Topic: The Beatles Album Discussion Thread

[metaldams]

Every week we’re going to discuss a new Beatles album in this thread.  I’m going by the U.K. discography and I will mention single and EP tracks that correspond to the time of the albums.  I want to say I pretty much like the entire catalog minus a few songs, so you’ll hear mostly praise from me.

Album number one is PLEASE PLEASE ME.  Simply a big deal The Beatles got to record an entire album at the time.  A lot of artists just got around to a couple of 45s and called it a day.  The Beatles had two big U.K. hits with “Love Me Do” and “Please Please Me,” so EMI deemed them worthy of making an LP.  The four single tracks were already recorded and included in the album, though the album version of “Love Me Do” is an alternate with Alan White on drums instead of Ringo!  George Martin not 100% trusting the new guy yet.  The other ten tracks that make up the album were recorded in a one day marathon session.  Yes, it’s true “Twist and Shout” was recorded at the end with John’s voice being shot, but he let it rip anyway.  You can hear the rawness of the recording.

I enjoy every track here on some level.  “There’s a Place” is slightly more introspective lyrically and hints at things to come.  “I Saw Her Standing There” is my favorite track.  Great Paul vocal, cool riff to start the song that goes through the verses and an awesome George guitar solo.  Eight originals, six covers and yeah, for the band to have more than half originals was a big deal at the time.  This was the era of professional songwriters, not band written material.  The Beatles broke that trend.  Nice variety of rockers, pop songs and in the case of “A Taste of Honey,” stage musical stuff.  The influences are varied and would become more so as the years progressed.

Recorded on two tracks, this album is a mess in stereo, especially in headphones.  Listen to this in mono like The Beatles intended.

A few weeks after the album was recorded, the single “From Me To You” with the b side “Thank You Girl” was recorded.  Another massive hit, this shows The Beatles writing catchy tunes and singing directly to their fan base - young girls.

[Dr. Mabuse]

"I like our first album because we made it in nine hours." — John Lennon (1980)

"Please Please Me" is a great album that MUST be heard in mono, along with all the Beatle recordings through "The White Album."

("Abbey Road" and "Let It Be" were stereo-only mixes. Though the four songs on the "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack were issued only in stereo, the original mono mixes were finally released on "The Beatles in Mono" box set in 2009.)

[HomokHarcos]

I listened to their albums earlier this year, I'll give them another listen each week so I can give a more fresh review. In these early days The Beatles were more about recording dance or pop. My favorite songs on here are the ones that sound like 1950s rock and roll: "I Saw Her Standing There", "Boys" and "Twist and Shout". Catchy cool songs, and I recommend also listening to the Isley Brothers recording of "Twist and Shout" (also a cover, but the version that made the song famous). At this stage albums didn't have the same standing they would just a few years later. Unlike later on where singles would be used to promote the album, The Beatles usually avoided putting singles on their albums.

[Umbrella Sam]

“Come on! COME ON! Come On! COME ON! Come On! COME ON! Come On! COME...”

Sorry, force of habit when I hear that title.

Although they did release a mediocre version of “My Bonnie” (with the superior “Cry For a Shadow” on the B-side) before it, PLEASE PLEASE ME and the 2 singles that both preceded and appeared on it are usually considered the true first part of the Beatles journey. It’s got Ringo, it’s got George Martin...everything is here.

One thing I think is especially important to talk about here is that the album essentially is made up of the songs from the Beatles’ live performances. So, basically, if you don’t like the songs on here, then you probably wouldn’t have been too fond of the legendary Cavern Club shows either. I bring this up because I feel there’s a lot of energy in these performances; it feels like these are songs the Beatles really cared about and put a lot of time and effort into rehearsing for those shows. Lots of reviews I see are critical of the covers on later Beatles recordings, but don’t seem to mind them here. And, yeah, a lot of these are very good renditions of songs recorded by the likes of The Shirelles (*cough MAD, MAD WORLD *cough) and The Isley Brothers. I love the Isley Brothers’ rendition of “Twist and Shout”, but it is still a song that I associate with the Beatles, not just because they covered it, but because the energy put into it makes it so memorable. “Boys” is among Ringo’s best vocal performances and “A Taste of Honey” hints at Paul’s fascination with old stage music. The only one I’m not a big fan of is “Anna (Go to Him)”. John’s vocal still feels powerful, but I feel the song itself is kind of bland.

