The Beatles, Album by Album--Conclusion

I will try to keep this short and sweet, because I know I've already bored everyone enough. I know this hasn't been the most popular blog series ever and that it was an exhaustive process, but what I wanted to shine through in my analyses was my love for the Beatles, so that maybe I could inspire others to dig into their catalogue. Like many great things, you can see their talent and their unique sense of artistry by listening to them in only brief amounts, but to truly see the depth and impact of their career, it really requires dedicated listening to their entire output. More than any other band in pop history, their career is required listening. There are many artists out there with great albums and singles, but no one did more in such a brief time to change the face of popular music as the Beatles did, and no one has such a perfect collection of records. It blows my mind that their entire recorded output was released in just seven years. There is both a conciseness and an epic scope to their career. I hope I managed to convey some of these things in my posts, but if not, please do not blame this on them. The fault is entirely mine.

I will include a list of the other posts in the series for easy access here:

Overview
Please Please Me
With the Beatles
A Hard Day's Night
Beatles for Sale
Help!
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour
The White Album
Yellow Submarine
Abbey Road
Let It Be
Past Masters, Vol. I
Past Masters, Vol. II

Anyways, I hope everyone likes it. A Good Moleman to everyone!

--Edward

The Beatles, Album by Album--Past Masters, Vol. II

Collecting all of the non-album singles of the mid- to late-period Beatles, this CD expectedly has lots of hits, but some of them we've heard so many times that they deserve relistening so that we understand afresh what makes these such legendary recordings. I know that a lot of these songs I've heard so many times on the radio growing up that I basically tune them out when they come on. But if you listen to almost any of the Beatles' songs with a blank slate, they will manage to astonish you with little details that you never heard before.

"Day Tripper" is a huge leap from the songs on Past Masters, Vol. I. Although singles that came out and were placed on the album Help! (the title track and "Ticket to Ride") somewhat bridge this gap, there is still a leap in John and Paul's songwriting in 1965 and 1966 that makes this their most experimental period. There is an irony and wit in the lyrics of "Day Tripper" and "Paperback Writer" that wasn't present in pop music before this. "We Can Work It Out" is a great showcase for the contrasting personalities of John and Paul. They both seem to be approaching the same problem, and we are led to believe that the whole song is some sort of argument between themselves that they want to settle so they can make music together. Paul's answer is "We can work it out," while John's response to their bickering is "Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend." In the end, I suppose, they did work it out, because they came up with a great song about it! "Rain" was a big step for them, heralding the psychedelic masterpiece Revolver. It has early trippy vocal effects and harmonies, as well as acid-drenched lyrics. Ringo's drumming really drives the psychedelic groove, providing you with something to latch onto while your ego vanishes and you melt into the music.

There is a distinct jump on here between "Rain" to "Lady Madonna," which sound years apart. They are indeed a year apart (which in terms of the Beatles' development is a very long time), as the 1967 psychedelic singles weren't included on here, since they are on Magical Mystery Tour. While a lot of this 1967 psychedelic period I've described as sloppy and overflowing with excess, their singles did manage to really exemplify the beauty and promise of the period, especially the "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" single, which probably is their finest. In any case, none of these singles are on here.

"Lady Madonna" is a good example of a song that I tend to block out whenever I hear it. It's been played so many times that I just don't usually pay much attention. But it really is a fun song, and rides completely on Paul's White Album-era, genre-leaping charm, where it seemed like he could tackle any type of music with equal aplomb. He has some arresting vocals on here--he was able to convey great empathy for the subjects in his songs through his lyrics and singing. It always seemed like Paul was endlessly interested with others he saw in the world around him, whereas John was most interested in himself. This just shows that there are two different kinds of artists out there. Again, in "Hey Jude," Paul delivers such compassionate vocals in a song about someone else. In this case, it seems to be about a friend getting over a girl, and Paul convinces him beautifully that things will be alright. Of course I've heard like everyone else that this song is about Paul trying to reassure John's son after John's divorce of his first wife, but the lyrics really have nothing to do with that. The song is an absolute masterpiece, and contains the finest coda in all of rock music (and that is including "I Want You [She's So Heavy]," 'Hotel California," "Comfortably Numb," "November Rain," and "Fade to Black"). Again, Paul's vocals in this period just showed absolute and complete confidence and control.

We have the more commonly played version of "Revolution" on here, complete with fuzzed-out-yer-ass guitars and a great keyboard solo. Who hasn't heard this? Supposedly the one on the White Album is a little edgier because John sings something like "But when you talk about destruction/Don't you know that you can count me out (in)," but let's be honest--the single version sounds a lot more hard-edge. That guitar tone must've been pretty slamming in 1968. "Don't Let Me Down" is a song I ignored for many years, but treating it as a classic soul song (much in the vein I talked about with "Oh! Darling" here) has really helped me appreciate it. The bluesy keyboard work of Billy Preston and the great guitar work complements John's passionate howling on the choruses. The raw, sub-English simplicity of the lyrics ("She done me good") really reflect the primitive power that love can have on us. Soul music is all about simplicity, about what is not being said more than about what is.

"The Ballad of John and Yoko" carries John's self-obsession in his songwriting to somewhat annoying heights. It seems just like a laundry list of his life and what he thinks are the media's attempts to destroy the perfect love between him and Yoko. As seemingly pointless as the lyrics are, it's still a catchy song. John's song "Across the Universe," which we previously heard in a different version on Let It Be, is unique-sounding on here in its stripped-down format without Phil Spector's production. It was originally released on a charity album for the World Wildlife Fund, and complete with animal sound effects, a children's choir, and gentle wah guitar that sounds like ripples in a pond, it really does depict the beauty of nature and the universe. It is one of the Beatles' most poetic songs. "You Know Me (Look Up the Number)"...you could probably answer what this is about just as well as me. It's a pretty haphazard parody/comedy song, but it's actually not half-bad. I fucking love Paul's vocals on this track. It reminds me of a Monty Python movie or something. And apparently Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones plays sax on here. Definitely one of the least-heard Beatles songs ever.

--Edward

The Beatles, Album by Album--Past Masters, Vol. I

The Past Masters collection brings together all of the Beatles' singles (A- and B-sides) that didn't make it onto their LPs. These two CDs round out the Beatles canon, as well as providing a history in under 2 hours of the entire Beatles legacy. Not merely a refuse bin for material not deemed worthy for their albums, the Beatles' singles were as big of an event as the albums themselves, and the group always tried to save their best material for singles. Tracks like "I Feel Fine" or "Rain" were often experimental precursors to the legendary albums that would follow.

It is indeed a jarring transition to move from the late Beatles catalogue to these symbols of prime-time Beatlemania, but lest we forget, the Beatles were at the top of their game throughout their entire career. Ever since the release of Please Please Me, they were the greatest rock and roll band on the face of the planet. They wouldn't relinquish that title until they broke up. Despite the fact that I suppose I prefer the sophistication and versatility of their later work, there is nothing that depicts the exultation of music and youth itself like the early Beatles. They had such an explosive, unquenchable energy to them that separated them immediately from all their peers. Despite the relatively sluggish nature of their minor first single, "Love Me Do" (George Martin was wary of releasing it as their first single, although it does have a certain innocent charm to it), the group got off to a fast start with their own compositions. Their third single, "From Me to You," is a noticeable improvement, with the Beatles' signature swing and intricate harmonies. Its flip-side, "Thank You Girl," is equally complex for this early stage of their development.

However, it's with "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" that Beatlemania hit its peak. I have never heard another song with quite the energy and explosive power of "She Love You," which rides on a tsunami wave of Ringo's drumming and John and Paul's delirious, pent-up singing. I love that they are singing a song in the second-person, to the audience. It is almost like they are singing about the power of music itself to bring joy and passion to their listeners. The thrill of this song is undeniable. You could make a case for it being the greatest pure rock song of all time, and you wouldn't be wrong. "I Want to Hold Your Hand," while a step down, is certainly no less historically significant. While "She Loves You" ensured Beatlemania was there to stay in Britain, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is what brought the Beatles to America. The songwriting is more complex than ever--although it lacks the raw power of "She Loves You"--and that breakdown is just perfect. It's an astonishing song for its era.

