The Beatles (1 Viewer)

[Godsbrother]

McCartney II starts off the 80s

Without Denny Laine, I guess Paul figured that any appearance of Wings being a band was kind of over. However, the Wings live version of Coming Up in Scotland became a smash #1 hit around this time.

So, Paul started working on a new album alone and he decided to go back to his first solo record and called it McCartney II. II was mostly synth based. Once again, critics were mixed, but the public loved it as it got to #1 in the UK and #3 in the US. Coming Up was on McCartney II, but this was the studio version. I don't know if you can find the video on You Tube, but if you can, it's pretty funny. It's basically a band playing the song, but the band has Paul dressed up in various costumes, including Paul dressed up as a Beatle playing his trademark Hofner and Paul dressed as Buddy Holly. Linda is on there and also in drag as a background singer. Paul called the band the Plastic Macs. Probably a little nod to John.Another interesting song on McCartney II is Waterfalls, which was released as a single, but didn't do anything much. One of those melodic ballads that Paul seemingly can do in his sleep.

Overall, I'm going to have to say it was another rather weak effort from Paul. As Godsbrother pointed out, Paul always has a few good ones on every album, but there's lots of throwaway on this one.

According to Paul, McCartney II was a result of him messing around in the studio and when he played some of the tracks to friends they encouraged him to put it out as an LP. There was a lot made of the fact that Paul played all of the instruments as he did on his first solo album and it flew to the top of the charts based on the smash single "Coming Up". The problem was the LP did not contain the live version that was the hit. To fix the problem a special one sided single containing the hit was included in the album at the last minute.The album is kind of interesting but it is a tough listen all the way through. My favorite track is "One of These Days", the one acoustic track on the LP.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

He gets too much blame for the breakup. Truth be told, John broke up the group. Paul just announced it.

Paul wanted his father-in-law to be their new manager instead of a guy named Klein who the other three wanted. Maybe if he backed down they could have--as Ringo phrased it--"carried on a little longer".I've also read that Paul was enraged with how Phil Spector mixed "Let It Be", yet he couldn't get the other three to back him up. I love Paul, but I wish he would have stepped back a little bit and asked himself why John, George and Ringo were so united against him.

 

[Godsbrother]

He gets too much blame for the breakup. Truth be told, John broke up the group. Paul just announced it.

Paul wanted his father-in-law to be their new manager instead of a guy named Klein who the other three wanted. Maybe if he backed down they could have--as Ringo phrased it--"carried on a little longer".I've also read that Paul was enraged with how Phil Spector mixed "Let It Be", yet he couldn't get the other three to back him up.

I love Paul, but I wish he would have stepped back a little bit and asked himself why John, George and Ringo were so united against him.

John had told Paul "he wanted a divorce" in 1968 long before Klein and Eastman got involved (not to mention Ringo and George both taking turns quitting for a few days as well).There had been two unsuccessful attempts by Glyn Johns to get a suitable release of Get Back (as the project was called at the time) but none of the Beatles were interested in approving it. The tapes sat around for months until it was decided that Let It Be would be released as a feature film. At that point a soundtrack had to be made and John asked Phil Spector to go through the hundreds of hours of tape to produce an album. Paul claimed that he never had the opportunity to review the LP before it was released so it wasn't a case of him trying to block it and the other three Beatles had overriding his objections.

According to Geoff Emerick George actually had a much bigger beef with John during this period than he did with Paul due to John's putting him down and the presence of Yoko in the studio. Paul was being too pushy but how much of that was due to him wanting to be calling the shots vs trying to keep things together with disinterested partners is something we can only speculate. The one thing that is clear though is that most of the LP and film ideas from 1967 onwards were coming from Paul.

The bottom line is the group was really never the same after Pepper and it was due to a variety of reasons: Brian Epstein's death, musical differences , drugs, poor business decisions, Yoko and just the fact that they had spent virtually every day with each other for years and were growing apart.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

The bottom line is the group was really never the same after Pepper and it was due to a variety of reasons: Brian Epstein's death, musical differences , drugs, poor business decisions, Yoko and just the fact that they had spent virtually every day with each other for years and were growing apart.

On the Anthology DVD, George Martin uses the word "incarcerated" to describe their existence.

 

[saintsfan]

He gets too much blame for the breakup. Truth be told, John broke up the group. Paul just announced it.

Paul wanted his father-in-law to be their new manager instead of a guy named Klein who the other three wanted. Maybe if he backed down they could have--as Ringo phrased it--"carried on a little longer".I've also read that Paul was enraged with how Phil Spector mixed "Let It Be", yet he couldn't get the other three to back him up.

I love Paul, but I wish he would have stepped back a little bit and asked himself why John, George and Ringo were so united against him.

John had told Paul "he wanted a divorce" in 1968 long before Klein and Eastman got involved (not to mention Ringo and George both taking turns quitting for a few days as well).There had been two unsuccessful attempts by Glyn Johns to get a suitable release of Get Back (as the project was called at the time) but none of the Beatles were interested in approving it. The tapes sat around for months until it was decided that Let It Be would be released as a feature film. At that point a soundtrack had to be made and John asked Phil Spector to go through the hundreds of hours of tape to produce an album. Paul claimed that he never had the opportunity to review the LP before it was released so it wasn't a case of him trying to block it and the other three Beatles had overriding his objections.

According to Geoff Emerick George actually had a much bigger beef with John during this period than he did with Paul due to John's putting him down and the presence of Yoko in the studio. Paul was being too pushy but how much of that was due to him wanting to be calling the shots vs trying to keep things together with disinterested partners is something we can only speculate. The one thing that is clear though is that most of the LP and film ideas from 1967 onwards were coming from Paul.

The bottom line is the group was really never the same after Pepper and it was due to a variety of reasons: Brian Epstein's death, musical differences , drugs, poor business decisions, Yoko and just the fact that they had spent virtually every day with each other for years and were growing apart.

I read that book by Emerick, and what I found interesting is that he kind of draws a line in the sand as to when things start to go bad. For whatever reason, after the sessions for Hey Bulldog, things are never quite the same. Brian had died a few months before. This was before the famous Maharishi trip which resulted in most of the songs for the White Album. I know they all went to India together, but they came back seperately. Ringo coming back first, Paul second, then John and George. They also announced the formation of Apple around this time. It was probably everything at once. Of course, you can hear how much fun they are having making Hey Bulldog. It comes across on the tape. I remember Emerick saying that it was a great atmosphere. Great riff, fun lyrics, Paul and John doing this back and forth thing at the end, Paul's great bass line and George absolutely nailing the solo on the first take, which didn't happen often.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

The bottom line is the group was really never the same after Pepper and it was due to a variety of reasons: Brian Epstein's death, musical differences , drugs, poor business decisions, Yoko and just the fact that they had spent virtually every day with each other for years and were growing apart.

And I think they started to detriorate even earlier than Pepper - not musically, but as the Beatles entity. On the early records, unless you really paid attention, it wasn't really clear whether a song originated with Paul or John. But starting with Rubber Soul, the Beatles basically made a series of "White Albums" - where both John & Paul were bringing in songs that required (or requested) little help from the others. That's not to say there wasn't collaboration later on - just read Emerick's book for evidence that there was. But the Beatles as a team were nowhere near where they were in '63 or '64.

To me, the first song where I could never see the other writing it is "You Got To Hide Your Love Away". No one talks about that record much (book-length treatises have been written psychoanalyzing John's "Help"), but to me the finished product on "Hide" is much more what John would be than "Help" (though John has said that "Help" was done "too fast trying to be commercial"). "Hide" could have fit very well on Highway 61 Revisited - it's trippy, vague, and screams "pot!" to me. "Hide" is made by the John who would bring us "Strawberry Fields", "Lucy In The Sky", "Across The Universe", "#9 Dream", etc.. I think it's an underrated classic that gets buried by "Help" & "Ticket To Ride" (both brilliant) and to me is the first "John" song.

