Quake1028

OK! Expect some Please Please Me impressions tonight .

wm lopez

I bought the mono set and ABBY ROAD.
I thought BALLAD OF JOHN & YOKO was on the past masters disc.
On what disc is it on?

TomOpus

It is on the Past Masters disc. That disc is part of the stereo box set. The mono set disc is called Mono Masters.

Tommy_Harn

"Rubber Soul" is my favorite Beatles album, which is interesting because it took me years of listening to the band before I ever discovered it. I was wondering the other night how that happened, how I could have completely overlooked such a great album for so long. Then something dawned on me that I hadn't considered before. "Rubber Soul" contains exactly zero songs that would be considered traditional Beatles hits. That's not to say that tunes like "Norweigan Wood" and "Drive My Car" aren't well known tracks that fans consider classics, but unless I'm mistaken not one song off the album was a number 1 hit in the U.S. or the U.K. That's incredible to me, especially when you consider that both "We Can Work it Out" and "Day Tripper", which were released together as a single the same day "Rubber Soul" came out, both hit the top of the charts.

theflicker

That's mostly because none of the tracks were released as singles, except for Nowhere Man (and only in the U.S.).

That said, I think "In My Life" is one of their greatest songs.

auto

Revolver

Original Release Date: August 5, 1966

Tracklisting:

1 Taxman
2 Eleanor Rigby
3 I'm Only Sleeping
4 Love You To / Here, There And Everywhere
5 Yellow Submarine
6 She Said She Said
7 Good Day Sunshine
8 And Your Bird Can Sing
9 For No One
10 Doctor Robert
11 I Want To Tell You
12 Got To Get You Into My Life
13 Tomorrow Never Knows

Original Credits:
Neil Aspinall Vocals (bckgr)
Anvil Bhagwat Tabla
Alan Branscombe Sax (Tenor)
Aaron Bremner Photo Research, Photo Editing
Alan Civil Horn, French Horn
Peter Coe Sax (Tenor)
Les Conlon Trumpet
Wendy Day Project Manager
Geoff Emerick Vocals (bckgr), Engineer
Mal Evans Vocals (bckgr)
Tony Gilbert Violin
Ian Hammer Trumpet
George Harrison Guitar, Sitar, Sound Effects, Tambourine, Vocals
Patti Harrison Vocals (bckgr)
Jurgen Hess Violin
Kevin Howlett Liner Notes, Historical Research
Norman Jones Cello
John Lennon Organ, Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm), Horn, Marimba, Sound Effects, Tambourine, Vocals
Drew Lorimer Redesign
George Martin Organ, Piano, Vocals (bckgr), Producer
Guy Massey Remastering
Paul McCartney Guitar, Guitar (Bass), Vocals
Gavin ONeill Photo Retouching
Steve Rooke Remastering
Alan Rouse Liner Notes, Project Coordinator
Sidney Sax Violin
John Sharpe Violin
Stephen Shingles Viola
Derrick Simpson Cello
Ringo Starr Drums, Tambourine, Vocals
Eddie "Tan Tan" Thornton Trumpet
John Underwood Viola
Klaus Voormann Design, Cover Design, Cover Illustration
Robert Whitaker Photography

Supermallet

While many people point to Sgt. Pepper as the point where albums became Albums, where the combined experience was more important than the individual songs, I would point to this and Pet Sounds as the two that really brought the concept of an album as a single piece of art into maturity. The Beatles were growing musically at an astonishing rate. George Harrison really came into his own, opening the album with the classic "Taxman" (which became the basis for the equally classic hit "Start!" by The Jam).

More than any album other than The White Album, I feel Revolver shows the band moving in almost entirely different directions. Harrison wrote two sitar-based songs. Lennon was working with reverse tape loops ("I'm Only Sleeping") and songs about drugs and drug experiences, ("She Said She Said," "Dr. Robert), while Paul was busy running the gamut of pop styles ("Eleanor Rigby," "Got To Get You Into My Life," "Good Day Sunshine," "For No One"). Despite this, the album works as a cohesive feel, acting like a kaleidoscope of the band's musical personalities. It may also be, song for song, their strongest album.