My only problems with this collection are the same as my complaints about the early Beatles albums post-Hard Day's Night. Once their songwriting prowess hits a certain point of sophistication and innovation, it becomes somewhat annoying to hear them do covers of songs that are a decade behind the times. While songs like "Matchbox" and "Bad Boy" are undeniably fun, they pale in comparison to the Beatles originals on here (except when the Beatles are clearly imitating these past gods, such as on "I'm Down" or "She's a Woman"). Also, I'm just not a huge fan of the Little Richards/Jerry Lee Lewis-style of classic rock & roll. I much prefer the storytelling, guitar-driven songs of Chuck Berry or the R&B/soul of Ray Charles. Even though Chuck Berry is probably equally one-dimensional, there is something very repetitive to me about the piano-driven style of the above-mentioned two. Hence, a song like "Long Tall Sally" (a Little Richards cover) isn't too appealing to me. And hearing all of these covers come out after the harmonic clarity of "I'll Get You" and the beautiful rhythm guitar and close harmonies of John, George, and Paul on "This Boy" just feels like an inevitable step down. Such is basically the case with any cover (or pseudo-cover [i.e., when they did a song plainly in the style of their predecessors without irony or embellishment]) released after the songwriting epiphany of A Hard Day's Night. What the classic rock & roll songs do bring is a rave-up energy that is sadly lacking in almost any music since the '50s, and certainly in modern music. This was music to dance to, to have fun with your friends while listening to. Not to put down others for not knowing about it, or worse, to not want other people to know about it because it makes you think you are cool to like an underground band. It was about the thrill of youth and of sex. Those days are gone from music forever. It's impossible to make music anymore without being ironic or self-conscious it seems.

"I Feel Fine" is a huge step in the Beatles' evolution. From that opening amplifier feedback into that incredibly complex and catchy guitar figure into the verses and the harmonies, this song is a harbinger of groundbreaking things to come. This is mid-period Beatles perfection. "She's in love with me and I feel fine"--that really sums up the feeling of listening to this. "Yes It Is" is a very underrated ballad. The gentle singing and use of volume pedal swells on the guitar give the song a very ephemeral, delicate feel that fits the story of teenage heartbreak and longing it tells. It is perhaps John's equivalent of "Here, There and Everywhere."

Overall, I think it's definitely worthwhile to give this CD a listen. The original compositions on here are all stunning in their own right, with a few exceptions, and most of the covers are at least enjoyable. Ringo singing the Carl Perkins song "Matchbox" is a lot of fun. I do love the rave-up feel of that kind of classic rock & roll song, despite my acknowledgment that they will always be a step below the refinement of the finest Beatles compositions.

--Edward

The Beatles, Album by Album--Let It Be

I said long ago that Let It Be was probably the most troublesome of all Beatles albums, and today I stand by that opinion. That is not to say that it's a bad album. It is just not what you'd expect from a Beatles album, and has a hard place fitting into the mythological voyage of the Beatles' career. For starters, though it was recorded chronologically before Abbey Road, it was released after that album, in 1970. Most of the recording sessions for this album were at the beginning of 1969. Going off the back-to-basics approach of much of the White Album (and as part of a trend in popular music spearheaded by Dylan's John Wesley Harding album), the Beatles wanted to record Let It Be (at this point, the LP was titled Get Back) as close as possible to being a live performance. Their rule was no overdubs or studio effects, to try to reproduce the way they used to make albums at the Abbey Road studios during the early days. As a result, much of the album is unpolished, full of studio chatter and sloppiness. I can see their desire to do this, and indeed much of the album is charming in its rustic simplicity, but coming after the majesty of Abbey Road, Let It Be feels like idyllic pastoral poetry compared to Shakespearean sonnets. While the White Album's songs rose above their simple soundscapes, much of Let It Be's tunes feel like they are unrehearsed jam sessions instead of being great songs.

Let It Be reminds me almost of the solo careers of the Beatles. George, Paul, and John all went the lo-fi route after the Panavision perfection of their Beatles' records. There is a ramshackle charm to many of their solo releases, and that is reflected in songs on here like "Two of Us" and "I've Got a Feeling." "One After 909" is their attempt to recreate classic rock & roll in the style of Chuck Berry or their own early days, and it succeeds admirably. "For You Blue" is even better. Featuring the slide guitar of John, it is George's attempt to ape the Chicago blues, and while it doesn't sound convincing at all, it's a lot of fun. "Get Back" perfectly represents throwaway fun with its pointless lyrics and jaunty keyboard solo (courtesy of Billy Preston, who was the first artist to be listed as a guest on a Beatles single).

But charming songs a great Beatles album do not make. Paul rises to the occasion amidst the squabbling of the band to deliver the one stone classic on here: "Let It Be." The album version is even better than the single, and George's solo fits in a lot more melodically with the tune and has a sense of progression that really nails you. "Let It Be" is simply gorgeous.

One of the biggest reasons for the Let It Be controversy among fans is that it is the only Beatles album to not have George Martin credited as a producer. To me, George Martin is a member of the Beatles. More than anyone else, he deserves the title of the Fifth Beatle. Anyone who disagrees is a fool. His contributions to the sound of the Beatles were just as important as the members of the band. Because the band was going for a lo-fi approach when they recorded the album, they did not use him. Unsatisfied with Glyn Johns's two mixes, the group went to Phil Spector to produce the master cut. He drenched several songs, among them "Across the Universe" and "The Long and Winding Road," in choruses and strings, breaking the no-overdubs rule. This gives the album an inconsistent sound. The studio chatter and general looseness of "For You Blue" comes right after the syrupy "The Long and Winding Road." I feel that this inconsistency in tone robs the album of any sense of unity. Although I do feel that "Across the Universe"'s Phil Spector cut is superior to the naked one that was released as a single, both it and especially "The Long and Winding Road" verge on the brink of being too sugary with the string arrangements, occasionally crossing over, but the quality of both songs manages to shine through regardless. Phil Spector is one of the greatest producers of all time, but his jarring productions were simply not suited for the Beatles.

I think this album is a unique look at the Beatles having fun and working in the studio, doing what they did best--making music. But it lacks the polish and the precision of their finest records. It serves as the soundtrack to the documentary of the same title, which was a behind-the-scenes look at how they made music in the studio. But I think ultimately we don't want to see the process, warts and all. We want to listen to their music. Not half-assed jams, but real fucking Beatles songs. Ultimately I don't need to know anything about the artist other than their art. This isn't to say that I dislike the album--I don't. But it has always been somewhat of a let-down that this was their final released album. As I said earlier, because Abbey Road was recorded afterward, I think it helps to look at that as the Beatles last LP. In any case, this is an album worth checking out, because it has its own unique charm among the Beatles records, and because there are some great moments tucked away amongst the mess (John and Paul singing two different melodies on top of each other in "I've Got a Feeling," George proclaiming that John can play the blues better than Elmore James on "For You Blue," etc.).

--Edward

The Beatles, Album by Album--Abbey Road

Although released as their penultimate LP, Abbey Road actually consists of the final recordings the Beatles ever made together, and as such it should be viewed as their swan song and final record. Because they scrapped George Martin on Let It Be, and were dissatisfied with the initial results of that album, they put it on the shelf, recorded and released Abbey Road, and then hooked up with Phil Spector (a controversial choice, to say the least) to release Let It Be as their final LP in 1970. That's a good album, though inconsistent. But because of it lacks George Martin, it almost doesn't feel like a real Beatles album. But more on that when I write about Let It Be next.