Then we’ve got the 8 originals (technically 4 since the other 4 were originally parts of single releases). You couldn’t ask for a better opening than “I Saw Her Standing There”, an uptempo song that gets you pumped up for what follows. The rest of the songs are a nice blend of uptempo songs and ballads. “Misery” is a pleasant song with a nice piano part and “Ask Me Why” contains some really excellent vocal harmonies. “There’s a Place” is lyrically really interesting, but melodically has a bit too much in common with “Ask Me Why” and the title track, both of which are much more musically infectious. Speaking of the title track...as you could probably tell, that’s my favorite song on the album. Ironically enough, “Love Me Do” is probably one of my least favorite songs on the album; it’s not bad, but I’ve always felt it was a bit more formulaic and dated compared to those other early songs; this is a rare case where I think the Beatles’ B-side, “P.S. I Love You” is superior to the A-side; much like “A Taste of Honey”, I feel you can really hear the old school influence on Paul in “P.S. I Love You”, hinting at later classics like “For No One” or “Here, There and Everywhere”.

As for “From Me to You” and “Thank You Girl”...both good songs. In this case, I think they did pick the better song for the A-side, but “Thank You Girl” is still far from a throwaway. Overall, a nice batch of songs to start the Beatles journey.

[metaldams]

From the awesome Sea of Tranquility channel.

[metaldams]

       Released a mere eight months after their debut album, WITH THE BEATLES assured the world (well, the U.K. at least), there would be no sophomore slump.  Another strong collection of songs for the most part, like PLEASE PLEASE ME containing eight originals and six covers.

      I enjoy most Beatles songs and can probably count on one hand songs I don’t like.  “Hold Me Tight” is one of the very few.  Just think the riff is sloppy, Paul puts in an unusually weak vocal take and the chorus is just uninspired.  I used to not care for “Little Child” when I was a teen but the song has grown on me over the years.  The rest of the album I really like.

      As for favorites?  “It Wong Be Long” is a brilliant opener and is one of the first songs to start with the chorus.  Second album in a row to start with such an upbeat, joyous song.  “All My Loving” has a great Paul melody, a really cool walking bass line and John doing that machine gun like rhythm playing throughout.  Brilliant.  I dig George’s debut song, “Don’t Bother Me” a lot, very moody and downbeat, a nice contrast to the other songs and a really cool bridge to boot.  The Motown covers are all great and I also like Ringo’s vocal take on “I Wanna Be Your Man.”  Seriously though, check out The Rolling Stones version for a kick ass alternative, almost punk rock by 1963 standards.  The absolute dark horse on the album is John’s “Not a Second Time,” probably my favorite track here.  I guess the other moody song besides George’s.  I love the piano section, the build up to the chorus and the changes throughout.  Arguably their most mature songwriting to this point.

      As for singles, a couple of massive ones that broke the band huge in America.  “She Loves You” is a ball of energy that was recorded weeks before “It Won’t Be Long” - so it got the jump on starting the song with the chorus thing.  “I’ll Get You” is a cool b-side.  I read Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden’s biography.  Think he said this single was among the first things he ever owned and he preferred the b side, so there you go.

      “I Want to Hold Your Hand” is a classic that was one of the first Beatles songs I was ever aware of.  Teenage girls across the world screaming to this one.  The b-side, “This Boy,” as brilliant as the A side is, I actually like the b side better in this case.  Beautiful three part vocal harmonies and played in 6/8 time - so you can waltz to it.

      More goodness here and more goodness to come.

