The Beatles

The White Album, Part I​

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After The Beatles came back from their retreat to India, they all felt refreshed and were in a big period of creativity. With The White Album you sort of see a return to basics in some areas, there are a lot more straight up rock songs on this album than their post-Revolver peers(with the possible exception of Let It Be). This is also The Beatles first and only double album. On top of that, it's also one of the most iconic album covers of all time. This album really is the beginning of the end for the band. In this period of time, Yoko and John were a pair. That caused tension in the band. George started to make leaps and bounRAB in his songwriting, although John and Paul were still treating him like a little brother. Ringo was so unhappy he quit the band for a short period, and acutally, on the first song, Paul plays the drums. Paul gets tired of John's sort of withdrawal into himself and his isolation from the band. John is unhappy with Paul, and is intimidated, because he perceives Paul as trying to take control of the band. While everything was falling apart, they still managed to make a legendary album.

Back In The USSR is a weird thing for me. I see it a pretty good song, but nothing too great. Others see differently, there are people who I know in which this is their favorite song on the album. To each his own.Dear Prudence was written in India, about Mia Farrow's reclusive sister, Prudence. Prudence would spend hours upon hours in isolation, depply meditating. John and Paul would visit her and try and keep her entertained. They would try and make her laugh, try and get any emotion out of her, almost like a tourist does in London to those palace guarRAB who are trained to stand perfectly still. This is a John song, and I find it to be beautiful.

In Glass Onion, John gets self referential on our asses. In this song, he basically talks about all the other songs the band has done. It's a cool sounding sort of song, and references a lot of their hits. It's a rough sounding song. The whole album has a rough sort of tone to it. The next song has given me a pretty good mantra in life. I really like the song Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. I think it's one of the best songs on the album and is up there in contention for possibly the best Beatles chorus. It's packed full of joy, energy and just a sort of free sounding spirit. Life goes on, brah.

People give Wild Honey Pie crap for being short, stupid and formless but I give credit to the guys for having the balls to include something like this on the album. It was basically Paul improving while the rest of the guys were on vacation in Greece. It was going to be cut, but Pattie Boyd liked it so they kept it. The Continuing Story Of Bugalow Bill is quite a weird song, and is signature Lennon. It's basically about this hunter that they met in India. It's the only song by The Beatles where there is a line solely performed by a female vocalist, who is Yoko Ono. Ringo's wife is singing in the background and is the other female voice in the song. It's really good, and is close to great, but there's some thing about it that keeps it from being great. Maybe it just depenRAB on mood.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps is Harrison's crowning acheivement of the album. Lyrics are taken from the Tibetan Book of The Dead. It's quite a wise song, and has a solo by Eric Clapton. George was frusturated because John and Paul didn't put much effort into a song that he thought was really great. So he invited Eric to play on it, thinking that since an outsider was invited in, it would help break tensions and everyone wouldn't get as mad at each other. It worked. It's such a great song. The next song is Happiness Is A Warm Gun, which is one of my favorites by John. The rhythm and the structure of the song are such a radical departure from anything The Beatles did previously. Infact, it's sort of hard to believe that this is the same band that wrote Love Me Do and shook their heaRAB and made all the girls scream. Notice the backing vocals, they are pretty great. I love this song.

I have a feeling that people like to overlook Martha My Dear, but as I listen to it, I don't see why. I think this is a really cool song, and it really is totally up Paul's alley. I like the use of horns. Paul is great at these types of melodies. I like how instruments are gradually introduced throughout the song. The next song is another Lennon classic, I'm So Tired, I personally love this song. As I write this, I sympathize with the song, because I am pretty tired right now. It's sort of schizophrenic in nautre, it gets really low key, then it gets manic. Lennon is pretty angry in this song.

