The new Beatles 1+ release with two Blu Ray disks of videos is just about the best Beatles product ever. The CD portion is fine although the Fab Four community is up in arms over the omission of "Please Please Me" since it was a #1 on some charts in the UK. The new mixes are nice, with more clarity in just about every regard. The guitar in "Paperback Writer" is absolutely pummeling.
But the videos are the real star here. Going chronologically, they really kick in with "I Feel Fine" and never let up. Options of stereo and two version of 5.1 surround are great but I am really in it for the actual videos. To see those four together, singing, playing, laughing, enjoying themselves is what floats my boat. Apple has pretty much shut down all Beatles videos on You-tube but who needs them now that we have top notch versions in an official release. The videos that were initially created on film are just stupendous. Restored with care and just bursting from the screen.
Some days I think "Strawberry Fields Forever" may be my favorite song ever. So thanks to Apple the new version is up on Youtube, and here it is. But take my word for it, the actual blu ray version is twice as clear and deep.
Just a quick note to say that I have been away due to health issues. Thanks to my doctors and my partner I am just about back to myself after nearly a year of recovery. Howdy to all who may have wondered where I disappeared to.
And yes, Martha the sheepdog does make an appearance at the very end of the video, a detail I had never noticed before.
So here is the last of the three John Lennon songs that open Beatles For Sale. Baby's In Black has a happy country-tinged atmosphere that belies the downright depressing subject matter. The singer is pining after a girl who cannot get over the death of her lover. Though I do not find it quite as wonderful as the two songs that preceded it, it does have a lovely middle eight in which McCartney leaps into the upper atmosphere, and the John and Paul harmonies are quite wonderful and remain from start to finish. George furnishes a short twangy guitar solo with some unexpected leaps and slides that I only wish were longer. And Ringo has some simple yet perfect fills, but you must listen carefully to hear them as they are not prominent in the mix.
I'm A Loser is the second in the John Lennon trifecta that lead off Beatles For Sale. And the blue mood started with No Reply just digs itself a deeper hole. This album is the turning point where John's lyrics become more introspective, and consequently more real.
Just a few of my many favorite moments:
John and Paul's exquisite harmonies in the intro
The jangle of John's acoustic guitar, followed by Paul's bass entrance
The first three songs on Beatles For Sale may be my favorite opening trio on any Beatles LP. All three were written by John Lennon, and they capture him at his early peak. His songwriting would evolve over the course of the next three years, but these sad melancholy love songs from late 1964 are just my cuppa tea. John was still fully invested in the Beatles and their future at this point, and for at least a couple of more albums he would lead the way with his amazing songwriting talent.
No Reply was a brave choice for the opening cut. Of course Paul McCartney's fingerprints are all over this song, from the great harmony work (in tandem with George) to the uptempo middle eight. But it is John's glorious sense of melody and the emotional explosion with "I Saw The Light..." that just sends this over the top. His singing turns raw and anguished, and it hits me right in gut. The acoustic strumming and Ringo's sublime syncopation just add to the atmosphere.
When I was eight years old, I took on extra chores around the house so that my parents would give me enough money to buy tickets to the Enid, OK premier of A Hard Day's Night at the Chief Theater. I was thrilled to be there at the premier and of course I loved the movie and the music, but was a bit too young to really understand what a great film it is. Furthermore I did not see the gigantic song writing step forward by Lennon and McCartney. For years I was a bit torn about the US LP by that name because it contained a generous portion of George Martin orchestrated instrumental versions of some of the songs. I also purchased their Capitol LP Something New, which was really a scatter shot collection of songs left off the US AHDN album, plus some singles and b-sides. And in some way I preferred that record because it had some amazing songs like Things We Said Today, Any Time at All, When I Get Home, And I Love Her, and If I Fell.
Then during my early college years in the mid-70s I acquired the British version of the LP. And immediately I realized that Capitol records (and United Arists) had done us a great disservice. The "real" A Hard Day's Night is perhaps the first true Beatles' masterpiece. Even the running order is important to the experience of listening to these songs, and now I immediately know what will come next.
Tucked away at the very end of the LP is a song that just hits me like a ton of bricks every time I listen. I'll Be Back is John Lennon at his early peak. Not the upbeat closer that one would expect, but rather a thoughtful and beautiful exploration of how tenuous love can be. The acoustic guitar work is just amazing, what with the three-against-four rhythms. John sings it with a compassion that perfectly fits the lyrics. A real hidden gem on an album full of first class song writing.
I have this theory - totally unprovable - that the key moment when things went wrong with the internal chemistry with the Beatles was not mid-68 during the White Album sessions, nor early the next year for the Get Back sessions. My theory is that everything went awry during the "Magical Mystery Tour" sessions up through the scattered recordings done just before they left for India in early 1968. Bare with me as I list some events during that period.
