Beatles Final - Short Answers

LSD

The psychedelic drug that influenced much of the Beatles' later work, as seen in the song, "Tomorrow Never Knows".

Psychedelia

"Mind Manifesting". Altered state of awareness brought upon by psychotropic drugs such as LSD. Influenced music, fashion and visual arts in the late 60's. Music influences included: exotic instrumentation (sitar, tabla), more complex song structures, key, time signatures, surrealism, whimsical lyrics, strong emphasis on instrument solo, elaborate studio effects (backward taping) and primitive electronic instruments.

Shea Stadium, NY

1st stadium to be used as a venue for a concert (this became more popular as a result). The Beatles performed here in 1965.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

50 year old Hindu swami introduced by Pattie Harrison; inspired Beatles to practice Transcendental meditation as a way to cope with Epstein's death. Beatles traveled to Rishikesh to follow Maharishi on retreat for a few months, inspired a couple of songs.

Let It Be Movie (1970)

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Magical Mystery Tour Movie (1967)

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Yellow Submarine Movie (1969)

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Jug bands

A band employing a jug player and a mix of traditional and homemade instruments. The Grateful Dead started as an American skiffle band with jug band root, like Lennon's skiffle band the Quarrymen.

EP (extended play recordings)

EP is a musical recording that contains more music than a single, but is usually too short to qualify as a full studio album or LP (long play). The term EP originally referred to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play (SP) records and LP records.

The Beach Boys

American rock band formed in 1961, when the Beatles were forming as well. Signed to Capitol Records in 1962. Once seen as the primary competitors to the Beatles. The Beatles covered a couple of Beach boys songs.

The Grateful Dead

American rock band that introduced McCartney to rich hippie folklore surrounding Ken Kesey, the Merry Pranksters and the multicolored, multimedia school bus that had borne them on their epic stoned journey across America in 1964.

Concept Album

An album that is unified by a larger purpose or meaning to the album collectively than to its tracks individually.

Moog Synthesizer

An electronic music system, designed by Dr. Robert Moog, and is heard in abbey road ("Because")

Musique, Concrete

An experimental style of music that emphasizes the fact that music may not come from sound sources we recognize. Often times, the source of the sound might be obscure. The Beatles embraced this style in the white album (1968), esp with song Revolution 9

Svarmandal

An indian string instrument like a harp. Used in Strawberry Fields Forever and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

George Dunning

Animated and directed 1968 Yellow Submarine film

Bed-In

Anti-war protests that John and Yoko held in their bed during their honeymoon and after their honeymoon in a hotel in Montreal. Recorded "Give Peace A Chance" in Montreal hotel room. They advocated for peace. Wanted to do it in US, but were denied access.

Avant-garde

People or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture and politics. Challenges norms, standards, and the status quo, goal is to improve culturalistic life, promotes radical social reforms.

Haight-Ashbury

Area in SF infamous for hippie subculture. Harrison visited here, was handed a guitar by the crowd, where he played a few chords but was too high to do anything else.

The Byrds

Artist that influenced the Beatles. He took LSD with the Beatles in 1965

Lewis Carroll

Author that wrote Alice in Wonderland. One of Lennon's biggest literary influences and Alice one of his favorite characters. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" drew its hallucinatory imagery from a chapter in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. Also inspired I Am The Walrus.

Barry Miles

Barry Miles was an English author that wrote about underground art culture. He was one of the guys who opened up Indica Bookstore

Michael Lindsay-Hogg

Director of full length documentary "Let It Be". Also directed Rolling Stones' Circus TV special recorded for BBC but never aired.

Donovan

Donovan was a Scottish musician. Met Beatles in India on retreat, Taught John and Paul the folk style fingerpicking guitar technique used on songs such as Dear Prudence and Blackbird.

Happenings

Performance, event, or situation meant to be considered art, usually performance art. Yoko Ono instructions from the artist to the audience: "Painting to be stepped on" and "cut piece"

Glissando

Continuous slide upward and downward between 2 notes

Twickenham Studios

A film studio located in St. Margarets, London. The film Help! was released here. "Get Back" project also filmed here.

Crescendo

A gradual increase in loudness on a piece of music.

Rishikesh, India

Beatles followed Maharishi here on retreat for a few months to practice Transcendental Meditation. Paul and Ringo left earlier while John and George remained until rumors that Maharishi was lying about being celibate. The Beatles wrote a lot of music here but never wrote together, mostly individual work. The last place the Beatles traveled together outside of Britain as a group.

Allen Klein

Became manager of the Beatles following death of Epstein. Personal advisor for Lennon, Harrison and Ringo although McCartney did not like him. He also helped in the salvation of Apple when they were doing horribly financially. Known for his intimidating way of doing business and did work in a way that made it so he got more money than he should have.

Fuzz Bass

Buzzy, distorted electric bass, used in the song Think For Yourself (rubber soul).

