Some guidance for how to listen to the Beatles going forward: Just try to imagine that there was nothing like the Beatles before the Beatles, and with each successive album they outdid themselves, kept reinventing popular music. You will see they were almost like a different band with each album. Their early stuff will sound dated now on first listen, but at the time it was revolutionary.
Yesterday - though about losing a loved one - is also about looking back on how youth is easy, and growing up is harder... but by the time they were doing Help! and Paperback Writer, it really wasn't love songs.
This album was actually recorded in just 13 hours. They just went through all the songs they had played in the Cavern Club, included some of their original songs, and just chose the best ones for the album. John Lennon was actually suffering with a cold at the time, so that when they got to ‘Twist and Shout’ his voice was really raspy, so he just took his shirt off, drank some milk and some cough sweets, and literally shredded his vocal chords after two takes. Bear in mind for the future, the golden rule of the Beatles when it came to their songs, was that whoever wrote the song, sang it. Of course, George would develop his own songwriting style as each album progresses, while Ringo didn’t start writing until towards the end, (He only ever wrote two songs), so John and Paul would give him songs that they felt were suitable for his range and style of singing.
There are exceptions -- John and Paul occasionally wrote a song with Ringo's voice in mind, and there was at least one case where one of them wrote a song and realized it fitted George's voice better and handed it off to him. Before the Beatles, bands were a front man and his backing group (Bill Haley and the Comets, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Elvis and a bunch of instrumentalists who didn't even get a name, etc), or an instrumental group where no one sang (The Tornadoes, Blues Incorporated, etc.) or a vocal group who sang in harmony in the style that Motown pushed so hard in the 60s (The Four Tops, the Cookies, etc). And almost NONE of them wrote their own music (Buddy Holly and Little Richard were among the few exceptions). The Beatles revolutionized pop music by being a self-contained group that did all their own singing, played their own instruments, wrote most of their own songs (more and more as their careers progressed), and let every member have his moment in the spotlight as lead singer. No one had seen or heard anything like them. Oh, speaking of seeing, they also revolutionized the look of music groups. When everyone else was in matching suits, they were punk, wearing black leather and pink bandanas, and acting wild on stage instead of having carefully choreographed dance steps. In 1962 they dropped the leather and got into suits, but they designed the suits themselves, going very European with the look and standing out by being more sophisticated than everyone else around them instead of rougher and more raw. Plus the long hair. They were always a step or three ahead of everyone around them
You’ve mentioned love as a theme. It was basically the theme of almost every song in the early to mid 60s. You’ll notice that they often wrote songs to appeal to their teenage female fan base, too. Once they were famous enough to write what the hell they wanted, they threw off the shackles and really let loose! Re: The songs being short. That was because you’d only get radio play if songs were a certain length. If they were too long, they wouldn’t be played in full. It was a very different world, back then. Radio was basically IT as far as music was concerned. It could make or break an artist. Gotta remember that many households, (certainly in the UK) didn’t have a TV in early 60s. So radio was still King.
Cool reaction. I’m so glad you’re doing it chronologically (don’t forget the singles are often not on the albums), you’ll get a real sense of how amazingly they progress in less than 7 years. I promise you that you will be a true fan when you’re done… congrats and enjoy, I’ll be watching!
In the 50s and early 60s, almost all mainstream and pop songs were about love. As The Beatles start to grow as artists and after meeting Bob Dylan, you really start to see the change in their writing and experimentation in the music. Its pretty cool to notice those progressive changes from album to album. Their story during their time as a band is super interesting/heartbreaking.
John Lennon was writing stuff like "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" as a child. That was before Dylan, before drugs. They were also influenced by "Goon Comedy," of the generation before "Monty Python" and "Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band".
First steps of Beatles they were considered as a Boys band with so many love and simple lyrics songs to teenage girls. It was Beatlemania time when they collected hit after hit. In 1964 they had 14 songs into the top 50 British hits. But they were an step beyond and showed the world the great musicians they were. When you reach "Rubber soul" surely you will notice how great they were (and in the following albums it will be increasing their talent more and more). And dont forget their last recorded song was called "The end" aren't they genious?
@@greggliddon9677 Or overproduce Let It Be -- the Beatles had originally intended it to be much simpler, and years later released "Let It Be Naked" which stripped away Spector's "wall of sound" production and brought the four Beatles' own instrumentation much more to the foreground.
THE BEATLES were NEVER considered a "BOY BAND"!!! THAT term DIDN'T EXIST back then They were just a "GROUP" When "BOY BAND" came into use, it referred to groups like The Backstreet Boys, INSYNC, etc who weren''t even a BAND goes they just sang and danced but played NO INSTRUMENTS.
Well i must say you are fantastic. Your reactions are very fun. I am a beatles fanatic who remembers watching them on their u.s. debut performance on the ed sullivan show in 1964. If indeed you are going to go thru their discography you have a new subscriber and be prepared for continual surprises. The way their music evolved over the 7 years they were together is amazing. They were masters of every genre.
10 of the songs were recorded on the 11th February 1963. The other 4 songs had already been released as their first 2 singles, which had been recorded on the 11th September and the 26th November 1962.
Other people mentioned it, but I wanted to reiterate it so it doesn't get lost. Many of their hits from different periods weren't on the albums, so don't forget about them. :) Also, you'd totally enjoy watching the Hard Days Night movie to get a real feel for Beatlemania before they started to evolve.
OMG OMG OMG OMG I finally made it! Had to finish watching your Bowie reactions first. Words can't express how excited I am! The Beatles are so important to me on an emotional level. And your reactions have become a very charming obsession. lol
In the early 60s appox. 2:00 was standard length of a pop song in order to get radio play. The Beatles broke that mold by the mid 60s and had the first SEVEN minute single in 1968
Yes, that single in 1968 that was 7 minutes long was "HEY JUDE" written and sung by Paul. It was the FIRST SONG on the radio to EVER break that "no longer than 3 minutes, but most tried to stay at 2 or 2 1/2 minutes long. The radio stations actually played the whole length of HEY JUDE, when they could have faded it out during the "n Na Na Na" part, but they didn't! POWER OF THE BEATLES, folks!!
This music was incredibly exciting when it was brand new. There had been nothing like it before. As a five year old, it activated pleasure centers in my brain that I didn't even know existed.
One other thing regarding the Elvis vibe; remember this was happening soon after that early period of rock. Elvis was a hero of theirs. The journey is basically watching the Beatles create modern music in the span of 6 years.
6 years for those of us in the U.S. because they didn't come here until 1964, but they had been writing songs since they were teenagers in the very early times as the local band in Liverpool. But if you take it from their first RECORD, then that would be when in the UK 1963, so that would be 7 years Paul's first song that he ever wrote was "I Lost My Little Girl" and he was 14 or 15 when he wrote that. SO what I am trying to say is that they didn't start writing songs in 1963. They were writing songs long before that, they just didn't have a recording contract until late 1962.