 

[Godsbrother]

The bottom line is the group was really never the same after Pepper and it was due to a variety of reasons: Brian Epstein's death, musical differences , drugs, poor business decisions, Yoko and just the fact that they had spent virtually every day with each other for years and were growing apart.

To me, the first song where I could never see the other writing it is "You Got To Hide Your Love Away". No one talks about that record much (book-length treatises have been written psychoanalyzing John's "Help"), but to me the finished product on "Hide" is much more what John would be than "Help" (though John has said that "Help" was done "too fast trying to be commercial"). "Hide" could have fit very well on Highway 61 Revisited - it's trippy, vague, and screams "pot!" to me. "Hide" is made by the John who would bring us "Strawberry Fields", "Lucy In The Sky", "Across The Universe", "#9 Dream", etc.. I think it's an underrated classic that gets buried by "Help" & "Ticket To Ride" (both brilliant) and to me is the first "John" song.

Well if you want go back that far then you might want to also consider the song Yesterday which features no other Beatle and was essentially a solo effort from Paul.

 

[Godsbrother]

Of course, you can hear how much fun they are having making Hey Bulldog. It comes across on the tape. I remember Emerick saying that it was a great atmosphere. Great riff, fun lyrics, Paul and John doing this back and forth thing at the end, Paul's great bass line and George absolutely nailing the solo on the first take, which didn't happen often.

Agreed but for all the infighting and bickering from 1968 onwards there were still times when they were enjoying themselves. The semi-live performances of Hey Jude & Revolution, John calling Paul to run to the studio to record The Ballad of John & Yoko, and as miserable as the Get Back project was it wasn't all bad, especially when Billy Preston was invited by George. OTher highlights was the performance of John & Paul singing the fast version of Two Of Us and of course the rooftop concert.There were some good moments but the group never really recovered from the bad feelings that started during the White Album. As George said, that was when the rot had started to set in.

 

[saintsfan]

The bottom line is the group was really never the same after Pepper and it was due to a variety of reasons: Brian Epstein's death, musical differences , drugs, poor business decisions, Yoko and just the fact that they had spent virtually every day with each other for years and were growing apart.

And I think they started to detriorate even earlier than Pepper - not musically, but as the Beatles entity. On the early records, unless you really paid attention, it wasn't really clear whether a song originated with Paul or John. But starting with Rubber Soul, the Beatles basically made a series of "White Albums" - where both John & Paul were bringing in songs that required (or requested) little help from the others. That's not to say there wasn't collaboration later on - just read Emerick's book for evidence that there was. But the Beatles as a team were nowhere near where they were in '63 or '64.

To me, the first song where I could never see the other writing it is "You Got To Hide Your Love Away". No one talks about that record much (book-length treatises have been written psychoanalyzing John's "Help"), but to me the finished product on "Hide" is much more what John would be than "Help" (though John has said that "Help" was done "too fast trying to be commercial"). "Hide" could have fit very well on Highway 61 Revisited - it's trippy, vague, and screams "pot!" to me. "Hide" is made by the John who would bring us "Strawberry Fields", "Lucy In The Sky", "Across The Universe", "#9 Dream", etc.. I think it's an underrated classic that gets buried by "Help" & "Ticket To Ride" (both brilliant) and to me is the first "John" song.

Yeah, I don't know. I see what you are saying, but as far back as With The Beatles, it was obvious that John and Paul had different styles and I can hear that. All My Loving is clearly a "Paul" type song and There's A Place (which is actually on their first album) has is clearly a "John" type song. There were times where they wrote nose to nose and there were times where one would primarily write a song and the other would help out just a bit. That happened throughoutI thing the reason people hear a more "unified" sound on those earlier albums is simple. Most of those early songs were John or mostly John. John really dominated the group in the early years, much more than is commonly accepted. Please Please Me was John. Most of A Hard Day's Night was John. Paul and John often collaborated on singles in those early years, but the albums were dominated by John, IMO.

Help, Rubber Soul, and Revolver had moments where you had individual songwriters doing their thing. But most sources that I have read have said clearly that there was usually some type of collaboration, even if it was help with a line or two or help with a middle 8. For example, on the surface, Eleanor Rigby appears to be a solo Paul record, but it wasn't. John contributed to the lyrics and George came up with the "Ahhh Look at all the lonely people" lick. Strawberry Fields, primarily written by John, but Paul came up with the famous mellotron intro. Stuff like that.

After Pepper, they were writing mostly solo and there wasn't much in the way of collaboration or compromise. That's the difference.

 

[saintsfan]

Of course, you can hear how much fun they are having making Hey Bulldog. It comes across on the tape. I remember Emerick saying that it was a great atmosphere. Great riff, fun lyrics, Paul and John doing this back and forth thing at the end, Paul's great bass line and George absolutely nailing the solo on the first take, which didn't happen often.

Agreed but for all the infighting and bickering from 1968 onwards there were still times when they were enjoying themselves. The semi-live performances of Hey Jude & Revolution, John calling Paul to run to the studio to record The Ballad of John & Yoko, and as miserable as the Get Back project was it wasn't all bad, especially when Billy Preston was invited by George. OTher highlights was the performance of John & Paul singing the fast version of Two Of Us and of course the rooftop concert.There were some good moments but the group never really recovered from the bad feelings that started during the White Album. As George said, that was when the rot had started to set in.

Absolutely. The sessions on the roof, they are enjoying themselves. It comes across in the performace. As inane as "One After 909" is as a song, they make it come alive because it's clear they are enjoying playing it so much. It's one of my favorite tracks on Let It Be because of that.Whatever happened between them, there was clearly a magic between these four people. When they were all in and all enjoying themselves, they could still make it happen. That's why I enjoy hearing Abbey Road so much. Not to sound all hippy, but you can hear the good vibes coming through on the album. It just sounds like it was a pleasant recording to make. Likewise, you can hear the angst on the White Album. Now, that adds a certain atmosphere that can have an appeal as well, but the point is, you can hear it.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

On a sidenote, I've read about the influences the Beatles had.

Bob Dylan

Roy Orbison

Brian Wilson

Those names make sense.

But the name that always strikes as peculiar is............Donovan.

John and Paul really liked this guy--the sunshine superman guy.

Seriously, both John and Paul thought this guy was awesome. They were enamored with him.

It just seems so odd.

 

[saintsfan]

On a sidenote, I've read about the influences the Beatles had.Bob DylanRoy OrbisonBrian WilsonThose names make sense.But the name that always strikes as peculiar is............Donovan.John and Paul really liked this guy--the sunshine superman guy.Seriously, both John and Paul thought this guy was awesome. They were enamored with him.It just seems so odd.

Donovan taught them how to play that fingerpicking style they started using around the White Album. You can hear it on Julia. I think he taught them that in India. Yeah, they loved him.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Donovan taught them how to play that fingerpicking style they started using around the White Album. You can hear it on Julia. I think he taught them that in India. Yeah, they loved him.

I've read how competitive the Beatles were, how they compared themselves to other bands.But, for whatever reason, they were in awe of Donovan Leitch. They really liked this guy; they were really impressed.

 

[saintsfan]

Donovan taught them how to play that fingerpicking style they started using around the White Album. You can hear it on Julia. I think he taught them that in India. Yeah, they loved him.

I've read how competitive the Beatles were, how they compared themselves to other bands.But, for whatever reason, they were in awe of Donovan Leitch. They really liked this guy; they were really impressed.

Yeah, that kind of stuff happens all the time, I guess. Most people thought the Guy Lombardo Orchestra was the corniest band in the world. Louis Armstrong, towering genius and the greatest jazzman of all time, thought Lombardo had the best band in the world.

 

[saintsfan]

I have some family stuff today, but later this evening, I'll come back and post the next episode. Please, continue the conversation.

 

[badmojo1006]

All Things Must Pass and Living In The Material World

George had a backlog of songs, so he went into the studio with Phil Spector to record All Things Must Pass (ATMP). Interesting that Spector produced the spare sound on John's Plastic Ono Band, which is totally not what Phil Spector is known for. For Harrison, ATMP got the full Spector treatment. Loud, in your face, Wall of Sound producion. It was a triple album, but really just two of the albums had recorded music on it. The third disk was a bunch of jams.

