If one band needs no further introduction then this must surely be The Beatles. Just mention the names of the Fab Four, their countless timeless compositions, and their groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road albums, and I’m sure many events, other milestone albums and miscellaneous facts involving The Beatles will come flooding back into memory. Surprisingly, for me, this didn’t include their ninth album The Beatles. Their 1968 effort which is best known as The White Album.
Here to make me never forget about this earliest of proto-prog albums comes author Opher Goodwin with his expertly told and in depth reconstructed Rock Classic interpretation on the album.
Living to tell the tale first-hand, Goodwin, aged 19 in 1968, starts of by painting the rural 60s with great cultural insight. And following a sum up of preceding singles (Strawberry Fields Forever, All You Need Is Love, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude) and other ventures like the Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine movies, quickly arrives at the challenges that The Beatles were facing prior and during the recordings of The White Album.
Well researched and comprehensively told with plenty of interesting historic details, Goodwin elaborates on The Beatles’ growing wealth, their new-found spiritualism, the individual marital changes of McCartney and John Lennon (enter Yoko Ono) and the disastrous sudden passing of their manager Brian Epstein which left the band fairly rudderless in approach to The White Album.
Just how directionless becomes perfectly clear in the 50+ pages that Goodwin objectively devotes to The White Album. Loaded with biographical information it is this lengthy chapter that creates a clear understanding towards the gradually forming split between the various Beatles members, and the resulting eclectic/fragmentary (take your pick) outcome of the album.
Sharing all the ins and outs on the making of the album this includes the thoughts behind the album cover, the various lyrical topics, Eric Clapton’s involvement on George Harrison’s composition While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and the many takes done before songs were finally approved for album inclusion. As well as a complete insightful rundown of songs that next to pop songs like Back In The USSR and Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da includes tracks that touch upon such genres as folk, country rock, British blues, proto-metal (Helter Skelter) and the avant-garde (Revolution 9).
Add to this Ringo Starr’s two week Beatles-divorce, Yoko Ono’s studio invasion, the walk out of producers, and the fact that only 16 of the 30 recorded tracks actually included all four Beatles members, and it’s almost a miracle that The White Album was ultimately finalised. Much like the view of critics and listeners who rate the release to be one of the greatest albums of all time.
Successfully teasing readers to further investigate by mentioning demos, outtakes, the excluded album-related gem Not Guilty which they worked on for 102 takes, and related topics such as the Plastic Ono Band and cult leader/murderer Charles Manson’s obsession with several album songs, I find Goodwin’s substantiated narrative to end somewhat abruptly and not fully rewarding towards my own accumulating curiosity of what happened to The Beatles afterwards. An aspect Goodwin apart from a few words about the album’s legacy doesn’t particularly elaborate upon.
Personal preferences aside: Opher Goodwin’s book does exactly what it is supposed to do. It enthuses willing musical guinea pig readers like myself and those generally interested in music to explore the album. And all together offers a captivating in-depth and well-written analysis of The Beatles’ biggest-selling album to date. Simple conclusion: job well done!
I don’t think I want to visit the USA right now (apart from the fact that they probably wouldn’t let me in!) under Trump and ICE it seems to be descending into a repressive Police State run by the Gestapo.
They murder good citizens like Renee Good and Alex Pretti for protesting about their Gestapo tactics.
They claim the right to carry arms but that only seems to apply to ICE goons and white supremacists.
Trump is busy shutting down all opposition, muting the media and taking over the democratic process. Talk about rigging elections. He’s putting his guys in charge of everything. I think Putin is providing him with a clear model.
Are we heading for a civil war or a repressive Police State similar to Iran?
Trump, Vance an Noem justify murder. Alex and Renee deserved it – they were opposing the regime.
They killed thousands in Iran. Putin has the opposition locked up in Gulags and murdered. Xi locks up all dissenting voices. Kim just kills them. The USA is well on the road!
Unbeknown to them the Hydrans were being judged. Their future was in Chameakegra’s hands.
