“You, my pal, ROCK!”: Inspiration from the spam filter

By |2013-12-12T12:26:44-08:00December 3, 2013|Housekeeping, Psychedelia, Uncategorized|

This flower is astonishingly functional! NANCY CARR • In this season of thankfulness, I am grateful to the Hey Dullblog spam filter. Whenever I clean it out I appreciate anew its kidneyesque work of protecting us all from poorly-worded importunities to buy pharmaceuticals, fake luxury items, or memberships to sketchy dating sites. The most garbled messages, however, attain a level of lunacy that I can imagine John Lennon giggling over and then weaving into a nonsense song, a la “Dig a Pony.” [After he’d bought some pharmaceuticals and fake luxury items, Michael G. adds.] Curiously, virtually all the robo-generated spam [...]

Beatles at the BBC, Volume 2: clearly enjoyable

By |2013-11-17T05:47:17-08:00November 16, 2013|1964, BBC, Uncategorized|

Just before Paul warned George not to stick that Rickenbacker into John's ear NANCY CARR * I've been listening to "On Air: Live at the BBC Volume 2" pretty continuously the past few days, and it's great fun (unsurprisingly, for anyone who's heard volume 1). Of particular note is the astounding clarity of the sound. The warmth and immediacy of the recordings is a large part of what makes the set such a pleasure to listen to. What a superb job of mastering and transferring. "Volume 2" has more between-song talk than "Volume 1," which provides a fascinating window into the [...]

McCartney, “New,” and “generic genius”: rebutting Ben Greenman

By |2013-10-16T15:34:36-07:00October 15, 2013|Paul McCartney, Uncategorized|

The new McCartney album, "MEM." NANCY CARR • The "New" album is the occasion for Ben Greenman of The New Yorker to opine about Paul McCartney's "generic genius." That's very much "generic" as in "bland and undistinguished," not as in "genre-spanning." Greenman asserts that the album's title is "almost comically inaccurate," but appears unaware that his own critique recycles cliches about McCartney that are drastic oversimplifications when they're not flat-out false. Now, I haven't heard the whole album yet, so I'm not going to speak to Greenman's assessment of it. What I want to discuss are his sweeping statements about McCartney's [...]

Which Beatles album is actually their last?

By |2013-08-03T04:37:33-07:00June 22, 2013|1969, 1970, Abbey Road, Let It Be, Uncategorized|

Bare feet, ouch! Paul suffers for his art. Rob Sheffield in Rolling Stone: So let's argue: Which album truly counts as the grand finale? The case for Let It Be: It came out in 1970, which was after 1969. The case for Abbey Road: (1) virtually all of Let It Be was in the can before the Abbey Road sessions even began; (2) Abbey Road feels more like a classic Beatles record; (3) "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" was the last time all four played in the studio together; (4) the last song on Abbey Road is called "The End"; (5) except for "Her Majesty"; (6) rebounding from the Let [...]

Climax filled with climaxes

By |2014-07-23T11:56:53-07:00June 20, 2013|Uncategorized|

The film wrings dozens of gags from the chaos that is Harold’s workday behind the fabric counter—as when, attempting to hand off a parcel to a little old lady amid the throng, he shouts, “Who dropped that fifty-dollar bill?” and the mass of matrons subsides like the Red Sea getting the Moses treatment—but it’s in the final half hour, when Lloyd reluctantly assumes the role of the human fly, that Safety Last! delivers something close to pure pleasure. Watching the extended sequence is like listening to the seamless suite of miniatures on side two of Abbey Road: it’s a climax filled with climaxes. Enter [...]

Discovered! Another bad Beatles lyric

By |2014-02-25T19:50:04-08:00April 21, 2013|Uncategorized|

ED PARK • We've discussed in these virtual pages the dire quality of that couplet in "She's a Woman" (you know the one), and the let's-sneak-this-in-and-move-on line in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" ("I look at my floor and I see it needs...sweeping")... This morning, I was enjoying "Baby's in Black" and was struck by: I think of her but she thinks only of him, and though it's only a whim, she thinks of him. It's only a whim! A whim!!!

Who is Red Norvo?

By |2013-08-01T04:35:46-07:00February 14, 2013|Uncategorized|

A while back we featured the blog "They May Be Parted," devoted to the Nagra Reels. Here's Dan again—using this familiar George statement as a jumping-off point. Well worth a read.George: OK, I don’t mind. I’ll play, you know, whatever you want me to play. Or I won’t play at all, if you don’t want me to play. Whatever it is that will please you, I’ll do it.

Beep beep yeah!

By |2013-08-01T04:36:43-07:00February 8, 2013|Uncategorized|

Maybe once a year I remember a digital watch I had as a kid which played "Hey Jude" and "Yesterday." Previous searches didn't turn up anything, but today I stumbled on a video of the watch in action! Any other Dullblog readers remember this (or -- still have it?)?

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