November 19, 2021
After a whopping sixty years in the public eye, surely there can’t be anything left to say about The Beatles, right? I mean, after countless books, movies, television shows, (not to mention the steady drip of compilations, unreleased tracks, and studio session recordings the last thirty years), what else is there? Well, as the saying goes, filmmaker Peter Jackson said, “Hold my beer.” The Oscar-winning director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy combed through an astonishing 160 hours of audio and over 50 hours of video to produce the new documentary Get Back. The project, originally conceived as a theatrical release, has been recommissioned as a three-part, six-hour film to be released Thanksgiving weekend on Disney+. Have some turkey. Watch part one. Black Friday shopping. Watch part two. Do some more shopping on Small Business Saturday. Watch part three. All set for your Thanksgiving weekend plans now?
When The Beatles entered the studio in 1969 to record their new album, Paul McCartney thought it would be great to have a film crew record the sessions for release as a film to accompany the album. He thought it would give the band a much-needed shot in the arm toward getting back to live performances. Unfortunately, the cracks in the foundation had already formed, and what emerged in the film were snippets of infighting and a sad reminder that sometimes even the best of things don’t last. Remarkably, they would go back into the studio for one last hurrah to record what I consider their masterpiece, which we’ll get to later.
The album Let It Be was released over a year after its recording, following a production job from Phil Spector who tarnished the raw sounds of a classic band with schlocky strings on some of the songs. Luckily, much better versions of those songs emerged thirty years later. The original film is very difficult to find – I went searching around and found it on the Internet Archive and checked it out. Despite all of the footage available, the film is only 80 minutes and represents an interesting artifact for its time. There are rehearsal sessions, song performances (including ones of Let It Be and The Long and Winding Road, which we have seen before), as well as footage of the legendary concert on the roof of the Apple building. While the footage and music was kind of cool, the film itself had no narrative structure or interviews, so it’s kind of just a highlight reel.
For the new film, Jackson set out to tell the whole story of the recording sessions, and not just the dirt around the breakup. He didn’t ignore it either, but he has said in interviews that his film will also show the joy that the band experienced in the studio, which he felt the original film lacked. He is also using new technology to restore the footage, so hopefully it will look as beautiful as it will undoubtedly sound. Get Back is one of my most anticipated films of the year and with its release next week, this felt like the perfect time to share my thoughts and experience with the music of The Beatles. Let’s dive in.
A Documentary Turns Curiosity Into Obsession
For some reason in the mid-1980s, I saw that the 1982 documentary The Compleat Beatles was airing on PBS and decided to record it on my VCR. Over the next several months, I watched that film over and over and over again. I bet if I were to watch it again now, I would remember all of the dialogue like you remember song lyrics from songs you’ve heard your whole life. That was my introduction to The Beatles and it set me off on a journey through their music and a (probably accurate, but not clinically diagnosed) obsession with the band.
With the shifting landscape from vinyl and cassettes to the industry-breaking compact discs, Capitol Records began releasing the band’s catalogue on CD in 1987. A few years later, I saved up money I earned by bagging groceries and manning a cash register to buy my first CD player and head down to the record store to start my music collection. I am still an avid collector of music and while most purchases these days are digital, I still have a soft spot for physical media. This was also the days of the long box design of CD packaging, which I found to be a cool option to hang on my college dorm room walls. I’m a sucker for a great album cover. OK, I’m really showing my nerd side now. The accountant and completist in me (speaking of nerd traits) led me to buying their catalogue in order, so the first Beatles song I heard on that CD player was I Saw Her Standing There, the opening track to their debut, Please Please Me.
The Stats
Last week, I saw my favorite band for back to back shows at Mohegan Sun, the casino in Connecticut. Of course, they put on two wonderful shows, playing a number of classic songs, and on the first night, they played a new song they had just debuted a few nights earlier. My son and I were talking about how we can’t wait to hear their new album, which has long been rumored, but still does not have a release date. The current thinking is early next year ahead of a Summer tour. It hit us that it’s already been three years since their last album, which was six years after their previous release. Don’t get me wrong – they are not lazy. They tour every year and consistently perform new music, they just don’t record a lot in the studio. Where am I going with this?
