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Topic: The Beatles, where to start? (Read 18084 times) previous topic - next topic
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The Beatles, where to start?

Ok, so the Beatles are the best band ever, by many popular and critical opinions.  I've never been a fan.  By that i don't mean i don't like their music.  I mean, i've never been driven to buy or listen to them specifically.  I like what i hear on the radio and and elsewhere.

Which single Beatles album is going to knock my socks off?

For reference to my own tastes:  My first musical love was Pink Floyd, and it persists still.  My likes are wide ranging, from Metallica and Tool, to Tori Amos and Sarah McLaughlan.  I really enjoy bluesy rock, like Blues Traveler, and Tragically Hip (If you're not Canadian, check them out, probably Canada's best kept secret). *Edit* http://www.last.fm/user/gerwen1 if anyone cares to look further into my tastes, although i've only been using Last FM for a little while.

Anyways, where do i start?

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #1 –
My guess would be "Revolver" or the famous "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Those would be closest to stuff like (the early) Pink Floyd.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #2 –
Well, the general consensus is that Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is their finest album (and arguably THE finest rock album ever), so I'd say that's a pretty safe place to start. I'm rather a fan of their recent Cirque de Soleil compilation, Love. It's got a great mix of songs, and I think the remastering job was superbly handled.

Interestingly enough, what got me really into the Beatles was a book called The Beatles and Philosophy: There's Nothing You Can Think That Hasn't Been Thunk. It's part of a series of books that takes subjects from popular culture and has professional philosophers discuss their philosophical relevance/significance. I garnered a whole new appreciation of the Beatles, and subsequently fell in love with them. (FYI: They also have a Pink Floyd and Philosophy and a Metallica and Philosophy)

That aside, my favourite Beatles album is Revolver Abbey Road. So I definitely recommend that one as well.

EDIT: Added book suggestions; Changed favourite album.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #3 –
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a great introduction to The Beatles. I'd also like to recommend The White Album (!) and Abbey Road, both great albums.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #4 –
Great!  Thanks for the tips.  Will pick up Sgt. Peppers ASAP.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #5 –
If you get Sgt Peppers, you might like to try Magical Mystery Tour next, or just buy the whole box set like I did ;-)

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #6 –
If you really want to enjoy them though, you've got to put away this idea that they're the greatest band of all time - that kind of pre-conception can only build disappointment. Like every other band, their albums are a mix of good and not-so-good tracks.

Die hard Beatles fans would probably think a bootleg of John and Paul farting was a better listen than anything else that's been released in the last 35 years. I think you should approach them with more realistic expectations.


So, Revolver and Sgt Pepper is my answer

But, this being HA, I feel the need to point out that the CDs aren't perfect. The mastering isn't the best - quite disappointing, given the reputation of the artists!

Sometimes I like to listen to the original mono vinyl on a period record player - I can pretend I'm back in the 1960s, and hear what the original audience heard. It's amazing how much of a difference that makes - the mixes certainly make a lot more sense.

EDIT: btw, I think it's also interesting to listen to some other contemporary "pop" records just before you put on Sgt Pepper - then you can really get a sense of how different it was at the time.

Cheers,
David.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #7 –
Quote from: 2Bdecided on
If you really want to enjoy them though, you've got to put away this idea that they're the greatest band of all time - that kind of pre-conception can only build disappointment. Like every other band, their albums are a mix of good and not-so-good tracks.

Agreed, and on first (and further) spins of the album, i tried to listen on its own merits, not with the expectation of being blown away.


Quote from: 2Bdecided on
Die hard Beatles fans would probably think a bootleg of John and Paul farting was a better listen than anything else that's been released in the last 35 years. I think you should approach them with more realistic expectations.

It's funny 'cuz it's true.  That's why I asked a community i respect for objectivity.  I didn't want the highly praised flatulence to ruin my first impressions.


I've listened to Sgt. Pepper a few times now, both critically and as background.  I'm impressed.  It is good.  I was already familiar with most of the album, since the Beatles are ubiquitous in culture today. However, critically listening to them was a treat.  It's like hearing familiar music with new ears.  I find headphones can do that with a lot of music for me if i've never listened to it with them before.  Two real standouts for me: LSD which is a riot of conjured images, and 'A day in the life',  which sort of haunts me.


