Timeless, And Still On The Throne, after all these years.

This Sunday, June 18, 2017, celebrates Paul’s 75^th Birthday. To think in terms of my first knowledge hearing just the voice of the Beatle’s Bass player, it occurred during the excitable intro 4-beat tempo countdown for “I Saw Her Standing There.” Seconds later, the left-handed Liverpool vocalist further fascinated me by his memorable rip-roaring vocal, which surely caused an onset life changing course within my eleven-year-old soul. That’s right, January 1964 opened a brand-new path I chose to follow, and to this day, yours truly has never looked back. Deeply grounded as a Beatles fan, guitarist/vocalist, songwriter and working musician, huh, at present, working an average of fourteen hours per month (on purpose––remember, I was eleven-years-old in 1964, ten years younger than Mr. McCartney, so yes, I’m retired!), I have surrounded my whole life within the confines of memorable Beatles music. I still love singing the British Invasion Hit Songs inside a crowded room, especially when listeners can’t stand still and move to the dance floor. No wonder Paul is lingering with more live appearances, it’s a great feeling watching others enjoy a fun and entertaining event when you’re the one providing the groove.

Speaking of providing the groove, sometimes I find the question, who is your favorite Beatle, a little strange. After all, think about it! These four fabulous lads thrived because they ignited the winningest combination only if left as a whole. Remove just one from the band, and you alter the sound.  Can you confidently pick a single member who you trust inside your gut, as the least important, so that Mr. Insignificant could have been replaced with another Liverpudlian without changing the dynamics? No! Each of the four astounding Beatles intricate, one for all and all for one contribution, sharpened and shaped a superior brilliance, and might I add, scored unmatchable intonation counting 54 years strong in the United Kingdom and 53 years strong everywhere else, which power housed the greatest music our planet has ever been blessed to hear.

All the solo singers like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Doris Day, Nate King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin, Brenda Lee, Mel Torme, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Dion, Neil Sedaka, Paul Anka, Barbara Streisand, Whitney Houston, and Elvis peaked then faltered. All the standout musicians like Tommy Dorsey, Louie Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Buddy Rich, Harry James, Herb Alpert, Leon Russel, and Brian Wilson peaked then faltered. All the top billing bands like Gerry and the Pacemakers, Herman’s Hermits, the Kinks, the Dave Clark Five, the Animals, the Monkees, the Who, the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones peaked then faltered. Not so concerning the Beatles. Even the sad, disgruntled break-up failed to weaken their popularity.  Did you know during the early 70’s, countless promoters tried month after month all sorts of gimmicks toward building the greatest come-back of all time? However, after the Beatles repeatedly refused to reunite for a benefit concert, the offered purse as payment for such a fete rose its handsome compensation at the jaw-dropping figure of Two Hundred and Fifty Million Dollars, split four ways. Nevertheless, our heroes said “nothing doing,” despite the free fortune. So, off they went, to pursue their own interests, their own dreams, and their own happiness. A choice I wish never happened. Why? For reasons I mentioned above, remove one lovable Beatle from the band, and you alter the remarkable, untouchable, incredible recipe of beautiful achieving sounds they alone provided.

Let me be honest, if my opinion matters––everything John, Paul, George, and Ringo crafted, recorded, and released after 1970, can’t hold a candle to those amazing tracks they developed alongside George Martin in the sixties. Maybe their abilities as musicians, arrangers, even composers increased with sensational improvements, especially George and Ringo’s songwriting, but the process suffers an inferior plague that minimizes the magic played on the newer material using other musicians because they all lack my favorite key ingredients. . . The Fab Four together.

In the event it’s McCartney’s special day today, I’ll try to hold back jabs of negativity positioned by his Post-Beatles recordings, although I’ll forever believe his musical prime ended upon leaving his schoolmates.

Beginning with the famous Bass player’s first solo album titled, McCartney, released on the17th of April 1970, Paul labored out 24 Studio Albums, 8 Live Albums, 4 Compilation Albums, and 77 Singles. In other words, his overwhelming totals far outnumber issued recordings from the other three stars known as the Lads of Liverpool, and yet, Sir James Paul failed every time in bringing to this fan those marvelous, joyful goosebumps, like when a new Beatles song penetrated my ear canals. I mean, come on, his luster and drive to outshine past accomplishments only occurred in ticket sales connected to the vast amounts of tour dates, and record sales, mostly driven by the curious looking for the good old days. But his songs couldn’t top the cleverness he reigned while competing with John.  And what’s more, His new band lineup kept changing more than not. The true comradery he shared as a Beatle crumbled. May I point out, Paul never wrote a song for his other drummers as a welcoming spotlight gesture, only Ringo received special treatment with fanciful ditties complimentary to the shortest but oldest teammate with the deepest voice.  A trait Paul always considered so as to give his back-beat-friend singing confidence.

How true music found on the Beatles catalog attains the term, “Timeless.” Speakers of all types from tiny crackly radios to the newest surround sound state of the art Blue Tooth finesse makes any “Mop-Tops” LP sound as fresh as the day they first arrived on the shelves.

In closing, I’d like to remind the reader that just about every Country residence having had access to airwaves music, when talking about their generation, knows full well, peers from the neighborhood, peers from the classrooms, peers from the social clubs, and peers from the workplace can relate to fellow Beatles fans, regardless if their particular generation has tipped six decades or just one.     

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