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Let's see how far into the weeds we can get... bring out yer favorite Beatles almost-songs, not-songs, and/or rarities, aka "the weird poo poo!" "What's the New Mary Jane" went through a few iterations and John really wanted it on the White Album but it didn't make the cut. I get why, it's mostly nightmare soundscape and Revolution 9 became the standard bearer for that, but it is at least a more-or-less finished song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYpzRcgsabI "You'll be Mine" is literally just Paul, John, and Stu Sutcliffe (one of his few known recordings on bass) in a bathroom, yowling out an Ink Spots parody. It's not very good but it's drat funny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKDmJqFEv7s "Heather" is from the Beatles era, 1969, but is more accurately described as a Paul McCartney song, and really more accurately as a demo. It is not to be confused with Paul's later song Heather, written in the 2000s for then-wife Heather Mills, but was apparently written for Linda's daughter Heather on the occasion of her birthday. Again, the value here is in the novelty and the curiosity of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn9YmHpgIqI If you think the variety in the Beatles catalog is only limited by the lack of non-solo career Christmas songs, think again! "Christmastime is here again" comes from the annual Christmas fan messages, which are an absolute delight if you haven't heard them - I try to listen through them every year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB7LX8mRRHM There's also "Everywhere it's Christmas" from, I think, the 1966 message, but which is very hard to find online apparently, at least in the US where everything I found was not available in my region.
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Feb 3, 2021 20:44
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There is a single tape somewhere that has the full demo Paul made of "It's For You", which was given to Cilla Black to sing in -64. The demo tape was found in her attic I think, after she passed away. It's a beautiful song and I am willing to throw a lot of money at Apple to hear this whole demo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OooUt6R_epQ I like this clip of her performing it during a Lennon/McCartney tv special in 1964. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4HC1IfpYBw MIDWIFE CRISIS fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Feb 3, 2021 |
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Feb 3, 2021 21:42
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Frank Zappa has a little-known "live" album called Playground Psychotics that is in part a collection of random recordings that Zappa took while the Mothers were touring, as well as some live recordings of performances done with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, some of which are alternate takes on songs that would appear on their album Some Time in New York City. In Lennon's mix of the songs they performed together, Lennon/Ono/Phil Spector (or all three to some degree, not clear) removed Flo and Eddie's vocals and Don Preston, and replaced Jim Pons' bass. So if you've heard those versions of some of these songs, this album has alternate versions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUlhZXwUAAI Here's some Yoko Ono if you want to inflict some psychic damage on yourself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZYC4OB3ECc For what it's worth I think Yoko Ono's screeching compliments Flo and Eddie's cock-crowing 
Heath fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Feb 4, 2021 |
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Feb 4, 2021 00:39
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Octy posted:After skipping it for years, I've recently found a new appreciation for Octopus's Garden. The only song by Ringo I actually like, though. dont pass me by slaps also this is one of the rare moments where yoko actually adds to the song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yViPoAAYLeo Zeta Acosta fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Feb 4, 2021 |
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Feb 4, 2021 01:45
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QcdcOu0MTM It's not the Beatles but it's a great song, and this is the best version of it The line "She shook her branches, and a bunch of old B(y)rds flew off of her! ......~ooh, Mr. Tambourine Maaann~..." kills me
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Feb 4, 2021 02:07
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Admiral Goodenough posted:There is a single tape somewhere that has the full demo Paul made of "It's For You", which was given to Cilla Black to sing in -64. The demo tape was found in her attic I think, after she passed away. It's a beautiful song and I am willing to throw a lot of money at Apple to hear this whole demo. I like how the Chart Music Podcast (look it up) explored the Cilla Black mystery. Why was she a star for nearly 50 years? Awful voice, didn't look good on TV, awful person behind the scenes, Thatcher supporter, and literally rode to fame on the Beatles' coat-tails. The irresistible power of the 1964 Fab Four.
