ATL Collective

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who came out last night. Two great shows, one fantastic night. Looking forward to seeing you all next month. Second Wednesday of the month, at Eddie’s! February 8, mark your calendars!

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Many Thanks!

Warm thanks and holiday cheer to everyone who came out to our show atEddie’s Attic last night! You all helped make it such a festive evening. Make sure to stay tuned for updates on our next show on January 11, 2012, featuring Neil Young’s “After The Gold Rush” with Micah Dalton, Tyler Lyle and David Berkeley.

Nothing Beats Burl for the Holidays

Happy Holidays! 

In this time of caroling, spiced drinks, and mistletoe, we are happy to ring in the holidays with you, our friends of the Collective! We are thrilled to announce that our surprise featured artist will be Tanner Merritt of Atlanta’s own O’Brother. To spread even more holiday cheer and help get you as excited as we are, here is a blog by our co-founder David Berkeley. David is writing from San Francisco, where he is continuing his music and writing career. His albums and books make great stocking stuffers and you can find them on his website. We look forward to seeing you this Wednesday, December 14th at Eddie’s Attic for Burl Ives’s “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas”!

Nothing Beats Burl for the Holidays by David Berkeley

In researching a bit to write this blog, (from respected sources, including Wikipedia), I learned a few great facts about our good friend Burl. First, his full name is Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives. I could probably stop right there, and this would already be a tremendous blog. Icle? Ivanhoe? As if the Burl part weren’t enough. He also dropped out of college, (the college which has since named a building after him), and was a Freemason, an organization about which I’ve always been curious myself. 

Burl, of course, released a ton of records and appeared in an impressive list of TV shows and films. He also performed in several Broadway productions and authored an autobiography and several songbooks.

But onto matters at hand: the album, Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, a wish most of us share (at least for those we love). The album came out in 1965 and includes such favorites as “White Christmas,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Silver Bells,” “Drummer Boy,” (yes the little one), and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

There may be nothing groundbreaking about this album, but who wants a groundbreaking Christmas album? What we want, and yes even I, (a member of the Jewish faith), want it, is familiarity, comfort, warmth. We want to basically be serenaded by our grandpa…or even by Santa. And Burl manages to channel both (assuming your grandpa sounded similar to mine). We want the classics done in classic style.

Burl’s voice and these arrangements bring a blast of snow and a glimpse of colored lights, a puff of chestnut smoke and peppermint right into our living rooms and, if I may, right into our hearts. The music makes us feel close to our loved ones—even those far away. And as I write this, almost 3000 miles from you, my dear Collective, this is exactly what I want in a Christmas record.

And although I can’t be there with you, I’ll be thinking of you. And I’ll be looking forward to our Collective in January, where I will be back among you to welcome in 2012.

Lots of love and holiday cheer,

David 

Meditations on Revolver by Alexandra Stieber

Some of my earliest memories stem from listening to the Beatles with my father.  Sitting together on Saturday mornings, over warm bagels and coffee, (apple juice for me), my dad would put a Beatles’ vinyl on the record player, and we would sit together and listen.  Interspersed throughout the course of the album, my dad would tell me stories about the various songs, or anecdotes about the Beatles themselves.  I looked forward to those days, those moments with my dad and the Beatles.  Their music remains an integral component of my and my father’s relationship, as well as an enduring constant, my touchstone, throughout life.

The songs of the Fab Four have become the soundtrack to my life, from those early days as a young child to my morning drives to work today.  And each album, each song, holds a special place in my heart.  Whenever people ask me what my favorite Beatles’ album is, I hesitate and imagine that this is what it must feel like to be a parent and asked whether you have a favorite child.  The choice cannot really be made in good conscious when a musical catalogue is as momentous, as inspiring, as iconic as that of the Beatles.  Yet, if I were forced to pick just one, Revolver would rise to the top.  Because not only did this album change the way I listened to music, considered music, for the rest of my life, but it shifted the course of rock and roll like no other album before it, and no other album after.

Revolver not only represented a fundamental shift in the Beatles’ sound; it also marked an evolution of the way in which the band created its music.  Following Revolver, the rest of their music was forged in the studio without any consideration as to whether or not the songs would be able to be played live.  In fact, when Revolver was released in August 1966, the Beatles were completing what would end up being their final live tour, without any of the 14 tracks on Revolver ever being played on stage during that time.

