Round Number Nostalgia

The Elephant in the (Anniversary) Room 
It was fifty years ago today...Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play..... 
Actually, it was 70 years ago "today", sometime in 1947, to which the lead song on the Beatles' most memorialized album, which has gotten the full treatment this year.

Whether it was their best one is, in the musical sense, more a matter of taste.  But if one is speaking on the impact upon global society, one could not deny its unique sense.  Among other things, it provided a love, naive but artistic slant which fit extremely well with "The Beatles" Saturday morning carttoon, which was Extremely Popular.  In that sense, it was a merchandising home run.

For a musical assessment, I will check in with with the ranking made this year by Bill Wyman (of New York magazine, presumably not  Rolling Stones' bassman) from best to worst of all 213 Beatles songs (as defined). Wyman is not an authoritative judge of character from my point of vie. He rated "Long and Winding Road" better than "Revolution"--the White Album version, an unconscionable error. I will give him credit for being a knowledgeable insider Brit crit who knows some stories--read his interesting take in #35, I Am the Walrus.. .....anyway,
Picking his Top '47 (randomly following above thread), *  After dutifully giving homage to "A Day in the Life", the next best song in his rankings from Sgt. Pepper is the rankling "lovely Rita Meter Maid".  After that, no more in the top 47, Wyman correctly naming more songs from Rubber Soul (the unremarked 50th was two years ago), Revolver ('66), later albums Abbey Road, the "White Album", and the underrated early albums Help!  (also 1965) and A Hard Day's Night ('64) , with also several singles he cited.  Debating "A Day..." and its inexplicable wisdom is for another day, but the point is that nostalgia is terribly shallow in its research:  I'd  agree that the first four I listed were at least equal to Pepper in musical innovation and creativity.

*Though I really did pick that number without having looked at the ratings just after 47,both Sgt. Pepper (Reprise) (#48) and Within You Without You (#52, the best song on the album) were just afterward+

Round Numbers from Recent Anniversary Citations
1917 - US enters WWI;  Russian revolution (both more overlooked than not)
1967 - "Summer of Love" in low-down San Francisco; many great albums (yes, including Sgt. Pepper); 6-Day War and beginning of Israeli occupation
1997 - handover of Hong Kong to China
2007 - Obama announces campaign for Presidency

In a contrary sense (not multiples of 5):  somehow more-than-usual attention this year focused on the Hiroshima attack -72 years on (much more than Nagasaki, I'll bet--if there were to be a case for violating norms, it would be with the attack on Nagasaki, which was not nearly as necessary) . I've also seen, on Facebook, a commemoration of Jerry Garcia's death 22 years ago.

Then there is the barrage of recent movies set in World War II.  Dunkirk, of course, but also: The Zookeeper's Wife, Their Finest, Hacksaw Ridge, Allied.  All those last four were valid stories with entertainment value and some historical merit (OK, Allied didn't seem to have any real historical referent, but it was a good flick). Even better,  this fall, what may be the best of all, we will have Churchill. WWII has long been a rich source of film--appropriately so for our modern era's most critical event in its significance and in its enduring effect in shaping our world.  Box office-wise, obviously Dunkirk has done well, though it had a huge budget, and Hacksaw Ridge did well at lower cost---WWII is not a cash cow, but Dunkirk showed it can still produce a big hit, if done with modern special effects and a sufficient sense of drama.  (The most frequent criticism of it, that the film sequence is not chronological, is somewhat retrograde in a post-Pulp Fiction/Memento/Cloud Atlas cinematic world.)

(A couple added notes on 8/20:  If we're talking semi-round numbers, a real event of global importance began its 75th anniversary last month, which will continue until February.  The Battle of Stalingrad was the true turning point of World War II; the Russians have a point when they insist that this was, above all, their war, and their victory at its end, and Stalingrad was where they halted the Nazi advance and turned the momentum of the war around.

Secondly, a "round number" aside:  In baseball team managers often talk about the importance of avoiding a "crooked number" for their opponent in the early innings.  The numbers that are "crooked" are 2-9; having one of those go against you early will often or usually put your team in a hole for the rest of the game.  I was amused that, in the last game before the All-Star break, against the Pirates, the Cubs avoided a crooked number in the first;  they allowed a 1 and a 0, as in 10 runs.)

My conclusion from the above:  nostalgia based on round numbers lacks discernment, but bringing back any living memories can work if it happens to hit the spot, in the culture of the moment.

OBIT DEPT
I have fallen well behind publishing deadlines--I will do the best I can to bring back some of the names that passed by which I neglected to mention.

Subject of a fascinating forthcoming film and novel:
 https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/mistress-and-muse-of-james-bonds-creator-ian-fleming-dies-at-104/2017/08/11/27f65c7a-7eb2-11e7-9d08-b79f191668ed_story.html

Jimmy Breslin (Mar. 19)- Back in the day, in his prime time, I wasn't much of a fan of New York's Daily News (except for the Sports Final edition some Sunday mornings).  Even less did I devour his many novels; still I have to say I appreciated his efforts to find truth through the lives of ordinary folks.

Jonathan Demme (Apr. 26)-- I have regretted not mentioning sooner his passing. Demme won his Oscar for directing Silence of the Lambs, a genre-setting combination of drama with horror, with an unsettling perspective on the ability of our justice system to handle pure evil.  Otheres cite Philadelphia. For me, though Demme will al.ways be the man who brought to screen perhaps the best staged live rock performance in film history.  (taking it slightly over Scorsese's "The Last Waltz", or the best of the "Unplugged" series on MTV).

I'm talking about Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense, of course. Thank you, Jonathan, for recording that moment so well.

Glenn Campbell (Aug. 8) - I"m definitely no fan of country music, but I have to credit Campbell's musical ability and sterling personality.  I would go for "Southern Nights" as my pick, slightly over the classic, somewhat poetic  "Gentle on My Mind". 

Finally, I (and the rest of the galaxy) must mourn the fact that there will never be More Chuck Berry (Mar. 18). His career is definitive proof that it's not all about #1 hits:  his only one was the laughably bad "My Ding-a-ling", yet he is properly revered and heavily imitated for his ineradicable impact on rock 'n' roll.  I would put "You Never Can Tell" and "No Particular Place to Go" at the top for their original vocal rhythms.

+ OK, my top 10 Beatles songs, off the top of my head, looking up the Bill Wyman ratings just for kicks and/or validation: 10. For No One (34);   9.  I'm Only Sleeping (84);  8. Yer Blues (87); 7. Sun King--first part of the extended Abbey Road jam  (23); 6. Tomorrow Never Knows (12); 5. I Want You (She's So Heavy) (132); 4. Lady Madonna (58); 3. Penny Lane (3); 2. Within You Without You (52); 1. Revolution (White Album version--167; single was 56).  I probably should've had "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" somewhere in there.  I can't imagine why he has W/in U W/out U at 52.