The Beatles 1967 – 1970, Queen’s Greatest Hits, Hazards of Love
A trio of albums from the in-laws. They tricked me, which is something I like to think happens rarely but is probably something that happens everyday. My MIL (that’s how we say mother-in-law now, because hyphens are genuinely kind of a pain in the ass to type) asked what bands I’d want on a playlist.
I floated a few things in the “would not be too weird or offensive” category. For instance, did not suggest Tyler Childers, even though I think my FIL (reads weirder but still useful) would really like him.
When I opened these, I thought they might get a little play, but nothing crazy. I like the Beatles and Queen, but I wasn’t planning to add any of their vinyl to my collection. Hazards was a solid homerun. I love that album and it wasn’t on my radar as one to grab.
After a single playthrough of both the collections, I’m sold. My son loves them, they sounds lovely and I can listen to Bicycle Race the way it was designed to be listened to. I love bicycle race, by the way. Maybe you didn’t know that about me. Bicycle Race and Don’t Stop Me Now. DSMN is, perhaps, my favorite karaoke song of all time.
The thing about Don’t Stop Me Now is that it’s challenging. I cannot sing the whole thing perfectly. Another thing you may just now be learning about me – my vocal range and command are not as good as Freddie Mercury’s. Who would have guessed?
All that said, I get a lot closer to hitting those notes than I have any right to. There’s a certain hubris that comes with putting DSMN on the little slip you hand over to the dude running karaoke. It’s misplaced, sure, but it’s fun. I think there are always a few seconds where the audience thinks, “Is this guy doing this right now?” I’m not. Not really, but I’m going to try.
Queen is in rotation. I did not know that Fat Bottomed Girls/Bicycle Race had the greatest album cover of a single ever. The bottoms are painted on, I think. I’m pretty sure the original print ad was just 100% butt.
The Beatles collection has less cheek, but even more songs I love. It also rocks Old Brown Shoe, which I did not know but now very much enjoy.
The Beatles, and this is for the reader’s edification, had a lot of popular songs. This is an album that spans four stupid years. Just four. Imagine how many tracks would make it onto, say, Miley Cyrus 2007 – 2010. Six? I’d listen to three different cuts of Party in the USA, so call it eight.
The Beatles have twenty-funcking-eight tracks on these two discs. Old Brown Shoe is the lone buried treasure. Pick a few songs at random. I’m going to say B6, C2 and A3. Hey Jude, While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Four years.
Disgusting.
Hazards of Love. We saw the Decemberists play through this entire thing in London. Completely reimagined the album for me. The vocals hit harder, the story cuts deeper and the band plays louder. I would go to that concert ten out of ten times it came through my city.
We also lucked into seeing Emmy the Great open. Emmy is a charming songwriter and singer. She’s very British and very clever and often that combination makes me feel tired. She managed to make it engaging and thoughtful. She also dated Tim Wheeler from Ash (as seen in the header for this post), for a while. Good taste. She’s got an album I haven’t heard, so there’s something to do tomorrow.
Hazards of Love ticks a lot of boxes for me, and of the three Christmas discs, it’s going to be my favorite for the foreseeable future. Now I just need to figure out what other albums I want so I can be more active in my own deception next time.