The Beatles Band • Page 12

Billy Preston

 

Abbey Road and Rubber Soul next, in that order, then Let It Be and Help, then just keep going forever

 

None this band sucks

 

@thenewmatthewperry i've found something to like in literally every album i've listened to by them so far, but i don't feel like they became an album type band til about Help! or Rubber Soul, personally

maybe a hard day's night squeaks in if im being generous but yeah they're all good

 

did i mention Rubber Soul rocks though? cause it does

 

I’m currently obsessed with “I’m Only Sleeping.” Revolver has become my favorite Beatles album after White Album holding the top spot for years.

 

That song is amazing haha

 

That's one of their songs with the most modern sensibilities.

 

How so? Production wise or?

 

Just the way it's arranged. Detailed, but loose and not over-rehearsed. Sounds like it could have been an indie band a few years ago. The way that acoustic guitar shambles could have been out of a Spoon or Shins song.

 

i'm gonna listen to it with that in mind, that's an interesting thought that i'd never considered in regards to them

 

yo after spending some time with most of latter day Beatles I just gotta say that Sgt pepper might be their most overrated album. I like it, it's cool, but i feel like everything I like about it they do better on other albums. this might be their most overt or specific flirtation with psychedelia for sure and I can appreciate that at least

 

it’s always been

abbey road is easily the best, then it’s some combo of revolver and rubber soul, and then white/pepper

 

yeah I still maintain white is my favorite but the other three would be on the shortlist for the best if I hadn't loved the white album for so long. I'm gonna keep listening to the backhalf of their discog though, in the hopes that something clicks with sgt pepper.

revolution 9 came on for the briefest of seconds and yeah I still hate that one viscerally

 

Sgt. Pepper is an amazing album. But the universal agreement on it being the best in a catalog as insane as theirs makes it feel a little overrated at times, even if it isn't really.

 

I think that that sort of critical consensus is a thing is weird when it seems like most Beatles fans vary between quite a few of them as possible best/favorites. I still wanna spend more time with it and see if I can appreciate it on its own terms

 

been running through their stuff in whole this week after the AM album and the album that i feel like it underrated most in their catalog is Help!

 

do people disparage help!?

 

well, no, but none of the pre-rubber soul albums get the shine the ones from then on do, really

 

fair, I suppose I don't give it the same attention either, but help is definitely one of their best moments pre rubber soul

 

Sgt Pepper is amazing, I don't feel like it's worth debating HOW amazing it is hah

 

Help! has some of their first truly genius, earth-moving material. It just also has a little filler in the back half. But "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", "Yesterday" and "I've Just Seen a Face" are as good as any songs anyone has ever made.

 

Tomorrow Never Knows is one of their best songs

 

A mathematician has solved a 50-year-old Beatles mystery

 

Oh man, I just spent the last month completely diving into The Beatles catalog.

It started with me listening to the new remixed stereo version of Sgt. Pepper's that was released last year and totally loving how Gil Martin improved a lot of the mixing and cleaner sounding instruments and vocals. Then after reading some further opinions I realized I had been listening to the band wrong this whole time. The Beatles were involved in the mono mixing process creatively themselves by mixing everything live like a performance with George Martin. The stereo versions were done later by other people almost as an afterthought since it was thought almost as a gimmick, which you can kinda hear for yourself in the early album's stereo versions with the distracting hard panning of vocals on one side and instruments on the other.

So I began listening to the mono v and delightfully discovered cool new things on Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds just sounds exactly like it's supposed to, with the extra psychedelic sheen by the addition of ADT (Automatic Double Tracking) on the vocals in the chorus. She's Leaving Home along with "LSD" were songs that I had always found a bit over-rated, but not these mono versions. The strings on She's Leaving Home sound so much rich and cleaner and with more presence. A song like Tomorrow Never Knows on the other hand, sounds great both ways. The stereo version has the edge for what should be obvious reasons, but the mono version still has some enthralling effects in there (The added ADT on the guitars most notably).

Ended up going back and listening to their entire catalog from the beginning, which I hadn't in probably a decade. Always a great time, especially in discovering new favorite songs. Never realized how amazing She Said She Said is. Most especially the perfect use of modulation and rhythm, very impressive. Lovely Rita and When I'm 64 just sound so much more fun then I remember, might be the new remix versions. Day Tripper is another true classic that went over my head, but how with that mid section buildup!? Your Mother Should Know, If I Needed Someone, I Me Mine.. I could go on.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band will always be my favorite album though. I really do think it's perfect in every regard. Greatest band ever (I really do think so, even though I wouldn't necessarily call them my "favorite" band) wrote the greatest album ever (Again, probably not "favorite") with the greatest song of all time, A Day In The Life.. which might be my favorite song too.

Anyways, The Beatles are incredible. I can't say otherwise with all the amazing memories I have of discovering their music for the first time.