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Post by B.E. on Feb 9, 2021 0:39:19 GMT
I had a feeling Kapitan would rescue "Can't Buy Me Love". Robe Simo, SJS, JK, and I all snubbed it! I know it's not really fair, but I miss the background vocals that are included on the Anthology version. Nice to see George and Ringo getting some love (though, not by me - outside of "You've Really Got A Hold On Me"): - Chains (2x) - Don't Bother Me (2x) - I'm Happy Just To Dance With You (2x) - Do You Want To Know A Secret (1x) - Boys (2x) - I Wanna Be Your Man (2x) - Honey Don't (1x) EDIT: Added KDS' favorites to the above.
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Post by B.E. on Feb 9, 2021 1:46:37 GMT
Something I adore about "Chains" and "Mr. Moonlight" is the fade. Paul leaps up, vocally, at the very end. I wish they hadn't faded the songs so quickly, so we could hear it more clearly. I wonder if the Beatles came up with the ending, in both cases. The original versions (and a few other of the period that I've listened to) just fade/end repeating the same vocal part(s). (Also, as an aside, John's intro to "Mr. Moonlight" puts every other singer to shame.)
That brings me to the WORST mixing decision in Beatle history. The mono version of "Mr. Moonlight" completely fades out before the climactic harmony is sung by Paul. Indefensible! (Or is it a mastering error of the 2009 CD?)
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 9, 2021 13:22:28 GMT
The poll on Beatles For Sale locks tonight at midnight: please vote if you haven't yet.
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Post by kds on Feb 9, 2021 13:32:05 GMT
Top 15 from the Beatles first four albums, February 9, 2021 in no particular order
Not a Second Time If I Fell And I Love Her Please Please Me There's a Place I'm Happy Just to Dance With You Baby's In Black Any Time At All I'll Be Back Things We Said Today I Should've Known Better I Saw Here Standing There All My Loving Don't Bother Me Can't Buy Me Love
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 9, 2021 15:53:01 GMT
8.
This is another one where I want to ensure people understand that an 8 is, in my book, a huge compliment! It means what I consider a very good-to-great album, but one that just doesn't live up to the really great albums, or the very best, the perfect albums.
...
Why 8? It's just not quite as strong as some of the other albums, as made noticeable especially by A Hard Day's Night coming right before it. Some of the covers especially are fine, but not all that interesting. Does this slight dip in quality mean it's not a good album? No, it's a VERY good album! It's just not up to their peak.
Yesterday I re-listened to each of the albums we've done so far to put together my 15-song list. And I have to say, while I don't plan to drop my rating, my impression of this album actually dropped a little. I certainly now would say Please Please Me beats it, and I gave that one a 7 with this one getting an 8.
As I said, I won't go around redoing my ratings, because that could get out of hand--who knows how often I'll change my mind as we proceed? But I'd now say the four albums we've covered are something more like:
A Hard Day's Night Please Please Me
Beatles For Sale
With the Beatles
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 9, 2021 18:09:41 GMT
8.
This is another one where I want to ensure people understand that an 8 is, in my book, a huge compliment! It means what I consider a very good-to-great album, but one that just doesn't live up to the really great albums, or the very best, the perfect albums.
...
Why 8? It's just not quite as strong as some of the other albums, as made noticeable especially by A Hard Day's Night coming right before it. Some of the covers especially are fine, but not all that interesting. Does this slight dip in quality mean it's not a good album? No, it's a VERY good album! It's just not up to their peak.
Yesterday I re-listened to each of the albums we've done so far to put together my 15-song list. And I have to say, while I don't plan to drop my rating, my impression of this album actually dropped a little. I certainly now would say Please Please Me beats it, and I gave that one a 7 with this one getting an 8.
As I said, I won't go around redoing my ratings, because that could get out of hand--who knows how often I'll change my mind as we proceed? But I'd now say the four albums we've covered are something more like:
A Hard Day's Night Please Please Me
Beatles For Sale
With the Beatles That's how I have 'em ranked and I feel pretty sure of it, too.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 9, 2021 19:29:21 GMT
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Post by B.E. on Feb 10, 2021 1:40:51 GMT
Top 15 from the Beatles first four albums, February 9, 2021 in no particular order Not a Second Time I'm Happy Just to Dance With You Baby's In Black I'm glad someone picked "Not A Second Time", as well as, "Baby's In Black", as I've really been enjoying that one lately. In a lot of ways it's the Beatles at their best. And, I'm a sucker for 3/4 time signature. That said, I'm a little surprised "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" is having such success. I like it, don't get me wrong, but it's never struck me as one of their better songs. In fact, I'm thinking it might weigh down AHDN a little bit, IMO ( as I continue to grapple with what rating to give it!).
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Post by B.E. on Feb 10, 2021 1:54:05 GMT
Yesterday I re-listened to each of the albums we've done so far to put together my 15-song list. And I have to say, while I don't plan to drop my rating, my impression of this album actually dropped a little. I certainly now would say Please Please Me beats it, and I gave that one a 7 with this one getting an 8.
As I said, I won't go around redoing my ratings, because that could get out of hand--who knows how often I'll change my mind as we proceed? But I'd now say the four albums we've covered are something more like:
A Hard Day's Night Please Please Me
Beatles For Sale
With the Beatles That's how I have 'em ranked and I feel pretty sure of it, too. Kapitan, I understand the dilemma between Please Please Me and Beatles For Sale. It's certainly a toss-up for me. Which is to say that my preference is largely dependent on my mood. I've been conferring with the last Beatles ratings/rankings I did a while back, and on this I think I'm in agreement with my former self - I'm giving the nod to Beatles For Sale. Now, where I contradict myself is in rating A Hard Day's Night. I'm dropping my former '10' to a '9'. For the moment, its ranking stays the same, but that will likely change as we add more albums to our lists. A Hard Day's Night - 9/10 Beatles For Sale - 8/10 Please Please Me - 8/10 With The Beatles - 8/10 At this point I'd like clarify that I find myself "rounding down" with the Beatles in order to make this worthwhile. With most everyone else, including the Beach Boys, I often "round up". Edit: So, Kapitan, if you could add my '9' to AHDN, I'd be grateful. Thanks!
