User Profile
Albert Hallenberg
My music mix veers from classic rock (prefer deep cuts) to adult alternative, a fairly large tree with lots of branches. So, everything from The Beatles to Sheryl Crow & Joni Mitchell to Incubus.
Reviews
36
Lists
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Collection
33
![A Hard Day's Night [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0000826097/front/220/uiLETV8b6Zf_Q-FF06qp6R_TZlp6n_cq-Emr2zx15tU=.jpg)
Albert Hallenberg's Album Reviews
All Album Reviews
Aside from the (mostly excellent) songs is the yeoman's work courtesy of Stephen Stills, playing most of the guitars, Hammond organ and electric bass. The acoustic guitar on "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" is alone worth of the price of admission. And what about the tasty electric guitar solos on "Wooden Ships?" Dallas Taylor gives us some terrific drum work. The strength of David Crosby and Graham Nash is with their almost unearthly precise vocal harmonies, and that comes through brilliantly. Of course, some of the lyrics have dated themselves a bit, but I would say at least 80% of the content holds up quite well five decades later. An indispensable work in any rock enthusiast's collection.
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Albert Hallenberg's Song Reviews
All Song Reviews
An odd song title (possibly related to the drug addiction term ‘monkey on the back’), but what a great ‘deep cut’ from America’s third album release, Hat Trick (1973). This song is a rocker with the trio setting down their acoustic guitars (for the most part) & picking up the electrics. Joe Walsh even helps out on this one (he guest soloed for multiple artists in the 1970’s), but Gerry, Dewey & Dan can more than hold their own. I saw America live in 1974 (Lexington, KY). They played this song before their encore & it really lit up the audience. Grade: A-.
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Although John & Paul by default share the writing credits for this song, it is Paul’s all the way - upbeat with a catchy melody and undoubtedly dedicated to his actress girlfriend at the time, Jane Asher. Younger listeners will find the line “I’ll write home every day” charmingly quaint, as they know the correspondence would have been handwritten, as opposed to a phone text. I have read where Paul originally wanted the song performed in a country & western format, but in the end opted for a pop beat. Nevertheless, George Harrison’s guitar solo is definitely in the style of Chet Atkins. As with many Beatles songs I review, the grade is a solid A.
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