Welcome to the club. Pay attention to the progression from Album to Album. 12 albums in 7 years. Unmatched quality and quantity. John and Paul meet when they were 15ish. 14 year old George joined a little later. Ringo officially joined when they recorded their first single. 4 of the 5 first albums have lots of covers. Then it’s all originals from Rubber Soul on. Have fun!!!!!!
In these days all songs were of the moon, June, spoon romance variety and all were short. The Beatles were only emulating what they had heard all of their lives.
IMO, you're doing this right. If you've never really paid much attention, then you should enjoy the full scope by starting at the beginning. This is back when they were unknown in the US but touring rather incessantly in the UK. They were a complete gamble for the record company. Producer George Martin took the gamble. He felt they had a certain 'something'...charisma. Frankly, none of them had any musical background at all except for the records they'd heard and imitate. So, when they got to the studio the record company wasn't going spend a lot of money on them. Every track was fairly straightforward with minimal overdubbing if any at all. The entire thing was recorded in a single day. Of particular note, they were allowed to put some of their own compositions on the album which was fairly rare back them. So, the covers were kind of obligatory. They would soon grow out of that. You will notice as you progress through their albums how they evolved in just a year. By the time you get to 'Hard Day's Night', you'll find an interesting sophistication entering their song writing that simply got better and more compelling every year. Basically, they come in on the top and by the end they also went out on top. John and Paul were the main writers and vocalists. George will soon be putting forth his own material and vocals. Eventually, Ringo will even squeak a couple in later (with a lot of help from George). Sorry that you've become jaded on love songs. There's a lot of them out there, man. It was the way it was back then. Songs were also geared to be short so they would get radio play on AM commercial radio. Meanwhile, new groups like the Beatles could record what would get on the radio and be bought by fans or...take a hike.
It amazes me that it SEEMS that some people think that TODAY"S music has NO "Love" songs!! THERE are STILL LOVE songs recorded today. I can't figure out what you all are listening to, today...that you think Love songs were something from a long time ago. LOL!
@@patticrichton1135 I never said there were no love songs back today actually, did I? I do believe the percentage of love songs glutting the market back then was in the 90%+ range. Today, it has dropped substantially making room for other subject matters. Back then, I do know that we never had any songs that suggested killing people based on race or boasted lyrics describing sexual activities bereft of the ambiance of love. Just the other day, I heard a track describing a guy going around town just to find someone to suck his dick. These kinds of tracks would have never gotten close to radio airplay back then but now take up a greater percentage of the market.
I am getting the sense that you have NEVER HEARD "TWIST and SHOUT" before which is pretty amazing as that song has been EVERYWHERE and WAS PLAYED (the BEATLES' version) in the movie "FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF" which made it popular again and people were buying it and it showed up in the charts again.
Do You Want To Know A Secret is a more simple song of theirs. John Lennon once said he gave it to George Harrison to sing as it only contained three notes and quote "wasn't the best singer in the world," although he did say he had improved since then. Also, there were actually three versions recorded of Love Me Do. The version released on the album features a session musician on drums rather than Ringo
I am sure you don't know that on April 5, 1964 they had 14 songs on Billboard's Top 100 at the SAME TIME, and that day, the TOP FIVE SONGS on the TOP 10 of that list, were THESE BEATLES' song : #1 CAN'T BUY ME LOVE.....#2 TWIST and SHOUT.....#3 SHE LOVES YOU.....#4 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND......#5 PLEASE PLEASE ME. Back then as a teenager of 17 in 1964, I NEVER thought any of their songs sounded like an ELVIS song. Especially "I SAW HER STANDING THERE" Since I was a month short of turning 17 when I saw Paul singing "I SAW HER STANDING THERE" on their first TV appearance in the U.S. on the ED SULLIVAN SHOW FEB. 9th, 1964...I totally feel in love with Paul when he sang the line "SHE WAS JUST 17...." WELL, that was ME, because I was turning 17 exactly a month later on March 9th, 1964. SO that song to ME, is "my song" LOL
They started a new era of rock music from Elvis. Their sound, long hair, and "yeah yeah yeahs" were revolutionary for the times. I believe they were in their early twenties.
Contrary to what you read, The Beatles did not form in 1960. They changed their name to The Beatles in 1960. They formed in 1957, although with many different members. They were originally called The Quarrymen.
More like The Beatles grew out of The Quarrymen, when it essentially settled to a consistent core group of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. Kind of like how Queen grew out of Smile, which already had Brian May and Roger Taylor as members.
@@moviemaestro800 However, there was a period of time when they changed their name from The Quarrymen eventually to The Beatles without changing members.
@@brandonflorida1092 They also went by Johnny and the Moondogs, (John and Paul went by The Nurk Twins when just the two of them played a gig), Long John and the Silver Beetles (with 2 "e"s) then the Beatals (YES spelled THAT way "als" ), then the Silver Beetles, then finally The Beatles.
I was 17 when it was released and I LOVED it! I am always amazed to hear that children that young would even react to the Beatles. I didn't know any that did at all, It was more a 12 to 20s age group that I experienced as a teenager. I am SOOO glad that you enjoyed them as a 5 year old!
On "BOYS" Ringo sings the line "My GIRL says when I kiss her lips, gets a thrill to her fingertips..." The Shirelles version is on You Tube, if you want to hear it. I am sad that you don't care for "ASK ME WHY" I LOVE that song. I LOVE the entire album, it was the first album we ever heard by them....it's very very special to me. You HAD to have BEEN there to understand our feelings about that album. 🙂
Ah yes! There's not many people on TH-cam yet (you're only the second one I know of) who actually react to all the Beatles' albums in chronological order from the beginning. Which is a shame, because while there's a lot of great bands and artists from that time, the way the Beatles evolved (!) musically within just a few years is second to none and absolutely amazing to the point of being almost unbelievable. You'll see what I mean, once you get to the where it gets REALLY interesting ;) (which isn't to say their early albums aren't already fun to listen to, but... well, you'll see [or rather hear] ;) ...And it's very important to start with the earlier albums to actually experience that effect, of course!) P.S.: Elvis was indeed one of their idols and therefore a huge influence on them when they started out :)
as was Buddy Holly and the Crickets (especially Paul, he bought the entire Buddy Holly catalogue YEARS ago), Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, Roy Orbison were all early influences on them.
There are times on their early albums where Lennon/McCartney wrote songs for Ringo and George to sing, but for the most part if one was the primary writer of the song that person would sing lead. Lennon sings iead on his songs and McCartney sings leads on McCartney songs. It's usually an even amount for each album. Songs they equally worked on usually have them sharing the lead vocals.
This was their first album, but even their producer wasn’t very impressed by their talent. They started to improve over time, and their sound and look was different from anything else at the time and they progressed enormously and influenced the world. Youth culture was born because of the Beatles!
They were enormously popular as live performers. "Youth culture" began after WW II, during the 1950s, when teenagers began having disposable income, and owning cars became within their economic reach. Chuck Berry made a career out of writing car songs/"car-tunes".
