Come together right now, over me...

In honor of John Lennon's 72nd birthday, I decided to write another Beatle-y entry, this time about Abbey Road. Even though it is the last Beatles album ever recorded, it's much more optimistic than the earlier recorded Let It Be. I bought Abbey Road during the summer before my senior year in high school and loved the entire album immediately. There's a lot of different kinds of songs featured, jumping around a bit in genres, but still unified and strong.

 

"Come Together" I'm sure is a song I'd heard before I got the album, but I didn't really know the song. It kicks off the album forcefully with the bass riff and drum beat and John's whispered "shoot me." It's got a great, bluesy feel and typical vague, seemingly nonsensical, Lennon lyrics. It's a pretty great rock song and I love the ending with the repeated "Come together, yeah" and George's super-clean guitar. "Something" is, in my opinion, one of George's best songs. There's a fabulous bass line, sweet lyrics, a clean slide guitar solo and intro, lovely sweeping orchestral backing, and a very cool drum part during the middle eight (and love that descending part taken by the bass and piano). And I know I already mentioned it, but I love the guitar solo – and slide guitar does something to me I don't know how to explain! "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" was the song I most remember singing loudly in the car with my friends, driving home from school (the chorus is a bit anthemic, after all). It's kind of a silly song – and not one that John particularly liked – in fact, I don't believe John made any contributions to the recording, aside from making Paul laugh during "writing fifty times". The song tells the tale of a guy who bashes in the heads of anyone who he feels threatened by. I like the piano arpeggios leading up to the last verse. "Oh! Darling" is kind of 1950s R&B throw back. Paul does a pretty amazing scream-y vocal performance. John does a great job on the piano and the lead guitar is fantastic as is the drumming. Pretty cool bass line, too. "Octopus's Garden" is a Ringo composition that's a fun, happy jaunt. There's a pretty awesome lead guitar part, some groovy drumming, and I dig the piano part. "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is a very bluesy Lennon song about Yoko, with just the same lyric repeated throughout the 7 and a half minutes and has a little bit of a jam session feel. Paul contributes some great bass lines and Billy Preston is featured on organ (and he does an amazing job!). My favorite part is the "She's so heavy" bit. I also kinda dig how it ends, a repeated guitar riff, cool drumming, and then an abrupt cut, ending both the song and side A in sudden silence.
 

The B-side of this album is so fantastic – and I adore it! I think part of what gets me so excited is that I saw a Beatle cover band do the entire B-side, with "fake George" playing all three solos during "The End". It was an awesome performance – but The Beatles do a tremendous performance here. "Here Comes The Sun" is the great George track that opens the B-side of the album. It's got lovely, optimistic lyrics, an exquisite melody, and some very interesting time signatures over the bridge (Dhani mentioned that the bridge is very reminiscent of Indian music). George had really come so far as a composer by this point. There's a pretty orchestral accompaniment – I love the deep, mellow sound of violas and cellos. George Martin played the harpsichord on "Because." The choir of Beatle voices is pretty cool and I love the harmonies – particularly Paul's line. The song was influenced by Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" – worked around the chords reversed. "You Never Give Me Your Money" was instantly one of my favorite songs on the album – and one of my favorite songs to play on the piano. I initially thought it was sung by 2 different people, since I didn't recognize Paul's "Lady Madonna" voice as his. I love how the song shifts through so many styles and moods. My favorite part is when Paul segues into the swingy part – and the bass line… and then proceeding into that fantastic guitar riff – George does an amazing job here! There is so much in this song, it's hard to believe it's only 4 minutes. It's still one of my favorite Beatles tracks. "Sun King" features lush, multi-tracked harmonies and a made-up language reminiscent of Spanish. It fades into a drum fill by Ringo and is suddenly "Mean Mr. Mustard". There's some great John-Paul harmonizing and a pretty great fuzz-bass line. "Polythene Pam" is a fun song with John singing with a prominent Scouse accent. There's a nice guitar solo by George before John's "Oh, look out!" and Paul's "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window." George does some more fabulous lead guitar work and as always, Paul's bass line is exceptional. "Golden Slumbers" is a song that Paul called "Trad-Arranged McCartney" since the lyrics were based on an old lullaby. Paul plays piano, George is featured on bass, and Ringo on drums. There's a very lovely orchestral backing too. "Carry That Weight" is fantastic with its reprise of "You Never Give Me You're Money" and more great orchestra work. "The End" is noteworthy for the featured instrument solos by all 4 members of the band – and Ringo's only drum solo on a Beatles album. Of course, me being the guitar solo whore I am, I'm captivated by the guitar solos. I was so proud of myself when, in 2002 after realizing that the solos weren't played by one person, I could pick out which solo was performed by which Beatle – Paul is first, George is second, and John is last with the distorted guitar. The solos end with piano chords and the infamous line, "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." "Her Majesty" is the hidden and final track on the album. It was originally placed between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam", but didn't work there. That's the reason for the rather abrupt beginning and ending. Paul is the only Beatle featured on this 23 second track.
 