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Feb 4, 2021 04:17
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Yoko's fine in small doses, I'm genuinely impressed how often she sounds like an out-of-tune high-pitched guitar. It's cool. That "Heather" track is very nice, and just shows that Paul's always had a knack for just these haunting little tunes. Anthology 1 Disc 1 Whew, this is going to be a weird journey through these. It's not all "listening" material. There are demo's, outtakes, and all sort of weird stuff, that gets better the further you go but here we are at the first one. The Anthology is pretty amazing and I wish more artists had this sort of vault that they could more properly archive. I'm just glad we got one for a band like the Beatles, as important as they were. I think in the first disc here I was always very fond of "My Bonnie" and "Cry For A Shadow". The former lets me indulge in my love for nautical tunes and the latter is just a cool instrumental that holds up rather nicely. "The Sheik of Araby" is a lot of fun too, and I'm a sucker for George. I also love that bizarre sound they make it's so weird. The cover of "Besame Mucho" is a lot of fun too, though I'm not fond of the lyrics in English, but that's not their fault. Ultimately the only track that stood out for me on Anthology 1 is "Cry For A Shadow" unsurprisingly, since it's on my Rocking Beatles playlist.
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Feb 4, 2021 20:53
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I forget, does Anthology 1 have the entire Decca Demo on it or just snippets?
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Feb 4, 2021 20:58
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FrumpleOrz posted:I forget, does Anthology 1 have the entire Decca Demo on it or just snippets? Only snippets. What's there is pretty good though.
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Feb 4, 2021 21:51
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Zeta Acosta posted:also this is one of the rare moments where yoko actually adds to the song 
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Feb 4, 2021 21:59
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Zeta Acosta posted:also this is one of the rare moments where yoko actually adds to the song It sounds like a kitten being murdered.
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Feb 4, 2021 22:13
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sigher posted:It sounds like a kitten being murdered. Sounds like someone doesn't appreciate the avant-garde
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Feb 4, 2021 23:51
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feetnotes posted:Heather Mills Here's a joke from the 00's: What's got three legs and lives on a farm?
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Feb 5, 2021 12:18
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Heather Mills seems like a weird and unpleasant person but she used some of the money from their divorce to buy a vegan food brand that manufactures some of my favorite sandwich toppings, so their ugly divorce is a win for me personally. Thanks Paul.
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Feb 5, 2021 14:11
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Guitarist for Funkadelic. Probably one of the best covers out there https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNuCnyjt_gg
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Feb 5, 2021 14:53
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Eddie Hazel rules so much
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Feb 5, 2021 15:06
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Finally listening through the discography, Will Hines podcast Screw It, We're Just Gonna Talk About the Beatles is a decent companion if anyone is looking for one.
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Feb 5, 2021 15:20
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Annabel Pee posted:Finally listening through the discography, Will Hines podcast Screw It, We're Just Gonna Talk About the Beatles is a decent companion if anyone is looking for one. What exactly do they go on about because I can think of the sort of things I'd want to hear about and the other things that I wouldn't. Anthology 1 Disc 2 So oddly enough I don't actually have this one in my music library. I know we have it, but still. So the neat little thing is how this starts with some live shows and I don't know how much it was scripted or not, but I like the jokes. Like the "the people in the cheaper seats can clap their hands, and the rest of them can jangle their jewelry" or something like that. The Morecambe and Wise bit is charming in its old-fashioned way as well. I'll admit this is kind of hard, these are not as good versions of the songs on the weaker early albums, or rather the albums I don't much listen to these days. But there's still gold in there like George's "You Know What to Do" which is a pretty little song. Weirdly no one seemed to like it but I think it's super cute.
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Feb 5, 2021 19:06
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g_xaVNY9P4
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Feb 5, 2021 23:28
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100YrsofAttitude posted:What exactly do they go on about because I can think of the sort of things I'd want to hear about and the other things that I wouldn't. It's just a very casual chat about favourite songs from each album and any facts they know about it. Its not a deep dive so probably not interesting if your a super fan, its just nice as a rough idea for which songs and albums are considered better for someone going through the first time.
