XGC Yoda
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Beatles Rock Band: Let it Be Good
Written by: Robert Ashley(1up)
The Beatles are always described in grand, historical terms: "They defined a generation of people." "They reinvented rock'n'roll." "They changed the world forever." For me, The Beatles are small. Their music -- every note, every sound, every word -- is tucked away neatly inside my brain, easily recalled. My relationship with those tunes has nothing to do with their place in history. It's strictly personal. I entered my Beatles phase in college, after years of dogmatic devotion to monochrome punk. Hearing Abbey Road for the first time, I felt like a drowning man being thrown a life preserver. It was music full of color and texture and beguiling complexity, at least for a half-deaf, half-dumb 19-year-old. I didn't listen to The Beatles so much as I lived in their musical world, absorbing each moment in a way that -- I'm absolutely certain -- changed my brain on a chemical level. With a little help from my friends, of course.
And so I was struck dumb by the announcement of a Rock Band game devoted entirely to The Beatles. It's an idea with such great potential, as a musical experience, as a cultural revival, as a way for new listeners to connect with the mothership of modern music. But it's just as likely to be a disaster. It's not hard to imagine a cold, calculated, virtual theme park, sanitized for a family audience and polluted by baby boomer nostalgia for a time that never existed (when they were awesome and loved each other and saved the world). I'm sure that the fine folks at Harmonix, the game's developer, already feel this weight on their shoulders, but I would like to give them some unsolicited advice.
1. Allow players to jam with samples and post their creations online.
Congratulations. You landed the biggest fish in the sea: access to the Beatles catalogue and permission to do all kinds of fancy digital stuff with it. Here's your opportunity to show off the creative possibilities of Rock Band and push The Beatles to the forefront of the remix culture. Imagine having virtual access to Abbey Road Studios, where you and your friends can load up individual samples from Beatles songs and use Rock Band instruments to jam together, creating remixed compositions. Take it one step further by allowing those players to post their compositions online, and you've got a powerful creative tool and an instant community built around it.
2. Clean up the sound, but don't "fix" the performances.
Okay, so having the drums and guitars for "Taxman" jammed entirely into one speaker and some drunken reveler's George Harrison impersonation floating all by itself in the other probably isn't going to cut it. The music of the Beatles remains remarkably fresh, but a tasteful sound and mix upgrade is inevitable and appropriate. Godspeed. But please, resist the urge to straighten out the performances. Rock Band is generally a force for good in the musical world, but you're training a generation of metronomic automatons. The Beatles were considerably looser than the average uptight Rock Band player. To force them onto a perfect grid of glowing gems would be a lie, and might turn new listeners away from the original records.
3. Don't romanticize the '60s
I'm sure the baby boomers are looking like a big fat sack of gold to you right now, but don't buy into their oversold, over-told narrative about the '60s. If you plan on chalking up the Beatles' psychedelic period to peace, love, and Eastern spirituality (while totally ignoring drug culture and the utter chaos of the time), I plan on throwing up in my mouth. The boomers have patted themselves on the back for decades, and no one wants to sit through another one of Grandpa Moonbeam's empty nostalgic trips.
4. Don't use voice actors to impersonate the Beatles.
From early indications, it sounds like The Beatles: Rock Band will feature a narrative of some sort, following the group through all of its various and rapidly changing creative periods. Great idea, but may I suggest sticking to recorded comments from the men themselves -- there are plenty in movies, documentaries, TV interviews, etc. -- instead of hiring sound-alikes to act out some kind of script. Voice actors are almost certain to create that nasty theme park feel, unreal and untrue. By using the real thing, you will prove that games are up to the task of documenting reality, not just creating fantasy.
5. Let us sing the harmonies.
To be sure, there will be plenty of fun instrumental tracks to play, but the Beatles are really about voice. Most of the spine tingling moments of their music can be chalked up to great multi-part vocal harmonies. I know the Rock Band interface is already insanely cluttered, but to release this game without the option of allowing two singers to harmonize together would be a travesty. Most people never experience the joy of singing in harmony. You could bring that to the masses.
6. We need a keyboard controller.
I can't even begin to understand how you would make a keyboard controller work in the current Rock Band format. Just the number of gems you would need streaming down the screen would make it completely impractical. Nevertheless, keyboard is so integral to many of the best Beatles songs that it would be a real shame to pass up on the expansion opportunity. I can't imagine "Don't Let Me Down" without someone holding down Billy Preston's heartaching Rhodes lines. And the keys could be used to play some of the orchestral moments, horn lines, and odd sound effects. Maybe the controller itself can have a simple gem display above the keys?
7. Don't skip the weird tunes.
When imagining the Beatles in Rock Band, certain songs are obvious contenders -- "Drive My Car," "She Said She Said," "Come Together" -- all catchy, meaty, rhythmic songs for the whole band. But please don't skimp on the weirder stuff, the moments when the Beatles pushed themselves beyond rock'n'roll: the boiling mess of loops and freaked-out beat of "Tomorrow Never Knows," the menacing psychedelia of "I am the Walrus," and the serpentine and surprising "Happiness is a Warm Gun." Many great songs don't employ the whole band, but that shouldn't prevent a few from being included. Ringo was gracious enough to step aside for a nice ballad. I'm sure most virtual-Ringos would be similarly happy to oblige.