Peter Blake

Co-created album design for Sgt. Pepper's with his wife. Arranged for the cut out photographs and objects to be placed around the drum.

Phil Spector

Created the "wall of sound" recording technique. The Beatles hired him to use this technique for Let It Be. The "raw" album Let It Be was re-released without the wall of sound in 2003. The Beatles originally hated this version, which is why Phil Spector (who always wanted to work with the Beatles) produced for them.

Linda Eastman

Daughter of wealthy entertainment attorney in NY. Later would marry Paul after he breaks up with Jane Asher. Joins Paul in their band the Wings

Richard Hamilton

Designer of the white album cover, founding father of pop art in Britain, coined term to describe products of American mass culture - comic books, sci fi novels, pop music

Artificial Double Tracking (ADT)

Developed at Abbey Road studios by Ken Townsend. The Beatles had become frustrated with the need to continually re-record vocals to create multi-layered vocal effects. One voice laid perfectly on top of another produces 1 image. But ADT enabled the producer to move the second voice by just a few milliseconds, and two separate images emerge. Vocals on Revolver, guitar on Taxman. Saved a lot of time and effort. Uses tape delay to create a delayed copy of an audio signal which was then combined with the original.

Eric Clapton

Good friends with George Harrison that cooperated in many Beatles songs. Played on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Clapton has a distinct guitar sound which can be distinguished from the style of Harrison/Lennon. His house in Surrey was where Harrison wrote "Here Comes The Sun".

Ken Kesey

Grad student in creative writing at Stanford (1958). Experimental test subject for LSD (1959). Published One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1962). Invited to NY after 2nd novel. His LSD friends came along trip known as the Merry Pranksters. Big part of psychedelic movement

Owsley Stanley

Grandson of Kentucky congressman and senator. Went to Berkeley, experienced LSD as a 2nd year at Berkeley and then became a mass producer of LSD. Under the professional name of "Bear", he worked with psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead.

Calliope

Heard on Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite. Its a musical instrument that produces sound by sending a gas, originally steam or more recently compressed air, through large whistles - originally locomotive whistles. Known to be played in circuses.

Apple Records

Its parent company was Apple Corps Co. Founded by the Beatles in 1968 when they returned from India. It was intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles and other artists, such as Billy Preston who signed with the company. Allen Klein started to run the company in 1969, Paul was opposed to this and wanted Lee Eastman to run it. When Klein began to run the company, he shut down many of Apple's subsidiaries and their artistic roster effectively dropped. Paul had little input in the roster after 1970. It owned all the rights to the Beatles videos and movie clips, as well as the right to recordings by artists who signed with them.

Yoko Ono

Japanese artist, peace activist, and John Lennon's wife for a while from 1969 - 1980. Known for her work in avant garde art, music and filmmaking. When Cynthia Lennon came home from vacation, found her and Lennon in bed. Ono was impregnated by Lennon but had a miscarriage. Lennon and Ono began public protests against Vietnam War in 1968. Recorded their song: "Give Peace A Chance." Formed their own band: "The Plastic Ono Band".

Plastic Ono Band

John and Ono's band that they formed when working on albums together - implies something thats made/created, not necessarily "fake".

The Merry Pranksters

Ken Kesey and his group of friends. After hearing of Kesey and pranksters, McCartney began thinking how fun it would be to hire a bus and fill it with zany characters - birth of Magical Mystery Tour

Tabla

Key element in psychedelic music. Indian percussion instrument, like a drum.

Brian Wilson

Leader and member of the Beach Boys. Went to India in 1968 with the Beatles for education on transcendental meditation.

Timothy Leary

Leary wrote the book "The Psychedelic Experience" was the inspiration for Lennon's song "Tomorrow Never Knows" on Revolver. Leary recruited Lennon to write theme song for campaign against Ronald Reagan which led Lennon to create song "Come Together" on Abbey Road.

John Eastman

Linda Eastman's brother, he replaced his father Lee Eastman and took over managing Paul McCartney for many years especially in the trial during the 70s of trying to completely dissolve the Beatles.

Our World global TV broadcast

Live international TV production, where the Beatles performed "All you need is love" during the height of the Vietnam War (also attended by Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones).

Multi-tracking

Method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole.

Imelda Marcos

Name of Filipino first lady to President Ferdinand Marcos. In 1966, the Beatles tour Philippines. Imelda invites Beatles for a grand event. The Beatles don't show up because they never received the invitation. She was very upset about it. Beatles denied service at hotel and Epstein assaulted at airport.

Geoff Emerick

Name of sound engineer on albums such as Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Very young at the time and willing to be very innovative and experimental. Inspired the Beatles to use the Leslie speaker and take advantage of all the technology available to them.

