So I'm listening to the Beatles...

Cafe Society
21

Hey, don’t put the man off. :slight_smile: I think the Beatles greatest period was the psychedelic one: from Revolver, through Sgt Pepper and Magical Mystery tour to Yellow Submarine. Most of the tracks for the latter three albums were recorded in the same time period, anyway, so they fit well together, too.

I’ll be particularly interested, Stauderhorse, about how you view the difference between the different periods: early (Please Please Me to Rubber Soul), middle (the aforementioned psychedlic tracks) and the later period (White Album to Let It Be). I think that their music can be quite neatly grouped in to those eras. You may not agree, of course…

22

What a delightful idea for a thread!
So much of what I am is wrapped up in my coming of age with the Beatles, and this helps me relive that wonder all over again. I’ll be following the thread and humming joyfully along - and taking another look at that Beatles book again, too. Thanks for really enriching my Monday!

23

This is an interesting thread idea. Recreating the sequence of how this music was first heard in the US can be complex depending on how musically aware a listener was and where they lived. The first Beatles music I heard was I Want To Hold Your Hand in December of 1963. The first album I was aware of was Meet The Beatles, which I bought within a day or two of its January 20 release, despite the fact that my sister already owned the I want To Hold Your hand/I Saw Her Standing There single. I didn’t become aware of Introducing The Beatles until weeks later.

I Want To Hold Your Hand had a profound effect on me. Something about the sound of that record got me interested in music in a way that nothing else had up to that point (I was nine in December 1963). I made me want to play an instrument. I started on drums and quickly switched to guitar.

Anyone interested in the process of making these records should follow WordMan’s advice and read Here, There and Everywhere by Geoff Emerick. A good companion book to that would be George Martin’s autobiography, All You Need Is Ears. Martin’s book is more self-serving and generally not as good as Emerick’s, but it offers another perspective and is worth reading.

A few more thoughts on individual songs. This Boy blew me away in 1964 with those beautiful harmonies, and I think it holds up well today. Those three could really sing some harmony. Twist and Shout remains my favorite Lennon vocal performance. Don’t Bother Me and Not A Second Time were and are really cool because they had such a different mood and feel from the other stuff on Meet The Beatles. Till There Was You was a beautiful version of a great song, and gave me my first glimpse of what a great cover band these guys were. I’m still impressed by Harrison’s playing in this song.

I’m looking forward to additional posts as the OP makes his way through the rest of the catalog.

24

Couple of things:

I honestly don’t know if I have the American release CDs or not. I must check into this…

This is a wonderful idea for a thread–you have an incredible journey ahead of you.

I have not read the titles posted here, but I did check this book out of the library when I went on my own Beatles odyssey a few years ago. I found it very helpful and illuminating regarding their music.

RevolutionInTheHead

25

Has anyone released a version of Sgt. Pepper with those two inserted? I swear I’ve seen a list showing where they would have been in the track order, but I can’t find anything online right now.

26

Not that I’m aware of. After the Beatles broke up, they kept such tight control of their recordings that only they would sanction such a release, and I’m sure they haven’t.

But it’d fun to speculate where they would go, and which two tracks you’d substitute them for. With mp3s you can, of course, create our own Sgt Pepper.

ETA: The Beatles originally conceived the running order of side one to be:

‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’; ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’; ‘Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite!’; ‘Fixing a Hole’; ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’; ‘Getting Better’; ‘She’s Leaving Home’.

27

Just listened to The Beatles’ Second Album (even though it’s their third).

“Roll Over Beethoven” This was a fun song, with some very nice guitar and vocals by George Harrison.

“Thank You Girl” Loved John Lennon’s voice on this one, and the drums and harmonica were a really nice touch. The harmony with Paul’s voice was fantastic.

“You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” Loved the slow, smooth sound of the song; I feel like a broken record saying this, but John’s voice catapults the song to a whole other level.

“Devil in her Heart” The “aah” harmonies on this one were great, and I was really impressed with George’s voice. The guitar and maracas were also really nice, as were the lyrics.

“Money (That’s What I Want)” The guitars and backing vocals gave this one a kind of unique Beatles flavor. Very fun song.

“You Can’t Do That” This one was very different but still rocking; I loved the arrangement. The guitar and backing instruments were all great (especially the cowbell and conga drums).

“Long Tall Sally” This was a wild song, maybe a little too manic for my tastes. I was impressed with Paul’s voice once more; I didn’t think he had this kind of singing in him.

“I Call Your Name” This was one was mostly forgettable, but the ska section in the middle was surprising and pretty cool.