@@highvoltage7797 absolutely he has always said that they were very charming people and they shared the same sense of humor with George Martin. He SAW something in them and wanted to give them a chance, which he did. It totally worked out, didn't it. ALL those OTHER labels that turned them down (especially DECCA) I bet KICKED themselves when they realized they turned down a potential GOLD MINE for their label!!
It's an incredible journey you're about to undertake! Their early albums were genuinely revolutionary at the time and changed pop music forever, though it may not sound so now. Even their hair was revolutionary and controversial. It was seen as shockingly long. Nowadays it's hard to understand what the fuss was about. Similarly, the fact that in interviews they were just themselves and sharp, fuuny, witty and intelligent with it, was also pretty new at the time. Look at pop star interviews before the Beatles and after the Beatles, to see the difference. Just the fact that they wrote and played their own material was pretty unusual back then. Enjoy their early albums. They're great and contain endless pop classics. However by the time you get to Rubber Soul, you'll begin to notice a change, as the music, songwriting and arranging all start to mature rapidly. Their last 8 albums are all bona fide masterpieces and comprise the most influential discography in music history! At least 6 of their albums are leading candidates for greatest album of all-time and regularly top such lists. They are still outselling 99.9% of contemporary artists today! Welcome to the most successful, biggest selling, most innovative and by far the most influential act in the history music! :)
They set aside one song at least per album for Ringo to sing They also had a song set aside for George Harrison, but eventually that song was one he himself wrote. He occasionally then got a second of his songs on
You're going to have to be careful as there's a number of hit singles that weren't included on the studio albums due to the way music was released at the time. Wikipedia states 'The Beatles have a core catalogue consisting of 13 studio albums and one compilation'. BUT if you listen to those 13 studio albums you will miss out on their biggest songs, to the tune of 13 #1 hits. Make sure you cross-reference the singles to the albums to make sure you're hearing everything. The US often released albums with different track listings so you will find some overlap between the UK releases and the US releases.
@@EnlightenJesse On every streaming platform (and physical albums nowadays)) it's always the UK albums you'll find. Not confusing at all. But you should follow the singles as well (see the album Past Masters).
@@bobwoolerOriGinal The 13 I've referenced are not on the UK albums. In order for Jesse to hear the progression of the Beatles he will need to include US albums such as Meet the Beatles. Magical Mystery Tour and even Hey Jude. I can't conceive of a Beatles journey that doesn't include Paperback Writer, Get Back, Lady Madonna, Ballad of John/Yoko and Hey Jude.
@@Xfactories I don't see the problem though. If he goes with today's official albums (which includes the US Magical Mystery Tour album (the UK version does no longer exist!) and Past Masters, it covers all of their songs, so then there's no need for Meet The Beatles or any other US releases.
I think you’d really enjoy the Anthology documentary series which really gives you an understanding of the group and their influence on the 60s and culture in general. It’s a terrific watch that is definitely worth visiting when you’ve completed the albums
Make sure you listen to their singles as well as albums moving forward. Their first 2 singles are in this album but their next 3 singles (A and B sides are not in their next album). You can mix in the singles using Past Masters and just follow by year.
There are 2 VOLUMES of "PAST MASTERS" so make sure you do both. You will find that they recorded a GERMAN version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" ( Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand) and SHE LOVES YOU (Sie Liebt Dich), They did that as a "nod" to their German fans since they spent quite a lot of time playing in the red light district of Hamburg, Germany in 1961 before they became famous. It was THERE that they really honed their "act" and their music and where they became the band they would become. They had to play 5 to 6 hour long sets 6 days a week, there. It was rough!
To me, The Beatles not only expressed what I was feeling at any given time, but also gave a heads up as to how I might end up feeling in a few years time. And they were right.
I was surprised, but not upset, with some of your reactions to particular tracks. Sometimes it takes multiple listens to get to like a track, but keep in mind that music was much simpler back then, not many had real deep lyrics full of double meanings. The demand was for shorter, easy to remember, simple tunes. Like I said on another vid of yours, you will certainly see the Beatles mature throughout their discography. They no longer follow the leaders and try to emulate other acts or sounds. They become the bleeding edge and leave everyone else wondering how they can do what the Beatles do.
I found your reaction to Sgt Peppers first, and am now following along with you in your adventure discovering the Beatles in chronological order. I like your freshness in experiencing this music that had such a profound effect on me as a young boy, as well as to the world culture.
I found Jesse's reaction to McCartney first; everyone else skips over it, so I was looking for it specifically. Then I kept with Jesse's part 2 series and now we're back at the beginning. Doing it kinda backwards.
Through the "Help!" LP at the least, John dominated the songwriting. And it's easy to determine who wrote what, whether part of or whole song, by who sings it.
They also wrote a lot of songs that they gave away for other artists to record, like Peter and Gordon, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, Mary Hopkin, P.J. Proby, The Fourmost....there is an entire album (which I have) that is all the songs they gave away with the artists performing them, called "THE SONGS LENNON AND McCARTNEY GAVE AWAY." I THINK I saw it on You Tube.
Halfway through the video and just gotta say.... I'm disappointed that you said "Ask Me Why" is your least favorite thus far, since it's my favorite song on this album. I don't know if you're a musician at all, but, for me, as a young songwriter in the late '70s-early '80s using 3, 4, m-a-a-aybe 5 chords per song (focusing on lyrics rather than tunefulness -- a la Bob Dylan), the totally original chord progression in "Ask Me Why" inspired me to be more creative, musically. Listen to the album again, and then this song in particular, and I think you'll grow to appreciate it's sophistication -- the way the lyrics and music were, literally, made for each other. Cheers. 🥂
I AGREE with you on ASK ME WHY. I was disappointed in his reaction on it too. It's always been a favorite of mine, I think it's a LOVELY song, and it was very sophisticated compared to other songs of that time. My father who was a musician even liked it, which is saying a LOT!!.
You have to put this in context to the early 60s. If you truly want to experience the times you need to watch some videos of their early live performances. It was their personalities that hooked that generation as much as their music. So much energy and fun in their performances.
P.S.I LOVE YOU, NOT adolescent. Remember, we wrote LETTERS BACK THEN, before the internet and cell phones, we only had letters and phone calls to communicate to someone at a distance. ADULTS wrote letters, soldiers wrote letters who were away at war, to their loved ones back home. THIS song is special to me, because I was pen-pals with a boy in Liverpool when I was in high school and wrote for 3 years before I went to England to meet him for the first time when I was 21, 3 years later we were married. P.S. I LOVE YOU was often at the bottom of our letters to each other, so it was "OUR SONG." The Beatles songs (and OTHER GROUPS and singers of that time as well) WERE mostly "love songs" because they were geared to the TEENAGE audience. ADULTS didn't listen to rock and roll, but even the songs that adults listened to during that time, were ALSO mostly love songs. Paul McCartney has said in interviews that those early songs they wrote WERE AIMED AT THEIR TEENAGE GIRL FANS, and THOSE kind of songs are what WE WANTED to HEAR. You can't compare the songs of that period to the types of songs you would hear today (and there are STILL a lot of LOVE songs out there NOW) because it was a DIFFERENT TIME.