Perhaps the album's greatest achievement is the closer, Lennon's trippy, one chord trip to the land of the dead, "Tomorrow Never Knows." In mono, the song is particularly effective, with the sound effects drilling into your head and adding an extra sense of eeriness. Lennon's distorted vocals (one of the few times George Martin put any effects on a Beatle's voice) acting as a gateway to the ultimate acid trip.

Revolver is, to this day, one of the great albums of the rock genre, and would easily be seen as the highest point of any other band's career. Of course, The Beatles aren't any other band, as they went about proving on their next outing.

Decker

I've said this before : Take ANY 10 best tracks off ANY studio album in the rock era and put them up against the ten best from Revolver and they'll seem inferior. Hell, most Greatest Hits album would pale in comparison. It's currently my favorite Beatles album and it's just shockingly deep. If you take the ten best songs from the album, you have to "cut" a song as good as "Good Day Sunshine"; that's how great this album is. Plus at the end where most albums trail off in quality, we get two of the most interesting songs the Beatles ever recorded. Got To Get You Into My Life is one song that doesn't sound like any other Beatles track, and Tomorrow Never Knows has really grown to be one of my all-time favorites -- perhaps my favorite one of their "psychedelic" songs.

statcat

revolver is my favorite album by the beatles. Tomorrow Never Knows isn't the first psychedelic song but it is one of the earliest psychedelic songs.

Hokeyboy

I couldn't write about Rubber Soul... Revolver is going to be nigh impossible.

This really is the first Beatles studio album, without question. It took, to date, the longest to produce, with hundreds upon hundreds of hours of production time. The result is a richer, ambitious, most mature album to date. Easily The Beatles beat album *period*, it may be the best rock album of all time.

John has a bunch of his lesser known songs (amongst casual Beatles fans, that is), and these are some of my favorites all time Beatle tunes: Doctor Robert, I'm Only Sleeping, She Said She Said, Tomorrow Never Knows. There's a fair amount of drug-induced exploration, experimentation, and playful innovation. He *loathed* "And Your Bird Can Sing" but I feel it's a classic pop tune in every sense.

Paul's "Here There and Everywhere" and "For No One" are both perfect songs that are bookends to each other: one highlighting the blossoming of a relationship, one mournfully suffering from its loss. He then gets down and funky with the bouyant "Got To Get You Into My Life", melancholic with the exquisite "Eleanor Rigby", and at his bubbly pop showman best with "Good Day Sunshine".

George gets three (!) tunes this time around, and the opening "Taxman" the best of the bunch and his strongest song to date. Featuring that creepy opening, the thunderous bassline, the punctuation guitar chords, Paul's awesome solo (featuring the legendary Epiphone Casino that would become a staple of the Beatles rhythm sound for the rest of their career), there's absolutely no end to the song's greatness about George's cheapskate tendencies. "Love You To" continues his fascination with the sitar and Eastern influences, an uptempo melodic number that is a great continuation of the sound he started with "Norwegian Wood".

"I Want To Tell You" is his third contribution, and the only really average contribution to the album. The droning, repetitive piano line over the chorus turns me off, but I like the harmonies.

Ringo... has one of his shining moments in the band with "Yellow Submarine", a classic children's tune if there ever was one.

OK this album is God. 5 / 5 on a Beatles scale. Their best album. Comparatively, [i]Rubber Soul[/b] was 4.75 / 5. This was the greatest period in Beatles history, as far as I'm concerned. Also, there's 45 ways to

Tommy_Harn

I just recently heard that "Got to Get You Into My Life" was written about Paul's pot smoking habit. On the surface, it seems to be one Beatles' song that is pretty straight-forward in its meaning: a pop single about a guy pining for the love of a woman. But once you break down the lyrics with the drug theme in mind, it takes on an entirely different landscape.

Decker

If Sir Paul didn't say it, it's probably not true. People attribute a lot of drug references to Beatles songs where they really don't exist.

Hokeyboy

You mean "Lovely Rita" isn't about flesh-colored manties?

SkullOrchard

Revolver is God.

