The Beatles
Apple ST 2228
1964
My fourth Beatles album which I bought shortly after "Magical Mystery Tour". I bought it in Salt Lake City right before I returned to California. It seems an odd choice to pick over "Abbey Road," "Revolver," "Rubber Soul" and "Sgt. Pepper." I was flying blind though at this point. I had no music books, there was no internet to look stuff up in, no one I knew was a Beatles fan. I was just guessing, buying albums on the basis of their covers and the few songs I knew. The reason I chose this was because I loved their cover of Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music" which I had heard on the radio. It is still one of my favorite Beatles covers. As for the rest of the record, I was a bit disappointed. I already had "I Feel Fine" from "1962-1966" and it is the best song on the record. I was spoiled by "1962 - 1966" and "1967 - 1970" as well as the immensely superior "Magical Mystery Tour", I thought every Beatles song was great. "She's A Woman" I really liked as well as "I'll Follow the Sun" but the rest of the songs seemed ordinary, at least by Beatles standards. My opinion hasn't changed much since then, although I've come to appreciate "I'm A Loser" a lot more. Back then I didn't realize that the Capitol albums were different from the Parlophone albums. This album was a stripped down version of "Beatles For Sale" which is not all that great either, although a lot better than this. I know a lot of people are into the Capitol albums for various reasons, but as soon as I realized that the Parlophone albums were different, I stopped buying the Capitol ones and concentrated on getting the imports. Eventually I did end up buying all the Capitol ones as well, but only as a dumb collector thing, I still fail to see any reason why one would prefer them to the U.K. albums. The artwork is comparatively shoddy, song selection is skimpy, the programming is sloppy. Between their shabby treatment of the Beatle catalog and their re-issue program of the 1970s and 1980s where they released abridged versions of already short 1960s albums by the likes of the Beach Boys, Capitol has long been my least favorite major record label. When the record industry collapses, as people keep predicting it will, this greedy company ought to be the first one up against the wall. Every Beatles album that has music on it is worth having, but I certainly wouldn't make this one a priority. Recommended for Beatles fans who have to have everything.
No comments:
Post a Comment