June 6, 2017 by IdealisticRebel

Why Sgt Pepper was a Decisive Moment for Civilization

Why Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was a decisive moment for Western civilisation

PHOTO: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison at the album’s launch in 1967.

It is axiomatic that the 1960s gave rise to several events so vividly etched on the memories of those who lived through them that they still remember what they were doing at the time.

President Kennedy’s assassination is the obvious example.

Another is the first moon landing. In the case of the latter, everyone was doing the same thing — watching it on television.

Most people who remember the 60s also recall where they were the first time they heard Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The Sgt Pepper concept

Sgt Pepper appeared on June 1, 1967, and was an early example of the “concept album”.

The Beatles’ albums had steadily become less like compilations of individual songs, and more like integral statements in which the songs were related to each other, as William Mann was among the first to point out.

Mann was the chief music critic of The Times, and he had taken to reviewing the Beatles’ albums on release, just as he would the premiere of a new work by a modern classical composer, such as Karlheinz Stockhausen.

In his review of Sgt Pepper, he told his readers to expect, “sooner or later”, the pop equivalent of Schumann’s Romantic song cycle, Dichterliebe.

The Times’ theatre critic, Kenneth Tynan, called it “a decisive moment in the history of Western civilisation”.

It was McCartney’s baby

Although the album contains some of John Lennon’s best-known songs (including Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and A Day in the Life), Sgt Pepper is very much a Paul McCartney record, and most of the songs are by him.

There’s a bright, poppy quality to the album, thanks to songs such as Fixing a Hole, Lovely Rita and Getting Better, though the last has an interpolated Lennon line (“Can’t get no worse”) to bring it down to earth.

By the same token, McCartney provides A Day In The Life with a dose of levity just at the point where it might be thought to be taking itself too seriously: “Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head” is all Paul.

The original idea of the album was that the Beatles were not “The Beatles” but the “Lonely Hearts Club Band” of the title.

In this guise, they would introduce themselves and their guests and play a set of songs, musical-hall style.

Somewhere along the line, the original idea seems to have become scrambled, but there remain vestiges of the Sgt Pepper conceit: in the opening song and subsequent introduction of singer “Billy Shears”; in the oom-pah accompaniment to McCartney’s When I’m Sixty-Four; and in Lennon’s Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite, whose words were taken, almost verbatim, from a Victorian circus poster.

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover

PHOTO: Sgt Pepper: arguably one of the most famous album covers in history. (Peter Blake)

That famous album cover

Designed by the artist Peter Blake, the cover design shows the four Beatles dressed in brightly coloured military uniforms, clutching musical instruments.

These members of Sgt Pepper’s band are surrounded by a throng of on-lookers among whom are waxwork dummies of the Beatles themselves.

The rest of the crowd consists of effigies of Beatle heroes, including Karl Marx and Carl Gustav Jung, Aldous Huxley and Dylan Thomas, Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allan Poe.

The handful of women among the 70-odd faces are pin-ups and sex symbols like Mae West and Marilyn Monroe (though, strangely, Shirley Temple makes three appearances).

One of the more surprising figures on the cover — top left, between Lenny Bruce and W C Fields — is Karlheinz Stockhausen, whose avant-garde compositions, especially his electronic music, had recently begun to fascinate McCartney.

Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band has what is probably the most famous record cover in history, yet its really significant feature was not the photography on the front, but the words on the rear.

Today we take such documentation for granted, but Sgt Pepper was the first pop album to publish its song lyrics in this manner, and the implication is obvious: the Beatles expected their new record to be listened to with the same kind of attention commonly given to classical music.

In 1963, their first album, Please Please Me, had been recorded in a little under 10 hours; Sgt Pepper took 129 days.

The Beatles now required a correspondingly greater investment of time and effort from their listeners.

Adapted from Andrew Ford’s book Illegal Harmonies: music in the modern age, published by Black Inc.