Tommy_Harn

Paul openly admitted it, in the book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles and in subsequent interviews.

auto

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Original Release Date: June 1, 1967

Tracklisting:

1 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
2 With A Little Help From My Friends
3 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
4 Getting Better
5 Fixing A Hole
6 She's Leaving Home
7 Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite
8 Within You Without You
9 When I'm Sixty Four
10 LISTENLovely Rita
11 Good Morning Good Morning
12 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13 A Day In The Life

Original Credits:
Malcolm Addey Engineer
Neil Aspinall Harmonica, Tamboura
Michael Barnes Tuba
Lionel Bently Violin
Peter Blake Liner Notes, Art Direction, Design, Cover Art
Dean Bradley Violin
Aaron Bremner Photo Research, Photo Editing
Sheila Bromberg Harp
Ray Brown Trombone
Jack Brymer Clarinet
James W. Buck French Horn
John Burden French Horn
Robert Burns Clarinet
Barrie Cameron Saxophone
Alan Civil French Horn
Michael Cooper Photography
Alan Dalziel Cello
Henry Datyner Violin
Bernard Davis Viola
Wendy Day Project Manager
Gwen Edwards Viola
Geoff Emerick Engineer
Mal Evans Harmonica, Piano, Tambourine
N. Fawcett Bassoon
Tristan Fry Percussion
Francisco Gabarro Cello
Jose Garcia Violin
Hans Geiger Violin
David Glyde Saxophone
Erich Gruenberg Violin
George Harrison Guitar, Harmonica, Sitar, Tambourine, Vocals, Tamboura
Jann Haworth Design, Cover Art
Jurgen Hess Violin
Alan Holmes Saxophone
Kevin Howlett Liner Notes, Historical Research
Adrian Ibbetson Engineer
Harold Jackson Trumpet
Derek Jacobs Violin
Granville Jones Violin
Graham Kirkby Engineer, Second Engineer
Mike Leander Orchestration, Score
John Lee Trombone
John Lennon Guitar, Percussion, Guitar (Rhythm), Marimba, Organ (Hammond), Vocals
Mark Lewisohn Liner Notes, Text
Roger Lord Oboe
Drew Lorimer Redesign
Richard Lush Engineer, Second Engineer
Cyril Macarthur Double Bass
Henry MacKenzie Clarinet
Marijke Tambourine
George Martin Organ, Piano, Arranger, Horn, Organ (Hammond), Producer
David Mason Trumpet
Guy Massey Remastering
MC Productions & The Apple Design
David McCallum Violin
Paul McCartney Guitar, Piano, Conductor, Guitar (Bass), Harpsichord, Organ (Hammond), Vocals, Author
Phil McDonald Second Engineer
Bill Monroe Violin
Monty Montgomery Trumpet
T. Moore Trombone
Alex Nifosi Cello
Gavin ONeill Photo Retouching
Gordon Pearce Double Bass
Raymond Premru Trombone
Tony Randall French Horn
Frank Reidy Clarinet
Steve Rooke Remastering
Alan Rouse Liner Notes, Project Coordinator
David Sandeman Flute
Neil Sanders French Horn
Sidney Sax Violin
Ernest Scott Violin
Clifford Seville Flute
Stephen Shingles Viola
Keith Slaughter Second Engineer
Ringo Starr Harmonica, Bongos, Drums, Vocals
Ken Townsend Engineer
Basil Tschaikov Clarinet
John Underwood Viola
Dennis Vigay Cello
Peter Vince Engineer
Alfred Waters Bassoon
Donald Weekes Violin
Paul Wilkinson Design
Trevor Williams Violin

Supermallet

1966 was a tumultuous year for The Beatles. Lennon rocked the boat by proclaiming The Beatles "bigger than Jesus," which spurned hate mail, death threats, and album burnings in the southern portion of the United States during their tour that year. An additionally catastrophic tour of the Philippines, combined with the band being tired and convinced no one could hear them over the roar of the crowd, led the band to quit touring. The band focused more heavily than ever on their studio experiments. When asked about their upcoming 1967 album, Lennon was quoted as saying "We're sick of making soft music for soft people."

Ever sensitive to the social barometer of the 60's, the band embraced hippie culture. Lennon in particular used his position as the spokesman of a generation to promote peace and love, starring in an anti-war film (How I Won The War, whose failure at the box office prompts the lines "I saw a film today, oh boy/The English Army had just won the war/A crowd of people turned away/But I just had to look/having read the book" in "A Day In The Life"). The band grew their hair away from the mop top look that had dominated up to that point, and added mustaches to look more respectable.

