The Beatles

 

Another early blog topic.  The prior time I compared them to KISS, though the most pertinent comparison therein is the format of the band.  The main singer-songwriters are the bassist (Paul McCartney & Gene Simmons) and rhythm guitarist (John Lennon and Paul Stanley), followed by the lead guitarist (George Harrison and Ace Frehley), with the drummer at the bottom (Ringo Starr and Peter Criss).  That’s about it, and not worth an entire blog, whereas the Beatles by themselves certainly deserve one.

 Paul McCartney (bass/guitar/piano/drums & vocals).  Arguably the most handsome and versatile, “Macca” was far more congenial than Lennon.  “Yesterday” and “Let It Be” were Paul’s songs, but he also gave us “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road” and “Helter Skelter”, an amazingly heavy song for which the Stones have nothing remotely comparable.  He’s still alive (bizarre rumors to the contrary notwithstanding) and making music – I’d like to see him live if I get the chance.

 John Lennon (rhythm guitar & vocals).  Lennon was famous for being outspoken, he couldn’t be bothered with anything like tact or diplomacy.  Leave it to John to pose naked with Yoko Ono for “Two Virgins”.  He also openly criticized Elvis for his support for the Vietnam War when the two met up.  He and Yoko Ono moved to NYC in the mid 70s, living in the Dakota, an apartment building on Central Park West (Eighth Avenue as it shoots north from Columbus Circle along Central Park).  Visiting NYC in June 2009, I took a brief visit outside where Lennon was shot in December 1980.  RIP.

 George Harrison (lead guitar & vocals).   The most spiritual of the four, it was George who embraced Eastern mysticism and learned the sitar.  As a kid growing up, I couldn’t endure his more Indian-flavored songs like “Love You To” and “Within Without You”, but as an adult I can enjoy both, and I also enjoy his solo album Wonderwall.  He died of cancer in 2004. 

 Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) (drums & vocals).   Down to earth and reliable, the shortest and least attractive, but despite this he could keep a positive attitude.  As noted above, solid enough at timekeeping that the band didn’t need a click track.   Ringo still appears in public now and then, touring occasionally. 

 Honorable Mentions:  Stuart Sutcliffe, Pete Best & George Martin.  SS was the original bass player, the band being a five piece with him and McCartney playing guitar.  The story was that he was a fellow art student and Lennon persuaded him to join, against his own preferences.   He decided to remain in Hamburg, McCartney switched to bass, and the Beatles became a four piece.  Then SS died shortly after the Beatles returned to England. 

 Pete Best was the prior drummer before Ringo Starr.  He wasn’t nearly as good a drummer as the rest of the band members were at their instruments, and Starr was known for being extremely reliable.  Starr had been the drummer for Rory Storme & the Hurricanes, the Beatles’ closest competitor in Liverpool.  Best himself declined to take up drums with the Hurricanes and never played for another band.  Summer 1962 was when Starr took over from Best.

 George Martin.  Often considered the fifth Beatle, their producer had no background with pop and rock bands before taking that role.  But he found them amazingly intelligent and innovative, pushing the envelope of what was possible in the studio.  In him they found a sympathetic and competent producer willing to grow along with them, helping them realize their ideas instead of simply insisting that “it can’t be done” or “(oh) you can’t do that”. 

 Hamburg.  One of Germany’s largest cities and an infamous port town with an equally famous red light district, the Reeperbahn.  As late as the late 60s, other British bands, most notably Black Sabbath, also did the Hamburg circuit.  The bands played multiple sets a night for bored sailors and prostitutes, so the experience was very much a musical boot camp for the bands who endured the scene – practically every band who did so came back to England much improved.  Note that the Stones, who were from London, did not do the Hamburg scene. 

Brian Epstein.  Their ill-fated manager.  He helped them out at the beginning, but as the band got more successful, his role became marginalized.  By 1967 he was scarcely there.  It's possible had he not died of a heroin overdose - the band learned of his death while visiting India - they may have steered away from Magical Mystery Tour, or their Apple company.  Sid Bernstein, the American promoter who brought them to the US in 1964, remarked that their entire agreement was oral, not written, and that no lawyers were involved:  an arrangement unthinkable in modern times.  