[Dr. Mabuse]

Another fab review. The Beatles spent more time recording their second album as the group expanded their musical range. "With the Beatles" remains a solid effort, but I prefer the sonic punch of the debut album. Along with the aforementioned "Hold Me Tight," I was never crazy about McCartney's schmaltzy cover of Meredith Willson's "Till There Was You." Otherwise, no complaints. "I Wanna Be Your Man" features one of Ringo's best vocals (no "Act Naturally" comic relief necessary) and "Money" makes for a rousing finish.

I'm looking forward to the review of "A Hard Day's Night." In the meantime, here's a page from Mark Shipper's regrettably out-of-print satire Paperback Writer (1978).

[HomokHarcos]

There definitely was no sophomore slump here, I think it's even better than their debut album. My favorite songs again are the rock and roll ones: "Little Child", "I Wanna Be Your Man" and the cover of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven". These songs are very catchy and upbeat, like dance tunes. I've always wanted to hear more of that style of music (I could start by listening to more Chuck Berry) and wonder have noticed that many rock fans don't even listen to 1950s rock music anymore. But the fact that The Beatles were doing songs in that style if proof enough for me that they respected and were influenced by it. I think the end track "Money (That's What I Want)" is a excellent closing track.

"She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" were both smash hits and the songs that broke The Beatles into the mainstream in the United States and beginning the Beatlemania phase. Both catchy songs, though the lyrics are admittedly cheesy.

[Umbrella Sam]

Like Dr. Mabuse, I also prefer the sound of their debut album. WITH THE BEATLES is still good and has a lot of variety, but just doesn’t feel quite as special.

Starting with the covers, the two best in my opinion are “Please Mr. Postman” and “‘Till There Was You”. The latter just sounds so perfect for Paul that I was honestly surprised to learn that he didn’t write it (I’ve only seen the beginning of THE MUSIC MAN, so I’d never heard this before the Beatles). “Devil In Her Heart” is pretty cool too; I like the call-and-response nature to it. Interestingly enough, this song had never actually been a hit before the Beatles recorded it; they just happened to find out about it, which is so fascinating. Imagine, writing a song only to find out people think it’s a dud...and then some random group covers it and makes it famous. I can’t imagine what went through Richard Drapkin’s head when that happened. The version of “Money” here is OK, but I prefer the original Barrett Strong recording; there’s just something about the backing vocals on that recording that makes it feel really unique.

As for the original numbers, some really good stuff on here. “It Won’t Be Long” and “All My Loving” are especially strong songs that definitely deserved to be near the top of the track listing. “I Wanna Be Your Man” is a pretty cool, heavier rock number as well. One consensus I do have to disagree on here is regarding “Hold Me Tight” and “Little Child”. I actually do find the chorus of “Hold Me Tight” quite memorable. “Little Child” on the other hand...in my opinion, possibly one of the worst Lennon-McCartney numbers. To me, it just sounds way too formulaic. George’s first composition, “Don’t Bother Me” is pretty cool. I find it odd that a lot of Beatles fans don’t really care for this song; even Harrison himself didn’t look back on it as being a good song. To me, it sounds very much in line with what Lennon and McCartney were doing at the time and the guitar sounds really cool on it. I’m not an expert when it comes to recording/engineering, but I can tell there was a lot of studio trickery with that guitar sound; it sounds very unique compared to the other Beatles songs at the time. “Don’t Bother Me” is close to being my favorite song on the album, but in the end, I think I do slightly prefer “It Won’t Be Long” for its really catchy chorus and amazing harmonies.

“She Loves You” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand” are, of course, great. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” in particular is one I always really liked as a kid. “This Boy” is a nice song too; it sounds like the type of song The Shirelles might have sung and an instrumental version was used to great effect in the movie, A HARD DAY’S NIGHT. Never particularly cared for “I’ll Get You”.

[metaldams]

      It’s movie time for The Beatles - see my review for that here.  https://moronika.com/forums/index.php/topic,6639.0.html

      A HARD DAY’S NIGHT would be the third UK album and as far as I know, at least, the first album by a rock band to contain all original songs.  No covers here, just thirteen originals so for that alone, a very important album.  The Beach Boys came close before and The Kinks came close after, but pre 1966, this was not a common phenomenon.  Not only are all the song original, but they’re all great songs.

