The Best Beatles Albums Part 5

 The Beatles (aka The White Album) - Released 11/28/1968

Hard to see, but it's there

After the sorry performance of the Magical Mystery Tour television special, and in light of their manager's death from a drug overdose, the Beatles and several other celebrities flew off to India to practice transcendental meditation under the tutelage of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. They had come across his teachings shortly after their Our World triumph.  The plan was for several months of meditation and learning Eastern ways.  In ten days, however, Ringo left for home, stating he didn't like the food.  McCartney left a month later.  Finally the other two returned amidst rumors that the Maharishi's intentions, at least where the women were concerned, were not altogether spiritual (Lennon's  Sexy Sadie was a thinly veiled swipe at the guru because of this). While in India, they were not only meditating, but they were also writing songs. Lots of songs.  And not just Lennon and McCartney, but also Harrison and even Ringo.  When they returned to the Abbey Road studios in May, 1968, they were ready to record almost all of the songs they wrote.  Enough songs for a double album set.  George Martin immediately protested.  Some of the songs were outstanding, and would make a strong - possibly their best - album (consider Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps in that category). Others were everything from goofy to just garbage (I'm looking at you Wild Honey Pie).  Nonetheless, the four wouldn't budge.  It was all of them or nothing.  And that included a bit of avant-garde electronic sound experimentation (Revolution 9), courtesy of a new presence in the studio that was adding to the already tense atmosphere.  That presence was John's new love interest, artist Yoko Ono.  

As production continued, Martin turned into more of an executive producer, moving from studio to studio, overseeing the process as the individual Beatles worked on their own songs their own ways.  McCartney became increasingly bossy, chasing Ringo out for over a week.  George Harrison threatened to quit, growing tired of his limited allotment of songs per album.  And the Lennon-Ono team was pushing everyone, including staff, to the limits. Despite that atmosphere, they still managed to work forward.  They needed to.  After years of seeing at least two albums released in a year, 1968 was progressing without a Beatles album release.  The one bright spot musically speaking came with the release of Hey Jude.  It was a pure McCartney song written for Julian Lennon after his dad left Cynthia Lennon for Yoko Ono.  Their 16th #1 song in the US, it became their biggest hit single, and one of the biggest singles of all time.  Staying at #1 for almost two and a half months, it was also long.  Far longer than radio stations typically agreed to play.  Nevertheless, it broke records at the time and remains their most successful chart topper.  Still, an album was needed, and wanted by fans.  The Beatles was released on November 22, 1968, under their own newly formed Apple Corps record label.  Its blank appearance was a purposeful attempt to distance themselves from the excess of the Sgt. Pepper days and the oversaturation of psychedelia, which by now was commonplace among the cultural revolution.  The reception was mixed.  It did, as usual, go to number one on the album charts.  But critics complained that it was erratic, nonsensical, and at times downright amateurish.  Over the years, The White Album (as it came to be called for obvious reasons) became one of the essential Beatles albums to own, and considered one of the greatest albums ever.  This is not so much due to the quality of the music, however, even if some songs are among their best.  Rather it is seen that way because it shows not only the growing strains in The Beatles' much studied history, but also the distinct songwriting personalities of the four separate band members like no other album.  

Engineer Geoff Emerick with an increasingly independent McCartney

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Released 5/26/1967

It was twenty years ago today ...

For years this was voted the greatest album of all time.  In later years, that title has shifted about, but most still consider this, if not the greatest, then undeniably the single most influential album of all time.  By August, 1966, it was clear that Beatlemania was passing its sell-by date.  An unintentional slight against the Marcos presidency in the Philippines led to the band being whisked out of the country in fear of their lives.  In  Japan, protests erupted as some politicians worked to ban the group from coming and corrupting their youth.  And in America, the backlash against John's statement about the popularity of Jesus vs. the Beatles sparked the famous 'Fantastic Beatles Boycott.'  Worse, however, though often unspoken, was another unexpected development.  Even as they were playing more and more in massive venues like sports stadiums, they were beginning to notice something they hadn't witnessed since achieving mega-stardom - empty seats.  Yes, they were still playing huge arenas, but a year earlier it was to mostly sell out crowds.  When they returned to Shea Stadium in 1966, over 11,000 tickets were left unsold.  Tired of the rigors of touring, the mounting controversies and scandals, and quite frankly seeing the writing on the wall and wanting to go out on top, they made an unprecedented decision for a musical act to make: They would stop touring.  After over three and a half years and almost 1400 concert performances, their appearance at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on August 29, 1966 was their last performance together on tour. 

For the next few months, they took their first significant break from each other.  When they returned in November, it was a new incarnation of the group.  Mustaches, goatees and beards were the norm, and Lennon was now sporting his 'granny-glasses', a prop from his part in the Richard Lester movie How I Won the War (and the basis for the picture of Lennon as a solider that graced the cover of the first issue of 'Rolling Stone' magazine).  Rebounding from rumors that they had broken up, and buoyed by the stunning level of positive feedback from their album Revolver, they wanted to keep pushing the limits of the industry.  They saw, as with Revolver, that no matter how far ahead they were, the rest of the industry was quick to catch up.  They decided to work on a concept album about their childhood.  But the studio number crunchers made the first two songs recorded be hastily put together and released as a single to fill the void left during their break.  That single, released as two A Sides, featured the songs Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever.  Considered one of the strongest singles ever produced, it also saw the production of the first 'self-contained conceptual promotional films' meant solely to promote the songs' releases.  That is, the first official music videos meant to compensate for their lack of touring.  Ironically, because the two songs were both released as A-Sides in the UK, they worked against each other and failed to overcome Engelbert Humperdinck's Please Release Me. They stalled out at #2, making headlines as the first single by the Beatles since 1963 to fail to make number one on the UK charts (in the US, Penny Lane did manage to make it to #1, their 13th in the US). 