Ed Sullivan.  The first show was the most important, of course:  February 9, 1964.  For Americans, this was their first glimpse of the band who had already taken the UK by storm.  At this show they played "All My Loving", "Till There Was You", "She Loves" you, followed by "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand".  But they played three more times:  February 16, 1964 ("She Loves You", "This Boy", "All My Loving", "I Saw Her Standing There", "From Me To You", and "I Want To Hold Your Hand"), February 23, 1964 ("Twist And Shout", Please Please Me", and "I Want To Hold Your Hand"), and a later show on September 12, 1965 ("I Feel Fine", "I'm Down", "Act Naturally", "Ticket To Ride", "Yesterday", and "Help").  It's interesting that the band, having been greatly promoted by Sullivan on the rise in 1964, repaid the favor with the 1965 show after they were already well established.

 US vs. UK/Europe.  Up until Revolver, there were separate US releases with different songs, and some songs which were singles only in one market wound up on regular albums in another.  The Beatles put out so many non-album singles that two full CDs worth of songs, Past Masters 1 & 2, exist.  Growing up in Paris, I did the idiotic thing of insisting on getting the US versions instead of simply buying the European ones in the local record store (FNAC).  When albums were released on CD, the UK versions were the ones they used, only releasing US version CDs years later.  By now I’m conditioned to the UK versions and no longer even pay attention to the US ones. 

 Albums.

Please, Please Me (March 1963).  The first, in 1963.  Half covers, the standout tracks being “Twist and Shout” and “Please Please Me”. 

 With The Beatles (November 1963).  Continuing the development, the ratio of originals to covers rising.  My favorites are “All My Loving” and “Please Mr. Postman”.

 A Hard Day’s Night (July 1964).  Ostensibly the soundtrack album for their first movie, with side two being more songs which were not in the movie – of comparable quality.  No covers at all. 

 For Sale (December 1964).   “Baby’s In Black” and “Rock’n’Roll Music” (Chuck Berry) are my favorites, but I’d count this as my least favorite album. 

 Help! (August 1965).   Ostensibly the soundtrack album for the second movie. The US version had instrumental pieces from the movie itself, with less tracks.  Here’s one area where the UK version was much better.  “The Night Before”, “Ticket To Ride”, and “Yesterday” are my favorites. 

 Rubber Soul (December 1965).  The songs are getting darker and more complex.  “You Won’t See Me”, “Nowhere Man”, “Girl”, and “in My Life” are my favorites.  

 Revolver (August 1966).  As noted, the last album where the US and UK versions are different.  It was also the last album for which they toured.  It’s capped off with one of my favorite songs, “Tomorrow Never Knows”.

 Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (May 1967).  The Beatles quit touring and put this together, blowing everyone’s minds.  The Stones’ response, Their Satanic Majesties’ Request, comes nowhere close.  Itself a response to the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson couldn’t top this – and had a nervous breakdown.  His own tentative response, Smile, was only released decades later and still doesn’t come close.  Capped off with “A Day in the Life”, a masterpiece from start to finish.  Incidentally, Pink Floyd recorded their first album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, with Syd Barrett, next door at Abbey Road Studios at the same time the Beatles were working on Sgt. Pepper.

 Magical Mystery Tour (November 1967).  Another soundtrack album, with the second side being singles, “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” (actually recorded before Sgt. Pepper) and more. 

 The Beatles (self-titled), better known as the White Album (November 1968).  A double studio album, and my own favorite thanks to “Helter Skelter” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”.  I could do without “Wild Honey Pie” and “Revolution #9”.  The latter is more a psychedelic mix of noises and sound effects with no discernable melody or rhythm.   When our school took a trip to the USSR (Kiev, Moscow and Leningrad) in March 1983, we sang along to these tunes in our hotel room in Kiev, including “Back in the USSR” and “Rocky Raccoon”.  Oddly, McCartney wrote the former song without having visited Russia – which only happened in 2003 [When Paul McCartney lived out his Russian dream - Russia Beyond (rbth.com)], and it was no longer the USSR by then.  It was awhile before I ever listened to side 4. 

 Yellow Submarine (January 1969 – right around the time of my birthday).  Third soundtrack album, the second side being exclusively instrumental background music done by George Martin.  “Only A Northern Song” and “Hey Bulldog” are still awesome songs.

 Let It Be (May 1970).  Recorded before Abbey Road but released after.  That puts us in the position of trying to decide in which order to put them; at first I ordered them by release, but later decided that Abbey Road should be last, for reasons noted below.  After all the studio tricks of the prior albums, the band decided to return to their roots with a bare bones album.  Then they put it on the shelf and recorded Abbey Road, and Phil Spector took over producing it in their absence to finally release it.  Let It Be Naked is a more recent version, ostensibly intended to bring it back to where it should be, also including “Don’t Let Me Down”.  