      Side one is seven tracks and all appeared in the film, side two is six tracks of non soundtrack songs.  In this case the singles did appear on the album as the film producers certainly wanted the big hits in the films.  “A Hard Day’s Night” and ‘Can’t Buy Me Love” are the two hits here.  The former probably has the most famous opening chord in rock history.  People for decades have debated what chord it is, whether it’s guitar and piano combined, etc.  One measly chord prompting so much debate, but that’s The Beatles for you. 

      Song number wise, this is a very John dominated album as ten of the songs are his, including the George sung “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You.”  Paul’s three songs are anything but wasted opportunities, though.  “Can’t Buy Me Love” was a hit and rightfully so.  “And I Love Her” is simply one of the most beautiful love songs I’ve ever heard and the most mature The Beatles wrote up until this point.  I love George’s tasteful guitar solo and those arpeggios he plays during the second verse, so tasteful.  “Things We Said Today” is one of those highly underrated early Beatles songs like “Not a Second Time” that deserves more attention then it gets.

      John is more prolific here, though and is 10 for 10.  Mostly joyous material, the one exception being “I’ll Cry Instead.”  A lyrically more bitter song that has some country influence and looks ahead to what we’ll see more in BEATLES FOR SALE.  “I’ll Be Back” is another personal favorite of mine and another one of those underrated early Beatle songs that deserves more attention.  Great vocal harmonies, a beautiful melody and that bridge is so gorgeous words fail me.  Every song on here is great, really.  A half hour of pure Beatles joy.

      As far as non album tracks from the era, we get the four track LONG TALL SALLY EP.  A kick ass piece of early Beatlemania.  “I Call Your Name” is the only original, a John song that’s just as worthy as the album tracks.  Ringo gets a vocal in the Carl Perkins cover “Matchbox” and John sings the 12 bar Larry Williams cover “Slow Down.”  All great stuff, but the title track of Paul tackling the Little Richard classic is the highlight.  It’s hard to beat Little Richard at his own game but it’s arguable Paul and The Beatles did it.  Recorded in one take, the band smokes and Paul puts in one of the great rock n roll vocal performances of all time.  Essential.

[Dr. Mabuse]

Thirty minutes of dazzling studio brilliance . . . and the first Beatle album comprised of Lennon-McCartney originals. "A Hard Day's Night" runs the gamut from smash hits ("Can't Buy Me Love") to fiery rockers ("You Can't Do That") and haunting ballads ("And I Love Her"). The title song's innovative opening chord delivers every time.  Once again, the original mono version is an absolute must.

[Umbrella Sam]

A HARD DAY’S NIGHT will always hold a place in my heart because it was one of the films I watched a lot growing up. As such, the first 7 songs will also always be special to me. Every time I listen to this, I think of not only how great the songs are, but how well staged they were in the movie. It really is just so amazing to think how a group that was probably still considered a fad back then could turn out such a legendary movie on their first effort. I’ve heard “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You” was considered a formula song by Lennon and McCartney and I can’t really understand why. I love the way the harmonies sound on it, especially anytime they sing “dance” and those guitar chords that open the song, to me at least, are among the Beatles’ most legendary. “I Should Have Known Better” features one of Lennon’s best harmonica parts, “And I Love Her” and “If I Fell” are beautiful, and of course, there’s the two big singles, the title track and “Can’t Buy Me Love”, which will probably stay in our minds for the rest of time considering how catchy they are.

But what about the rest of the songs that didn’t make the film? Well, again, it’s mostly really good stuff. “Any Time at All” is a really catchy song about always having someone to turn to, which I think is a nice message. “Things We Said Today” has a really interesting guitar part. Apparently the chord changes are typical of classical music and I can totally hear it. Every time I listen to it, I think it sounds like something that would have come out of medieval times. “You Can’t Do That” is a cool rock number, with its distinctive cowbell and harmonies. “I’ll Be Back” is nice, although one minor issue I have is that I feel it fades out just a bit too early. I always saw it as the type of song that should have been played to the end instead of the fade out. The only song I’m not a huge fan of is “I’ll Cry Instead”. It’s not bad necessarily, but it goes by really fast and to me just sounds like a generic country-western song. It almost made the film too, but thankfully Richard Lester opted for using “Can’t Buy Me Love” twice instead.

