I just was curious if anyone has a favorite Beatles album or CD* which they play more than the rest. (Note: The Red, Blue, and any other form of a “GH” or “Best Of” don’t count here!)
The asterisk indicates that some of the CDs have changed the original album compilation. For example, the “Hard Days Night” CD and the more-recent release of “Yellow Submarine” do not follow the music on the LP! In light of this, please tell me if you might prefer the LP format over the CD format, or vice versa.
[Personally, I think I could have done without the songs using that Far Eastern-like sound of like a zither or something…it doesn’t work for me. It must have been Yoko’s influence or their visit(s) to Tibet…and the drugs.]
Revolver. I think rock critics in the past have been overinfluenced by the cover art and alleged “theme” of Sgt. Pepper’s to realize that in content, the album doesn’t go anywhere that Revolver hadn’t a year earlier.
Revolver (British/CD version–“And Your Bird Can Sing” is my favorite Beatles song, for some odd reason.)
Although purists will insist it’s not a “real” album, I’m also a big fan of Magical Mystery Tour. The best stuff (Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, I am the Walrus) is amazing, and the fluff is more fun than the fluff on Sgt. Pepper. I even like “Flying” … I guess I’m just a sucker for a Mellotron.
These are not so much changes as corrections. The current “Hard Days Night” song lineup is identical to the original british pressing’s running order.Capitol Records loved to chop up the song order, leave off about 3-4 songs per album, then wait until they had enough “stockpiled”, then issue a "new"album. As far as “Yellow Submarine” the original was much more of a “soundtrack” with half original songs(4 + YS and all you need is love) and the rest being orchestral score by George Martin. The new release eliminates the orchestral scores(they’re not bad, but c’mon!?)and adds the remaining songs that were used in the film itself. Much more of a "Beatle"experience, IMHO.
They were using drugs WAAAAY before Yoko. The “sound” you speak of is that of a sitar which George Harrison picked up out of curiousity when they were shooting the movie “Help” on location in the Far East. They never made it to tibet, but did in fact spend some time with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh, India. They wrote the bulk of what became the “White Album”(BTW My personal favorite) while there.
The farthest east they went on location for Help! was Austria, for the skiing scenes. The “far east” scenes were studio sets in England, and the sitar was a prop.
The Beatles (White Album) / Abbey Road/ Rubber Soul (I love the title)/ Revolver (almost put it before Rubber Soul)/Magical Mytery Tour/ Sgt Pepper’s Lonley Hearts Club Band/ Beatles for Sale/ Help… ok I love them all. When capital released the original British releases for the LPs from Please Please me to Revolver I picked up the entire colection. I never updated to CDs for most of them but I will one day.
By the way cainxinth I like “Don’t pass me by” and “Act Naturally”