Tag Archives: The Beatles

Beatles, George Harrison, John lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr

The Beatles Seven records of Christmas

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beatles

The Beatles Seven records of Christmas

From 1963 to 1969, the Beatles recorded and released seven special Christmas singles through their fan club. These were closer to “Monty Pythonesque”-comedy than their normal releases. The first ones are whimsical, cheery and thankful for their success, but later records are more esoteric. They reflect their development as a unit, the 1969 recording is four separate pieces.

Each recording was pressed onto a 7″ flexi disc and mailed free to the British members of the Fan Club.

beatles yule copy

The results are interesting curiosities for all  Beatles fans. A compilation album (with all the 7 singles) was released in 1971 and available from the fan club between 1970 and 1972. It was never released commercially, and most  copies are bootlegs.

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Beatles, Great albums, John lennon, Music Calendar, Paul McCartney

December 4: The Beatles released Beatles For Sale 1964

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beatles for sale

Beatles for Sale is the fourth studio album by the Beatles, it was released on 4 December 1964 and produced by George Martin. The album marked a minor turning point in the evolution of the Lennon–McCartney partnership, John Lennon particularly now showing interest in composing songs of a more autobiographical nature. I’m a Loser shows Lennon for the first time coming under the influence of Bob Dylan, whom he met in New York while on tour, on 28 August 1964.

John, when you were in New York, what did you like best about it?

 I just like cities, you see, and preferably big ones. That’s why I liked it. And we met some good people like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, you know, and I enjoy meeting people I admire.

(Sept 13, 1964 via In The Life Of…The Beatles)

Beatles for Sale didn’t  produce a single for the UK – the non-album tracks I Feel Fine and She’s a Woman performed that role. Nevertheless, that coupling was followed up in the United States by Eight Days a Week, which became their seventh number one.

The Beatles – I’m a loser (live Paris, 1965):

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Beatles, Great albums, John lennon, Music Calendar, Paul McCartney

Dec 3: The Beatles released “Rubber Soul” in 1965

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beatles-rubber-soul

There are places I’ll remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends, I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I’ve loved them all

Rubber Soul documentary included in the remastered Box-set:

All four faces of The Beatles appear stretched on the cover of 1965’s Rubber Soul, but it is not only the picture that is mind bending, the music within stretches the boundaries of popular music, too. In my mind it is he first truly unified album by The Beatles (and their first recorded within a specified session period), it is a quantum leap compared to the band’s past work. The Songwriting is out of this world, and the instrumentation was cutting edge. A milestone in rock history.
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Beatles, List

The Beatles 40 best songs: at 17 Get Back

get back

“Get Back is Paul. That’s a better version of Lady Madonna. You know, a potboiler rewrite.”
– John Lennon (1980)

The song was credited to The Beatles and Billy Preston. It was The Beatles’ only single that credited another artist.

We have included 10 different versions in this post!

“Get Back” is a song recorded by the Beatles, originally released as a single on 11 April 1969. A different mix of the song later became the closing track of Let It Be (1970), which was the Beatles’ last album released just after the group split. The single version was later issued on CD on the second disc of the Past Masters compilation.

The single reached number one in the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, France, West Germany, and Mexico. It was the Beatles’ only single that credited another artist at their request. “Get Back” was the Beatles’ first single release in true stereo in the US. In the UK, the Beatles’ singles remained monaural until the following release, “The Ballad of John and Yoko”.

“By the time sessions reached Apple the lyric had changed and the title… well, Paul had his own ideas in that direction. George Martin, over the talkback: ‘What are you calling this, Paul?’ Paul: ‘Shit. Shit, take one.'”
– Mark Lewisohn (The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions)

The Beatles – Get Back (live, The Rooftop concert):

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The Beatles 40 best songs: at 18 Ticket To Ride

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ticket to ride beatles picture sleeve

The Beatles were such a prolific album act that it’s sometimes hard to abstract their later singles; here, they ride their roots as a bar band in Liverpool and Hamburg to a new kind of glory.
~Dave Marsh (The Heart of Rock & Soul)

The opening circular riff, played on 12-string guitar by George Harrison, was a signpost for the folk-rock wave that would ride through rock music itself in 1965.
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)

Wikipedia:

Released 9 April 1965
Recorded 15 February 1965,
EMI Studios, London
Genre Rock
Length 3:10
Label Parlophone
Writer Lennon–McCartney
Producer George Martin

John Lennon: double-tracked lead vocals and rhythm guitar
Paul McCartney: vocals, bass and lead guitar
George Harrison: rhythm guitar
Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine and handclaps

“Ticket to Ride” is a song by the Beatles from their 1965 album, Help!. It was recorded 15 February 1965 and released two months later. In 2004, this song was ranked number 394 on Rolling Stone‘s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

beatles ticket to ride

They say this was one of John’s personal favorites, probably because it has his most soulful vocal ever. But “Ticket to Ride” is intricate and interesting all the way through, with Paul playing mean lead guitar and Ringo dispelling all doubt about his prowess as a drummer: The groove comes straight out of his pure backbeat.
~Dave Marsh (The Heart of Rock & Soul)

Ticket To Ride was slightly a new sound at the time. It was pretty fucking heavy for then, if you go and look in the charts for what other music people were making. You hear it now and it doesn’t sound too bad; but it’d make me cringe. If you give me the A track and I remix it, I’ll show you what it is really, but you can hear it there. It’s a heavy record and the drums are heavy too. That’s why I like it.
– John Lennon (Anthology)

Ticket To Ride (Video-Mix 1965) HD 0815007:

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