the Beatles thread -> Please contribute something

reeferchief

http://highplainsipm.org/HpIPMImage/Images/1006/sm/IMG0056.jpg

dunkman

i'm going to Paul McCartney's old house in Liverpool this weekend... and John Lennons, George Harrisons... oh and Bongo's.

also going to the cavern club, The Beatles Experience, Penny Lane, Strwaberry Fields.


just thought i'd gloat

Rabbitrocks

dunkman wrote:

i'm going to Paul McCartney's old house in Liverpool this weekend... and John Lennons, George Harrisons... oh and Bongo's.

also going to the cavern club, The Beatles Experience, Penny Lane, Strwaberry Fields.


just thought i'd gloat

I can see Penny Lane from the bottom of my road and I used to work in a record shop there.
George Harrison was my mum's best friend's cousin and I spent the night in his house - he was a lovely man.

dunkman

Rabbitrocks wrote:

I can see Penny Lane from the bottom of my road and I used to work in a record shop there.
George Harrison was my mum's best friend's cousin and I spent the night in his house - he was a lovely man.

excuse me... i said i was gloating

Rabbitrocks

dunkman wrote:

excuse me... i said i was gloating

Oops, sorry

Steve Dunne

I say if you have all of the studio cds, then start at the beginning. I need the first 4 to really give my collection a boost, and I can't wait to hear that '1,2,3,4' at the start of 'I Saw Her Standing There'. From there, pick and choose which songs you like best and make a mix. I've done that from Abbey Road, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Let It Be, and Help, and love it. Can't get enough. My favs differ from many other posts here, so it's not worth mentioning, so go find which ones you like! It will be a great adventure for you!

IDgotI

Hmmm.... The Beatles.

I was riding around on a Bicycle in New York City listening to the "Blue Album" of "2nd Phase" hits the other day and was struck by a thought that I never imagined I could possibly have about the Beatles. As ashamed as I am to admit it... for a few moments there I found myself thinking "Gee... this isn't really that great."

Now to further qualify that let me note that just last summer I got into the habit of riding about 10 miles after work while listening to the Avocado album just after it came out. From there I started making Pearl Jam the staple of my bike riding and couldn't get enough of just soaring along by the Hudson River listening to "Riot Act" or "No Code" or... you know the drill.

Now I grew up on / with the Beatles. Not that I'm from the 60s, but like you I knew / know the Beatles are Iconic, and to be fair they are pretty much what turned me on to music in the 6th grade back in the 80s and I am a huge fan.

So much so that when I started reading posts here in the pit by people saying they were having trouble "getting the Beatles" I had trouble "getting those posts". But then came my bike ride recently, listening to the Beatles in a situation where I'd gotten used to hearing Pearl Jam... and for the first time I kind of heard how the Beatles might sound... well... lame.

Then interestingly enough I saw Jan Weiner the editor of rolling stone magazine the other day on TV. He was asked if the Beatles were the greatest band ever, and he said they were the greatest studio band... and pointed out they didn't play live at all after the mid 60s.

So with that ramble out of the way here's what I'd say the trick is to listening to the Beatles. Don't listen to them strictly in terms of Rock and Roll. Listen to them in terms of creativity and inventiveness... Then remember that nearly everything they did from probably 'Rubber Soul' on hadn't been invented before.

With Pearl Jam you one gets to hear just amazing almost telepathic interplay amongst hard driving musicians. With the Beatles you get to hear craftsmanship and telepathic interplay in vocal harmonies and arrangement ideas. The *writing* is always amazing... though again it's important to remember that from Sgt. Pepper on most of the playing involved overdubbing.

The playing was brilliant, don't get me wrong, but it's going to sound a little "stiff" compared to Pearl Jam because these were four guys overdubbing on each others takes, not five guys going for broke on stage.

A lot of what made the Beatles so unique can be hard to grasp immediately because... well the world has spent the last 40 years imitating everything they've done. In fact what may be most amazing about the Beatles is that there is still so much there that *does* sound fresh after 40 years of non stop immitation by literally thousands of musicians trying to outdo them.

Focus on the vocal harmonies. That's where you can hear some of the same sort of "magic" Jeff and Stone have. Paul and John and George were singing together since they were teen agers. The would effortlessly sing parts together that no three grown men could ever get loose enough with each other to sing. There's a magic in that. Listen to the way tape loops and instruments start blending together starting with Sgt Pepper.

And listen to the use of orchestra and classical instruments in their music. Don't forget this was before midi, techno, or sequencing. That Piano chord at the end of "A day in the life" ... or the whole of "Eleanor Rigby" were just mind blowing explorations beyond the boundaries of music anyone else had made at that time.

Pearl Jam to my ears is by far the better band in terms of musicians playing on stage... and part of the Pearl Jam magic is that they stick to the primary colors of Rock and Roll and just refine it, and refine it.