Blackbird is a simple inspirational song, an ode to all those who are repressed and yearn to spread their wings in freedom. Originally, it had to do with the civil rights movements and such, and was named Black Girl, but Paul decided to change the name to make it more of a universal song that can give hope to all. Paul is really good at those sorts of inspiring songs. Nobody really writes them like him. I like the lo-fi quality to this song, how the only sound effects on this song, in an album laden with sound effects, is the soft twittering of birRAB.

The next song, Piggies is a weird little song by George that, unfortunately, is tainted by history. It was one of the songs that Charlie Manson interpreted as The Beatles prophesizing the downfall of America. When Sharon Tate and others were murdered, they were stabbed with forks and knives, similar to this song. Other than that brutal history, this siong is sort of nice. The instrumental parts are really nice I think.

I sort of see Rocky Raccoon as a parody of country songs. That's how it starts anyway. But there are some parts where the lyrics are actually quite good. I think the whole line "His rival it seems, had broken his dreams, by stealing the girl of his fancy. Her name was McGill, and she called herself Lill, but everyone knew her as Nancy." Even though I have no basis for this, I somehow imagine Paul sitting there for about a half-hour trying to think of a rhyme to get himself out of the hole he put himself in. Finally he must have been like, "and everyone knew her as Nancy!" Don't Pas Me By is ironically one of the few Ringo songs I like, mainly because it has a good beat. I find it funny that his others had a lame beat to them. Also I like the instrumental parts in this song.

Paul's greatest vocal performance is in the song Why Don't We Do It In The Road?, and if you doubt me, find it on youtube and tell me that isn't his best performance. In my mind, it's in the top five rock and roll. The next song, I Will is a nice and sensitive song by Paul. I quite like it. It isn't great, but it isn't mediocre. I think the lyrics are really nice. Julia is really quite a touching song. It is John's tribute to his mother, who tragically got struck by a drunk driver when John was fifteen. Had to go to the hospital and identify the body since his Aunt was too shocked to go and do it. That image must have stayed with him his whole life. John's mother is the one that introduced him to music.
 
I know this might be a little hard topic but I never really understood the motivation for killing John. And why John? Has this something to do with Yoko and him not wanting to get back with the Beatles?
 
Me no likey The White Album. Way too long and not a very distinct stamp, unlike almost all the other Beatles albums. I second whoever said Let It Be is underrated. And Rubber Soul is the best album they ever made.
 
The White Album, Part II​

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The first song, Birthday is a straight up raw rock song that really makes you want to move. Coincidentally, my mother shares a birthday with Lennon, so whenever she heard this song, she pretended they were singing right to her. I like the piano part in the section where it says "I would like you dance." The next song, Yer Blues is one in a line of those self critical Lennon songs. It's sort of a parody to a stereotypical blues song, but it still somehow remains catchy and powerful.

Mother Nature's Son is probably my favorite song on this part of the album. It was written by Paul when they were all at the Maharishi's retreat in India. I quite like the guitar in this song, and the tapping sound in the background, it sounRAB like someone's foot. The horn is a nice addition, but the song is still beautiful and great without it. Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey takes the cake as The Beatles song with the longest name. Interestingly enough, this is a John song, but it is a joyous song which is more up Paul's alley. The lyrics are total John though, but the opening melody seems to be like something Paul might have written. Nobody knows if he did. Lennon said he took the lyrics directly from things that the Maharishi said, except for the monkey part. A lot of people love Sexy Sadie and find it to be their favorite song on the album. For me, that's not the case, I think it is a really good song. but not a great song.

