The Beatles Appreciation Thread

[Matt]

John is currently convincing me that "You Can't Do That" needs to stay. Boy, it's a toss-up for that 3rd choice.... that or "And I Love Her"? As far as ballads go, this one is a real beauty, and I absolutely love George's plucking during the verses. It has such a beautiful Spanish sound... like a mandolin, almost.

[Matt]

Okay, I've listened to both "And I Love Her" and "You Can't Do That" back to back a few times. I think this is the way I have to vote:

1) "Sie Liebt Dich"
2) "I Should Have Known Better"
3) "You Can't Do That"

I knew things would get tougher when we got to "A Hard Day's Night". What a great album!

[Gant]

Very tough this round.. The boys songwriting is really coming into it's own. Fantastic album..My fave from their early period albums..


1   Sie Liebt Dich
2   I Should Have Known Better
3   Can't Buy Me Love (Controversial.. but I just love those other tracks)

The production on their recordings gets better and better...

[Doug]

1 Sie Liebt Dich
2 And I Love Her
3 I Should Have Known Better

[Lin Sunderland]

1   Sie Liebt Dich
2   I Should Have Known Better
3   You Can't Do That


Thanks everyone for the nice things you said about my Cavern Club Post.    Those pictures are perfect, the stage was painted in squares of different colours with black lines separating them.   You can just see them on a couple of the shots.    I must add that Mathew Street now bears no resemblance to the old Mathew Street.   It wasn't a pedestrian area.  The groups drove their old vans up to the door and unloaded the instruments on to the pavement and then carried them down the stairs while a roady or someone parked the van in a nearby road.   
BTW Matt I have some of those "Chicken Soup" books my friend in Racine has sent them over for various Christmas and Birthday gifts.      I don't think I quite reach the standard of the writers who send articles  in to Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Cranfield.

I will try to find a couple of pictures I took of the Cavern area some years ago  ( Not as far back as the 60's though) and post them so you get a better idea of the place.

[Americanbeauty]

1. Sie Liebt Dich
2. You Can't Do That
3. I Should Have Known Better

[Lucky Punk]

Now it gets tougher

1- Sie Liebt Dich at least this was easy
2- And I Love Her  sorry Macca but this is so difficult
                              gorgeous ballad though
 Please don't make me decide they're all too good
   OK after much gnashing of teeth 

3- I Should Have Known Better

My friend was in a band in the 70's, not Beatles fans but I convinced them to cover You Can't do That, went down a treat even at the height of punk rock

Lucky Punk, have you ever heard the "The Beatles weren't a rock band" argument?

Boy, if anything gets me steamed up..... (as regular readers of this board well know)

Oh Yes, I usually force them to listen to the white album, and the single Revolution. Helter Skelter and others generally silence that argument

[[email protected]]

This time was little hard 


1- Sie Liebt Dich
2- And I Love Her
3- You Can't Do That

[Matt]

Lin, do you have The Beatles Anthology DVD? There's a chapter in there about the Cavern, with some brief, but good footage of The Beatles playing at the Cavern. It may bring back sweet memories for you.  All this talk about the Cavern, and hearing all these great early songs of theirs has got me rewatching this DVD series. It's really great!

[Gant]

A few years ago whilst on a tour of Japan we were taken to the Tokyo Cavern to see the Japanese Beatles. Amazing replica of the club and the band were actually very good.

[Matt]

That ends Round 9, and we lose "Sie Liebt Dich" and "And I Love Her".


BEATLES SONG SURVIVOR - ROUND TEN

This round, we continue with songs from the "A Hard Day's Night" album. The U.K. and U.S. releases of "A Hard Day's Night" were different in that the U.S. release was a true soundtrack album, which would not contain the additional songs that were written for the film, but not included. Unlike the U.K. album, the U.S. soundtrack includes the George Martin scored instrumentals from the film.



The last two songs in this round are not from "A Hard Day's Night", but were released on a British EP titled "Long Tall Sally" on June 19, 1964.



We'll have the other two songs from the "Long Tall Sally" EP and continue with the "A Hard Day's Night" album in the next round.

In the U.S., the "Something New" album was released on July 20, 1964. "Something New" contained songs from the U.K. album "A Hard Day's Night" that weren't included on the U.S. soundtrack, as well as two of the four songs from the "Long Tall Sally" EP and "Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand".