But the Beatles helped to define the primary colors of rock and roll, and not only that, they went out and mixed and matched and blended a few colors of their own that no one else had though to use. Another way of relating to the Beatles, esspecially if you are comming to them as a Pearl Jam fan, is to think of the way both bands made defining decisions to put art before *just*making a buck.

With Pearl Jam the move towards art before commerce came from saying no to videos, and putting the live show first.

With Beatles the move towards art before commerce came from saying no to touring and putting the recording studio first. That might not at first make a lot of sense for a Pearl Jam fan, since with Pearl Jam so MUCH is about the live show. But remember the Beatles were THE first rock band playing in stadiums, and when they showed up at Shea... the only speakers anyone had to pump their music through were the same crap horn speakers used for such high fidelity musical treats as "Take me out to ball game " and announcements of "Now hitting in the bottom of the eigth". So when the Beatles decided not to tour it was there way of saying no to MTV. They were saying no to insane loud tours with crap early stadium sound systems where people were just showing up to see the "fab four" and scream. There were no questions about the Fortune they could have made from doing that. Instead they took not only a road less traveled, but at that time, a road which was completely untraveled be deciding to devote their time recording increasingly inventive and complex music in the studio.

In both cases what makes each band special is a focus on art before just "phoning it in" for a pay check. Both bands made a journey to stay true to what music making meant to them. So that's the secret I suppose in listening to the Beatles. You are listening for the spark of creativity, and the choices they made to nurture that spark ahead of anything else.

It can be a bit tricky trying to reverse engineer the Beatles since they've been mimicked and copied to death, but again remember that no one else had done what they did before, and no other band ever had greater temptation to just coast, take it easy, sell soap and rake in billions by just showing up for photo shoots and crap "phone it in" concerts.

Like Pearl Jam they went very much their own way, and made music that helped make a band like Pearl Jam possible to begin with.

Good luck discovering them. Take them in on their own terms, and search for the "Discoveries" they made. It will be an incredible journey.

fada

While alot of people here seem to favour from 65 on , I for one love their early material and consider " A hard days night" as a 13 track pop masterpiece.
alot of their early sungs have brillant melody and don't forget that they were learning their trade at the time. Each album is a jump in progression and style.

I had a tape on in the car the other day and the first song on side two was Within without you. Now when I first heard Pepper I didn't like this song but I have grown to love it and their are very few beatle tracks that I dislike.

The anthologies were gold for older fans I except along with BBC sessions for people who saw them on tour at an early stage

mdigenakis

White Album!!!

pearljamharmony

IDgotI wrote:

Then interestingly enough I saw Jan Weiner the editor of rolling stone magazine the other day on TV. He was asked if the Beatles were the greatest band ever, and he said they were the greatest studio band... and pointed out they didn't play live at all after the mid 60s.

HEHE the same could be said for chris cornell but he plays live shitty. Why does everyone on dislike the white album? WTF?

Long Long Long
Helter Skelter
Glass Onion
Happiness is a Warm Gun
I'm So Tired
Bungalow Bill
Dear Prudence
Julia

It's a great album for sure there is some filler, when I say filler I mean it in the most minimal way. But to come out with such an enormous amount of material after writing Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Peppers, and Magical Mystery Tour is crazy. Those are like 4 of the best albums of ALL TIME. Has anyone ever looked at the track listing of Magical Mystery Tour lately? Its almost like a greatest hits album.
1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. Fool on the Hill
3. Flying
4. Blue Jay Way
5. Your Mother Should Know
6. I Am the Walrus
7. Hello Goodbye
8. Strawberry Fields Forever
9. Penny Lane
10. Baby You're a Rich Man
11. All You Need Is Love

and that just goes to show you how talented this band really was. Think about it. The band made "videos" as promotion, Sgt. Peppers was one of the first concept albums. To follow those four albums with the white album, let it be, and abbey road is astonishing. Thank god they knew how to end it when they were on top or they would have been the rolling stones. Even their solo stuff is amazing, All things must pass, Plastic Ono Band, Imagine, Ram? The Beatles hands down were the best band ever. If you don't believe me watch the video of Hey Jude when the crowd rushes the stage during the na na na na na na part, because they were so emotionally attached to them.

fada

pearljamharmony wrote:

HEHE the same could be said for chris cornell but he plays live shitty. Why does everyone on dislike the white album? WTF?

