The Beatles are not overrated.
Also, if you are thinking that The Beatles catalogue has been exploited, you'd be wrong. The catalogues of Elvis Presley, The Who and most recently Prince and David Bowie have been exploited. A first class Beatles release every few years is hardly an exploitation.
The just released "Revolver" box, with a stunning new stereo mix from Giles Martin and two dozen or so outtakes and alternates in mind-boggling quality, offers treasures that even most Beatles collectors hadn't scraped together from years of bootlegs.
When I listen to The Beatles, and I do, all the time, I never really think about it. Every note of every song on every album is so deeply embedded in my body and soul, it feels like the band has always existed. "Got To Get You Into My Life" doesn't feel like it was written and rehearsed and recorded and produced. No Beatles' song does. The songs feel like they were hatched. One day, no Beatles music. The next day, 13 brilliant long players. This is why hearing outtakes with obvious differences is so magical. The outtakes are proof that The Fab Four were human. They were kids having fun and yet with the help of George Martin, changed the fucking world.
Did anyone ever notice the audible yawn before the third verse of "I'm Only Sleeping?" Or the handclaps on "And Your Bird Can Sing?" Or the fingersnaps on "Here, There & Everywhere?" You might be thinking, "So what?" For me, it's the opposite." It's record-making, and there is nothing I love more than a good record.
The "Revolver Sessions" knocked me out. It wasn't simply fun to listen to. Every track was a reveal. You think you know "Got To Get You Into My Life?" Well, TA-DA! TAKE THIS!
I'll spare you the Beatles cliches: timeless, brilliant, etc. You should know this by now. But I will say with everything I've got, never take The Beatles for granted. This is not a "boy band." They never were, not even during the Cavern days and not even on their debut "Please, Please Me." There was always something bigger and deeper happening, right from "Love Me Do."
Listen to this new box anyway you can. But really listen to it. No point in vacuuming, or getting on the treadmill while you try to enjoy the nuances of these two and three minute miracles. This set deserves more.
One last thing:
I've always thought "Yellow Submarine" was a Ringo throwaway. And, it may be. But I came around to "Yellow Submarine" long before this boxed set, which reveals the song as a Lennon composition. I started to hear the song a different way. Did John Lennon ever sound as happy as he does shouting out bullshit submarine jargon in that faux commander voice? Or how about Paul answering every line of Ringo's third verse like Churchill? It always makes me happy to know The Beatles were also having fun while they created the greatest pop music in history.
26 comments:
Agree 100%. Did a little side-by-side with the 2009 Parlophone version, and it's better (to my ears and preference). Crisp, clean and full. The "Rain" stereo remix is great, too.
On the money
Listened to this the other dy and agree 100%. Between this new box set and the Let It Be revised movie, I'm just glad to see that the guys really did like each other and were happy making magic.
After blasting the sessions discs, I followed up with the sessions discs from the Pepper and White Album boxes. Now I really want a fill-in disc that explores everything in between they haven't gotten to yet (Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Sub soundtrack songs etc.)
If anything, the Beatles are underrated. I know they are widely considered the best band of all time, but I think that still undersells how unbelievably brilliant they were and are.
I can't wait to listen to this.
Great review. You hit it on the nose!
Ron
Great read. I'm embarrassed to admit that circumstances have prevented me from digging into this treasure but now I'm looking forward to it even more.
Take a song like "Dr. Robert." A deep cut in the Beatles catalogue. Maybe it doesn't seem as striking a piece of 'Revolver' in the USA b/c we first heard it as part of 'Yesterday and Today,' (which Capitol related a couple of months before 'Revolver,' as I'm sure most everyone here knows). It doesn't stand nearly as tall i the imagination as 'Eleanor Rigby' or 'For No One' or 'Tomorrow Never Knows.' But jesus, what a song.
That crunchy guitar part. The cool harmonies in the 'well, well, well' parts. Plus also the extremely cool lyrics, which don't waste a syllable as they establish the character, his story and the milieu of high-society drug use. It fires on every cylinder, gets everything exactly right. Oh, and it was an all-new, super-fast engine the Beatles invented...melodic pop-rock with literary-caliber lyrics.
I Just got my set tody (the cd version as I couldn't aford the extra 100.00 for the lp set}.
The Beatles are the baqnd that they use to MAKE the measuring rod for everyone else.
I Never get tired of hearing Beatle outtakes.
They are great in their own way.
The stuff they didn't think made the cut are better than anything else.
So glad I was born and grew up with the Beatles!!!
john
It's so stunningly beautiful and an absolute gift that keeps on giving with all the various and glorious takes. I'm quite blown away. They sound so modern, so singular, and the mix is so crisp and gorgeous. So creative! Yet again so moved by McCartney in particular on the main album, the bass playing/writing, and his singing on "Here, There, and Everywhere" and "For No One". One thing that struck me about this mix is how immediate it sounds, which is something I adored about the "Love" soundtrack, which made me feel like I was listening to The Beatles for the first time (apart from the mash-ups), the last three releases have made me feel that way again, and "Revolver" has made me feel that way the most. What a love note from Giles to his Dad too.
Great Revolver thoughts, Sal. I'm so deep into this set. It's just so fab-gear,I can't stop smiling! And that's one of the real gifts of the Beatles. Their music just make you feel happy. They are just so brilliant. Long live The Beatles.
Great pitch of a great album in a great box set. Indispensable. Cheers!
