It’s funny, for those of us who didn’t have the opportunity to grow up when the Beatles were new and still releasing albums, chronology was thrown out the window. Think back to the first Beatles album you bought/heard. Not song…but album. By the time most of us were little the Beatles had already etched itself into the world’s collective fabric. I had heard “She Loves You”, “Twist and Shout” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand” countless times growing up and thought nothing of it. When I was 15 and ready to open myself to what I was told was the best band of all time, I was into the Doors, Led Zeppelin and Pearl Jam. “Love Me Do” was not for me. I jumped right into Sgt. Peppers and was immediately taken a back by Harrison’s gnarly ass guitar on the album opener. I couldn’t understand how this was somehow the same band.
What I’m getting at here is that most teenagers get into the Beatles via the 2nd (more experimental) part of their career, usually post Revolver. Then when they have fallen in love with the band they go back and dive into the earlier “pop” music.
With the remastered Cd’s out, I’ve gone and done something I haven’t done since I first went under the Beatles spell and the music was new and fresh to me. I sat with those early Beatles albums and listened to them by myself with headphones on and beer in hand.
My criteria is to listen to each album in chronological order (I haven’t decided what to do about the Abbey Road/Let It Be Paradox yet) all the way through, focusing on only the music at hand. Than throughout my other daily activities listen to the album at random until I feel I’ve gotten the most mileage I can out of it, than move to the next album. In this manner I’ve only gotten through the first 3 albums.
Some random thoughts and recollections on Please, Please Me (1963), With The Beatles (1963) and A Hard Day’s Night (1964). Being a serious student of “pop” and “power pop” music this is some of the finest ever created, it sets the blue print for future generations. The fast songs have so much energy (not to mention hand claps) it’s amazing. Something you can only truly pull off when your in your late teens/early 20′s. Please, Please Me opens with “I Saw Her Standing There” which could raise a dead man from his grave. No matter how old you are you turn into a giddy 16 year old again when you hear it.
Lennon’s voice on Please, Please Me already shows uncanny depth and versatility for his young years. This quality also makes him a great interpreter of other’s material. As a songwriter he has clearly studied the genres he loves and made them his own. Lennon just shines on these early albums. McCartney can’t be considered an equal until he hits “Can’t Buy Me Love” on A Hard Days Night. Clearly this is Lennon’s band and he dominates at this phase in their career.
What I love most about these early albums is is truly sounds like Lennon and McCartney are sharing a microphone and when they harmonize…it hits some kind of musical sweet spot unknown by man. It gives these polished pop songs a rough hewn and makes some songs sound like a constant duet. (I still can’t tell who the fuck is suppose to be the lead singer of “Love Me Do”). “All I’ve Got To Do” off With The Beatles is another great example of this. A slow burning blue eyed soul tune sung by Lennon and when McCartney’s voice touches the track and they morph into each other, it’s a musical climax in the first order.
Check back tomorrow for part 3.
