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This is another pivotal album for the Beatles. It was their first and only double album, and featured an astounding 30 songs. George Martin (their producer) wanted it to be one 14 song album but the Beatles were against that. They had gotten back from the Maharishi’s retreat and had a wealth of songs, some about their time there. This would also start showing the band growing apart. Many songs on this album would be almost solo songs, with little input from the other three members. The recordings wouldn’t always all be done together. One might be in Studio 3 doing overdubs, one would be in studio 2 doing vocals and etc. It was the beginning of the end for the Beatles.
The Album
---Disc One---
1) Back In the USSR
The BBC, in their infinite wisdom, banned this song I believe back in 1968. See it could’ve been interpereted as backing the USSR, which was a no-no in the Cold War. The song is a fast paced rocker and probably one of their best opening tracks. It starts out with the awesome plane flying by and just picks up from there. The lyrics are pretty good and it tells an interesting story, but the music really drives this one. From the multiple lead guitar parts during the chorus and the pretty decent solo, this one is an easy winner.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
2) Dear Prudence
This song was written about Prudence Farrow, sister of Mia. She was at the Mahareshi’s retreat and never came out of her room! Lennon whips out an awesome picking pattern the main guitar (which I believe he learned from Donovan, who was also there) and it’s another great song on this album that more people should know about. It builds to a dramatic crescendo then at the end it’s the opening lines repeated in an apt finish.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
3) Glass Onion
The original version was much weirder than this one if you can believe it. The song is pretty decent and is best remembered for the Lennon lyrics. He loved putting in silly references he knew the fanbase would go crazy over (like the walrus was Paul stuff, which would factor in the Paul is dead references). Pretty decent song.
Yeah Count: 7
Love Count: 0
4) Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
This is an uptempo McCartney song about Molly and Desmond. It’s really like a sing-along song which McCartney was always good at writing. It’s one of those tunes that gets stuck in your head and it has a good beat to it.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
5) Wild Honey Pie
An instrumental with some funky guitars. It has a tremolo effect on it actually. It’s a decent instrumental that was probably there to transition from this song to the next one.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 1
6) The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
The song starts off with a sick spanish guitar sounding lick that I always love. This is Lennon’s version of a “sing-along” type song. It’s a pretty funny tune about Bill who was a hunter who travelled with his mother. It’s just a fun song that would never be considered as a single, but at least it’s very listenable.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
7) While My Guitar Gently Weeps
A true classic. This Harrison song had been brushed aside by the others but George knew it was a good song and got Eric Clapton to play lead guitar. Eric came and played it and you have an instantly recognizable solo that is still talked about in the guitar playing community. Factor in some awesome lyrics and just an awesome tune in general and you have your nominee for best song on the album.
Yeah Count: 9
Love Count: 1
8) Happiness is A Warm Gun
John got this off the cover of a magazine and thought it’d make a good song. This is actually three separate songs John had that weren’t long enough to record so he threw all three together. The three parts are: I Need a Fix, Mother Superior Jumped the Gun and Happiness is A Warm Gun. It’s three very distinct songs within one and it makes for an interesting listen. I was always partial to the Mother Superior part with it’s odd time signature, but maybe that’s because I’m odd.
Yeah Count: 1
Love Count: 0
9) Martha My Dear
Paul wrote this about his dog believe it or not. It’s a piano driven song, and one of the few on the album which is mainly just pianos. It’s a good song but not too much about it stands out.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 2
10) I’m So Tired
A great Lennon song. I love the slow bluesy part at the beginning and the faster chorus part. It’s just John writing about his problems and you really feel like you can glimpse into his soul on songs like this. That’s why John was a great writer. He could make you feel what he was feeling with his words and music. You can almost feel his pain on this song.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
11) Blackbird
Great acoustic number by McCartney and I tried many times to learn this song. It’s actually about racism down in the southern US (bird is UK slang for a woman and black is well, black) and he’s saying how the black women should enjoy their freedom. Political songs are sometimes a drag, but fingerpicked songs always get to me and I love this one.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
12) Piggies
Another social commentary song, as the small piggies were the lower class and the bigger piggies were the upper class. It’s a great message if you find the meaning and the song seems silly on the surface but deep down means a lot. The song moves along nicely with the high pitched guitar playing along with a perfect rhythm.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
13) Rocky Racoon
Another acoustic number on the album (this would be their most acoustic guitar friendly as there are numerous acoustic songs on here) and this would be more light-hearted in nature than the previous two songs. A fun-loving song that has to be enjoyed.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
14) Don’t Pass Me By
Ringo’s contribution to the album and the title might be indicative of those who would put on the album and skip this song. I usually do because songwise it’s not good. I don’t really like the music or the lyrics. The only rare misfire on the album.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 4
15) Why Don’t We Do It In the Road
Another light-hearted Paul number (also acoustic based) where he apparently wants to do it in the road. People are surprised the Beatles wrote this song because they wouldn’t write songs like this, right? It’s a weird topic but Paul really cuts loose on the vocals here.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
16) I Will
A love song by Paul that is really quite good lyrically and musically. The fills that George add are perfectly suited to the song and this is a song I’m surprised McCartney isn’t recognized for.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 5
17) Julia
John’s beautiful ode to his late mother. It’s just such a beautiful, entrancing song with a great fingerpicked guitar part sung by John and done by John alone.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 5
---Disc Two---
1) Birthday
I usually think of disc 2 as the heavy electric side and disc 1 as the acoustic side. This is a heavy throw-away song. Really has no point or meaning or direction, just there to be enjoyed. It has a great riff and is a catchy song overall.