With this LP "The Beatles" weren't known, so weren't expected to do more than any other group. Even by 1964, after they'd hit big, it was being predicted that they might last 6 months.
because (according to adults and the press) 6 months was usually about as long as an act for teenagers would stay popular. THEY looked at the Beatles as just another teen act like the others that came before them. I can remember lying in my bed one night in 1965 when I was 18 and I truly felt that we would STILL be listening to the Beatles 50 years from 1965) I was RIGHT, but I got the time span wrong. In 2023 their music will have been "active" for 60 years, and there is NO stopping it. SIX MONTHS?? HUH? (even THEY didn't think they would last more than 6 months. There is video of George saying that in 1963. Paul said at that time that they probaby wouldn't be writing songs at 40, "we might not even know HOW to write songs at 40" They also didn't think they would ever use an orchestra...they DID. Paul even wrote several classical pieces "The Liverpool Oratorio,' (which is based on his growing up in Liverpool, so it's semi-autobiographical), "STANDING STONE, " "ECCE COR MEUM," "OCEAN KINGDOM." A LOT of people DON'T KNOW that about Paul, except his diehard fans, like me.
Please also listen to the corresponding singles as they are often not on the albums. But they fill out the picture of what was going on each year. Check out the Past Masters I and II albums as they have the singles not (usually) on the albums. Also the lead singer and writer change multiple times on each album and between albums.
Bless your heart. I'm actually envious of your, how shall I say, ignorance. (That word always sounds so judgemental to me). But I don't mean it that way at all! I wish you a wonderful journey! Thank you for sharing it!
"Please Please Me" is one of the greatest recordings in history, and the arrangement is brilliant. The highest note is Paul's vocal, and the lowest is Paul's bass. Everything else happens between those two notes. They wrote it during the Roy Orbison tour, and appears to have been written with him in mind. John wrote it, and let's just it's about a certain kind of sexual act.
YOu are right about Roy Orbison. They were trying to do a Roy Orbison type song where he would go up high in his vocals like he always did, and the tempo they originally played it in, was SLOW. George Martin suggested they try singing it faster, they reluctantly did, and agreed with George Martin. After they recorded it, George told them, "Gentlemen, you have just recorded your first number ONE single." He was right! Paul as often demonstrated what the tempo was like on the Please PLEASE ME, part (slowly going higher with his voice) It's a shame that there is no none recording of the slower version, I would have LOVED to have heard that.
@@EnlightenJesse If you’re gonna do that, I’d recommend listening to the first volume of Past Masters after you’ve listened to the Help! album. You’ll find all their non-album singles, B-Sides and EP tracks on there. One thing shout The Beatles is that most of their singles after the first couple didn’t appear on albums. It’s not something that was unique to The Beatles, but it was their way of ensuring their fans got the best value from their releases (and sure as hell pleased their record company, too, who could milk them for all they were worth). You’d then listen to Volume 2 of Past Masters once you’ve finished with the Let It Be album.
The Beatles recorded this entire first album in 10 hours in one day. Unfortunately it is my least favorite Beatles album. Keep going, it gets much better.
They recorded ten of the 14 tracks at that session. The other four tracks were from the two singles they'd already released. But yeah, it's amazing how much they crammed into that one marathon studio session. It's a big contrast to the way they would be working four years later, when they'd take months to do an album, sometimes doing dozens of takes on a single track and using (sometimmes INVENTING) studio recording tricks to produce sounds on their records that were impossible to reproduce live. On this first album they were trying to recreate a live performance (even wearing their stage costumes in the studio), while later they'd be very deliberately using the studio equipment as part of their suite of instruments to create sound palattes that had never been heard before. Their evolution in such a short time is absolutely stunning. And I love both approaches.
@@gregoryeatroff8608 but they still churned out albums quickly compared to today where it can take at least a year or several years for a group or any recording artist to come out with their next album.
Here's the thing with some of the songs sounding innocent or childish... you have to realise where songs were at in the 60's. They did what they could. They pushed boundaries. That's important to remember.
First you need to listen to every single in the charts on the release date of each beatles record. That's the only way to put them into context. It's the only way to measure how revolutionary they were. You need to know how good THEY were compared to contemporary songs
Not just Elvis, many others, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Little Richard, CARL Perkins, Chuck Berry, (they COVER some of those artists songs on their albums, never covered an Elvis song though, even though they liked him), Gene Vincent, Roy Orbison, Buck Owens, all the Motown groups male and female.
I agree, but there are SEVERAL reactors who I have watched who have listened to their albums and didn't chop up a single song, and somehow, they managed it. Don't know how, but I guess there is a way.
Some guidance for how to listen to the Beatles going forward: Just try to imagine that there was nothing like the Beatles before the Beatles, and with each successive album they outdid themselves, kept reinventing popular music. You will see they were almost like a different band with each album. Their early stuff will sound dated now on first listen, but at the time it was revolutionary.
VERY TRUE, and WELL SAID!!!!
In the early '60s, everyone wrote love songs. By 1965 and 1966, The Beatles changed that and started writing about a wide variety of subjects.
Yesterday - though about losing a loved one - is also about looking back on how youth is easy, and growing up is harder... but by the time they were doing Help! and Paperback Writer, it really wasn't love songs.
@@CowmanUK Not true, they STILL wrote some love songs on their albums after Help!
the composition of Pop songs in 1963 was Audience driven.....it would be a while before Revolver.
This album was actually recorded in just 13 hours. They just went through all the songs they had played in the Cavern Club, included some of their original songs, and just chose the best ones for the album. John Lennon was actually suffering with a cold at the time, so that when they got to ‘Twist and Shout’ his voice was really raspy, so he just took his shirt off, drank some milk and some cough sweets, and literally shredded his vocal chords after two takes.
Bear in mind for the future, the golden rule of the Beatles when it came to their songs, was that whoever wrote the song, sang it. Of course, George would develop his own songwriting style as each album progresses, while Ringo didn’t start writing until towards the end, (He only ever wrote two songs), so John and Paul would give him songs that they felt were suitable for his range and style of singing.
There are exceptions -- John and Paul occasionally wrote a song with Ringo's voice in mind, and there was at least one case where one of them wrote a song and realized it fitted George's voice better and handed it off to him.
Before the Beatles, bands were a front man and his backing group (Bill Haley and the Comets, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Elvis and a bunch of instrumentalists who didn't even get a name, etc), or an instrumental group where no one sang (The Tornadoes, Blues Incorporated, etc.) or a vocal group who sang in harmony in the style that Motown pushed so hard in the 60s (The Four Tops, the Cookies, etc). And almost NONE of them wrote their own music (Buddy Holly and Little Richard were among the few exceptions).
The Beatles revolutionized pop music by being a self-contained group that did all their own singing, played their own instruments, wrote most of their own songs (more and more as their careers progressed), and let every member have his moment in the spotlight as lead singer. No one had seen or heard anything like them.