This certainly does feel like a Beatles album. The quintessential Beatles album, perhaps. Everyone pulls out all the stops on this, since they knew it would be their final recording. Although they had been having a tremendous amount of personal friction for their past few albums, highlighted by Yoko Ono hanging around in the studio, much to the dismay of others, and John and George complaining about Paul's inheritance of the leadership mantle and perfectionism, the group came together on Abbey Road beautifully. Out of all the Beatles' albums, this is the most perfect one. In fact, you could make a strong case that it is the most perfect pop record of all time. Abandoning the metaphysical questioning of the group's adolescence in Revolver and its burgeoning adulthood in the stylistic scope of the White Album, the group finds its maturity in the musical perfection and simplicity of Abbey Road. When I think of the Beatles, I think of Mozart, because they could find the perfect turn of musical phrase, the perfect transitions from one section to another--that perfect melody. Not one note is out of place. No one else had their grasp of musical perfection, something I equate with Wolfgang. Bob Dylan to me was always the Beethoven of pop. His music dug deeper, although lacking that clean perfection of the Beatles/Mozart. It's honestly difficult for me to choose between the two worlds, and I'm not sure if I could. But I have yet to find anyone the equal of these two.

Structurally this album is perfect as well. Everything fits into its place, and the whole would be impacted for the worse if one note was moved or omitted. Each track on the first side represents its own musical world in a unique way among Beatles albums Not only are the songs different styles--they are different landscapes altogether. Though I'm not the biggest fan of the opening "Come Together," it's hard to deny its primal swamp-groove or the psychotic lyrics that are equal parts Chuck Berry and civil rights movement. Paul's bass pops on this track, like it does on the whole album. His bass-playing is at its peak on Abbey. "Something" is an impossibly gorgeous ballad by George--what Frank Sinatra has called the greatest love song of all time--and yet that unique ambivalence towards sexual love that defines George (especially his early love songs) pops up even on his sweetest ballad: "You're asking me will my love grow?/I don't know, I don't know." George always seemed to be shrugging aside romantic love in favor of communion with a higher spiritual love. "Oh! Darling" has Paul trying his hand at a classic soul song and succeeding admirably. It has the simplicity, the intensity, and the single-mindedness that makes soul songs so great. Nothing in the world is greater than soul music at showing the power of love to make one obsessed (I'm thinking "When a Man Loves a Woman" here), just like nothing in the world shows the power of love to break one's heart and spirit like country music does. Paul absolutely nails the vocals on this. "Octopus's Garden" is the Beatles' best children's song, with beautiful ringing guitars and pseudo-comic backing vocals that just work.

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is one of the finest songs by the Beatles, period. It is alternatively jazzy, sexual, haunting, hypnotic, and absolutely overpowering. Paul provides a seductive bassline over-top of John's magnetic, sexual pleas. George (I'm assuming) provides a great guitar solo in the jazzy sections, which intermingle with and ultimately fail to hold off the ringing guitar arpeggios of doom. The ending is the most visceral moment I know of in the entire Beatles canon, and perhaps in all of rock music. Listening to that on headphones with the music cranked up never fails to give me goosebumps. It must be heard to be believed. And the transition from that into "Here Comes the Sun" really showcases why the Beatles are the best rock band there is. No one--and I do mean no one--could do those two songs. George delivers another beautiful classic. The key change in the middle from minor to major never fails to make me happy. It would take a soulless person to not crack a smile there. "Because," despite talking about Earth's beauty and the connection of all life, has an otherworldly quality to it. The 9-part vocal harmonies are the most sublime moments of the album. This showcases a real sense of psychedelia. Not in a getting-high, rebelling against authorities kind of way. But in the true meaning of the word, which is an altered state of mind. The connection to the world and all of its inhabitants doesn't feel cheap, but earned in the beauty and otherness of the music.

The second side of the record consists mostly of a medley of various fragments of songs that the Beatles had been working on. With Paul's guidance and George Martin's superb production that makes this the best-sounding of all Beatles records, the medley idea somehow works and creates an inspiring, beautiful end to the Beatles' career. "Sun King" starts off side 2 with a resigned, melancholy beauty. John's song gives a sense of finality and resignation to the fate of the universe, whatever that may be. Of course, John was a notoriously moody person, and this sense of resigned beauty would sometimes be contradicted in his first solo album, Plastic Ono Band, but I think the same sound is in the ending of the climactic song of that album, "God," which, more than anything else I know of, gives a sense of closure to the Beatles, although in a very sad way. David Bowie and the other glam rockers seem to have borrowed their entire careers from "Polythene Pam" and its raw, simplistic energy. The album really starts rounding itself out with the transition from the suitably dreamy "Golden Slumbers" to the choral power of "Carry That Weight," which borrows themes from Paul's mini-suite "You Never Give Me Your Money" at the end of side 1. Effortless segueways mark much of Abbey Road, but these final ones really help give a sense of closure to the Beatles catalogue. This rousing ending climaxes in the dueling guitar solos of George, John, and Paul in "The End." Just as John's final word on the Beatles is the resigned, melancholy ending of "God," Paul's is his final lines in "The End": "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." It's really hard to put it better than that. Those lines sum up the promise of the Beatles, of the 1960's, and of an entire generation. Whether that promise lives on is entirely up to the listener. John gives his answer in "God," but I think Paul would have a totally different answer. And like I said much earlier in these commentaries, Paul and John are two heads of the same coin, of the human condition. Neither one is right or wrong, but both are essential and beautiful in their own way. But I think it's fair to say by this point in their career, the Beatles were Paul's baby, and the other members' dissatisfaction with his increasingly strong role in the group, among other things, led to their destruction. The Beatles was a beautiful dream that could never last. Like the greatest poetry, the Beatles were ephemeral.

--Edward

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

The Beatles, Album by Album--The White Album

And what we have here is perhaps my single favorite Beatles album. Along with A Hard Day's Night, Revolver, and Abbey Road, it is an album I never get tired of. While I've heard others complain that it's too bloated and that the fat could be excised to make it one disc instead of two, that defeats the purpose of The White Album for me. It is memorable because it's the first encyclopedic rock album. While Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde was rock's first double-album (and perhaps the finer record of the two), it has a unified feel. Forerunner to such albums as the Clash's Sandinista!, Prince's Sign o' the Times, and Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, The White Album (properly titled, simply, The Beatles) is brilliant in the sense that it tries to tackle everything, and while every piece of art with such a goal is going to fail, they often fail in the most spectacular of ways. Like Moby-Dick or Ulysses, The White Album drags at times (I'm looking at you, disc two), but the whole work is greater than the sum of its parts, and what we admire is the ambition itself, and with repeated listens, we wouldn't want the journey to be any shorter.

Famously, the Beatles wrote a large number of these songs while they were practicing yoga and meditation in India. The seclusion and focus on craft shows, as the songwriting has returned to its peak after the muddiness of their psychedelic era. It is nice to see them branch out as wide as they can, instead of being limited to psychedelic-sounding songs. There is a lot of ground covered in the 30 tracks here. But, aside from the stylistic variety of this album, the Beatles manage to shine through in every single track. They were always about the small details that elevated their music above their pop contemporaries, and this album is perhaps the finest showcase of that they put on record. It's impossible to name them all, but here is a list of some of the little things I absolutely love on this record:

-The gradual introduction of instruments and when that bass groove kicks in during "Dear Prudence."
-The piano fills at the end of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da."
-The flamenco guitar intro of "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill."
-Eric Clapton's guitar solos in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." They elevate an amazing song into something divine, and might be the finest solos of his career. So melodic.
-Lennon's high note at the end of "Happiness is a Warm Gun." This is probably my favorite Beatles moment outside of the vocal climax right before the coda begins in "Hey Jude."
-The harpsichord solo in "Piggies."
-Paul's wordless ab-libbing in "Rocky Raccoon." Basically I love any time he does this, but you already know that.
-Lennon's lyrics in "Yer Blues." He strips the blues to their suicidal essence (and you know I love the Dylan reference).
-The off-kilter piano intro to the loopy and, indeed, sexy "Sexy Sadie."
-The 1930's instrumentation in "Honey Pie."
-The jazz-lounge sound of the electric organ in "Savoy Truffle."

