The Beatles, Album by Album--Yellow Submarine

Yellow Submarine is not really an official Beatles album, and probably shouldn't be judged as such, but nevertheless is part of their recorded output, so I shall discuss it briefly here. Released as the soundtrack companion to their children's movie of the same title, it contains only four new Beatles songs, thrown together with two of their previous hits and several George Martin-penned orchestra pieces. The first half are the Beatles numbers and the second half are the orchestral pieces. Because of the inconsistency of the Beatles numbers, I think I actually might prefer producer George Martin's half on this record (probably not if I count the Beatles repeats from previous albums on here--"Yellow Submarine" and "All You Need is Love"--but in terms of the new material).

The record opens with the Beatles theme for the movie--"Yellow Submarine" (George Martin's "Pepperland" theme is in fact better). We've already heard this, and believe me, nothing has changed from your childhood memory of it. Next is George's rambling, strange "Only a Northern Song," which sounds like a Sgt. Pepper outtake, and indeed most of these songs were basically unused songs from the Beatles psychedelic era. Now that they had grown out of that period with the magnificent White Album, the meandering lyrics and self-conscious musical experimentation of that period seem almost childish, and indeed probably do serve as a good soundtrack for a trippy kid's movie. I haven't seen the movie since band class in middle school, so I really have no memory how these songs worked in the movie. All I know is the song is pretty much a musical mess, full of xylophones, horns, and all kinds of randomness. "All Together Now" is next, and is a fun enough singalong tune, but it doesn't really offer much more. Still, this is a pretty good example of a fun kids song.

"Hey Bulldog" is the only real classic of the new Beatles songs. Just a fucking rocking song with a great "Lady Madonna"-like groove that works better with this song, because of the nastiness and aggression of John's lyrics and singing. I always think he says "You can't talk to me" in those great refrains, even though he sings "You can talk to me," just because he seems to sing the song with such aggression that it seems impossible that he's actually lending a hand to the person he's singing to. Great mix of both piano and guitar in it, which is seldom seen in Beatles (or any rock songs) music, and the bassline is rockin'.

"It's All Too Much" is another rambling George song. It's more of an acid rock song instead of the straight psychedelia of "Only a Northern Song," but I can't say I'm really a fan. At least it has a bit more of a melody than "Northern Song." "All You Need is Love" closes out the Beatles side, and it's as good as ever, but you already know that, don't you?

I was pleasantly surprised by George Martin's original soundtrack music for the movie. The stately "Pepperland" theme reminds me of the exquisite music of Super Mario Galaxy, which I strongly advise everyone reading this (all millions of you!) to check out. The orchestration is beautiful throughout this side. I love the way the main theme morphs from its courtly initial appearance into a lilting, beautiful melody in "Sea of Time" into the mournful dirge that we hear in some of the later tracks ("March of the Meanies" or "Pepperland Laid Waste," for instance). "Sea of Time"'s intro uses Indian instrumentation to strong effect before transferring gracefully into the traditional symphonic orchestration that George Martin seems so adept at (as I've always heard, he was classically-trained...what a great phase that is--I fucking wish I was classically-trained). "Sea of Monsters" is another one of my favorites, with some trippy wah-pedal guitar mixed with oboes in the beginning, plus the appearance of a cameo by J.S. Bach somewhere in the middle. I really love this stuff!

Anyways, worth a listen for Martin's orchestral stuff (give it a chance), and "Hey Bulldog," which really is a cool song.

--Edward