Red Mosquito

The thing that's funny about those that love the Beatles is that they claim the influence they had is evident in every rock song to come after them, but don't dare imply a song sounds like the beatles.

Wendy Carlos's Twin wrote:The only thing Beatle-esque about it is that it is melodic and has interesting chord changes. The guitar parts are nothing like the Beatles. The bass parts are nothing like the Beatles. There aren't any vocal harmonies. It's a generic description.

It might be a generic description, but it's still fairly accurate. It doesn't have to be dead-on to be "-esque". I thought it was Beatles-esque before I read in dozens of other places how Beatles-esque it was. I can't explain why it's Beatles-esque, except that I've heard Beatles songs before, and Parachutes would not sound so out-of-character if it had come from The Beatles. It certainly seems to evoke that band in spirit.

he's doing a better job defending this then I could so I'm just gonna throw out a Team Harmless and then walk away

@SkitchP wrote:The thing that's funny about those that love the Beatles is that they claim the influence they had is evident in every rock song to come after them, but don't dare imply a song sounds like the beatles.

well, i'm a big Beatles fan and i often think that songs (like Parachutes) sound like a romanticized idea of what the Beatles sound like because most of their stuff were much less polished and, dare i say, bolder in terms of arrangements and mixing. most of the so-called Beatles sound-alike think that a quirky melody over a warm, mid-tempo arrangement automatically invokes the Beatles but that's only a stereotype based on a handful of their late-era songs. a number that would sound like Helter Skelter or Come Together or even I Want to Hold Your Hand wouldn't be called a Beatles rip-off as much as if it evoked Hey Jude, Sexy Sadie or Imagine. ironically, the Beatles themselves fell into this cliché'd vision of their work when they made the two "new" song for the Anthology which try to sound more like the Beatles than the Beatles.

stip wrote:he's doing a better job defending this then I could so I'm just gonna throw out a Team Harmless and then walk away

Team Harmless is implied for any reasonable human being.

I with Harmless here as well. I don't really read/understand music and as such can't really talk about it with any insight or authority or clarity. Basically, the only way I best way I can put it is to say that when the song started I thought, Hey! sounds like the Beatles. The song kept going and I thought, I like Pearl Jam doing their take on The Beatles; kinda fun.

So yeah, maybe it's just a generic description. But the song reminds me of the Beatles, in general. Not any specific song. And to that end, that's why I disagreed with calling it a rip off.

I'm not sure where the lines are here.
It's not a direct rip off. However when I first heard it i thought of The Beatles.

I guess that's team Harmless?

Isn't "All Those Yesterdays" another one that people frequently describe as "sounding like the Beatles"?

Personally, I never understood why folks think "Off He Goes" sounds like Neil Young.

The idea that it sounds vaguely Beatlesque (or, as masta so succinctly put it, a romanticized version thereof) is pretty accurate. Not in terms of anything in particular the song is doing, mind you...very little of the instrumentation or melodic quality is directly connectable to Beatles efforts....but the low-fi result of the shitty production actually seems to help it have the "feel" of a White Album outtake. I'd draw a line from Beatles to Parachutes long before I would draw it towards 90% of Oasis's work (a comparison I never really got).

Where harmless lost his initial round was...

but it's a total Beatles ripoff

Are you guys talking about the Sesame Street tune or Mind Your Manners? Or something else sounding like the Beatles?

gardenparty wrote:Are you guys talking about the Sesame Street tune or Mind Your Manners? Or something else sounding like the Beatles?

You don't think Mind Your Manners sounds like a Beatles ripoff?????

might have already been mentioned, but i remember something around the time of avocado being released where Ed said somehting about parachutes was his and stones attempt at writing a beatles song? it could have been someones review of the song, but i remember reading it and my bad memory is wanting to say it was someone in the band who said it.
but it is in no way a rip off, it is obvious that there are beatles fans in the band, so those influences will eventually come out, just like GTF and going to California

Dr. Van Nostrand wrote:GTF and going to California

GtC "influenced" "GtF to nearly the same degree that Jake Holmes "influenced" Dazed and Confused.

mastaflatch wrote:most of the so-called Beatles sound-alike think that a quirky melody over a warm, mid-tempo arrangement automatically invokes the Beatles but that's only a stereotype based on a handful of their late-era songs.

A handful, huh? I didn't realise it was that many. But it all helps the thesis.

McParadigm wrote:

Dr. Van Nostrand wrote:GTF and going to California

GtC "influenced" "GtF to nearly the same degree that Jake Holmes "influenced" Dazed and Confused.

Though again, maybe its my bad memory adding stuff that didn't happen, but i remember mike and stone on something like mtv news talking about the similar sound to parts of the songs, and one of them jokingly said that the clip of that interview would be used in the law suit brought against them by page and plant.

harmless wrote:

mastaflatch wrote:most of the so-called Beatles sound-alike think that a quirky melody over a warm, mid-tempo arrangement automatically invokes the Beatles but that's only a stereotype based on a handful of their late-era songs.

A handful, huh? I didn't realise it was that many. But it all helps the thesis.

little hand, big songs. there goes your "thesis".

mastaflatch wrote:

harmless wrote:

mastaflatch wrote:most of the so-called Beatles sound-alike think that a quirky melody over a warm, mid-tempo arrangement automatically invokes the Beatles but that's only a stereotype based on a handful of their late-era songs.

A handful, huh? I didn't realise it was that many. But it all helps the thesis.

little hand, big songs. there goes your "thesis".

You've heard what they say about bands with big hands

harmless wrote:

mastaflatch wrote:

harmless wrote:

mastaflatch wrote:most of the so-called Beatles sound-alike think that a quirky melody over a warm, mid-tempo arrangement automatically invokes the Beatles but that's only a stereotype based on a handful of their late-era songs.

A handful, huh? I didn't realise it was that many. But it all helps the thesis.

little hand, big songs. there goes your "thesis".

You've heard what they say about bands with big hands

"A bush in the hand is as good as two in the bird."

McParadigm wrote:

harmless wrote:

mastaflatch wrote:

harmless wrote:

mastaflatch wrote:most of the so-called Beatles sound-alike think that a quirky melody over a warm, mid-tempo arrangement automatically invokes the Beatles but that's only a stereotype based on a handful of their late-era songs.

A handful, huh? I didn't realise it was that many. But it all helps the thesis.

little hand, big songs. there goes your "thesis".

You've heard what they say about bands with big hands

"A bush in the hand is as good as two in the bird."

"A hush in the band is as good as boo in the turd."

McParadigm wrote:

gardenparty wrote:Are you guys talking about the Sesame Street tune or Mind Your Manners? Or something else sounding like the Beatles?

You don't think Mind Your Manners sounds like a Beatles ripoff?????

Not at all.