The album went straight to No 1 along with the first single off the album My Sweet Lord. Interestingly, several of the songs on ATMP were turned down by the Beatles for inclusion on Beatles albums, including the title track. This is the album that George first became known for his slide guitar work, which to my recollection, he never did with the Beatles. The Beatles didn't use slide guitar much and the only song I can think of that uses slide is For You Blue, off of Let It Be, but ironically, John played slide on that one.

Anyway, the slide is really heard on the first single from ATMP called My Sweet Lord. It's a song about God talking about how George wants to see and be with God with background vocals saying Alleluia or Hare Krishna or other things. To me, one of the most magical moments of any record that I have ever heard occurs right at the beginning of this song. George starts with the acoustic guitar playing the chords to the song, then, the slide comes in. It's a moment that gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. Great song. Of course, by now, everybody knows that George got sued for copying He's So Fine. What's interesting is that Allen Klein was George's manager at this time. He started playing both sides of the fence when he bought the publishing company that owned He's So Fine. A shady character that Allen Klein. Did George plagarize?? He claimed he never did it consciously. I don't know. I do know that if you sing "he's so fine" instead of "my sweet lord" it fits perfectly. It's still a great song, however. Much better, IMO, than He's So Fine.

The rest of the album is much the same. Mostly about God. My favorite tracks are Beware of Darkness (featuring Eric Clapton), What Is Life, All Things Must Pass, Isn't It A Pity (which kind of rips off the coda to Hey Jude, but what the heck, if you can't steal from friends who can you steal from. Paul repays the favor by stealing ding dong ding dong ding dong on Wonderful Christmas Time), and Wah Wah. But really, most of the songs are very well done.

George's next album Living In The Material World kind of continues the spirit of ATMP. The big single from Material World was Give Me Love(Give Me Peace). A very catchy song with a great message. The title track of the album is kind of a fast rocker and is also solid. The lyrics for this album are even more on the preachy side which is why people were initially disappointed with this album. In reality, after something as huge as ATMP, this was bound to be a disappointment, but it was still a #1 album, even if it didn't sell like ATMP. The tour to support this album was also a huge letdown because George was suffering from laryngitis. The lead vocals sounded bad. Although he would have some moments, in many ways this was the end of George's status on the top of the musical heap. He would start a slow decline before checking out for 5 years in the early 80s.

In between these two albums, George put together a benefit concert called the Concert for Bangladesh. Now a rock benefit seems kind of commonplace, but in the days before Live Aid, it really hadn't been done before. George got a bunch of his friends, including Dylan, Clapton, Badfinger, Ringo, Billy Preston, and Ravi Shankar. I read somewhere that he asked John to appear, but John wouldn't appear without Yoko and George didn't want Yoko. He also asked Paul who said no because they just broke up. Anyway, there was an album and everything recorded for this event and they earned money for Bangladesh which went to UNICEF. There were two shows. George sung a combination of Beatles songs and solo stuff. There was controversy over this because it took a long time for the money to get to the Bangladesh refugees. It was tied up because they didn't apply for tax exempt status or something.

However, for all the messiness, it was the first on of it's kind a full decade before Live Aid.

Next... George sales decline to semi retirement

Somehow I missed this thread because i thought it was about the Video game. Great writeup Saints-fan, look forward to reading the entire thread.The one thing I heard about the Concert for Bangladesh was that as Leon Russell was playing "Jumping Jack Flash", Mick Jagger was supposed to run on stage halfway through and finish the song. They couldn't get it done, but that would have been incredible

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

To me, the first song where I could never see the other writing it is "You Got To Hide Your Love Away". No one talks about that record much

Awesome When I first got the "Help" DVD I went right to all the songs: "You're Gonna Lose That Girl", "Another Girl", "I Need You".......

But "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" is jarring. It resonates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz7IjXu0DfQ

 

[saintsfan]

Tug of War to mid 80s break

As I said before, Macca realized that McCartney II probably wasn't his best work, so he decided to bring in George Martin to help him produce the album. This album started a bit of a trend for McCartney in that he hadn't really been involved in any kind of guest stars on his albums. That would change on Tug Of War. He and Stevie Wonder composed two songs for the album, and he did a song with Carl Perkins. The resulting album would be one of McCartney's best solo works, although, IMO, not as good as Band On The Run.

Tug of War, on the strength of the #1 single Ebony and Ivory with Stevie Wonder, shot straight to the top of the charts. Actually, I'm not a real big fan of Ebony and Ivory. Good message, but it's kind of corny, IMO. Blackbird was a song about racism too, but it was a better more serious song. I don't know. The public loved it. However, Tug of War is a great album. I love Take It Away (the bassline is great, as usual), the title track, Wonderlust (great piano ballad, Macca can do these in his sleep), and Somebody Who Cares, but best of all is the track dedicated to John Lennon who died the year before. Here Today is one of those songs that makes you remember why McCartney is one of the greatest songwriters in the world. It's a beautiful song and I don't think the use of the Yesterday-like acoustic guitar and string quartet was an accident. Great lyrics. Paul asks a bunch of questions and wonders what John might say if he were here today. I wonder how many takes it took Paul to get through this song. it sounds like he barely gets through this one. Holy crap, what a powerful song. People who talk about Paul being all fluff need to listen to this. It chokes me up to listen to it. I think it's fitting that the most emotional of the Lennon tributes should come from the person who, after Yoko, was John's best friend in the world.

Paul had enough songs that he had some for the next album, so in 1983, he released his next album called Pipes of Peace. For these sessions, Paul worked with Michael Jackson. The Girl Is Mine, ended up on Thriller, Say Say Say, ended up on Pipes of Peace. Neither song is a favorite of mine, although they are not horrible. I would say I prefer Say Say Say. Pipes of Peace kind of had the same formula as Tug Of War. I like the title track and So Bad (top 30 hit). Pipes of Peace sold nearly as well as Tug of War in the UK, but failed to crack the top 15 in the US. This would be the beginning of a slide for Paul in the US. Overall, I think a much weaker album than Tug of War.

Paul's next project would be a movie called Give My Regards to Broad Street. Honestly, the less said about it the better. I can summarize the plot in one sentence. Paul's master tapes are stolen and looks for them finally finding them. That's it. The soundtrack album sold very well. Why?? Because you might have heard of a couple of the songs in the soundtrack. Let's see, there's a little song called Yesterday, and another unknown one called The Long and Winding Road and then, oh yeah, there's one called Here, There, and Everywhere and another one Eleanor Rigby. These were all re-recordings, and in most cases, very inferior versions of classic McCartney songs. No More Lonely Nights was the hit single from this album. Some people don't like it, but McCartney with David Gilmour playing guitar is a difficult combination not to like. I love the song. Other than that, nothing to see here.

After recording a hit song for a movie called Spies Like Us, which to this date is Paul's last top 10 song in the US, Paul decided to go in a different direction and the result was Press To Play, an album the public didn't buy and the critics were split on. I find it to be similar to McCartney II in that it is electronic. Drum machines, synths. Not one of my favs, but as Godsbrother said, you can always find a couple. I like Press and Footprints the best. Some Macca fans love this album. Not me.

So, Paul, with his commercial fortunes, for the first time in his career, kind of going south decides to take some time off. It would be 3 years before we would get new material from Macca, a lifetime in Paul's universe up until this time. IMO, the album that resulted is another McCartney classic.

Next...Flowers In The Dirt and beyond

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Tug of War to mid 80s breakNo More Lonely Nights was the hit single from this album. Some people don't like it, but McCartney with David Gilmour playing guitar is a difficult combination not to like. I love the song.

This is a great song.