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Feb 5, 2021 23:42
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Annabel Pee posted:Finally listening through the discography, Will Hines podcast Screw It, We're Just Gonna Talk About the Beatles is a decent companion if anyone is looking for one. I'll second this, great podcast that really got me back into being a Beatles fan after a long dry spell and helped remind me why I fell in love with them in the first place. There's a real tendency amongst latter-day beatles media to overanalyse and overthink everything, and other beatles pods I've tried to listen to sometimes get really out there and esoteric with the subject matter because it feels like you have to really stretch to find some new ground to cover when everything else has been said (Nothing Is Real is pretty bad for this). What appealed to me about this show is they do away with all of that baggage and just admit up front that they're not interested in trying to be authoritive or get every little detail right, they're all just big fans who love talking about the band, and that passion is really infectious. I think they've pretty much wrapped things up now, but most of the episodes are just them going through the back catalogue (and selected solo albums) and just gushing about what they like, which when you strip away most of the bullshit, as this thread shows, is all people really want to do. The Beatles are a fun band to talk about, and sometimes it's just nice to hear people do that without trying to one-up eachother with their hot takes and trivia.
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Feb 5, 2021 23:57
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just learned Lennon got el topo distributed in America
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Feb 5, 2021 23:59
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I want to thank this thread for blowing my mind man, to learn that the Beatles did not do their own voices in Yellow Submarine. I have watched it countless times lately because my kid loves it and it’s never crossed my mind that wasn’t really them.     
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Feb 6, 2021 08:35
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100YrsofAttitude posted:
This one's a toughie. I suppose you could say it's literally heavy? I don't really measure songs by heaviness scale. really like Helter Skelter, tho. It's the one headbanger song that people would request me to play when in parties. No-one anywhere ever has to my knowledge asked for "I want you/She's so heavy". I give you one under the belt: I like Honey Pie. It's Paul at Granny level times 100x and I love it for reasons I can't explain.
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Feb 6, 2021 11:04
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Goatson posted:This one's a toughie. I suppose you could say it's literally heavy? I don't really measure songs by heaviness scale. really like Helter Skelter, tho. It's the one headbanger song that people would request me to play when in parties. No-one anywhere ever has to my knowledge asked for "I want you/She's so heavy". Granny-songs are fun in small doses. I don't think I could stomach listening to a whole play-list of just that. But that's what makes Honey Pie so good, it's the Granny-song to end all Granny-songs. Plus it's catchy like all the things he did. I think people tend to forget just how hard "I Want You/She's So Heavy" gets in its elongated outro, since you're more likely to focus on the first half of the song which is far lighter and has some cool solos. Also it's just very long so it may not be a super desirable song. I'll have to look into what my guilty pleasure song is. My choices are pretty conventional overall. I think what helped cement it's hardness in my mind was Noir Désir's covers of the song, which they would pretty much always play live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW4jFOAZh1g
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Feb 6, 2021 11:30
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Anthology 2 Disc 1 Now we're getting to the good stuff. This is the Help!/Rubber Soul/Revolver era and I love the version they have of "I'm Looking Through You" with the handclaps and an almost motown feel to it. It's the best thing on the disc and a version I think competes just fine with the final version. Their "12 Bar Original" is nothing special but I think highlights just how much they loved that genre. The pared down version of "Got to Get you Into my Life" is also great. I love the vocal organ set up they have going on. And while not good I do get a kick of the laughing through "And Your Bird Can Sing".
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Feb 6, 2021 13:45
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Anthology 2 Disc 2 Listening back to this the only great track is "You Know My Name, Look Up the Number" as few of these outtakes match their final versions. That song itself is a bit silly, I mentioned it earlier, but to add to that I do think it sounds like something Monty Python would do, especially the grumbling near the end. I think George would end becoming friends with comedians because if I remember correctly he funded The Life of Brian among other movies. Or something like that. Ringo's drumming is the spotlight especially in the 7th take of "Strawberry Fields Forever". The album is split between Sgt. Pepper tracks and MMT. I think the latter makes for far more interesting demos in particularly the pared back "Hello, Goodbye" that does very well without the strings that were eventually added and the piano and brush snare-only "Lady Madonna" that features a sick sax solo. Last thing, while listening to the Sgt Pepper's Reprise, I realized what always bugged me about this otherwise great song. It rocks hard, the drums and guitars are great but the lyrics are just kinda lame. It may be due to The Yellow Submarine but in my mind Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is not a rock band. Frankly, they look like the Beatles on the album cover, so some sort of military marching band that plays in a gazebo. Which is objectively not as cool as the song sounds, which is a bit of a pity. I think that's why those songs, as much as I like them just sort of fall flat. The conceit of the album, then is a concert given by them? Even if technically Billy Shears is the one singing "With A Little Help From My Friends".