 Abbey Road (September 1969).  The last album recorded.  Side two runs most of the songs together to “The End”.  George gives us “Something”, and John gives us “Come Together”.  “I Want You/She’s So Heavy” is even DOOM, believe it or not.  The Beatles go out with a bang. 

 Past Masters 1 & 2.  As noted earlier, the band had so many singles which didn’t end up on albums, these two wound up collecting them all together.   “Hey Jude”, “Rain”, “Paperback Writer” and “Revolution” are here.

 Hollywood Bowl.  The band’s only live album, marred by such massive crowd noise of screaming girls that no one considered it more than a de facto bootleg.  I have the original vinyl (rough quality) and the more recent CD reissue, which pulls the band's contribution well above the crowd noise - and even listened to it the other day.  A good mix of songs.  I've heard complaints that due to the crowd noise the band couldn't hear themselves play, but their performance seemed fine to me.  Definitely worth enjoying, especially if you're familiar with bootlegs.

 ’62-66 (Red Album) & ’67-70 (Blue Album).  Two major compilations, these were my introduction to the band.

 Movies.  None of their movies really have any sort of plot and are more like extended music videos.  They vary in tolerability considerably.  “Let It Be” is probably my favorite. 

 A Hard Day’s Night.  Not much of a plot, more like a “follow the band as they make jokes and eventually perform in the studio”.  Also in black & white.  Charming, though, in its innocence.

 Help!   Ok, now things get somewhat surreal.  The silly plot - pursued worldwide for a ringo which Ringo (get it?) took by accident - makes this an elaborate music video for the songs involved and not a true story.  But at least it’s in color.

 Magical Mystery Tour.  At the height of the 1967 hippie period, the band got a tour bus together full of bizarre people and simply filmed it.  Not much happened and it’s more low budget than “Help!”   In that regard it’s difficult to endure except out of morbid curiosity.  The juxtaposition of supremely talented musicians putting this turd together itself is disturbing. 

The Beatles Animated Series.  A Saturday morning cartoon series in the late 60s, sadly not voiced by the band themselves.  It was on before I was born (my Saturday morning TV viewing was the mid-70s).  Season 1 (1965) was 26 episodes, Season 2 was 7, and Season 3 was 6.  The band initially didn't take it seriously but later grew fond of it.  I purchased the set on DVD and watched it once.  I dare say I should watch it again.  That and watch the films again...

Yellow Submarine.  The movie itself.  Actually kind of trippy and irreverent, and in that respect it makes up for MMT.  

 Let It Be.  The band filmed themselves working on the album in the studio, warts and arguments and all, though the rooftop concert does make it worth watching for that alone. 

 The Compleat Beatles.  An excellent documentary, though only on VHS. 

Apple.  Less than a decade before Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak would form their computer company out of their garage in California, a less successful commercial endeavor sprouted from the Beatles.  In addition to their own record company, Apple would serve as financing for all sorts of projects without any concern as to their sense or profitability.  Naturally this wound up being a money pit.  What's remarkable is that, as brilliant and talented as the band members were as musicians, as businessmen they were utterly clueless.  Part of this was the prevailing counterculture mood, much which was stimulated by Sgt Pepper itself, but ultimately the band members took some time before they realized that they needed to pay attention to these details.  The most obvious explanation was that Brian had handled that so successfully - and honestly - during his tenure that it all went downhill when he died unexpectedly.  Black Sabbath had their own battles with corrupt management in the 70s, whereas Jimmy Page was astute enough, by the time he formed Led Zeppelin, to get Peter Grant, one of the more impressive band managers in rock history.  

 Most other bands at the time would put out singles, then combine them with filler songs of dramatically poorer quality on the albums themselves.  This certainly applies to both the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys.  You can get by with Hot Rocks for the former and Endless Summer + Pet Sounds for the latter.   With the Beatles, almost every song on an album is of equal quality – not filler.  And then Sgt. Pepper was the first album written as a complete album, not a collection of singles and extra songs.  The Beatles were unique in many ways – truly sui generis.

 Overrated?   I suspect those who feel this way were exposed to Beatles fans they couldn’t stand, who somehow felt that their own intelligence and good taste were irrebuttably confirmed by their support for the Beatles.  I don’t know – acknowledging the Beatles’ genius seems as “wise” as simply observing that water is wet, the Earth revolves around the Sun, etc. another fact so undeniably obvious that saying so deserves no special credit or recognition.