Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 1995)
The Battalion S ■Monday T|jj November 20, 1995 Beutlelife 3 et fre| t we || and I icy, 5 keep,; aitract Hie p| sponsi at wav ric bill Static: )ivisic New song and album put band back where it once belonged Oil tie or: 'aysu ide col n ever DS, a» o heat , hast pless minalj By Amy Protas The Battalion T he Beatles — undoubtedly the most popular band of all time. Our parents’ generation grew up with the music. Now, a reunion will introduce a new genera tion to the band’s music. The band is releasing The Beatles Anthology, 125 tracks on three double CDs, the first of which is being released tomorrow. Most of the tracks on the CDs are alternate versions of previ ously recorded Beatles songs, but there are also recordings of songs from concerts and TV appear ances. The Anthology also includes two songs with vocals by John Lennon that the three re- Students have mixed feelings about the reunion mainmg members of the band recorded music and back-up vocals for last year. Scot Sanddfs, a Beatles self-ji’foclaimed fanat ic and senior forest science major, said he has been a fan since he was a child. “They’re my favorite,” Sanders said. “My par ents were fading out hippies, and they always played their music. Recently, I found some cray on drawings I had done when I was little, and they were of the Beatles.” Despite being staunch fans, some students said a reunion may end up being a case of beat ing the dead horse of the Beatles’ popularity — especially without Lennon, an integral member of the band. Sanders said he has mixed feelings about "the reunion and the release of two songs Lennon per formed before he died. “They are Beatles songs even if they are posthumous songs,” Sanders said. “There’s sort of a queasy feeling in my heart and soul. Of all the Beatles, I made my biggest connection with John Lennon. Now it seems like they’re taking advantage of him. We don’t know if those songs were ever meant to be finished.” Sanders said he would be more confident about a reunion if Lennon were still alive. “It’s a tragedy that Lennon was killed,” Sanders said. “Artistically, he was getting to a point where the sky was the limit. I would feel more secure in a Beatles’ reunion if Lennon had said, ‘Yeah, hey, let’s get together.’” Although some students think the reunion is for less than noble intentions, others said it is out of respect for Lennon. John Brannan, a senior psychology major, said he became familiar with the Beatles through his parents, like most others. “I was raised listening to the Beatles,” Bran- nan said. “These were my nursery rhymes. In church, when the preacher told us to sing, he didn’t specify what to sing, so I belted out ‘Yellow Submarine.’” Brannan said he looks at the reunion as a tribute. “I think it’s more out of respect,” Brannan said. “It’s a tribute because it is Lennon’s songs, they are doing.” Brannan also said he does not think the Beat les are reuniting to make money. “These people are some of the richest people in the world,” Brannan said. “They made lots of money in the ’60s, so I don’t think it’s quite for the money. They don’t need it. Maybe it’s more for exposure, to remind people they existed and introduce themselves to a new generation.” Carie Jenson, a Beatles fan and a senior mar keting major, said she alsojthinks the reunion is more of a tribute. “The new anthology is actually honoring John Lennon,” Jenson said. “They’re older and more mature. Now have the technology to honor him. To sing with him and to have that honor because if you think about it, they could have just done it with the three of them, but they know they’re not the Beatles without John.” When the Beatles broke up, the image of four young men went down in the pages of history. Now they have returned, older and maybe not quite so hip. Sanders said he does not like seeing the Beat les as old men. “I’ve seen photos of them now,” Sanders said. “They’re in their 50s now. They’re pretty old and wearing sunglasses to hide the bags, and it’s kind of creepy. It’s like how Elvis fans think he should have quit before he got into the sequined jumpsuit days.” Sanders said the reunion is not the same as the old Beatles. “The Beatles as a name aind an entity ended in 1970, 1980 if you use your imagination,” he said. “And now, you see these three old guys, maybe even your grandfathers. They’re still the Beatles, and you can find some value and comfort in that. But it’s certainly not the same.” Brannan said peoples’ opinions of the reunion and the album release will be clear cut. “I don’t think there’s going to be a huge gray area,” Brannan said. “People are either going to love it and listen because it’s the Beatles. Others will dislike it because they think they’re being disrespectful to Lennon or in it for a buck. As for myself, I’ll decide based on the merits of their music.” }IT0R We didn't have to live in the '60s to grow up with the Beatles sity ics on The ith last night’s three- hour TV special, the world was reintroduced Ito the greatest rock ’n’ roll band to strum a chord ... and then |record it backwards. That would be the band that (“invaded” America, taught a generation how to liven up with creativity through experimenta tion and invention and told it to “Let It Be” when its horizon be- rlasi 1 ' I ,. jji. came dim. nu , Ladies and gentlemen, the inf' I Beatles ...” I With these words, Ed Sulli- 45-26' 1 Jvan introduced the four spirited, Seem ■ mop-topped youths into our par- |ents’ homes for the first time. Hysteria ensued. And the rest, as they say, is [ history. But for our generation, “Beat- lemania” is lost on us. We can’t comprehend the craziness that surrounded the Beatles because the mania was largely a product of the environment of the ’60s. Instead of remembering the deafening screams of adoring fans, we remember other things — Paul McCartney getting bust ed for marijuana in Japan, the bitter lawsuits between band members and the crowd that gathered in Central Park (and all over the world) to mourn the assassination of John Lennon. We caught the tail end of Beatle- mania, if we caught it at all. Thanks to ’70s FM radio, the Beatles were a soundtrack to many of our childhoods. I can remember lying down in the backseat of my family’s car as we returned from a trip to Houston. Half asleep, I didn’t pay much attention to the sounds of “Hey Jude” or “Straw berry Fields Forever.” They were just there. I had little conception of music. However, those were the days our ears were becoming conscious. But I shouldn’t underestimate the witnesses and participants in the Beatles’ phenomenon — my parents — who kept the al bums around that they had bought as teenagers. Amidst Chuck Berry and Elvis 45s, my parents had Beat les albums: Meet The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night and the one with the colorful sleeve, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I would “investigate” these dusty relics on rainy Saturdays when I had nothing else to do. And it made for a great time. “I should have realized a lot of things before / If this is love, you’ve gotta give me more” — the Beatles made for great sing- a-long material. Something about the Beatles appealed to me as a child. Maybe it was the stream of consciousness lyrics in songs like “Lucy in the Sky with Dia monds” (which John Lennon wrote for his first son) that nour ished my imagination, or maybe it was the melodic perfectness of their songs. Whatever the reason, the Beatles soon became a part of my life, just as they had been a part of my parents’ lives. It could even be argued that musi cally, I was more acquainted with the Beatles than my par ents’ generation had been. The Beatlemania had been stripped away, and I wasn’t really con cerned about whether or not the rumors about John’s mar riage or the “Paul was dead” claim were true — the affection I had was for the music. And that’s how I see all the commotion over The Beatles Anthology. It will be nice for those that were there in the ’60s to revisit their childhoods, but for those of us who weren’t there, we should lis ten to the music. Listen and hear all of the sim ilarities between music of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr and the music in the MTV buzz-bins today. There will never be artists as influential as the Beatles were. Or if it happens, it won’t be in the genre of rock ’n’ roll; they will have to be inventors of some new and exciting mu sical form. I? The Beatles Anthology is the behind-the-scenes look the world has been waiting for. The magi cians are about to reveal the se crets to their tricks. And maybe, the ingenuity we will witness in the following days will someday spark another such group of artists that will take music to another plane as the Beatles did. Kyle Littlefield is a senior journalism major