If there are any Beatles fans around.... :-)

It is not my favourite band in the world but I would consider it calling it the greatest band in the world plus one of my favourite at the same time.

I always liked them but I think I have never even suspected how great they were until I properly listened to all their discography. Because what I find most impressive about the Beatles is how they managed to evolve.

I will roughly divide their career in three stages. They differed a great lot but also I think they were all equally good. I would argue that A Day in the Life is not really better than She Loves You - there is so much goodness to the early Beatles recordings that I can by means say the later ones are superior.

Early Beatles - an explosion of youth nad freshness. Songs simple and easy... but are they? I don't really think so. Their straightforward sound and catchy tunes hide high quality compositions, great harmonic intuition, multi-voice vocal performances which are a delight to listen to and not at all so easy to copy.

To this period I count in the albums Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night and Help. Well and perhaps Beatles for Sale but I don't really know. First of all, though, we have THE SINGLES! In that time they had an irritting idea of not putting the best songs on long-plays, well...

Best song: She Loves You

Middle Beatles - an explosion of ideas. Suddenly the complication of their music reached an extent where there was no further point in keeping on their live shows. They concentrated solely on studio recordings and introduced an amazing number of instruments, mixing effects - never forgetting that the most important thing in music is not production but... composition. The songs were no longer as riveting as the early ones but they never lost their melodic genius.

This period is most of all Revolver, Sergeant Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour, it starts around Rubber Soul (but I don't like that album) and ends around the film Yellow Submarine.

Best song: I Am The Walrus

Late Beatles - didn't look like an explosion perhaps rather ripening but suddenly they exploded in their best album and left behind something outstanding: Abbey Road. They seemed to be settling down after the madness of the psychodelic albums, incorporating more blues to their music, taking advantage of the achievements of hardrock, well slowly giving way to other bands. The year 1967 was a real explosion (unequalled ever in the history of rock music in my personal opinion), the Beatles were a part of it alright but what mostly emerged afterwards (Hendrix, The Doors, The Cream, Pink Floyd) was different from them. Yet Abbey Road...

White Album, Abbey Road, Let It Be.

Best song: not one song but I call it Abbey Road Suite - that's most of Abbey Road's B-side, a set of songs which starts with You Never Give Me Your Money and Sun King, and ends with the returning theme of You Never... and The End.

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So if there are any Beatles fans around, I would be delighted to hear what are your favourites (songs, albums, periods), how do you see this band evolution and of course which of the Four you like most? ;-)

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They are, in fact, my personal favorite band. Presently, I listen to their music (including the better part of their individual solo careers) more often than any other artists'. I would even call them the greatest band, in that they unarguably have the most widespread fan base in the history of pop music. I do refer to them as pop, as rock is a limiting and often inaccurate label for much of their music (half of Sgt. Pepper's songs have nary a fuzz bass or electric guitar to be heard).

But I hesitate to call them the best band in the world. There are artists more proficient at their instruments, better songwriters, stronger singers. But The Beatles brought a collective spiritual strength to their music that has yet to be exactly matched by anyone, including themselves as individuals. I'm not one of those that cries because they broke up and stopped making music together, who believes that rock 'n' roll died with John Lennon, or even that their respective talents went completely down the tubes after leaving one another.

The fact is, The Beatles ended on top (well, depending on your opinion of Let It Be, though Abbey Road was technically recorded last). For George Harrison, who I mentioned in another thread is my "favorite" of the bunch, the dissolution of the band allowed him to break free with all the material he had ultimately been forced to keep to himself.

*And for the record, I do like Rubber Soul.

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I grew up listening to Fab Four as much as anything that was on the radio, probably more so. I come from a big family of die hard Beatles fans.

My favorites have always been Sgt. Pepper, The White Album, and Magical Mystery Tour. Something about the Paul is dead stuff, the Manson family connection and the psychedelic nonsense were very appealing to me, even as a little kid.

p.s. George is my favorite! 

I suppose it was not fair of me to say I didn't like it. I can say I don't particularly like it as for a Beatles album but in fact there are very few things they recorded I actually don't like. Let's think...

- Blue Jay Way, yes I sincerely DISLIKE this song,

- ending the Help! album with Dizzy Miss Lizzy, a nasty own goal they shot,

- too many poor quality covers on some of the early albums - especially it spoils For Sale IMO,

- must say I have difficulties listening to the second record of White Album without nervously turning it off at some point...

I'm running out of ideas :-)

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I'd like to hear people's opinions of the LOVE "remix" album. I like it. A couple of the song overlays they use don't quite work, but most of it matches up nicely ("Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows" being the most popular example, though I also really like the medley-fying of "Drive My Car/What You're Doing/The Word").

For those who don't know what it is, it is a 78-minute "soundscape" of music spanning The Beatles' entire career compiled for a Cirque de Soleil show (yeah, don't hold that against it). It's not a cover album, it was constructed completely from the  original recordings (and that includes demos in some instances). The only newly-recorded element is a George Martin-penned string backing to Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (here, the acoustic demo version you may have heard on the Anthology set). It sounds really beautiful, too.

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The Beatles are my favorite band.  By far.  I go to a festival ever year to hear stories about the Beatles and check out Beatles merchandise but most importantly, sit under the stairs in the hotel and sing.  My favorite is John and my daughter's is George.

While I will always hold the white album as my favorite, I love rubber soul and revolver.  Fav songs are I've Just seen a face, Julia, A Day In the Life, She's so Heavy...

My daughter has changed the way I view the Beatles.  She just loves the early Beatles and sees that "pop" side of them where I love the later Beatles and see that "experimental" side of them.

And now, for your viewing pleasure...

Just as a side note, my mom got the Ed Sullivan show from Feb. '64 complete w/ commercials and there was a performance of the cast of Oliver the play and guess who was in it?  Davy Jones!  WEIRD!!!!