This also has my favorite Beatles sequence on record: from "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" to "I'm So Tired." It is the equivalent of the sequence from "Visions of Johanna" to "Stuck Inside of Memphis with the Mobile Blues Again" on Blonde on Blonde. We take a journey through the absurd, slightly malevolent whimsy of John's children's song "Bungalow Bill" (weren't all of his children's songs somewhat malevolent? At least most of them....) to the power and gravitas of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Happiness is a Warm Gun," to "Martha My Dear" and "I'm Only Tired," which both showcase perfectly their creators' personalities (Paul and John, respectively). But I'm sure everyone has a different favorite sequence on here. That is part of the fun of this record. It has something for everyone.

To me, this record sounds like the Beatles rediscovering the joy of music itself, instead of the over-intellectualizing of it. Their experimentation with abstraction and the intellectual power of music to me hit its peak in the diamond-like clarity of Revolver, and then digressed into the above-mentioned muddiness of the 1967 psychedelic period. Here the Beatles rediscover the adrenaline rush of the sound of music itself, of playing together as a group. They have a bluesier, more unified instrumental sound on this album, discarding the excesses of Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour, in the process transforming themselves into the best rock band in the world. Tracks like "Glass Onion," "I'm So Tired," and "Sexy Sadie" all have a powerful groove to them that was lacking from the previous albums. And it's hard to talk about their power as a rock band without mentioning "Helter Skelter," which became the heaviest song in the world on top of Ringo's crashing cymbals and the relentless buzz-saw guitar in the background. Beating out contemporaries such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Who, and Cream, the Beatles proved they could be the heaviest band in the world before Black Sabbath if they so chose to. But of course, they had other things on their mind. Paul details the chaos, confusion, and ultimately the collapse of society in the lyrics--the total opposite of songs like "All You Need is Love."

On the flip-side, this album is also chock-full of acoustic ballads, showing the influence of their genesis in studio-free India. "Dear Prudence," "Blackbird," and "Mother Nature's Son" are all beautiful, among others. While I think "I Will" is too much of a precursor of Paul's later sappy ballads as a solo artist, because it's missing the melodic sophistication of a song like "Here, There and Everywhere," it is nonetheless a pretty song in its own right.

Harrison finally proves himself with a stone-cold classic in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." His yearning vocals on this are absolutely beautiful. Supposedly he came up with this song by randomly flipping through a book (the Tao Te Ching?) and landing upon the phrase "gently weeps." His other songs on here ("Piggies," "Long, Long, Long," and "Savoy Truffle") are all interesting in their own way (and radically different), but none come close to the majesty of what is easily a top ten Beatles song (along with "Happiness is a Warm Gun" from this album). Ringo even contributes his only completely self-penned number with "Don't Pass Me By," which isn't half-bad.

Finally we are left with "Revolution 9," a track many of us long to wish away. But the fact remains that it's there and we need to confront it. Eight minutes and twenty-three seconds of audio clips and various studio effects form a sonic collage that remains impossible to completely unravel, as I'm sure was the intent. Obviously influenced by Yoko Ono's avant-garde sound experiments, John created an incredibly dense and puzzling piece that has different meanings for every person who listens to it (and even attempts to brood on it, which I'm sure most don't). At first to me it represented either a day in the life of a person (a la Ulysses or the Beatles' very own "A Day in the Life") or a portrait of one person's entire life, but in recent listens (and based upon the title) I have decided that it's far more of a social than a personal piece. Other than the repetition of the number nine throughout, the one thing that remains constant is the sound of people, lots of people. Just as "Revolution" (and its brother on this album, "Revolution 1") deals with the complexities of revolution and social change, the mournful tone and the sounds of violence in "Revolution 9" seem to both foreshadow revolution and also prophesize that ultimately nothing will ever change. Still, this kind of thing has no place on a Beatles record. Let's be honest.

The emergence at the end of the 1960s of the Beatles sounding like a rock group that could tackle anything, with both a sense of humor and an incredible earnestness, shows the creative peak of a group that you can listen to grow up through their musical career, through the progress of their studio albums. It is ironic that they hadn't sounded this unified as a musical group in years, considering that this is the album where the band began to experience an irrevocable personal rift. But that only goes to show that art and the personal lives of its creators are two completely different things.

--Edward

The Beatles, Album by Album--Magical Mystery Tour

Somewhat of an anomaly in the Beatles' catalogue, Magical Mystery Tour is an American-only LP. It consists of the shorter British Magical Mystery Tour double-EP combined with other 1967 singles which were not included on an LP. This gives it a somewhat hodgepodge feel and it lacks the unified vision of Revolver and Sgt. Pepper. It does consist of several great songs, though the album does have a sort of "greatest hits" feel to it that the more cohesive LPs lack. I actually think it's a rather interesting album for a number of reasons. I've heard it called the sequel to Sgt. Pepper, which can often be a tag of disdain, but I find the sound of it to be different, although related. There is certainly more variety to the songs on here and the group feels more comfortable using all manners of sound effects and esoteric instrumentation to fit the nature of the song, instead of having everything sound the same. "Blue Jay Way" has a heavier, darker psychedelic feel to it, while "Penny Lane" uses bright, sparkling instrumentation to recreate the semi-fantasy world of Paul's childhood. I like the variety of sounds on here, which is one of the album's strongest attributes. Also the songwriting has taken a step up since Sgt. Pepper.

"Magical Mystery Tour" and "The Fool on the Hill" do somewhat feel like Sgt. Pepper's spiritual children--they both have that lightweight feel of the previous album combined with similar instrumentation. Not my favorites, but not bad songs. "Flying" represents a whole new sound for the Beatles. It opens with a very heavy, murky groove with fine bass playing and drumming. It reminds me of a blues instrumental by someone like the Stones (something like "2120 South Michigan Avenue"). The sound of the Beatles playing their own instruments was largely lacking on the previous album, besides the title tracks (which have pretty cool heavy riffs for their time). "Blue Jay Way" also has a unique sound. It combines George's Eastern influence with a dark psychedelia. The drumming by Ringo on here is very trippy and although it has too long of an outro, it's an underrated song in my opinion. "Your Mother Should Know" is a favorite of mine. As I've said before, any song that features Paul's wordless ad libs is alright in my book. Doesn't everyone want to take Paul home to meet their mom? "I Am the Walrus" closes out the songs featured in the television film Magical Mystery Tour (these six songs are also the ones featured on the original British double-EP) and is perhaps their finest straight psychedelic song. It has so much atmosphere that was lacking on the more lightweight Sgt. Pepper tunes. It's hilarious that music critics actually tried to decipher the nonsense lyrics of this back in the day. It also features the first great Beatles outro, complete with some King Lear thrown in at the end, as well as God knows what else. A great example of how to use crazy strings and sound effects effectively. But what obviously makes it a great song is simply that--it's a great song, beneath all of the sound effects.

The second side of the album is the side which rounds up all the singles, but almost all of them are great. "Hello Goodbye" is a bit lightweight, but that ending almost makes up for it. "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" I have mentioned earlier as being perhaps the finest single of all time and they are obviously the highlights on this side. Both attempt to capture aspects of their songwriters' childhoods (John and Paul, respectively), and the ways that they are different showcases the two diametric personalities of their creators. "Strawberry Fields" is ghostly yet beautiful. It seems to be more about a fantasy world, perhaps away from the pressures and alienation of being famous, than it is about childhood. "Penny Lane" is Paul's great portrait of an idealized suburban England where a fireman keeps "in his pocket a portrait of the queen" and a pretty nurse "feels as if she's in a play." Though both are rather fantastical, John's song feels like a retreat into fantasy to escape the drudgery of the real world, while Paul's feels like a celebration of the everyday details that make life beautiful. It is interesting that John sings, "Living is easy with eyes closed/Misunderstanding all you see," while at the same time singing about some sort of fantasy retreat where he is in his own tree. He says he knows when it's a dream, but I'm not sure if that is necessarily true. Anyways, the differences between these two songs serve as a great comparison between their creators.