The H-Craft Neff was quiet, it’s corridors empty. The agile Xerc were taking the opportunity to carry out maintenance, their lithe blue bodies swarming through the interior ducting and outside over the surface of the craft; probably more to steer clear of being bossed around by being out of the way rather than there being any real need. Best to be busy or at least appear busy. Deck after deck was full of various personnel, harnessing the might of Neff’s enormous processing and information gathering power, engrossed in meticulously sorting and categorising the Hydrans. The arduous task was mainly being carried out by the large lumbering amphibian Leff, who were ideally suited to spending hours handling data, although there were sprinklings of other races including their amphibian Solarian colleagues, the odd reptilian Giforian or two and even a reptilian Achec and mammalian Jerb. Everyone was incredibly focussed. They all knew the importance of getting this right. They were involved in a revolutionary new experiment. That brought an air of excitement. The department heads, mainly Giforian, Jerb, Achec and Marlan, had very little to do other than join in with their staff in setting up programmes, guiding the AI through the task of separating Hydran personality types. Whenever Chameakegra or her second in command the Minorian Graffa made their rounds the department heads were always eager to engage in sharing their progress. Chameakegra and Graffa listened with feigned interest as their dedicated staff eulogised about their findings.
Of an evening Chameakegra would peruse the accumulating lists as her staff proceeded with the task of refining their programmes and categorising the entire population of Hydra. If the Hydrans were going to have any future then it was necessary to accurately separate the greedy, belligerent, power-mad and narcissistic from the pleasant, well-balanced and creative types. The new process of assessment was lengthy and thorough. It was also highly unusual. If it had not been for Chameakegra’s intervention the process of assessment of the culture as a whole would, as normal, we swift and simple. Following the judgement the Hydrans would either have been fast-tracked into the Federation or quickly eradicated. Chameakegra had taken the process of judging a whole culture to apply it to analysing individuals – something much more complex and difficult. Now they were all paying the price and having to work hard. Interestingly, nobody seemed to be complaining. They were busy. Eight billion Hydrans had to be accurately assessed and categorised.
By far the biggest group of Hydrans were the well-adjusted citizens. The number of creatives and those in need of adjustment were much smaller groups and fairly equal in numbers. Chameakegra liked the way it was going. They were successfully identifying the malevolent. It was what was going to happen next that troubled her. Could greedy and violent be treated? Could a cruel disposition be successfully changed? She wondered.
For the moment, under the ruling, these Hydrans were destined for euthanasia. Chameakegra wondered. The therapists she had at her disposal might just be able to do something. Could she persuade Judge Booghramakegra to give that a try or was she pushing boundaries too far?
Of an evening, in her cabin, Chameakegra found herself pondering the outcome of her plan. Nobody had ever attempted this before. They were in unknown territory. When the mentally disturbed, the violent and avaricious, were removed would Hydran culture settle into a positive mode and blossom? Were the Hydrans inherently good or, once the evil had been cut out, would exactly the same problems start to re-emerge in the ones remaining? Only time would tell.
Chameakegra knew that her reputation hung on the result. Not that she was bothered. The whole Federation would be watching. If this experiment worked it might form the template for future operations. A lot hung on this outcome. All that mattered to Chameakegra was the possibility of preserving much of the best of Hydran culture and art. That is what drove her. She’s felt the worth of that culture: it had touched her deeply.
Soon, her job would be over. When all the Hydrans had been categorised she would hand over to someone appointed to carry out the separation process. That was not an area she would be involved in. A deep sadness welled up when she thought about it. She could only hope that Beheggakegri made the right appointment and the excision was carried out humanely.
Chameakegra sat in her commander’s pexi while the operation went on around her. A green light flashed on her comulator. She had a message.
‘I am intrigued by the possibilities this experiment opens up. For that reason I have taken leave so that I might stay involved. I am eager to witness the outcome. Keep me informed with regular reports so that I can monitor progress. Judge Booghramakegra.’
Chameakegra reread the message as a blue wave of satisfaction spread across her scutes. Perhaps she had an ally?
For her ‘Raging Pages’ column, Lisa Torem gives ‘Bob Dylan 1962 to 1970 : Every Album, Every Song’, Opher Goodwin’s new book on Dylan’s studio work high marks.
