So, first things first; it’s almost impossible to vote in these things due to the quality of a lot of songs. I voted for “I’m a Loser” because I like the Dylanesqueness of the song, and it is a great all around composition.
I have indeed heard “Every Little Thing” before, although not in maybe 30 years. And, of course I could sing along with it like I just heard it yesterday. Brains are weird storage devices when it comes to music.
The other songs I had never heard, but enjoyed. I liked the Buddy Holly cover and “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party” was good too.
I see your point - contests in the arts have always struck a sour note with me for this reason. Is any song chosen in these polls the definitive “best” song? Of course not. Any judgement relating to the arts is an opinion. Still, there are some things that the majority agrees on - say, that “Let it Be” is a better song than “Mr. Moonlight.” Is this a fact? No. I’m sure that there are plenty of people out there who love “Mr. Moonlight” and hate “Let it Be” - and one of the main benefits of these polls is it gives them an opportunity to disagree with the majority and explain their preferences. The polls allow a conversation to start about the benefits of lesser known songs, and about what exactly makes a song “great”.
Plus, I find inane opinion polls really entertaining. But maybe that’s just me.
I’m inclined to side with TreacherousCretin on this one. “Eight Days a Week” is, of all the songs on this album, the one that’s squarely in the mold of the classic early Beatles sound, but that’s a sound they were in the process of outgrowing, and unless I’m misremembering, it doesn’t do anything particularly interesting or new with that sound. So, while it’s a perfectly good song, it is to me perhaps the most dispensible song on the album.
Yes, I should have mentioned both DML and “Bad Boy,” the one song in The Beatles’ canon that was released significantly (a year and a half) earlier in the US (Beatles VI) than it was in the UK (A* Collection of Beatles Oldies*).
I see your point. But the vocal harmonies in the refrain are more sophisticated than you might think without paying close attention: the interval is different each of the two times the title phrase is sung in each refrain.
If I were a kid when these came out, this would probably be around the time they’d start to grow on me. However, if it weren’t for my brother going off the deep end with The Beatles when he got interested in music, I might not have already heard most of this album.
My pick on this one is their faux-country song, “Baby’s in Black”. It still has their kind of harmonies, and they’re coupled with a lead part that’s almost 100% bends, it pushes my buttons right.
I see no sign on the rest of the album that they were outgrowing their early sound; at any rate, only inasmuch as they were sick of doing what they were doing, and so no longer doing it very well, not in the sense of anything much new emerging. That does not happen until Help!. I see an album they didn’t want to make (I am pretty sure they were essentially forced to put this out by EMI), filled with half-hearted covers and failed attempts to do what they had succeeded triumphantly in doing on A Hard Day’s Night. Probably, indeed, many of the original songs are ones rejected from that soundtrack. Although “Eight Days a Week” is far from being their best work, at least it still has some of the infectious energy and joy of their earlier stuff. The rest sounds like they would rather not be there.
Incidentally, I listened to this album a lot when I was young. The first two records I effectively owned were a copy of this and one of Revolver, both hand-me-downs from my big sister. I tried hard to find things to like on Beatles for Sale, but it was slim pickings (quite unlike Revolver).
You make a good point - I’ll think about rephrasing the question later on to give off less of a “THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!” vibe, and make it clear that we’re just quantifying opinions, not facts. At the same time, the poll gives a nice structure to the discussions - you get a list of all the songs on the album, so if you don’t know some of the less famous songs, you can check them out on YouTube, plus it collects all of the opinions and sorts them in one easy-to-read table. But you’re right about the use of the word “favorite” in place of “greatest” - especially when it comes to later albums like Sgt. Pepper or Abbey Road, where the album is greater than the sum of its parts, and it can’t be boiled down to a handful of songs.
Agreed all around. I think the very “impossibility” of these polls is part of what makes them fun and informative, in a group discussion setting like this.
