#1434: The Byrds – Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)

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Went back to the Vista computer sitting in the corner of the living room to get to the source for this track. According to the file’s properties, I downloaded The Byrds’ ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ at 12:30 in the morning, on Sunday 1st of May 2011. Just a few minutes after doing the same for their cover of ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’. It was a wild period of my life that I was behind a desktop on a Saturday night downloading music. Really, I was in the lead-up to my actual GCSE exams and going out wasn’t an option. Around that time, both songs had appeared on a radio service provided by the website we7.com, which I’ve referred to on a few occasions. I liked the two of ’em straight off the bat. When it came to ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’, I got that all-to-familiar feeling that I’d heard the song somewhere before. It’s in Forrest Gump, which I’m sure I’d seen by that point, but it was like my knowledge of the tune went much further back. This is something I’ll come back to at the end of this post.

Just over two months after completing their first album in April 1965, The Byrds were back in the studio to start work on what would become their second. Only made sense. They’d virtually created the folk rock genre, and their take on ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ had taken the world by storm. It was time to capitalise. During the sessions for this new album, they recorded an adaptation of ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ by Pete Seeger, which itself was heavily reliant on the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. The Byrds did their thing. Applied the three-way harmonies of Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Gene Clark. Utlilised the chiming 12-string guitars. Unlike ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ where McGuinn was the only Byrd playing his instrument alongside the world-class Wrecking Crew session musicians, all five Byrds were present, correct and performing on ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ this time ’round. They completed the song. It was released as the first single from their forthcoming album, also entitled Turn! Turn! Turn!. While maybe not as much as the worldwide smash ‘Tambourine’ was, the people of America got it to number one in their country and the folk rock train of 1965 kept rolling.

I mean, I think it’s a bit of a classic, right? The Byrds would evolve in terms of the music they’d make as the ’60s went on. But in terms of establishing that folk rock sound, ‘Tambourine Man’ and ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ solidly set the template and influenced anything like it that followed. I already mentioned them in the previous paragraph, but it’s all about the vocal melodies and the jangly guitars. The combination of those result in some good aural bliss. But I also like how the song picks up in rhythm as its outro sets in and Michael Clarke becomes a little bit more busier on the drums, pulling off some fills and triplet patterns in the process. One thing I would wish for is that The Byrds did a whole Beatles discography remix thing, though. Instruments in the right ear and just vocals in the left… It’s not a stereo mix for today’s society. Oh, and, uh, years after getting to know ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ proper in 2011, I found myself watching that Simpsons episode where Bart and Lisa become newsreaders for a children’s programme. In it, Bart seeks inspiration from Kent Brockman. Brockman assists. ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ showed up, and that unlocked a memory of sitting in front of the small TV in my grandma’s room when I was maybe eight, watching the same episode while trying not to wake her up. So there you go.

#1433: The Streets – Turn the Page

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Leading up to Christmastime 2008, I sent my cousin the yearly list of things that I wanted for the holiday. These lists would usually consist of albums and maybe a couple video games on the side. On that particular edition, among other potentials, I asked for both Original Pirate Material and A Grand Don’t Come for Free by The Streets. Earlier on in the year, Mike Skinner released his fourth album under the name in Everything Is Borrowed. But his music had been in my life for a good long while by then. I was alive and kicking when A Grand… was the new album, recognising ‘Fit But You Know It’ when it appeared on the FIFA 2005 soundtrack. I was in Year 6 when the brand-new video for ‘When You Wasn’t Famous’ was being repeated regularly on MTV2. And the singles’ videos from Original Pirate Material were a usual occurrence on the same channel. I was all-in for The Streets in that first decade of the 2000s. But I must have found out that Original… and A Grand… were considered to be the best out of the four, hence the request. And I did get them, conveniently packaged in a 2-in-1 CD jewel case, which I still have to this day.

Original Pirate Material was Skinner’s first album, released back in 2002, only made sense to start with it. It begins with ‘Turn the Page’. You ask me today to relay Skinner’s words on this track back to you, I wouldn’t be able to do it even after knowing it all this time. Not because I don’t know them, but I know for sure the words are better coming out of his mouth rather than mine. The lyrics are very much Skinner’s message to the listener to get in the zone for the album to come, and in a way for those that were to follow, ’cause he’s the phoenix rising out of the UK garage scene – which was doing its thing commercially in those early, early years of the 2000s – and looking to push it in a new direction. I can’t relate to that. I was in the last days of my sixth year on this planet when Original Pirate… was originally released. It’s not like it’s something you start reciting in the shower, either. So I’m fine to only listen to the lyrics. Skinner has such a commanding presence anyway, and those strings add the dramatic tone that takes everything to another level.

