Rating the Beatles
Using the British / CD
editions for pre Sgt. Pepper albums.
Not Included: Yellow Submarine –
Why? The four original songs are basically throw away songs. TWO of them are
George songs. In full disclosure, I am a John Lennon guy. If my takes seem
slanted a bit towards J.L. you can add whatever pinch of salt to that you deem
necessary.
13.
Please Please Me – There’s no denying the title track, I Saw Her Standing There and Twist And Shout – and I like Ringo’s
number Boys. The rest is easily
forgotten – except Paul singing flat on Love
Me Do. *cringe* - isn’t a producer supposed to notice things like that?
12.
Beatles For Sale – Their fourth album in 21 months finds
the boys digging deep into covers to fill the album out. A medley of Kansas City-Hey Hey Hey Hey gives Paul a
showcase, while John Belting out Chuck Berry’s Rock And Roll Music is an instant classic. But the real deal here is
the influence of Bob Dylan [A Parisian DJ had given them The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan –
said Paul, “We were ALL potty on Dylan.”] which will blossom in the next two
records. Two of John’s songs, I’m A Loser
and Baby’s In Black are among the
most important in the Beatles catalog. But this is a pretty forgettable record.
11.
Magical Mystery Tour – While this
“album” is helped by Capitol’s decision to add Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, All You Need Is Love, Baby
You’re A Rich Man, the crapitudity of 4 of the other 6 songs from the
actual movie are so hard to overcome. Having said that, John’s I Am the Walrus is amazing and I like
Paul’s Fool On the Hill.
10.
Help! – Straddling the line of rock and folk [not unlike
Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home released
five months earlier], this album contains three Lennon classics [title cut, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, Ticket To
Ride] and McCartney’s Yesterday. I
personally always liked You’re Gonna Lose
That Girl and Dizzy Miss Lizzy is
just another barn burning cover with a Lennon lead. There are also a few less
memorable bits which keep this from being one you reach for often.
9.
Let It Be – There are not any real stinkers here but there
isn’t a whole lot of enthusiasm here either. One After 909, I’ve Got A Feeling and Dig A Pony are cool. Two Of
Us is kinda fun. George’s I Me Mine
and For You Blue are okay. What would George Martin have done with The Long And Winding Road? We will never
know. It just feels so final it’s ahrd to listen to for pleasure.
[Hmm, I just noticed
that 3 of my bottom five are associated with films.]
8.
With the Beatles – the first real feel of what turned the
Beatles into household names after that appearance on TV. Tight harmonies and
arrangements that fulfill the promise of [the song] Please Please Me. The 7 Lennon/McCarney originals all just smoke
with immediacy and even George’s Don’t
Bother Me is enjoyable. It’s actually the covers that drag this down. Taken
with the two singles that book end this period, She Loves You and I Want To
Hold Your Hand… well you know the rest of the story.
7.
The Beatles [aka “The White Album”] – 28 songs
[plus the gawdawful mess of Revolution 9]
sprawling across four sides, there’s bound to be some less than great moments.
IMHO, most provided by Paul although he did contribute Helter Skelter. Dear Prudence
is one of my top 5 Beatles songs. Side 2 used to be what I’d go to sleep to in
my late teen years so that is burned into my brain. Really, it’s only the
turnaround from side 3 [Long, Long, Long]
to side 4 [Revolution 1, Honey Pie]
that drags. Savoy Truffle is
brilliant.
6.
Past Masters – because this set contains all of the
non-album singles: She Loves You, I Want
To Hold Your Hand, This Boy, I Feel Fine, Day Tripper, We Can Work It Out,
Paperback Writer, Rain, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude, Revolution, Don’t Let Me Down,
Get Back, The Ballad Of John and Yoko
plus I Call Your Name, Long Tall
Sally, Matchbox, and Bad Boy. Are
there some clunky B-sides. Oh for sure. But that list of hit singles – holy
cow! Personally, I find The Mono Masters
even more rewarding.
5.
Abbey Road – the most polished of the bands releases, it’s
hard to argue with that track line up – except Maxwell’s Silver Hammer of course. George unleashed Something and Here Comes the Sun here and Ringo contributes Octopus’ Garden. Paul does contribute the great Oh! Darling, which John liked but stated
“He should have let me sing it. It’s more my style.” The Medley. Great editing. Features some fine
moments.
4.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – As important as this
album is to the history of rock and roll and music in general, I just don’t
think it’s the Beatles best record. But without any doubt A Day In the Life is the best thing they ever accomplished. George
Martin has lamented not including Strawberry
Fields Forever and Penny Lane
[the first two songs cut in the sessions] – can you imagine those two leading
into Good Morning / Sgt Pepper Reprise and A Day In the Life? But in keeping with
British tradition, any songs used for singles were NOT included on albums. Anyway,
there’s no denying its place as one of the greatest achievements in music.
