Does Good Music Age?

Rather than describing the nonsense at work (the less written about a difficult employee the easier it will be to forget him when he eventually leaves) on the commute I was surprised to hear I Am the Walrus.

Is there a best Beatles song? Many bands with long careers and deep catalogs are known for one or two sings above all others. The Rolling Stones could not shake (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Nirvana is most known for Smells Like Teen Spirit and Led Zeppelin has Stairway To Heaven or Kashmir.

Hearing the George Martin production reminded me of the first time I heard it. They really went wherever, evolving far beyond "She loves you yeah, yeah, yeah." You have to start somewhere.

My parents had a record collection including Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour. My father worked for a man from Liverpool. It was and still is a fishing village. Moving to the bedroom where records were stored caused me to listen to them.

Not all of them. I could have listened to Nina Simone and did not for whatever reason. Focusing on these two Beatles albums? They were "Old" by this time. Technically they were old in 1968 since the band was prolific.

Many artists released albums annually. They usually had a couple good singles and a lot of filler- even at fifteen minutes per side. The Beatles might have been the first band to have great albums opposed to three great songs and random cover versions.

Motown albums weren't as good as the singles which filled Anthologies a few years later. Anyone who talks about "Adding value" on this site should aspire to what Marvin Gaye, The Temptations and The Supremes did. Comparatively the Stevie Wonder anthology is weak because his seventies albums are better than almost anything else.

The one year he did not release an album? Paul Simon won Album of the Year and thanked Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album so he could win a Grammy. I always had a soft spot for singer-songwriters. Music does not seem to change.

Alright- it might be hard listening to R Kelly and not thinking about long overdue Guilty verdicts. His music was mildly entertaining at best. It will not remain in hot rotation the way The Beatles still are.

Movies and television shows are of their times. Great as The Graduate or The Mary Tyler Moore were? They are from a different times. Even with different outfits and hairdos Magical Mystery Tour packs the same wallop it always did. That doesn't mean I would sit through the movie which is probably the weakest of their films. A Hard Day's Night captured the joy of youth and does not feel old.

Strangely? Help! looks older because of the color quality at the time. Did that Peter Jackson revision of Let It Be ever come out? Pandemic seemed to delay every movie. Good thing music is timeless. It will be interesting even if it is not released until all variants subside.

Bob Dylan, who still has not been properly showcased in an article (would love to do a "Dylan Goes Electric" article. It requires more research.) said there was so much great old music we don't need new music. Modern radio has tried to limit playlists so that could happen.

Find something that is new to you. I might devote the rest of my life to different remixes of songs enjoyed long ago. And Machine Gun. If I ever made the list of Desert Island Discs Band of Gypsies would be there. Luckily I don't have to choose five or ten albums and music, when done right, is timeless.