I know that many people around the world grew up with the Beetles as did I. My first concert, my first album, my first rock movie all were the Beetles. I remember vowing to myself that I was not going to scream like those silly other girls did. I found myself screaming along with every other teen in the venue. It was hypnotic and no one could respond in any other way. At least I have never known anyone who confessed to different behavior.

I have been to many rock concerts since those days. I have seen George Harrison, may he rest in peace, and Paul McCartney in concert. Ringo please come to Asheville, NC. I feel that musically we have lived in a magic age that found its roots in the 60’s revolution and then blosssomed out and created a garden full of amazing composers, singers and musicians. I wish to thank them all for providing the soundtrack of my life.

Namaste

Barbara

May 1, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

Without Any Further Ado…

Today, spring has moved into the neighborhood and I have spent so much time today enjoying it. I went to Yoga class and when we go out I wanted to drive west itl I got to the Pacific Ocean. It isn’t what I did though. It is like a perfect day here and so I wanted to give a little of my day to you who share my writing life. There is much grilling happening and I won’t torment to with that but it does smell wonderful.

today was the first day it felt like spring

The winter lake took some of the shoreline

Pebbles through the water

The very beginning of the greens of spring.

Off to eat whatever my sister cooked for dinner. Don’t worry we take turns!!

December 2, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

Images for Peace

Jimi Hendrix in Concert

bluemoon

I am going out of town to see a Manet exhibit so I thought I would let these images speak for me today. I hope you enjoy them and I hope that they speak to you because if we can’t create peace, we won’t have anything else to create. Blessings to all. Rebel

November 24, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

The Reason for Peace

Children deserve to live in a world where they are cherished, educated, loved and live in peace. We have the responsibility to give that world to them.

We have a world where some children will never even walk into a school. We have a world where some children will die of hunger in their Mother’s arms. We have a world where some children have no shoes or clothes. We have a world where some children die of smallpox, whooping cough, and malaria. They die because there is no medicine for them.

We live in a world where they live and die and no one knows or cares.

We live in a world where some kids go to posh prep schools, and some kids are bullied for being dressed differently. We live in a world where many bright kids can’t go to college. We live in a world where no one really cares.

We live in a world where we look for peace to protect our children and grandchildren. I look for a world where a grown angry man full of hate, with an automatic gun is his hand, isn’t the last thing that a child sees. I look for a world where we love the poor and hungry and homeless as much as we love our comfortable neighbors.

I pray for a world full of peace, not greed for money,oil, land, power and a world where people don’t die because they believe in a God/Goddess that is different than someone else’s.

I pray for a world where we put our arms around children and tell them how good and precious they are. I pray for a world where is doesn’t matter what color their skin is. I pray for a world where they will know only kindness and compassion. I pray for a world where we give love without restraint because we know we can never run out of love and it will only come back to us. I pray for a world where we can all hold hands and it is important that everyone on our planet has food and clean water. And that we will work to find solutions to make that possible. I pray for a world where everyone cares.

Beach 4; Presque Isle, Pa.;Photo by Barbara Mattio

Power of Peace in the World

October 3, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

Messages in Life

“Lift up a broken hand in prayer.
Allah’s perfect kindness is given away free
to all those who acknowledge their flaws.”
—-Rumi

I think life is not perfect because The Beloved wants us to experience all of life. Even though Divinity is within us, we are free to make choices and need to accept responsibility for them. We create our reality around us as we send our thoughts and actions into the world. Thinking positive and peaceful thoughts help to create positive and peaceful energy. This energy can softly touch the life of others. In the same way, thoughts of hatred and violence radiate these emotions to all who come in contact with this person. You can literally feel these energies.