A HARD DAY’S NIGHT was the first album full of original Beatles songs and the only one where it was all Lennon-McCartney. If you really want to introduce newcomers to the Beatles, this is a good one to start with.

As for LONG TALL SALLY...I do like the sole original number, “I Call Your Name”. Apparently it was rejected for sounding too similar to “You Can’t Do That”, which doesn’t make much sense to me. The only similarity I hear is the fact that both songs have cowbells. As for the covers, I feel like this is where they start to sound more like an obligation than really special songs the Beatles enjoyed like on the first album. “Matchbox” is another kind of generic country song. I do like some country songs, but it can be very formulaic too and takes a special kind of hand to make it sound really special, such as The Eagles or Elton’s TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION. The Beatles are not in that category, as great as they are at everything else. The other two covers aren’t terrible, but they also kind of sound like basic rock-and-roll run-throughs more than anything else. But, hey, these were songs that lots of people probably were familiar with back then, so I guess it still makes sense to include them.

[metaldams]

As for LONG TALL SALLY...I do like the sole original number, “I Call Your Name”. Apparently it was rejected for sounding too similar to “You Can’t Do That”, which doesn’t make much sense to me. The only similarity I hear is the fact that both songs have cowbells. As for the covers, I feel like this is where they start to sound more like an obligation than really special songs the Beatles enjoyed like on the first album. “Matchbox” is another kind of generic country song. I do like some country songs, but it can be very formulaic too and takes a special kind of hand to make it sound really special, such as The Eagles or Elton’s TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION. The Beatles are not in that category, as great as they are at everything else. The other two covers aren’t terrible, but they also kind of sound like basic rock-and-roll run-throughs more than anything else. But, hey, these were songs that lots of people probably were familiar with back then, so I guess it still makes sense to include them.

Elton John and The Eagles doing country versus The Beatles were completely different things.  Elton and The Eagles were making country influenced stuff during an era when country was more integrated with modern rock music.  Country rock was an actual genre at that point.

The Beatles were simply paying tribute to Carl Perkins and Sun Records and the Rockabilly angle.  50’s country and the Sun Records thing is more primitive and also a part of what started rock music.  George especially worshipped Carl Perkins.

[Umbrella Sam]

Elton John and The Eagles doing country versus The Beatles were completely different things.  Elton and The Eagles were making country influenced stuff during an era when country was more integrated with modern rock music.  Country rock was an actual genre at that point.

The Beatles were simply paying tribute to Carl Perkins and Sun Records and the Rockabilly angle.  50’s country and the Sun Records thing is more primitive and also a part of what started rock music.  George especially worshipped Carl Perkins.

I suppose I should have worded that better. Yeah, I know there’s a difference, but I tend to think of them as all under one big label, as long as they deal with Americana themes. It felt like there was more of an edge to country rock, and that’s why I prefer it. If anything, I feel modern country feels like it’s gone in the opposite direction, more towards the rockabilly angle. I’m not saying it’s all bad and there’s at least one Beatles country song I do enjoy, but we’ll get to that later.

[HomokHarcos]

I've seen the movie A Hard Day's Night before, so the songs that appear there are much more familiar there. Let's start off with the two big hits: "Can't Buy Me Love" and "A Hard Day's Night" both earworms and great. "Can't Buy Me Love" is one of the songs I associate the most with the Beatlemania period, along with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You". I usually prefer the more upbeat Beatles songs, but I really like "If I Fell". Like Umbrella Sam said, it's a beautiful song. "I'll Be Back" is a a good way to end the album.

This album showed that The Beatles don't need to do covers. Although some would pop up in future albums, they are ushering in the songwriter-musician era.

[HomokHarcos]

I listened to the Long Tall Sally EP today, and I loved the "Long Tall Sally" and "Slow Down" covers, being a fan of 1950s rock and roll.