 The first official stand alone conceptual music video

Returning to the studio, they turned their attention to building on everything they had learned up to the Revolver recording sessions. In addition to their basic drive to stay ahead, their imaginations were spurred on by an increase in recreational drug use. It was here that the recording engineers, especially recording engineer Geoff Emerick, working alongside George Martin, would establish the modern recording studio as we know it.  The most complex and state of the art recording process belonged to Lennon's Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, a song inspired by an old Victorian circus poster he owned.  But other tricks and studio wand waving emerged with the evolution of each song.  The album was becoming for recording technology what Disney's Fantasia was for animated film. None other than the London Symphony Orchestra found itself playing background on the recordings, especially the album's climactic finale, A Day in the Life.  Soon the production as a whole, including the album contents themselves, took on a life of their own.  Four years earlier, even heavy hitters like Sinatra or Elvis would only take a few weeks to record an album.  Sometimes it was a one day affair.  The Sgt. Pepper sessions lasted almost seven months.  And that was with almost around the clock work schedules.  The legendary cover photo tapped into the emerging psychedelia movement and helped push that movement into the mainstream.  As the primary driver behind the project, it was Paul who conceived of the 'Sgt. Pepper' bookends that give the impression of a concept album.  He admitted that Pepper was, in many ways, their much needed answer to Pet Sounds.  Released on May 26, 1967, Sgt. Pepper quickly became the biggest selling non-soundtrack album to date (it remains the biggest selling album in the UK).  It immediately connected to the Summer of Love, and helped define the entire counter culture revolution from that point on.  No singles were released, as the idea was to present it as a cohesive whole; to make it a singular work of art.  The idea worked, and its success led the music industry to shift from a singles based marketing model to one centered around the album.  It seemed as if everything - music, fashion, attitudes, graphic art, pop culture, the music industry itself - changed with the release of Sgt. Pepper.  For their efforts, the Beatles became the first rock musicians to win a Grammy Award for best album.  It put them straight back on top of the entertainment world.     

As George Martin looks on, Paul McCartney conducts a French horn section from the LSO

On June 25, Our World aired. It was the first live global television broadcast before an audience estimated at around half a billion.  Multiple countries provided various individuals to represent them.  England chose the Beatles, and they headlined the entire broadcast, quickly throwing together the song All You Need is Love for the occasion.  Tying that song to the summer already invigorated by the release of their signature album, the Beatles were, as the Monkees' song Randy Scouse Git described, 'the Four kings of EMI sitting stately on the floor.'  It was the pinnacle of their success and influence on both the music industry, as well as world culture at large.  And it marked the beginning of the end.  

"The song [Sgt. Pepper intro], along with the album as a whole, gave other musicians new ideas and new attitudes to the approach of music. The production of the record set new standards in expertise and innovation. It may not be too far-fetched to say that much of popular music in the half-century after 1967 has come under the influence of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band." Martin Chilton, Editor and Author

"Everyone I knew who was involved in popular music spent weeks and weeks listening and relistening and discussing [Stg. Pepper], and everyone at that point considered it a major event." Milron Okun, Producer/Arranger

"Sgt. Pepper, for its time, captured a moment in popular music that will probably never be repeated in quite that way, in the sense that it was an artistic statement in a music that was never regarded as art before." Lenny Kaye, musician  

Our World - The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger sits on the floor next to Harrison

The Best Beatles Albums Part 4

 Please Please Me - Released 3/22/1963

This was their first album, their first number one album, and one of the turning points of the modern musical era.  But it wasn't a sure thing.  Contrary to popular myth, the famous audition of the Beatles, when producer George Martin read them the riot act about their limited quality, and Harrison joked about his tie, wasn't really an audition.  Beatles manager Brian Epstein had already secured a tentative record contract a couple months earlier, following his initial meeting with Martin on Feb 13, 1962.  At the time of their first meeting, Martin produced for Parlophone, a subsidiary of EMI Records.  His main focus was on classical music, as well as novelty and comedy songs (he worked with such luminaries as Peter Sellers, Spike Mulligan and Peter Ustinov). For that first recording session on June 6, Martin, who was looking to move into the mainstream, was just seeing what they were made of and who could do what.  It was then that Martin concluded drummer Pete Best wasn't good enough for the recording studio.  That led to the band firing him and replacing him with drummer Richard Starkey - better known throughout the Liverpool music scene as Ringo Starr.  But Martin was still hesitant.  There was pushback from EMI's higher ups about the band's name.  They believed the act should have a front man for the audience to connect to:  John Lennon and the Beatles.  Paul McCartney and the Beatles.  That was typically how it was done.  But Martin was convinced the idea of just 'four lads having fun' would connect, with each being his own personality.  On the other side, however, he wasn't happy with their push to write their own songs.  He felt the standard procedure of having professional song writers write specifically for them would do the trick if they wanted to be more than a novelty rock and roll act.  Or at least let a pro writer help in the composition.  Lennon and McCartney had written over 100 songs together by that time, and felt at least some were worthy of consideration.  Martin listened to most of those, but felt they were lacking at best.  Nonetheless, he trusted them enough to record their first single, written by them, named Love Me Do.  Released on October 5, 1962, it made it to #17 on the UK charts.  No bad, but it wasn't enough to inspire confidence.  Martin went back to the suggestion of professional song writers.  John and Paul requested another chance.  They wanted to record a love ballad they wrote called Please Please Me.  Martin had already heard it, and told them it wasn't that good.  But this time they put it to a more upbeat, fast paced tempo, per Martin's suggestion.  They played a demo for him of this revised version.  According to those who were there, when the song was done, Martin pointed to them and said 'you have your first hit.'  The song went to #2, and that was enough to warrant a full length LP.  Primary recording for the album took place over one day.  By the end of the day, they had to do extra takes of Twist and Shout because Lennon's voice was in tatters.  They actually had to break and send him to the cafeteria to get milk of magnesia and cough syrup to loosen his vocal chords.  Hence the raspiness of his singing on that song. Released on March 22, 1963, the Please Please Me album quickly went to #1 on the charts, their first of many. A year later, it would produce two #1 hits, a top 5 hit, two top 10 hits and one top 20 hit on the US charts. That's more than an impressive amount of chart toppers from one album. In the meantime, the amazing number of professional sounding music from the songwriting partnership of two amateur, untrained young men immediately caught the UK music world's attention. Beatlemania had begun.  

