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The Beatles landmark 7th album was a major turning point in their careers. Looking back, it’s amazing that only three years earlier they recorded covers of Please Mister Postman and Chains. The band grew incredibly and some of the songs on this album would still be considered masterpieces today, like the tremendous song, Tomorrow Never Knows. Not only is this one of the best Beatles albums, it’s one of the best records EVER. In VH1’s top 100 albums ever, this was ranked number one. I tend to think that list is a bit of a sham, but still, it was based on votes of “musicians” and that is quite an accomplishment.
The Album
1) Taxman
George gets his first ever opening track. GH was great on social commentary type of songs. The taxmans was literally stealing tons of money from the Beatles and George wrote about it in this song. It’s a great rocker with some great lead playing by Paul and a great tune overall as the guitar stabs puncuate the singing perfectly.
Yeah Count: 5
Love Count: 0
2) Eleanor Rigby
This song is famous enough in its own right. This is basically Paul doing everything by himself. He does all the vocals and it’s a beautiful song. Great melody, great lyrics and it’s a really haunting tune. The strings make this song and on the Anthology albums, there’s a version of this with only the strings.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
3) I’m Only Sleeping
This is a famous song for the Beatles. It’s not the sleepy feel of the song, it’s the fact that its one of the first usages of backwards guitar on a song. The Beatles were pioneers in the studio and that would be enough for any album to start something like this. But more sonic masterpieces await. The song is a very good song. It really does have a sleepy lackadaisacal feel to it and the backwards guitar fit this song to a T.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
4) Love You To
George had used a sitar on Norwegian Wood the album before, and this time he would up the ante. It’s a full song performed on the sitar. It has a great Indian feel to it and it’s a song one can easily get into. The melody is easy and the sitar has such a distinct sound to it. The sitar at times mimics the vocal line and the lyrics are very profound. Great song that ushered the sitar into the pop world in such an in your face manner.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 4
5) Here, There and Everywhere
After the sitar and deep nature of Love You To, we get this nice soft ballad from Paul. It’s a short song that is a sweet song. It’s very hummable and it’s just a silly love song I guess, I don’t know how to describe it. Very good song.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 7
6) Yellow Submarine
Another very famous song by The Beatles. This was a song that Paul thought of before going to bed. He wrote it and gave it to Ringo to sing. Almost every child growing up hears this song and it will live on long after the Beatles pass on. Great classic fun song.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
7) She Said She Said
After a childish song, John Lennon whips out this hard rocking song. It’s a great song with a nice heavy sound to it. There’s two guitars going on, one with the melody and one with the rhythm. Great song that follows Yellow Submarine well.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
8) Good Day Sunshine
Paul’s drug song for the album. I don’t get the drug reference but he has mentioned it in later years that it is a drug song. All I know is that it’s a good song. The piano drives the song and Paul can really let loose with his vocal talents here. Really peppy song.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 1
9) And Your Bird Can Sing
This actually ranked in the top 100 guitar solos in Guitar World’s Top 100 Guitar Solos back in 1997. It’s a great guitar song with great music to it. The dual guitars are incredible and the music just moves along so nicely. Great song.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
10) For No One
This is my most favorite Beatles song actually. I don’t know why it is, it is such a beautiful song of love lost and feels so emotional. The music is really fitting for the song and it fits so much in under 2 minutes. A truly perfect song and I love this song so much.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 7
11) Doctor Robert
This was written about the Doctor that gave George and John some LSD one night. The rhythm guitar part is amazing and the second guitar adds a lot in its simplicity. Very catchy song.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
12) I Want To Tell You
George’s third and final song on the album. Great intro riff that is repeated throughout and the piano is perfect for the song. George was such a great lyricist and this song is another example of that.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
13) Got To Get You Into My Life
This is a great McCartney song with some awesome guitar work done. The Beatles were great like that. They weren’t the best guitar players, but they knew what they could do and they did it perfectly. The guitar parts were perfect on this song. The song is great too, excellently written by Paul and another very hummable song.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
14) Tomorrow Never Knows
Possibly one of the more abstract Beatles song. It’s John Lennon taking the words from a Tibetan Book of the Dead and the lyrics are very heavy. To add to that, the music is superb. There are loops of guitar parts going on, a backwards solo, and it’s all in one chord! Many Beatles fans love this song and it’s one of the few times the words like masterpiece can be used to describe a song. This is one of the greatest Beatles songs ever recorded and to think that just three years before this album they were recording cover versions of Chains. Everyone must listen to this song at least once in their lives.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 2
The Liner Notes
8 pages for this one. The first is the cover page, the second page is the track listing with who sang and played what. Pages 3-6 are pictures of the individual Beatles. Page 7 is the CD information and page 8 is the track listing with songwriter credits.
The Sound
This was recorded WAY back in 1966 using analog tapes and only 4 track tapes to boot. It sounds really good for its age. Nowhere near the standards of today, but the Beatles sounding like this is better than anything released now, in my totally unbiased opinion!
The Final Review
This is absolutely one of the greatest Beatles albums ever. Even now, 40 years later, it’s unlike anything you will ever hear. From top to bottom, its one of the few perfect albums. There aren’t any duds on this album, and a song like Tomorrow Never Knows makes any CD automatically great. Throw in Eleanor Rigby, For No One, three great Harrison songs and a plethora of other styles of songs, you’ve got (in my opinion) the second best album the Beatles have ever recorded and fully deserving of being in any top 10 album lists. Absolute Masterpiece.
2nd out of 13
Final Rating:
10
Final Yeah Count: 5
Final Love Count: 21
Cumulative Yeah Count: 164
Cumalative Love Count: 271
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