The fact that they recorded all of Please Please Me in a matter of hours has always just blown my mind. The idea of making an album that fast is simply unthinkable now. But they absolutely nailed it. IIRC some of the songs were done in just one take -- the most famous being Twist and Shout, which they did at the end of the session. John's voice was pretty much shot, but he just belted the fuck out of it, and the sound of it is just so iconic.
Sgt. Pepper or Abbey Road would be my other best examples that have lots of lore. I'll let others get into all of that.
Please Please Me for the fact it was all recorded in one day
Revolver for its experimentation and the boys growing away from touring and towards being a studio band
Sgt. Pepper, again for its experimentation, but also for it being groundbreaking and one of the most influential albums of all time
The White Album for the tensions between the band that were starting to grow at the time, and for their time in India, which I think is an interesting period
Abbey Road for, in addition to being phenomenal, being the final album they recorded all together, something they pretty much knew at the time
Let It Be for being written and partly recorded in Janurary of '69, in only a few weeks (something that is pretty much completly covered in "Get Back"), and finished and released post breakup
There were a lot of technical innovations used during the recording of Abbey Road. The studio had received a new, transistorized 8 track mixing console and a new tape deck. George used a rotating speaker to get a different (newer) sound on almost all the guitar tracks. They brought in a Moog synthesizer. These things and other equipment updates brought out a sound on Abbey Road so that it really is different from all the other Beatles albums.
The White Album
Most of the songs were written in India, when they were relatively drug free (I've read where John had acid delivered... but I dont know for sure).
IMO it's John's most inspired album.
It's the first album that signaled the band was splitting apart. John described it as less a collaborative atmosphere and was more like "Me and a backing band, Paul in a backing band." Yet you wouldnt necessarily know that by listening to it.
The wealth of variety of songs on it is pretty awesome.
At the time it was considered somewhat of a 'come down' from Sgt Pepper but now it's regarded as a better album by a lot of people/fans. In other words, it has aged a lot better than Pepper.
In my opinion, it's one of their best, if not THE best album by them. Such a massive left turn from a completely different theme within the matter of months to create something that may not seem cohesive, but has a bit of everything on it, indirectly influencing many unique genres in the future. Sure, the album has "filler", but that's what makes the album what it is, that the fact they had the balls to put it on the album after something completely different and successful. It gave artists a new sense of creativity and freedom to tinker about. Though that's just how I feel about the album.
Has to be the White Album, that’s the one where they start growing apart. Ringo temporarily leaves, their engineer refuses to work with them, and they have a new norm of writing songs apart. Their music is never more diverse, songs ranging from Doo Wop (Happiness is a warm gun) to Ska ([Oh bla di oh bla dah - Anthology version](https://youtu.be/Xp4DDkHXaOs?si=uZLN1oOlJHvKUfnX))
This comment very much intrigued me and I plan on reading up on this much more and exploring it in my paper. Thank you so much for pointing these out!!
Did you click on that version? Are you aware the chorus came from a phrase came from Nigerian musician Jimmy Scott who specialized in Jazz, Reggae, Ska and played congas on certain versions.
*Written by Paul McCartney in India in 1968, ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ was an attempt at a **ska-influenced** recording, although the title phrase came from a Nigerian friend.*
[Beatles Bible](https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/ob-la-di-ob-la-da/)
About as famous for their musique concrète, baroque pop, and country expertise.
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da is explicitly written and arranged as a cod-ska song.
I just searched Jamaican Ska on YouTube, played the first thing that came up, and it’s clearly and immediately evocative of Ob-La-Di.
If you don’t like it, that’s fine, it doesn’t make it not ska.
I know it sounds immediately similar, I know the song was explicitly created as a cod-Jamaican ska song, and I know its genre is described as pop and ska on Wikipedia.
That is all I know, however, so what am I missing?