There is a book and also the DVD out called, “The Hidden Messages in Water.” The author is Masaru Emoto.I found this book to be so exciting when I read it that I also bought the DVD. Water is energy. All inanimate objects are molecules vibrating at different speeds and frequencies This is what makes a chair look like what we expect a chair to look like. It is why I look as I do and you, my readers look as you do.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were wars about oil. We all know that oil has brought down governments, ended the lives of soldiers in all countries. It is predicted that now, in the twenty-first century we will see wars for water. Water is life giving, and humans cannot live long without it. It is the element that makes up the largest part of the human body. Water is the basis of life and brings the energy of life. Water can carry many impurities and it requires work to purify it again.

Dr. Emoto using high-speed photography discovered that the crystals in water reveal changes in shapes. I mean that they responded to a word said to them. The book and DVD include photographs of these very changes happening. This research can create a new awareness of how we can, with our thoughts, positively impact the earth and our own personal health.

Dr. Emoto took photographs of frozen crystals for over a decade. Depending on what the water was exposed to, there was a change in the shape of the crystals. He spoke the words and the shape of the crystals changed. Another word would bring about another change.

“We start out life being 99% water, as fetuses. When we are born, we are 90% water, and by the time we reach adulthood we are down to 70% water. If we die of old age, we will probably be about 50% water. In other words, throughout our lives we exist mostly as water.”
—Excerpted from “The Hidden Messages in Water”

This study was done with tap water, pure natural water, and distilled water. As in all research of this magnitude, your heart and mind must be open to whatever is discovered. Preconceived notions will be lost or you will miss the amazing clues that will reveal themselves along the way.

In elementary school, we all learned how each snowflake is different in shape. Each is unique. My grandson’s kindergarten class all made paper snowflakes to decorate their room for the winter season. There have never been two snowflakes alike since the beginning of time.

Dr. Emoto decided to freeze individual drops of water and to look at them under a really super strong microscope. He discovered that words and and the energy of human consciousness had the ability to change to shape of individual drops of water.

The words were said in Japanese and English, and some other common languages were used also, such as French, German, Italian etc. Words such as ‘thank you” caused the crystal to be beautiful in shape and each shape was different in each language. They also tried words such as “You make me sick, Satan, Angel, you fool and many others. They showed water drops pictures of Mother Earth and played Beethoven for the drops. All caused a change in shape. Good words caused beautiful formations and bad words created a less attractive to absolute ugly patten in the drops of water.

This research and Quantum Physics are proving many truths that people have believed on faith and now there is proof. Our thoughts do have the power to change the world and we cause these changes. Some water resulted in grandly beautiful crystals, while others were deformed or nonexistent. In my opinion, this could be a reflection of the dark recesses of our souls.

Water crystals after names of seasons were spoken to them.

Left hand picture after “Angel” is said. Right hand is after “Satan” is said.

August 17, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

Creating Memories

In the 1960’s, I was struggling with reality and memories. Some I wanted to remember and cherish and some I wanted to forget. I wasn’t sure that any of “this” was real. That is when I began photography. I needed to see if each moment was a moment in real time. I have now taken approximately 60,000 photos.

I have learned during my journey in this life, you need to create the memory in the moment. I often remind myself to stop and open my eyes and really see what is happening. I believe that looking through a lens at life for 32 years has given me the ability to quickly take in the details that will mean so much in the future. It is now an automatic instinct to ” see life” as I go through my days. I can not say that I do it all the time, however, I have learned to impress upon my mind, the memories I want to keep and take with my soul when I return to the source.

There are so many times in our life that because of obligations, work, children, charity work, illness we miss creating memories. When was the last time you really looked at the morning dew on your roses? When was the last time you sat on your front porch without phone or lap top and just opened your senses up to the song of the birds, the chipmunk sneaking into your garden or felt the sun on your face as you read a new book?

Intention is important in how and what we create. If we look for the goodness in life and create memories out of that goodness, we will be blessed with many beautiful and simple memories.

The memories I cherish the most are not exotic adventures or meeting a celeb. There are the fleeting seconds which I caught with my heart and mind and now they will always be mine. No one can take them away. Memories are truly the only things we can take with us when it is our time to pass over and return to cosmic consciousness.