The Beatles

Anyone NOT a fan?

I've only met one person in my whole life (that I remember) that doesn't like them. Now he does, so no one I know dislikes the Beatles.

My favourite album is The White Album, and my favourite song is I Am The Walrus.

I grew up listening to the Beatles but now I find the voices of Paul and John very monotonous.  I can't listen through their 1 album all the way - about half way through I find it so boring that I have to stop, and this happened many times.

When the Beatles started recording Rock' n Roll was very frowned upon by the mainstream audience. Young groups usually only recorded other peoples's songs - it was very new that a young band published so many self-written songs as the Beatles did on "Please Please Me". Remember that they were only between 20 and 23 years old when they wrote and recorded "Please Please Me". What sounds monotonous to you now was a revolutionary sound at the time and started an unprecedented and unique phenomenon known as "Beatlemania".  Imo "Please Please Me" still sounds a lot more interesting and less monotonous than any given Hip Hop album, Reggae album or Eurotechno album.

Of course the first album is not as great as many of the later albums but then the album was recorded in a single day ad it was a first in many ways - a young group with a lot of experience as a performing band but totally new in a studio and in the music business. A group of white boys creating a new sound that made Rock'n Roll acceptable for a European audience.

After "Please Please Me"  in only 7 years The Beatles wrote and  recorded 12 more albums, 22 genuine non-album hit singles, and various EPs. They produced 5 movies pictures and toured the world various times. An astounding and unparalleled achievement. The song writing genius of Lennon/McCartney is unquestioned and the Beatles sold - and still sell - more records than any other group or artist ever.

When I said I grew up listening to the Beatles, I meant to say that I was listening to them when they started their career on the music scene.  I am showing my age :-)

YourValentine wrote: When the Beatles started recording Rock' n Roll was very frowned upon by the mainstream audience. Young groups usually only recorded other peoples's songs - it was very new that a young band published so many self-written songs as the Beatles did on "Please Please Me". Remember that they were only between 20 and 23 years old when they wrote and recorded "Please Please Me". What sounds monotonous to you now was a revolutionary sound at the time and started an unprecedented and unique phenomenon known as "Beatlemania".  Imo "Please Please Me" still sounds a lot more interesting and less monotonous than any given Hip Hop album, Reggae album or Eurotechno album.

Of course the first album is not as great as many of the later albums but then the album was recorded in a single day ad it was a first in many ways - a young group with a lot of experience as a performing band but totally new in a studio and in the music business. A group of white boys creating a new sound that made Rock'n Roll acceptable for a European audience.

After "Please Please Me"  in only 7 years The Beatles wrote and  recorded 12 more albums, 22 genuine non-album hit singles, and various EPs. They produced 5 movies pictures and toured the world various times. An astounding and unparalleled achievement. The song writing genius of Lennon/McCartney is unquestioned and the Beatles sold - and still sell - more records than any other group or artist ever. "

Great post. :D Just one objection; replace Lennon/McCartney with Lennon/McCartney & Harrison. :D

Anyway, I love The Beatles. While they are not my favourite artist, and there are quite a few artists whom I would rush out see more than The Beatles, they were fantastic. One similarity between The Beatles and Queen is that both produced music of such a wide array that one can easily find something to like. While I don't love the early stuff of The Beatles, and in fact much of their music doesn't appeal to me, songs like Yesterday and Across the Universe are simply brilliant, with Yesterday being among my all-time favourite songs. There are quite a few other songs by them that I love, so while I'm not a massive fan of them, I do think they are great.

tcc wrote: I grew up listening to the Beatles but now I find the voices of Paul and John very monotonous.  I can't listen through their 1 album all the way - about half way through I find it so boring that I have to stop, and this happened many times.
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I understand this and I think it can be natural reaction - when you just reach critical mass.  Like having the same meal too many times!  I take a break and things re-set. A few months ago I saw RAIN (a Beatles tribute band) at a free outdoor summer concert. I have to tell you It was great to hear all the Beatle sounds again live - especially effective:  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.  Thanks Billy Shears!!   I always get by with a little help from my friends .... see - it's working already!

I've often had a thought about the Beatles.... are they the only group that got better with age? You ask any fan of the Stones, REM, U2, Aerosmith, Queen, etc etc... they will all say the early stuff was the best.