Oh, speaking of seeing, they also revolutionized the look of music groups. When everyone else was in matching suits, they were punk, wearing black leather and pink bandanas, and acting wild on stage instead of having carefully choreographed dance steps. In 1962 they dropped the leather and got into suits, but they designed the suits themselves, going very European with the look and standing out by being more sophisticated than everyone else around them instead of rougher and more raw. Plus the long hair. They were always a step or three ahead of everyone around them
You’ve mentioned love as a theme. It was basically the theme of almost every song in the early to mid 60s. You’ll notice that they often wrote songs to appeal to their teenage female fan base, too. Once they were famous enough to write what the hell they wanted, they threw off the shackles and really let loose!
Re: The songs being short. That was because you’d only get radio play if songs were a certain length. If they were too long, they wouldn’t be played in full. It was a very different world, back then. Radio was basically IT as far as music was concerned. It could make or break an artist. Gotta remember that many households, (certainly in the UK) didn’t have a TV in early 60s. So radio was still King.
Cool reaction. I’m so glad you’re doing it chronologically (don’t forget the singles are often not on the albums), you’ll get a real sense of how amazingly they progress in less than 7 years. I promise you that you will be a true fan when you’re done… congrats and enjoy, I’ll be watching!
Yep, can't forget the singles, b sides and the Long Tall Sally ep!
In the 50s and early 60s, almost all mainstream and pop songs were about love. As The Beatles start to grow as artists and after meeting Bob Dylan, you really start to see the change in their writing and experimentation in the music. Its pretty cool to notice those progressive changes from album to album. Their story during their time as a band is super interesting/heartbreaking.
John Lennon was writing stuff like "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" as a child. That was before Dylan, before drugs.
They were also influenced by "Goon Comedy," of the generation before "Monty Python" and "Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band".
First steps of Beatles they were considered as a Boys band with so many love and simple lyrics songs to teenage girls. It was Beatlemania time when they collected hit after hit. In 1964 they had 14 songs into the top 50 British hits. But they were an step beyond and showed the world the great musicians they were. When you reach "Rubber soul" surely you will notice how great they were (and in the following albums it will be increasing their talent more and more). And dont forget their last recorded song was called "The end" aren't they genious?
But of course The End is on Abbey Road, which was the second last album released…..Thankyou Phil Spector for taking an eternity to produce Let It Be
@@greggliddon9677 Or overproduce Let It Be -- the Beatles had originally intended it to be much simpler, and years later released "Let It Be Naked" which stripped away Spector's "wall of sound" production and brought the four Beatles' own instrumentation much more to the foreground.
THE BEATLES were NEVER considered a "BOY BAND"!!! THAT term DIDN'T EXIST back then They were just a "GROUP" When "BOY BAND" came into use, it referred to groups like The Backstreet Boys, INSYNC, etc who weren''t even a BAND goes they just sang and danced but played NO INSTRUMENTS.
Well i must say you are fantastic. Your reactions are very fun. I am a beatles fanatic who remembers watching them on their u.s. debut performance on the ed sullivan show in 1964. If indeed you are going to go thru their discography you have a new subscriber and be prepared for continual surprises. The way their music evolved over the 7 years they were together is amazing. They were masters of every genre.
This album was recorded on February 11, 1963. They did the entire album in just 10 hours on that. John and Ringo were 22. Paul was 20. George was 19.
10 of the songs were recorded on the 11th February 1963. The other 4 songs had already been released as their first 2 singles, which had been recorded on the 11th September and the 26th November 1962.
You misspelled "March 22, 1963" as "November 11, 1962".
George would turn 20 years old 14 days later on Feb. 25, 1963
Other people mentioned it, but I wanted to reiterate it so it doesn't get lost. Many of their hits from different periods weren't on the albums, so don't forget about them. :)
Also, you'd totally enjoy watching the Hard Days Night movie to get a real feel for Beatlemania before they started to evolve.
Yes, but "Beatlemania" around the world is REALLY shown well in Ron Howard's Beatles documentary "EIGHT DAYS A WEEK: THE TOURING YEARS"
So excited to watch this new discography journey! I cannot wait to see where this one takes you with all of their albums!
OMG OMG OMG OMG I finally made it! Had to finish watching your Bowie reactions first. Words can't express how excited I am! The Beatles are so important to me on an emotional level. And your reactions have become a very charming obsession. lol
In the early 60s appox. 2:00 was standard length of a pop song in order to get radio play. The Beatles broke that mold by the mid 60s and had the first SEVEN minute single in 1968
Yes, that single in 1968 that was 7 minutes long was "HEY JUDE" written and sung by Paul. It was the FIRST SONG on the radio to EVER break that "no longer than 3 minutes, but most tried to stay at 2 or 2 1/2 minutes long. The radio stations actually played the whole length of HEY JUDE, when they could have faded it out during the "n Na Na Na" part, but they didn't! POWER OF THE BEATLES, folks!!
This music was incredibly exciting when it was brand new. There had been nothing like it before. As a five year old, it activated pleasure centers in my brain that I didn't even know existed.
One other thing regarding the Elvis vibe; remember this was happening soon after that early period of rock. Elvis was a hero of theirs.
The journey is basically watching the Beatles create modern music in the span of 6 years.
After meeting Elvis, they were not enamoured with him at all. Elvis trying to get John extradited did not help either.
6 years for those of us in the U.S. because they didn't come here until 1964, but they had been writing songs since they were teenagers in the very early times as the local band in Liverpool. But if you take it from their first RECORD, then that would be when in the UK 1963, so that would be 7 years Paul's first song that he ever wrote was "I Lost My Little Girl" and he was 14 or 15 when he wrote that. SO what I am trying to say is that they didn't start writing songs in 1963. They were writing songs long before that, they just didn't have a recording contract until late 1962.
"Please Please Me" represents a slice of their stage repertoire. It is still fresh today.
Welcome to the club. Pay attention to the progression from Album to Album. 12 albums in 7 years. Unmatched quality and quantity.
John and Paul meet when they were 15ish. 14 year old George joined a little later. Ringo officially joined when they recorded their first single.
4 of the 5 first albums have lots of covers. Then it’s all originals from Rubber Soul on.
Have fun!!!!!!
We love to see people going through the whole discography, seeing their minds get more and more blown.
Yes!
They started out playing covers in Hamburg Germany...they played mostly American R&B for hours everyday in Germany.
Please make sure you listen to the UK versions of the albums...the US versions were basically mangled by Capitol Records.
"Please, Please Me" was the Beatles first #1 hit.
In these days all songs were of the moon, June, spoon romance variety and all were short. The Beatles were only emulating what they had heard all of their lives.