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Feb 6, 2021 14:45
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I'm watching the Magical Mystery Tour movie right now and it's not very good, huh? Even I, the world's biggest Beatles apologist, am struggling with it. Brian Epstein's death really was the breaking point. He never would've let this happen. At least the songs are good. Shame about all of the other parts.
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Feb 6, 2021 18:12
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FrumpleOrz posted:I'm watching the Magical Mystery Tour movie right now and it's not very good, huh? Even I, the world's biggest Beatles apologist, am struggling with it. Brian Epstein's death really was the breaking point. He never would've let this happen. It's an experiment at best. They shouldn't have been allowed to make it on their own though. It's nice that people weren't so obsessed to give them approval though. There's at least that. I mean we did get A Hard Day's Night, Help!, and The Yellow Submarine all three of those are interesting and good in their own right so I can accept Magical Mystery Tour being dumb.
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Feb 6, 2021 18:53
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Ralph Hurley posted:I want to thank this thread for blowing my mind man, to learn that the Beatles did not do their own voices in Yellow Submarine. I have watched it countless times lately because my kid loves it and it’s never crossed my mind that wasn’t really them. Did the phony-sounding Liverpool accents not give it away?  Seriously though, from what I understand they were offered the opportunity to do the voices but turned it down for some reason. It wasn't until after they saw the final product did they regret not doing it so that's why there's that little live action bit at the end of the film. It's a shame they never did the voices though.
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Feb 6, 2021 19:15
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The Beatles were loving incredible and folks who say They Were Actually Bad are doofuses. It's fine not to personally like them, obviously, but goddamn they earned that Greatest Band Ever label. And now, to discredit my opinions... The Definitive Ranking of the Best 25 Songs by The Beatles 25.) Paperback Writer 24.) Maxwell's Silver Hammer 23.) She Loves You 22.) Octopus's Garden 21.) I Want to Hold Your Hand 20.) I'm Only Sleeping 19.) All You Need is Love 18.) Tomorrow Never Knows 17.) I've Just Seen A Face 16.) The Fool on the Hill 15.) Hello Goodbye 14.) Something 13.) Penny Lane 12.) Hey Jude 11.) In My Life 10.) Martha My Dear 9.) Revolution 1 8.) Here Comes the Sun 7.) While My Guitar Gently Weeps 6.) Let It Be 5.) Yesterday 4.) A Day in the Life 3.) Strawberry Fields Forever 2.) Eleanor Rigby 1.) Blackbird What's insane is that I could easily name another 40+ Beatles songs without breaking a sweat and know most/all of the lyrics to all of them. I couldn't even do that for my favorite artists.
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Feb 6, 2021 19:55
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I thought they didn't have time myself to do the voices in Yellow Submarine. Anthology 3 Disc 1 My favorite since it has a bunch of early versions of White Album and Abbey Road tracks! There's some cool acoustic versions of "Piggies" (still not a great song) and a jazz manouche version of "Honey Pie". It's cool that you get a version of "Junk" by Paul that'd come out on his solo material. The one of the best though, and another I count among my official playlists is the slow tempoed "Helter Skelter" which sounds like approaching doom. I love it so much, and I think it stands very well against the faster louder final version. I'm also fond of the version of "Glass Onion" which includes some extra tape loops: "It's-a-goal!" But then there's the absolutely gorgeous fully acoustic "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". It's pretty much perfect, it ranks just as high as any other of the acoustic gems they have. It's a beautifully haunting version of the song with just a touch of harmonium to round it off. Take 1 can you imagine that? Best track for sure.