Thanks again for all your comments.  Revolver is next on my list.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #8 –
I can't disagree with the recommendations.  I generally prefer their later stuff, but I like the early stuff too.  I think Rubber Soul, Abby Road,  and Help are pretty good too  (although the title-song Help is not one of my favorites.)  I don't own the "White Album", but it's got a lot of weird songs on it...  I don't mind a goofy song now and then (I’m a Spinal Tap fan!), but some of those strange-unusual  Beatles songs are not that good musically, IMHO.

I get the impression that you like the "album experience", but (after you get Revolver) I'd suggest you pick-up one or more of the "greatest hits" compilations.    Then, if you like some particular tracks, you can get the associated album.  I have 1962-1966 (Red), 1967-1970 (Blue), Past Masters I, and Past Masters II, but there are other compilations.

Quote
I've never been a fan. By that i don't mean i don't like their music.
  I'm about the right age, but I was never a Beatles fan either.  My older sister loved The Beatles, because "they are so cute!"...    So of course, I didn't like them.  When I got older I began to appreciate them, and Winamp now says I have 193 Beatles tracks!  !  And, I saw a Beatles tribute band a couple of years ago...  The music was great, sound was good, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself!   

The Beatles had an amazing variety of styles, so it kind-of surprises me when somebody says they don't like the Beatles.  On any given album, you'll find variety of styles, and their style changed a lot over their career.

P.S.
    I've been known to say "The Beatles are the greatest band of all-time, and The Rolling Stones are the other greatest band of all time!" (Or vice-versa, depending on the situation.)  But the truth is, neither of these bands has ever been "my favorite band"...  Both have been among my favorites, and Winamp says they are both near the top when it comes to track-count.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #9 –

Quote
Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by English rock group the Beatles. It was recorded in just over four weeks to make the Christmas market, and was released on December 3, 1965. It was produced by George Martin. Unlike the five albums that preceded it, Rubber Soul was recorded during a continuous period, whereas the group had previously recorded albums during breaks in between tour dates or other projects.[4] After this, Beatles albums would be made without the burden of other commitments, except for the production of short promotional films.

Rubber Soul is a folk rock album that incorporates R&B, pop, soul, and psychedelic music styles.[3][5][6] The album is regarded by musicologists as a major artistic achievement that continued the Beatles' artistic maturation while attaining widespread critical and commercial success.[7] It was the second Beatles album – after the British A Hard Day's Night album – to contain only original material; the Beatles would record no more cover songs for their records until 1969, with the "Maggie Mae" excerpt appearing on the Let It Be album.

Rubber Soul is regarded by fans and critics alike as one of the greatest albums in popular music history.[8][9][10][11] In 2012, Rubber Soul was ranked number five on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[12] In 2013, after the British Phonographic Industry changed their sales award rules, the album was declared as having gone platinum.[13]

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #10 –
Rubber Soul and Crosby, Stills & Nash (Renaissance Fare) are my two favourite albums of all time. Revolver is probably my least favourite Beatles album. Funny things, musical tastes. Not even my main musical genre.
Cheers,
Alan

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #11 –
Rubber Soul and onward are probably easier on modern ears. Sgt. Peppers sounded like a collection of silly novelty songs to me at first, but it's grown significantly on me since. All things considered I'd suggest starting Abbey Road, Rubber Soul and Revolver.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #12 –
To be honest, I'd start with their "Greatest hits"-type red and blue albums, particularly the blue one, if you're not sure of what to get into. After that, pretty much any album Rubber Soul or later works.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #13 –
While I like the selection of songs on the "greatest hits" Beatles CD sets, the total content falls far short of what would fit on two CDs were one actually inclined to make use of them. This is less of an issue now that they are priced closer to that of a single disc, but once upon a time you could easily pay $25 or more for content that would fit on one CD. A criminal waste of polycarbonate and aluminum, like a number of other two disc best-of collections.

Quote
Revolver is probably my least favourite Beatles album.


Kill him before he infects the others!

Very surprising to me that one would like Rubber Soul but not Revolver. The latter always sounded a bit more mature, and a bit less Help+LSD. The tracks added to the CD release (not on the US vinyl release) for Revolver are, admittedly not the best (Dr. Robert, And Your Bird).

Quote
I don't own the "White Album", but it's got a lot of weird songs on it...