[Dr. Mabuse]

Every week we’re going to discuss a new Beatles album in this thread.

I'm happy to report that you will have another Beatle album to discuss. The previously unissued "Get Back" LP mixed by Glyn Johns will be released in October as part of the "Let It Be: Special Edition" Super Deluxe set.

[metaldams]

I'm happy to report that you will have another Beatle album to discuss. The previously unissued "Get Back" LP mixed by Glyn Johns will be released in October as part of the "Let It Be: Special Edition" Super Deluxe set. Here is a preview track.

That mix has been bootlegged for years and I’m glad it’s getting an official release.  When we get to Let It Be, we’ll have a few versions to discuss.

[metaldams]

Will get to Beatles For Sale tomorrow, but for now, if you guys get Hulu, there is a six part interview of Rick Rubin interviewing Paul McCartney.  Highly recommended if you’re a music tech guy, one of the best Paul interviews in my opinion.

[metaldams]

       BEATLES FOR SALE is considered by many to be the worst Beatles album - but not in my eyes.  No way.  I will say yes, the album is more melancholy then what came before and yeah, the band was tired.  They were touring and recording like crazy and I imagine writing songs had to be tough on such a tight schedule as they were back to eight originals and six covers.  But the original songs showed a world weariness and maturity that I think come closer to RUBBER SOUL than HELP! does and the covers, for the most part, are a cool slice of Southern Americana.

      John’s songs, the one-two-three punch to open this album in “No Reply,” “I’m a Loser” and “Baby’s in Black” is incredible.  “No Reply” especially is amazing, a top ten Beatles song for me for sure.  That introspective and sometimes bitter John shown in “I’ll Cry Instead” is blossoming even further here. The dynamic changes are really pronounced when John sings “I saw the light” and “I nearly died.”  The song previous to that is soft and gets really hard for a few bars before going soft again.  Then when we get to that bridge, the dynamics stay heavy and rhythmically the song just steamrolls along, vocal harmonies up front and center and a pronounced key change on top of it all before going back to the original key and softer dynamic of the beginning of the song.  Brilliant, I can’t believe this song is not discussed as one of the great Beatle tunes.  Later in this album, “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party” is another more mature John song that has more interesting dynamic shifts, a soft start to that loud, joyous and harmonious bridge.  Worst album my patootie.

      The other originals are great too.  “Every Little Thing” and “What You’re Doing” are pure power pop gems.  If you want to hear a cool cover, check out a young version of Yes, still finding their sound, doing a prog rock take of “Every Little Thing” on their first album.  “Eight Days a Week” was a big U.S. hit and is another classic single while Paul’s “I’ll Follow the Sun” was one of the first songs he ever wrote as a teenager.  The fact they had to go back to the well that far shows the rush for new material, but man, a beautiful song just the same.  No kids in my high school were writing songs like that, I can assure you.  There were no Paul McCartney’s in my area.

      The covers - I like four of the six.  “Kansas City” is not bad, I guess, but seems so straight and rhythmically boxed in compared to the out of control swinging brilliance that was “Long Tall Sally.”  “Mr. Moonlight” the less said the better.  If you have your Anthology CD’s, you’ll hear a rocking cover of “Leave My Kitten Alone” from these sessions that I would like to have seen take “Mr. Moonlight’s” place.  The two Carl Perkins covers I dig a lot, that down home Sun records sound being sung by Ringo and George.  The Chuck Berry cover of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music” is classic, I like it even better than the original!  The Buddy Holly cover of “Words of Love” is another winner.  That guitar intro is fantastic.  Though I’m a bass player, I flirted with guitar in high school and knew how to play that at one time, a lot of fun.

      On the non album singles front, we get the double a side of “I Feel Fine” and “She’s A Woman.”  The former being another inspired slice of Beatlemania while the latter is a bluesy Ray Charles like number with a great Paul vocal and bass line.

      So yes, BEATLES FOR SALE is a fantastic record.  Most bands would kill to have this album as their “worst.”