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 10, 2021 3:28:26 GMT
That's how I have 'em ranked and I feel pretty sure of it, too. Kapitan, I understand the dilemma between Please Please Me and Beatles For Sale. It's certainly a toss-up for me. Which is to say that my preference is largely dependent on my mood. I've been conferring with the last Beatles ratings/rankings I did a while back, and on this I think I'm in agreement with my former self - I'm giving the nod to Beatles For Sale. Now, where I contradict myself is in rating A Hard Day's Night. I'm dropping my former '10' to a '9'. For the moment, its ranking stays the same, but that will likely change as we add more albums to our lists. A Hard Day's Night - 9/10 Beatles For Sale - 8/10 Please Please Me - 8/10 With The Beatles - 8/10 At this point I'd like clarify that I find myself "rounding down" with the Beatles in order to make this worthwhile. With most everyone else, including the Beach Boys, I often "round up". Edit: So, Kapitan, if you could add my '9' to AHDN, I'd be grateful. Thanks! I usually agree with your opinions, B.E., and I respect all of them. One of the reasons we do these kind of threads is to occasionally debate each other's rankings. So, here ya go...again. I don't think Beatles For Sale and With the Beatles are better than or equal to Please Please Me, and while I rated them - PPM (8), WTB (6), BFS (7) - I'm not even sure it's that close. I did some mental song comparisons; I should probably write them down/type them out. I'm just not seeing the strong(er) songs on Beatles For Sale and With The Beatles standing up to the half dozen stronger (great!) ones on Please Please Me. The covers are closer, I'll grant you that, but Please Please Me has two or three excellent ones, too. It's really surprising me how differently we're hearing these albums. At least we agree on A Hard Day's Night.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 10, 2021 12:40:58 GMT
Six voters rated Beatles for Sale an 8.3.
Our next album and poll will be up for voting and discussion shortly. Thanks for participating!
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 10, 2021 12:42:24 GMT
Edit: So, Kapitan, if you could add my '9' to AHDN, I'd be grateful. Thanks! This is done, too. It didn't change the overall rating for the album, but the vote is counted.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 10, 2021 13:00:28 GMT
The Beatles, Help! (1965) Keeping up their pace of an album roughly every six months, the Beatles' fifth album was released in August (6 in the UK, 13 in the US) in conjunction with their film of the same name.
Help! comprises 14 songs, 12 of which were originals and two of which were covers. George Harrison returned to the songwriting credits, with two offerings ("I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much"). He sang both of his own songs, while Ringo Starr took the lead on one of the covers, "Act Naturally."
The album had two singles, both released well in advance of the album. "Ticket To Ride" (b/w "Yes It Is") was released in April and peaked at #1 in the UK, US, Canada, and around much of Europe. In July the band released the title track, "Help!" backed with "I'm Down." It, too, topped the charts in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and much of Europe.
While it wasn't a single, the album also included a ballad of particular note: "Yesterday" was a McCartney composition (and solo performance with acoustic guitar and vocal) for which George Martin wrote a string quartet arrangement. It is said to be the most covered song of all time.
The album went #1 in the UK, US, Australia, and Germany at the time, and has earned 3x platinum (US), 2x platinum (Canada), platinum (UK, Argentina) and gold (Australia) certifications.
Please rate and discuss Help!
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Post by kds on Feb 10, 2021 13:11:02 GMT
Top 15 from the Beatles first four albums, February 9, 2021 in no particular order Not a Second Time I'm Happy Just to Dance With You Baby's In Black I'm glad someone picked "Not A Second Time", as well as, "Baby's In Black", as I've really been enjoying that one lately. In a lot of ways it's the Beatles at their best. And, I'm a sucker for 3/4 time signature. That said, I'm a little surprised "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" is having such success. I like it, don't get me wrong, but it's never struck me as one of their better songs. In fact, I'm thinking it might weigh down AHDN a little bit, IMO ( as I continue to grapple with what rating to give it!). I think it would be quite a feat for any of the tracks that cracked the album to weigh down AHDN. But, that's just my very humble and often silly opinion. I got into I'm Happy Just to Dance With You probably around the time I started HS. In eight grade, I was starting to get into the band, but I gravitated far more to the "Blue Album" era. But, my little sister, had gotten into the Beatles movies, and my father made her a tape of the AHDN and Help albums to listen to in the car. For some reason I'm Happy Just to Dance With You jumped out, and hearing those two albums gave me an increased appreciate for the "Red Album" era.
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Post by kds on Feb 10, 2021 13:22:51 GMT
As I said on my previous post (see just above), hearing the AHDN and Help albums in my folks' car during the summer of 1994 just prior to starting HS started to open my ears to the early Beatles.
HELP's an easy ten for me. What's not to like? You want iconic Beatles songs, you have the title track, Ticket to Ride, and Yesterday. You some great album tracks that would've been singles for almost any other ban, you have The Night Before, Another Girl, Tell Me What You See, and I've Just Seen a Face. You want a great ballad, you've got It's Only Love (even if John supposedly hated it). Token Ringo vocal, Act Naturally. Perhaps the first great George song, I Need You. And, a throwback to the early rocking covers - Dizzy Miss Lizzy.
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