There would be one more change in the lineup before they hit it big

The song that really started it all

Rubber Soul - Released 12/3/1965

Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, Revolver, even The White Album, are usually named their best, their greatest, their landmark albums.  But the first sweeping break from their previous sound, and clear evidence that the four were quickly outgrowing their Mop Top image, was Rubber Soul.  Rumor has it that the name was taken from the tendency that black musicians had of disparaging the Rolling Stones, saying they had 'plastic soul.'  Rubber Soul being a dig at their friendly rivals, and in some ways saying they themselves were not much better.  Just the playful ambiguity of the title showed something new was happening.  And it was.  By the time of its release in late 1965, the British Invasion was in full swing and dominating the American music charts. More than just a doorway for British musical acts, the British invasion toppled the near monopoly on global cultural output that the United States had enjoyed since the end of WWII.  In addition, the fruits of the emerging counter-culture were already beginning to show.  Controversy raged when the Queen of England presented each of the Beatles with MBEs (Member of the British Empire).  Some believed the awards were appropriate because they saw the Beatles as national heroes.  Others were not amused, and some even threatened to return theirs in protest.  But 1965 had seen the Beatles take Rock and Roll and move it for the first time to the stadium level.  No longer confined to auditoriums and state fairs, Rock and Roll was quickly becoming the default soundtrack for the last half of the century.  And the Beatles were in the driver's seat.  Though the movie Help! was fairly well received, and the music from the soundtrack album successful as always (it produced three number one hits: Ticket to Ride, Help!, and the barrier breaking Yesterday), the Beatles were itching to expand and grow.  The emergence of groups like The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Mammas and the Pappas, and Jefferson Airplane, to name only a few, showed that the dominance the Beatles enjoyed in this musical revolution was gaining membership.  And the four were keen on staying ahead of the pack.  George Martin's use of strings on Yesterday opened a massive door in the world of contemporary music, and Rubber Soul witnessed more new and exotic instruments entering the studio.  From Baroque piano to more classical instruments to the Indian sitar - brought by George Harrison as his interest in Indian culture and religion grew - an emerging attitude of 'anything if it works' broadened the limits of the genre.  In addition, the increasing demand the Beatles had for new sounds began pushing the limits of recording technology available in those days.  It was here that George Martin and the EMI recording staff became essential for the Beatles' artistic and creative development.  As an album, Rubber Soul had a quieter, more adult sound to it.  The songs themselves were a signification departure from the standard Beatles fare: Some were classical love ballads, others experimental (Norwegian Wood), and Lennon was beginning to branch out and write more introspective and meaningful songs with In My Life and Nowhere Man.  Though other albums get the attention, many fans at that time admit that when Rubber Soul was released, it was like a hit in the face.  Was this the Beatles?  Something big had happened in the music world, and things were about to change. 

As they pushed the boundaries of popular music, their producer
George Martin (center, standing) quickly became the 'Fifth Beatle'

Abbey Road - Released 9/26/1969

The most famous crosswalk on the planet

The entire Abbey Road project was merely salvaging their reputation after the Get Back fiasco.  McCartney looked at what happened over the previous couple years and realized the Beatles were being left behind.  They may have taught the music world how to play, but their students were quickly overtaking the masters.  He desperately didn't want the less than positively embraced White Album to be their last release.  Get Back, at that point, had been shelved indefinitely.   He called up George Martin, who was prepared to move on after the debacle of the Get Back project, and asked if he would produce again.  Martin said only if he's allowed to actually produce and be in the driver's seat, like the old days.  John was still hesitant, and the album was a compromise.  For Lennon, who was tired of the emphasis on endless studio production, Side A would have a set of individual songs, no tricks or fancies.  For Side B, featuring a strung out medley of multiple short songs and song ideas, McCartney would be able to produce to his heart's content.  The noteworthy part of the whole thing is that it was George Harrison, long the bridesmaid of the band's songwriters, who provided the most successful singles from the album.  Here Comes the Sun has emerged in recent years as one of the Beatles' most successful and recognizable songs.  And Something (released as a Side A alongside Come Together, also released as a Side A) went to #1 and was named by none other than Frank Sinatra as one of the most beautiful love songs he ever heard.  Upon release, Abbey Road was widely praised, though with restraint.  A technically fine album, perhaps their best overall, some great songs, some fun Beatles tricks.  But merely one of many great albums being released by that time.  It healed the wounds of previous years and brought back respect on a level they hadn't seen since Sgt. Pepper.  It also reminded everyone that what was being done in the world of music by 1969 was, as often as not, first done by them.  But that was the extent of its influence.  As Harrison said, they knew by then it was over, that this was their swansong.  And so it was.  Even the album's final official song title illustrated the fact: The End.  When they left the room on August 20, 1969, after working on overdubs for Lennon's I Want You (She's So Heavy), it was the last time the four would be in a recording studio together. 

By the late 60s, they knew the end was getting near

The Best Beatles Albums Part 3

 Help! -  Released 8/6/1965

Not a real semaphore code

Some have argued this is their first real concept album.  Contrary to popular belief, the Beatles did not pioneer the idea of a concept album with Sgt. Pepper.  That credit usually goes to Frank Sinatra for his semi-autobiographical album Sinatra: A Man and His Music.  But even for the Beatles, you see hints of the idea in this album.  The soundtrack for their second movie Help!, it consisted of songs from the movie on Side A, and others on Side B for filler.  Though not technically a concept album, all of the songs have something negative to say about relationships.  Gone are the positive 'She Loves You' or 'From Me to You.'  The songs are about breakups, losses, and unrequited love. Even at the height of their success, it was obvious they wanted to push themselves into new territory.  By now they had crushed attendance records by playing in New York City's Shea Stadium.  It was an event that said Rock and Roll wasn't just here to stay, but it was becoming the default societal soundtrack for the foreseeable future.  It stood to reason that this new era of rock and roll would need to be more than ritualistic dance music.  

As an album, Help! is also noteworthy for two other reasons.  It was the last album by the Beatles to feature cover songs from other artists.  And it contained the song Yesterday.  The most copyrighted song in history, Yesterday shattered musical genre barriers of the day.  Even by 1966, the music industry continued along with certain well defined assumptions.  Rock was this, mainline pop was that, classical was over there, folk music and polka and country and anything else belonged where they belonged.  Recording procedures, instruments and musical styles were assumed to stay put.  But when McCartney approached George Martin with a tune he plucked out to the lyrics 'Scrambled Eggs', Martin suggested it sounded wonderful, but not the Beatles.  He said it brought to his ears a string quartet.  McCartney resisted, saying he wasn't going to do 'some Mantovani rubbish.' But Martin insisted.  Finally Martin won out, and he - along with contributions from McCartney - wrote a score for a string quartet, backing McCartney alone with vocals and an acoustic guitar.  One of their most successful songs, and one of the most barrier breaking songs of the rock era.  

