Some Words from the Bird

 The Beatles. What a surprise! This record is a soundtrack of the movie with the same name. The songs stand up in their own right; there is no feeling of pasting together some tunes to accompany a flimsy plot line designed to milk the hard earned wages of adoring fans out of their pockets in exchange for an hour or two with the Beatles. Listening to this album, I get a feeling that the Beatles were settling nicely into their role as the premier band of all time at this point. The songs are diverse and well written, and it is obvious that they could do as they pleased in the studio, just so long as there was something the record companies could sell.  The record company was not without influence however, apparently the title track was sped up and made into a pop song at the behest of the corporate overlords. When you listen to the lyrics you can imagine it as a slower dirge, an actual plea for succor, as opposed to a snappy pop song. That being said, it works as a pop vehicle...

 Hello Again! I was looking forward to listening to this album, as I was aware of Smokey Robinson, and his status as a Motown icon, but was not familiar with much of his repertoire. The song I knew best of his was "Being With You" from the Eighties. It isn't a bad song, I guess, but it isn't currently on the playlist on my Iphone. I figured that an artist that is held in such high esteem must have some really good music to offer, and it would likely reside on the album du jour, "Going To A Go-Go".  I was about half right.  "The Tracks of My Tears" is a well known song; my first exposure to it was the soundtrack to the movie "The Big Chill". It also features memorably in the movie "Platoon" as the backdrop to half of the platoon blowing off some steam by smoking and drinking up a storm. I recall Forest Whitaker dancing around with a pipe that measured about a foot long, and Rhah swaying while clutching a doll to his chest wit...