Opher Goodwin “taught the first ‘History of Rock Music’ class in the UK” and had the good fortune of catching Sixties acts, including Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and Captain Beefheart, during his time in London, “the epicentre for the underground explosion of rock music and culture” according to his recent press release. His subject, Bob Dylan, the Hibbing, Minnesota-born troubadour, who has often been championed as North America’s incomparable poet laureate, greatly influenced John Lennon, particularly on the dreamy ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and literary-minded Suzanne Vega. Goodwin was originally dismissive of Dylan’s work – “We weren’t big on ‘folk’ music,’ he shares about his relationship with a then-friend, in the introduction. That statement, alone, piqued my interest, causing me to ask myself, ‘What, then, turned Goodwin into a super fan?’ But as I pored through the book, I easily discovered how the author’s evolution took place. Dylan’s early inspirations include no-holds-barred storyteller Woody Guthrie, soulful singer/guitarist Odetta, and oddly, “Be Bop a Lula” singer Little Richard. As such, one of Dylan’s chief goals was to befriend Guthrie, and on early albums, he would sharply mirror Guthrie’s talking-blues style. Goodwin also notes that Dylan’s rise to popularity in New York’s Greenwich Village came with a price. Being considered the voice of a generation “irritated him no end” and “heaped tension on his shoulders.” This conundrum would bedevil Dylan throughout his career. Radical French poets Rimbaud, Baudelaire and Verlaine would partially quench Dylan’s desire for dark, sensuous detail, before he embraced Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Goodwin cites examples of how Dylan would, many times over the course of his career, reimagine himself, to the chagrin of his early fans. At the 1965 Newport Folk Festival he was considered a turncoat when he blasted his electric guitar. Similarly, when on his album ‘John Wesley Harding’ he dared to enter the Americana realm, he tried the patience of the tried-and-true. And again, as the counter-culture gathered steam, Dylan was called upon to lead the flock. He decried such thoughts of attachment. ‘Nashville Skyline’ honoured his new image, or lack thereof, for he had given the boot to corduroy caps and faded jeans. His times were ‘a-changin’, and so was he. Dylan’s discography reveals debut album covers by Jesse Fuller, Blind Willie Johnson, Bukka White and Blind Lemon Johnson, et al, arranged instrumentally with hard-picking plectrum and mournful blues-harp. His sophomore album was a sea-change. His labelmates had turned him on to a roster of trailblazers, and he began to scribe protest-songs oozing with unbridled conviction. ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ and ‘Masters of War,’ “the ultimate anti-war song,” would become period-pieces. ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall’ “never fails to engage.” The author vehemently states: “No matter how many times you hear it there is always something new to discover or wonder at.” With the same razor-sharp focus, Goodwin ushers us through Dylan’s 1962-1970 discography, I highly recommend this well-researched book. That Dylan has achieved folk-rock royalty status is undisputed, but reading about his climb to studio self-actualisation answers a series of burning questions.
The quote on page 46 from Opher Goodwin’s On Track: Captain Beefheart of the track When Big Joan Sets Up, encapsulates what makes Beefheart special, and at the same time why he remains a niche artist.
“… a great melody that carries it through. It’s meaningless but full of insight, so frenzied that it shouldn’t work, yet it does. It hangs together. That’s what is so great about Beefheart’s music – it pulls you in; the music is complex; the lyrics seem full of meaning, but everything is just beyond one’s grasp. You find yourself hooked. It propels you. It’s visceral. It tugs at the cortex. Rewarding.”
This applies across all of Beefheart’s recordings. Not without the odd exception of course, such as the mid-period ‘commercial’-leaning releases and things like Beefheart’s contribution to Frank Zappa‘s Willie The Pimp on Hot Rats. One of the things I find interesting about these two maverick forces of musical nature (Zappa and Beefheart) is that both went to Antelope Valley High School in the small Californian Mohave desert town of Lancaster. They remained friends on and off after leaving Lancaster; when their monumental artistic egos would allow. With Zappa, being more successful, helping the often-broke Beefheart out.
This is a great addition to Sonicbond Publishing’s ever expanding Every Album, Every Track series. This looks at Captain Beefheart’s studio output as well as the plethora of live releases and bootlegs that have followed since his death in 2010.
Comprehensive and critical where required, self-confessed Beefheart obsessive Opher Goodwin, knows his way around an incisive phrase and sets each of the studio albums into a context of time and place, record company and management shenanigans, and contemporary critical reactions. As well as assessing the various incarnations of the Magic Band, and how well they were able to translate the Captain’s ideas into actual music.
After making his brilliant final album, Ice Cream For Crow (1982), he left music-making on a high point, and turned back to painting. Beefheart, under his own name of Don van Vliet became a renowned abstract expressionist painter, gaining the level of success in the US that had eluded him musically. A happy ending of sorts.
This makes an excellent companion to Mike Barnes’ Captain Beefheart: The Biography (Omnibus Press) where neither shy away from Beefheart’s obsessive and bullying behaviour that were part of his artistic makeup. Opher Goodwin’s On Track: Captain Beefheart is a great guide and companion to this often-challenging artist.