I think I need to watch the film Gladiator ’cause the track contains references to it that I am completely missing out on. Mike Skinner saw it and was inspired to write something that captured its essence. I’m sure he succeeded, but without knowing the film, it’s not in my place to firmly say. Admittedly, I’m not too cultured when it comes to movies. But even with the absence in Gladiator knowledge, there is a definite movie-scene vibe to ‘Turn the Page’. Like, it’d be perfect as the background music to a training montage of this determined character who wakes up early in the morning to get shit done. The movie would have to take place in the UK though and rely on less of a budget than your standard blockbuster Warner Bros. box office sellout. But anyway, yes, ‘Turn the Page’, a strong start to anyone’s discography, let alone one sole album. Begins everything with a cinematic tone, urges you to strap yourself in and get ready. If you listen ‘Turn the Page’ on its own, you’ll find it ends quite suddenly, on an unresolved note, and it’s because on the album, it slides right into the following track ‘Has It Come to This?’, in which the curtain’s lifted, and you’re properly invited into Skinner’s world. So listen to both songs in succession, is what I’m trying to say. Well worth the seven minutes of your time.

#1432: Blur – Turn It Up

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Here it is, one of the worst Blur songs the band ever did. Or so you may have been led to believe. Allegedly, when it comes to ‘Turn It Up’, the second-last song on Modern Life Is Rubbish, the one thing agreed amongst Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree is the hate they have for it. There’s no interview confirming this consensus (that I can find). But you can at least find an one with Albarn in which he says, “[Young and Lovely] should have been on the LP. But it didn’t get on there and fucking ‘Turn It Up’ did.” I’ve got a good grasp of the English language to know that any noun prefaced by an intensifier of ‘fucking’ is not being referred to in a good way. ‘Turn It Up’ is a bit of an odd one on Modern Life… It doesn’t fit with the British social commentary theme that runs through the LP. It does feel a little like something that would have been a shoo-in on the previous, debut album Leisure. Judging by the following linked performance, it was one of the first new songs written after that album’s release. But I want to assure you, as a fan of music of all kinds, but predominantly rock as you could tell from everything else on this blog, ‘Turn It Up’ is a great, great time.

In terms of the lyrical content, ‘Turn It Up’ doesn’t really go anywhere and it doesn’t mean anything. “Kazoo, kazoo, you are mine / Kazoo, kazoo, every time”, “Kazoo, kazoo, your reply / Why do you turn your back on me?”. All a bunch of nonsense. Probably an added reason as to why Albarn in particular does not care for the track in any way. Despite this, he sings every lyric within very nicely, alongside Coxon on the higher harmonies. There are great melodies throughout. And the production behind it all is absolutely massive. Mega. There’s an explosiveness to the band’s performance than there has any right to be on a song like this. I’d had Modern Life Is Rubbish in the iTunes library since 2013, but it was a revisit a couple years later that really turned me on to ‘Turn It Up’. The revisit made me pay more attention to the chord changes, the track’s different sections and the various guitar licks Graham Coxon was pulling off throughout. It pricked my ear towards the thunderous drum work by Dave Rowntree, he’s going all over the place, rapid-fire snare rolls and tom-tom strikes abound. Just made me gain a general appreciation for the track I didn’t have before. Even as a “lesser” track, it’s one of the reasons Modern Life… is my favourite of the three “Life” albums Blur did in the mid-’90s.

Graham Coxon once broke down Modern Life…, listening to each individual track and picking out elements a little harder to hear than the average listener may want to. The flickering guitar at the beginning was created by Coxon leaning his guitar against an amp and feeding it through a tremolo pedal. There’s a rattling triangle somewhere in the mix. I think it’s the high frequency of that which adds the trance-inducing quality in the “Kazoo, kazoo” pre-choruses. And the little guitar run he executes before the first pre-chorus is filtered through a wah-wah pedal. The breakdown is a good watch. I’ve kind of run out of things to say here. Sure, ‘Turn It Up’ doesn’t have anything of huge consequence in terms of a narrative, nor in terms of its placement on the album. It’s stuck in that slot in the track list when you’re gearing up for the ending and waiting in anticipation to see how the package finishes. It feels like it’s one of those “we wrote this and our label really likes it, but we don’t” kind of songs. A lot of side-eyeing in this track’s direction. But what it lacks for in importance, it more than makes up for in its intense energy and forceful performance.

#1431: Death from Above 1979 – Turn It Out

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I remember being really excited for the release of The Physical World when that was to be the new, long-awaited second album by Death from Above 1979, back in 2014. Looking back, it was a bit of a bandwagon move. I didn’t follow the band during their original run together between 2001 and 2006, although I recall my sister singing ‘Black History Month’ a whole bunch. It was a single, she must have heard it somewhere. Years later I sort of fell into the sort of myth-like quality behind the duo. Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler made and released You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine in 2004, eventually fell out with each other and split up a couple years later. That album was their only album for a long time, looked like it would only ever be their sole LP. Along the way, a band like Royal Blood – another duo made of a bass guitarist and drummer – showed up, and even though I never properly listened to them, I’d still think, “Death from Above did it first.” So when The Physical World was announced, it was like, “Yeah, now time to show ’em all how it’s done.” I had to do some learning. I did some homework via listening to You’re a Woman… in the lead-up to The Physical World‘s release.

