Sonic Contrast in Rock (and pop, I suppose)

I was listening to The Doors again lately...hell, I've been retracing a lot of steps lately. I even dug out some olde Residents material (that Snakefinger, quite an underrated guitarist). Anyhoo, Doors, yes...

Whilst listening to "When the Music's Over," it occured to me how masterful the band had become with manipulating the sonic quality of their material over the course of a single album. In other words, there ain't nothin' that goes jazzy-tap-jazzy-tap-tap-BOOM!!! on the first album like there is on the second. I mean, it really works. The organ is louder, the guitar sounds like a monster, the drums are heavy as a sumo champion (line stolen), and Morrison screams his crazy hair off...and then it dissolves into calm-before-the-storm jazz. 

Que? 

My question is...where did this come from? I imagine that someone like the Beatles did it first...they usually did. Unless it was the Yardbirds. They sometimes "did it first." Or The Beach Boys maybe. 

But, seriously, what's the first time sonic levels and quality was used to drastically alter the mood of the listener, ala The Doors? Or WAS it The Doors? Eerie, eh? 

it may have come from their own experience as an L.A. bar band, constantly gigging and discovering the power of light-to-heavy and back again.. just a guess

I know one of the reasons guys like Plant and Daltry started increasing their dynamic range was so they'd be heard over the band






Edited by Atavachron - August 17 2009 at 05:33

Certainly, and if memory serves, there is a track off the seminal Pet Sounds ("You Still Believe in Me") in which there is a dramatic pause at the end of the song, followed by a louder repeat of the main phrase. 

As for early Zappa, I don't know nothin' about it other than "Brown Shoes Don't Make It."

I wonder if it didn't begin with the recordings of... classical music.
Once, my guitar teacher explained me that the levels on the classical music records weren't always "equal": the quiet parts were quiet, the loud parts were LOUD. The contrast was more important than on jazz or pop records.

Toaster Mantis wrote: The Whistler wrote: Certainly, and if memory serves, there is a track off the seminal Pet Sounds ("You Still Believe in Me") in which there is a dramatic pause at the end of the song, followed by a louder repeat of the main phrase.  As for early Zappa, I don't know nothin' about it other than "Brown Shoes Don't Make It. Pet Sounds also predates even the first Mothers of Invention LP, so the Beach Boys it is!

Holy...crap! Really? That honestly is, like, the most important album ever. Well, after Aqualung, of course...