topic Re: The Beatles' Musicality in Community Chat

The Beatles' Musicality

Pearlee — Sat, 30 Nov 2019 21:17:09 GMT

As many of you know from my posts, I love the Beatles. I am just now realizing something I hadn't thought much about before in all these 50-plus years of listening to them.

A few months ago I purchased a 2-disc CD set entitled The Beatles: Live at the BBC. It's from the Beatles' very early days, when they were just getting famous and when their manager Epstein wanted them to appear many times live at the BBC to promote themselves. This CD consists of some favorite Beatles songs but also of a lot of covers of American rock and roll songs the Beatles performed (after all, they hadn't written their entire catalog of songs yet in 1963-4) and there are some never-before-released recordings on the disc which are terrific and a treat to hear.

Finally to get to my point. It occurred to me while listening to the Beatles doing covers of American hits how great musicians they were. On many of the songs, the music they played on their instruments was far superior to what was recorded on the American version of the song. Also it struck me how in sync they were. For example, when a song ended on a chord they were perfectly all together, no "straggling" of sound coming in from one of the instruments. It was so precise and crisp. Clearly from their days in Germany and at the Cavern Club, before they became famous, they had really perfected their act as musicians.

I really never thought much about this before because I was so "into" the beautiful melodies and lyrics of Beatles-written songs. I think it became most clear to me when listening to their recordings of the American rock and roll songs - their version vs. the original artist's version.

Also, I will say that they were not lip synching on these BBC shows, because on some of the tracks they'll say something or do something a little different, as one Beatle said on the track, "just to show it isn't the record" [but rather them performing live]. So, there was no cleaning up the sound by the recording studio.

the Beatles

Re: The Beatles' Musicality

Desert Lily — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 02:30:39 GMT

Each year I buy an Edward Hopper wall calendar and another another calendar that interests me (1 for home & 1 for work.) I read that this is the 50th Anniversary of Abbey Road, so 1 of the calendars I bought is an Abbey Road one from Amazon. The front looks just like the album cover.

Re: The Beatles' Musicality

haddon9 — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 02:36:16 GMT

@Desert Lily I'm going to have to look for that calendar....it would be a great gift to a good friend who is a big Beatles fan!

@Pearlee Interesting. I know that they worked long & hard in Germany and probably perfected their crisp sound then.

Re: The Beatles' Musicality

jellyBEAN — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 03:01:38 GMT

@Pearlee I wouldn't mind having that CD. I've read a lot of biographies on The Beatles as a group and individually and know that both John and Paul worshipped the early American rock n roll artists - Elvis, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and some other more obscure artists, and I love that music too. They took American rock n roll and applied their own creative spin to it.

Another thing regarding their musicality, with each album and each new hit song, they grew and grew. The songs never sounded alike. One song was better than the last. And it went on that way for years. Such a shame it all ended, but I guess it was meant to be. A Hard Days Night is on TCM's On Demand selections. I think I'll put it on, simply for the soundtrack.

Re: The Beatles' Musicality

Pearlee — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 03:15:52 GMT

@jellyBEAN. I watched that film about a week ago on TCM. love the music.

I agree with every word you wrote about how The Beatles grew and progressed. A couple of years ago I watched an interview with Sir Paul 🥰 where he and the interviewer were chatting about "one hit wonders" in the 1960s whereupon the interviewer asked Paul "So what does it feel like to be a 500-hit wonder?" So true! And as you say, the amazing thing is the songs are so varied.

Re: The Beatles' Musicality

frankenfinch — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 06:16:39 GMT

For those who want to read one book about the Beatles which captures the entire Beatlemania phenomena I highly recommend the late Nicholas Shaffner's 'Beatles Forever'.

It's written from a first person view as a fan. You don't have to be a big Beatles fan but by the time you finish reading his book you probably will want to delve into their music more.

There are hundreds of books written about the Beatles but this is the best of them imo.

