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Bill Cooper

Bill Cooper

Writer. Youtuber. Music and Pop Culture Obsessive.

Music

Sometimes You Need a Rock and Roll Smoothie

Especially When Talking about Twenty-four Albums Back to Back

2 min readApr 5, 2023

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What a week. Start with Buck Owens and Jerry Lee Lewis and end Zappa and Simon Garfunkel. What was in between? Oh, only landmark albums such as “Pet Sounds” by the Beach Boys, “Revolver” by The Beatles, and “Highway 61 Revisited”/“Blonde on Blonde” by Dylan.

I’ve really been trying to use demonstration methods to show my musical journey and what I’m learning. Methods include eating burgers, pinewood derby cars, and making smoothies.

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Check out what all this Monty Python/Wayne’s World public access-y stuff below in the video:

A Couple of Key Takeaways From This Week

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  • “Pet Sounds” is truly a delightful album that changes the landscape of pop music, not only throughout the 60s, but beyond.
  • The Beatles “Revolver” is when the rock group steps into what music they actually want to make, not what the studio wants them to. It’s a beautiful coming out moment for them and you can see it preserved in real time if you listen.
  • Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” is a more cohesive album than “Blonde on Blonde”, but the latter has better songs on it.
  • Mothers of Invention’s “Freak Out!” makes me question what can be music, for better or worse.
  • Simon and Garfunkel’s “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Thyme” is a banger that not only showcases in a subtle way what was happening in the zeitgeist with Vietnam, but an intricate album that weaves in pop choral melodies/harmonies and folk rock jammers that create a dynamic piece as a whole.

What’s Next?

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Uh oh…That’s not the face of someone having a good time.

’60s Bill seems to have licked some stamps and is feeling a little…off.

I believe psychedelia may be in full force! Expect next week to be trippy: The Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band”, The 13th Floor Elevators, Pink Floyd’s “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, The Velvet Underground, and Nico will all make appearances.

Until next week!

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Bill Cooper

Written by Bill Cooper

Writer. Youtuber. Music and Pop Culture Obsessive.