And finally, without further ado.... it's time to vote.

As before, vote off two of the following songs, and list an alternate third choice that will only be used as a tie-breaker if needed. The three surviving songs from this round will be brought back later in the game to compete with the other rounds' survivors.

1.  "Tell Me Why" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: Lennon, with McCartney and Harrison
2.  "If I Fell" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: Lennon, with McCartney
3.   "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: Harrison
4.   "Long Tall Sally" (Johnson/Penniman/Blackwell); Lead vocal: McCartney
5.   "I Call Your Name" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: Lennon


(When I end a round and start the next, I'll need to take the songs from the previous round down so that the next round's songs will fit on the website. Therefore the links in each round will still show up, but they won't work once that round has ended.)

NOTE:  You can join in the game anytime. You don't need to have been voting from the beginning to play.

[Matt]

Wow! I've just listened to all these songs, and don't feel like voting any off! But, then we wouldn't have a game anymore. So, I guess it'll have to be done.

This is turning into a great thread. Not only is it fun to see how our choices compare to other members' choices, but it's been really enjoyable to discuss the songs individually with each other as we hear them each round. And then when you add in Lin's posts about seeing the Beatles live, this is turning into the Ultimate Beatles Thread!

In my post above, I mentioned differences in the U.S. and U.K. album releases of some of these songs, but I won't be doing that every round. I wanted to include the U.S. release information this time because the "Something New" album is really special to me. It was my first Beatles album! I'm listening to "Tell Me Why" right now, and it brings back memories of listening to this song so many times when I was a kid that I think I burned a hole through the tape. While we're all voting this round, why not also tell us what your first Beatles album was... your age when you got it, if it was a gift, or any other details. How did you become a Beatles fan? This has become my favorite thread in a long time, and the more I get to read about the Beatles each day from all of you, the better.

My introduction to The Beatles was a birthday present from one of my uncles, who was a monk and lived in a monastery for a long time (I'm not kidding). Because of that, he knew nothing about popular music. When he gave me the gift, he said that he had gone into a record store, and asked an employee what music everyone liked. He said, "The Beatles, The Carpenters, and Foghat". () And, that's what I got, three cassette tapes, and I had never heard of any of these bands before. I listened to "Something New" and became so hooked on The Beatles that I quickly did everything I could to get my hands on all of their music. I never did become a Carpenters or Foghat fan, but the gift of a lifelong love for the Beatles was the best birthday present I think I've ever gotten.

And now.... the voting.

I can't vote off "Tell Me Why", so I'm going to have to go with.....

1) "I Call Your Name"
2) "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" (Really love the guitar chords in that intro)
3) "If I Fell"

[Gant]

"And I Love her" Gone.... Devastated. 

A bit easier for me this time round....

1   I Call Your Name
2   I'm Happy Just To Dance With You
3   Long Tall Sally

No problem remembering how I got hooked on the Beatles..I kinda grew up with their second album "With The Beatles"  I can't ever remember a time when it wasn't around in my house. My folks were big music fans but aside from a couple of Ska singles it was mainly Classical / Jazz or Big Band swing.. Sinatra etc. The only pop record they owned  was this Beatles lp which I played endlessly as soon as I was old enough (and trusted) to apply the stylus myself. It was listening to this album that I somehow made up my mind that I was gonna become a drummer and I can honestly say that Ringo Starr was the BIG influence on my early playing. Forget all the rubbish you may have read about his lack of ability behind the kit. Total nonsense.. he's a great player getting it just right on every record and with an almost uncanny knack of keeping perfect time. (This was years before click tracks were introduced for drummers without this ability) I spent years playing along to this and all the other Beatles records in my bedroom.. first on oil cans and then on my first drum kit proper... If I could somehow re-record those tracks I wouldn't change a single thing.