IMO, you're doing this right. If you've never really paid much attention, then you should enjoy the full scope by starting at the beginning. This is back when they were unknown in the US but touring rather incessantly in the UK. They were a complete gamble for the record company. Producer George Martin took the gamble. He felt they had a certain 'something'...charisma. Frankly, none of them had any musical background at all except for the records they'd heard and imitate. So, when they got to the studio the record company wasn't going spend a lot of money on them. Every track was fairly straightforward with minimal overdubbing if any at all. The entire thing was recorded in a single day. Of particular note, they were allowed to put some of their own compositions on the album which was fairly rare back them. So, the covers were kind of obligatory. They would soon grow out of that.
You will notice as you progress through their albums how they evolved in just a year. By the time you get to 'Hard Day's Night', you'll find an interesting sophistication entering their song writing that simply got better and more compelling every year. Basically, they come in on the top and by the end they also went out on top.
John and Paul were the main writers and vocalists. George will soon be putting forth his own material and vocals. Eventually, Ringo will even squeak a couple in later (with a lot of help from George).
Sorry that you've become jaded on love songs. There's a lot of them out there, man. It was the way it was back then. Songs were also geared to be short so they would get radio play on AM commercial radio. Meanwhile, new groups like the Beatles could record what would get on the radio and be bought by fans or...take a hike.
It amazes me that it SEEMS that some people think that TODAY"S music has NO "Love" songs!! THERE are STILL LOVE songs recorded today. I can't figure out what you all are listening to, today...that you think Love songs were something from a long time ago. LOL!
@@patticrichton1135 I never said there were no love songs back today actually, did I? I do believe the percentage of love songs glutting the market back then was in the 90%+ range. Today, it has dropped substantially making room for other subject matters. Back then, I do know that we never had any songs that suggested killing people based on race or boasted lyrics describing sexual activities bereft of the ambiance of love. Just the other day, I heard a track describing a guy going around town just to find someone to suck his dick. These kinds of tracks would have never gotten close to radio airplay back then but now take up a greater percentage of the market.
I am getting the sense that you have NEVER HEARD "TWIST and SHOUT" before which is pretty amazing as that song has been EVERYWHERE and WAS PLAYED (the BEATLES' version) in the movie "FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF" which made it popular again and people were buying it and it showed up in the charts again.
Finally! Can't wait for you to react to their further albums. They keep getting better!
Do You Want To Know A Secret is a more simple song of theirs. John Lennon once said he gave it to George Harrison to sing as it only contained three notes and quote "wasn't the best singer in the world," although he did say he had improved since then.
Also, there were actually three versions recorded of Love Me Do. The version released on the album features a session musician on drums rather than Ringo
I am sure you don't know that on April 5, 1964 they had 14 songs on Billboard's Top 100 at the SAME TIME, and that day, the TOP FIVE SONGS on the TOP 10 of that list, were THESE BEATLES' song : #1 CAN'T BUY ME LOVE.....#2 TWIST and SHOUT.....#3 SHE LOVES YOU.....#4 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND......#5 PLEASE PLEASE ME. Back then as a teenager of 17 in 1964, I NEVER thought any of their songs sounded like an ELVIS song. Especially "I SAW HER STANDING THERE" Since I was a month short of turning 17 when I saw Paul singing "I SAW HER STANDING THERE" on their first TV appearance in the U.S. on the ED SULLIVAN SHOW FEB. 9th, 1964...I totally feel in love with Paul when he sang the line "SHE WAS JUST 17...." WELL, that was ME, because I was turning 17 exactly a month later on March 9th, 1964. SO that song to ME, is "my song" LOL
They started a new era of rock music from Elvis. Their sound, long hair, and "yeah yeah yeahs" were revolutionary for the times. I believe they were in their early twenties.
Contrary to what you read, The Beatles did not form in 1960. They changed their name to The Beatles in 1960. They formed in 1957, although with many different members. They were originally called The Quarrymen.
More like The Beatles grew out of The Quarrymen, when it essentially settled to a consistent core group of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. Kind of like how Queen grew out of Smile, which already had Brian May and Roger Taylor as members.
@@moviemaestro800 However, there was a period of time when they changed their name from The Quarrymen eventually to The Beatles without changing members.
@@brandonflorida1092 That would've been around the time Stuart Stutcliffe joined.
@@moviemaestro800 It was a little later, possibly when they were going to Hamburg. I think "Beatles" or "Beatals" was Stuart's idea.
@@brandonflorida1092 They also went by Johnny and the Moondogs, (John and Paul went by The Nurk Twins when just the two of them played a gig), Long John and the Silver Beetles (with 2 "e"s) then the Beatals (YES spelled THAT way "als" ), then the Silver Beetles, then finally The Beatles.
Do you want to know a secret? I've always liked the song, but then I was 5 years old when it was released. Guess I was in the right demo 😊
I was 17 when it was released and I LOVED it! I am always amazed to hear that children that young would even react to the Beatles. I didn't know any that did at all, It was more a 12 to 20s age group that I experienced as a teenager. I am SOOO glad that you enjoyed them as a 5 year old!
The first conscious memory I have of the Beatles is do you want to know a secret, in the 90s on cassette.
"The Beatles" were always FUN, and high energy.
On "BOYS" Ringo sings the line "My GIRL says when I kiss her lips, gets a thrill to her fingertips..." The Shirelles version is on You Tube, if you want to hear it. I am sad that you don't care for "ASK ME WHY" I LOVE that song. I LOVE the entire album, it was the first album we ever heard by them....it's very very special to me. You HAD to have BEEN there to understand our feelings about that album. 🙂
Ah yes! There's not many people on TH-cam yet (you're only the second one I know of) who actually react to all the Beatles' albums in chronological order from the beginning. Which is a shame, because while there's a lot of great bands and artists from that time, the way the Beatles evolved (!) musically within just a few years is second to none and absolutely amazing to the point of being almost unbelievable. You'll see what I mean, once you get to the where it gets REALLY interesting ;) (which isn't to say their early albums aren't already fun to listen to, but... well, you'll see [or rather hear] ;) ...And it's very important to start with the earlier albums to actually experience that effect, of course!) P.S.: Elvis was indeed one of their idols and therefore a huge influence on them when they started out :)
That’s surprising to me. It makes most sense to start at the beginning and go chronologically-to discover them how everyone else did back in the 60’s.
as was Buddy Holly and the Crickets (especially Paul, he bought the entire Buddy Holly catalogue YEARS ago), Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, Roy Orbison were all early influences on them.
There are times on their early albums where Lennon/McCartney wrote songs for Ringo and George to sing, but for the most part if one was the primary writer of the song that person would sing lead. Lennon sings iead on his songs and McCartney sings leads on McCartney songs. It's usually an even amount for each album. Songs they equally worked on usually have them sharing the lead vocals.
All 4 sing lead on at least one song per album although John and Paul, who were the main writers.
You should watch their black b white movie. So funny.
This was their first album, but even their producer wasn’t very impressed by their talent. They started to improve over time, and their sound and look was different from anything else at the time and they progressed enormously and influenced the world. Youth culture was born because of the Beatles!
wasnt? George Martin clearly was
Yeah George Martin definitely was impressed by them.
They were enormously popular as live performers.