And therein lies the difference.  Over the years, fans of other artists who wrote their own songs and predated the Beatles have objected to the focus on the Lennon-McCartney songwriting team as some revolutionary development in modern music.  But the point isn't only that they wrote their own songs. It's that they wrote in a way that defied contemporary standards.  They did not seek this or that sub-sound of the fad called rock and roll - bubble gum, doowop, country blues, surf and sun.  They crafted a unique blend that sought to emulate the professional songwriting output of mainline artists, while consistently merging their myriad influences and inspirations into a broad yet unique style all their own.  A bit like Orson Welles and Citizen Kane.  Welles didn't invent much in that movie, but he took everything the film world knew at that time and combined it in a unique and visionary way.  That was the Beatles.  What they didn't invent - and they did invent much - they used in ways that hadn't been seen or heard up to that point.  And they did it without ever falling into the trap of a singular, identifiable musical style.  As an article I read on the anniversary of their Abbey Road album observed, without the Beatles you don't have what followed.  Without a single group able to write and produce songs as diverse as Yesterday, And I Love Her, Helter Skelter, I Am the Walrus, When I'm Sixty-Four, Yellow Submarine, I Want to Hold Your Hand, and Revolution, you don't have an genre of music that can include The Who, Led Zeppelin, Celine Dion, Elton John, Madonna, Matchbox Twenty, Michael Jackson, AC/DC and yes, Taylor Swift.  

8/15/1965: Greeting a record setting crowd of 55,600 fans

A Hard Days Night - Released 7/10/1964

As stated above, no recording artists have ever dominated the music world the way the Beatles did in 1964.  It was simply their year.  Their appearance on Ed Sullivan in February before almost half the population of America is considered one of the landmark events of the century.  They ushered in The British Invasion, and more broadly helped kick the emerging countercultural revolution into the mainstream.  In terms of the charts, they owned the charts in a way never seen before or since. The American music industry has never seen such a spectacular rise like it witnessed in 1964. At one point over 10% of the songs on the American charts were by the Beatles.  By the spring of that year, they had placed seven songs in the US Top 10 - at the same time. And the most celebrated record in the history of Billboard happened when Can't Buy Me Love jumped to the #1 spot on April 4, allowing the Beatles to clench all five of the top five spots on the American charts:  

Beyond that, they held the number one spot in the US for almost half the year, and placed three consecutive songs (I Want to Hold Your Hand, She Loves You, Can't Buy Me Love) at number one for almost four straight months in a row.  By the end of the year they had placed seven albums at the number one spot on the US album charts.* Their first world tour marked the high point of full blown Beatlemania.  In 1965, during their second world tour, stadiums and arenas became commonplace, and some of their audiences dwarfed what they experienced in 1964.  But it was 1964 that people remember when they remember Beatlemania in all its spectacle. If the audiences were smaller than the next year, it was here that thousands would show up along the road, merely to watch the band drive from the airport to their hotel or enter a restaurant. 

In the midst of this, their manager Brian Epstein secured a movie deal to produce movies for the Beatles, in a way inspired by Elvis.  Their first film, and their best, was a mocked up documentary, a sort of 'faux day in the life of the Beatles.'  Part scripted, part improv, a touch of tripped out British humor and lots of irreverence, the American Film Institute named it one of the top 100 films of all time.  Naturally it was extremely successful.  But it was the soundtrack album that marked a leap forward for the Beatles, and the music industry as a whole.  One of the early fights the band had was to write their own songs.  In those days, thick lines existed within the industry.  Unionized writers write the songs, the musicians and singers perform them.  Folk musicians and pro songwriters could do their own material.  Even rock musicians, when rock and roll was still considered a passing fad, could write their own material. But mainline A-List artists couldn't be trusted to write songs that could achieve their needed level of commercial success.  At least not trusted to write them without outside help.  But the Beatles fought and fought and fought to do so.  That is why it is considered a milestone that the soundtrack to A Hard Day's Night is filled with songs written solely by the team of Lennon-McCartney.  To begin with, you had two songs from the album reach #1 (the aforementioned Can't By Me Love and the title track A Hard Day's Night).  In addition, music critics were astonished by the maturity and sophistication of three of the group's ballads - And I Love Her, If I Fell and Things We Said Today.   Critics who withheld high praise at first began to reconsider, given not only the success of the songs and the album, but the quality and refined maturity as well.    

The movie captured the 'four buddies versus the world' image that helped propel them to superstardom

*This was possible because the Beatles typically released albums with 12 to 14 songs.  In the US, albums released by Capital often had no more than 8 or 9 songs.  This allowed Capital Records in the US to split up Beatles albums and release two from the one album released in England.  This was a practice not unique to the Beatles, but one they resented.  Part of their development of the album emphasis was meant to keep Capital from this practice. 

The Best Beatles Albums Part 2

 Beatles for Sale - Released 12/4/1964

Many critics and historians consider this album, their fourth, to be their 'weakest' album. I'm  still inclined to give it a little notch up compared to With the Beatles.  It did have one #1 song - Eight Days a Week - as well as I'll Follow the Sun.  I'll Follow the Sun is considered one of McCartney's best songs from the early days. As most observers  note when looking at the album cover, the wear and tear of Beatlemania is clearly taking their toll.  Another controversial album cover was initially envisioned, with the four in butchers' smocks, and dismembered doll babies and slabs of meat spread about.  It was poorly received and quickly replaced by this cover (the 'Butcher Cover' being used for later, supplemental releases).  Again, it shows the exhaustion they were feeling as the weight of their fame was settling down on them.  They were, in many ways, prisoners.  They couldn't go anywhere.  Everywhere they appeared drew thousands of fans, even if only to see them enter a building.  Not to mention Brian Epstein's strategy of 'tour the world.'  For Epstein, the entire world was their oyster.  It's been joked that the Beatles went to some countries before there was a music industry there to sell their albums.  It was that which likely helped establish them as the first bona fide global superstars.  It also no doubt contributed to the strain.  Meanwhile the money was piling up fast.  As was the feeling of responsibility.  According to their producer George Martin, it was McCartney who said he didn't want people in future decades to look back and say the Beatles were more famous than they deserved.  He wanted them to live up to the hype.  It was then that they began poking around at breaking down not only their own barriers, but those within the music industry as a whole.  For its part, the tone of the album is darker than the previous three albums.  Two songs - Baby's in Black and I'm a Loser - have definite Dylan influences.  Nonetheless, they were still shackled to the 'Mop Top' image.  After all, that image had allowed them to dominate the music world in a way that has never been repeated.  Because of that, the breakthroughs and unhindered innovation would have to wait.  