Anyway.. that leads me kinda nicely up till nearly two years ago when a band I was working with were hired to play at Pauls daughters wedding.. Some of you know this story so I'll keep it short.. Enough to say that we were very excited by the prospect.. There were many big names in attendance and we were treated very well by everyone, but the surprise of the night came when half way thru' the set Paul jumped up onstage with us and launched into "I Saw Her Standing There" Amazing experience. He did another three songs with us including Long Tall Sally.. I sat there playing away hardly believing that after all these years a Beatle was actually standing there in front of me singing. (His voice is still superb by the way).
Anyway, afterwards he chatted for ages about musicians he's worked with over the years and his early influences. A lovely fella and after the show he told us to have a drink on him and enjoy the evening...Which of course we did...

So as you can imagine.. this little beat combo have had a huge influence on me.. and continue to do so. 

[The Schofield Kid]

Tough round this one:

1- I'm Happy Just To Dance With You
2- If I Fell
3- I Call Your Name

My first Beatles album was Beatles For Sale.I bought it in 1980 when I was 10 years old and it was the first record of any band I had bought.I actually bought it on tape because it was cheap and my brother who a few of the other Beatles album's didn't have this one.I don't know the exact moment that I became a fan but it probably would have been after watching those Beatle Cartoons on a Saturday morning and singing along to the songs.

                                  

The Aussie album Cover for Beatles For Sale was different to the rest of the world.

[Lin Sunderland]

Lin, do you have The Beatles Anthology DVD? There's a chapter in there about the Cavern, with some brief, but good footage of The Beatles playing at the Cavern.

No Matt I haven't I must look out for it.  I expect you can buy it at the Beatles shop in Liverpool at the Albert Dock.   Thanks for telling me about it.

[Lin Sunderland]

1   If I Fell
2   I am Happy Just To Dance With you
3   Tell Me Why

This is getting very difficult now.   Like Matt there really isn't one I want to vote off but to keep the game going I do need to make a selection.   Having listened to them all over again I have picked the above for no other reason than they don't evoke as many memories as the remaining two.   

 

A few years ago whilst on a tour of Japan we were taken to the Tokyo Cavern to see the Japanese Beatles. Amazing replica of the club and the band were actually very good.

Hey Gant that would have been neat.   I would love to see a replica of the Cavern Club.

[Matt]

Gant, I was really hoping you'd post about that experience in this thread. If you didn't soon, I was thinking I'd have to start harassing you in PMs until you did!

Having admitted to being brought to tears at just being in a stadium (along with about 20,000 other fans) to see Paul McCartney perform live, I can't even imagine how amazing it must have been to actually play with him on stage! And then to be able to just hang out and talk with him... wow.

It was also cool to see you give Ringo that kind of respect. I've always heard him getting knocked for being "less than great", but I've always thought he was perfect too. I've also always considered Ringo as one of the main reasons the Beatles stayed together as long as they did. His personality and friendship with them seemed to help keep things tolerable for them in those last couple of years.

Gant, you might be able to confirm or deny something I remember hearing (or reading) a long time ago... can't remember the source now. Was Ringo's drum solo in "The End" a first for a (lengthy) drumming solo on a rock record? I have no idea if that's true or not, and I've often wondered... especially since long drum solos would become fairly common a few years later.

tgy, thanks for telling us about your first Beatles album too. Isn't it kinda funny to think that we were all around the age of 10 years old, and already SO into "good" music. Compare that to 10 year old kids today. We didn't have computers, internet, cable TV, VCRs, DVD players, game systems, etc. to divide our time. All we had was the radio, and a tape deck or record player. I grew up playing an electric piano in my room along to The Beatles, and aside from reading books (mainly on the Beatles) didn't do much else with my spare time through most of my childhood.

We all had such good taste at such a young age.

[Sylvie]

1. If I fell
2. I'm happy just to dance with you
3. I call your name.

[Americanbeauty]

That round was tough 

1. If I Fell
2. I Call Your Name
3. I'm Happy Just To Dance With You

[Gant]

Matt.. yeah, no way I could keep quiet with all this cool stuff goin' down.  

I've never heard that about Ringo's being the first on record drum solo.  I would have thought someone like Ginger Baker would have done it first, but to be honest I don't know. The Beatles were first in so many things..Feedback/7 minute singles etc.. it wouldn't surprise me.

 Ringos got a great feel in his playing that comes out more and more as the band progressed. I certainly think he influenced a lot of players at the time.. Love that snare/tom roll that introduces "She loves You"

Trivia.... I think I read somewhere that he is left handed but played right handed..Interesting.