Finally, "Baby You're a Rich Man" and "All You Need Is Love" close out the album. The former is a satire of richness and famousness itself, complete with a snake-charmer sounding instrument in there. "All You Need Is Love" is an anthem for the Summer of Love, but as Paul has noted, John throws in some confusing (obscurantist?) lyrics into the verses (which are sung beautifully over what sounds like a harpsichord). Really, "Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game"? This seems like a Bob Dylan trick, to throw in that catchy, simple chorus to get everyone to sing along and gloss over the ambiguity and cloudiness of the verses. Perhaps this shows John's skepticism at the hippies he saw springing up left and right who looked up to him as their leader and mouthpiece. I'm not really sure. Maybe those verses mean something to him. The outro throws in a bunch of musical quotes, including John's spectral version of his own "She Loves You," which again adds a darker feeling to a song supposedly about free love. I almost feel like the whole thing was a big joke meant to trick all of the naive hippies. While I feel like Sgt. Pepper represents the blind, naive optimism of the '60s, there is a darker undercurrent to parts of Magical Mystery Tour which I like ("I Am the Walrus" or "Blue Jay Way," for instance). Of course, no band better captured the quick death of the '60s optimism better than the Stones with songs like "Gimme Shelter" and albums like Let It Bleed, but that's another story for another day.

--Edward

The Beatles, Album by Album--Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper is undoubtedly the most famous and important pop/rock album of all time. It started every trend from taking LSD to concept albums to printing your lyrics in the liner notes to grandiose album covers. Most importantly, this was the point in which "serious" music critics and other members of society previously above such insubstantial matters as pop music began to take the genre seriously as an art form. Although many great records came before it, Sgt. Pepper was the point in which the pop album crossed over the bridge into art.

Do I feel that the music itself in this album justifies its lofty reputation? No, I do not. To me, almost everything about this album feels lightweight. Whereas I said other albums (and especially Revolver) were "songs albums," this one is more of a sound album. Most of the songs on here aren't particularly memorable in comparison to the last few albums, but the sound itself is very unique and innovative. Unfortunately, the Beatles were at their best as songwriters, and that's why I turn to them. I will agree with what Rolling Stone had to say about this album: "It's a masterwork of sonics, not songwriting." On here, the Beatles have turned away from the emotional depth and exploration that characterized Revolver towards self-indulgence. I'm not sure if this is because the record seems to be largely Paul's or not. After seeing Paul's tremendous songwriting growth on the last album, he seems to have taken a step back here. I have read that "She's Leaving Home" was considered in the past to be one of the Beatles' finest songs, but I find it rather ridiculous that the entire story of a girl running away from her parents is oversimplified by the last lines about her going away to have fun, because "Fun is the one thing that money can't buy." There was so much more room to develop emotional depth here, but instead all we have is a story about a girl who abandons her parents because she wants to have fun? As you can see, gone is the depth of "Eleanor Rigby." The Beatles wit and caustic edge is missing almost entirely on this album.

The opening trio of the title track, "With a Little Help from My Friends," and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is great pop music, of course. Maybe I've just heard these too much on the radio, for they are perhaps the most overplayed songs of all time, but they just don't do much for me anymore. George takes another, deeper stab at Indian classical music with "Within You Without You," which is actually one of the more interesting songs on the album. And then we have the closer, "A Day in the Life," which is the only real classic on this album. Somehow the group manages to top its previous closer with this, their most apocalyptic and world-changing track. Those ghostly Lennon verses remind me of "Strawberry Fields Forever" from the same time period, and no one can ever forget the "musical orgasms" from the orchestra that take us into another plane entirely. This track almost feels out of place on the album, placed after the reprise of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonelly Heards Club Band," because it is so substantial. It is rightfully often considered their finest song.

This album indeed would have been stronger had they included their double A-side single of the time, "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" (perhaps the finest single of all time), but instead it was placed on the following LP, Magical Mystery Tour, a move George Martin apparently regrets to this day. Those are psychedelic songs of real depth and insight (not to mention they have stronger melodies). I don't want to paint this as a bad album, but coming after the growth of everything since Beatles for Sale, it just feels a little too cute for me. The sound on this is very baroque. Geoff Emerick, recording engineer on Sgt. Pepper, said, "The Beatles insisted that everything on Sgt. Pepper had to be different. Sounds were either distorted, limited, heavily compressed, or treated with excessive equalization. We had microphones right down in the bells of the brass instruments and headphones turned into microphones attached to violins." That may be so, but that doesn't make the songs any better.

--Edward

The Beatles, Album by Album--Revolver

This is the point where the Beatles leave the rest of the pack behind forever. This is by my tally the second masterpiece from the Fab Four (go Hard Day's Night!) and their first Grand Artistic Statement. One of three great albums from '65 and '66 that changed rock music forever (along with Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited and the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds), with Revolver we find a band maturing emotionally as they innovate stylistically. I have said earlier that the joy of the Beatles is watching them grow album by album. On this we find them reaching the emotional ambiguity and confusion of young adulthood. But along with this comes the grand ambition of a group of four guys who really want to leave their mark on popular music forever.

I'll admit that this album was not a favorite of mine upon first listen. It is very unlike everything that came before it in that it doesn't feel like a pop album. Their songwriting seems much less catchy than normal as they try to veer away from traditional pop songcraft towards something new and untapped. But through many repeated listenings I have come to discover that this is a "state of mind" album. (Paraphrasing here, something not worth listening to twice isn't worth listening to once.) While perhaps it does not cover as many musical styles as the White Album would, Revolver's songs each have their own emotional/intellectual state which remains sealed off from everything around them. They are each like individual short stories or films. I love that about this album. And that really pushes forward the idea that this is a band reaching adulthood, that they want to try to document everything around them and especially what is happening inside of them. There are songs on here about their reaction to fame. There are songs on here about the desire to connect with other people. There are songs in here about the essential meaninglessness of human ego. And there are songs on here about yellow submarines. No album manages to be as broadly encompassing of the human condition in 35 minutes or so as Revolver does. Each song has its own unique world of sound and lyrics, something which was a first for this (and any) group.

What enabled this great leap forward for the Beatles was a greatly increased devotion towards the process of album-making itself. There was a gap of eight months between Rubber Soul and Revolver, with only one single ("Paperback Writer"/"Rain") released in the gap, which did show signs of the path the group was heading down. This was the longest gap ever between releases for a group which was previously cranking out hits faster than their audience could consume them. Feeling increasingly withdrawn due to the pressures of their relentless touring/filming/recording schedule, the group would play their final tour dates immediately after Revolver and then begin to work solely in the studio. This was an unprecendented step, to say the least. But it showed their increasing focus on creating music instead of just being a financial act there to make money. Revolver is right when this happens.

