Stream of Consciousness & Music Reviews

    John Lennon said that he was in his Bob Dylan phase around the time of Help! and the music really reflects it. The majority of the album has a more folk-y feel to it, opting for acoustic guitars instead of electric for most of the songs, and using other acoustic instruments not really found in rock too often, namely tambourine; seriously, there's so much tambourine on this album. Despite being inspired by 60's folk and Bob Dylan, while the sound matches, the lyrical content doesn't. It's mostly the same sort that was on A Hard Day's Night, i.e. mostly love songs and a few more personal, deeper songs (Help!, Yesterday). Speaking of things that haven't really changed since AHDN, the instrumentation and complexity of the music hasn't evolved much yet. Aside from the obvious folk direction, it isn't really doing anything that AHDN didn't also do. It has the same general level of instrumentation and harmonies, without being too complex. It's a lit...

    This is my first real dive into southern rock, and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised. I expected Lynyrd Skynyrd to be good based solely on their popularity, but there's also a good amount of real sophistication in the music, both lyrically and technically. There's some complexity in the music that I genuinely wasn't expecting and really helps to strengthen it's basis as very heavily "country" and also push itself beyond that; the uses of different unconventional instruments in different songs is namely very well done and helps the songs stand out amongst each other, and I'm sure from other music that's similar. I think that there's also a good deal of inspiration from, or at least similarity to, country and R&B from the early-mid 1900's here that also really reinforce the general sound. Speaking of sound, it's pretty good. Allen Collins on guitar and Ronnie van Zant singing especially stand out as really great; Collins' so...