Good video, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah2ywKPfnTc

 

[rustycolts]

Really enjoyed reading this.I have been a Beatle fan for many many years.I have a question though right after I got out of the army in 79 a local album rock fm station down here in Fl would play a few songs from a band whos name I can't remember for the life of me and ask is this Beatles.They were trying at the time to say the Beatles had reunited under this band name.Anybody remember this and what was the story on that band?

 

[badmojo1006]

Really enjoyed reading this.I have been a Beatle fan for many many years.I have a question though right after I got out of the army in 79 a local album rock fm station down here in Fl would play a few songs from a band whos name I can't remember for the life of me and ask is this Beatles.They were trying at the time to say the Beatles had reunited under this band name.Anybody remember this and what was the story on that band?

 

[rustycolts]

Thanks for the link.I must have been on leave if it was 76 man that was along time ago seems like yesterday though.

 

[saintsfan]

Flowers In The Dirt to Off The Ground

As I said, up until now, Paul really hadn't taken a break much since 1962. The general apathy toward Press To Play caused him to take a break and regroup.

So, in 1989, Paul works on a album that would be called Flowers In The Dirt. To me, Flowers is a major comeback for McCartney. What McCartney decides on Flowers is two things. First, he is not an electronic type artist and he sort of scraps that (thank God). Second, he is a Beatle, so if anybody can make music that sounds like the Beatles, it should be him and for the first time since the Beatles broke up, he doesn't run from that. In fact, he plans his first major world tour since 1976 with Wings and the playlist is full of Beatles songs, many of which he has never played live. I think finally, after all these years, Paul comes to terms with being a Beatle. IMO, it does him a world of good.

Flowers is interesting in that Paul really hasn't collaborated in a major way with anyone since John. On Flowers, he writes several of the songs with Elvis Costello. Paul felt like Elvis was kind of like John in his personality and such and so it seems to work. On the song You Want Her Too, Elvis sings dual lead with Paul and you see them kind of throwing lines back and forth, Paul being kind of optimistic, Elvis being kind of negative, kind of like Getting Better, so I can see where Paul gets the parallel.

Unlike Press To Play, Flowers is a hit. Not the monster hit of the Band On The Run days, but a hit. My Brave Face, This One, Figure of Eight, and Put It There were the singles from the album. All of which are good songs. When I first heard My Brave Face, I remember thinking, "Holy crap. It's a Beatles song." The part when he sings "take me to that place..." sounds so much like the Beatles. Put It There is a kind of acoustic song that could have been on the White Album. Figure of Eight has a She's A Woman type vocal. Really, i like almost the entire album. To me, Flowers is the best solo McCartney album outside of Band On The Run.

With this comeback, all of a sudden Paul starts working again. The tour I mentioned above turned into a live album called Tripping The Live Fantastic. If you are going to get any of the McCartney live albums (there are way too many of them), to me this is the best one. Paul is still in pretty solid voice and the Beatles songs are magical. Paul's voice is better on Wings Over America, but of course, he is much younger then. What makes this set better than the Wings one is only a few Beatles songs on the Wings one, while over half of Tripping are Beatles songs. Paul also does a Unplugged around this time. It's pretty solid. I have it, but rarely listen to it anymore. It's cool to hear Here, There, and Everywhere and the first song Paul ever wrote I Lost My Little Girl. Also, That Would Be Something and Singalong Junk, which is an instrumental version of Junk. Both of these are from Paul's first solo album McCartney.

Then, Paul does the most unusual thing in his career. He writes a classical music piece. The Liverpool Oratorio had great reviews and spent several weeks on top of the classical music charts worldwide and even charting at #177 on he regular album charts. Basically, it kind of follows Paul's childhood in Liverpool. I've heard it, and it's good, but I'm not a huge fan of classical music. I'm more of a classical's greatest hits kind of guy, so I don't know if I can comment intelligently about Liverpool Oratorio. It's worth a listen.

Paul still had a couple of songs leftover from his collaboration with Elvis Costello, so those found there way onto the next album which was called Off The Ground. Off The Ground has mostly the same backing band as Flowers. Off The Ground is a more straightforward album, IMO. It is also, IMO, a very solid piece of work, although I don't think it's as good as Flowers. Hope Of Deliverance was the first single off the album and did OK in the UK, but not so great in the US. It sold pretty well, although McCartney's days of monster sales like Band On The Run were kind of over. The album got generally positive reviews, although it was seen as weaker than Flowers. Best songs off the album are Hope Of Deliverance, the title track, Looking For Changes, Get Out of My Way, and C'Mon People. Interestingly, Looking For Changes is a song about animal rights, which is unusual for McCartney as he usually doesn't get overtly political on his albums, so that's a change. Overall, I thought the album was good work. It didn't do any major damage in the pop charts, but seeing as how grunge was the big thing on the charts around this time, it's hard to imagine that Paul would have somehow broken through that. People were in the mood to be pissed. Perfect time for Plastic Ono Band maybe, but not Paul McCartney.

Next...Flaming Pie and beyond

 

[wildbill]

No More Lonely Nights was the hit single from this album. Some people don't like it, but McCartney with David Gilmour playing guitar is a difficult combination not to like. I love the song.

Totally agree. It'd be a great song even without Gilmour, but he takes it to another level.

 

[saintsfan]

Flaming Pie and beyond

After Off The Ground in 1993, Paul did a little thing in the mid 90's you might of heard of, he got back together with this obscure little band he used to be a member of and did a couple of songs and released a few albums.

Seriously, the Beatles Anthology in 1995 was huge. More on that later.

So, after the Beatles Anthology, Paul resumed his solo career with an album in 1997 called Flaming Pie. The title of the album was a joke John used to say about the Beatles name. "I had a vision that a man came unto us on a flaming pie, and he said, 'You are Beatles with an A.' And so we were." Anyway, Jeff Lynne, Ringo, Steve Miller, George Martin and his son James McCartney helped him with the album. This would be Paul's last album with Linda as she would die of cancer the next year. Actually, listening to the song Calico Skies with the thought in your mind that Linda was probably sick during the making of this album makes it more meaningful. Overall, to me, this is a great album. The World Tonight and Young Boy would have both been hit songs in a different recording industry environment. Young Boy, especially, sounds like a Beatles song. I like The Song We Were Singing (about John and Paul's partnership), Flaming Pie, and Beautiful Night, also, but really the whole album is solid. Flaming Pie got great reviews and was a hit album. I remember it clearly as being an album that was greatly anticipated, more so than in many years for McCartney. It was nominated for album of the year losing out to Bob Dylan.

Paul did release a second album of classical music around this time called Standing Stone. I haven't heard this one, so I can't comment too much. It did go to #1 on the classical charts. Paul has another album of classical music called Working Classical a few years later. Then a fourth one called Ecce Cor Meum. That's all on the classical stuff.

Run Devil Run was the next album, which was mostly filled with covers. After Linda's death, Paul probably wanted to work on something close to his roots. I don't want to spend to much time on it because it's an album of covers. Notice I skipped Back In The USSR, another album of covers specifically for the Russian people, which was released in 1988 before Flowers In The Dirt. It got good reviews, but it's hard not to when you are a singer and a musician of McCartney's caliber and you are doing an album of familiar songs.

Paul's next album of original material is called Driving Rain in 2001. I call this the Heather Mills album because he has announced he is in a relationship with her. Once again, the reviews were good for this album. However, it didn't sell very well. There was no hit single to support the album. Even in the UK, the album only reached #26. This was around the time of the 9/11 attacks, so Paul composed Freedom, which is a very simple kind of sing a long song (I've always thought it was Paul's Give Peace A Chance). I don't like it quite as much as the critics. Always a few good songs on a Macca album. I like Rinse the Raindrops, Lonely Road, and Driving Rain. The album is kind of dark. Not surprising since it's the first new material since Linda died.