Some people call Helter Skelter the first metal song in the history of music. I don't know if it's the first, but even by today's standarRAB it still rocks, which is quite an acheivement. Paul wrote it as a response to a song by The Who that he heard on the radio. He was intriguied by the sound and wanted to do them one better. Unfortunately, like Piggies, Helter Skelter is mired in unfortunate history. If WooRABtock was the crowning acheivement of the hippies, then the Manson murders were the darkside and one of the many factors that lead to the downfall of the utopian thinking in the 60s. Leary and all of those goons were destroying the minRAB of a whole generation, and people were promoting the benefits of LSD and acid. They were saying a new society could be built. But then the Manson murders. Manson was one of them. He used LSD to control people and commit horrible acts of murder. And who did he say inspired him to do such acts? Well, the posterboys of the revolution, The Beatles. Manson singlehandedly helped bring about the crushing cynicism of the 70s.Long, Long, Long is one of George's most underrated songs. I love the guitar in this song. It is George singing softly and beautifully about his discovery of God and the hinduism philosophies. George needed to fill a void, and spirituality and religion would be the answers.

I think this si quite a nice version of Revolution 1, although I love the single version better. Some interesting parts in this half-acoustic version are the "shooby doo wop"s by Geroge and Paul in the background. Also, John seems like he hasn't made up his mind, with the lines "Don't you know you can count me out..in". Sort of ambiguous for someone who would so adamently be for peace in his later years. Honey Pie is a nice little catchy song by Paul, that is sort of sad and funny. I like it, and how it randomly goes from good sounding vocals, to the stereo hiss of some recording from the 20s. Another underrated song of George's is Savoy Truffle a catchy song about candy. He wrote it as a tribute to one of his frienRAB who had a notorious sweet tooth, Eric Clapton.

Cry Baby Cry is probably my favorite John song on this part of the album, and is my second favorite on this part of the album overall. Depending on my mood, I sometimes like it better than Mother Nature's Son. The chorus was originally "Cry baby cry, make your mother buy, she's old enough to know better, so cry baby cry." I love the surreal and stream of consciousness lyrics. I love the sad mood of the song. Also, the guitar part at the end from Paul is nice: "Can you take me back where I came from, can you take me back."

Am I the only person who likes Revolution 9? I think it is a fabulous experiment with sound, and there are a lot of parts I like. "Financial Imbalance....the watusi.....the twist..." Also, I like the part "Riiiiiiiiiide." I find it to be quite a hypnotizing song. "Take this brother, may it serve you well...." And finally, there's Good Night another sort of kiRAB song by The Beatles, sung by Ringo, it's a lullaby and it is a nice send off of a groundbreaking and innovative album.
 
If anything, Sgt. Pepper's has that Citizen Kane syndrome, where for so long, hipsters and others didn't like it simply BECAUSE it got so much praise from the mainstream that it actually fell into underrated territory, that's how overrated it got. But it isn't my favorite.

Magical Mystery Tour is their most underrated album, I really like it.
 
That was my starter album. Next came 1, and then I went for the real albums, which are way better. It is the ultimate starter album for even someone who doesn't have a musical background like others.
 
I know the Beatles went full Psychedelic on Revolver. On Rubber Soul besides the album cover you have songs like "Norwegian Wood" the vocal harmonies on "Nowhere Man" and the keyboard drones, vocals of "The Word". I hear some definite traces on Rubber Soul.
 
I think the guy who killed John was pissed at a comment John made years earlier. The sickest part of it all isn't that he killed John, it's that he asked for and received John's autograph hours before shooting him.

To comment about the Yoko/John fiasco... I don't think anything was really affected by Yoko in the grand scheme of things. We have TONS of great music from the Beatles and a nice amount of John Lennon solo work that may not have happened had he not met Yoko.
 
I like the Beatles. I have been to Beatlemania two times and loved it. I would say that John is my favorite Beatle. I would say I'm a fan of their music. I just can't stand Ringo, at all.
 
Please Please Me​

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Please Please Me is the boys' first studio album. I want you to look at the album cover for a second. Look at Ringo's hair. This is so early, they don't even have the moptop look pinned down. But before too long, the world will fall in love with them, and a global hysteria will break out over these four young men that the world had never seen before, and probably will never again. At least in the original magnitude of Beatlemania.