3.
A Hard Day’s Night – the first collection of songs written
exclusively by the band it’s the most solid of the “early” period Beatles
albums. With the two hit singles [title track, Can’t Buy Me Love], this may be the first record where the “filler’
holds up as well as the singles, with the exception of I’ll Cry Instead. You Can’t
Do That remains one of my all time favorite Beatles riffs [and features a
great cowbell!].
2.
Revolver – sigh, yes it has fucking Yellow Submarine. But it has Taxman,
Elanor Rigby, Got To Get You Into My Life, She Said, She Said, I’m Only
Sleeping, And Your Bird Can Sing, For No One [maybe my favorite Paul song]
and Tomorrow Never Knows. This is an
album where the good is SO GOOD that it allows one to overlook the ‘merely
okay.’
1.
Rubber Soul – [Note: this is an amazing reversal of
30 years of claiming Revolver as my
favorite Beatles album – and on certain days it might still be!] This is the
near perfect Beatles album. The harmonies all over this album are superior. George’s
songs – If I Needed Someone, Think For Yourself are okay. Ringo’s [+ John & Paul] country
/ rockabilly number What Goes On is
also a great toe tapper. Paul’s Michelle is
another one of my favorites of his. But of course it’s John Lennon leading the
way here – Norwegian Wood, Nowhere Man,
The Word, Girl and In My Life. If
asked where to start seriously looking into the Beatles beyond the hits
[meaning that the 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 collections are still great
and enough for any good rock and roll music collection], then this is the one I
say to start with.
Just for fun – The
AMERICAN albums rated:
1.
Yesterday And Today – containing Drive My Car, Nowhere Man, If
I Needed Someone and What Goes On from
Rubber Soul, Yesterday, and Act Naturally
From Help! [making it a rare Beatles
album to feature two tracks with Ringo on lead vocals!!], the double-A side single
We Can Work It Out / Day Tripper AND three of John’s Revolver tracks: I’m Only Sleeping, And Your Bird Can Sing
and Dr. Robert. As a collection of
tracks, this is a damn fine snapshot of the Beatles progress in one measly
year!
2.
Meet the Beatles – Kicking off with the mighty, mighty
single I Want To Hold Your Hand,
Capitol surrounded that [and the beautiful harmonious B-side This Boy] with 9 of the best tracks from
With the Beatles plus I Saw Her Standing There.
3.
Revolver – even stripped of three of the best songs, this is
an AMAZING album.
4.
Rubber Soul – so diluted as the 14
songs of the UK release are pared down to just 10 songs from that mighty,
mighty album plus two tracks peeled off of Help!.
Somehow it starts off with I’ve Just Seen
A Face [one of the tracks peeled off of Help!, the other being It’s
Only Love]. A mighty strange decision from Capitol when Drive My Car AND Nowhere Man were there and either would have been a great kick off
track! But then again Capitol doesn’t strike me as one of the brightest labels
in the world, either.*
5.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
6.
Abbey Road
7.
The Beatles
8.
Something New – since the soundtrack to A Hard Day’s Night [released on Untied
Artists records in the US] was padded out with orchestral arrangement of four
tunes, Capitol was happy to take the back And
I Love Her, If I Fell, I’ll Cry Instead and I’m Happy Just To Dance With You, add a couple of covers from the
British Long Tall Sally EP, 3 more
songs from the UK A Hard Day’s Night
and I Want To Hold Your Hand sung IN GERMAN
[because that’s what the English speaking world was really waiting for! See
what I man about Capitol being “geniuses” yet? On the other hand, they just got
people to pay twice for four songs they already had if they bought UA’s A Hard Day’s Night, so…]
9.
Let It Be
10.
Hey Jude – the 1970 collection is the only place other than A Hard Day’s Night soundtrack to find Can’t Buy Me Love [until Capitol began
endlessly repackaging Beatles product in the ‘70s. Perversely other than same
said soundtrack and the single, the song A
Hard Day’s Night would not appear on an album until Capitol released the 1962-1966 anthology in 1973.] I also
collects the single Paperback Writer /
Rain [1966], Lady Madonna, Hey Jude /
Revolution [1968], and 1969’s The
Ballad Of John and Yoko / Old Brown Shoe and Don’t Let Me Down [b-side of Get
Back]. With this package Capitol only leaves only a few scraps on the floor
until the CD age – the George penned Indian flavored B-side to Lady Madonna, The Inner Light and the
B-side to the Let It Be single, the very odd You Know My Name [Look Up the Number].** Having heard these two
tracks, I would just comment that they are definitely NOT worth seeking out.