The next album, Paul goes back to a formula he's used before, namely, he plays all the instruments and sings all the songs himself. This time, Nigel Godrich of Radiohead produces the album. It's called Chaos and Creation In The Backyard. I think it's better than Driving Rain. It sounds like a more reflective effort than many of McCartney's other solo albums. Having heard some stories of the recording of this album is kind of interesting. What I found funniest is that Nigel refused to let Paul play songs that he didn't like. Kind of funny that somebody, probably for the first time since John, told Paul that a song was crap and he didn't like it. To me, it showed on the album as the songs were solid throughout. Fine Line was the opener and kind of the "hit" song on the album, but I like most of the songs. Jenny Wren is one of those McCartney acoustic songs. Too Much Rain is great. There aren't really any outright rockers on this album. Very reflective, very good. Once again, Paul is nominated for several Grammys.

To date, Paul's last solo album is an album called Memory Almost Full, another album that got generally positive reviews. The recording of it was actually started before Chaos and Creation In The Backyard. Once again, not one of my favorites, so I don't want to go too much into it. I do like a few songs. To me, it sounds more like Wings. What's interesting is that this is McCartney's iTunes album. This is the one that was heavily promoted by iTunes. Another interesting story is that the title of the album is supposedly an anagram of "for my soulmate LLM(Linda Louise McCartney). Paul claims this was unintentional, but you know how the Beatles are. There are so many unintentional things, you wonder if they are really unintentional.

Next...Beatles Anthology

 

[saintsfan]

The Beatles Anthology

OK, one more thing to cover. In 1995, the remaining Beatles got together to do a project called The Beatles Anthology. The project consisted of a documentary of the Beatles career using the words of the Beatles themselves to tell their story. Paul, George, and Ringo's memories are collected along with clips of interviews and such that John did. Along with the documentary were 3 double albums, consisting of outtakes from Beatles sessions and a couple of new songs recorded by the Beatles. Also, a book was done.

The documentary was shown over three nights on ABC which became known for that time as ABeatlesC. Some of the networks sitcoms replaced their opening credits with Beatle tracks. At the end of the first and second episode, the new songs with a video was premiered. First was Free As A Bird, which was an old demo John had that the other Beatles backed him on. Second, was a demo that John had done called Real Love. Rumors were that there were supposed to be three new songs. I've heard some say the third song was supposed to be Grow Old With Me. I've heard some say that it was a new composition. Whatever it was, it was never released. The documentary was huge. The videos were pretty cool, especially Free As A Bird. It's a treasure trove of Beatle inside jokes and references to Beatles songs. Somewhere on the Internet someone put down all the references, there are tons of them and you could spend forever trying to find them all.

Even bigger were the albums. Many, many unreleased tracks. A treasure trove for Beatle fans and in great sound quality. Many of these tracks had been heard before by hard core Beatles fans in bootleg for, but not in the quality as appears on these CDs.

Anthology 1 was the most historical of the CDs. It included the first and only record ever made by the Quarrymen. That'll Be The Day backed with In Spite of All The Danger. The story is that after they made the record, they were supposed to each have it for a week, then give it to the next one. After many years, Paul tracked it down. It was still in the possession of John Lowe, who played piano on the track. When he tried to sell it at auction in 1981, Paul purchased it from him and restored it. It is said that this is the most valuable record in the world at 100,000 British Pounds. Anthology 1 is the first time it was released to the public. Other interesting things are some recordings from the Decca sessions, early recordings with EMI with Pete Best on drums, home recordings with Stuart Sutcliffe, the Tony Sheridan sessions and live performances from early Beatlemania with far better sound quality than anything heard on the Hollywood Bowl sessions. Listen to I Saw Her Standing There and tell me the Beatles were not a good live band.

Anthology 2 corresponds to the Beatles most creative period in the studio. Highlights are Take 1 of Tomorrow Never Knows, an alternative take of Norwegian Wood (I have no idea why they re-recorded it), an alternative version of You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (great vocal, once again, why did they do it again), a hornless and completely different version of Got To Get You Into My Life, early demos of The Fool On The Hill, and 3 versions of Strawberry Fields Forever showing the progression from demo to finished song. Take 1 of Strawberry Fields Forever is stunning. I'm not sure what they heard, but to me, it sounds like they could have just finished up this one and it would have been perfect, but hey, that's why I'm not a Beatle.

Anthology 3 has stuff from the White Album through Abbey Road. It is also interesting because of the number of acoustic demos on it and songs that would later be released as solo Beatle songs. Among these, George's All Things Must Pass (not sure why the other Beatles didn't like it. It's beautiful here), Not Guilty, and Teddy Boy. Something and While My Guitar Gently Weeps are here as acoustic songs, both fantastic. Because is presented without music so you can just hear the Beatle harmonies, that is great. The Spector-less The Long and Winding Road, which is superior to the one of Let It Be. Also on here is What's The New Mary Jane, which is kind of strange. No wonder the other Beatles fought John on that one.

You might think these albums with outakes and such would just be for hard core Beatles fans only, but you would be wrong. These albums sold. All three went to #1 and were multiple times platinum. Also interestingly, if you like the cd's up starting with Anthology 1, then Anthology 2 in the middle, then Anthology 3 on the right, it forms one collage that fits together. The collage spans the entire career of the band.

Ovarall, the Anthology project, along with the album 1, which was a collection of Beatles #1 hits made the Beatles the top selling band of the 1990's. Not bad for a band that had broken up 30 years before.

 

[Godsbrother]

<u>Tug of War to mid 80s break</u>Paul had enough songs that he had some for the next album, so in 1983, he released his next album called Pipes of Peace. For these sessions, Paul worked with Michael Jackson. The Girl Is Mine, ended up on Thriller, Say Say Say, ended up on Pipes of Peace. Neither song is a favorite of mine, although they are not horrible. I would say I prefer Say Say Say. Pipes of Peace kind of had the same formula as Tug Of War. I like the title track and So Bad (top 30 hit). Pipes of Peace sold nearly as well as Tug of War in the UK, but failed to crack the top 15 in the US. This would be the beginning of a slide for Paul in the US. Overall, I think a much weaker album than Tug of War.

Pipes of Peace was largely recorded during Tug of War, which was originally going to be a double album. I have always thought that side 1 of Pipes of Peace was easily as good as Tug of War. Unfortunately side two was way too lightweight for my liking. I give the record a passing grade but it could have been so much more.

Paul's next project would be a movie called Give My Regards to Broad Street. Honestly, the less said about it the better. I can summarize the plot in one sentence. Paul's master tapes are stolen and looks for them finally finding them. That's it. The soundtrack album sold very well. Why?? Because you might have heard of a couple of the songs in the soundtrack. Let's see, there's a little song called Yesterday, and another unknown one called The Long and Winding Road and then, oh yeah, there's one called Here, There, and Everywhere and another one Eleanor Rigby. These were all re-recordings, and in most cases, very inferior versions of classic McCartney songs. No More Lonely Nights was the hit single from this album. Some people don't like it, but McCartney with David Gilmour playing guitar is a difficult combination not to like. I love the song. Other than that, nothing to see here.

while I agree the movie is awful the soundtrack wasn't that bad. Sure the Beatle remakes weren't as good as the original but it was still interesting to hear. The other songs weren't half bad and "No More Lonely Nights" is one of Paul's best.

After recording a hit song for a movie called Spies Like Us, which to this date is Paul's last top 10 song in the US, Paul decided to go in a different direction and the result was Press To Play, an album the public didn't buy and the critics were split on. I find it to be similar to McCartney II in that it is electronic. Drum machines, synths. Not one of my favs, but as Godsbrother said, you can always find a couple. I like Press and Footprints the best. Some Macca fans love this album. Not me.

Press to Play has never been among my favorites and certainly sounds like it was recorded in the mid 80s. The funny thing is I have some boots of some Press to Play songs and actually prefer them to the released tracks. Much less busy.