 

All in all, it's a fantastic album that anyone who loves music should own.

 

So until next time.... Happy Birthday, John!

 

 

Anytime at all, all you have to do is call...

In 1963, my boys had already had some tremendously impressive songwriting skills, chops, and contagious melodies under their belts. A Hard Day's Night is notably different though. Please Please Me was literally a run-through of all the songs they played live at the Cavern, all recorded in one day. With the Beatles was much of the same. Both albums definitely demonstrated The Beatles songwriting ability, but there were a number of covers included. (On a side note, I think "Twist and Shout" and "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" are 2 of the best covers The Beatles ever did.) A Hard Day's Night is the very first Beatles album comprised of only Lennon& McCartney material.

The instrumental landscape is graced with driving acoustic guitars, John and Paul's unmistakable voices and harmonies, Paul's characteristic bass lines, Ringo's steady backbeat and of course, George's ringing 12-string guitar. George's playing was so influential -- especially on the classic title song --that seemingly an entire generation of young guitarists made the 12-string a part of their arsenal.

 

The album (and film) opens with that explosive and instantly recognizable chord. And from there, we are taken on an exhilarating ride. Both Paul and John take lead vocals on "A Hard Day's Night." It is a primarily John written song and the title came from Ringo. John gave the middle bit to Paul since he couldn't reach the notes comfortably. "A Hard Day's Night" is an infectious rocker and a lot of good fun. Great beat, catchy melody, easy to dance to, love the guitar solo, and adore the screams. "I Should Have Known Better" is another super-catchy pop song with a bright melody and John demonstrating his talents on the jaunty harmonica line, as was customary in the early Beatles albums. The guitar solo is a bit lacking, but there's plenty of ear candy to keep me amused – Including double tracked Lennon vocals (and just a side note: Love the way he sounds when singing "When I tell you that I love you, oh. You're gonna say you love me too, oh". Those "oh's" totally get to me!) and appealing lyrics. "If I Fell" is a beautiful ballad with an unusual song structure. John and Paul were definitely growing by leaps and bounds in their songwriting abilities. There's no obvious chorus, just versus with a lovely melody, sweet lyrics, and fantastic harmonies by John and Paul. Considering how distinctive and different their voices were, they had an amazing ability for their voices to blend and wrap around each other, forming heavenly harmonies. "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" is, while not a well-respected Beatles song, I love it and have always considered it one of my favorites from the album. I'm aware that it's a "basic formula" song and that John wrote it as a throw away song and never cared for it, but it's so catchy and George's performance is absolutely adorable. I can't help but picture him in A Hard Day's Night, doing his little jig during the song. I love the Bo Diddley guitar part during the verses and I think my favorite part is when the background vocals come in during the chorus (The "Ohhh ohhh's").