Okay, I'm gonna have to put aside some time to watch all of these. Maybe right after Yellow Submarine, if Booth's link holds out.

I'm actually listening to This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to Rubber Soul right now. Though I admit I haven't heard of half of the people performing on this album (though I understand they're hardly obscure to the indie fans), there are some really great renditions of all the Rubber Soul tracks. The best ones are the ones that don't try to stick so rigidly to the original recordings, but are a bit more open and interpretive. Sufjan Stevens' cover of Ringo's "What Goes On" eschews every part but the lyrics, and the results are pretty interesting.

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I've heard that Paul wrote Got To Get You Into My Life as an ode to marijuana  If so, I'd consider it quite silly... Shame, it's really a good song.

As for Blue Jay Way - yeah I know, I've got many friends who are devout Beatles fans and for at leastsome of them it is also a top ten song. Well, for me it's the number last ;-)

But all in all these same friends made me appreciate The Beatles from anew. When we discovered that we are all Beatles fans, it turned out to be a surprise because I used to be a big fan only of the she-loves-you kind of Beatles, which they on the contrary tended to consider much less worthy. And I had too little knowledge of the later recordings... so I started listening to them all over again (some for the first time, for example I had never heard Magical M.T. before!) - and discovered their incredible richness. I still love the early Beatles and both She Loves You has and Help must be in my top five, but now I see better what I said to start the thread: how the band managed to evolve.

Hey, and this very morning I had to wake my daughter a bit earlier than she'd like me to, and she is a total Beatles fan, so I woke her up with heeeeey bungalow bill, what did you kill? bungalow bill

Logichat, you asked about Love - well, in places I loved it, in places not really... In general of course a YES from me, though with a couple of doubts. I will come back to it later, have to refresh my memories of this album ;-)

Bobi 1 Kenobi

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LOVE

In general - YES. I liked it. 

In detail - most of all it is for me an exceptionally good collection of Beatles songs with a couple of fabulous ideas for joining songs together plus a few failures.

But like I say, I treat it more as a collection than some really new quality. I'm afraid I am, hmm, quite deaf for "production details". In some of the songs such as Walrus or Help I can't hear ANY difference, which is supposed to be there I know.
In Something I was told that the bass was put more forwards and when I was told that, I could hear it ;-) Seriously though, for me it is not an important difference.
Some other differences I can hear but still I don't find them important, example: the ending of All You Need Is Love. 

But then - as a collection it seems to me better than any other I know! Where else can we find such wonders as Mr Kite, Glass Onion or I Want You, plus all the standard Beatles collection songs... and there: I Am the Walrus and right after it the quasi-live version of I Wanna Hold Your Hand... FANTASTIC! And even better, after the outstanding mix of Mr Kite and I Want You (see below), there comes in Help, perhaps my most beloved Beatles song of all.
These are for me two best moments.

There are also failures, like the first part of Octopus's Garden , that's hardly listenable. Same problem with Nowhere Man and Blue Jay Way, hardly compatible in any way! Also, the opening version of Because is unfortunately a complete mistake.

But - more mixes are 100% succesful. 

Benefit of Mr Kite/ I Want You (with additions from Helter Skelter) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the best Beatles moments EVER. Two songs which are masterpieces in themselves, joined in a totally ingenius way, turn out to fit to one another perfectly, even better the overly long instrumental ending of Mr Kite goes away while the thrilling instrumental ending of I Want You stays and gets even more thrilling by the Helter Skelter samples. WOW.

The opening Hard Day's Night chord/ the Abbey Road drums/ Get Back/ Glass Onion - not anything jaw-dropping but all succesful IMO. Get back feels very fresh (explodes with freshness ) with that drumming introduction - great idea!

The Tommorrow Never Knows background and Within You - WOW. Better than both originals for me. Though I like both.. however truly speaking Tommorrow suffers just a little bit from kind of shapelessness... and Within You is a great composition with - excuse the sitar fans - an irritating background. So the mix here is just class.

Perhaps that is all for now :-)

Bobi 1 Kenobi

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better tell us which is yours! ;-)

I am sensing you're not particularly fond of The Beatles, are you, Rebel?

Bobi 1 Kenobi

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I wouldn't call any of those incompatible or unlistenable. I think the only part of "Nowhere Man" that doesn't quite pan out with "Blue Jay Way" is the last "making all his nowhere plans for nobody". Up to that point, it's very creepy and effective. And starting with "Because" a cappella is a great way to set the mood.

100% agreement.

The LOVE project itself speaks to my interest in finding the connections in various pieces of art. I've done several audio experiments in which I edit together by all accounts separate songs into one "seamless" medley (whether or not I suceed is up to the listener, I suppose). Next up I'm thinking of attaching the opening guitar chords of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" with the vocals from REM's "Swan Swan H". Not having the original masters like the Martins did will make my work a little more difficult.

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I actually came across this in an Edward McKay (used book store) the other day, but I decided not to buy it (just not interested enough, I guess). But I did pick up Hey Jude, the compilation album. No, I can't play it, but it looks damn fine in a frame on my wall.

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the beatles - I saw her standing there - very groovy with the wooo sound

ask me why

do you want to know a secret?

all my lovin

a hard days night

can't buy me love

eight days a week

a ticket to ride

I should have known better

so many beatles songs to choose from I.M.O., I love the very early works guess it's the style they had too the suit & tie, the hair groovy  :)

Watching those Beatles videos that were posted, I'm curious about this one. Is it from the above-mentioned Rock 'n' Roll Circus? Lennon accompanied by Keith Richards and a very young Eric Clapton that I didn't even recognize at first.

The "Real Love" video from the Anthology set very nearly made me tear up. 

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