He's 70 today. For a reminder of his range, look at what he did on June 14th 1965.
On that day the Beatles recorded three songs at Abbey Road. In the first session, which began at 2:30 and finished three hours later, they did "I've Just Seen A Face", an up-tempo, almost Western Swing pop tune, and "I'm Down", a larynx-shredding stormer in the Little Richard mould. In the second session, which began at 7:00, he recorded the acoustic ballad "Yesterday".
He wrote, arranged and sang lead on all three. You're welcome to find other examples of artists recording three songs as different, memorable and enduring as these in the same afternoon and evening. Take your time.
Since you asked...
ReplyDeleteHow about the impromptu 1956 recording session by Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny cash and Elvis Presley.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Dollar_Quartet
Songs include:
'Blueberry Hill'
'The Old Rugged Cross'
'Tutti Frutti'
'Don't Be Cruel'
Oh -- and Elvis was 21. :-)
Yes, a diverse bunch of tunes. But the Killer, the King, the Toupee and the Undertaker didn't write any of them. And they were a quartet.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to look up Lewisohn to see what Macca did on the second day.. rest?
Just as impressive is the man's ability to keep producing memorable work in every decade since. As recently as Memory Almost Full he's pulled off imaginative productions - eg, You Tell Me.
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