The Beatles just got better and better and better resulting in Abbey Road, which was their last hurrah... just to prove they had one really great last album still in them.

Amazing stuff... imagine if they had carried on?!

hey Barb
another Beatles thread....fantastic

yes, compeltely agree with last post...they were like the finest single-malt....the more they matured, the better they got

and as for abbey rd...the album was a miracle...and a stroke of genius on the part of macca and george martin
splicing bits of tapes together to produce those legendary side-two medleys....

for the time and the technology it's an absolute work of genius....and that's NOT an exaggeration

Ringo:"after the LIB nightmare abbey rd turned out fine, the second side is genius.out of the ashes of all that madness, that final section is for me one of the finest pieces we put together"

My dad first introduced The Beatles to my brothers and I when we were really young (I was probably four or five). They were my favorite band before Queen was; now I'd probably have to say Queen and The Beatles share the "number one" spot.

brENsKi wrote: hey Barb
another Beatles thread....fantastic

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lol

And just to point out the great thing moog said, The Beatles are the only band I know of that got better with age. However, separately, their earlier real music (pointing towards Lennon and Harrison's avant-garde experiences) were far superior with the exception of Lennon.

tcc wrote: I grew up listening to the Beatles but now I find the voices of Paul and John very monotonous.  I can't listen through their 1 album all the way - about half way through I find it so boring that I have to stop, and this happened many times.

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I despise the 1 album. It's my least favourite compilation album, EVER, but for one main reason;

I Am The Walrus isn't on there. It went to number one on 2 occasions, but both as a b-side. Doesn't that count for something? I guess not Sir Paul.

Of course the Beatles got better wirth age. Firts of all, they obtained more experience working in a studio and certainly they had more time to experiment with sounds after they stopped touring in 1967. Technology also improved and they had 4 track tapes to record (!!). It is really hard to believe that the songs of the first albums were usually performed live in the studio and recorded in one take. The mini albums to the 2010 boxes tell the story about the recording procedures. For example John Lennon had to sing "Twist And Shout" as the last song on the (one!!!) day of the recording of Please Please Me because it strained his voice so much that he was totally unable to sing anything after it :-)

I believe that many Beatles fans diagree about the solo carreers after the Beatles. Personally, I love George Harrison's early albums - he had so many songs left which were rejected by the Beatles. I also find Paul McCartney's albums quite enjoyable, I think he has an incredible musical lifetime catalogue to look back to (and is still creating) although nothing of his solo material can live up to the beauty of his Beatles compositions.. Most tragic imo is the life of John Lennon who stopped being the creative genius after the split of the Beatles and turned into an alcoholic, a  druggie,  a house husband and published a load of substandard, sometimes even crappy material before he stopped recording at all. Most tragically he released his best post-Beatles album right before he was killed. Who knows what he still had to offer.

for anyone who hasn't ventured beyond the beatles group stuff..there's plenty in the solos to look at

..personally i was very lucky.....as a five-year old in 67 my dad used to play penny lane/strawberry fields (and she loves you - did this song inspire oasis "roll with it") by the beatles and itchycoo park by the small faces so often that they stuck....not a bad start as musical influences go.... i chose queen myself in 74, but the beatles were "forced on me" and i'll always thank dad for that

ringo produced some good and often catchy tunes
photograph, it don't come easy, weight of the world, never without you

george was incredible in his output
all things must pass spawned some classic songs that would've been great as beatles songs
the title track, wah-wah, beware of darkness, if not for you (it's a triple album too)
his early 80s stuff wasn't too bad either (for that decade) - when we was fab, all those years ago
finally, get the wilbury's first album...george is great on this

paul's a commensurate pop genius
maybe i'm amazed, take it away, and the albums band on the run and london town are the highspots

lennon - as previously said - disappeared up his own rectum
and most of his post beatles stuff is self-indulgent crap, as was quite a bit of his latter period stuff while still in the band

"Of course the Beatles got better wirth age. Firts of all, they obtained more experience working in a studio and certainly they had more time to experiment with sounds after they stopped touring in 1967. Technology also improved and they had 4 track tapes to record (!!)."

Good point but technology cannot account for the actual songs, their compositions went from extremely good catchy pop records to music no one else could ever have written. Had Abbey Road have been recorded on 1962 technology it would still be a million worlds away from Please Please Me

I don't like them. I do like a few songs but that's all.