I see no sign on the rest of the album that they were outgrowing their early sound; at any rate, only inasmuch as they were sick of doing what they were doing, and so no longer doing it very well, not in the sense of anything much new emerging. That does not happen until Help!. I see an album they didn’t want to make (I am pretty sure they were essentially forced to put this out by EMI), filled with half-hearted covers and failed attempts to do what they had succeeded triumphantly in doing on A Hard Day’s Night. Probably, indeed, many of the original songs are ones rejected from that soundtrack. Although “Eight Days a Week” is far from being their best work, at least it still has some of the infectious energy and joy of their earlier stuff. The rest sounds like they would rather not be there./QUOTE]
I can’t agree with this.
It’s true that, taken as a whole, Beatles for Sale may be among their weakest albums overall. But I think much of this is down to the high percentage of covers. And their presence was a matter of practicality far more so than choice. The whirlwind that was The Beatles’ lives in 1964 left little time for composing an adequate number of new originals, so they fell back on their Hamburg repertoire to a great extent.
I don’t find any of the originals on Beatles for Sale to be particularly wanting. I’ve already expressed my feelings for “Every Little Thing,” and “No Reply” and “I’m a Loser” both have the requisite energy and harmonic innovation. “I’ll Follow the Sun” is simple, but manages to touch the emotions. Even a seeming throwaway like “What You’re Doing” sounds like nothing that has come before, with the drum parts and the 12-string riff.
The album’s biggest holes are in the two Carl Perkins covers, which compare very unfavorably with the originals. Many have also slagged “Rock and Roll Music,” but I feel about it the way I do about “Mr. Moonlight” — I would be happy to listen to John Lennon sing the phone book. For a song Lennon had sung hundreds and hundreds of times by the time they recorded it, he still invests it with energy and passion.
Finally, I can sympathize with those who take a dim view of “Eight Days a Week.” I like it well enough, but it’s a cut below most other Beatles singles (it was one in the US, not in the UK) in terms of freshness and originality.
Actually, there’s a demo version of “Eight Days a Week” that’s pretty different from the final version - there are some “ooo” harmonies at the beginning, and the melody on the chorus line changes. In terms of musical development, the song was closer to the “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” era than their more revolutionary stuff, but I think it’s still pretty catchy.
Yep. And I was also going to mention the harmonies in the bridge with the parallel fifths and fourths that give it this haunting, open sound. While it’s not necessarily groundbreaking harmony (although parallel fourths and fifths have been considered “poor harmony” for several centuries of classical Western music theory) they are somewhat unusual in pop music, especially from that era, and it kind of evokes a bit of a Gregorian chant sort of vibe. The Beatles were known for throwing in parallel 4th/5ths in their music (that harmonization appears again in “Every Little Thing”) I don’t know if “Eight Days a Week” is the first time the Beatles used parallel 4th/5th harmonization, but it’s a great example of it.
And the entire arrangement of the song is so beautifully crafted.
Well, the first two, absolutely. “Norwegian Wood” swings in it’s own gorgeousness , and “Oh Darling” just rocks for days. In fact, when Abbey Road rolls around, it will be in the running for my pick. It’s the song that makes me love Paul’s vocals the most, the band is loose and tight at the same time, and the production is great.
When it comes to “I Me Mine”, if you mean the original album version, no. The maudlin strings kill it for me. The naked version proves that anyone in the mixing room must have known Spector was a crazy person who would wear absurd wigs soon. Who with an operational hip would replace Billy Preston with awful strings? The naked version grooves.
“I Dig a Pony” doesn’t have any Spector damage that I can hear, and it almost gets to that place it needs to be. But it doesn’t quite get there. It just sounds like a song and a performance from a lesser band.
Overall, good job at picking that I have a soft spot for waltzes on just one song (I play bass, waltzes are fun!). I’d score you at least 2.75 out of 4. If you could guess my production hang-ups, I’d hire you as my music taster.
I saw the Fabs in 1965 (I was 15). One of my more vivid visual memories is of Paul “dancing with his bass” (old-fashioned Waltz style) during George’s “Baby’s In Black” solo.