The increasing time in the studio led to a quantum leap forward in sonic experimentation. Right from the first seconds as Harrison's "Taxman" starts with studio chatter and a loose countdown, the Beatles have abandoned the crisp productions of their previous efforts for something more organic and free-form. Like all great records, Revolver has its own sound. Where Blonde on Blonde has "that thin, that wild mercury sound," Revolver has a bright, brassy, trebly, clear sound, showcased best on songs like "And Your Bird Can Sing" and "Got to Get You Into My Life" and "She Said She Said." To me the edgy, angry sound is somehow mixed with the black and white picture on the cover. That perfectly illustrates it. It's an acid-rock sound that cuts through the air from your speakers or headphones into your brain. It represents a group full of increased attitude (George's bitter rant against the England's taxation system in "Taxman"; Lennon's "Queen Jane Approximately"-like dirge against materialistic women in "And Your Bird Can Sing"), increased uncertainty (the stuttering disconnect between internal feelings, intellectual ideas, and external communication in George's "I Want to Tell You"), and increased ambitions (all of it). There are almost too many aural moments on this record for me to try to talk about, but it should be noted that all are used to add to the atmosphere and character of the song. Everything is in service of the songwriting. Note the beautiful backwards guitar solo in "I'm Only Sleeping," a song about a disconnect from the outside world and a retreat into dreams. Note the chaste, virginal quality of "Here, There and Everywhere," which is perhaps McCartney's prettiest song, written about long-time girlfriend Jane Asher. It was purportedly inspired by Pet Sounds and perhaps specifically "God Only Knows," and while it can't reach the high summits that that track inhabits, what song can? The melody is so delicate it feels like it could fall apart at any second. I love the Eastern-sounding guitar part as Paul sings "And if she's beside me I know I need never care."

The lyrics on here are also a giant leap forward. Gone are the mostly earnest romantic tracks of their past. Instead there are songs about any number of subjects that had never been tackled before in popular music. "Love You To" is a song about the temporal nature of reality and human existence complete with an entirely Indian orchestration. "Doctor Robert" is about a drug dealer. I can't even tell what "She Said She Said" is about. At this point, you can tell the Beatles felt comfortable enough with their own abilities that they could tackle anything and everything and turn it into great music. I think out of all the Beatles, Paul benefitted the most from their transformation into a studio band. Inspired by Brian Wilson, Paul took to the studio with great enthusiasm and a willingness to try new things. His songwriting on here shows tremendous maturity, especially on "Eleanor Rigby" and "For No One." "Eleanor Rigby" showcases his tremendous ability at writing songs about other people that can shape a portrait of a life in only a few, well-chosen lines. He is like a great short story writer in his deft characterization and his ability to emphathize with others. John was able to create great songs about himself and his own personal demons, while McCartney could great ones about other people he saw around him. Perhaps this is finally the ultimate difference between a happy person who could emphathize with others and an unhappy person who we ourselves could sympathize with. "For No One" is one of the most emotionally devastating songs ever about a relationship gone sour. What makes this song so wrenching is that the two former lovers don't even recognize each other anymore: "And in her eyes you see nothing/No sign of love behind her tears cried for no one" and "She says that long ago she knew someone but now he's gone." Paul perfectly depicts the feeling of loss--loss of one's lover, but most of all of a part of him/herself--that really is the hardest part of a breakup, and he manages to do this in just over two minutes. The musical accompaniment for this is absolutely gorgeous.

Nothing quite says "Revolver" like the closing track on here, "Tomorrow Never Knows." I usually try not to put up a video of the obvious songs on these records, but in this case I couldn't help myself. Driven headlong on to the bowels of hell once again by Mr. Starr's fine drumming, this must have been an absolutely fucking mindblowing song when it came out back in '66. It still blows me away. I consider it to be the greatest psychedelic song of all time. The Chemical Brothers and many others have based their whole careers around trying to surpass this song, but I question whether anyone will. Lennon sings like a banshee on here, quoting Timothy Leary quoting the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Sound effects (largely created by Paul) blow out of your speakers as you feel external reality slipping away as you float downstream.

While no song up until this point had attempted to capture the psychedelic state like this one, I think it bears mentioning that, though drug-influenced, I don't find this to be a druggy record. The songwriting is too concise and focused on here. Sgt. Pepper I do think is a fairly druggy record, and for that reason I find it a bit unfocused compared to the diamond clarity of this record. Drugs and Timothy Leary-style psychedelia were just one of the many influences on Revolver, along with Eastern philosophy and music, showtunes, the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, soul music, and God knows what else. This is really one of the first times where all of the Beatles' many influences were subsumed into their own style. Everything sounds completely their own here. And at this point, no one else sounded like the Beatles (not that they weren't trying). Their time in the studio paid off as they came out sounding like no one else in the world. For a long time this album wasn't given enough credit compared to Sgt. Pepper, because until the Beatles records were released on CD in '87, America could only listen to Revolver in a different version than its original British LP release (it was fairly commonplace for American versions of British records to be different--don't ask me how it was different, since I have only listened to the CD version). When people finally heard the original version of Revolver, its critical and public reception has steadily increased until the very high pinnacle where it's at now. And I genuinely feel that that reputation is deserved.

--Edward

The Beatles, Album by Album--Rubber Soul

Rubber Soul is probably the earliest album chronologically in the Beatles' career that most people buy. That is probably because critics have been bowing at its feet for quite some time now. It's a great album, no doubt about that, especially in relation to other artists' catalogues. But whether it's quite as good as people make it out to be, I'm not so sure. Rolling Stone has it as their number five album of all time, ahead of the White Album and Abbey Road and countless other albums (all but four of them, in fact) by others. Now I don't want to sound like I'm bashing Rubber here, but of course my opinion is that you should try their albums before this too.

This is vintage mid-period Beatles, complete with a trippy-looking cover and the introduction of the biting humor in their lyrics that marked the mature Beatles (plus the first appearance of a sitar on "Norwegian Wood"!). On here we see the lyrics catch up to the musical innovations that had been bubbling for a few albums now, but especially on Help!. The first two songs illustrate this point well. Both are about the kind of dominant, aggressive women that were not typically depicted in the very male-oriented early years of rock, full of girls waiting by the phone for a call from their boyfriend and always eager to please. On "Drive My Car" and "Norwegian Wood," Paul and John, respectively, paint a very different picture of women, and both wind up being the ones feeling used at the end of the song, instead of the other way around. "Norwegian Wood" is especially notable for having an interesting and slightly Eastern-sounding melody to go along with the sitar in it (George apparently saw this in a shop and liked it so much that he stuck it on their next record). John said he wrote this song to try to disguise an affair he had with another woman from his wife, but really, did he even try very hard to disguise it? Seems pretty obvious to me. I do like how they turn the sexual tables upside down on these first two songs. Even without the lyrics, though, these are classic tunes.

George returns here with a vengeance, and though there are varying opinions on his two numbers on here ("Think for Yourself" and "If I Needed Someone"), I for one think they are great. Both are in the classic fuck-you genre that he seemed to love. "Think for Yourself" has a thunderous fuzzbox bass riff that propels the song, which features George berating a girl for seemingly no reason. Though George was known as the quiet Beatle, the opening lyric really sums up what happened when he did have something to say: "I've got a word or two to say about the things that you do." I can't imagine any girl (or guy, because it might be about one for all I know) liking this having been written about them. "If I Needed Someone" is almost equally nasty, but its lyrics are surrounded by beautiful ringing guitar lines and harmonies. This was apparently George's tribute to the Byrds, who like I said earlier, seemed to base their whole career off George's Rickenbacker 12-string guitar sound and the Beatles for Sale song "What You're Doing" (this isn't too fair to the Byrds, I'll admit, but you can tell how much they were influenced for sure). But it's a nice way for George to pay tribute, since this does sound very Byrdsy.

Lennon had stepped up his lyrical game, from the quintessential lost-in-young-adulthood song "Nowhere Man" to the biting portrayal of love-domination in "Girl." "Nowhere Man" is one of the Beatles brightest sounding songs (especially that guitar solo--that last harmonic note is like a teardrop of an angel!), full of stacked harmonies. I think this is a rather interesting accompaniment for a song about someone feeling empty inside, but it has grown on me. "Girl" is a pretty brutal song about a kind of girl that everyone has known, one that takes out her internal pain on a guy who loves her through subtle emotional manipulation. Apparently this was John singing about some sort of idealized girl, a woman that he loved though he hadn't even met yet but would find in Yoko. Weird stuff. He obviously had some issues with women, especially when you get to a song like "Julia" that combines his feelings for his dead mother who left him and the earth spirit/idealized mother he found in Yoko. It all makes for good songs though! "Run for Your Life" was perhaps his most despised song that he ever wrote. I can see why, since those are some pretty misogynistic lyrics, but oh well.