The Beatles were an incredibly prolific recording act, in addition to extensive touring for about the first half of their career. Their catalogue includes 13 full-length albums (including a double album) released between 1963 and 1970. And as I noted above, their last release (Let It Be) was recorded in 1969, so you’re talking about 13 albums recorded over the course of seven years. Also, aside from a handful of songs on their first few albums, all of the songs were written by the band (primarily Lennon and McCartney). Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, there was even more. Unlike today’s music world, back in the 1960s, artists released singles and albums separately. If you released a single, it wasn’t necessarily included on the album as well. You are probably aware that The Beatles had a few hits during their time together. Those 33 songs (consisting of A and B sides to the records) were also released on CD in the Past Masters compilation. So, essentially 15 albums. Granted, in the early days a lot of their songs were short (some less than three minutes), but look at those numbers again – the band created a lifetime’s worth of music in the same amount of time John Blutarski attended Faber College. (Well, I know at least one of my readers will laugh at that line – right, Bill?)
My Top 10 Songs
OK, let me start by saying this was a very foolish exercise. How on Earth did I think it was a good idea to try to pick my favorite Beatles songs? Yeah, not so smart. Anyway, I combed through the catalogue of songs, to come up with an initial list that I then forced myself to narrow down to ten. Are these the best ones ever? No. Some of the most famous ones are songs that I have heard so many times that they don’t really resonate with me anymore. Songs like Yesterday, Hey Jude, and Can’t Buy Me Love come to mind. No, the ones I picked here are the ones that still mean a lot to me, even after all of these years. OK, here goes.
Honorable Mentions: Because I had a hard time picking ten. Hey, it’s my blog, and there’s no word count limit from my editor.
- You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (Help!, 1965) – John’s heartbreak over losing his girl, with a simple acoustic guitar, light bass from Paul and tambourine from Ringo. Simple and perfect.
- This Boy (Past Masters Vol. 1, 1963) – One word: Harmony. A perfect blend of John Paul, and George’s vocals over most of the song. Nothing magic about the lyrics – like a lot of the early songs, it’s about a boy pining over a girl. But when those harmonies come together? Chef’s kiss.
- It Won’t Be Long (With the Beatles, 1963) – The first song on the band’s second album, features John announcing the title of the song, and then the music kicks in, announcing that the first album was no fluke. Features a nice guitar lick and some back and forth “yeahs” that we’ve seen on many of their early tracks.
- I Saw Her Standing There (Please Please Me, 1963) – It’s hard to go wrong with the first track on their first LP. This one was primarily a Paul song, and one that he continued to play decades later on his solo tours. A rocking dance song that makes you tap your foot as soon as Paul counts off, “One, two, three four!”
The Top 10
10. Two of Us (Let It Be, 1970) – The opening track to Let It Be, a quiet little ditty with John and Paul singing together about a couple’s simple journey home. What I love about this one is the feeling of the early days of John and Paul harmonizing together, over the rhythmic drumbeat from Ringo. It feels like two old friends reminiscing about the old days, recognizing the end is near.
9. A Hard Day’s Night (A Hard Day’s Night, 1964) – A crashing guitar sound opens the title track to the band’s third album, which also served as the soundtrack to the accompanying film. The movie was a fantastic look at what it’s like to be a member of the biggest band in the world, all while being a fictional view with funny bits, some satire, and (of course) great music performances. Is my love of this song amplified by its brilliant use in the film’s opening sequence with the Fab Four getting chased by a mob of screaming teenagers or by my son’s band’s hard-rocking version of this song that they play live? Yes and yes.
8. I’ve Just Seen a Face (Help!, 1965) – A beautiful guitar intro, an up-tempo country feel, with Ringo playing the drums with brushes, this is one that I’ve always loved. Paul played this one on his Unplugged album to perfection.
7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (The Beatles, 1968) – The lone entry from George Harrison on my top ten list. It’s a shame that he didn’t hit his songwriting stride until the later years, right as the band was breaking up. Featuring a blistering guitar performance from Eric Clapton.