Long Long Long
Helter Skelter
Glass Onion
Happiness is a Warm Gun
I'm So Tired
Bungalow Bill
Dear Prudence
Julia

It's a great album for sure there is some filler, when I say filler I mean it in the most minimal way. But to come out with such an enormous amount of material after writing Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Peppers, and Magical Mystery Tour is crazy. Those are like 4 of the best albums of ALL TIME. Has anyone ever looked at the track listing of Magical Mystery Tour lately? Its almost like a greatest hits album.
1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. Fool on the Hill
3. Flying
4. Blue Jay Way
5. Your Mother Should Know
6. I Am the Walrus
7. Hello Goodbye
8. Strawberry Fields Forever
9. Penny Lane
10. Baby You're a Rich Man
11. All You Need Is Love

and that just goes to show you how talented this band really was. Think about it. The band made "videos" as promotion, Sgt. Peppers was one of the first concept albums. To follow those four albums with the white album, let it be, and abbey road is astonishing. Thank god they knew how to end it when they were on top or they would have been the rolling stones. Even their solo stuff is amazing, All things must pass, Plastic Ono Band, Imagine, Ram? The Beatles hands down were the best band ever. If you don't believe me watch the video of Hey Jude when the crowd rushes the stage during the na na na na na na part, because they were so emotionally attached to them.

Magical mystery tour was released as an ep in england ( 6 songs) and the album version in the states

dunkman

http://www.geocities.com/~beatleboy1/dbsongs.html


great site in which each album and its songs have a wee description of who wrote each song and information about that process.

lovely stuff!!

Pearls&Stones

I like enough Beatles songs to fill up one cd. So I made a compilation of all their work that I like, and I listen to it quite a bit. Rather than divide them into "eras," I think they were pretty consisent throughout their career. They always had some good stuff, but there were always a few songs that weren't so stellar.

The cd I made has...

Let it Be
Dear Prudence
Rocky Racoon
We Can Work it Out
Yesterday
Help
Ticket to Ride
Eleanor Rigby (their best song, in my opinion)
Strawberry Fields Forever
Penny Lane
A Day in the Life (one of the most creative songs ever written, I believe)
All You Need is Love
Sgt. Pepper
A Little Help From my Friends
Hey Jude
...and I filled the rest with the best songs from "Abbey Road"

pearljamharmony

Pearls&Stones wrote:

I like enough Beatles songs to fill up one cd. So I made a compilation of all their work that I like, and I listen to it quite a bit. Rather than divide them into "eras," I think they were pretty consisent throughout their career. They always had some good stuff, but there were always a few songs that weren't so stellar.

The cd I made has...

Let it Be
Dear Prudence
Rocky Racoon
We Can Work it Out
Yesterday
Help
Ticket to Ride
Eleanor Rigby (their best song, in my opinion)
Strawberry Fields Forever
Penny Lane
A Day in the Life (one of the most creative songs ever written, I believe)
All You Need is Love
Sgt. Pepper
A Little Help From my Friends
...and I filled the rest with the best songs from "Abbey Road"

cool cool, and thats whats so great about the Beatles that everyone has their own favorite songs by them because every song was so wonderfully produced they cater to everyones separate interests. I like how you had Dear Prudence on there thats a real obscure choice, as well as rocky raccoon, and am I correct in assuming that you put the side B melody of abbey road to fill the rest?

Mohab

Ringo has an awesome solo career.

Check out

Ringo the 4th
Ringo Rama w Dave Gilmour
Blues boutique
Self Titled w lennon, mcartney and harrison

He's still touring too. Check him out for sure. Whats better than Dont pass me by in the flesh? ANd octopusses garden too.

deadmosquito

you have the unique opportunity to listen to all of these albums in chronological order and witness the development of possibly the best band of all time. listen to them in the order they were released in, but if i were you, i wouldn't do it all at once. let each one sink in. realize, when you get to the rubber soul/revolver era, that you are hearing a band pioneering the face of rock music for a long time to come.

i really wish i could be like you, not hearing any of their material yet. i would have loved to go through the albums chronologically instead of in random order.

have fun!!

decides2dream

ANYthing by the beatles is pure gold. period. yes, it is just imho, but yea...i stand by it. seriously. total LOVE for the beatles, pure genius. btw - i ADORE the white album, particularly disc 2..... but it's all amazing! abbey road is pure brilliance, can't go wrong. just listen, enjoy, fall in love....and you'll see.........:)


edit - ooooo, just read dead mosquito's post above me, great advice, do that! really see their growth/progression....sounds like an excellent plan of action.

darthvedder88

i like matt.c wrote:

Magical Mystery Tour! Love that album, esp Blue Jay Way.

Best Beatles album ever...

catefrances

i like some beatles stuff. and i don't like some beatles stuff.
when i bought abbey road i was a little disappointed. but that perhaps has more to do with me rather than the beatles. but you know there's no rule that says you have to like the beatles.

yosi1

catefrances wrote:

i like some beatles stuff. and i don't like some beatles stuff.
when i bought abbey road i was a little disappointed. but that perhaps has more to do with me rather than the beatles. but you know there's no rule that says you have to like the beatles.

But there should be.