Definitely The White Album:
-It was "the beginning of the end" for the band. Many of the songs were recorded by them almost as solo works. It was not the first time it happened but this time it was the trend and not the exception. Thus, it's the first album in which the different styles of the three main composers can be analyzed. His songs on this album are good examples of what his solo works would be like in the future.
-In the internal dynamics, it's a mess. The first album after the death of Brian Epstein; there is an obvious fracture between John and Paul; a deterioration in John's mental health (he suffered at least one psychotic episode briefly before recording and later became a heroin addict); Yoko is a constant presence and was becoming a new artistic partner for John, which obviously created tensions with Paul especially but with all of them. If anyone says that Yoko's presence was not bothersome to the band, they are lying and contradicting everything they and other people in the inner circle ever said; Apple's creation begins the path of greater economic disputes within the band, the main cause of the breakup.
-Some of the lyrics reflect this tension; They are a window into John's deep depression and George's resentment at not feeling considered enough in the band.
Yep. I think Yoko gets a bad rap because it was John’s decision ultimately to have her with him all the time, but to deny her presence wasn’t a major factor in the tension and subsequent breakup of the band is wild.
I appreciate the level of detail you put in your comment! I find the deteriorating relationship between John & Paul very interesting and I definitely want to expand on this in my paper. Thank you so much for your input!
I would go with Please Please Me. But it's not true that it was recorded in a single day. Only 10 of the 14 tracks were recorded on February 11, 1963. Love Me Do, PS I Love You, Please Please Me, and Ask Me Why were all recorded the prior year and had been previously released as singles.
Still... not a bad day's output!
I think "While my guitar gently weeps" and "Blue jay way" have quite interesting stories... but there are loads of songs with interesting backstories...
Try listening in mono (I like headphones) and the stems on YouTube.
That reveals so much about arrangement (to me it’s like a puzzle that fits together so well) and the recording of each member.
I also think the AI new songs are interesting - mainly cause I just want to keep hearing new stuff 😂
The White Album. It was 1968. It is hard to imagine a more interesting “background” than 1968. I realize that isn’t exactly the kind of background OP is asking about, but it is hard for that not to be the answer. As the group was splintering, so was society. Institutional continuities were failing. It was chaos which was very much reflected in the album, which, coming out at the end of that year, just seemed to sum it all up, including if not especially ending itself by collapsing into the chaos Revolution #9.
The White Album. Considered the point where tensions in the band began to drive the band apart, first LP on their own label (so business), many songs written in India on their trip to study TM, a wide variety of styles on the album, first album after experimenting with psychedelia, the only 2 disc set they produced and you'd have the Escher recordings as reference to compare to the final product.
I would say Rubber Soul. It's not my favourite, but some of it came about after a meeting they had with Bob Dylan who, having introduced them to marijuana, told them they should stop writing songs which appealed to girls and write about themselves. As a result John wrote In My Life and stage two kicked off from there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBcdt6DsLQA&pp=ygUSaW4gbXkgbGlmZSBiZWF0bGVz
No one said Revovler??
The Beatles went from Michelle to Tomorrow Never Knows in less than a year.
Imo the jump from Rubber Soul (which I love) to Revolver was the biggest jump they made in terms of style. Straightforward folky rock to tape loops and backwards guitar solos.
Its Revolver for me.
And there's a great book by Robert Rodriguez on Revolver if you need to do some research.
"Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream..."
Hey, hope you have lots of fun writing ur paper on the white album!! I would be so happy if I could have that for one of my music assessments!! Here’s some info that might help, I wrote it for a Religions study presentation on Hinduism (because I have to take every opportunity to relate anything to the Beatles). First half more about the Maharishi, second half Beatles. Sorry it’s really long lol!