If you’re curious, for me the place to start is with 1978’s Shiney Beast (Bat Chain Puller), but every Beefheart fan will have a different gateway release to recommend.
If one band needs no further introduction then this must surely be The Beatles. Just mention the names of the Fab Four, their countless timeless compositions, and their groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road albums, and I’m sure many events, other milestone albums and miscellaneous facts involving The Beatles will come flooding back into memory. Surprisingly, for me, this didn’t include their ninth album The Beatles. Their 1968 effort which is best known as The White Album.
Here to make me never forget about this earliest of proto-prog albums comes author Opher Goodwin with his expertly told and in depth reconstructed Rock Classic interpretation on the album.
Living to tell the tale first-hand, Goodwin, aged 19 in 1968, starts of by painting the rural 60s with great cultural insight. And following a sum up of preceding singles (Strawberry Fields Forever, All You Need Is Love, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude) and other ventures like the Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine movies, quickly arrives at the challenges that The Beatles were facing prior and during the recordings of The White Album.
Well researched and comprehensively told with plenty of interesting historic details, Goodwin elaborates on The Beatles’ growing wealth, their new-found spiritualism, the individual marital changes of McCartney and John Lennon (enter Yoko Ono) and the disastrous sudden passing of their manager Brian Epstein which left the band fairly rudderless in approach to The White Album.
Just how directionless becomes perfectly clear in the 50+ pages that Goodwin objectively devotes to The White Album. Loaded with biographical information it is this lengthy chapter that creates a clear understanding towards the gradually forming split between the various Beatles members, and the resulting eclectic/fragmentary (take your pick) outcome of the album.
Sharing all the ins and outs on the making of the album this includes the thoughts behind the album cover, the various lyrical topics, Eric Clapton’s involvement on George Harrison’s composition While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and the many takes done before songs were finally approved for album inclusion. As well as a complete insightful rundown of songs that next to pop songs like Back In The USSR and Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da includes tracks that touch upon such genres as folk, country rock, British blues, proto-metal (Helter Skelter) and the avant-garde (Revolution 9).
Add to this Ringo Starr’s two week Beatles-divorce, Yoko Ono’s studio invasion, the walk out of producers, and the fact that only 16 of the 30 recorded tracks actually included all four Beatles members, and it’s almost a miracle that The White Album was ultimately finalised. Much like the view of critics and listeners who rate the release to be one of the greatest albums of all time.
Successfully teasing readers to further investigate by mentioning demos, outtakes, the excluded album-related gem Not Guilty which they worked on for 102 takes, and related topics such as the Plastic Ono Band and cult leader/murderer Charles Manson’s obsession with several album songs, I find Goodwin’s substantiated narrative to end somewhat abruptly and not fully rewarding towards my own accumulating curiosity of what happened to The Beatles afterwards. An aspect Goodwin apart from a few words about the album’s legacy doesn’t particularly elaborate upon.
Personal preferences aside: Opher Goodwin’s book does exactly what it is supposed to do. It enthuses willing musical guinea pig readers like myself and those generally interested in music to explore the album. And all together offers a captivating in-depth and well-written analysis of The Beatles’ biggest-selling album to date. Simple conclusion: job well done!
In Search of Captain Beefheart stands out among rock music memoirs because it blends personal storytelling with cultural analysis. Unlike traditional musician biographies that focus solely on an artist’s career, Opher Goodwin’s book is a deeply personal reflection on how rock music shaped his identity and worldview.
Compared to memoirs by musicians themselves, such as Keith Richards’ Life or Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run, Goodwin’s book is more about the experience of a fan rather than an artist’s firsthand account of fame and music-making. It’s similar in spirit to books like Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs, which explore rock music’s impact on culture rather than just recounting events.
Additionally, Goodwin’s memoir is unique in its historical scope, covering major world events like the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, and Cold War, showing how rock music was intertwined with these moments. This makes it more than just a music memoir—it’s a cultural history seen through the lens of rock.
What these billionaires want is the right to peddle their propaganda as truth! Free Speech should be fact checked! Licence to say what you like even if it is deliberately untrue is NOT free speech.
Look how Twitter has descended into a toxic mess of hate and conspiracy!!
TESLA and its SWAZTICARS is now as TOXIC as Trump!!
I have completed the rewrite and am halfway through a second rewrite. It should be in to the publisher in four weeks or so. The book will likely be published in the Summer.
Zero To Infinity: No Change
My long lost 2nd Sci-fi novel has just been released.