Beatlemania: It didn't take long for it to start fraying their nerves

Let it Be - Released 5/8/1970

Following the less than stellar reception for The White Album, and the dismal showing of the Magical Mystery Tour television special, the Beatles - especially Lennon and Harrison - insisted it was time to 'get back' to basic rock and roll.  Hence the name of the project would initially be Get Back. Launching a tirade against their producer George Martin for polluting their music with all of those fancy orchestra and studio tricks, Lennon and Harrison wanted to get back to basics. Then came the idea of producing an album and filming the process.  A 'How the Beatles do it' documentary, so to speak.  Brought in to aid the musical side was keyboard virtuoso Billy Preston, a close friend of George Harrison's.  Some suggest there was talk of letting him join the band.  He is, after all, the only person to share billing with the Beatles on any of their records.  Up until him, it was typically George Martin, or at times McCartney, who provided the keyboard parts on various recordings.  Nonetheless, not even Preston's upbeat enthusiasm or piano skills could save this project.  From contemporary accounts, and the general assessment through most of the decades that followed, this was what sealed the deal.  After these sessions, it was merely a matter of time. Their final live performance, on the office rooftop of  Apple Corps headquarters, was the most  noteworthy contribution of the entire project. Most of the music recorded was acceptable, but nothing unusual or groundbreaking.  George Martin became especially disenchanted, and began making plans to cease working with the group.  All during this time, each of the Beatles had threatened to quit, but were talked out of it by Paul.  Then, on April 10, 1970 (almost six years to the day that they monopolized the Billboard top five), Paul made if official. Long after the Get Back project was shelved, and after the release of their final album Abbey Road, he announced he was leaving the Beatles, by releasing his first solo album titled McCartney.  As can be guessed, it made headlines around the world.  Through the 1970s  a favorite media parlor game was wondering when they would reunite.  On December 8, 1980, that question was finally and tragically answered.  

The Get Back album was salvaged by their new manager Alan Klein, who came in to save their floundering Apple Corps label.  He brought in producer Phil Specter, both having formerly worked with the Rolling Stones.  It was renamed Let it Be, perhaps prophetically.  McCartney sued Specter because of the work he did, feeling his famous 'Wall of Sound' ruined McCartney's vision for the songs.  In fairness, however, it was Specter's work that provided the final two number one hits of the Beatles' career: the aptly titled Let it Be and The Long and Winding Road. 

The "Rooftop Performance", 1/3/69 - The Beatles' final live performance

Magical Mystery Tour (technically an EP as released) - Released 11/27/1967

Released initially in the  UK as an EP (Extended Play) album with songs from the much maligned movie of the same name, Capital Records in the US didn't miss a chance to add some stand alone songs and make it a full (and more expensive) Long Playing album (LP).   In the summer of 1967, the Beatles were at the top of the entertainment universe, and unprecedented in their cultural and musical influence.  Headlining one of the largest television broadcasts ever, and certainly the largest to that date, they were, to use the phrase, on top of the world.  Therefore, it came as a devastating shock when their manager Brian Epstein, the man who discovered them and secured their recording contract and presented them so successfully to the world, was found dead from a drug overdose on August 27.  For years, many dismissed Epstein's influence on the group by that point.  They were so phenomenally successful, did they even need him?  What happened over the subsequent years suggests strongly that yes, they desperately needed him.  Following Epstein's death, Paul emerged as the unofficial, self-appointed replacement manager, a move that caused tension and resentment from the others.  His first priority was a made for television movie special.  The movie would tap into the emerging psychedelia fad that they helped fuel with the release of Sgt. Pepper.  The idea was to get a bus full of actors and circus performers and friends and strangers, drive about the countryside in a bus, and film whatever happened.  As can be expected, several new songs were written for the movie.  Among them was a song that contained about everything the Beatles or the recording industry had learned by that time: Lennon's I Am the Walrus (a song that inspired Jeff Lynne to start his own band, Electric Light Orchestra).  It was truly a song with everything plus the kitchen sink in terms of content and recording techniques.  Other songs were of varying quality.  Though I have to put in a plug and mention that the song The Fool on the Hill was, per my parents, the first song I ever liked as a child.   Perhaps also prophetic.  Nonetheless, though the music echoed the whimsical and innovative sounds of Sgt. Pepper, it failed to save the production as a whole.  Though the album went to #1, the movie itself was panned by fans and ravaged by critics. It was also, in a dose of irony, the only time the Beatles attempted so purposefully to recapture the sound and feel of a previous album.  Still reeling from the death of Epstein, and facing the first true commercial failure of their stellar career, there wasn't much to do.  With tails tucked firmly between their legs, it was off to India, and a new phase in their evolving story. 

Three of that other 'Fab Four' who made the Beatles: L-R, Producer George Martin, Music
Publisher Dick James, and Manager Brian Epstein (Sound Engineer Geoff Emerick not shown)

The Best Beatles Albums Part 1

In a nod to the latest, and supposedly last, single released by the group. The following are, in my opinion, the least best to best albums produced by The Beatles in their legendary run together; a run that would make them the most successful and influential recording act of all time.  When considering the records they hold, however, especially of number one albums and the famous twenty four number one singles, it's hard to remember that they recorded together for barely seven years.  Twelve albums (one a double album or original material), an extended play album, almost a dozen and a half stand alone singles (in addition to writing songs for other artists throughout their time together), four feature films, three world tours, a European/ Scandinavian tour, in addition to hundreds of television appearances, mini-concerts and other obligations that came with being a celebrity.  Say what you will about their talent or their quality, you can't take away that they were hard workers. Hence part of my respect for them as artists.  Hard work is always a feather in the cap in my opinion.