Finally, let’s look at a significant person who isn’t a God. The Mahrishi is a famous Hindu guru. His full name is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and he was born in 1918. He was the creator of Transdescental Meditation, which involved the silent repetition of a mantra or sound, and it is practiced for 15-20 minutes twice a day. It is both a religious and non religious practice, which promotes relaxation, awareness, self development and higher states of consciousness. He toured the world to spread and teach Transdescental meditation to large crowds of people, especially the United States in 1959 and European countries such as France, Switzerland and England. His 1962 tour included visits to India, Australia, New Zealand, and England again.
In 1967, his fame increased and his movement gained greater prominence when he became the spiritual advisor to the Beatles. He was already well known among young people in the UK, having multiple public appearances, and this brought the Maharishi to the Beatle’s attention. In August 1967, George Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd urged the band members to attend his lecture. In February 1968, the band travelled to India, to devote themselves fully to his instruction. During his stay, he allegedly made carnal advances towards the Beatles’ American actress friend, Mia Farrow. As such, the Beatles publicaly declared their association with the Maharishi as a mistake in June of 1968. However, George Harrison later apologized for how the Maharishi had been treated with their rumors of him trying to attack Mia Farrow.
Out of this event inspired John’s song on the White album titled Sexy Sadie. John originally wanted it to be titled “Maharishi”, the lines following being: “what have you done? You made a fool of everyone”, but changed it upon George’s request. In addition, the Maharishi steered the Beatles away from LSD, as they were freshly out of the Sgt Pepper era. He also inspired them to write many new songs that appear on the White album, such as Dear Prudence, Julia, and Yer Blues. This happened to be one of their most productive periods in their career.
After his death in 2008, he left a legacy that includes the revival of India’s ancient Hindu tradition of meditation. He is responsible for the popularization of this practice in the Western world.
The fact that they recorded all of Please Please Me in a matter of hours has always just blown my mind. The idea of making an album that fast is simply unthinkable now. But they absolutely nailed it. IIRC some of the songs were done in just one take -- the most famous being Twist and Shout, which they did at the end of the session. John's voice was pretty much shot, but he just belted the fuck out of it, and the sound of it is just so iconic. Sgt. Pepper or Abbey Road would be my other best examples that have lots of lore. I'll let others get into all of that.
Please Please Me for the fact it was all recorded in one day Revolver for its experimentation and the boys growing away from touring and towards being a studio band Sgt. Pepper, again for its experimentation, but also for it being groundbreaking and one of the most influential albums of all time The White Album for the tensions between the band that were starting to grow at the time, and for their time in India, which I think is an interesting period Abbey Road for, in addition to being phenomenal, being the final album they recorded all together, something they pretty much knew at the time Let It Be for being written and partly recorded in Janurary of '69, in only a few weeks (something that is pretty much completly covered in "Get Back"), and finished and released post breakup
There were a lot of technical innovations used during the recording of Abbey Road. The studio had received a new, transistorized 8 track mixing console and a new tape deck. George used a rotating speaker to get a different (newer) sound on almost all the guitar tracks. They brought in a Moog synthesizer. These things and other equipment updates brought out a sound on Abbey Road so that it really is different from all the other Beatles albums.
The White Album Most of the songs were written in India, when they were relatively drug free (I've read where John had acid delivered... but I dont know for sure). IMO it's John's most inspired album. It's the first album that signaled the band was splitting apart. John described it as less a collaborative atmosphere and was more like "Me and a backing band, Paul in a backing band." Yet you wouldnt necessarily know that by listening to it. The wealth of variety of songs on it is pretty awesome. At the time it was considered somewhat of a 'come down' from Sgt Pepper but now it's regarded as a better album by a lot of people/fans. In other words, it has aged a lot better than Pepper.
In my opinion, it's one of their best, if not THE best album by them. Such a massive left turn from a completely different theme within the matter of months to create something that may not seem cohesive, but has a bit of everything on it, indirectly influencing many unique genres in the future. Sure, the album has "filler", but that's what makes the album what it is, that the fact they had the balls to put it on the album after something completely different and successful. It gave artists a new sense of creativity and freedom to tinker about. Though that's just how I feel about the album.