11.
Magical Mystery Tour
12.
Beatles ’65 – a mish-mash of tracks from the UK A Hard Day’s Night, the I Feel Fine / She’s A Woman single and
8 tracks [including the key tracks I’m A
Loser and Baby’s In Black] from Beatles For Sale.
13.
The Beatles Second Album – whomever picked the tracks from With the Beatles to go on the US LP Meet the Beatles picked all of the gems
[well, the cover of Roll Over Beethoven
that opens the album is pretty hot]. Also featuring She Loves You, Long Tall Sally and I Call Your Name form the UK Long
Tall Sally EP and She Loves You’s
dreadful B-side I’ll Get You. Somehow
they also got You Can’t Do That from
the forthcoming [UK] A Hard Day’s Night,
too.
14.
Beatles VI – 6 tracks from Beatles For Sale, 3 the from the upcoming [UK] Help! LP, a cover of Larry Williams’ Bad Boy sung by John [a favorite!] and the very awful B-side of Ticket To Ride, Yes It Is.
15.
Help! – the seven original songs that appear in the movie
padded out with 5 orchestral arrangements
16.
A Hard Day’s Night – as noted, Capitol would sell you four of
these songs again in a month on the deceptively titled Something New.
17.
The Early Beatles – since Capitol had first rights to the
Beatles in America and PASSED in 1963 [and given most of the material on Please Please Me, I probably would
have, too], those songs were licensed in the US to the Vee-Jay label, most notable
for being the home of the Four Seasons featuring Franki Valli. Eventually
agreements were made and Capitol pushed this out in March of 1965. While it has
Twist And Shout, Boys and Please Please Me, the rest is pretty
forgettable.
* In the 1990s and so
far in the 2000s while other labels have cashed in [ and re-cashed and even in
some cases re-recashed] on re-mastering their artists catalongs, Capitol has
been most stingy with re-releases. I half-jokingly state “If you were signed to
Capitol and your band name did not start with a ‘B,’ you’re not shit to
Capitol.” They have focused on baby boomer cash cows the Band, the Beach Boys
and the Beatles [and Beatles solo albums] – and if those bands keep making you
tons of cash on stuff you paid for 60 year ago, why not? And while some bands
have gotten a little love [Grand Funk Railroad, Duran Duran] one wonders why
albums like Bob Seger’s Night Moves,
Stanger In Town and /or Against the
Wind have never been given the FULL treatment while loads of “greatest hits”
collections keep pouring out. Ditto for the Steve Miller Band other than the 30th
anniversary Fly Like An Eagle and
oh, those hits! [In this case, I believe Steve owns the masters to everything
after The Joker, including FLAE, so that may be his own fault –
but I think the Book Of Dreams is
LONG overdue, Stevie Guitar! Someone all ready did 6 songs for that last “hits”
collection!] Even some second tier artists like April Wine could use a fresh
coat of paint!
** Capitol left very, very
little on the floor of the Beatles. From my very unofficial count, there was
the single From Me To You [showed up
on 1962-1966] / Thank You Girl, the B-side to Help!, I’m Down, the single version of Get Back [the take on Let It
Be is a truncated live take from the Apple rooftop . the single would not appear
on an LP until 1973’s 1967-1970
collection] and She Loves You in German, Sie Lebt
Dich. Plus the two b-sides mentioned earlier.
*** As I noted on my
Rating the Rolling Stones, it may be worth your while to seek out the MONO
mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul [and if you’re going hard
core Revolver – but if you’re going
hard core you probably all ready bought The
Beatles In Mono box]. Originally the first four were all in mono [they may
still be – I’m not 100% sure, but any stereo mixes would be some artificial
stereo]. But Sir George Martin attempted to “fix” the stereo mixes of those
albums with the 1987 original CD re-issues and while I lived with them for 20
years, very shortly after I got the mono box, I ditched the stereo versions
completely. The separation of music into on channel and voices into the other
is just no longer satisfying to me. As for the mono Revolver, the mixes are fascinatingly different on Tomorrow Never Knows and I’m Only Sleeping. There a differences
on Sgt. Pepper as well.
Having said all that,
not only have I got the Stones in mono, I have gone back through Motown’s
catalog SPECIFICALLY seeking out mono mixes up to 1967/68 when stereo became
the norm for singles and LPs. Motown’s The
Ultimate collections of the Miracles, the Supremes, the Four Tops, etc. DO
use the mono singles in most cases and are worth seeking out. One has to
CAREFULLY go through The Complete Motown
Singles on Amazon – though they usually document different mixes. I don’t
believe Stax has a separate and distinct mono even on their Complete Singles
collection, but I am still looking.