Re: The Beatles' Musicality

Pearlee — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 18:26:52 GMT

@jellyBEAN. I too have read a lot of bios of the Beatles,
and esp of Paul. My favorite is Here, There and Everywhere by their sound engineer, Geoff Emerick, who was at EMI records from the very first records until the last. He saw everything including witnessing their breakup first hand. It is very good. I loaned my copy to a Beatles fan friend once who stayed up all night reading it.

Re: The Beatles' Musicality

suzyQ3 — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 19:10:08 GMT

I was Beatles Maniac, along with my friends. We stalked them both times they came to L.A., much to my parents' dismay.

We also hatched a plan to get to the Hollywood Bowl and wait all night to be tickets for their first concert here. We got them! And then we counted the too many days until the concert time.

I can still feel that rush today.

Re: The Beatles' Musicality

jellyBEAN — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 21:37:39 GMT

@suzyQ3 Wow, to see the Beatles at The Hollywood Bowl!! That must be an xcellent memory. I can only imagine all the girls SCREAMING. I never got a chance to see them. I missed out because I was just a couple years too young to be going to concerts by the time they split up in '69/70.

Mark Lewisohn is in the process of writing a massive trilogy on The Beatles. I read the first volume which covered their early years. I don't think he has completed Volume 2 yet but that will cover their middle years and then the 3rd volume will cover the end.

It was really quite an in depth read. I actually find their rise to the top more interesting than when they were at the top. Where they grew up, their early lives, how they hooked up, how they did in school, their girlfriends, etc... Paul was my favorite too. I liked them all, but he was the cutest. But I have to say looking back now, and watching 'A Hard Days Night' I think George was very under-rated in the looks dept. He has very dark eyes, and he was the youngest Beatle. What a great great band they were. Sigh....those days are long gone.

Re: The Beatles' Musicality

GrailSeeker — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 22:06:36 GMT

What a phenomena. I was so young. They shaped my life. Ooh, the rock 'n' roll life-style! I give them all the credit (or all the blame, depending on how you look at it). I can't imagine it any other way. They were integral to it all. It was like Christmas and my birthday, all rolled into one. The soundtrack of my childhood and coming of age years.

Re: The Beatles' Musicality

naturalfan — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 23:04:47 GMT

I am a huge Beatles fan too and what keeps on impressing me is how good John and Paul harmonized together. George did not have the best voice (although I loved George) but sometimes when he added the third harmony, it was just perfect. Still loves those guys and their music.

Re: The Beatles' Musicality

Pearlee — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 00:15:19 GMT

@jellyBEAN wrote:
@Pearlee I wouldn't mind having that CD. I've read a lot of biographies on The Beatles as a group and individually and know that both John and Paul worshipped the early American rock n roll artists - Elvis, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and some other more obscure artists, and I love that music too. They took American rock n roll and applied their own creative spin to it.

Another thing regarding their musicality, with each album and each new hit song, they grew and grew. The songs never sounded alike. One song was better than the last. And it went on that way for years. Such a shame it all ended, but I guess it was meant to be. A Hard Days Night is on TCM's On Demand selections. I think I'll put it on, simply for the soundtrack.

@jellyBEAN There are many reasons this CD is worth owning, IMO. There is some Beatles "banter" on it with the BBC host (although to me, it is sad to listen to John L., knowing what happened to him in 1980). Lennon was ever-so-witty.

At the very beginning of Disc 1, the BBC host asks the Beatles which instrument each of them plays (remember, this is the early days of Beatles. Nevertheless, you can tell from how the Beatles answer to the host that they've already been asked this a million times and are sick of answering it). Here is their response, which I absolutely love:

Ringo: "I'm Ringo and I play the drums."

Paul: "I'm Paul and I play bass."

George (saying sarcastically because he's sick of being asked this): "I'm George and I play the guitar."

John: "I'm John and I play the guitar too. And sometimes I play the fool."

I can't ever listen to that little conversation without really appreciating John and his wit. Hearing that always makes me laugh, even though I've listened to it about 50 times already.