The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 10, 1984, Page 9, Image 9
I n . l a
dttaues took over America
with Sullivan show debut
NEW YORK (AP) ? "Shindig," was the pop music
television show. "Goldfinger" was in the movie theaters. A
few women tried topless swimsuits and skateboards were
popular with the teens.
It was 1964 - the year the Beatles took America.
Twenty years ago on Feb. 9, the four mopheads from
Liverpool made their American debut on "The Ed Sullivan
Show." It was one of the most watched TV programs in the
nation ? in Now Ynrk (""itv 7*> n?r<-oni oil
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tuned in that Sunday night.
In the studio audience, there were girls, girls, girls screaming,
screeching, squirming adolescent girls.
The girls - 3,000 screamers - were at Kennedy Airp jrt
when Paul McCartney, 21, Ringo Starr, 23, George Harrison,
20, and John Lennon, 23, arrived Feb. 7.
Fred Martin, now an advertising consultant in Newport
Beach, Calif., was the record company's publicist then.
"They were surprised as we drove in from the airport that
there were minute-by-minute broadcasts on them, on where
the car was. That astonished them," he said in a telephone
interview.
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said merely that the British singing group would appear on
the Sullivan show with "Mitzi McCall and Charlie Brill,
comedy team ... the Four Fays, tumbling act" and 37
members of the cast from the Broadway musical,
"Oliver."
For the Beatles, those 15 days were a lark. They entertained
the press at news conferences with jaunty quips to
inane questions.
Starr was asked what he thought of Beethoven. His reply:
"Great. 'Specially his poems."
Lennon was shot to death outside his Manhattan apartment
buidling Dec. 8, 1980. McCartney, Harrison and
Starr live in England where they pursue carecrs in music
and film.
But in 1964. the Beatles had scarcely begun.
Wildly popular in England and on the continent, the
Beatles and their records did not catch on in the United
States until Jan. 17, when "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
hit No. 1 on the Cashbox chart.
After Ed Sullivan, the Beatles sold 2.5 million records
here in less than a month. Later that year, they grossed $1.6
million in the first week's showing of their movie, "A Hard
Day's Night," and Lennon's kooky book, "In His Own
Write," climbed best seller lists overnight.
Songwriter Christopher Cross, who won four Grammy
Awards in 1981 for his song and album, "Sailing," was 12
when he saw the Beatles on "Ed Sullivan."
"To me, the Beatles created an excitement about being in
the business itself," said Cross in an interview last week.
"They stick out to me as the greatest thing in pop music.
Paul McCartney has alwasy been, and remains, my biggest
influence of all time because of song structure. He and
John taught me how to write songs."
On the Sullivan show, Paul, wide-eyed and boyish,
feverishly worked the bass guitar singing "All My I.oving"
at one microphone while George, on lead guitar, and John,
on rhythm guitar, harmonized at another. Ringo sat high
above them on a platform at the drums.
i no weatie nair style eventually occame as conservative
as a crcwcut, but in 1964, it was a novelty. The late oil
billionaire John Paul Getty posed in a Beatle wig, as did Ed
Sullivan.
Songwriter and jazz stylist Michael Franks at first didn't
include the Beatles in the same sphere as other giants of
contemporary music, such as Cole Porter.
But, Franks added, "when they started writing songs like
'Eleanor Rigby' and 'Yesterday,' they started producing
sonic incredible compositions that really do belong in that
mold."
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Rereleased album capti
By Maria Baens
In 1971, a debut album was released and quickly
withdrawn. In it, an obscure young artist's voice was distorted
bv some studio mishan.
Who would have thought then that this piano-player from
Long Island, N.Y.,would become one of music's critically acclaimed
and top-grossing American songwriters?
After 12 years, Billy Joel's debut album, "Cold Spring Harbor,"
was re-released after re-mixing and re-recording by
Larry Elliott and Artie Ripp, who were also involved with the
original. The distortions are gone and in their stead, is the
gilded promise, polished and squeaky-clean, of the "Piano
Man."
IN "SHF'S Got a Way" Joel gives a sweet heartfelt reflection
on his lady love. He tries to explain her magic in a
graceful tune but decides "there doesn't have to be a reason
anyway."
"Everybody Loves You Now" is a fast, frenetic song. It is
strongly marked by a deep sense of irony fortified by Joel's
brisk, convulsive piano. In a taut voice, he warns about success
and fame:
You know that nothing lasts forever
and it's all been done before.