Yeah Count: 2
Love Count: 0
2) Yer Blues
A very emotional Lennon song as you can actually sort of believe him when he sings this. His voice is that raw with emotion. It’s one of the heavier songs on the album in terms of music and attitude. There’s some great guitar playing going on throughout too. Great song.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
3) Mother Nature’s Son
One of the few acoustic numbers on disc two is an easy winner. It’s probably an environmentalist type song but the music is beautiful. I love to play this one all the time as it’s an easy solo piece and the acoustic guitar is amazing throughout, especially the middles.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
4) Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey
This was a saying the Mahareshi used to say, except for the monkey part. It’s the longest songtitle in the Beatles catalogue, and it’s a humurous song with a great guitar tone. It’s actually pretty heavy with the distorted guitars and they wouldn’t use it often before this, but this album has a lot of it.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
5) Sexy Sadie
This was written about the Mahareshi and it’s a great song. I always loved the intro piano part, to the subdued strummed parts to the great singing by Lennon. Very catchy song and is easy to get into the mood of the song.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
6) Helter Skelter
The Beatles doing heavy metal basically. They do have a leg up on other metalers. This song is said to have inspired Charles Manson to go on his killing spree. Other metalers just have weird kids kill themselves, the Beatles influenced one of the most known serial killers in history. The weird thing was, a helter skelter in Britain is a children’s slide. The song has a great deal to it, with it’s multiple fade outs and fading back ins. Great song and it’s a type of song the Beatles wouldn’t really do, a straight up rocking metalish type song.
Yeah Count: 3
Love Count: 1
7) Long, Long, Long
After the cacophony and heaviness of the song before, we get his great but not well known Harrison tune. It’s acoustic and you’d probably not even hear after the loudness of the last song. The subdued guitar is perfect for the song and Harrison gives a really good vocal performance. George’s lyrics are gold as usual.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 3
8) Revolution I
The first version of this song is not as fast as the one most people know. It actually has an acoustic guitar as the main instrument with tasty lead lines thrown in. I like the laid-back feel of it, but it had to be sped up to be released as a single (though it’d be the B-side of Hey Jude). I actually prefer this song to the more well-known one, but that’s just me. Dig the back up vocals on this song, baby.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 1
9) Honey Pie
The usual McCartney song that’s a throwback to the 30’s (see also, Your Mother Should Know, When I’m 64). He was very influenced by the songs his father would sing him as a kid and he had a penchant to write some every so often. Just gay little songs you can sing about silly subjects. I like the jazz chords used as it fits the song well, and the old time feel is a pleasant surprise on this album for everyone.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 2
10) Savoy Truffle
What? George’s tribute to candy? Yes, he had a penchant for chocolates and he wrote about it. It’s George’s heaviest guitar sound of the album and it’s a decent song with a great guitar. It’s a great little diddy about a subject not often written about in song.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
11) Cry Baby Cry
This is a great song with an awesome chord sequence. The lyrics are very interesting too. It’s a great song to play along to or play by yourself and I always love the little bit of song snipped onto the end (can you take me back where there are people, can you take me back). I love that part and it shows just how genius the Beatles were. They would always create masterful songs with amazing chord structures and just mold a record into what THEY wanted.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
12) Revolution 9
Man, what a mind-fuck this track is. It’s over 8 minutes long of collected sounds, soundbites and everything under the sun. It’s really quite interesting if you listen to it every once in a while, but a whole album of this (like two virgins) would be boring as hell. Interesting look at Lennon’s “pop-art.”
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
13) Good Night
After that last track, we need something to wind down, and we have this Lennon lullaby he wrote for his son and sung by Ringo. Beautiful song and an apt end to the album in general.
Yeah Count: 0
Love Count: 0
The Liner Notes
24 Pages of liner notes on this issue. The front is the plain white cover with the Beatles in black. The inside cover is the track listing of the two discs. Pages 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 18 have pictures of the Beatles. Page 23 is the CD information and page 24 has the four pictures that were on pages 11-14. The remaining pages are the lyrics to the songs.
The Sound
This was recorded WAY back in 1968 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
I consider this to be one of only 4 perfect records by the Beatles. There’s a huge selection of songs and there’s really something for everyone. All 4 Beatles even wrote songs for the album too! The album wouldn’t be as cohesive as any other album they have done, as the band was really on the verge of splitting. Ringo even quit during these sessions, though he would return. The record didn’t have any singles released, though there are some that would’ve been good contenders. The best thing about this record is, as I said, there’s a little bit of everything on here, and something for everyone. There are the acoustic songs, the heavier rock songs, the bluesier songs, the lullaby’s and the abstract. As a Beatles fan, or a fan of music in general, this is required listening. Every song is neatly polished and structured perfectly making song an entity in its own and showed how far the Beatles had come.
Final Rating:
10
4th out of 13
Final Yeah Count: 22
Final Love Count: 25
Cumulative Yeah Count: 192
Cumalative Love Count: 288
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