The Beatles Appreciation Thread

[iron yuppie]

...and the sparseness of the arrangements in TLAWR and ATU are more powerful.

Agreed completely with this, especially so with Across the Universe.

 

[lazarus]

Put me down as one of those in favor of the single version. I think the guitar solo on the album version totally disrupts the flow of the song.

I tend to prefer a lot of the Naked versions, which might place me in the minority here, not sure. The songs are mixed better to my ears, and the sparseness of the arrangements in TLAWR and ATU are more powerful.

For Get Back, Let It Be, and Don't Bring Me Down, I use Past Masters. I've Got A Feeling is the original.

And I like Dig It and Maggie Mae. Gotta leave some of the spontaneity on the album intact.

I think we're on the same page here with everything. Also my personal track listing has a longer version of Dig It, about a minute extra. Maggie Mae is fun too. Part of the charm of the album are these little nuggets, as well as the John quotes that begin and end the album, although by putting Across The Universe as the closer, his "I hope we passed the audition" is better remaining connected to Get Back.

 

[Debra S]

The Beatles have always been my favorite band...so many classic songs in a short time, there isn't one I would discard. McCartney/Lennon were genius writers.

One time at a highschool sleepover, we got a book of the Complete Beatles and sang through the whole catalog, we got no sleep that night!

I am sorry to have missed Beatlemania, so I make up for it by going when I can to see a tribute band called the Sun Kings that do a great job of matching the musicality of the group.

Some of my faves: Rocky Raccoon, Hey Jude, Let it Be, Back in the USSR...but really they are all brilliant!

 

[namkcuR]

I don't like that part either. But as much as Macca annoys me, I was trying to stay close to artist intention. Let's just say that it's taking a while to adjust to the stripped-down version.

The other argument is that there's already a big, sentimental number in Let It Be, and making Winding Road an overproduction as well is perhaps too much on one album. I enjoy the strings as well, I think it's the choir vocals where it goes too far.

I tend to prefer a lot of the Naked versions, which might place me in the minority here, not sure. The songs are mixed better to my ears, and the sparseness of the arrangements in TLAWR and ATU are more powerful.

Yeah, like I said, I've tried with the Naked version of TLATR, and if it weren't for that last instrumental break, I could like it, but it will never hold the power that Spector's version does for me. We just hear different things here, I guess. I can appreciate wanting to honor artist intention, but I can't do it at the expense of something as great as the original TLAWR is for me. It's not like it got rid of anything McCartney did...it's all there, it's just stuff was added to it. I like the vocals too.

As for ATU, I actually do like the Naked version. I get its appeal. I just love the background vocals in the Past Masters version.

We'll have to disagree again here because I think The Ballad of John & Yoko is my favorite from these entire sessions. Such a catchy song, with funny as well as personal lyrics. Plus I love the story about Paul helping John on this one and the two playing all the instruments without the others.

Don't get me wrong, I like Ballad, there's just five or six tracks at least from the sessions I'd take over it. It is a good story though, you're right, particularly given the troubles they were having at the time. There's also the question of whether or not it(and Old Brown Shoe) really belong here since they weren't written during the Get Back sessions. Some of the tracks may have been re-recorded after the sessions(I Me Mine?), but I think they were all written during the sessions. Nevertheless, I may just use this version of the playlist, as I like the idea of beefing it up, and Ballad fits in even though it's not from those sessions.

Put me down as one of those in favor of the single version. I think the guitar solo on the album version totally disrupts the flow of the song.

For Get Back, Let It Be, and Don't Bring Me Down, I use Past Masters. I've Got A Feeling is the original.

And I like Dig It and Maggie Mae. Gotta leave some of the spontaneity on the album intact.

I just love the album version's solo. The single version's solo is not only more restrained, it's kind of buried more in the mix, whereas on the album version it's front-and-center. Plus I like the idea of Harrison having his moment to shine in McCartney's song. It's a great lighter-waiving moment imo(I mean the whole song is, but still).

As for Dig It and Maggie Mae...it's not that I dislike them, I just find them kind of pointless. The spontaneity is still there at the beginning and end of (the album versions of) Get Back and Dig A Pony, the end of I've Got A Feeling, and the intro of Two Of Us. But I mean it wouldn't be hard to put them back in.

1. Get Back
2. Dig A Pony
3. Old Brown Shoe
4. Dig It
5. I've Got A Feeling
6. I Me Mine
7. Let It Be

8. Two Of Us
9. For You Blue
10. Maggie Mae
11. The Ballad Of John And Yoko
12. Don't Let Me Down
13. The Long And Winding Road
14. Across The Universe

would work well enough. But again, it just seems like adding a minute of run time for little return.

 

[namkcuR]

Attempting to add Paperback Writer and Rain into Revolver.