6. Mother Nature’s Son (The Beatles, 1968) – Some might choose Blackbird as the quiet acoustic Paul song from The White Album. But this one has always resonated more with me (perhaps since Blackbird has been overplayed through the years.)
5. Strawberry Fields Forever (Magical Mystery Tour, 1967) – The A side of the single released in early 1967 (with Penny Lane as the B side), a few months before their era-defining album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. This song announced a completely different phase for the band and features a cacophony of sounds, vocals, and instruments that come together like a beautiful painting. The last thirty seconds features a backwards-playing outro with the infamous “Cranberry sauce / I buried Paul” line from John. This track is a perfect complement to Paul’s Penny Lane, which comes next on the Magical Mystery Tour album.
4. If I Fell (A Hard Day’s Night, 1964) – If This Boy demonstrated the band’s ability to blend their voices into a perfect harmony, If I Fell took it to another level. Starting with John’s intro lines, we move onto a quick snare drum from Ringo, and a beautiful blend of John and Paul’s vocals throughout this perfect love song.
3. You Never Give Me Your Money (Abbey Road, 1969) – The song that kicks off the amazing string of continuous songs on the B-side of the band’s last recorded album. It features a beautiful piano intro, more of the band’s trademark harmonies, and then a detour into a more up-tempo song. What makes this track more bittersweet is that the brilliant music is accompanied by lyrics depicting the band’s infighting over business matters that ultimately led to their demise.
2. In My Life (Rubber Soul, 1965) – Probably the most beautiful song the band has ever written. Nothing complicated from a musical standpoint – this is all about Lennon’s perfect lyrics and vocals, looking back on his life and what means the most to him. As we’ll get to in a minute, this album is where their songwriting went to another level. This is one that I will never get tired of.
1. A Day in the Life (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967) – In the early days, Lennon and McCartney spent most of their time writing songs together, and while you can tell whoever had more of a role on a song (usually who sang the lead part), they still constructed the songs together. That was not the case in the back half of their career, where they wrote separately, for the most part. That’s what makes A Day in the Life so special. It is literally a John song in the first half, coupled with a Paul song in the middle, with a big finish at the end. The long piano note at the very end represents the height of their experimentation in the studio during this era.
My Top 5 Albums
That comment about picking my favorite songs? Yup, applies here too. This one was tougher than I expected. My number one and two were easy. And the last place entry was even easier (Sorry, Yellow Submarine). But ranking everything else was kind of challenging, mostly because some albums have moments of brilliance, but have some flat parts. For instance, there are songs on The Beatles (The White Album) that are among the best of their career, but there is definitely some filler in there (it has thirty tracks, after all). So, I went with what I think are my favorites from top to bottom.
5. Help! (1965) – Besides the two tracks I wrote about above, you’ve got the title track, Ticket to Ride, and one of the biggest songs by any artist….ever. That would be Yesterday, of course. Composed in conjunction with the band’s second (and inferior) film, the album is a nice mix of upbeat songs, beautiful love songs, and of course, pitch perfect harmonies.
4. Magical Mystery Tour (1967) – Part movie soundtrack, part compilation of singles. It still counts as an album. The film was an ill-conceived idea of McCartney that we don’t need to spend time on, except to note that the songs from the film include the title track, the beautiful The Fool on the Hill, Lennon’s trippy I Am the Walrus, and Hello Goodbye. When the soundtrack was released, they also tacked on singles Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, and All You Need is Love. This album is loaded from top to bottom, which is probably why I prefer this to its predecessor, Sgt. Pepper’s, which despite helping to create this unique sound, I think has a few too many subpar songs.
3. A Hard Day’s Night (1964) – The third studio album, recorded at the height of Beatlemania, featuring thirteen tracks, most of which were featured in the movie. In addition to the songs noted above, we get Can’t Buy Me Love, And I Love Her, and Things We Said Today. I consider this the height of the band’s songwriting accomplishments during the early phase of their career.