 

"And I Love Her" is a classic Paul ballad – infused with a bossa nova rhythm. It has the typical, sweet lyrics that are customary of McCartney love songs. The middle eight is fantastic (though, there's some debate over whether John or Paul wrote that) and while the guitar solo does nothing more than repeat the melody, it is done on acoustic guitar – which I love! Also, I love the key change – some key changes come across as a bit unnecessary, but this one, I love. "Tell Me Why" was quite obviously influenced by the R&B styles of girl groups during this time. I love the harmonies used continually (but I'm a sucker for harmonies). It has a swingy, walking bass line, a pretty great middle-eight (though, it was quite some time before I understood what they were saying in the falsetto bit), and a fantastic vocal performance from John. "Can't Buy Me Love" is a brilliant anti-materialistic rocker. I tend to prefer the live version featured in Anthology, but there's no denying that this is a fantastic early Beatles rock song. Amazing bass line, very cool guitar solo (love the twangy sound of the guitar), and an incredible scream from my Paulie.

"Any Time At All" is another one of my favorites from this album and kicks off the B-side of the album.  It's lyrics are upbeat, there's a very cool middle eight with Paul pounding the melody out on the piano, and I love John's shout-y chorus (with Paul singing the echoing "Any time at all" because, again, John couldn't reach the notes). John had said that this song was an attempt to re-write "It Won't Be Long", which I can see – But since I love that song too, it doesn't detract at all. "I'll Cry Instead" features confessional lyrics set to a wistful, country-western musical backdrop. It's a captivating, snappy melody and flies by. This song clocks in under two minutes, and to me, there just isn't time to dislike it. My favorite part is "Don't wanna cry when there's people there" bit. "Things We Said Today" is one of my songs. I love the duga-dum acoustic guitar intro and Paul singing harmony with himself. I think the song is interesting lyrically, with the future tense of the song and how "the present" is somehow the past. I'm quite partial to the middle-8 bit too and the change from a minor key to a major key. "When I Get Home" is another Lennon rocker. I'm finding that I really do like the scream-y voice John uses on these early rock songs. "You Can't Do That" is another song I'm quite partial to. Wilson Pickett inspired, it's got great jangly guitar, nice background vocals, and I like the stop-start of the "I told you before, you can't do that." And there's a pretty nice scream before John launches into a very Lennon-esque guitar solo. "I'll Be Back" is a nice piece of songwriting with rather poignant lyrics. My favorite bit is "I thought you would realize…" It's kind of an unexpected choice as an album closer, but I like how it ends on the promise that "I'll be back again."

 

 

*Beep Beep! Beep Beep! Yeah!*

A little bit about my favorite band of all time:

I’ve been an obsessed Beatles fan for quite some time. For me, nothing can truly compare to The Beatles. My obsession was kicked into overdrive in November 2001 – after hearing the news of George dying. I decided in an effort to pay tribute to him, I’d spend the day listening to Beatles songs… It didn’t stop after that day though. Something about me – when I really like something, I jump in with both feet and completely submerge myself in everything I can find that is related to… whatever it is I’m getting into. When it came to The Beatles and the vast amount Beatle-related material, it took me about 2-3 years to finally come back to the surface for air. It’s strange because I’d known Beatles music for years and found it enjoyable, but for some reason in 2001, it hit me in a completely different way. I guess before I hadn’t been really listening… This time, it was a whole new kind of experience. In fact, it’s kind of hard to put into words, but getting into The Beatles in such a way… It had a rather profound effect on me. A lot of my thoughts and feelings on music seem to generally lead back to The Beatles. So, I started off listening to all their albums (most of which I owned, but hadn’t listened to thoroughly), watched their films, read the books about the band (Anthology is still the definitive Beatle book in my opinion)… Then that following summer, I branched out into the world of Beatles solo careers.

Anyway, I could probably go on for ages about “my boys”, but in this post, I’m going to limit myself to discussing the first actual Beatles album I ever bought. Rubber Soul. I bought it while I was a sophomore in high school and it’s still one of my favorite albums of all time.