I think you're missing out. It's true that "#9" is highly experimental, and some of the songs are quite whimsical (Rocky Raccoon, Ballad of John and Yoko), but overall it's one of their most consistent, polished efforts. I'd rate it on par with Sgt. Pepper myself.

That said, it's also the album where the three songwriters' songs are much more obviously differentiable from one another. McCartney is not well suited for singing "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" or "I'm So Tired" while Lennon is certainly not going to be good for "Rocky" or "Honey Pie", IMO. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" may be George Harrison's finest hour, and while he's no Lennon/McCartney, that's still a very high bar.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #14 –
Quote from: 2Bdecided on
I feel the need to point out that the CDs aren't perfect. The mastering isn't the best - quite disappointing, given the reputation of the artists!

David.

While others have already revived this old thread, I might as well add that the 2009 remasters are widely considered OK. So if you have a choice, take those.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #15 –
...and once you're into the Beatles, you may as well check out the Rutles as well.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #16 –
Any one in which they're on acid.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #17 –
Had to create an account to answer this question. I've only been listening to them for 40 years now.

I would not start with Pepper. Maybe the swan song, Abbey Road instead. I think that would be most approachable for a modern listener who doesn't know their stuff yet. This is the "Beatlesque" sound you read about. They went out in style and with great sound.

Next, by all means listen to all the hits from the Blue and Red collections. There's great variation and it's easy to hear their development arc. The definitive singles/EPs collection is Past Masters. If you think you'll end up getting all the albums, this will make your collection complete. I also recommend "Love", a Cirque de Soleil performance soundtrack and remix.

I like to think of their releases as several phases. All of them are great and different. Recommendation after I pontificate on timeline and classification!

First, "The Working Rock'n'Roll Band", with Please Please Me and With The Beatles. Great covers of great songs and of course their own fantastic songwriting. Getting there... I like how the production are so simple but inventive. Primitive technology but they learned to make good use of it. They got lucky with George Martin. The sound may feel old and crude to modern ears, but listen to it as a mostly live rocking band.

Second, "Beatlemania a.k.a. The Hit Factory". Now you've hit the big time. The singles are important to remember here. Yeah yeah yeah. A Hard Day's Night was a movie and an album of all their own songs. It's awesome. They had an exhausting schedule so it's not surpising the second 1964 release Beatles For Sale sounds a bit weary with some old favorite covers thrown in.

"Now What?". 1965 and The Beatles have conquered the world. Now they have to figure out what to do nest. Help was another movie and album. Here the hit factory is still working but clearly at the end of its life. Songs from the old Lennon-McCartney songbook mixed with with new experimental solo directions, rounded out by some good old rock'n'roll covers. Rubber Soul shares some of the late-hitfactory sound of Help and continues with sonic experiments in a tasteful manner. Just use a sitar in one song, a fuzz bass in another. Lennon's and McCartney's song writing has diverged by this time. Paul's songs are stories, John's best are personal and the few George manages to sneak are great but have a slight air of trying too hard. A good ending for early Beatles.

"Beatles On Acid".  Next up, Revolver. The Beatles had stopped their incessant touring and now had time to start pushing studio as instrument. Backwards guitars and all. One of their best. Revolver paved way to the much mythologized Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, where they reinvented themselves as an imaginary band. They went way out on a limb, this was revolutionary stuff. It worked. Revolver and Pepper sound better from speakers than headphones to me. Stereo mixes tend to be pretty extreme, but I still prefer them. This period is capped by Magical Mystery Tour, ending the all-out psychedelic era with genius, sillyness and noodling.

Last stage is "Loose Formation". The Beatles, aka the White Album is a collection of solo efforts. Paul tried to corral the band back together with the Get Back sessions, where they rocked some old favorites and tested out new songs. They wanted to play live again but only managed to play on their office roof for a short time before being shut down by the police. This ended with huge piles of tapes that nobody knew what to do with and eventually they ended up in Phil Spector's hands. Meanwhile Paul got the band back into Abbey Road studios for one last time and somehow they hit it out of the park. An epic ending. Except, there is an ugly duckling. Spector had managed to piece together an album out of the Get Back sessions which was released as "Let It Be". I'm not a fan of the production, but there are some stellar songs.

