Which 60s Duo Combined Elements of Folk Music With the Techniques of Phil Spector

The duo’s sound was a combination of Folk music and the “Wall of Sound” techniques of Phil Spector.

Simon and Garfunkel

Simon and Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They are well known for their close harmonies and light acoustic folk rock sound. The duo first met as children in Queens, New York, in 1953. They began performing together in 1963 and released their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. in 1964.

Their musical style

Simon and Garfunkel combined elements of folk music with the techniques of Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” to create a new sound that was both commercial and critical success. The soft, close harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel were indebted to the Everly Brothers, while the use of reverb-drenched electric guitars and layered percussion recalled the work of Phil Spector.

Their albums

Simon and Garfunkel released five studio albums, one live album and compilations. The duo’s first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. (1964) was a commercial failure and led to them being dropped from their label. The album was re-released in 1967 after the success of their second album, Sounds of Silence (1966). The duo’s next three albums, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966), Bookends (1968) and Bridge over Troubled Water (1970), were all commercial successes.

The live album Simon and Garfunkel in Concert: Live 1969 (2005) was released 36 years after it was recorded and peaked at number 15 in the US. Their greatest hits compilation Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits (1972) was also a commercial success, peaking at number four in the US. After Bridge over Troubled Water was released, the duo split up due to creative differences; they have not reunited since then. In 1981 they were both inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone ranked Simon and Garfunkel’s Good Vibrations: The Best of the Beach Boys as number 95 on its list of “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band that formed in Liverpool in 1960. The band consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They became widely regarded as the foremost and most influential music band in history. Rooted in skiffle and 1950s rock and roll, the Beatles later utilised several different musical genres to produce their records, including pop, blues, psychedelic rock, and acid rock. Their sound incorporates elements of Western classical music and traditional pop music, as well as experimental techniques such as tape music and reverse playback.

Their musical style

The Beatles’ musical style changed throughout their career, starting out as a skiffle group and later embracing pop, rock and roll, psychedelia, and what John Lennon described as “an unconsciously influenced avant-garde into their sound.” In an early interview with the BBC’s Paul Martin, Lennon stated that the band’s success was due to them being better songwriters than their contemporaries. He attributed much of the band’s songwriting prowess to his own personal maturation over time: “As we got older – well, I got older – the songs got better.” By late 1966, Lennon felt that the band had outgrown their earlier material and began writing much of their work with an eye towards producing tracks that would stand up to multiple playings.

The Beatles’ approach to pop songwriting involved expanding traditional three-minute structures far beyond those of their contemporaries. In 1967, Lennon told Martin that he wanted to write “a really Black music … with a feeling.” The result was “Strawberry Fields Forever”, which incorporated multiple tape loops and backwards recordings into its seven-and-a-half minute runtime. The following year’s “I Am the Walrus”, clocking in at nearly six minutes, made use of sound effects such as animal noises and a radio broadcast of Italian composer Luciano Berio’s electronic composition “Visage”.

Their albums

The Beatles released twelve original studio albums on the Capitol Records label in North America, plus an album of newly mixed material. Eight of these albums were released in both mono and stereo versions; the other four were released only in mono.

The Beatles’ first album was Introducing… The Beatles, released on 20 January 1964. This album was originally issued only in mono in both the UK and US, although a stereo version appeared in Japan in 1965; it was not issued in stereo in the UK until 1987, and not on CD until 2009.

Most of the band’s albums were issued with different artwork and titles internationally. In June 1967, The Beatles released two separate album projects: Magical Mystery Tour in the UK (issued as an LP and an EP) and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in the US. Each project was a corporate concept conceived by Paul McCartney; Magical Mystery Tour was originally devised as a television film, while Sgt. Pepper started out as a film idea featuring actors playing roles before evolving into an album featuring only The Beatles themselves.

The Beach Boys

Their musical style

The Beach Boys began as a largely straight-ahead rock band, melding the Beatlesque pop of the early 1960s with harmonies inspired by black soul groups like the Impressions and the Four Tops. The Beach Boys’ sound was immediately distinctive, balancing Brian Wilson’s ingenious ear for miniature pop symphonies with his younger brother Dennis’s gift for surf-based drumming and lead guitarist Carl Wilson’s no-nonsense vocal delivery. The Beach Boys quickly became one of America’s most popular bands, albeit a somewhat controversial one, due in large part to their music’s preoccupation with juvenile subject matter. By 1965, Brian Wilson had withdrawn from touring to focus on songwriting and record production; he also began experimenting with overdubbing and other studio techniques that would eventually place him among pop music’s most innovative producers. Gradually, the group began to expand its sonic palette, moving into psychedelia on 1967’s SMiLE and album-length experiments like 1968’s Friends before returning to more concise pop on 1969’s 20/20. Still, the Beach Boys remained largely a pop band throughout the first half of the 1970s; after 1974’s Endless Summer — a hits collection that topped the charts for two years — Dennis Wilson drowned in 1983, effectively bringing an end to any serious consideration of new material from the group.

Their albums

The Beach Boys’ first album was released in early 1962. It included the song “Surfin’ Safari,” which reached No. 14 on the Billboard pop chart, and “409,” which displays the group’s early car culture fascination and reminds many fans of American Graffiti. In 1963, “Surfin’ U.S.A.” hit No. 2 on the Billboard charts, while “Shut Down”/”Little Deuce Coupe” reached No. 76. The following year saw the release of three more albums: All Summer Long, Shut Down Volume 2, and Little Deuce Coupe/Fun Fun Fun single. Beach Boys Concert was released in 1964 and includes one of their most popular songs, “Fun, Fun, Fun.” That same year saw the release of The Beach Boys Today!, which would be their last album for Capitol Records until 2012’s That’s Why God Made the Radio. Albums from 1965 through 1968 include Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!!), The Beach Boys Party!, Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile (a reworked version of Smile), Wild Honey, and Friends. Stack-O-Tracks was a 1966 album that allowed fans to create their own Beach Boys mixes at home. In 1968, The Beach Boys Love You was released; it would be their last album for Capitol until 2012’s That’s Why God Made the Radio.