 

[saintsfan]

<!--quoteo(post=12934310:date=Feb 19 2011, 11:16 PM:name=rustycolts)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rustycolts @ Feb 19 2011, 11:16 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=12934310"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Really enjoyed reading this.I have been a Beatle fan for many many years.I have a question though right after I got out of the army in 79 a local album rock fm station down here in Fl would play a few songs from a band whos name I can't remember for the life of me and ask is this Beatles.They were trying at the time to say the Beatles had reunited under this band name.Anybody remember this and what was the story on that band?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<a href="

Man, that's the greatest McCartney impersonator I've ever heard.Thanks for the link. I had heard of this, but hadn't heard the record until now.

 

[Godsbrother]

Paul resumed his solo career with an album in 1997 called Flaming Pie. Overall, to me, this is a great album. The World Tonight and Young Boy would have both been hit songs in a different recording industry environment. Young Boy, especially, sounds like a Beatles song. I like The Song We Were Singing (about John and Paul's partnership), Flaming Pie, and Beautiful Night, also, but really the whole album is solid. Flaming Pie got great reviews and was a hit album. I remember it clearly as being an album that was greatly anticipated, more so than in many years for McCartney. It was nominated for album of the year losing out to Bob Dylan.

Agreed. A great LP and certainly deserving of the nomination.

Run Devil Run was the next album, which was mostly filled with covers. After Linda's death, Paul probably wanted to work on something close to his roots. I don't want to spend to much time on it because it's an album of covers.

Okay I won't either, but it is a fine LP. Recorded in a week, I believe.

Paul's next album of original material is called Driving Rain in 2001. I call this the Heather Mills album because he has announced he is in a relationship with her. Once again, the reviews were good for this album. However, it didn't sell very well. There was no hit single to support the album. Even in the UK, the album only reached #26. This was around the time of the 9/11 attacks, so Paul composed Freedom, which is a very simple kind of sing a long song (I've always thought it was Paul's Give Peace A Chance). I don't like it quite as much as the critics. Always a few good songs on a Macca album. I like Rinse the Raindrops, Lonely Road, and Driving Rain. The album is kind of dark. Not surprising since it's the first new material since Linda died.

I think Driving Rain is a great album and like it better than Flaming Pie. Not a bad track on the album.

The next album, Paul goes back to a formula he's used before, namely, he plays all the instruments and sings all the songs himself. This time, Nigel Godrich of Radiohead produces the album. It's called Chaos and Creation In The Backyard. I think it's better than Driving Rain. It sounds like a more reflective effort than many of McCartney's other solo albums. Having heard some stories of the recording of this album is kind of interesting. What I found funniest is that Nigel refused to let Paul play songs that he didn't like. Kind of funny that somebody, probably for the first time since John, told Paul that a song was crap and he didn't like it. To me, it showed on the album as the songs were solid throughout. Fine Line was the opener and kind of the "hit" song on the album, but I like most of the songs. Jenny Wren is one of those McCartney acoustic songs. Too Much Rain is great. There aren't really any outright rockers on this album. Very reflective, very good. Once again, Paul is nominated for several Grammys.

Certainly a solid effort. Paul has been on a roll.

To date, Paul's last solo album is an album called Memory Almost Full, another album that got generally positive reviews. The recording of it was actually started before Chaos and Creation In The Backyard. Once again, not one of my favorites, so I don't want to go too much into it. I do like a few songs. To me, it sounds more like Wings. What's interesting is that this is McCartney's iTunes album. This is the one that was heavily promoted by iTunes. Another interesting story is that the title of the album is supposedly an anagram of "for my soulmate LLM(Linda Louise McCartney). Paul claims this was unintentional, but you know how the Beatles are. There are so many unintentional things, you wonder if they are really unintentional.

I like this album a lot but I don't think it is quite as good as Flaming Pie, Driving Rain or Chaos. The one thing I really like about it is that Paul spends a lot of time refelecting on his entire life on this LP, especially on tracks like "That Was Me" and "The End of the End", the latter sounding like his epitaph.One more LP that deserves a mention is his 2008 "Electric Arguments" under the name of The Firemen with producer Youth. The concept behind the Firemen was sounds and music of an experimental nature. The first two Firemen LPs had no vocals and were no promoted by McCartney and are rare. In contrast Electric Arguments does feature singing by Paul and was promoted fairly heavily on Siruis radio. Again Paul is back playing all of the instruments and each song was completed in one day.This is a GREAT album and I wish everyone that thinks Paul only writes lighweight ballads could hear it. Anyone expecting "silly Love Songs" with this album is going to be in for a surprise. It is almost New Age. "Sing the Changes" is the standout track and was played in his last tour but the entire album is interesting.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Anthology 2 corresponds to the Beatles most creative period in the studio. Highlights are Take 1 of Tomorrow Never Knows, an alternative take of Norwegian Wood (I have no idea why they re-recorded it), an alternative version of You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (great vocal, once again, why did they do it again), a hornless and completely different version of Got To Get You Into My Life, early demos of The Fool On The Hill, and 3 versions of Strawberry Fields Forever showing the progression from demo to finished song. Take 1 of Strawberry Fields Forever is stunning. I'm not sure what they heard, but to me, it sounds like they could have just finished up this one and it would have been perfect, but hey, that's why I'm not a Beatle.

Anthology 2 has what the four of them considered the worst Beatle song of all time: If You've Got TroubleRingo sang lead. They were embarrassed by how bad it was.

It was rejected for Help! and replaced with "Act Naturally".

I don't think it is awful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq5gzgo3kbs

 

[saintsfan]

Anthology 2 corresponds to the Beatles most creative period in the studio. Highlights are Take 1 of Tomorrow Never Knows, an alternative take of Norwegian Wood (I have no idea why they re-recorded it), an alternative version of You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (great vocal, once again, why did they do it again), a hornless and completely different version of Got To Get You Into My Life, early demos of The Fool On The Hill, and 3 versions of Strawberry Fields Forever showing the progression from demo to finished song. Take 1 of Strawberry Fields Forever is stunning. I'm not sure what they heard, but to me, it sounds like they could have just finished up this one and it would have been perfect, but hey, that's why I'm not a Beatle.

Anthology 2 has what the four of them considered the worst Beatle song of all time: If You've Got TroubleRingo sang lead. They were embarrassed by how bad it was.

It was rejected for Help! and replaced with "Act Naturally".

I don't think it is awful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq5gzgo3kbs

Interesting story about that. It was typical of Ringo to say something like "rock on George" or something like that going into the solo. You can hear this if you listen to Honey Don't on Beatles For Sale.On If You've Got Trouble, Ringo, desperate for something good to happen says "Ah, rock on ANYBODY."

 

[saintsfan]

Speaking of little things on the Anthology, one of the funny things on Anthology 2 was a take of And Your Bird Can Sing, which to me, would have been a great take of the song, if John and Paul hadn't been laughing uncontrollably during most of it. Sounds like herbal laughter to me.

If You've Got Trouble is the worst unreleased song ever (I don't know if it is), Anthology 2 also has one of my favorite unreleased things in That Means A Lot. For whatever reason the Beatles thought they couldn't sing it, so they gave it away to PJ Proby. It was a hit for PJ Proby. Honestly, I don't hear what the problem was with the Beatles version of the song.

Anthology 1 has, what might be the best unreleased Beatles performance. Why Leave My Kitten Alone was left off of Beatles For Sale, I have no idea. It's much, much better than Mr Moonlight. John vocal is absolutely blistering. Twist and Shout type blistering.

Anthology 3 has Come and Get it which became a top 10 hit for Badfinger. This was near the end and only performed on the demo by McCartney, so it probably was never seriously considered as a Beatles song. In fact, it was recorded when McCartney arrived early for an Abbey Road session.

 

[saintsfan]

Another interesting thing about the Anthology are songs that were released on Beatles albums, but the Anthology has alternate takes of the song which are interesting.

Anthology 1 has Paul singing Can't Buy Me Love, but he sings it in the vocal style of She's A Woman. It's much bluesier and I'm not sure why they abandoned it. Also, an electric version of And I Love Her (the released one is better, IMO). Eight Days A Week is interesting because it the released version has a fade in, which was unusual. Their early idea was kind of a vocal fade in and it's heard here. Interesting.

