystery Tour, Let It Be, and White Album) and from then on I was on my way.

By Spring Break, I had already given most of them a listen and felt proud, in a way, of the fact that I was actually dedicating myself to something and getting it done. The one album that I had not gotten a chance to listen to yet (if I didn't have the time to listen to an album the whole way through within a few hours, I would put it off until there was time) was Rubber Soul. One day, I needed to walk to the bank to do some stuff, so I decided that it would be a good time to put on the album as I walked over (it's a 10-minute walk or so to the bank from my house). As the opening track played, the first thing that went through my mind was "This is pretty catchy." Track after track went by, and I continued to think the same. While listening to the past albums, there had usually been at least one track a few songs into that album that I didn't care much for at first listen. However, each song on Rubber Soul seemed "catchy" enough for me to actually want to listen to the whole thing. As the album went on, I remember thinking something like, "I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but this could definitely be my best Beatles-listening experience so far" (but less wordy). I liked every single song on the album. Not just "Yeah, I don't mind listening to it," but actually "I have no idea which song to pick because they're all awesome."In fact, I walked slower and even lingered outside the bank (linger might be too creepy of a word to use here) for a while just to listen to more of the album.

Like A Rush of Blood to the Head to Parachutes, many people prefer the subsequent album Revolver to Rubber Soul. But once again, that isn't the case for me. The experience of realizing that I had finally found my "favorite Beatles album" and of being caught off-guard by how quickly every track pulled me into it with it's "catchiness" (no other word comes to mind and it would take too many words to clarify further) is something that will be engrained into my brain for the rest of time. Maybe also that every song but one is under 3 minutes (and the one is only 3:23), so it's just really easy to get into? That makes sense. Sort of. Besides, Revolver has "She Said She Said" on it. Bleh.

Almost done! Finally. Then I can go back to writing posts that don't take up 1/3rd of the front page.

Oh, also, after reading through this, none of it really makes that much sense or gets my point across the way I'd like it to, but it's too late now. I like Rubber Soul. /end

Don't you steal my sunshine,
Mai

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