1. Taxman
2. Eleanor Rigby
3. I'm Only Sleeping
4. Love You To
5. Here There And Everywhere
6. Yellow Submarine
7. Good Day Sunshine
8. Paperback Writer

9. She Said She Said
10. Rain
11. And Your Bird Can Sing
12. For No One
13. Doctor Robert
14. I Want To Tell You
15. Got To Get You Into My Life
16. Tomorrow Never Knows

So I kept the same basic running order with only a few minor changes. I moved She Said She Said ahead of Good Day Sunshine and made it the opener of side B, with Paperback Writer being the showstopping ending of side A, and then sandwiched Rain in between She Said She Said and And Your Bird Can sing.

I had a few goals here.

I wanted Paperback Writer to end side A, because I felt that it was a big way to end a side, and I felt that it fit better with side A tracks like Taxman, Eleanor Rigby, Here There And Everywhere, and Good Day Sunshine, then it would have on the back end. I also like the way McCartney's final good-day-sunshine repetitions segue into his vocal intro of Paperback Writer.

I always felt that the placement of She Said She Said was weird, because the album hops back and forth between McCartney's more traditional Yellow Submarine to Lennon's out-there She Said She Said back to the traditional Good Day Sunshine back to the out-there And Your Bird Can Sing back to the traditional For No One. I wanted to cut back on that a little, and She Said She Said, Rain, and And Your Bird Can Sing are all cut from the same cloth, I think. Plus, She Said She Said makes for a great side B opener. Finally, listening straight through, Paperback Writer segues into She Said She Said pretty well.

 

[iron yuppie]

Revolver would be perfect if not for Taxman. The lyrics to that song are wildly sophomoric.

 

[Lancemc]

wut Taxman is great

 

[lazarus]

Not crazy about the 4 Macca songs in a row or 3 John songs in a row. Part of why their albums work so well is the back and forth.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Yeah Taxman totally kicks ass. The band sounds so great. That McCartney guitar solo... holy fuck. Easily one of the most scorching guitar solos on any Beatles song.

 

[the tourist]

The latter

The muted piano is pretty much it. The engineering and equalization.

 

[the tourist]

Taxman is, like, one of my favorite 5 or so on Revolver.

If Paperback Writer and Rain replaced Love To You and Good Day Sunshine, this might be my favorite Beatles album.

My favorites are Eleanor Rigby, She Said She Said, Taxman, Tomorrow Never Knows, and And Your Bird Can Sing. Some quintessential guitar tones on this album with the overloaded direct soundboard tones and auto double tracking.

 

[namkcuR]

Not crazy about the 4 Macca songs in a row or 3 John songs in a row. Part of why their albums work so well is the back and forth.

Ordinarily I'd agree, but I feel like their songs are more tonally jarring than normal here, so it makes some sense to bunch them together. But if you really don't like that, you could just restore the original order and put Paperback Writer/Rain at the beginning of side B:

1. Taxman
2. Eleanor Rigby
3. I'm Only Sleeping
4. Love You To
5. Here There And Everywhere
6. Yellow Submarine
7. She Said She Said
8. Good Day Sunshine

9. Paperback Writer
10. Rain
11. And Your Bird Can Sing
12. For No One
13. Doctor Robert
14. I Want To Tell You
15. Got To Get You Into My Life
16. Tomorrow Never Knows

 

[LemonMelon]

She Said She Said is one of the best Beatles songs. Carefree, joyous music with a dose of melancholy in the lyrics.

Wheeeenn I was a boooyyyyy...everything was riiiiightttt

 

[MrPryck2U]

Yer Blues, anyone? One of my favorites from The White Album.

 

[DaveC]

She Said She Said is one of the best Beatles songs. Carefree, joyous music with a dose of melancholy in the lyrics.

Wheeeenn I was a boooyyyyy...everything was riiiiightttt

Yer Blues, anyone? One of my favorites from The White Album.

 

[namkcuR]

Yer Blues, anyone? One of my favorites from The White Album.

Re-discovered it when I did my custom White Album the other day. I like it enough that I didn't cut it. Good stuff, but wouldn't be in my top 10 from the album.

 

[lazarus]

Some quintessential guitar tones on this album with the overloaded direct soundboard tones and auto double tracking.

I love the guitar sound here more than on any other Beatles LP. Nice to see And Your Bird Can Sing get a mention, such an underrated track that's as catchy as any of their big singles.

 

[namkcuR]

I love the guitar sound here more than on any other Beatles LP. Nice to see And Your Bird Can Sing get a mention, such an underrated track that's as catchy as any of their big singles.

Yeah, great tune, though apparently John himself didn't think it was that great.