‘Turn It Out’ starts the album off, and damn, what an opener. Soon as Keeler’s bass guitar comes thundering in, squeals and all in between, alongside Grainger’s drums, my face is scrunched up and my head is banging. If ever I’m walking down the street and the song comes on in the headphones, I need people to get out of the way – while this song is on, my head is down and I’m charging to where I need to get to. I think that’s helped by the fact that “I’m on the move, mother” is the lyric for what I guess is the chorus. Guessing, because it’s a very short one. There aren’t a lot of words in this song in general, looking at it. Maybe seven lines delivered by a wailing Grainger, all to do with a “I’d like to sit and chat, but time’s of the essence and I’ve got somewhere I need to go” feeling. But what it lacks in lyrical content is made up for by the bass guitar riffage and pummeling rhythms delivered in the two-and-a-half-minute length. The bass line sharply switches between low and high notes. Grainger’s pounding on the tom-toms. Those climbing bass runs during the “chorus” are killer. Everything’s an onslaught, with no time to relax until both members strike their respective instruments at the song’s end. The cymbals are left sizzling. It’s a spicy opening track.

Some songs on You’re a Woman… I’d come across already before digging into it. The video for ‘Romantic Rights’ would pop up now and again on MTV2. I once watched the video for ‘Blood on Your Hands’ out of the corner of my eye. It got to the part where the music stops and the little waiting-room-ish interlude begins after. I didn’t know what was going on. But a few listens to the whole song in the album’s context secured it as a strong, strong favourite of mine. And I owned Saints Row 2. ‘Sexy Results’ was on the game’s soundtrack. As a whole, I enjoyed the album quite a bit, hearing it that first time in the summer of 2014. It’s not one I return to all that often now. I think I have to be in the mood to hear some songs about get-togethers, relationships and the like set to thick bass lines. I don’t find myself in that kind of mood all that often. I’d say You’re a Woman… is something of a young man’s album. It’s all in the name too. I’m not the machine this album is probably aimed for. These things I just have to come to terms with.

#1430: Animal Collective – Turn into Something

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Ah, Feels. Feels. Animal Collective’s Feels. I do have to listen to the album in full again one of these days. Back in 2014, I downloaded it more or less to round out the four albums marking the group’s “classic period” having already added Merriweather Post Pavilion, Strawberry Jam and Sung Tongs to the iTunes library. I think, in that order too. Might have even downloaded Centipede Hz before I got to Feels. Though when I did, ‘Did You See the Words’ jumped out immediately. Probably helped it was the album’s first song, but you know what I mean. ‘Grass’ took a little while longer to settle in. Once it did, it became a playlist mainstay. ‘Banshee Beat’ and ‘The Purple Bottle’ are meant to be two of AnCo’s most beloved songs, but in 2014, they just sounded all right to me. And after those ‘Turn into Something’ seemed like the other really obvious highlight. Which is why I say I need to listen through the entire LP again. It’d be a wonder to see what 12 years difference would do. And with the somewhat recent 20th anniversary reissue, I can get some more Feels-era tuneage.

‘Turn into Something’ closes Feels out, bringing everything back home after the lullaby-like ‘Loch Raven’. Looking at Spotify, it’s the second-least played track on the album, which surprises me at least because it’s such a euphoric resolution to everything that’s come before. The intro guitar, which also continues almost throughout, bouncing one from note to the other alongside those thundering tom-toms and snare hits… Those were enough to hook me in. Those were enough, because just listening to the song and not looking at the lyrics won’t clue me in to what Avey Tare’s was singing in any shape or form. Except for the “Oh, that’s the goodness” choruses and the refrains in which the title is sung, it’s very hard to make the words out. I have always appreciated the delivery and the clear energy he puts behind it. But reading the lyrics for this post’s sake, Tare describes his surroundings with a childlike wonder, experiencing a new scene in each verse. There’s an exploration of dealing with fleeting happiness or “goodness” as Tare puts it and a message to be something more, that you have the potential to change. At least, this is how I’ve come to see it. And it’s nice, a real optimistic point to end the album on.

And after Tare sings ‘You should turn into something’ for the last time, the song in turn changes into a completely different mood, becoming a droning, ambient piece with Tare-Panda Bear vocalizations over the top for two-and-a-half-minutes. Really something to space out to. I don’t know if Animal Collective are the type of people to lay out what’s to come next in terms of their music in the last songs of their albums. I’ve read around in places that some artists like to do that. But hearing ‘Turn into Something’ the first time, I did think I could hear bits of Strawberry Jam in there, particularly in those parts in the break between the first chorus and second verse where it sounds like you’re being dunked and pulled out of a vortex. The closing, mind-altering soundscape the tune closes with too, it’s like a precursor to the end of ‘Chores’ or the drones in ‘For Reverend Green’. It’s maybe all a big coincidence, though. It must have been nice being a fan of Animal Collective in 2005. Hearing all four bandmembers were back together again after Sung Tongs, and then they give you a song like this in return? Reckon it couldn’t have been better.