"Youth culture" began after WW II, during the 1950s, when teenagers began having disposable income, and owning cars became within their economic reach. Chuck Berry made a career out of writing car songs/"car-tunes".
@@highvoltage7797 absolutely he has always said that they were very charming people and they shared the same sense of humor with George Martin. He SAW something in them and wanted to give them a chance, which he did. It totally worked out, didn't it. ALL those OTHER labels that turned them down (especially DECCA) I bet KICKED themselves when they realized they turned down a potential GOLD MINE for their label!!
It's an incredible journey you're about to undertake! Their early albums were genuinely revolutionary at the time and changed pop music forever, though it may not sound so now. Even their hair was revolutionary and controversial. It was seen as shockingly long. Nowadays it's hard to understand what the fuss was about. Similarly, the fact that in interviews they were just themselves and sharp, fuuny, witty and intelligent with it, was also pretty new at the time. Look at pop star interviews before the Beatles and after the Beatles, to see the difference. Just the fact that they wrote and played their own material was pretty unusual back then. Enjoy their early albums. They're great and contain endless pop classics. However by the time you get to Rubber Soul, you'll begin to notice a change, as the music, songwriting and arranging all start to mature rapidly. Their last 8 albums are all bona fide masterpieces and comprise the most influential discography in music history! At least 6 of their albums are leading candidates for greatest album of all-time and regularly top such lists. They are still outselling 99.9% of contemporary artists today! Welcome to the most successful, biggest selling, most innovative and by far the most influential act in the history music! :)
They set aside one song at least per album for Ringo to sing
They also had a song set aside for George Harrison, but eventually that song was one he himself wrote. He occasionally then got a second of his songs on
You're going to have to be careful as there's a number of hit singles that weren't included on the studio albums due to the way music was released at the time.
Wikipedia states 'The Beatles have a core catalogue consisting of 13 studio albums and one compilation'.
BUT if you listen to those 13 studio albums you will miss out on their biggest songs, to the tune of 13 #1 hits. Make sure you cross-reference the singles to the albums to make sure you're hearing everything.
The US often released albums with different track listings so you will find some overlap between the UK releases and the US releases.
Oh that sounds confusing! 😳
@@EnlightenJesse On every streaming platform (and physical albums nowadays)) it's always the UK albums you'll find. Not confusing at all. But you should follow the singles as well (see the album Past Masters).
@@EnlightenJesse Follow the “discography” section on The Beatles Wikipedia page, that’s the best way to go.
@@bobwoolerOriGinal The 13 I've referenced are not on the UK albums. In order for Jesse to hear the progression of the Beatles he will need to include US albums such as Meet the Beatles. Magical Mystery Tour and even Hey Jude. I can't conceive of a Beatles journey that doesn't include Paperback Writer, Get Back, Lady Madonna, Ballad of John/Yoko and Hey Jude.
@@Xfactories I don't see the problem though. If he goes with today's official albums (which includes the US Magical Mystery Tour album (the UK version does no longer exist!) and Past Masters, it covers all of their songs, so then there's no need for Meet The Beatles or any other US releases.
I think you’d really enjoy the Anthology documentary series which really gives you an understanding of the group and their influence on the 60s and culture in general. It’s a terrific watch that is definitely worth visiting when you’ve completed the albums
Make sure you listen to their singles as well as albums moving forward. Their first 2 singles are in this album but their next 3 singles (A and B sides are not in their next album). You can mix in the singles using Past Masters and just follow by year.
There are 2 VOLUMES of "PAST MASTERS" so make sure you do both. You will find that they recorded a GERMAN version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" ( Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand) and SHE LOVES YOU (Sie Liebt Dich), They did that as a "nod" to their German fans since they spent quite a lot of time playing in the red light district of Hamburg, Germany in 1961 before they became famous. It was THERE that they really honed their "act" and their music and where they became the band they would become. They had to play 5 to 6 hour long sets 6 days a week, there. It was rough!
It's 1963 when this album was first released. If George hadn't had a birthday yet it would mean he was 19 at the time. 19!
George turned 20, 14 days later on Feb 25th, 1963
To me, The Beatles not only expressed what I was feeling at any given time, but also gave a heads up as to how I might end up feeling in a few years time. And they were right.
I was surprised, but not upset, with some of your reactions to particular tracks. Sometimes it takes multiple listens to get to like a track, but keep in mind that music was much simpler back then, not many had real deep lyrics full of double meanings. The demand was for shorter, easy to remember, simple tunes.
Like I said on another vid of yours, you will certainly see the Beatles mature throughout their discography. They no longer follow the leaders and try to emulate other acts or sounds. They become the bleeding edge and leave everyone else wondering how they can do what the Beatles do.
This album was recorded in 12 hours
I found your reaction to Sgt Peppers first, and am now following along with you in your adventure discovering the Beatles in chronological order. I like your freshness in experiencing this music that had such a profound effect on me as a young boy, as well as to the world culture.
I found Jesse's reaction to McCartney first; everyone else skips over it, so I was looking for it specifically. Then I kept with Jesse's part 2 series and now we're back at the beginning. Doing it kinda backwards.
Through the "Help!" LP at the least, John dominated the songwriting. And it's easy to determine who wrote what, whether part of or whole song, by who sings it.
Darn, you made it to them before I did. Well, since you've started listening to their discography, I might as well listen to their songs with you.
Great video Jesse! Be aware that not all their singles were on their albums. You've got a great journey ahead.
They also wrote a lot of songs that they gave away for other artists to record, like Peter and Gordon, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, Mary Hopkin, P.J. Proby, The Fourmost....there is an entire album (which I have) that is all the songs they gave away with the artists performing them, called "THE SONGS LENNON AND McCARTNEY GAVE AWAY." I THINK I saw it on You Tube.
Halfway through the video and just gotta say.... I'm disappointed that you said "Ask Me Why" is your least favorite thus far, since it's my favorite song on this album.
I don't know if you're a musician at all, but, for me, as a young songwriter in the late '70s-early '80s using 3, 4, m-a-a-aybe 5 chords per song (focusing on lyrics rather than tunefulness -- a la Bob Dylan), the totally original chord progression in "Ask Me Why" inspired me to be more creative, musically.
Listen to the album again, and then this song in particular, and I think you'll grow to appreciate it's sophistication -- the way the lyrics and music were, literally, made for each other.
Cheers. 🥂
I AGREE with you on ASK ME WHY. I was disappointed in his reaction on it too. It's always been a favorite of mine, I think it's a LOVELY song, and it was very sophisticated compared to other songs of that time. My father who was a musician even liked it, which is saying a LOT!!.
You have to put this in context to the early 60s. If you truly want to experience the times you need to watch some videos of their early live performances. It was their personalities that hooked that generation as much as their music. So much energy and fun in their performances.
P.S.I LOVE YOU, NOT adolescent. Remember, we wrote LETTERS BACK THEN, before the internet and cell phones, we only had letters and phone calls to communicate to someone at a distance. ADULTS wrote letters, soldiers wrote letters who were away at war, to their loved ones back home.
