And We Are All Together / The Beatles Thread

[Strat]

Save your money, friend. There are poor people in Houston.

You just made me panic a little bit ;l

[washing machine]

[McParadigm]

I didn't really think much about the earlier records until I started getting really into late-50's early-60's pop, blues, skiffle, and 'rock' music. The clearer a picture I had of what the landscape was when they came out, the more impressed I was with the band from day one.

I really like early, all-in-one-take rock and soul music. Almost all of it is imperfect....stumbly and swinging, you know, and that's a huge plus to my ears. The limitations of two track recording and the simplicity of the subject matter pre-mid 60's aren't so much a weakness as they are a different shade of a known quality...pre-rebellion punk design, recorded in big rooms by engineers in lab coats. Not only that, but with music growing so thoroughly entrenched in minor key songwriting the last few decades, I find I really dig those major key-heavy 60's pop records more and more. I wish I could play them all on 45. I really do.

Having said all that, the Beatles were actually tighter performers than most other bands that came out of the era. All records from that era lean a bit on the sloppy side ("Okay, everybody get it right this time, because we have to record six more songs today"), but The Beatles really did a remarkable job (the remasters really reveal this). Especially....strangely enough....Ringo. There are literally just a small handful of times in all their recording sessions where a song has to be restarted because Ringo screwed up. Go figure.

These days, I honestly think I listen to Please Please Me, Hard Day's Night, Beatles for Sale, and Help more than I do Revolver or Sgt. Pepper. Those other records are incredibly cool, yeah, and I've worn them out, but I find a lot of fresh air in the pre-"We're gonna change the world, oh I guess not" days. Naivety and joy are table wines. Pour yourself a glass and enjoy the sunset.

^
That pretty much says it all regarding my opinion of pre-Rubber Soul Beatles.

Give me good company, good wine, and a sunset that half the world is too busy to bother noticing any day of the week, thank you. I'll enjoy all three, and gladly leave everybody else to their little revolutions.

[epilogue]

Naivety and joy are table wines.

I tweeted this today after I read your post. I love it. So... thanks for posting it.

[McParadigm]

Glad you liked it. I've become more and more a fan of wide eyed, untainted optimism in music...and of songs focused on the simplest, even the stupidest, of joys. I think one of the things I love most about Tom Waits is that you can often see that played out in his work, right next to the ocean-deep soul. It's not even buried underneath. It's the only reason the soul is able to get that deep. It's essential.

I'm getting jaded with the idea of being jaded, I suppose. That whole motif feels very young to me.

[epilogue]

I found a similar road several years ago. Probably the reason I wasn't able to like Tom Waits until more recently.

[Kevin Davis]

I too approve of McP's sentiments in this thread.

[epilogue]

I think Help! is gonna be the next one I buy in the remastered vinyl series.

Fuck Yesterday. Is 'I've Just Seen A Face' McCartney's most underrated masterpiece?

[Will]

My family gave me the John Lennon replica jacket modeled off the one worn on the Rubber Soul album cover for Christmas. Total surprise. I almost don't want to wear it in fear of ruining it. I had planned to get my dad the Shea Stadium suit jacket for his 65th birthday last year, but we couldn't get it worked out with the tailor, so he turned the tables and got me the RS one.

[knee tunes]

Your rampant spending on vinyl is starting to drive me up the wall, Strat.

Hey man. Im a full time employee, 31 years old and single...wtf else am i going to do?

are you gay?

[lowlight79]

Help has some good tunes, Dizzy Miss Lizzy is furious, but what I just always put on repeat is I've just seen a face. This song remastered sounds so amazing.

[Gods' Die]

Yeah. White Album pretty much wins it. 2nd might just have to go to the 2nd side of Abbey Road.

[epilogue]

Interestingly enough, I actually prefer the first side of Abbey Road.

[Will]

I kind of like the obscure deep cuts from just before they went psychedelic with Revolver and Sgt. Pepper. Shit from Rubber Soul, Beatles For Sale, A Hard Days Night. There's some fantastic songs that never get the attention they deserve from casual fans who only know bigger numbers.

[Birds in Hell]

I kind of like the obscure deep cuts from just before they went psychedelic with Revolver and Sgt. Pepper. Shit from Rubber Soul, Beatles For Sale, A Hard Days Night. There's some fantastic songs that never get the attention they deserve from casual fans who only know bigger numbers.

There are some amazing songs on those albums.

[Jorge]

Your rampant spending on vinyl is starting to drive me up the wall, Strat.

Hey man. Im a full time employee, 31 years old and single...wtf else am i going to do?

Just give him the fucking money, strat. Just give it to him.

[NancyBabich]

Of the great albums Sgt Peppers is easily the weakest.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Of the great albums Sgt Peppers is easily the weakest.

I just love the feel of the album as a whole, id probably rank a lot of the songs a little lower then others(kinda like with rubber soul for me) but the overall album works for me

[Orpheus]

I kind of like the obscure deep cuts from just before they went psychedelic with Revolver and Sgt. Pepper. Shit from Rubber Soul, Beatles For Sale, A Hard Days Night. There's some fantastic songs that never get the attention they deserve from casual fans who only know bigger numbers.

There are some amazing songs on those albums.

There really are. It's kind of amazing. The 1's album is really kind of awful when you look at it from this perspective.

[epilogue]

I found a vinyl version (I don't know if it was an import or what) of Rubber Soul that had I've Just Seen A Face as the opening track rather than Drive My Car. Found it at a flea market.

To this day, I kick myself for not buying it.

If I haven't said it before... I fucking LOVE I've Just Seen A Face... Love it!