1961: Playing to a whopping dozen and a half attendees

As a disclaimer, I should note that the following is not an endorsement of the wide ranging cultural and social changes that the arrival of the Beatles unleashed upon the West.  I am more than aware of the baleful influence the cultural revolution they helped perpetuate has had on the world.  I merely like their music.  Also, as a student of history, I am fascinated by the monstrously disproportionate impact they had on the world at large, the development of Western culture, and the music and entertainment industry as a whole.  As an article in the NYT said some years ago, you can't examine the cultural output of America or England in 1962, compare it to the same output two years later, and not conclude what the single change that occurred in between those two radically different offerings happened to be.  So no endorsements here, simply which albums I like the most and some notes about the events surrounding this much studied and analyzed group of musicians. 

First performance with drummer Ringo Starr at the Cavern Club, c. Aug, 1962

My favorites comprise the the twelve albums (plus EP) they recorded together from 1963 until 1969 (Let it Be was released in 1970, but the sessions had been recorded before they went their separate ways, before the Abbey Road sessions of  late 1969).  Again, not a bad output in just over 6 1/2 years of recording together.  It is purely subjective, as are all of my lists.  Which means most likely right.  It is from least best to best, with some historical notes for fun.  Release dates, with the exception of the Magical Mystery Tour LP, are according to the UK releases.  

"In 1956 ,,, there seemed little to suggest that out of  this provincial seaport [Liverpool] would come four young men, and a musical revolution, that would captivate and change the world."  The Complete Beatles documentary 

With the Beatles - Released 11/22/1963

From L-R: John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ring Starr 

On October 21, 1963, the Daily Mail coined a term that would define the early years of the Beatles' cultural domination: Beatlemania.  Not Frank Sinatra, not Elvis, not Michael Jackson or Madonna or Garth Brooks or Tayler Swift decades later would see such unimaginable crowds, such psychotic levels of  hysteria and fanaticism that greeted the band wherever they went. Appearing on the British television show The London Palladium on October 13, 1963, made them a household name in England the very next day.  On November 4th that year, they appeared before the Queen herself on The Royal Command Performance, and that launched them into the English stratosphere.  Endless books have been written trying to put a finger on what pole-vaulted the Beatles into such near mythical levels of fame and popularity.  Was it their style?  Their musical composition?  Their novel presentation as musicians? Their harmonies?  Their long hair?  A million theories have been given and, like most things, it was likely a bit of everything and some things we just can't pinpoint.  Whatever it was, they seemed to touch a raw nerve among the population at just a certain point in history.  One of those 'million chances in one' that so often determine the course of the human story. In any event, soon the tens of thousands of hysterical fans, the streets and neighborhoods and airports shutting down, the fainting girls and deafening screams would become their trademark.  

It was this that caught the attention of American television and entertainment moguls. Especially as they were looking for stories that might salve the wounds in America that were left from the assassination of President Kennedy.  Contrary to urban legend, Ed Sullivan did not say 'just stomp on them' when he was informed by a London cabbie that the streets were shut down because of the Beatles. He had already signed a deal with Beatles manager Brian Epstein after seeing thousands of fans shut down Heathrow Airport to greet them on their return from Scandinavia.  In the midst of this fervor and fever pitched zeal, their second album With the Beatles was released to record breaking advanced sales.  Almost immediately, everyone knew that this new group was going to be different.  Artistic flare was certainly used for other artists and their albums, but the stark Bohemian appearance, the restrained and somber look, said we're here to be different (the photographers employed by the group always seemed to capture the right look at the right moment, and the band benefited mightily from that fact).  It captured perfectly the Beatles as the first true 'self-contained musical group'. Once again, a significant number of songs were written by the songwriting team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.  With its release, the Beatles cemented the greatest domination of the British music scene in history.  For over half the year, they monopolized the top spots on both album and singles charts, and seemed with ease to place one song after another at number one. In addition, at a time when 'Rock and Roll' was still seen as a passing teenage fad, Paul McCartney and John Lennon were named by the London Times as the outstanding British composers of 1963.  Yet, compared to most of their output, this album has the fewest notable songs. If you consider how many of their songs are among the most famous and celebrated of the Rock Era, this album has none.  Even their most recognizable song She Loves You (with the immediately identifiable refrain of 'yeah, yeah, yeah') was released alongside the album as a stand alone single.  Hence it's place in the list as 'least best.'     

An all too common scene outside a hotel in the growing phenomenon called 'Beatlemania'

If you lose the birdwatchers, you've lost the West

So I saw this.  I had to do a double take. The American Ornithological Society is going to rename birds whose names are associated with Europeans.  That's because of course they are.  European means evil.  Evil cannot be forgiven or allowed to exist.  Evil must be erased and exterminated.  If you're having a hard time getting your head around young leftists cheering Hamas, joining with antisemitic chants, and saying the eradication of Israeli Jews just can't happen fast enough, this should help. 

Remember, there were three fundamental dogmas with the Left, and now there are four:

1) In a five billion year old Utopian world of peace, love, joy and John Lennon songs, the vile Western Christian Tradition alone brought all evil and wickedness to the world, and nothing good.  This is especially true as some of those things we gave credit to the West for changing - like ending infanticide - are increasingly seen as virtues, not vices.

2) All of history is the Oppressed versus the Oppressor.  If you are in that Oppressor class for the moment (depending on the topic at hand), you are seen the way Jews were seen in 1930s Germany.  It can be any two groups - Male v. Female, White v. Black, Straight v. Gay, Sane v. Trans, whatever.  But in all cases the Oppressor is altogether wretched and evil and the cause of all suffering, deserving nothing that he has, but everything he will get.  

3) A growing number of sins, especially bigotry and particularly racism, are irredeemable, all defining monolithic sins that demand the eradication of the sinner.  No forgiveness, no context, no nuance, simply erase. Just ask Columbus, Robert E. Lee, or Thom Jefferson. 