[Dr. Mabuse]

No doubt about it . . . these boys worked hard. "Beatles for Sale" sounds very much like a transitional work. Though uneven in terms of structure (about half the tracks are cover versions), the introspective nature of "I'm a Loser," "No Reply" and "I'll Follow the Sun" pave the way for greater glories. A rock-solid LP that would have been a bit stronger if the group had deleted "Mr. Moonlight" — a song ill-suited for Lennon, yet it was one of his favorite obscurities.

Did the Fab Four ever make a bad album?

[Umbrella Sam]

Let me start by saying I was wrong when I mentioned the Beatles not being great at country. I hadn’t listened to this album in a while and while I have issues with the covers (more on that later) the originals here, including the country-inspired ones, are pretty good.

It starts with “No Reply”, which is fine. Lyrically, it’s an impressive number. However, to me it tends to sound a bit too much like “When I Get Home” from A HARD DAY’S NIGHT at times (mainly when Paul comes in for the vocals) and...sorry, metaldams...I still prefer “When I Get Home”. After that, though, we get two really cool original songs in “I’m a Loser” and “Baby’s in Black”. The former is another really interesting lyric from Lennon while the latter is easily my favorite song on the album, not to mention one of my favorite Beatles songs period. 6/8, and for that matter 3/4 rhythm songs are really difficult to pull off, but when they do, they can have really good results. “Baby’s in Black” feels unique in that regards, in addition to the lyrics and the as always amazing Lennon-McCartney harmonies.

“I’ll Follow the Sun” was indeed an early McCartney number (there’s actually a home tape from 1960 which features McCartney performing it). It’s weird that they never really considered it good enough for any previous albums because it feels right at home with the more mature songwriting happening here. “Eight Days a Week” is, of course, a classic, and I also really enjoy “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party”, especially the chorus. While I’d probably consider it the weakest of the original numbers, even “What You’re Doing” is still a good song. There’s not one bad original song on this album.

Now, the covers on the other hand...I like two. One of them is “Words of Love”, an excellent remake of a Buddy Holly song, which again has excellent harmonies and a really catchy guitar part. The other one is “Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!” which isn’t a great song, but stands out mainly due to McCartney’s vocal performance. I’ve never been a fan of Lennon’s version of “Rock and Roll Music”. To me, he sounds like he’s struggling to maintain that rough vocal compared to how surprisingly natural it sounds on “Twist and Shout”. I’ve always preferred the Beach Boys’ version of “Rock and Roll Music”. “Mr. Moonlight” starts off promising with Lennon’s screaming of the title, but the song itself just doesn’t work. Harrison and Starr’s lead vocal contributions are limited to Carl Perkins covers and neither really works for me; “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby”, like “Matchbox”, just sounds very generic. Ringo’s vocal take on “Honey Don’t” is definitely enthusiastic, but it just sounds kind of weird. It’s the covers that have always made me think of “Beatles for Sale” as one of the lesser albums.

So, yeah, good from a Lennon-McCartney standpoint, but unlike the first two albums, most of the covers feel more like filler than anything else. But, hey, it is still an important album as far as Lennon-McCartney goes, since it shows even more of their natural progression as songwriters.

Oh yeah, and then there’s “I Feel Fine”/“She’s a Woman”. Both good songs, but I prefer “I Feel Fine”, especially due to its unique opening.

[metaldams]

Sam mentions the unique opening of “I Feel Fine.”  The first use of feedback on a rock record.  Within a few years, the concept would be taken much further by The Who, then Hendrix, then a zillion other hard rock and metal bands.

[HomokHarcos]

I felt like this album was a step down. Most of the songs were too poppy (the 1960s style pop) for me. I like songs in that style once in a while, but to me most tracks felt like that. My favorite songs on this album were all covers: "Rock and Roll Music", a rock and roll Chuck Berry cover. "Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" a bluesy song, and "Everybody's Trying to be My Baby", another rocking tune. I actually prefer "I Feel Fine" and "She's a Woman" over any of the tracks on Beatles for Sale.

[metaldams]

Tomorrow we discuss Help!  In the mean time, here’s some footage of the era.  My Mom is somewhere in this audience.