You uin 't got the time to go to
Cold Spring Harbor anymore.
Before the catchy Frankie Valli-ish "Uptown Girl," Joel
serenaded with a lilting "Why Judy Why," a wistful melody,
gently swaying with an elaborate guitar instrumentation by
Dan Evans and Sal De Troia.
"Nocturne" has no words, but is a subdued and irresistibly
sweeping piano solo.
/\niwir*r.,K kimyi/akiv song is " l omorrow is today."
Joel sounds uncannily like Paul McCartney with occasional
Robin Gibb tremors. The lyrics, pensively set in a soulstirring
melody, Joel belts out with a pang:
People tell me life is sweeter
but I don't hear what they say
Nothing comes to change my life
So tomorrow is today
I don't care to know the hour
'cause it's passing anyway.
/ don't have to see tomorrow
'cause / saw it yesterday.
Joel, however, abruptly changes his tone later in the song,
and the unexpected short-lived frenzy seems out of place in
this otherwise plaintive song.
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Of course, Taylor shouldn't solely niancc level. And
bear (he blame for that specific are less importar
criticism; it comes with the territory ensemble's confui
that a director must watch out for grasp fuller charac
technical work falling short of his It's not that
demands. characters are bad
The use of scrims and doorways to settled for broad, ;
explore intimacy levels was an ex- It's not that the
cellent idea; but here again, the set was that they valiantly i
rather dully dressed and angled too tion needed for ea<
easily. It's not that the
Carol f "nil irk \ were fnnr- worked! it'*; that th
tional and pleasing, but even they were to create enough t
not used to further the sought-after anchor its themes,
lyric quality.
BEFORE EN 1)1
THE MOST fundamental shortcom- portant to recoj
ing here, however, is at the perfor- criticism is based i
p PLC'S ^
in 5 points
FINE FOODS & POTABLES
LUNCH SERVED 11:30-2:30 pm
Our selection includes:
I Soups, Salads, Sandwiches,
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HAPPY HOUR 2-7 pm, M-F
TUESDAY IS
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Happy Hour All Night
WEDNESDAY IS
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jr] Happy Hour All Ni&ht
f (I.D.'s Required)
I f ^ <>S4 Harden 799-1225
ires Joel's beginnings
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'Cold Spring Harbor'
Joel's rereleased debut album turns out to be vintage material.
One tune with a resonant 1970s beat, characteristically
spruced up with the familiar sound of organ and harpsichord,
is "You Look So Good to Me." Joel whirls up an animated
harmonica solo to back up homespun lyrics of sheer
hopefulness.
"UUI TO Begin Again" is a simple honest tune kindled byJoel's
nimble piano. He asks the question of the age, "Where
do 1 go from here?"
The album is certainly a vintage album. It appears to have
time locked in. There are no synthesizers here, no unlimited
blasts of electric guitars, and no techno-pop wizardry. It even
lacks Joel's ferocity typified by his rupture in "Pressure." It
missed his matrue sentiment as he admonishes one to stay
"Just the Way You Are." It also does not have his humorous
wit as he urges an infatuated boy to "Tell Her About It."
What this album has however, besides its quaint 70s sound,
is its effective capsule of Joel's beginnings. With these songs,
one can see the artist breaking away from naivete, but not
quite so free of it; the fruition of talent and vision into piano
passion. Essentially, it is Joel and his piano. For fans and
would-be fans of the songwriter who still cluims t?i hp "An in.
nocent Man," this is his genesis. The album complete the
picture.
individual failings Storrer, his cast and his technical
t than the entire people have not failed outright ?
ion in efforts to rather, they have failed merely to atcr
dimensions. tain the lofty artistic standards envitlie
supporting sioned by the director.
it's that they have And that's important to note. None
ntic delivery. of these shortcomings could ruin
men are dull; it's Chekhov; but assessing one's
liss the vital defini- parameters is crucial to success at the
h representative. community theater level.
hree sisters haven't Storrer perhaps expected too much
;y haven't managed of his team; in attempting the big play,
)cus in the play to he simply lost yardage he might have
gained with a different call.
"Three Sisters" runs through Feb.
SG, 1 feel it's im- 19, with performances at 8 p.m. except
nize all of this for 3 p.m. matinees. l or ticket inforl
empathy. mation, call the box office at 799-6551.
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