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Feb 6, 2021 19:58
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I remember a guy in my high school saying he thought the Beatles were overrated and even as a dumb kid at the time I was like
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Feb 6, 2021 20:52
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I mean... I don't know. I love this band and they are amazing, but considering the praise they get, they may be technically overrated. That doesn't mean they're bad, but it does well to step back from time to time. Not every song is amazing, though I'm hard-pressed to think of one that's genuinely bad. Anthology 3 Disc 2 This disc includes Let It Be tracks and the rest of the Abbey Road tracks didn't show up on Disc 1. By far and large the best one is the lovely pared-down version of George's "All Thing Must Pass" that is beautiful and just shocking to me that the band didn't want to do it. There's a slower "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window" which is real neat. As for other unreleased tracks there's Paul's "Come and Get It", given to Badfinger, and "Teddy Boy" that Paul would later release himself. The latter isn't a great song, the former is cute, but a bit simplistic. There's another take of "Octupus' Garden" that's neat. The solos are different. Did Ringo ever manage to top himself on that song? It's really his best composition. And that's that for a rainy Saturday afternoon. My partner has told me she's getting tired of me playing the Beatles non-stop so I'll stop for now, since Love doesn't really count but it is very cool.
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Feb 6, 2021 21:42
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100YrsofAttitude posted:Granny-songs are fun in small doses. I don't think I could stomach listening to a whole play-list of just that. But that's what makes Honey Pie so good, it's the Granny-song to end all Granny-songs. Plus it's catchy like all the things he did. She's So Heavy loses some of the impact if you aren't listening to it on a vinyl copy. The sudden hard cut at the end needs some time to breathe so you actually feel yourself going off the edge with it. Since it is the last song on the side, you get it with the record. On CD/streaming, Here Comes The Sun starts too soon for me, right when you start to feel the emptiness. The cut on the record feels so much harder that the first time one of my friends heard it, they jumped even though it was just playing in the background of a conversation.
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Feb 6, 2021 22:42
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Ralph Hurley posted:I want to thank this thread for blowing my mind man, to learn that the Beatles did not do their own voices in Yellow Submarine. I have watched it countless times lately because my kid loves it and it’s never crossed my mind that wasn’t really them. There had been a Beatles cartoon and the guys doing that transitioned to the movie for the most part. The funniest bit is each and every one of the Beatles talked to the guys doing voices and said "You got the other three dead on but you aren't doing my voice right."
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Feb 6, 2021 23:02
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I'm listening to Oh Darling at the moment (the most underrated track on Abbey Road?), and as much as I love this song, I once heard that John really wanted to sing this one and now everytime I hear it I think about how it really is a track tailor-made for his voice. Shame there are no demos or outtakes with him having a go at it, because I really feel like he would've nailed this one. Are there any more tracks out there you'd like to have heard sung by a different member of the band? On the flip side, I think Paul could've absolutely crushed In My Life if he wanted to, and John and George probably could've traded vocals on some of their psychedelic rockers and done a good job on them as well.
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Feb 6, 2021 23:29
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The best version of Paperback Writer is the stereo mix but you cut out the right channel. This is what I learned as a kid while listening to The Beatles with a broken headset. Just completely gets rid of the awful falsetto backing vocals that ruin the song. I still remember the day my dad bought me a new headset and that song went from the top of my list to the bottom.
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Feb 6, 2021 23:34
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Rubellavator posted:The best version of Paperback Writer is the stereo mix but you cut out the right channel. This is what I learned as a kid while listening to The Beatles with a broken headset. Just completely gets rid of the awful falsetto backing vocals that ruin the song. I still remember the day my dad bought me a new headset and that song went from the top of my list to the bottom. Ever since I found out about the isolated track versions on youtube thanks to this thread, I've been listening to that since I would do just that with the stereo versions. Shiroc posted:She's So Heavy loses some of the impact if you aren't listening to it on a vinyl copy. The sudden hard cut at the end needs some time to breathe so you actually feel yourself going off the edge with it. Since it is the last song on the side, you get it with the record. On CD/streaming, Here Comes The Sun starts too soon for me, right when you start to feel the emptiness. I could see that being a very different experience. I'll admit I've never heard the vinyl of it. I don't plan on buying a record player/vinyls because the idea of having to get up to flip a record is very unappealing... but that's a different argument. The reason I like the way it's done on CD/MP3 is just that it makes "Here Comes the Sun" all the more joyful, so yeah I can see how it gets so much darker otherwise.
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Feb 7, 2021 00:21
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Paperback writer and taxman are basically the same song but which one is better?
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Feb 7, 2021 03:59
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