Rubber Soul starts with the twangy guitar intro of "Drive My Car". There is so much that I love about this song, it's hard to know where to start. It's upbeat, optimistic, and unforgettable. The lyrics tell you an amusing story that deals with gender role-reversal. Paul is featured on lead guitar here (and what a cool guitar solo he comes up with!) and George takes the bass line. I love the piano on the chorus – and I love how tambourine is used almost continually on the album. "Norwegian Wood" is mainly a John song, written about an affair. The lyrics are ambiguous, but the story is interesting and ends in a fire – which I find kind of amusing. There aren't many instruments used on this song, just acoustic guitar, bass, tambourine, and of course, the distinctive sound of the sitar. George played the sitar on this song – and I believe this is one of the first, if not the first, pop song where a sitar was featured. "You Won't See Me" is one of my favorites of this album. I listened to this song on repeat when I first got the album and still tend to go back to it. It's a pure pop song, but a great melody and includes some of Paul's less optimistic lyrics. Paul generally has a very upbeat attitude in his songs, but Rubber Soul isn't full of the happy boy-loves-girl sorts of songs. I love the background vocals and the drums on this song are fantastic. Ringo really does a great job – in fact, he does on this entire album. He really shines here. "Nowhere Man" features some great harmonies and very Lennon-like lyrics. Obscure, but something I think a number of people can identify with. A typical McCartney melodic bass line also is present. Also, love the harmonic at the end of the guitar solo. "Think For Yourself" is a George composition with more fabulous harmonies. Love the bass line and lead guitar – and more tambourine! As for the lyrics, George said they were "probably about the government", but I think (like any good song) they can be applied to a number of situations. "The Word" is another song that is up there as far as my favorite Beatles tracks. Great harmonies, cool lead guitar, very idealistic lyrics, and fantastic drumming from Ringo –particularly at the end of each chorus. My favorite part is the last time during the chorus, when that highest harmony part comes out. Great, great song in my book! Besides, it's a hell of a lot of fun to sing along to and blast in the car! "Michelle" is the only song I knew when I bought the album. It's a very typical Paul ballad with a bit of a Parisian feel with French lyrics included. I believe the "I love you/I want you" middle 8 bit was contributed by John, and it's probably my favorite part of the song – I really love Paul's voice when he sings, "I want you, I want you, I want you" the last time. I believe Paul played pretty much all of the instruments on this track – except for maybe the drums.

The B-side of the album opens with a Ringo co-penned song, "What Goes On." It's got the characteristic country-western feel that a number of Ringo's songs had. The lead guitar by George is very Carl Perkins-esque. Random Beatles fact: In the background, if you listen hard, after Ringo sings "Tell me why" you can here John say, "We already told you why!" "Girl" is next – John really has a lot of great ones on this album. Of course, when I bought it back in the day, I was very innocent and didn't realize during the middle 8 they were singing "tit, tit, tit, tit." I believe I thought it was "dit." Anyhow, the guitar has a Greek sort of sound – love the lead guitar part. "I'm Looking Through You" is another less optimistic Paul – I think he was having trouble with Jane during this period. More tambourine! Ringo plays Hammond organ on this track. I love the guitar riff after the chorus (at the end of the chorus?). I have a number of "The Soul Sessions" recordings and it's interesting to hear the evolution of this song. "In My Life" is one of John's best ballads – and another of my favorite tracks. Beautiful melody, tender lyrics, and John does a captivating vocal performance. Paul does great on the harmonies and bass, Ringo's drumming is superb, and of course, George Martin's sped up piano solo is very fitting – giving a classical feel to the pop song. "Wait" is considered a "filler" piece, left over from the Help! Sessions. I've recently re-discovered it and I adore the middle-eight, sung by Paul, with the driving guitar and drums. Good harmonies and more tambourine! "If I Needed Someone" is another George song and shows how very much George had grown as a composer since "Don't Bother Me" the year before. Great lyrics, lovely harmonies, hypnotic guitar intro, and cool bass line (more tambourine!). I like the bridge a lot, too. I think it's the only George composed song that was ever performed live on a Beatles tour. "Run For Your Life" was apparently John's least favorite Beatles song. It's John in jealousy mode, a theme in a number of Lennon songs. There's a pretty cool lead guitar part that has been suggested that it's John playing rather than George. It's not overly apparent as Lennon or Harrison, so I'm not sure. It's not my favorite on the album, but still a song I enjoy.

So… yeah, that’s about it for now! More later!