Browsing Tags's Archives »»
2010
13
Mar
The Beatles aren’t a “just the hits” type of band. You can not get just Beatles 1 and be done with the lads from Liverpool. I believe most of their greatest recordings were not their biggest hits but instead were their more experimental tracks such as “Tomorrow Never Knows.”
To truly get a feel for The Beatles incredibly influential music you must hear their LPs as a whole instead of only hearing a song here and a song there. I’m not alone in believing that the Fab Four recorded many of the most important rock albums ever and even their lesser albums (like 1963’s With The Beatles) have quite a few good tracks.
That’s why I believe it’s such a great idea to Buy The Remastered Beatles in Stereo Box Set. The stereo box set contains every single LP (and every non-album track with the Past Masters double CD set) that the band recorded and released during the 60s.
It has pretty much all of their CDs except for Live at the BBC CDs and the three Anthology sets. I think this makes sense since those releases are not included as a part of the “official catalog” of the band. These extras are kind of like the “extras” on a DVD while the original releases are the feature movie.
There are a few more of their CDs that are not included, one of them being the 1999 release of a CD called Yellow Submarine Songtrack that is completely different from the 1969 Yellow Submarine LP. It is actually much better in my opinion and worth hearing because of it’s alternate mixes (it’s actually remixed, not just remastered.) Let It Be… Naked and Love are also not included.
Along with The Beatles Stereo Box Set, I also recommend that you Buy The Beatles Mono Box Set which includes the the mono versions of their songs up through 1968. It’s difficult to understand today, but when the “Fab Four” were mixing their albums they thought the mono mixes to be of far more importance than the stereo versions up until around the time of The White Album.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
2010
10
Mar
With The Beatles is not among my favorite Beatles albums, in actuality it is arguably their least good non Yellow Submarine studio album. That’s not to say I do not love listening to the album in it’s new remastered format nor is it to say that this album doesn’t have any memorable songs on it because because I definitely do and it definitely does.
I do think that when considering just the eight original songs on the record, it’s likely the least inspiring selection of original compositions The Beatles ever put out on an album (the underrated Beatles For Sale (1964) has a much better selection of eight originals) on the other hand, the six covers on this album are pretty good (better than the covers on Beatles For Sale.)
My most favorite original songs to listen to on the With The Beatles Remastered CDs are the first 3 tracks: “It Won’t Be Long,” “All I’ve Got To Do,” and “All My Loving.” Particularly, I have been enjoying song #2 “All I’ve Got To Do” in mono. It sounds delicious.
Another original song that has really been making an impression on me is song #9, “Hold Me Tight.” Paul wrote and sang lead vocals on this song and he’s dismissed it as being an album filler. And while the song is a bit sloppy sounding, I do think it is a good time.
Among the cover songs I think “Till There Was You” is my favorite. It’s an extremely sickly sweet love song and while I feel I shouldn’t like it, I do anyway. The album closer, “Money” is an excellent way to end the record. When I listen closely to the versions of this song included in remastered box sets I actually hear the song as much more unhinged than I realized. It rocks pretty darn hard. It’s a fantastic reminder of how hard The Beatles could rock even in the early days.
In general I prefer the The Beatles Stereo Box Set mixes (particularly with the mid to late 60s albums) when it comes to the 2009 Beatles remasters but I do think that this album sounds better in mono than in stereo.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
2010
5
Feb
Beatles For Sale is a frequently forgotten Beatles album. I think that is a true shame because while it’s positively not among The Beatles greatest LPs, it still has some charms and I do believe it’s worth taking a good listen to.
Particularly I think the 8 original Lennon and McCartney songs on the record are quite good (even if not as great as the original songs on Help! and A Hard Day’s Night) What really stands out about these eight originals is that they’ve got a cool connected feeling with them. I think these songs would work wonderfully as an EP. In fact, I normally just skip all of the covers so that I listen to the album as if it were an 8 song EP.
Side one really starts off with a bang with “No Reply,” “I’m A Loser,” & “Baby’s In Black.” These are 3 great tunes and all of them have a introspective dark mood that connects them together wonderfully.
I’m not a big fan of the covers on Beatles For Sale, unfortunately. Even more sadly is that they make up nearly half of the album (6 of the 14 songs are covers.) The sole covers that I’ve got any patience for are Chuck Berry’s “Rock & Roll Music” and Buddy Holly’s “Words of Love.” However even these are not as good as the Lennon/McCartney originals.
The most famous of those Lennon and McCartney originals on this album is definitely “Eight Days A Week” which is a recording that both Lennon and McCartney dismissed and the band never played it live. However despite that, it is a good tune. No, it is not among their greatest songs, but it is catchy and the fade-in opening is really cool.
All of the tracks on the album (covers and originals) sound so much better on the new remastered CDs than they did on the previous 1980s CDs. I definitely recommend that you purchase The Beatles Stereo Box Set and The Beatles Remastered Mono Box Set and give both the stereo and mono versions of this album a good listen before you go about your day.
I am definitely not trying to say that Remastered version of Beatles For Sale is going to be your favorite Beatles album, but I do think you will find that is far better than it’s reputation. I think it’s superior to Yellow Submarine, With The Beatles, and Please Please Me.
I definitely listen to later albums like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Let It Be a lot more often than the earlier records like this one, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy listening to the earlier ones too. I think there are interesting musical elements in almost all of their albums. And I can’t wait to hear all of them in remastered vinyl LPs when The Beatles Remastered Vinyl Box Sets are released in 2010.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)