4) Plus, since 2020, the Left has followed its tendency of calling good what it once called evil, and evil what it once called good to the next logical step.  That is, going beyond embracing censorship, judging, dismissing equality to embracing violence for the just cause. Gone is 'violence is never the answer', now it's 'violence can sometimes be a damn good answer.' 

So when you see something like the AOS go all Taliban when it comes to Western history, imagine that in other circles.   I mean, when you think of threats to Western Civilization, birdwatchers aren't exactly what comes to mind.  Yet the easy and calm way in which they say these names must be erased, evil Europeans, scrub evidence of them, replace with appropriate words from not disposable civilizations, should be a wake up call.  That's how ubiquitous and implanted this thinking has become. 

And if that's what the bird watchers are willing to do, then what are those radical activists and zealots in our leftwing indoctrination camps formerly known as universities going to do?  Well, we're seeing what, aren't we.  Even though the press has done yeoman's work trying to sweep it under the carpet, these radical anti-Westerners won't be silenced.  They support the Palestinians, and are happy to see Israel wiped out.  That includes in some circles wanting Israelis wiped out.  That includes, in some quarters, pointing out that it isn't despite the fact that most Israelis are Jews, but precisely because they are Jews.  That's because try as they might, in the minds of the young Left, those Jews just can't sever the ties that exist between them and the West.  And that's all you need to know. 

After all, as the American Ornithological Society demonstrates, there is no room in our modern world for the taint of Western Evil.  And while the AOS may stop at renaming birds, others will happily take it to the next logical level. 

People like Dawn Eden and The Atlantic's Graeme Wood continue to miss the point

 Here:

Here is the article she references.

The problem isn't that Palestinians, pro-Palestinian protesters, leftists, and various anti-white, anti-Western activists are saying there is a moral equivalency between Israel's IDF and  Hamas.  The problem is they're saying there is no moral equivalency because Israel and IDL are the only bad guys.  By virtue of the Left's slick 'Sanctified Oppressed Class v. Unforgivable Oppressor Class' template, Israel is the oppressor.  Therefore, Hamas is merely a bunch of rough around the edges freedom fighters for the blessed oppressed.  Because for the Left, as part of its anti-Western strategy, to be the Oppressor means you deserve nothing that you have and everything you'll get.  And anything connected to the Western Tradition is always the Oppressor.  

It's not hard to see in Mr. Wood's archives that he drinks deeply from the 'Bad West and its fascist defenders' well that makes such idiotic narratives possible.  Same with Ms. Eden.  Her alliance with those dividing the world between the heroic oppressed and the fascist loving cheerleaders of the Oppressors has become more obvious with each passing month.

But now Israel and all those Israeli Jews are the establishment Oppressors.  They are the baddies. Jews in America might still be worth something when it comes to trotting out endless reminders of antisemitism in Europe and America or the Christian Church.  But in Israel?  Not so much.  And as the Left throws out old Western ideals of freedom of speech, religious liberty, forgiveness, reconciliation and tolerance, we see what happens next.  The oppressor has got to go one way or another, along with anyone defending the Oppressor in any way - and that includes Jews.  

So I ask them - what the hell did they expect?  We've had about three generations of this little dichotomy being pounded into the heads of our youth.  That is, the world divided into the Oppressed versus the Oppressors.  By the time my kids were in school, that was the canvas upon which their world was painted.  There was still some lag over from the past.  For instance, they still learned that we need to become a color blind society, to put race behind us, and never, ever judge based on skin color no matter what.  But much of the 'Unforgivable Oppressing West, Otherwise Beautiful Oppressed' narrative was in full swing.  Along with celebrating the growing hatred, merciless condemnation, calls for the erasing and extermination of reprobate sinners and deplorables and anyone else forever damned for the label Oppressor. 

In addition, since Covid and the 2020 BLM riots, we've seen yet another old liberal mantra die and die fast.  That is, the much tired out and endlessly repeated claim that 'violence is never the answer.'  Well, since 2020, it's become a damn good answer, if you're on the side of the Oppressed against the Oppressor. 

And as these things pile up - divide the world, no mercy for the villains, all defining sins of the oppressors, erase the irredeemable, darn right violence against the oppressor establishment - you should be able to do the basic math.  Even now, while the pro-Hamas/anti-Israel side has polished its act up a bit and ditched the 'gas the Jews' chants (though I'm still seeing signs that read "Any means necessary"), the template meant to destroy the West is ironclad.  That is, Israel is part of the West, it is therefore the irredeemable Oppressor, therefore it must go the way of the Confederate flag, the Columbus Statue, the Robert E. Lee monument, the Jefferson memorial, and anything of the Oppressor that can't be cleansed of its unforgivable sins.

People like Dawn Eden, or any Jewish liberals today, have sown the wind, and they are only now beginning to realize that the whirlwind is around the corner.  Some are beginning to wake up, but what that means I don't know.  Will they put the brakes on and begin questioning this thing with which they've aligned for so many years?  Will they think if they can just make them stop calling for killing Jews this time, it will fix things for good?  I don't know.  The infinite capacity for humans to be stupid is one of our most endearing qualities.  

A Halloween First

Not since 1995, when our oldest was a mere 2 weeks old, have we not gone tricks or treating.  Then it was my wife briefly taking him around to other apartments in the stairwell of the seminary housing we lived  in. The next year he was old enough to be taken about to houses that were just down the street, since by then we were at the first church I pastored.  It was in the country, and a string of late built houses were around, enough for our oldest to get a nice batch of goodies.  But since 1995, we've gone out somehow with tricks or treats - until now.  Old youngest is in high school, and announced last year that we were at the end of the run.  

Odd.  We're not quite sure what to do. Owing to not a few reasons, we've not done as much this year as we have historically, perhaps because we know the kids are moving on.  Jobs and obligations mean the boys and our daughter-in-law won't be around during the tricks or treats hours anyway.  They said they'd be by tonight afterwards.  I guess they're going to bring some movie I've not seen before that has something to do with spooky.  We'll see.  Sounds interesting.

