Beatles for Sale

Welcome back friends. I hope you’re all having a great week as we freeze to death here in northern Illinois. I want to give a special thank you to my fellow members of the Facebook group Vinyl Addiction, many of whom were kind enough to read my blog last week.

This week I will be reviewing the Beatle’s fourth British release “Beatles for Sale”. Reviewing this album was an interesting experience. I was very familiar with many of the songs that are included, but had never heard the album in its entirety before. Upon first listen, without studying the history of the albums recording, my immediate thought was that the album is a step backward from “A Hard Day’s Night”. Upon further inspection however, I grew to not only appreciate the album more, but recognize the leap in songwriting and musical style the band had begun to take.

Half of “Beatles for Sale” is made up of cover songs, a practice the band had stepped away from on their prior release. This seemed strange to me. Why would a band who had just obtained their highest level of success go back to covering the material of others? The answer is deadlines. The Beatles were tasked with finishing this album in time for a Christmas release, and had to record at a feverish pace to get the songs recorded in time. By choosing to include cover songs they already knew, the band would be able to speed up the recording process. According to the coffee table book included with the set, The Beatles spent a considerably longer amount of time recording the albums original numbers than they did recording the covers. This may also explain why many of the songs on this record feel like they lack the sound quality of their predecessors. This was the first time I felt a bit disappointed in regards to audio quality in my journey through the mono box set. It’s not that way on all of the tracks though, and as you will read in the song recaps below, many meet still meet the standards I have come to enjoy through this process.

One of the unique things about this album is its packaging. This is the first Beatle release to feature a gatefold cover. Everything about the cover and its construction is interesting. The front cover portion of the gatefold is extremely thin compared to most gatefold packaging I have seen. I would imagine that original copies of this album are hard to find in good condition. When opened up, the LP slides out of the middle portion of the package, as opposed to a standard opening on the outside edge. It’s a great looking cover which features a somber looking portrait of the band. The photo, taken by Robert Freeman in London’s Hyde Park, takes up the entire cover. The cover contains no borders or graphics, and very little wording. There is another Freeman photo on the back cover, featuring a slightly happier looking Fab Four. This spot had been reserved for liner notes on previous Beatle releases.

The inside of the gatefold is black and white, and contains additional photos. The track listing, with side one on the left and side two on the right, informs the listener who sang what part on each song. It is between these columns, that we find the cleverly written liner notes by Derek Taylor. Not only are these notes informative, but they are also very funny, serving up as much humor as they do knowledge.

The albums begins with “No Reply” a catchy, mid-tempo tune which I am very fond of, but did not impress me audibly. The track sounds a bit muddy, and lacks the clarity I have mentioned in previous reviews. The most remarkable difference I noticed in this mix was the hand claps, which sound much louder and apparent then they have in the past. Fans of the Beatles’ “Anthology” albums may recall a much more rousing rendition of this number that was attempted in the studio, but never released. It would have been a very different song had the band chose to go that direction.

The next track on the record is “I’m a Loser” which features a great vocal performance by John Lennon. We get to see a bit more of John’s range on this track, which alternates between softer passages and more intense moments. This is a nice complement to the well written lyrics, which speak of a man who’s “not what he appears to be”. It has been said that Lennon’s writing of the song was greatly influenced by Bob Dylan. The Beatles were huge fans of Dylan’s work, and met him shortly before recording the album. The track features a great bass groove, but still feels a bit rougher sonically than tracks from past albums, again lacking the bands hallmark clarity.

Track three on “Beatles for Sale” is “Baby’s in Black”, a song whose sing-a-long quality is represented by a very clean mix, quite reminiscent of the “Please Please Me” era in both style and tone. Unlike the first two tracks on the album, this song sounds great, returning to the sound quality one would expect from this set. The guitar solo and lead guitar passages have a “twangy” quality about them, which show the band’s sound evolving a bit.

Next up, the cover songs begin with Chuck Berry’s “Rock and Roll Music”. Readers of this blog will note that I am a big fan of Berry’s, so needless to say, I am quite fond of this track. The rollicking piano work truly shines on this reissue, and producer George Martin even played a bit himself. There is a noticeably unappealing hiss throughout most of the track. My guess would be that is coming from the cymbals, but I cannot be sure. Whatever it is, it takes away from the audio quality of the production.

The next song on the album is “I’ll Follow the Sun”. This McCartney sung ballad appears to show the band’s style evolving, but was actually written by Paul as early as 1959. Now that The Beatles had moved away from their rough, leather clad image of their early days, the band felt more comfortable releasing this kind of material. Ringo is supposedly keeping the beat by slapping his knee, an amazing fact considering how audible and crisp it sounds here. The separation of John and Paul’s voices on their harmony parts sound incredible. The track is very crisp, yet still booming on the lower end.