Paul commandeered the group into making the MMT movie and EP. Yes the music was top notch, and John provided perhaps one of his finest moments with "I Am The Walrus". But it was clearly Paul's brainchild and the other three were just along for the ride. It is possible that John's resentment of Paul's attempts to lead the group had been building since "Sgt Pepper's".
John's heyday for getting singles A-sides were on the wain. "Strawberry Fields" in early 1967 had to share double-A side status with "Penny Lane". Totally understandable as both songs are revolutionary, but still John did not get full A-side credit. So that leaves "All You Need Is Love" in the summer as John's last A-side until mid-1969.
John hated "Hello Goodbye" and has been quoted trashing Paul's lyrics. He also was pushing to make "I Am The Walrus" as the A-side. I should note that I love "Hello Goodbye" for its sunshine pop and the clever production, but regardless it was another put down for John to see Paul get another A-side.
During the short recording windows before they left for India in early 1968, the band worked on "Lady Madonna" and "Across the Universe". John contended that Paul purposely undercut him by bringing in a couple of young ladies off the street to sing backup vocals on "Across the Universe". Although I greatly prefer this original version, which only saw the light of day on a charity album until it reappeared on the "Rarities" LP in the 80s, I can see John's point that the vocals add nothing to the song and the singers are less than stellar. Later after the Beatles break-up Paul was quoted complaining about Phil Spector's work on "Let It Be", in part because he added female chorus voices to a Beatles song! Now that was a twist.
The day the band was set to record a video for the new "Lady Madonna" single, John arrived in the studio with a new song "Hey Bulldog" - and the band decided to film themselves recording it instead, although the official video superimposed LM on the audio track. HB is a cracker-jack piece of rock and roll and should never have been relegated as a toss-off for inclusion on the "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack.
So how could things have gone differently? Perhaps one of George's shelved 1967 tunes such as "Only a Northern Song" could have been the B-side for "Hello Goodbye", and "I Am The Walrus" could have been its own A-side. Yes, it is the most pyschedelic song they ever recorded, but the world would have eaten it up at that time during the height of their popularity.
While the Beatles were off in India two more singles should have been issued. "Hey Bulldog" b/w "It's All Too Much" as a follow up to "Lady Madonna". I say follow up one rocker with another! Then early summer, before "Hey Jude" conquers the universe, "Across The Universe" b/w "All Together Now" would have given light to perhaps the most beautiful, touching, and spiritual song that John ever wrote. It would have required wiping the female harmony vocals but Geoff E. and George M. would have been up to the task, and possibly could have added a minimal string arrangement in its place.
Would all of this had made a difference? Would John have been pacified enough to prevent him from instilling Yoko at every recording session going forward, thus removing one of the major hindrances to the working relationship between the four Beatles? Totally unknowable but I do believe that it might have bought more time before the eventual split. That said, I love "Abbey Road" so much that I am afraid a different path might have resulted in it never being made.
Anyway, here is the unofficial video for "Hey Bulldog" - which as you can see is what they were actually singing/recording, not "Lady Madonna". This song just kills me. And Paul's bass line is just amazing.
From the ashes of the Get Back recording sessions in 1969, who would have guessed that the most controversial reworking for the Let It Be LP would be Paul's simple yet emotionally powerful Long And Winding Road? Paul's legal case to end The Beatles listed Phil Spector's tinkering with this song as one of six reasons for the dissolution. On most counts I prefer the Naked versions of the Let It Be songs, but in this one case I have to disagree strongly with Mr. McCartney. Perhaps this is due to my memories of this song on the radio back in 1970, released just after the world learned that The Beatles were no more. The tugging of Richard Hewson's mid-song string arrangement just works for me on so many levels. When I listen to the untouched version I still hear the strings deep in my head. Paul's little ode to a broken heart begging to be let back in is perhaps his most touching late Beatle's moment, and one of the few times he was given free reign to bare his soul.
The Beatles Abbey Road was/is a miracle. Personal, financial, and musical battles had shattered their ability to work together. Geoff Emerick (their long-time chief recording engineer) stated in his book Here, There and Everywhere regarding the 1968 sessions for The Beatles "for weeks I had been incensed about what had been going on, with the horrible, unsettled atmosphere, the constant bickering." He was so distraught that he demanded to be reassigned by EMI, leaving the project in midstream. By all accounts the Get Back sessions the following January were even worse. George Harrison temporarily quit the band, the music degenerated into long jam sessions, John Lennon told George Martin that these session were no place for his slick production work.
With the Get Back project on the shelf, the realization set in that the end was near. McCartney and George Martin decided to attempt a recording done the way they used to do it, with Martin guiding the production, and the Beatles once again playing together as a cohesive band. Sensing that it might be their last shot, the other three agreed to the terms, and Geoff Emerick was persuaded to return.