"What Goes On" is your obligatory Ringo-gets-shit-on number of the lot and it takes the verbal beating farther than it had ever gone. "You didn't even think of me as someone with a name. Did you mean to break my heart and and watch me die? Tell me why." Wow, brutal stuff. If this came out of Lennon's mouth it would be emotionally devastating, but when Ringo sings it, you just want to give the big guy a hug. "Michelle" is often bashed for being sentimental, but it clearly preys on my love for European women and has a beautiful melody. John could write some cool and oftentimes very emotional songs, but no one write a bitchin' melody quite like Paul.

Finally we have "In My Life," which was perhaps the last great composition written in large part by both Paul and John. I love the romantic image of these two sitting nose-to-nose writing all-time classics, as they supposedly did while banging out "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by the piano at Paul's girlfriend's house. From this point forward, the group's members would increasingly work on their own. This was a gradual process, though, which would hit its culmination in the White Album/Let It Be time. "In My Life" is absolutely stunning, with some beautiful guitar, a wistful lyric, and a great sped-up piano/harpsichord solo from the one and only George Martin. This manages to capture both a feeling of nostalgia and the joy of new love in one fell swoop. It is a remarkable illustration of a band just beginning to hit the emotional maturity of adulthood, able to look back and look forward at the same time, and to condense their life experiences into artistic form through the gift of their bodacious, kick-ass songwriting talent.

--Edward

The Beatles, Album by Album--Help!

Soundtrack to the Beatles' second film (within one year!), Help! is often considered the final Beatles "early album." However, I like to think of it as the first of the Beatles mid-60s experimental albums. You could make a case either way, but to me it shares more in common with the experimentalism of Rubber Soul and Revolver than it does with albums like Beatles for Sale and With the Beatles. I will try to make the case why in this essay.

Though the album isn't all original, the number of covers on here is only two (in my memory, they had more, but this only proves the point that they were making strides here). The album opens with an all-time classic, the title track. Famous for disguising Lennon's insecure cries for help amid joyful pop music, this is, simply put, a great song. I love George's backing vocals on here. And the lyrics really were great for the time period. The energy on this is so infectious. Lennon dishes out a second classic on "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away." I always read that this is very Dylan-influenced, and perhaps it is with the introspective lyrics, but Dylan could not write a song this catchy to save his life. The descending chords before the chorus are so beautiful. Note the use of an ocarina (I believe it's this) at the end here, foreshadowing the group's extensive use of a variety of instruments. The most famous instrumental innovation on here is the use of a string quartet in "Yesterday," which is perhaps the Beatles' most perfect song. George Martin's idea for this was brilliant and would again point the way towards their increasing use of strings. What separates the strings in a Beatles song from the strings in the typical American pop/soul hits of the day was that the Beatles displayed more of a classical bent in their use of strings (no doubt because of George Martin's influence), in which the orchestration would change to suit the nature of the song. Also, using strings in rock music as opposed to more "adult" fare was a radical innovation. "Yesterday" is devastatingly gorgeous, strings or no. This was also the first track to feature only one Beatle on it.

"Ticket to Ride" just feels like a mid-period Beatles single ("Day Tripper," "We Can Work It Out," "Paperback Writer," etc.) instead of an early one. The group is definitely getting heavier and louder. This song is absolutely propelled by Ringo's thunderous drumming. "I've Just Seen a Face" is a song seemingly unique in the Beatles' catalogue. I've never heard a song better capture the delirious and headlong fall into love like this one. That guitar intro is great and then it just drops away into the undeniable rhythm and vocal melody of Paul's. This song seems to veer away from rock/pop into a folksy influence. As the Beatles' career progressed, they would explore a wider variety of styles like this.

Even the more "Beatles-sounding" songs show innovations here, from the electric piano of "Tell Me What You See" to the volume pedal swells of George's unusually earnest "I Need You" to the saloon-sounding piano solo in "You Like Me Too Much." George is back to writing, and although his songs are not as strong as they would later be, it's always nice hearing the style of another writer on here. While I don't like "You're Going to Lose That Girl" emotionally because it makes me think of having my girlfriend stolen, objectively you can't deny that it's a slammin' song, complete with John's wailing vocals, Ringo on the bongos, and pulsating piano. An underrated aspect of the Beatles is the strength of their rhythm section. They were always coming up with interesting percussion or rhythm guitar parts, and Paul was one of the all-time great bassists.

Even the two covers on here are great. "Act Naturally" is a vehicle for Ringo singing in his preferred country-western genre about starring in a "film about a man that's sad and lonely," and that he'll nail the part because all he's gotta do is "act naturally." How can someone not love Ringo? Is that possible? George's guitar on here is delightful. I love when bands of this time did genre numbers like this. "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" is one of the last remnants of their affection for old-time rock 'n' roll, but it's a great one, full of George's stinging guitar lines and a rhythmic heaviness that updates '50s rock to a new era.

While Rubber Soul always gets all the credit for being the Beatles' first foray into musical innovation--and I can't deny that it took it much farther than this album--I think Help! should get a little more credit for serving as a jumping pad for future experimentation. This began the mid-60s trilogy that culminated in the shockingly new and mature Revolver, which is perhaps the Beatles' finest album.

--Edward

The Beatles, Album by Album--Beatles for Sale

This is the most troubling LP of the Beatles' career, with the possible exception of Let It Be (now that I think about it, with the very likely exception of Let It Be). I think that this is because it is the first album they made without a sense of musical growth. It feels like a step back from A Hard Day's Night. Beatles for Sale would've been a perfectly acceptable follow-up to With the Beatles, but after the tremendous sophistication and development of A Hard Day's Night, one can't help feeling short-changed by this. It reminds me of Dylan's The Times They Are a-Changin'. That would've been an acceptable, even great second album but from him, but coming after The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, it feels like a step back. Beatles for Sale also feels like this, but that doesn't mean there isn't some goodness on here to be mined.

Although this is the first album without any sense of musical growth, the key innovation on here is John Lennon starting to find his voice as a lyricist via a strong Bob Dylan influence. This is best seen in the opening trilogy that serves as not only a rocking intro to the album, but also as its highlight. "No Reply" is possibly my favorite Beatles opener ever (its only real contender is on the next album), creating a sense of high drama through the quiet-loud verse-chorus contrast that Kurt Cobain would milk for all it was worth in Nirvana (actually, Kurt was very strongly influenced by the Beatles). The bridge amps up the romantic desperation of John even further, and the way it settles back into that verse again, only to explode with the final chorus, is John at his finest. As I've said before, no one sold the desperation of love quite as well as Lennon. It's interesting that Lennon was writing all these songs about romantic insecurity at the same time as he was married with a kid. He was probably the Beatle least playing the field and, from my understanding, he felt very trapped in his marriage and would often stay at home and get loaded (Matt voice). "I'm a Loser" takes the desperation even further into a sense of self-loathing, something unthinkable in the pop music of past. It must have been rather shocking to hear a member of the world's biggest rock band singing, "I'm a loser, and I'm not what I appear to be." This introspection and psychological insight/honesty was not possible in popular music before Bob Dylan. I love the lyric, "She was a girl in a million, my friend. I should have known she would win in the end," because this idea that love is a game that will eventually screw you over, instead of being something mutual and beautiful, that is so John Lennon. We all feel that insecurity sometimes, and John was always the best one at putting it out there in the open. I also love the way his vocals dip into those depressing low notes. "Baby's in Black" concludes the opening trilogy on a fine note. I like the dual-singing of John and Paul on this one, and of course it's a depressing one.