Next on the list is another cover, “Mr. Moonlight”. In my opinion, it is the best sounding song on the album thus far, with Paul’s Hammond organ sounding very lively indeed. Voices are crisp, not grainy, and without compression. According to the liner notes, it’s George, not Ringo, providing the beat on an African drum that sounds similar to a bongo. The drum sound is one of the highlights sonically on the track, and serves as a great compliment to the bass line. Percussion can often be buried in the mix, but not here. It feels as though I’m standing right next to George as he plays it!

Side one comes to a close with one of my favorite Beatle covers, "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" This is a guitar driven, rhythm oriented rocker that features some crunchy chords and killer tone. Paul takes over the lead vocal duties that Lennon had normally filled on similar rockers in the past, and does a great job with it. John however, is really owning it on the background vocals in the outro. The persistent hissing is back again. The cymbal sounds on this mix appear to suffer from a lot of compression. A small annoyance in a really great song.

Photos from the albums recording session, from the set's companion book

Side two begins with the Beatles’ classic “8 Days a Week”. The hand claps are really standing out to me here. I am not sure that I noticed them before. I doubt that it has anything to do with the mono, it’s probably just a result of the pristine, re-mastered copy. This track sounds much cleaner and less compressed than the majority of the tracks on side one. The individual guitars sound separate and differentiated, despite the mono recording. The boys are showing a lot of vocal prowess on this track as well.

The second song on side two is a cover of Buddy Holly’s “Words of Love” The song features a mid-tempo beat accompanied by some fast hand claps to help keep time. According to the liner notes, Ringo is actually playing a packing case during portions of the song! The guitars stand out on this track, they have an almost stereo quality about them. The vocals are unique as well, with Lennon and McCartney harmonizing in a manner that reflects Holly’s sound, without simply doing an impression of him.

The next song on the record is a cover of Carl Perkins song “Honey Don’t”, with Ringo returning on vocals. The song has a really cool R&B feel with country and western elements mixed in. These touches really help The Beatles make this version unique to them. The guitars also have a unique tone, with plenty of twanging and picking. It’s like a rocked-up country song that has soul! McCartney’s bass is largely responsible for that soul, and sounds quite a bit different here.

Next up is “Every Little Thing” A stripped down song with a catchy chorus. The most notable thing about this song is the epic drum sound, which was achieved by Ringo playing the Timpani. The song is followed by “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party” an original acoustic track.

This song also has a country/folk feel, possibly another echo of Dylan’s influence. George Harrison’s guitar solos sound especially great on this song, as they do on the entire record. They sound vibrant and lively, never taking a back seat, demanding your attention instead.

The next song, sung by McCartney, is “What You’re Doing”. This track is a great showcase for Ringo, giving him a rare opportunity to show off a bit on the skins. The track begins and ends with a nifty drum interlude that sounds extremely crisp in mono. There are some catchy guitar hooks to enjoy here, and Paul’s voice sounds superb. You can see throughout this album that his role as a lead vocalist was growing.

The final song on the album is another Carl Perkins cover, titled "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" Harrison handles the vocals here, and his voice is a great fit for the song. His voice appears to have been given a reverb effect which gives the tune a unique quality. That’s not the only unique sound on the track, as there are some interesting percussion sounds as well. This as an awesome cover, and a great way to cap of the record, returning to the bands former penchant for ending a disc with an upbeat rock number.

Notes:

·         There were no singles released off of this record in the UK. The non-album tracks “I Feel Fine” and “She’s a Woman were released as a single instead

·         The recording of this album was the first time The Beatles joined producer George Martin at the console for the mixing of the album… The mono mix.

Final thoughts:

This is an album of conundrums for me. Side one sounds muddy overall and underwhelming from a production standpoint, whereas side two sounds much cleaner and mostly meets expectations. The band takes a step back with the inclusion of so many covers, yet takes a big leap forward in musicianship and songwriting. So overall, I am a bit torn in my feelings. My immediate opinion is that side two is better than side one, but my appreciation for the entire album grew after consecutive listens.

Reading the opinions of Beatle fans online, it was clear that this album is a rare case where many actually prefer the stereo mix of the album over the mono. Most complaints I have read, state that the songs feel compressed and lack depth from an audio standpoint in mono. Although I like the album very much, I would have to agree with those opinions in many instances.

I am, however, especially fond of all fun experimentation that was done with the percussion sounds on this record. (African drums, timpani, knee slaps) This is yet another sign that the band was willing to try new techniques and explore new sounds in the studio.

Thanks for reading! I hope you’ll join me next time, as I continue my journey through “The Beatles in Mono” with the album “Help!”