1966 had seen the move towards albums as art, with both The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and The Beatles' own Revolver leading the charge (1966 also saw the release of Frank Zappa and The Mothers' Freak Out!, an album that also made a move towards albums as art by having no songs that would work as singles). In fact, there was something of an informal rivalry between The Beatles and The Beach Boys, who tried to one up each other in terms of harmonic and sonic complexity. To this day, Pet Sounds is considered one of the finest albums of the 60's, and stories of Brian Wilson suffering a nervous breakdown while attempting to record the follow-up, Smile, is the stuff of legend. Perhaps had Wilson completed work on that album and released it before June 1st, 1967, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band wouldn't have the impact it now had. But as it stand, the release of Sgt. Pepper is commonly regarded as the turning point in rock music. After Sgt. Pepper, rock was art, and distinct from disposable pop.

The concept was the brainchild of Paul McCartney, whose songs dominate the record. The piece opens with the sound of an orchestra tuning up, before the band launches into the title track, one of the more straightforward tunes on the record. This immediately segues into "With A Little Help From My Friends," a Lennon song sung by Ringo. At this point The Beatles were making no bones about their drug use, with the song containing the line "I get high with a little help from my friends." And if there was any doubt as to their frequent use of LSD, the next track, "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" confirms it (and not because of the erroneous notion that the title stands for LSD). Trippy to a fault, the song presents a sonic dreamscape made of marshmallow and candy, where a girl with kaleidoscope eyes is the main feature. It's more notable for its imagery than its music, which is bare and not particularly interesting. This leads into a trio of McCartney songs, the jaunty "Getting Better," the lethargic "Fixing A Hole," and the maudlin "She's Leaving Home." The latter two almost derail the entire project, robbing the album of any urgency or interest.

The album picks up again with Lennon's "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite," whose lyrics are taken verbatim from a circus advertisement Lennon had purchased. The middle eight is also notable for being comprised of tapes of random carnival tapes cut up, tossed on the floor, and re-arranged by Lennon. Side two begins with George Harrison's sole contribution to the album and his finest Indian-inspired tune, "Within You Without You," which is thoroughly enchanting and hypnotic in a way that "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" fails to be. Then comes one of McCartney's most classic tracks, "When I'm Sixty Four."

From there we get a run of four of the finest songs The Beatles ever wrote. First comes "Lovely Rita," a surreal tale of love with government personnel, followed by "Good Morning Good Morning," a Lennon tale of finding the joy in wandering through town. Then comes a reprise of the title track, which leads directly into "A Day In The Life," arguably the greatest song the band ever recorded. One of the last true Lennon/McCartney collaborations, the song begins with the soft strumming of an acoustic guitar, accompanied by a heavy piano. Lennon sings the news of a member of Parliament who shot himself in public, as well as the aforementioned British war film, before declaring "I'd love to turn you on" and a symphony orchestra comes in, rising to a crescendo before deftly switching gears to Paul McCartney's section, where he details a bland and ordinary day, before falling into a daydream, taking us back to Lennon's section. The song climaxes with another symphonic crescendo, before finishing with a powerful piano chord, fading away slowly. The album actually ends with an unending (on the vinyl) loop of a backwards tape clip that, when played backwards again, appears to say "We'll fuck you like we're supermen." McCartney confirmed in an interview that it does appear to say that, although he denies that it was intentional on the part of the band.

While the music wasn't particularly of a shared theme, the album feels like a single piece due to the overriding personality of the band, and the way the tracks appear to segue into each other. The album cover is as legendary as the music contained within, with the band appearing with a gaggle of famous personalities, including an earlier incarnation of The Beatles. The album was an instant success, and immediately placed The Beatles at the vanguard of popular music, even more so than they had been already. To this day the album is repeatedly listed as the greatest ever released.

Personally, while I cannot deny the impact the album had on the rock landscape, I think the music itself tends to be rather overrated. Side one is terribly uneven, with many tracks that are the band's worst since Beatles For Sale or With The Beatles. "With A Little Help From My Friends," "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," "Fixing A Hole," and especially "She's Leaving Home" are among the band's worst recordings. Side two us uniformly excellent, especially the last four tracks, but overall the album is highly uneven. It's certainly not on par with Revolver or The Beatles or A Hard Day's Night. Of course, the worst Beatles songs are still better than most bands' best, but on the whole I don't think Sgt. Pepper lives up to 40 years of hype.