Indica Bookstore and Gallery

Opened in March 1966 and owned by Barry Miles, John Dunbar, Peter Asher (Jane's brother). When John and Paul visited the bookstore together, John bought the book "The Psychedelic Experience" which was incorporated into their song "Tomorrow Never Knows", which is based on their LSD trips. Its focus was on the contemporary underground literary and art scene. Paul invested 5,000 euros to help open the bookstore and assisted with interior decorating. This is where John met Yoko Ono on November 9th 1966. The Indica Bookstore and indica gallery were separate.

Apple Boutique

Opened on December 4th 1967, after forming the Apple Corps Co. They sold clothes here. It was run by Pete Shotton, a childhood friend of John and a friend of George's sister in law. Its most striking aspect was its psychedelic painting on the outer walls, which they did not get permission for so it was soon after painted white. Essentially a retail business created by the Beatles. Ended failing miserably and lost a lot of money from it - did not even last a year - closed down on July 30th 1968. On the final day, they allowed each customer to take one item for free.

Ravi Shankar

Pandit Ravi Shankar, was the virtuoso sitar maestro who introduced Indian classical music to the world and inspired the Sixties 'psychedelic' sound through his collaboration with the Beatles.

The Acid Tests

Parties started by Ken Kesey, who invited anyone (who paid a small fee) to come and see if they could take acid and withstand the effects.

Jann Haworth

Peter Blake's wife that co-created album design for SPLHCB. Won a grammy for her effort

Harmonium

Pump organ, used in the song, Being for the benefit of mr kite.

Pop Art

Richard Hamilton created a collage that was considered to be the first iconic work of the pop art movement. Images cut out from American magazines to create a picture. Examples: naked man holding a lollipop and a naked woman sitting on couch. Also, Andy Warhol and his campbell soup cans on a canvas and his 8 Elvis's.

Penny Lane

Street in Liverpool where Paul used to catch a bus to take to John's house. Nostalgic of the good memories associated with it. Inspired Penny Lane

Tape Loops

The 3 squares are the erase, record, and play back "heads". Used on the revolver album and was a new method used in recording for the Beatles.

Rooftop Concert

The Beatles' rooftop concert was the final public performance of the English rock band the Beatles. On 30 January 1969, the band, with keyboardist Billy Preston, surprised a central London office and fashion district with an impromptu concert from the roof of the headquarters of the band's multimedia corporation Apple Corps at 3 Savile Row. In a 42-minute set, the Beatles were heard playing nine takes of five songs before the Metropolitan Police Service asked them to reduce the volume. Footage from the performance was later used in the 1970 documentary film Let It Be.

Pablo Fanque

The influence and inspiration behind the Beatles' "Being For the benefit of mr kite". John saw Pablo Fanque's circus royale poster and was inspired.

Tibetan Book of the Dead

Tim Leary wrote this book. "The Psychedelic Experience" based on this book. John learned about psychedelia from this book, got it from Indica bookstore. Book that tells you how to prepare for LSD use.

Weybridge, Surrey

Town where John Lennon and Ringo Starr lived

John Cage

Yoko Ono's teacher of experimental composition at the New School. Had "Zen-derived theories of artistic indeterminacy". Known for unconventional "neo-dadaism". Was an avant-garde composer, famous for 4min 33 seconds when he just sits at piano without playing.

Surrealism

a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature that sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images. Greatly impacted the Beatles in latter albums

Sitar

a classical Indian string instrument. George first heard it on the set of Help! and wanted to learn more. George played a sitar on Norwegian wood. Key element in psychedelic music.

Harpsichord

a musical instrument similar to a piano, used in the song "Because".

Pastiche

an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period. relevance to beatles?

Mellotron

an electro mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard. Has a similar behavior to a sampler, but generates its sound via audio tape. When a key is pressed, a tape connected to it is pushed against a playback head, like a tape recorder.

Leslie rotating speakers

designed as a sound modification device. It is not a "hi-fi" speaker, but rather a part of a musical instrument. Named after its inventor Don Leslie. It operates on a simple principle: a directional sound source is rotated at constant (or variable) speeds around a fixed pivot point. Used in song Tomorrow Never Knows

Strawberry Fields

name of orphanage by John's aunt's house where he lived as a child. Used to spend time there playing with the orphans. Inspired Strawberry Fields Forever.

Op Art

optical illusions as a form of art that were popular at the same time as pop art. influenced beatles as they had an optical illusion in SPLHCB album artwork

Varispeed

sounds taped at one speed and played back at another. Example: piano on In My Life. Variable speed pitch control on an audio such as a turntable, tape recorder, CD player that allows the operator to deviate from a standard speed.

Folk Rock

the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the United Kingdom around the mid-1960s. The genre was pioneered by the Los Angeles band the Byrds, who began playing traditional folk music and songs by Bob Dylan with rock instrumentation. The term "folk rock" was coined by the U.S. music press to describe the Byrds' music in June 1965, the month in which the band's debut album was issued.

Hammond Organ

type of electric organ used in the abbey road album