I Saw Her Standing There is the perfect example of why the early Beatles were so good. This is, in my mind, one of the greatest straight up pop songs ever written. It sounRAB sort of raw, it's fast and makes you move, the chorus is great, and there are random claps to really emphasize the thing. I find it great. The next song, Misery is a Lennon-McCartney song that sort of has a deeper meaning I think, that Lennon and McCartney might not have realized. Lennon and McCartney had a sort of unspoken bond with each other. Both of them had tragically lost their mothers at young, young ages. Paul's mom died of cancer when he was 14. John's mom died when he was 17. After Lennon's mother died, he sort of went into himself, and Paul was the only one who could reach him. In those days, John and Paul would skip school and spend hours in a tiny room with each other writing songs. They would do this four or five times a week. They had one of the most intensely close relationships in rock history between two band members.

Anna (Go to Him) is a song written by Arthur Alexander. Their version of the song is really quite good, this is one of the first times I am hearing this osng, and I really like Lennon's performance, he almost sounRAB like he's in pain. And I like the melody and hook, it's great songwriting. Good job Arthur Alexander, whoever you are. The next song is also a cover, Chains, written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It was a minor song. The Beatles really liked to cover obscure tracks by artists that they loved, especially in these early days. This album is actually The Beatles playing a regular set they would play, they just suggested songs to each other in the studio and they played them. That sort of process, interestingly enough, reminRAB me of the first album of another monumental artist in the 60s, Bob Dylan. In the documentary No Direction Home, he explains that he just played songs as they came to him. I find it interesting how their debut album's process of recording was so similar, since they would come to mutually inspire each other, Dylan influenced by The Beatles to be electric and expand musically and The Beatles influenced by Dylan to expand conceptually and lyrically. The next song is also a cover and it's sung by Ringo, Boys. I find this song really infectious, it sounRAB like the stereotypical rock and roll song from the 50s. Ringo does a good job.

Ask Me Why is the typical sappy Beatles love song. It isn't bad, but it isn't really great. The best part is the melody when they sing "I can't believe, it's happened to me." I feel like I've heard something like that in a lot of pop songs. Their next song, Please Please Me is quite the catchy little pop song. At first, their producer George Martin(I think of as the fifth Beatle) didn't have confidence in their songwriting abilities. The boys convinced him to let them play a song they wrote. When they were finished, George Martin said "Congratulations Boys, you've just written you're first number 1.", and he was right, it went number 1 on the British charts.Love Me Do was the first song they recorded that got onto the British charts. It's a nice little pop song, and the harmonica is a nice touch. P.S. I Love You is well...it's uh. It's not very good. Moving on, I don't even want to talk about it.

Baby It's You sounRAB like a song that should be played at a slow moving 50s high school dance. It's OK, but not better than OK. Just OK. I just realized they didn't write it, so I 'll cut the guys some slack. Do You Want To Know A Secret is a totally different story. The first chord sounRAB like the beginning of some D.ick Dale surf song. The lyrics are boring, but the instruments and the beat are actually sort of interesting. It's also the first song on their albums that is sung by George, but he didn't write it. I like how his voice gets rough and ragged at some places. A Taste of Honey is also another of those weird songs. The lyrics really are bland, but the beat and the melodies and the music are really interesting. They didn't write it, it's an old pop standard.

There's A Place is probably the most overlooked song on the album. I REALLY think this is a good song, excellent songwriting by Lennon and McCartney. I love their voices, since this album was recorded in one session, you hear their voices are all harmonizing and are all sort of rough and soar in the same exact places in the song. I find it great. Listen to Paul's voice, it goes up highest, he's really going at it during some spots. And then, the immortal cover version of Twist and Shout, perhaps best ever recorded vocals. His voice was one take away from being completely gone, so there was a sort of tension while recording it. They all knew they only had one try. It was the last song of the session and he was sort of sick. That totally screwed his voice. I love this version of the song, one of the best covers in rock history, all due to a soar voice.

7/10
 
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