At this point, it feels like the Beatles should not be doing covers. Obviously after A Hard Day's Night, they proved they could deliver an album of consistently strong originals, which was a first at this time (I think even Buddy Holly or Beach Boys albums where they wrote everything were completely full of filler), other than maybe Dylan's Freewheelin', but he was really a folk musician at this point, so that doesn't count (Bringing It All Back Home would change this). It doesn't help that their covers are from increasingly outdated early rock 'n' rollers (made outdated by the Beatles themselves). Regardless, there are some good covers on here. "Rock and Roll Music" finds John delivering the fire to Chuck Berry's original (Chuck Berry seems like the most covered '50s rock artist at this point--everyone was doing his shit), and I find it better than the original with its storming piano and bass. "Mr. Moonlight" is perhaps the most maligned Beatles song, but I like it, partly because it's so over the top (listen to that organ solo!). I love Lennon's vocals on it too. He puts the blade to the heat. Carl Perkins is covered twice on here, and both songs are decent enough. George tellingly sings "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby," which is full of a sense of tiredness and distanced bemusement at the craziness of Beatlemania. The album title Beatles for Sale itself is rather ironic: this is not only a new Beatles album up for sale, but the Beatles themselves felt like commodities merely there for the rabid consumption by their fans. Just look at that album cover!

"Honey Don't" is the other Perkins cover on here, and Ringo lends characteristic charm to the vocals. Ringo provided so much comic touch in all of his wounded lover songs (which was most of them), because he could somewhow seem both funny and noble when he was self-deprecating. Lennon provided the high drama; Ringo provided the tragic Woody Allen-style comedy. "Words of Love" is another fine, Buddy Holly cover. What I like about this one is the way those vocals are hummed beautifully by John and Paul, really illustrating the soft-spoken words of reassurance that they are singing about. I've never heard the Buddy Holly original, so I'm not sure how much of this they borrowed from him. "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" is my least favorite song on here probably. It seems like it's not something Paul would have picked to sing. John always seemed more fit to do the old rockers, and anyways, this is not my favorite kind of rock 'n' roll song from the '50s.

I'm sure I've made the album seem pretty good by now and someone is asking, "Why did you say it was troubling then?" Like I said, this just feels like another good early Beatles album instead of a step forward into deeper terrain. I feel that the original songwriting is not as strong as it could be by this point. Obviously the Beatles were absolutely worn out by this point. After all, this was a band that gave up touring at the height of their popularity two short years from now. "I'll Follow the Sun" is a pretty but slight ballad from Paul. "What You're Doing" is decent, and the way its ringing guitar riff repeats throughout seems to have inspired the entire career of the Byrds (along with Bob Dylan's lyrics--exactly how many fucking Dylan songs did they cover again?). "Eight Days a Week" would be a great song on their first two albums, but the Beatlemania feel seems a bit outdated by this point. Still, nothing matches the opening barrage of Lennon's songs, and for that reason it's hard not to view this album as a step down from the summit of A Hard Day's Night.

--Edward

The Beatles, Album by Album--A Hard Day's Night

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The Beatles, Album by Album--With the Beatles

The Beatles' second album, With the Beatles, was also their second LP released in '63. It came out at the height of Beatlemania in England, as their third single, "She Loves You," which basically is Beatlemania in concise song form, pushed them to unprecedented heights of popularity in their home country. They had not, however, broken into the American shores yet. Their fourth single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand," and their subsequent appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show and stadium tour in the States, would break down the Atlantic wall in '64, but this time had not yet come to pass when With the Beatles was released at the end of 1963. This seems almost like a time of purity for the Beatles--they were bestsellers and beloved musical figures, but not yet the Christ-like icons that they would become in the coming years. Things were still about the music, the girls, and the fun back then.

Following a practice which they would sometimes use on later albums, the Beatles released no singles from this album. This was rather unusual, and displays a band full of confidence, not only that their current singles would sell, but that their LP could stand up on the strength of its songs. And it is indeed a songs album. Though it lacks the boundless energy and zest of the first album, it has a more consistent lineup than its predecessor. Though I've heard claims that this has a darker, more bitter feel than Please Please Me (mostly here), I can't say I really agree. Perhaps these claims are influenced by that iconic cover of the four lads half-covered in dark. I can see why someone would make this statement, though, because With the Beatles is much more R&B/soul-influenced than Please Please Me. We see a lot more John Lennon on this album, and less of the quirky covers that made the first album unique. This isn't a bad thing, though, because the Beatles, with songs like "You Really Got a Hold on Me" and "All I've Got to Do," proved they were an adept and soulful R&B band. One of the most underrated aspects of the Beatles for me is their strength as a straightforward, rocking ensemble back when they started. Although their songwriting was not always up to the standards they would set for all of rock music later on in their careers, they had a unique and thrilling power and energy especially in their rhythm section early on that set them apart from their peers.

Note the awesome rhythm guitar in "All My Loving." This is the most Beatlesmania-esque song on the album, but that guitar really takes it to another level. Paul didn't do as much of the writing on this album as John, but he delivered a classic with this. Their album opener is another killer, slamming itself out of those speakers even harder than "I Saw Her Standing There." "It Won't Be Long" rides itself to victory on the call-and-response chorus and Ringo's clashing cymbals. However, the second song, "All I've Got to Do," really sets the tone of the album for me. It's slightly stuttering rhythm and John's passionate vocal tells us that this will be a John-dominated R&B album.

John displays his love for American Motown proudly on here. "Please Mr. Postman" somehow comes near to toppling the great original by the Marvelletes (one could say I'm perhaps a bit biased towards girl groups, and even more biased that the original was used in Mean Streets in the best fight scene ever involving Harvey Keitel and a young, spry Bob DeNiro) through John's incredibly passionate, sometimes hilarious vocal performance ("Deliva da lettah, da soona da betta!"). Smokey Robinson (America's greatest living poet, according to Bob Dylan [!!]) also gets similar treatment from John with the awesome cover of "You Really Got a Hold on Me," featuring great harmony vocals from George and Paul. The only cover that I feel doesn't really stand up is their version of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven." George's opening is a pretty weak version of the classic Chuck Berry double-stop opening (how many songs exactly did he write that have this intro?), and the whole thing just sounds like a purile version of a classic Berry song. But John's love for Berry is noble, considering just how much of an influence he had on rock and roll (I would say he is the #2 influence on early rock after Elvis). This is what John had to say on the subject: ""If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry.'"

George puts out his first song on this album, called appropriately "Don't Bother Me," which might as well be his motto. It's not a great song, but I like it, partly because I love that whole fuck-you vibe of George around this time period. At a later date, it could get somewhat tiresome and annoying as he got more and more preachy, but at this point he just seemed like an angry young man. This is made even more interesting by the fact that he was in the biggest rock and roll band in the history of the world, so it's nice to think about someone who liked privacy and yet probably had absolutely none at this point. Lord knows he was getting laid a lot, though. From my memory, he won't have another song on an album for a good while, which is a shame, because even at this stage I think he showed some promise (others could probably debate that this isn't a great song, but oh well). I love the minor chords in here that go along with the lyrics.

"Till There Was You" is pure schmaltz, but no one in the entire world could pull off schmaltz like Paul, and he does so perfectly on it. Listen to that crisp guitar solo! There are some lesser songs on here ("Little Child," "Hold Me Tight"), but there is nothing that really stands out as terrible (I guess that is the Beatles for you). All of these early albums get better as you listen to them more. I would suspect that they are not nearly as tolerable to modern ears as the later Beatles albums, which sound incredibly modern (not surprising given how influential these albums were), but you have to realize that an album like Abbey Road was just not possible at this early date. The Beatles changed popular music itself as they advanced. They were at the top of their--and therefore everyone else's--game as each album came out. You have to try to keep that in mind listening to the early Beatles albums. But I personally love all of their early stuff. It's refreshing, when you are so used to hearing "Come Together" or "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" on the radio or on TV every day of your entire life. This is yet another reason to dig into their albums, because they have so many great songs that you never, ever hear on the radio (for unknown reasons).

--Edward