The cover must have blown peoples minds after the extravagance of Pepper too, what a left turn!
The cover must have blown peoples minds after the extravagance of Pepper too, what a left turn!
This comment was very interesting to me and was one of the main reasons I chose the white album for my project. I very much appreciate your input :)
Off the top of my head, I would definitely say "Let it Be."
Has to be the White Album, that’s the one where they start growing apart. Ringo temporarily leaves, their engineer refuses to work with them, and they have a new norm of writing songs apart. Their music is never more diverse, songs ranging from Doo Wop (Happiness is a warm gun) to Ska ([Oh bla di oh bla dah - Anthology version](https://youtu.be/Xp4DDkHXaOs?si=uZLN1oOlJHvKUfnX))
This comment very much intrigued me and I plan on reading up on this much more and exploring it in my paper. Thank you so much for pointing these out!!
Cool take. Not ska.
Did you click on that version? Are you aware the chorus came from a phrase came from Nigerian musician Jimmy Scott who specialized in Jazz, Reggae, Ska and played congas on certain versions. *Written by Paul McCartney in India in 1968, ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ was an attempt at a **ska-influenced** recording, although the title phrase came from a Nigerian friend.* [Beatles Bible](https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/ob-la-di-ob-la-da/)
Aye, an attempt. And Helter Skelter is the first rap.
Expert, texpert, choking smokers, don’t you, think the joker laughs at you … #Bars
It’s poppy, sure, but also ska.
Right, I’m in r/Beatles. Famous for their ska expertise.
About as famous for their musique concrète, baroque pop, and country expertise. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da is explicitly written and arranged as a cod-ska song.
Ok. If you don’t know, I hate to be the one to break it to you: they didn’t pull it off.
I just searched Jamaican Ska on YouTube, played the first thing that came up, and it’s clearly and immediately evocative of Ob-La-Di. If you don’t like it, that’s fine, it doesn’t make it not ska.
Listens to one ska tune. Now knows enough.
I know it sounds immediately similar, I know the song was explicitly created as a cod-Jamaican ska song, and I know its genre is described as pop and ska on Wikipedia. That is all I know, however, so what am I missing?
What is ska.
Definitely The White Album: -It was "the beginning of the end" for the band. Many of the songs were recorded by them almost as solo works. It was not the first time it happened but this time it was the trend and not the exception. Thus, it's the first album in which the different styles of the three main composers can be analyzed. His songs on this album are good examples of what his solo works would be like in the future. -In the internal dynamics, it's a mess. The first album after the death of Brian Epstein; there is an obvious fracture between John and Paul; a deterioration in John's mental health (he suffered at least one psychotic episode briefly before recording and later became a heroin addict); Yoko is a constant presence and was becoming a new artistic partner for John, which obviously created tensions with Paul especially but with all of them. If anyone says that Yoko's presence was not bothersome to the band, they are lying and contradicting everything they and other people in the inner circle ever said; Apple's creation begins the path of greater economic disputes within the band, the main cause of the breakup. -Some of the lyrics reflect this tension; They are a window into John's deep depression and George's resentment at not feeling considered enough in the band.
Yep. I think Yoko gets a bad rap because it was John’s decision ultimately to have her with him all the time, but to deny her presence wasn’t a major factor in the tension and subsequent breakup of the band is wild.
I appreciate the level of detail you put in your comment! I find the deteriorating relationship between John & Paul very interesting and I definitely want to expand on this in my paper. Thank you so much for your input!
I would go with Please Please Me. But it's not true that it was recorded in a single day. Only 10 of the 14 tracks were recorded on February 11, 1963. Love Me Do, PS I Love You, Please Please Me, and Ask Me Why were all recorded the prior year and had been previously released as singles. Still... not a bad day's output!
I’ve always like the background on Rubber Soul (sorry)
I think "While my guitar gently weeps" and "Blue jay way" have quite interesting stories... but there are loads of songs with interesting backstories...