2. Rubber Soul (1965) – The turning point album. The first several years saw predominantly love songs from Lennon and McCartney, but Rubber Soul showed the growth and maturity of the band. With songs like In My Life and Nowhere Man, Lennon explored bigger issues in his life besides relationships. We still got some classic love songs, like Michelle and Drive My Car, and even a breakup song, Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), that featured Harrison on the sitar and a wonderful complement of Lennon’s lead vocal, coupled with McCartney’s backup vocal. Rubber Soul showed that the band was ready to branch out into a new direction, both musically and lyrically, which was on full display with Revolver, released the next year.
1. Abbey Road (1969) – A perfect album from start to finish. Well, maybe not Octopus’s Garden (Sorry, Ringo). But, other than that, we have the best of Lennon and McCartney on full display. It’s also the only album where you could reasonably argue that the best song is a Harrison composition (either Something or Here Comes the Sun). After the disastrous Let It Be sessions, the band members went their separate ways, but were coaxed back into the studio by Paul and producer George Martin for one last hurrah. The result was a sprawling collection of hard rocking guitars, silly stories, beautiful lyrics, and, as one more reminder of why they were the best to ever do it, harmonies that fit together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. Their studio production magic was on full display in the transition from I Want You (She’s So Heavy), which features a three minute cascading outro of guitar riffs that just suddenly ends (creating confusion for those listening on vinyl as it was the end of Side A) to the beautiful guitar intro to Here Comes the Sun, which symbolized the title of the song. But the band saved the best for last, with the almost continuous run from You Never Give Me Your Money through The End, which plays out like a long medley of the band’s best talents. I can certainly say that when all is said and done with my music-loving life, this will never leave my top ten list of favorite albums ever.
Everything Else
OK, we’re pushing 3,000 words, so we’re going to be quick here. What else is there besides all of this music? Well, plenty.
- The Band’s Films – we’ve hit on these a bit. A Hard Day’s Night is excellent. Everything else is not that great and an easy skip.
- Live Music – Not a lot to choose from here, given the time period. Live at the BBC, a double CD release from 1994 is a nice time capsule of performances the band did on BBC radio. Live at the Hollywood Bowl was released in 2016 in conjunction with the excellent Eight Days A Week documentary directed by Ron Howard. The film captures the band’s touring years from 1962 – 1966. And if you like the Unplugged genre, Paul’s 1991 performance is outstanding, featuring a mix of Beatles songs and solo tracks, and even a few rarities.
- Re-Releases – In recent years, the band has capitalized on the trend to remaster older albums, add on some bonus outtakes from the studio and give some new product to their fans. My particular favorite is Let It Be…Naked, a reimagining of the original album to take out the string arrangements and capture more of the rock aspect of the band. Deluxe versions of Sgt. Pepper’s, The Beatles (The White Album), and Abbey Road have also been released to correspond with milestone anniversaries. No surprise that the Abbey Road one is my favorite.
- I’ll save the best for last. For someone whose only video Beatles access was confined to a two hour documentary from 1982, to hear that the three surviving members were getting together in 1995 to produce a retrospective on their career was fantastic news. To hear that The Beatles Anthology was going to be an eight-part series that was over ten hours was icing on the cake. The series featured new interviews with McCartney, Harrison, and Starr, along with producer George Martin and other insiders of the band. The video footage and audio excerpts, particularly from the early days, was incredible. It offered new insights into how the music was created, which is catnip for a music fan like me. Accompanying the series was a six CD compilation which included early recordings, alternate takes, and two brand new songs, “featuring” all four band members. The surviving members partnered with Martin to expand two demos John had recorded, to create new Beatles songs. While they weren’t as magical as some of the original work, it was still pretty cool. Despite being released over 25 years ago, The Beatles Anthology is still a fantastic watch.
That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed a look at one of my favorite bands and that you have a chance to check out Get Back, when it premieres on Disney+ on Thanksgiving. I’ll be back next week for a look at one of my favorite directors. He burst on the scene fifty years ago with a television movie that showed his potential as a filmmaker. Four years later he helped define the Summer Movie Season as we now know it. Now, he is considered one of the greatest directors of all time and has a new movie coming out in December, a remake of the classic Hollywood musical, West Side Story. I hope you’ll be back for part one of my look at the career of Steven Spielberg. Thanks for reading and if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe here.
Thanks for a great blog this week on one of your favorite bands!