Anthology 2 has several of these. An absolutely beautiful vocal on You've Got To Hide Your Love Away which was recorded over. And, to my ears, a perfect version of Norwegian Wood that they disgarded. Tomorrow Never Knows loopless, so to speak. A very heavy version. A wall of guitars probably put through a Leslie speaker along with the Lennon vocal put through the Leslie for the entire song. Got To Get You Into My Life in a very different version than the released version. IMO, the released version is better here.

Take 1 of Strawberry Fields is also one of my favorites. This version is as simple as the released version is complex. Paul on Mellotron, John lead vocal. Acoustic guitar, drums, and a slide guitar on the chorus. Once again, I have no idea how they didn't go down this road. The released version is a masterpiece, but it is much heavier than this take and I don't know what made them go down the heavier road. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with something being heavy, but creatively, when the acoustic demo and take 1 highlights the underlying beauty and simplicity of the song, I don't know how they went heavier. How did they get there? My instinct would have been to go with simplicity and beauty. Of course, had they gone down the simple road, would we think the song is the masterpiece that most of us think it is?? Maybe not. That's why they are the Beatles and I am just writing about them on a message board.

Anthology 3 has the acoustic While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Once again, love the released version probably better, but this version is so beautiful as it is, I wonder how they went there. Something, same thing. Something, to me, feels more like a demo than While My Guitar, but it is so beautiful in it's simplicity. The version here of Ob La Di, Ob La Da, to me, is better than the one on the White Album. They should have released it. I love John's Liverpool accent on Polythene Pam. Great.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Anthology 2 has several of these. An absolutely beautiful vocal on You've Got To Hide Your Love Away which was recorded over. And, to my ears, a perfect version of Norwegian Wood that they disgarded. Tomorrow Never Knows loopless, so to speak. A very heavy version. A wall of guitars probably put through a Leslie speaker along with the Lennon vocal put through the Leslie for the entire song.

Anthology 2 is great. In addition, the slower tempo version of "I'm Looking Through You" is awesome, particularly at the end where they just jammed."Taxman" has a George vocal which is rawer than the released version. And the chorus does not name the British P.M but instead sings "anybody gotta little bit of money".

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

saintsfan:

Do you have any thoughts about the Beatles movies?

I'd love to read your write-ups.

"A Hard Days Night"

"Help!"

"Magical Mystery Tour"

"Let It Be".

The "Can't Buy Me Love" scene gives goose bumps:

 

[saintsfan]

saintsfan:

Do you have any thoughts about the Beatles movies?

I'd love to read your write-ups.

"A Hard Days Night"

"Help!"

"Magical Mystery Tour"

"Let It Be".

The "Can't Buy Me Love" scene gives goose bumps:

Yeah, I do. Have seen them all. Let me gather my thoughts. Just came back from a parade and I'm a bit hammered. I'll post it when I sober up and get a second. Probably tomorrow or Monday.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

This continues to be my favorite thread in the FFA. Great work by saintsfan and others.

 

[saintsfan]

Beatles Movies

So, in 1964, the Beatles were the hottest thing in entertainment. The occupied the top 5 spots in the singles charts (an unheard of scenario) and the top two spots in the album charts (an even more unheard of scenario). In this climate, it was natural to try and cash in with a movie. So, United Artists, with a shoestring budget, decided to record "A Day In The Life" of the Beatles. They got this guy named Richard Lester to direct the movie, who the Beatles admired because he was a great comic director. Great, cheeky, English humor. So, they shot a movie and called it A Hard Day's Night, which was just something Ringo had said after a grueling day in the studio. It's basically the Beatles playing themselves as they ride to a TV performance on a train. Or as they put it "in a train and in a room, in a car and a room, and a room and a room." Paul's grandfather was kind of the "mixer" of the movie getting the boys into trouble throughout. Paul's grandfather was played by Irish actor William Brambell who starred in a show in Britain called "Steptoe and Son", which was similar to the American Standford and Son. On Steptoe, they call him a "dirty old man", which is why they keep calling him a "clean old man" in A Hard Day's Night.

Personally, I think this is among the greatest rock and roll movies ever. It's funny, irreverent, sharp, and the music throughout is great. Ringo is a natural on camera and John's sense of humor comes across really well. Can't Buy Me Love might as well be the template on which all future music videos are based. Quick edits, strange camera angles, the Beatles running around a field clowning around. It has everything.

So, A Hard Day's Night was a critical and commercial success, so the next movie they had more money, so Help! is in color and it goes on locations, like the Bahamas. Ringo is the star of the show again as a cult tries to get back a sacrificial ring that was sent to Ringo, so it causes the Beatles to run around trying to avoid having Ringo killed. Once again, kind of a shallow script, but it allows the Beatles personalities and their music shine through. I like Help!, but IMO, it's not as good as A Hard Day's Night. At times Help! looks too much like the Beatles know they are in a movie. It's not as natural as A Hard Day's Night, IMO. However, the music was once again superior and this movie did have some things about it that was innovative. If you watch it, then watch the TV show Batman, you can see the influence. The cartooniness. Also, once again, Ticket To Ride was a music video over a decade before anybody even knew what a video was.

After Brian Epstein died, they tried to make their own TV movie. They called it Magical Mystery Tour, and basically the idea was to drive around the country on a bus and wait for things to happen and film them. The script for this made A Hard Day's Night and Help! look like a complex plot. Once again, music great, but to me, this movie was just four guys on acid who thought they could release anything and it would be good. Magical Mystery Tour marks the first time the Beatles did something that the public didn't love and the critics had a field day. There were several problems with the movie. First, it was shown on the BBC in black and white, so a lot of the psychadelic imagery didn't come through. Second, they really didn't have a plan for the movie, so it turned into this hodgepodge that really didn't make sense. Third, it was shown on Boxing Day, so I think the last thing anyone expected to see was I Am The Walrus. However, I will say, the music segments are, once again, groundbreaking. I Am The Walrus is just insane as a song and the video totally brings that out. To me, Magical Mystery Tour is OK if you focus on the music videos. The rest of it is kind of strange.

Lastly, Let It Be. Let It Be is interesting in that it's almost the Beatles making a movie about breaking up. They seemed to be having so much fun on the other three movies, but this one, they spend most of the time looking miserable. Paul and George get into an argument with the camera's rolling. It just doesn't look like they are having fun. The only time they looked like they were having a good time is at the end on the roof (which is an iconic Beatles image and if you want to know where U2 got the idea to play on the roof, this is where). Once again, the music performances are mostly good, especially the stuff on the roof. They are having so much fun playing kind of a lame song in One After 909, you can see why people were and are so drawn to them. They can take something mediocre and make it magical just with the force of their personality.

Overall, I would say that A Hard Day's Night is one of those iconic rock and roll movies that will be remembered for years as being one of the best in it's genre. The others have good and bad moments, but the only movie that people 100 years from now might know by the Beatles is A Hard Day's Night.

 

[wildbill]

Any thoughts on Let It Be...Naked?

I've always liked the original Let It Be and thought it was a bit underrated. Most of the songs are strong, even if the recordings aren't. But the more I listen to the Naked version, the more I think it might be better.

 

[saintsfan]

Any thoughts on Let It Be...Naked?I've always liked the original Let It Be and thought it was a bit underrated. Most of the songs are strong, even if the recordings aren't. But the more I listen to the Naked version, the more I think it might be better.

Let It Be...Naked is great. Great sound. They kept most of what was good about Let It Be and removed the bad stuff.

 

[Godsbrother]

Any thoughts on Let It Be...Naked?I've always liked the original Let It Be and thought it was a bit underrated. Most of the songs are strong, even if the recordings aren't. But the more I listen to the Naked version, the more I think it might be better.

Let It Be...Naked is great. Great sound. They kept most of what was good about Let It Be and removed the bad stuff.