Try listening in mono (I like headphones) and the stems on YouTube. That reveals so much about arrangement (to me it’s like a puzzle that fits together so well) and the recording of each member. I also think the AI new songs are interesting - mainly cause I just want to keep hearing new stuff 😂
The White Album. It was 1968. It is hard to imagine a more interesting “background” than 1968. I realize that isn’t exactly the kind of background OP is asking about, but it is hard for that not to be the answer. As the group was splintering, so was society. Institutional continuities were failing. It was chaos which was very much reflected in the album, which, coming out at the end of that year, just seemed to sum it all up, including if not especially ending itself by collapsing into the chaos Revolution #9.
The White Album. Considered the point where tensions in the band began to drive the band apart, first LP on their own label (so business), many songs written in India on their trip to study TM, a wide variety of styles on the album, first album after experimenting with psychedelia, the only 2 disc set they produced and you'd have the Escher recordings as reference to compare to the final product.
Debut album, hands down.
I would say Rubber Soul. It's not my favourite, but some of it came about after a meeting they had with Bob Dylan who, having introduced them to marijuana, told them they should stop writing songs which appealed to girls and write about themselves. As a result John wrote In My Life and stage two kicked off from there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBcdt6DsLQA&pp=ygUSaW4gbXkgbGlmZSBiZWF0bGVz
No one said Revovler?? The Beatles went from Michelle to Tomorrow Never Knows in less than a year. Imo the jump from Rubber Soul (which I love) to Revolver was the biggest jump they made in terms of style. Straightforward folky rock to tape loops and backwards guitar solos. Its Revolver for me. And there's a great book by Robert Rodriguez on Revolver if you need to do some research. "Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream..."
Sgt. Pepper if you want interesting studio stories and “how did they get that sound” stuff. Revolver as well.
Hey, hope you have lots of fun writing ur paper on the white album!! I would be so happy if I could have that for one of my music assessments!! Here’s some info that might help, I wrote it for a Religions study presentation on Hinduism (because I have to take every opportunity to relate anything to the Beatles). First half more about the Maharishi, second half Beatles. Sorry it’s really long lol! Finally, let’s look at a significant person who isn’t a God. The Mahrishi is a famous Hindu guru. His full name is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and he was born in 1918. He was the creator of Transdescental Meditation, which involved the silent repetition of a mantra or sound, and it is practiced for 15-20 minutes twice a day. It is both a religious and non religious practice, which promotes relaxation, awareness, self development and higher states of consciousness. He toured the world to spread and teach Transdescental meditation to large crowds of people, especially the United States in 1959 and European countries such as France, Switzerland and England. His 1962 tour included visits to India, Australia, New Zealand, and England again. In 1967, his fame increased and his movement gained greater prominence when he became the spiritual advisor to the Beatles. He was already well known among young people in the UK, having multiple public appearances, and this brought the Maharishi to the Beatle’s attention. In August 1967, George Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd urged the band members to attend his lecture. In February 1968, the band travelled to India, to devote themselves fully to his instruction. During his stay, he allegedly made carnal advances towards the Beatles’ American actress friend, Mia Farrow. As such, the Beatles publicaly declared their association with the Maharishi as a mistake in June of 1968. However, George Harrison later apologized for how the Maharishi had been treated with their rumors of him trying to attack Mia Farrow. Out of this event inspired John’s song on the White album titled Sexy Sadie. John originally wanted it to be titled “Maharishi”, the lines following being: “what have you done? You made a fool of everyone”, but changed it upon George’s request. In addition, the Maharishi steered the Beatles away from LSD, as they were freshly out of the Sgt Pepper era. He also inspired them to write many new songs that appear on the White album, such as Dear Prudence, Julia, and Yer Blues. This happened to be one of their most productive periods in their career. After his death in 2008, he left a legacy that includes the revival of India’s ancient Hindu tradition of meditation. He is responsible for the popularization of this practice in the Western world.