Question for anyone who has an opinion...am I correct in thinking that Lady Madonna and The Inner Light are orphans insofar as they don't really belong to any LP the way most of the other Past Masters stuff does? They were recorded, I believe, well after the MMT stuff but months before work on the White Album got underway. I feel like these two tracks - Lady Madonna in particular - would be most at home on the White Album, but not really sure. Opinions welcome.

 

[iron yuppie]

I love the guitar sound here more than on any other Beatles LP. Nice to see And Your Bird Can Sing get a mention, such an underrated track that's as catchy as any of their big singles.

John was on fire for Revolver. As good as most of the other songs are, his writing is on a whole other level.

 

[iron yuppie]

Got to Get You Into My Life is another underrated gem on Revolver.

 

[namkcuR]

John was on fire for Revolver. As good as most of the other songs are, his writing is on a whole other level.

I'm Only Sleeping might be my favorite thing on there and cutting it(and And Your Bird Can Sing and Doctor Robert) might have been the worst offense Capital ever made on their Frankenstein U.S. LPs.

 

[lazarus]

You're talking about an album that has Helter Skelter, Julia, Revolution 9, Rocky Raccoon. Not many songs would sound out of place. Lady Madonna is post-psychedelic and definitely seems cut from a similar cloth as a lot of the material on there.

George seemed to have grown out of the sitar by the time of The White Album, so maybe that's one exception.

I'm Only Sleeping might be my favorite thing on there and cutting it(and And Your Bird Can Sing and Doctor Robert) might have been the worst offense Capital ever made on their Frankenstein U.S. LPs.

That's always been my favorite on the album. Is that the first song to have a backwards guitar solo?

 

[IWasBored]

savoy truffle is fantastic. i love the distorted horn section. i read that the horns were from some symphony orchestra or something and were already not too happy about appearing on a rock record (although still willing to take the paycheque). they finished recording, and it was played back for them with the crazy distortion, and they were mortified to the point that george apologized as the horns immediately departed.

I like that song.

 

[IWasBored]

That's always been my favorite on the album. Is that the first song to have a backwards guitar solo?

I thought Rain was?

 

[IWasBored]

She Said She Said is one of the best Beatles songs. Carefree, joyous music with a dose of melancholy in the lyrics.

Wheeeenn I was a boooyyyyy...everything was riiiiightttt

 

[IWasBored]

Got to Get You Into My Life is another underrated gem on Revolver.

 

[DaveC]

rain had the first backwards vocals, i'm only sleeping had the first backwards guitar, iirc.

 

[Joey788]

Question for anyone who has an opinion...am I correct in thinking that Lady Madonna and The Inner Light are orphans insofar as they don't really belong to any LP the way most of the other Past Masters stuff does? They were recorded, I believe, well after the MMT stuff but months before work on the White Album got underway. I feel like these two tracks - Lady Madonna in particular - would be most at home on the White Album, but not really sure. Opinions welcome.

Was that around the same time they recorded Hey Bulldog? I love that song. An underrated gem that never quite got the attention of other one-off songs from that time.

 

[namkcuR]

Was that around the same time they recorded Hey Bulldog? I love that song. An underrated gem that never quite got the attention of other one-off songs from that time.

Yeah, looks like they were recorded in the same week in February 1968.

Speaking of Bulldog, I just listened to those four Yellow Submarine tracks last night for the first time in ages(really, other than Bulldog I'd barely listened to the others ever). Three out of four of them are nothing less than hidden treasures.

Everyone knows Bulldog, but Only A Northern Star has such a gorgeous melody, and It's All Too Much might be the most psychedelic non-sitar-related thing, aside from Blue Jay Way, Harrison ever wrote as a Beatle. Good shit. Really dig these tracks.

McCartney's All Together Now, on the other hand, might be the weakest Beatles track in existence.

Listened to these as part of my re-working of Sgt. Pepper/MMT. Will post in a bit.

 

[the tourist]

Yeah, looks like they were recorded in the same week in February 1968.

Speaking of Bulldog, I just listened to those four Yellow Submarine tracks last night for the first time in ages(really, other than Bulldog I'd barely listened to the others ever). Three out of four of them are nothing less than hidden treasures.

Everyone knows Bulldog, but Only A Northern Star has such a gorgeous melody, and It's All Too Much might be the most psychedelic non-sitar-related thing, aside from Blue Jay Way, Harrison ever wrote as a Beatle. Good shit. Really dig these tracks.

McCartney's All Together Now, on the other hand, might be the weakest Beatles track in existence.

Listened to these as part of my re-working of Sgt. Pepper/MMT. Will post in a bit.

Oh gosh! I had completely forgotten Hey Bulldog and Lady Madonna! I used to have those two in my White Album playlist. Gonna have to go rethink a couple things. Doesn't help that I rarely listen to music on my computer anymore I suppose....