THIS song is special to me, because I was pen-pals with a boy in Liverpool when I was in high school and wrote for 3 years before I went to England to meet him for the first time when I was 21, 3 years later we were married. P.S. I LOVE YOU was often at the bottom of our letters to each other, so it was "OUR SONG."
The Beatles songs (and OTHER GROUPS and singers of that time as well) WERE mostly "love songs" because they were geared to the TEENAGE audience. ADULTS didn't listen to rock and roll, but even the songs that adults listened to during that time, were ALSO mostly love songs. Paul McCartney has said in interviews that those early songs they wrote WERE AIMED AT THEIR TEENAGE GIRL FANS, and THOSE kind of songs are what WE WANTED to HEAR. You can't compare the songs of that period to the types of songs you would hear today (and there are STILL a lot of LOVE songs out there NOW) because it was a DIFFERENT TIME.
With this LP "The Beatles" weren't known, so weren't expected to do more than any other group. Even by 1964, after they'd hit big, it was being predicted that they might last 6 months.
because (according to adults and the press) 6 months was usually about as long as an act for teenagers would stay popular. THEY looked at the Beatles as just another teen act like the others that came before them. I can remember lying in my bed one night in 1965 when I was 18 and I truly felt that we would STILL be listening to the Beatles 50 years from 1965) I was RIGHT, but I got the time span wrong. In 2023 their music will have been "active" for 60 years, and there is NO stopping it. SIX MONTHS?? HUH? (even THEY didn't think they would last more than 6 months. There is video of George saying that in 1963. Paul said at that time that they probaby wouldn't be writing songs at 40, "we might not even know HOW to write songs at 40" They also didn't think they would ever use an orchestra...they DID. Paul even wrote several classical pieces "The Liverpool Oratorio,' (which is based on his growing up in Liverpool, so it's semi-autobiographical), "STANDING STONE, " "ECCE COR MEUM," "OCEAN KINGDOM." A LOT of people DON'T KNOW that about Paul, except his diehard fans, like me.
Please also listen to the corresponding singles as they are often not on the albums. But they fill out the picture of what was going on each year. Check out the Past Masters I and II albums as they have the singles not (usually) on the albums. Also the lead singer and writer change multiple times on each album and between albums.
You're in for a hell of a trip, brother. :)
Bless your heart. I'm actually envious of your, how shall I say, ignorance. (That word always sounds so judgemental to me). But I don't mean it that way at all!
I wish you a wonderful journey!
Thank you for sharing it!
"Please Please Me" is one of the greatest recordings in history, and the arrangement is brilliant. The highest note is Paul's vocal, and the lowest is Paul's bass. Everything else happens between those two notes.
They wrote it during the Roy Orbison tour, and appears to have been written with him in mind. John wrote it, and let's just it's about a certain kind of sexual act.
The song was recorded in November 1962. The tour with Roy Orbison was in May and June of 1963.
YOu are right about Roy Orbison. They were trying to do a Roy Orbison type song where he would go up high in his vocals like he always did, and the tempo they originally played it in, was SLOW. George Martin suggested they try singing it faster, they reluctantly did, and agreed with George Martin. After they recorded it, George told them, "Gentlemen, you have just recorded your first number ONE single." He was right! Paul as often demonstrated what the tempo was like on the Please PLEASE ME, part (slowly going higher with his voice) It's a shame that there is no none recording of the slower version, I would have LOVED to have heard that.
You have a great journey in front of you.
very good analysis, will you react chronologically to the beatles albums?
Yes, I will!
@@EnlightenJesse If you’re gonna do that, I’d recommend listening to the first volume of Past Masters after you’ve listened to the Help! album. You’ll find all their non-album singles, B-Sides and EP tracks on there. One thing shout The Beatles is that most of their singles after the first couple didn’t appear on albums. It’s not something that was unique to The Beatles, but it was their way of ensuring their fans got the best value from their releases (and sure as hell pleased their record company, too, who could milk them for all they were worth). You’d then listen to Volume 2 of Past Masters once you’ve finished with the Let It Be album.
The Beatles recorded this entire first album in 10 hours in one day. Unfortunately it is my least favorite Beatles album. Keep going, it gets much better.
@@Beatgeneration2010 lol sorry I didn't have it down to the minute! I wasn't at the studio.
Personally love the story of Twist and Shout where John’s voice was so tired from all the singing his voice literally breaks from the screaming
They recorded ten of the 14 tracks at that session. The other four tracks were from the two singles they'd already released. But yeah, it's amazing how much they crammed into that one marathon studio session. It's a big contrast to the way they would be working four years later, when they'd take months to do an album, sometimes doing dozens of takes on a single track and using (sometimmes INVENTING) studio recording tricks to produce sounds on their records that were impossible to reproduce live. On this first album they were trying to recreate a live performance (even wearing their stage costumes in the studio), while later they'd be very deliberately using the studio equipment as part of their suite of instruments to create sound palattes that had never been heard before. Their evolution in such a short time is absolutely stunning. And I love both approaches.
@@gregoryeatroff8608 but they still churned out albums quickly compared to today where it can take at least a year or several years for a group or any recording artist to come out with their next album.
Here's the thing with some of the songs sounding innocent or childish... you have to realise where songs were at in the 60's. They did what they could. They pushed boundaries. That's important to remember.
You will soon recognize each of their voices.
Why do you have headphones on if when they fall off you can still hear the song.
First you need to listen to every single in the charts on the release date of each beatles record.
That's the only way to put them into context.
It's the only way to measure how revolutionary they were.
You need to know how good THEY were compared to contemporary songs
This album was recorded in ONE day.
👍👍👍
The sexual innuendo is in Please Please Me.
The Beatles were inspired by Elvis
Not just Elvis, many others, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Little Richard, CARL Perkins, Chuck Berry, (they COVER some of those artists songs on their albums, never covered an Elvis song though, even though they liked him), Gene Vincent, Roy Orbison, Buck Owens, all the Motown groups male and female.
❤❤
I love these reaction vids. I know its because of copyright and You Tube, but it's such a shame the songs have to be so chopped up.
I agree, but there are SEVERAL reactors who I have watched who have listened to their albums and didn't chop up a single song, and somehow, they managed it. Don't know how, but I guess there is a way.
React more The Beatles xd
"The Beatles" still outsell "The Rolling Stones".
Their first five albums are romantic, cute & naive
Yes agreed, lots of similarities in the first few albums, but some amazing early stuff there, Rubber Soul is the defining moment for me
@@greggliddon9677 i think everything changed after revolver. It was the beginning of their experiments
I prefer their earlier work myself but I still love their later stuff as well.
@@gameboycat05 same with me, as far as I am concerned there IS NO "bad" Beatles album OR song.
More of a Little Richard influence than Elvis!
ABSOLUTELY!! LONG TALL SALLY is Paul doing a Little Richard song. They never covered an Elvis song on any of their albums.
Nay most songs in the early years Jesse were sung by John as most of theirs were written by him ? 🤡