Each song on Revolver exudes imaginative thinking and unparalleled creativity.  With outside influences from the emerging hippy movement and the increasing prevalence of psychedelic drugs in the lives of the Beatles, the variety of those 14 tracks challenged all the standard conventions of pop music to date.  With a range of music styles, from the sitar sounds of India on Tomorrow Never Knows to the children’s sing-a-long style on Yellow Submarine, Revolver introduced a track-by-track distinction that has since become a rock and roll standard.

Revolver represents the Beatles’ first truly experimental album, yet, in true Beatles’ fashion, each song is incredibly memorable and accessible.  Eleanor Rigby, For No One and Here, There And Everywhere are still known as some of the most beautiful and beloved songs Paul ever wrote, while Taxman and I Want To Tell You are still considered the best compositions George had done up to that point.  Yellow Submarine would later inspire a feature animated film, its youthful spirit a stark contrast to the wistful notes and mood encapsulating lyrics to some of John’s contributions to the album: I’m Only Sleeping and She Said She Said.

With the release of Revolver, the Beatles officially became recording artists rather than performers, able to happily focus on the more fulfilling art of crafting records rather than having to squeeze in any songwriting time from the road or between television and film appearances.  After Revolver, they were finally free to be the artists they were always destined to become.

 - Written by Alexandra Stieber, branding and marketing extraordinaire, and featured blogger for the ATL Collective.

Join us on Wednesday, October 12th at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, GA for the ATL Collective, featuring the Beatles’ Revolver, top to bottom, with Yellow Submarine Sandwiches. Tickets can be purchased in advanced on the Eddie’s Attic website or at the door for $13. We look forward to seeing you there! 

The ATL Collective Team 

P.S. Check out our co-founder, Micah Dalton’s, KICKSTARTER “Sponsor A Song“ Campaign.  

Photo Contest at Tonight’s Show

Attention, folks! For our show tonight, ATL Collective presents LIVE Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”, we are going to be running another fan-submitted photo contest. At both shows, take pictures on your photo-friendly mobile device and upload them to our facebook page, for a chance to win! Best photo wins a free ticket to next month’s show, and the first to submit a photo wins a free ATL Collective t-shirt.

I Wanna Know What’s In It by Benjamin Williams

Sometimes, one hears musicians and listeners alike talking in pretty specific terms about something that, ultimately, is simply judged by the way it sounds. 

Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On (WGO) is musically complex in not only specific terms but in subtle nuances as well. It is a record that would be impossible to replicate; one can play all the notes but still not achieve the same sound, that intangible essence. 

Marvin Gaye was seemingly out of the music business in early 1970. His singing partner, Tammi Terrell, had died of a brain tumor. At this point, Gaye was definitely not interested in music. Nevertheless, he did perhaps the hardest and most admirable thing a person can do in life: made a come back, sharper than ever. 

Up until WGO, Gaye had been taking a more traditional approach to his musical arrangements and lyrics. Yet WGO totally shattered the mold. The music is vast. Gaye’s vocals are one of kind; there will never be another like him, and WGO is his showcase in effortless-mastery. His voice floats over the tracks in a commanding and nostalgic way. Lyrically, it tells the story of a man coming home from Vietnam to see that he has been fighting for a country that could care less about him and his contributions. He’s gotten a raw deal. I think it would cheapen the lyrics to call them political without clarifying that they are political in a social sense as well. Everyone can emphasize with a raw deal.

As for the music, the harmonies are lush, and the playing truly exhibits mastery of technique, art and compromise. These are the amazing Funk Brothers, a band who played on more number one hits than The Beatles, Elvis, The Stones and The Beach Boys combined. They are some of the most listened-to musicians ever, and WGO is the first time they were ever credited for anything. This is their showcase in musical mastery and teamwork. WGO is made up entirely of the people behind it. Marvin Gaye and The Funk Brothers came together and really brought it, and this album is a perfect combination of passion and experience – the quintessential example of someone at the top of their game. 

Sometimes we listen to music when we do other things. WGO is not one of those records. The music really has a way of opening up your ears, your mind and your soul. The music really makes you stop and listen. 

Want to know what’s happening? 

What’s happening is when a group of people get together with a shared vision. These people help bring out a most impressive strength in themselves and each other.  Smartly, they have the ability to compromise to be greater than they are by themselves. They give each other credit where it is due and, perhaps most importantly, they empathize. Then they go out and do something great.   Which is precisely what Marvin Gaye and The Funk Brothers came together to do on WGO.


- - Written by Benjamin Williams, contributing writer of the ATL Collective and musician with The Shadowboxers.