Various rock critics have referred to the mini-suite on the second side as a pop symphony. But if one must attribute classical forms to this work, I think a more apt description is tone poem. From the Wikipedia page for Tone Poem: combined or compressed multiple movements into a single principal section. Most folks consider the suite to start with a song which in itself is a multi-part composition - Paul's amazing You Never Give Me Your Money. For me the entire LP side constitutes the tone poem. The lyrics from the chorus of Here Comes the Sun return in Sun King, as do the transplendent multi-layered vocal harmonies from Because. Outside of the Beach Boys, 11th chords have never been used so effectively in a pop framework.
From George's most sunny and possibly finest melody until Paul's little throwaway ode to the Queen, everything that made the Beatles a force of nature can be found here. Frankly I prefer to listen to it non-stop from start to finish. Even John's two little character studies Mean Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pan - which taken on their own are a bit slight (especially the former) - in the context of the suite, and glued together with Beatle's magic, are an essential portion of the experience.
Nicholas Schaffner, in his fine book The Beatles Forever said "The album as it stands shows four musicians, all at the height of their powers but each tuned into very different wavelengths, making one final effort to work together creatively and efficiently. McCartney, who hasn't yet given up on Art, attempts to weld a glittering scrapheap of fragments into an ambitious song cycle. Between them, the sparks fly." Indeed.
In yesterday's post I mentioned that I moved away from rock music in the late 60s. In truth I did not completely shutdown to what was currently playing on the radio, and I did acquire The Beatles aka. White Album. That spurred me to purchase Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band several years after its release. Oddly enough I would not venture into Abbey Road for many years - and was totally blown away when I finally heard it for the first time.
But I digress from the point of this post regarding the three Beatle's singles that ruled my life during my junior high school years. My family was dysfunctional for sure, but at the time I did not imagine it to be any different than any other. There was usually a lot of drama going around, and I found the best cure was to place some vinyl on my nifty General Electric turntable and tune out what was going on around the household.
The three 45rpms that I would repeatedly play ad naseum have been labeled by some as the Beatle's "Indian Summer" singles, coming between the pyschedelic year of 1967 and the White Album in late 1968. These songs are etched into my inner fiber, a part of who I am, and to this day they elicit a feeling of euphoria. After 40 years and thousands of listens I never tire of them. At the time of their release, I was oblivious to the notion that they were "Paul" songs, although it was clear to me that he was they lead singer on them.
Hello Goodbye got the short straw for some folks, John Lennon included. He called it "three minutes of contradictions and meaningless juxtapositions". It is mentioned that it is too repetitious, but I never want it to end. For me, the clever harmonies, delicious guitar fragments, and overall sunny disposition have always been a soul lifter. And Mr. McCartney knows his way around a chord progression or two. More than any other song, this would go on the turntable as a mood changer, a relief from the sturm und drang of being a teenager.
Lady Madonna is the odd one out here, the first Beatle single not to go to number one in the USA since Yellow Submarine just barely missed the top spot in August of 1966. Both would be chart toppers in the U.K. The first time I heard it on AM radio in early 1968 I was blown away by the opening piano riff. And speaking of chord progressions, the middle eight skillfully constructs a bass line that carries the tune like a baroque passacaglia. Everything about the production works for me - the gorgeous vocal harmonies at the end of each verse ("see how they run"), the tight little guitar riff that pops in for maximum effect, the saxophone, the hand claps, the kazoo middle eight. Paul's meaningless yet clever lyrics leave everything to interpretation. This is the pinnacle of the lost art of writing a hit single. At barely two and a quarter minutes in length, it says what is has to say and rolls to an end with some of the most delicious pop piano pounding in history.
Hey Jude Speaking of feel-good songs, one must have a stone heart to avoid the vibe that came out of the EMI studio on that day in 1968. Even John knew this was the real deal. "Hey Jude is a damn good set of lyrics and I made no contribution to that." I will leave the genesis of the lyrics to you to decide who it was really written for (John? Julian? Paul?, Francie?, Dylan?). I do not spend much energy pondering, I just listen. And listen. And listen some more. For a real treat, try the new mono remaster version. When that build up to the first "la... la la ladda da da" occurs, my life is transfigured. Just as when I was 13 sitting in my room hiding from the world.
How many recorded versions of Revolution exist? I have no idea but I just stumbled across another one - but this time with an actual video to accompany it. There is an "official" Beatles video with the 45rpm single version of the song - you know, the loud bordering on white noise version - without the background "shooby doo wop" vocals, and missing the last minute "count me out.. in" line present on the slower White Album version. Well this is another take of the loud version, with those effects from the album version. Maybe not as revelatory as the newly discovered Revolution 1 - Take 20 that has recently surfaced, but still a fine alternate take on one of John's classics. I cannot think of another band that looked as comfortable in their own skin as these guys at this point in their career.
Just a quick thought here... I have been immersed in all things Beatles related recently, and have been wondering about songs that could have been/should have been 45rpm singles. Then I came across a comment on the following YouTube video that Paul McCartney had orginally hoped that Every Little Thing would be released as a single. I believe this to be one of the least heard Beatles songs, and for the life of me I do not know why. Great melody, killer descending piano chords, and Ringo playing the friggin' timpani!