So, how to start? Using my own terms:
- Abbey Road
- hits / singles
- Beatles On Acid
- Loose Formation
- A Hard Day's Night.
- go back to the beginning and listen in chronological order - don't forget the singles released between albums.


Hope this helps!

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #18 –
Quote from: markanini on
Rubber Soul and onward are probably easier on modern ears.


Quote from: ludvigrollover on
Abbey Road ... I think that would be most approachable for a modern listener who doesn't know their stuff yet.

...

Please Please Me and With The Beatles. ... The sound may feel old and crude to modern ears, but listen to it as a mostly live rocking band.


When I first started listening to The Beatles in about 1993, after trying some of the original vinyl I bought the Red and Blue albums on CD (which had perfectly good mastering in 1993 IMO). I was shocked at just how primitive they sounded. This is from someone who regularly listens to recordings from the 1920s+30s, but those are obviously old; The Beatles are supposed to be pop music. I had to get used to the primitive sound before I could really enjoy the tunes.

I can't imagine what they sound like to "modern" ears if they've been listening to Uptown Funk and then hear The Beatles for the first time. Hopefully not quite as old as Glenn Miller would have done to me, but they probably do.

I think people from each generation, if they can get over how different they sound, find that they're good. It's not just marketing or hype; there's something in the best Beatles songs that reaches beyond their era in a way that their contemporaries don't. Unless I've missed the worldwide multi-million selling compilation of Gerry and the Pacemakers numbers ones.

Cheers,
David.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #19 –
Quote from: ludvigrollover on
- go back to the beginning and listen in chronological order - don't forget the singles released between albums.
The CD releases make this painful. There's a cheap-ish UK vinyl release called The Beatles Box, unremarkable for its quality, but useful in the way it puts the best cuts from each album, and all the A-sides (plus some of the B-sides) of the singles, in chronological order.

If it has a fault, it's that they put a few (at the time) rare/stereo cuts on to get completest fans to buy it too. Objectively these cuts are probably not remarkable enough to make it onto an 8 disc best-of compilation on musical merit. Unless you think "Matchbox" is an all time classic. And of course everyone has a different opinion of what the "best" cuts are from each album. Even so, as an extended greatest hits, which is much fairer in its choice of songs from each original album than the red+blues, and which includes covers (red+blue don't), it's great.

I'm not suggesting you buy it - just use it as the basis for a playlist.

Cheers,
David.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #20 –
The boundary between Help! and Rubber Soul is more about feel, heavier more laid back and casual. Arrangements are less stereotypical and more varied. More in line with what modern ears expect. Current bands borrow more from the classics than any previous era and grungy roomy lo-fi sounding recording are considered cool. Beatles wont really be shocking to anyone today in the hipster era.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #21 –
Quote from: 2Bdecided on
Quote from: ludvigrollover on
- go back to the beginning and listen in chronological order - don't forget the singles released between albums.
The CD releases make this painful. There's a cheap-ish UK vinyl release called The Beatles Box, unremarkable for its quality, but useful in the way it puts the best cuts from each album, and all the A-sides (plus some of the B-sides) of the singles, in chronological order.

[...]

I'm not suggesting you buy it - just use it as the basis for a playlist.


My sister had that box in the late 70's (I think it was some kind of Readers Digest tie-in). I'm more purist, I consider even the US albums abominations. I used to have a chronological playlist with the singles but I've lost it. Have to get around recreating it. And my "The Beatles featuring George Harrison" playlist too.

And give a listen to Paul's bass playing, especially on Pepper. On his own songs he does great things with bass and vocal melodies together. And the bass on Lucy...

I didn't realize this thread was started years ago, but any time is a good time to discuss The Beatles.

The Beatles, where to start?

Reply #22 –
Quote from: 2Bdecided on
I can't imagine what they sound like to "modern" ears if they've been listening to Uptown Funk and then hear The Beatles for the first time. Hopefully not quite as old as Glenn Miller would have done to me, but they probably do.

Richard Strauss' publication of Vier Letzte Lieder and Elvis Presley's first recordings for Sun Records are only separated by 8 years.

Things happen in music, and sometimes it happens bloody quickly. Doesn't mean the old stuff is better or worse.

There are plenty of people since the Beatles who recorded in relatively simple ways, whether from choice or necessity.

Phil Spector stuck with mono for years after stereo came along... but then again he was a bit, er, peculiar.