Agreed. Phil Spector really did some damage on that LP:1) Slowing down Across the Universe to a funeral dirge2) Strings & Chorus added way too heavy on Across the Universe, Let It Be, I Me Mine and especially The Long and Winding Road, even wiping out one of the McCartney vocal tracks3) Lead guitar mixed way too forward in Let It Be4) Wiping out the "All I need is you" beginning of I Dig A Pony though curiously this was also wiped out from Let It Be Naked so maybe it was John's idea to get rid of it before Spector even started on the project.5) Leaving off "Don't Let Me Down" as it certainly belonged on the album.To be fair though there are a few things he did that I liked:1) John's "I Dig A Pygmy" speech before Two of Us is great2) An outstanding piece of editing to extend "I Me Mine" from a minute + change to 2 1/2 3) John's "Hark the Angels Come" entrance before Let It Be4) John's "Queen says no to pot smoking FBI" comment before For You Blue5) John's "Hope we passed the audition" to close the LP after Get BackOverall Let It Be, Naked is much superior. The accompanying "Fly On the Wall" CD wasn't nearly as interesting as it could have been. There are over 160 HOURS of Let It Be sessions and what they chose was pretty boring, IMO.

 

[saintsfan]

Any thoughts on Let It Be...Naked?I've always liked the original Let It Be and thought it was a bit underrated. Most of the songs are strong, even if the recordings aren't. But the more I listen to the Naked version, the more I think it might be better.

Let It Be...Naked is great. Great sound. They kept most of what was good about Let It Be and removed the bad stuff.

Agreed. Phil Spector really did some damage on that LP:1) Slowing down Across the Universe to a funeral dirge2) Strings & Chorus added way too heavy on Across the Universe, Let It Be, I Me Mine and especially The Long and Winding Road, even wiping out one of the McCartney vocal tracks3) Lead guitar mixed way too forward in Let It Be4) Wiping out the "All I need is you" beginning of I Dig A Pony though curiously this was also wiped out from Let It Be Naked so maybe it was John's idea to get rid of it before Spector even started on the project.5) Leaving off "Don't Let Me Down" as it certainly belonged on the album.To be fair though there are a few things he did that I liked:1) John's "I Dig A Pygmy" speech before Two of Us is great2) An outstanding piece of editing to extend "I Me Mine" from a minute + change to 2 1/2 3) John's "Hark the Angels Come" entrance before Let It Be4) John's "Queen says no to pot smoking FBI" comment before For You Blue5) John's "Hope we passed the audition" to close the LP after Get BackOverall Let It Be, Naked is much superior. The accompanying "Fly On the Wall" CD wasn't nearly as interesting as it could have been. There are over 160 HOURS of Let It Be sessions and what they chose was pretty boring, IMO.

#1 is the one I can't really wrap my mind around. Once I heard the Naked version at the right speed, I have no clue why he would slow it down. It sounds perfect the way it is on Naked.#2 is standard Spector operating procedure, so that doesn't surprise me, but I agree, I like the results better on Naked

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

I saw an interview with George Martin, and he talked about the White Album and in his opinion it should have been condensed into a single twelve-track album.

He didn't say what songs he thought should be cut, but it's an interesting thought.

Back in the USSR

Dear Prudence

Glass Onion

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

Wild Honey Pie

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Happiness is a Warm Gun

Martha My Dear

I'm So Tired

Blackbird

Piggies

Rocky Raccoon

Don't Pass Me By

Why Don't We Do It In the Road?

I Will

Julia

Birthday

Yer Blues

Mother Nature's Son

Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey

Sexy Sadie

Helter Skelter

Long, Long, Long

Revolution 1

Honey Pie

Savoy Truffle

Cry Baby Cry

Revolution 9

Good Night

I would pick:

Back In The USSR

Dear Prudence

Helter Skelter

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Birthday

Sexy Sadie

Julia

Blackbird

I'm So Tired

Rocky Racoon

Happiness Is A Warm Gun

Yer Blues

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Martin Scorsese has a documentary on George Harrison that airs on HBO on Wednesday (October 5th).

Really looking forward to this.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111003/REVIEWS/111009998

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/story/2011-10-05/George-Harrison-Martin-Scorsese-HBO-Beatles/50646704/1

 

[saintsfan]

Martin Scorsese has a documentary on George Harrison that airs on HBO on Wednesday (October 5th).

Really looking forward to this.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111003/REVIEWS/111009998

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/story/2011-10-05/George-Harrison-Martin-Scorsese-HBO-Beatles/50646704/1

I'm going to dvr that. Thanks EB.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

I saw an interview with George Martin, and he talked about the White Album and in his opinion it should have been condensed into a single twelve-track album.

He didn't say what songs he thought should be cut, but it's an interesting thought.

Back in the USSR

Dear Prudence

Glass Onion

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

Wild Honey Pie

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Happiness is a Warm Gun

Martha My Dear

I'm So Tired

Blackbird

Piggies

Rocky Raccoon

Don't Pass Me By

Why Don't We Do It In the Road?

I Will

Julia

Birthday

Yer Blues

Mother Nature's Son

Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey

Sexy Sadie

Helter Skelter

Long, Long, Long

Revolution 1

Honey Pie

Savoy Truffle

Cry Baby Cry

Revolution 9

Good Night

I would pick:

Back In The USSR

Dear Prudence

Helter Skelter

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Birthday

Sexy Sadie

Julia

Blackbird

I'm So Tired

Rocky Racoon

Happiness Is A Warm Gun

Yer Blues

Pretty close to mine, I woulda found a spot for Glass Onion.

 

[Abraham]

Just started listening to them a lot after really being a casual fan for a while. Phenomenal band. So many teaks hold up so well.

 

[saintsfan]

I saw an interview with George Martin, and he talked about the White Album and in his opinion it should have been condensed into a single twelve-track album.

He didn't say what songs he thought should be cut, but it's an interesting thought.

Back in the USSR

Dear Prudence

Glass Onion

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

Wild Honey Pie

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Happiness is a Warm Gun

Martha My Dear

I'm So Tired

Blackbird

Piggies

Rocky Raccoon

Don't Pass Me By

Why Don't We Do It In the Road?

I Will

Julia

Birthday

Yer Blues

Mother Nature's Son

Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey

Sexy Sadie

Helter Skelter

Long, Long, Long

Revolution 1

Honey Pie

Savoy Truffle

Cry Baby Cry

Revolution 9

Good Night

I would pick:

Back In The USSR

Dear Prudence

Helter Skelter

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Birthday

Sexy Sadie

Julia

Blackbird

I'm So Tired

Rocky Racoon

Happiness Is A Warm Gun

Yer Blues

Pretty close to mine, I woulda found a spot for Glass Onion.

Really a tough question, especially since I've always been of the opinion that the White Album's sprawling nature is why it's a classic and unique in the Beatles catalogue. If I am constructing it like a single Beatles album, it has to have 2 Harrison songs and 1 Ringo song, so I would pickBack In The USSR

Dear Prudence

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Happiness Is A Warm Gun

I'm So Tired

Blackbird

Don't Pass Me By

I Will

Julia

Birthday

Helter Skelter

Long Long Long

Now, most single Beatles albums have 14 songs, so I'm not sure why George Martin said 12. If it is 14, I would add:

Glass Onion

Sexy Sadie

However, keep in mind, this is more Lennon heavy than the album would likely have been. If the White Album had been a single album, there is no chance that Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da would have been left off.

 

[Wrigley]

Martin Scorsese has a documentary on George Harrison that airs on HBO on Wednesday (October 5th).

Really looking forward to this.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111003/REVIEWS/111009998

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/story/2011-10-05/George-Harrison-Martin-Scorsese-HBO-Beatles/50646704/1

I'm going to dvr that. Thanks EB.

Set my DVR two weeks ago

 

[Hastur]

I just got the entire beatles catalog and put it into one file on my computer. Everything from the studio albums to the Early Tapes with Tom Sheriden to the Pete Best years to Live at the BBC to the Anthology disks. I then edited out all the 'duplicate' songs(different takes) and the interviews. Just the songs.

283 songs. 1.53 gig.

Holy crap.