Buttmunker

My first true exposure to The Beatles was in 1993 when the Red and Blue compilation CDs were released, and the first three tracks, and the last track, were on it. As for the rest of the album, I knew naught, and slowly discovered the songs "as brand new" only a couple of years ago.

The stand-outs for me were Lennon's Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite and McCartney's When I'm Sixty-Four (although I had heard the melody before, in the form of a John Valby parody song). Good Morning, Good Morning, also from Lennon, and the reprise, round out the tunes I think are fun to listen to. The rest are, to put it kindly, not.

I think this album works best as individual songs, as opposed to just sitting down and listening to this from first track to last. In fact, I will say that this is the only Beatles album that has songs I dislike outright.

auto

Surprised no love for 'She's Leaving Home'. I've always really liked that song.

Hokeyboy

SGT PEPPER is revolutionary, without a doubt, but it's really not as impressive as music. Of all the Beatles albums (with the exception of Please Please Me), it has aged the least well... ironically so, given that at the time of release it was hailed as a groundbreaking visionary masterpiece. Which it was. IN 1967. It's the SHREK movie of Beatles albums.

That is to say, its a really good album, but it's the least of the Beatles late-era albums, except for the Yellow Submarine soundtrack (which really doesn't count as a full album, despite having original material on it). I love the title track, WITH A LITTLE HELP, LUCY, and really like GETTING BETTER. On the other hand, FIXING A HOLE is a ponderously bad track, SHES LEAVING HOME is maudlin and belabored, and FOR THE BENEFIT OF MISTER KITE gives me a headache.

Side 2 is easily more consistent. I always enjoyed George's foray into Eastern/Indian influences with "WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU", but then "WHEN IM 64" is pure piffle. "LOVELY RITA" has one of my favorite Beatle piano solos and is a decent song, and over the years I've enjoyed "GOOD MORNING" more and more. Both are really good tunes but not classics, though.

The Fab Four bring in teh rawk with the REPRISE and then segue deliciously into the impeccable A DAY IN THE LIFE, easily one of the 10 Best Beatles songs, PERIOD.

Overall the album is good, often really good, and with a handful of classic tunes (SGT PEPPER/LITTLE HELP, LUCY, A DAY IN THE LIFE). Of course in the opposite corner there's always "FIXING A HOLE", "SHE'S LEAVING HOME", "MR. KITE", and "WHEN IM 64". All four of those songs are forgettable.

Arguably The Beatles's best-known album, it's still very good (and historically essential for fans), but it's a step down, song-wise, from a fantastic run of albums from A HARD DAYS NIGHT through REVOLVER. 3.5 / 5 on a Beatles scale. It gets bumped up a tad for the untouchable A DAY IN THE LIFE and its historical importance. Still , I enjoy Beatles For Sale quite a lot more.

Please Please Me - 3 / 5
With The Beatles - 3.5 / 5
A Hard Day's Night - 4.5 / 5
Beatles For Sale - 4 / 5
Help! - 4.5 / 5
Rubber Soul - 4.75 / 5
Revolver - 5 / 5
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - 3.5 / 5

Buttmunker

You may be surprised to know that the piano solo was done up by none other than their producer, George Martin. That's my favorite part of the song, too.

George Martin was also the one who came up with that little organ solo on Lennon's In My Life.

statcat

Sgt Pepper was the album that killed the 45 for better or worse. 60s garage rock and rhythm and blues was old hat after this came out. It was pretty much the nail in the coffin for all of that music I love so much. I don't consider it the greatest album of all time by a long shot, both Piper At the Gates of Dawn and SF Sorrow (which were recorded at Abbey Road supposedly around the same time) are better by miles.

Hokeyboy

IIRC Wasn't "In My Life"'s solo a piano which was "sped up" to sound like a harpsichord?

Supermallet

Sgt. Pepper is not the best album of all time, the best psychedelic album of all time, or the best album of the 60's. But it's the most important psychedelic/60's album.

Hokeyboy

I probably listen to PIPER 10x as much as SGT PEPPERS these days. Though they really are vastly different albums.