“Please Mr. Postman” This one was very smooth and groovy (I can’t believe I’m actually using that word, but it fits), and I can see why it’s a classic. The vocal arrangement was great, with John as the lead singer and all three as background.

“I’ll Get You” I liked the bass and guitar on this one, and the energy of the performance. Not manic, but still lively. The “oh yeah”s throughout were very nice.

“She Loves You” Wow. I loved the guitar and Lennon/McCartney on lead vocals. I loved the lyrics and the sheer vigor of the song. The way it slows down for just a second towards the end, then speeds back up. The “yeah, yeah, yeah”s were great, of course. I have a big smile on my face from hearing this song. Great end to the album.

This album was fantastic. It seems they came into their own and really got into the music. Which, of course, makes for some awesome songs.

28

This is why he’s probably my favorite singer. Not as technically good as McCartney, but he was able to put more of himself into the songs than Paul, IMO.

ETA: These track listings for the US albums are screwing with me. They jumped all over the place when compiling these things!

29

was wondering about the Beatles song “boys”

it doesn’t seem completely heterosexual, anybody have more info,

–i guess the OP named it as a cover and indicated the original was sung by a female, making the lyrics make a little more sense–

30

I’m a bit of an audiophile, so feel free to disregard this, but you really owe it to yourself to listen to the Beatles in something higher quality than Youtube. These are some of the greatest sounding records ever produced, and the engineering behind them is certainly a part of why they were so popular. There are many subtleties that you’ll never hear with Youtube’s audio compression. Plus, once you get to Sgt. Peppers, The White Album, and Abbey Road, part of the experience is hearing the tracks flow into each other, an effect that will be lost if you are opening every song individually. If you really want to experience the Beatles the way people used to, I hope you’ll at least borrow some CDs from a friend sometime.

31

QFT!

The energy and sound of those early records, particularly Please, Please Me, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, and She Loves You, was both stunning and exciting. Hearing those songs on the radio, before even having seen a photo of the Beatles or having experienced their stage presence, generated an excitement that could literally make your heart race and take your breath away.

The emotional excitement that those early songs generated rarely gets mentioned, but in my opinion it, more than anything else, it is what catapulted the Beatles into the stratosphere, and much of that excitement is due to the way those songs were engineered and recorded. You’ll truly be missing a lot if you don’t get to hear them in the same that way people experienced them at the time.

32

It was their second US album released by Capitol Records. As far as Capitol was concerned, VeeJay’s ‘Introducing the Beatles’ didn’t count.

33

I’m sort of jealous of anyone who gets to listen to The Beatles with fresh ears. How wonderful that must be.

On the other hand, you don’t get to experience the days when those songs first played on the (tinny little) AM radio, and everyone in school was talking about them. Or the days when you waited for the 45 or LP to come out, and you ran home from the store and put them on the record player…

For me, their songs are inextricably attached to specific moments in my life, coming of age in the 1960s. Despite the brilliance of the recordings and their ongoing legend, I can’t imagine today’s first-time listener identifying with The Beatles and their music in quite the same way.

34

am i the only one that thinks boys is really an obscure track

why is ringo “talking about boys”

35

Yes indeed. I think it is impossible for anyone too young to have gone through the Beatles to get what a revolution they were, and continued to be. In the very early '60s, when I started listening to the radio, it seemed that the excitement of rock had almost died out in a flurry of novelty songs and feeble teen idols. The Beatles felt their way, starting out with the original songs that were the most popular but also covers, even of Broadway show tunes (Till There was You).

I’m going through all my CDs, and so listened to all the tracks in order not long ago. I agree that better quality than YouTube is essential. I hope Stauderhorse will get to the versions on the Anthology CDs also, as well as Let It Be Naked. I had the bootleg that was basically that album since it came out, and the comparison is interesting.

36

Boys was originally recorded by the Shirelles and released in 1960. The Beatles were quite voracious consumers of any Rock record they could get their hands on, and really had a great deal of love/respect for different performers and tracks. In the early days, when they were playing Hamberg or the Cavern in Liverpool, if they heard a song and they liked the tune, they would add it to their set list. They liked the tune of Boys. They thought it was a great rock and roll number that Ringo could sing. They didn’t really think about the lyrics.

37

Thanks for the advice. I will ask around and see if anyone I know has the CDs.

38

Check your local library also. Plus, when I converted from tape to CD, my used CD store had a bunch.

39

Any updates?

40

I love listening to Beatles records on earphones. There are so many subtle bits and pieces that when you notice them really increases your enjoyment of the songs.