We'll still hand out candy.  Though not as much this year, times being what they are.  I suppose we'll still watch old silent films during the actual tricks or treats time.  That's holdover from when my sister, her husband and my parents would come down on Halloween once we moved to Ohio.  My mom would go out with my wife and the boys.  The rest would stay and talk.  Hence silent movies.  It had the atmosphere, but didn't interfere with conversations. 

We'll still have cider, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin seeds, and nibbling off some of the candies.  But as I get older, I have to be mindful of my dad's diabetes there.  On the whole, we'll see how it goes.  Funny how things change in life.  Anyhoo, when it comes to Halloween, I wrote on my thoughts back in the day.  You can read that old post here.  My thoughts are pretty much the same, only more so.  

And with that, a very Happy Halloween to all! 

David Gushee and damage control

 So I saw this:

Hmmm.  I thought that was pretty tough for Dr. Gushee.  Sure, he avoids like the plague the universal support that Hamas has received from various leftwing activists, Palestinian protesters, and various Muslim and Arab pro-Palestinian advocates.  He doesn't get near the signs with calls to continue the slaughter of Jewish people because they are Jewish.  But at least he says it's bad, no excuses, no qualifiers, no appeals to context or moral equivalency.       

But that made me wonder.  I don't have Twitter, so I'm a bit hamstrung with looking at various Twitter accounts.  Usually I go with what people send me in copied images.  But sometimes I can dig and find recent Twitter posts.  So after some fenagling, I got to the farthest back of his account I could, and saw this:

Wow.  Note the date.  Two days after the single worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. And this is Mr. "Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust"! You know, his book that cites those gentiles who rescued Jews from the Nazis while using that to hammer the majority of Christians who didn't.  And what does he do within two days of the most horrible genocidal assault against Israeli Jews in recent memory?  He goes after white nationalists who apparently don't believe in the right to vote? 

What we're witnessing is a mental breakdown among the modern progressive revolution.  That slick and careful and asinine narrative that is the basis for tearing down the Western tradition and its Christian roots has been shaken.  That narrative exists by forever focusing on isolated molehills of facts while ignoring mountain range sized piles of qualifying and contradictory facts.  By doing that, we have the oily Oppressor v. the Oppressed template that is being used now to, well, call for the extermination of Israel and everyone (Jewish) in it. 

As a disclaimer, I should note that I was once a big fan of Gushee.  Even when I could tell he tacked left of center, I saw in him someone trying to be sincere and courageous in standing his ground.  Even though I could detect his sympathies, in a class filled with many liberal Christians, he admitted that for the Bible, homosexuality is typically presented as the ultimate deviancy from sexual morality.  

When he wrote an article defining history as being between the Left (good guys) vs. the Right (bad guys), however, my admiration was shaken to be sure.  That level of ignorance is hard to overcome in the matter or respect. 

But when he wrote, in light of the legalization of gay marriage, that it's time for all to bow before the new dogma or get what they have coming to them, I suddenly realized whoever he was writing his book for, it wasn't himself.  Someone who rose to prominence by brutally eviscerating those Germans who didn't stand up and risk death to oppose the Nazis - who now says get in line with the Left or pay the piper.  Oh, and slaughtering Jews is bad, but let's not lose track of the really bad people who dare buck the Leftist State. 

Once more, I'll repeat my oldest son's observation: With each passing day, it becomes easier and easier to sympathize with those Germans in the 1930s.  And Dr. Gushee is about as good a case study for why this is true as I can imagine. 

Perhaps Dr. Gushee can be reached - if he's paying attention

I have officially seen my favorite Halloween costume ever

It replaces the old picture I saw ages ago of a mom with triplets who dressed them as Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3 from The Cat in the Hat.  

Like the lost tales from another world

Is what I thought of when I saw the tragic story of a woman stabbed to death in Detroit.  She was Jewish, and was Synagogue president.  From the beginning, the police have stated there is no clear motive behind the killing.  This latest article, from the Detroit Free Press, reports that the police are still saying there is no evidence that antisemitism was behind the attack.  

There is nothing at all wrong with this.  In a sane, pre-insanity of the Obama era world, this is how the press and the police handle it.  Before the dark ages of the Hate Crime era.  A human being has been slain.  We leave it at mourning, regret, prayers for the victim and family, and hope for justice. We are still gathering information and not leaping to conclusions.  Motives are not know, and are not speculated about.  Nothing else is being linked to it.  Nothing about antisemitism on a national stage, or even across Detroit.  No groups of people are suspect.  Again, like a time capsule from the age of sanity.

Of course we know why.  Multiple attacks and crimes against the Jewish community have happened since the beginning of the Israeli-Hamas war.  Twice Hamas has called upon global outrage and demonstrations.  Protests erupted immediately after the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.  While some were fine and peaceful, a staggering number - including around college campuses across the West - cheered what Hamas did, with some calling for more (that is, slaughter of Israelis).  And some Palestinian and pro-Palestinian protesters, along with BLM outlets and leftwing socialists, made it clear seeing more of what Hamas did in that first attack was wanted and demanded.  A few went so far as adding variations on 'Gas the Jews' to make sure we see it's not just because of Israel or Israelis, but because of Jew hate.  And all from not white, not MAGA, not GOP, not Red State, not Christian, not conservative types. 

Hence the sudden wave of 'let's not be hasty' where attacks on synagogues, Jewish individuals, and even murderers of Jews are concerned.  Again, absolutely nothing wrong with this level of restraint from law enforcement, the Jewish community, the ADL, and the press.  It's how it should be done.  There is, however, everything wrong with why they are suddenly doing it this way, and not the way we've seen for the last too many years.  

That is, immediately implying hate crime, saturating the press with stories of increased hate crimes against the Jewish community and all minorities, impugning rightwing and conservative types as antisemitic white nationalists who are to blame, and making sure to drudge up yet another wave of stories bringing up Nazis, Germany, antisemitism in the West, the Church's history, bigotry among white Christians, America as a 400 year slave state, and virtually anything to do with the sins of the last thousand years of Western civilization. 

The worst thing is, it isn't just the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust that is causing this sudden shift in coverage.  It's because of who slaughtered the Jews and who has made it clear they're willing to support more of the same.  That's the bad part.  It breaks the sacred narrative of the modern Left.  And no amount of slaughtering or protecting Jews will ever be more important to modern progressivism than defending that all important - and demonstrably false - narrative.