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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 11, 2019 21:50:24 GMT
A little surprised at the lower ranking of Please Please Me. "I Saw Her Standing There", "Boys", "Please Please Me", "Love Me Do", "Do You Want To Know A Secret", "There's A Place", and "Twist And Shout" - can't change your mind? Tempting. It really is. As its easily my most listened to Beatles album of 2019. Maybe if you led with "Baby It's You" and "Anna (Go To Him)"! I love those songs. It's funny, back in January on EHF, you had Sgt Pepper and Please Please Me flipped (#6 and #9), which was nearly identical with my ranking (#6 and #10). The reason I find that "funny" is because this is the one area of my list that I wasn't 100% confident with 6 months later. The reason? Well, you said it back in January - your affection for Sgt Pepper comes and goes. I feel the same way. It's strange, because when I do listen to it (which isn't nearly as often), I think nearly every song is great and enjoyable. Mostly, 9s and 10s! Very good research, and very good points. And I'll tell you exactly why I changed - for now. First, I was on one of those kicks where I re-sequenced Sgt. Pepper in an attempt to improve it, and I was enjoying it a lot, which is probably why I ranked it so high. Next, I tried to improve it even more by adding "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" to the mix. I thought, "This is gonna be great." Obviously it was better (how could it not be with those two additions), but not in the way I thought it would be. There's a couple of weak songs on Sgt. Pepper - "Within You Without You" and "When I'm 64" - which really brings down Side 2 for me. So, my like/love for the album then faded, although, over time, it could change again.
Then, I was reading an article on Andy White, and it prompted me to dig out Please Please Me. I was really digging the rawness and youth of the performances, but what struck me was the quality of the songs. Is there a bad song on that album? There's a lot of good ones, very good ones.
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Post by B.E. on Aug 12, 2019 14:23:36 GMT
Then, I was reading an article on Andy White, and it prompted me to dig out Please Please Me. I was really digging the rawness and youth of the performances, but what struck me was the quality of the songs. Is there a bad song on that album? There's a lot of good ones, very good ones. "A Taste Of Honey" is one of my least favorite Beatles songs. I skip it fairly regularly. That doesn't make it a bad song, but it certainly doesn't help Please Please Me when I'm ranking the albums. I know that "I Saw Her Standing There" is one of your favorites, and I like it a lot too, but I probably prefer just about every other album opener. The exceptions would be "Drive My Car" and "Magical Mystery Tour". If they had produced "I Saw Her Standing There" like they did their subsequent singles or if they had waited to record it until, say, Beatles For Sale, then I'd probably like it that much more. Edit: To clarify, I prefer the other album openers on a song-by-song basis. So, if I were ranking my favorite Beatles songs, "I Saw Her Standing There" wouldn't rank very high. But, as an album opener, "I Saw Her Standing There" works perfectly well on Please Please Me just the way it is.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 12, 2019 18:56:21 GMT
Inspired by B.E.'s above post...the BEST Beatles' album openers - in order!
01 I Saw Her Standing There 02 A Hard Day's Night 03 Two Of Us (though I prefer Get Back on Naked) 04 Back In The U.S.S.R. 05 Help! 06 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 07 Taxman 08 Magical Mystery Tour 09 Come Together (don't care for the song - good opener, though) 10 It Won't Be Long 11 Yellow Submarine 12 Drive My Car 13 No Reply (love the song, the worst opener)
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Post by B.E. on Aug 12, 2019 19:29:53 GMT
01 I Saw Her Standing There 02 A Hard Day's Night
The count-in on ISHST and the opening chord of AHDN work very well, obviously. It's cool that The Beatles even bothered with such details at a time when the album wasn't thought of like it would be a few years later (and ever since). You know, I'm not sure I ever thought too much about the count-in on "Taxman" (other than to note that I liked it), but it's really cool how it kind of harkens back to ISHST but in an odd-sounding way that really foreshadows the experimentation of the rest of the album. 03 Two Of Us (though I prefer Get Back on Naked)
Yet another reason why Let It Be fascinates me. They had two great openers to choose from. I think I prefer "Two Of Us" (and I love the "I hope we passed the audition" remark), but thematically how can anyone argue with "Get Back" as the opener and "Let It Be" as the closer? It's perfect and in more ways than one. 13 No Reply (love the song, the worst opener)
Okay, the qualifiers soften the blow, but damn that hurts!
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 12, 2019 19:38:54 GMT
13 No Reply (love the song, the worst opener)
Okay, the qualifiers soften the blow, but damn that hurts! Forget my obsession with sequencing for a minute. Objectively speaking, Beatles For Sale has to be the worst sequenced album by a major artist in the history of rock & roll! Opening with "No Reply" and closing with "Everybody's Trying To Be My baby". Unbelievable. More on that album later.
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Post by B.E. on Aug 12, 2019 19:44:06 GMT
SJS, you may be facing an uphill battle with me on Beatles For Sale, but I'm definitely looking forward to your thoughts on the album.
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Post by kds on Aug 13, 2019 21:28:11 GMT
Picking a least favorite Beatles album opener is tough, as to me, there are none that really stand out. But, I suppose I'll go with It Won't Be Long.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 20, 2019 20:29:50 GMT
Here's a great article on Ringo and His All-Starr Band:
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 20, 2019 22:18:07 GMT
Here's a great article on Ringo and His All-Starr Band:
That is a good article. Also, that first All-Starr band was killer talent!
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Post by kds on Aug 22, 2019 12:20:47 GMT
50 Years Ago Today, The Beatles had their final photo session.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 22, 2019 12:32:54 GMT
50 Years Ago Today, The Beatles had their final photo session.
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Post by kds on Aug 22, 2019 12:35:15 GMT
Amazing, we're very close to a full half century since The Beatles were an active band, and they are still, by far, the most revered band in history.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 22, 2019 12:39:02 GMT
Amazing, we're very close to a full half century since The Beatles were an active band, and they are still, by far, the most revered band in history. Yeah, I've been so caught up on 50th Anniversaries of other things like albums, Woodstock, Manson murders, etc, that this one snuck up on me.
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Post by kds on Aug 22, 2019 12:44:13 GMT
Amazing, we're very close to a full half century since The Beatles were an active band, and they are still, by far, the most revered band in history. Yeah, I've been so caught up on 50th Anniversaries of other things like albums, Woodstock, Manson murders, etc, that this one snuck up on me. I've been avoiding the Manson stuff like the plague, and I have zero desire to see Tarantino glorify his works with his usual blend of forced "cool" dialog and cartoony blood. But, I've been keeping an eye on all The Beatles 50th Anniversary Stuff. And, the massive released we've seen of Sgt Pepper's, White, and Abbey Road are nice, but isn't it time to finally unleash some of the live stuff from the vaults?
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 22, 2019 12:48:04 GMT
Ditto on Manson!
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