Oh how far we've come and how low we have sank when Taylor Swift occupies the top ten on Billboard
Man...to say that I was alive when The Beatles were a group. How lucky I am
The genius of The Beatles (and George Martin) is on display on the first 5 tracks of the Sessions LP 1. The evolution of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Got to Get You Into My Life" is simply amazing. And there's more of that throughout the rest of the 2 disks. One of the most amazing examples is the development of "Yellow Submarine". At first I was surprised to learn, just like "Good Night" on "The Beatles", that it's a John song. But to hear the songwriting tracks and then hear take 4 was amazing. It's like a magic trick. The biggest reveal to me though was how nasty the backing tracks for "Paperback Writer" and "She Said, She Said" are. I haven't listened to the remix proper so I'm not sure how much of that nastiness remains in the final mix but the original tracks were lightweights in comparison. Based on just the sound of Sessions tracks, Giles Martin has done it again. I compare the work that he's done with The Beatles catalog like the the restoration of the Sistine Chapel. The clarity and color shone through like never before. As with the other release, the bass and drums are what benefit the most from his work. Their genius is undeniable, These re-mixes just reinforce it.
When my late brother and I discussed the Beatles years ago, I noted the 'inevitability' of their songs -- that the arrangements, writing, everything was so perfectly put together that the songs seemed inevitable. I still hold that opinion, along with noting how timeless so much of their stuff was. I don't mean timeless as in it could come from any time -- I see Creedence's music (which I love like I love the Beatles) that way -- but that the music's so undated sounding at any given time you could pull some of their songs out of its milieu and compare what else was released at the same time. I'm not the Stones fan many who comment here are, but the Stones got there while Jimmy Miller produced them, but otherwise even the greatest stuff from the 60s can usually be placed to a certain year or two when one hears it. Not the Beatles.
C in California
I'm with Chris -- the Beatles are if anything under-rated! Sal you capture it well when you say the songs are hatched. They just sort of seem to exist, even after we get to see how they evolved in the studio. I can't wait for Rubber Soul and Magical Mystery Tour and I predict people will be surprised by the studio innovations and evolution of songs on A Hard Day's Night. I'll bet there's a lot to share there, though perhaps the first four albums will NOT be so revelatory in terms of outtakes. But who knows? Nothing would surprise me when it comes to the Beatles.Between the remarkable film Get Back -- the best film of 2021 -- and this boxed set, they're the band that keeps on giving. Re: Yellow Submarine I just love John on the fadeout when he's echoing Ringo's lines with wicked glee a la the Goon Squad. No wonder Monty Python were dubbed the comedy Beatles. The Beatles were half-Monty Python.
Finally, you mentioned casually that the tracks are two to three minute songs. That was the modest reminder that blew my mind when listening to it. The two longest songs are exactly 3 minutes and every other one is shorter, most of them 2:30 or less. That's INSANE. All those songs with all those twists and turns and they're all three minutes or less? It's like a magic trick.
I began with the mono version and then listened to all the outtakes. I think I'm going to wait until my CD set arrives, read the book and THEN listen to the new stereo remix by Giles. It's a pleasure I'll anticipate for weeks.
OH and I take it the vinyl pressings were satisfying in weight and quality and all that stuff?
YES..............Fucking BRILLIANT
@michael Giltz
"you mentioned casually that the tracks are two to three minute songs"
I actually wrote "two and three minutes miracles" which I think emphasizes what you're saying. So much genius in so little time.
Excellent piece! I always enjoyed the little bits they added to the songs. I didn't always catch them the first time around, but if you listen to the music with no distractions, there they are. There were having fun making their art.
I'm still digesting this magnificent package...but yes, the fingersnaps on "Here, There and Everywhere" - something I never caught despite this being my favorite Paul song ever, hundreds of listens, etc. Details like how a guitar riff becomes a bass riff , which itself then changes through the versions of "I'm Only Sleeping"...it's a joy. On top of the amazing songwriting, the growing studio confidence and wizardry- yay Geoff Emerick- and the great arrangements: the Beatles' electric guitars never sounded better than on this album. On song after song, various combos of George, John and Paul on guitars are sublime.
Everytime I hear I'm only sleeping, I wonder what would it had been should Sir George Martin would had produced any Kinks album from around that era. Some things are just not meant to be.
Roy
I agree with every word of your review,for what that's worth.
While I found the earlier remixes and rarities sets to be revealing, this one was more than that.
It's something like having a master painter restore a painting. Removing the effects of time and the elements reveals detail not evident before.
The effect heard with the other sets is the same. The music is 'opened" up. Instruments and vocals can be clearly heard. The "murk" caused by stacking tracks on top of each other on four tracks is gone.
All that you and others mention is there.
Listening to the stereo version, I found myself having "wait, what?" moments in every song. It's a trip to listen to songs one has heard who knows how many times and hear detail not heard before.
Listening to it, I had to wonder what they would have done with today's recording technology been available to them. To do what they did with the limitations they were under recording-wise is almost a miracle in itself.
As for the rarities and bonus material, I've heard nearly all of it before in bootleg form. However, I haven't heard it like this. It's the same effect as with the record material.
Sorry to be so long-winded and gush like this, but this release is extraordinary.
I think Paul wrote Yellow Submarine, right?
Yellow Submarine sure sounds like a McCartney tune, but the Lennon demo on the new box says otherwise.
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