Written by: Robert Ashley(1up)
The Beatles are always described in grand, historical terms: "They defined a generation of people." "They reinvented rock'n'roll." "They changed the world forever." For me, The Beatles are small. Their music -- every note, every sound, every word -- is tucked away neatly inside my brain, easily recalled. My relationship with those tunes has nothing to do with their place in history. It's strictly personal. I entered my Beatles phase in college, after years of dogmatic devotion to monochrome punk. Hearing Abbey Road for the first time, I felt like a drowning man being thrown a life preserver. It was music full of color and texture and beguiling complexity, at least for a half-deaf, half-dumb 19-year-old. I didn't listen to The Beatles so much as I lived in their musical world, absorbing each moment in a way that -- I'm absolutely certain -- changed my brain on a chemical level. With a little help from my friends, of course.
And so I was struck dumb by the announcement of a Rock Band game devoted entirely to The Beatles. It's an idea with such great potential, as a musical experience, as a cultural revival, as a way for new listeners to connect with the mothership of modern music. But it's just as likely to be a disaster. It's not hard to imagine a cold, calculated, virtual theme park, sanitized for a family audience and polluted by baby boomer nostalgia for a time that never existed (when they were awesome and loved each other and saved the world). I'm sure that the fine folks at Harmonix, the game's developer, already feel this weight on their shoulders, but I would like to give them some unsolicited advice.
1. Allow players to jam with samples and post their creations online.
Congratulations. You landed the biggest fish in the sea: access to the Beatles catalogue and permission to do all kinds of fancy digital stuff with it. Here's your opportunity to show off the creative possibilities of Rock Band and push The Beatles to the forefront of the remix culture. Imagine having virtual access to Abbey Road Studios, where you and your friends can load up individual samples from Beatles songs and use Rock Band instruments to jam together, creating remixed compositions. Take it one step further by allowing those players to post their compositions online, and you've got a powerful creative tool and an instant community built around it.
2. Clean up the sound, but don't "fix" the performances.
Okay, so having the drums and guitars for "Taxman" jammed entirely into one speaker and some drunken reveler's George Harrison impersonation floating all by itself in the other probably isn't going to cut it. The music of the Beatles remains remarkably fresh, but a tasteful sound and mix upgrade is inevitable and appropriate. Godspeed. But please, resist the urge to straighten out the performances. Rock Band is generally a force for good in the musical world, but you're training a generation of metronomic automatons. The Beatles were considerably looser than the average uptight Rock Band player. To force them onto a perfect grid of glowing gems would be a lie, and might turn new listeners away from the original records.
3. Don't romanticize the '60s
I'm sure the baby boomers are looking like a big fat sack of gold to you right now, but don't buy into their oversold, over-told narrative about the '60s. If you plan on chalking up the Beatles' psychedelic period to peace, love, and Eastern spirituality (while totally ignoring drug culture and the utter chaos of the time), I plan on throwing up in my mouth. The boomers have patted themselves on the back for decades, and no one wants to sit through another one of Grandpa Moonbeam's empty nostalgic trips.
4. Don't use voice actors to impersonate the Beatles.
From early indications, it sounds like The Beatles: Rock Band will feature a narrative of some sort, following the group through all of its various and rapidly changing creative periods. Great idea, but may I suggest sticking to recorded comments from the men themselves -- there are plenty in movies, documentaries, TV interviews, etc. -- instead of hiring sound-alikes to act out some kind of script. Voice actors are almost certain to create that nasty theme park feel, unreal and untrue. By using the real thing, you will prove that games are up to the task of documenting reality, not just creating fantasy.
5. Let us sing the harmonies.
To be sure, there will be plenty of fun instrumental tracks to play, but the Beatles are really about voice. Most of the spine tingling moments of their music can be chalked up to great multi-part vocal harmonies. I know the Rock Band interface is already insanely cluttered, but to release this game without the option of allowing two singers to harmonize together would be a travesty. Most people never experience the joy of singing in harmony. You could bring that to the masses.
6. We need a keyboard controller.
I can't even begin to understand how you would make a keyboard controller work in the current Rock Band format. Just the number of gems you would need streaming down the screen would make it completely impractical. Nevertheless, keyboard is so integral to many of the best Beatles songs that it would be a real shame to pass up on the expansion opportunity. I can't imagine "Don't Let Me Down" without someone holding down Billy Preston's heartaching Rhodes lines. And the keys could be used to play some of the orchestral moments, horn lines, and odd sound effects. Maybe the controller itself can have a simple gem display above the keys?
7. Don't skip the weird tunes.
When imagining the Beatles in Rock Band, certain songs are obvious contenders -- "Drive My Car," "She Said She Said," "Come Together" -- all catchy, meaty, rhythmic songs for the whole band. But please don't skimp on the weirder stuff, the moments when the Beatles pushed themselves beyond rock'n'roll: the boiling mess of loops and freaked-out beat of "Tomorrow Never Knows," the menacing psychedelia of "I am the Walrus," and the serpentine and surprising "Happiness is a Warm Gun." Many great songs don't employ the whole band, but that shouldn't prevent a few from being included. Ringo was gracious enough to step aside for a nice ballad. I'm sure most virtual-Ringos would be similarly happy to oblige.