Posted by Nolan Dalla on Mar 20, 2013 in Blog, Music and Concert Reviews | 12 comments
[h=1]Ten Underrated Beatles Songs[/h]
No band or artist in modern music history has influenced more people on earth than The Beatles.
It’s astonishing to think that four common men from Liverpool, England created the sum total of 275 original songs that were all essentially written and recorded within only a six-year period — between 1963 and 1969. Six years! That basically means The Beatles pumped out a new song about once a week. Some of them even sold a few copies. Imagine that.
To put this into perspective, think back just six years ago, from 2007 to the present. Now, try and think of any musician who’s posted 20 number one hits and composed several dozen classic songs. Within a six-year time frame. Moreover, give me any artist who revolutionized modern music more profoundly — the way songs and albums are composed, packaged, marketed, and performed. In short, there was before The Beatles and there is after The Beatles. What took place during the last half of the 1960′s at Abbey Road Studios in North London was nothing short of a seismic global shift in music and culture.
Unfortunately, greatness sometimes begets saturation. And ultimately boredom. Most of us have heard every song they recorded — hundreds if not thousands of times. Nothing seems fresh anymore. In fact, some of the music that once had teenage girls fainting in the aisles may be considered stale in the same way many people may now doze off while listening to Mozart. The comparison fits. Indeed, during his day Mozart was what The Beatles were to their time. Now, his greatest compositions have been reduced to background music played in the waiting rooms of doctors’ offices. No doubt, the same sad fate awaits The Beatles and all other masters.
Since The Beatles burst into global consciousness fifty years ago, everything the group has done has been dissected and over-analyzed. Their music is overplayed. Critics even claim, with some justification, The Beatles are overrated. In some ways, they’re correct. The Beatles never really had a brilliant guitar player, although Paul McCartney could certainly rip apart a bass with a catchy riff. But no one would rank either John Lennon or George Harrison among the greatest guitar players of all time (Note: I beg to differ with Rolling Stone’s ranking of George Harrison in the top 20, which is absurd. Imagine instead if The Beatles included Eric Clapton in George’s shoes). None of the The Beatles’ singing voices are particularly striking either. Yes, Lennon and McCartney matched the greatest of rockers. But neither was a Freddy Mercury or Roger Daltrey.
Furthermore, The Beatles never really had much of a stage presence. In fairness to them, the group stopped touring during the Fall of 1966, before their best music was to be written. But many of their concerts and the footage that exists now seems terribly dated. And even had The Beatles continued to tour into the late 1960′s during the period of their greatest energy, it’s hard to imagine any of the bandsmen turning into either Mick Jagger or David Bowie. Prince makes The Beatles seem lame, by comparison.
The negatives acknowledged, it’s even more mind-boggling to consider The Beatles musical achievements. They initially recorded on ancient 4-track and later 8-track soundboards. They utilized tiny speakers during their stage shows, the likes of which now sell for $75 at a pawn shop. In short, the technology of the day had serious trouble keeping up with The Beatles evolving sound, which matured with each and every Billboard-busting album. Take the years 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969 separately and you’re essentially listening to a musical group light-years improved than the year before. They never took a step backward nor did they stand still. Each album was a step way ahead of the last (except for Magical Mystery Tour, perhaps).
You already know the timeless masterpieces — from Twist and Shout to Yesterday to Eleanor Rigby to Hey Jude to Let It Be. As strong as this archive of hits is, what makes The Beatles an unequaled creative force is, in fact, their secondary material. By secondary, I mean songs that didn’t quite make it to number one, and weren’t considered hits.
Listen to the following ten songs on my countdown list and you’ll immediately realize two things. First, these songs could have been released a decade or two later and still would been received widespread acclaim. Second, these non-hits could have been signature songs for just about any other artist. But since The Beatles already dominated the radio airwaves with so many mega-hits, little additional space or market options existed for these extra songs at the time. Fortunately, the passage of years now gives us a greater perspective. I’d even argue some of these songs are better than the far more popular, universally familiar material.
Of course, any discussion of The Beatles would be incomplete without mentioning the astounding stream of recorded music that was released during pop music’s boom years when Rock ‘n Roll and Motown gave the entire world a treasure trove of incredible sounds. Indeed, The Beatles themselves had to compete for supremacy in what’s unquestionably the most creative era of modern music history.
[h=1]Ten Underrated Beatles Songs[/h]
It’s astonishing to think that four common men from Liverpool, England created the sum total of 275 original songs that were all essentially written and recorded within only a six-year period — between 1963 and 1969. Six years! That basically means The Beatles pumped out a new song about once a week. Some of them even sold a few copies. Imagine that.
To put this into perspective, think back just six years ago, from 2007 to the present. Now, try and think of any musician who’s posted 20 number one hits and composed several dozen classic songs. Within a six-year time frame. Moreover, give me any artist who revolutionized modern music more profoundly — the way songs and albums are composed, packaged, marketed, and performed. In short, there was before The Beatles and there is after The Beatles. What took place during the last half of the 1960′s at Abbey Road Studios in North London was nothing short of a seismic global shift in music and culture.
Unfortunately, greatness sometimes begets saturation. And ultimately boredom. Most of us have heard every song they recorded — hundreds if not thousands of times. Nothing seems fresh anymore. In fact, some of the music that once had teenage girls fainting in the aisles may be considered stale in the same way many people may now doze off while listening to Mozart. The comparison fits. Indeed, during his day Mozart was what The Beatles were to their time. Now, his greatest compositions have been reduced to background music played in the waiting rooms of doctors’ offices. No doubt, the same sad fate awaits The Beatles and all other masters.
Since The Beatles burst into global consciousness fifty years ago, everything the group has done has been dissected and over-analyzed. Their music is overplayed. Critics even claim, with some justification, The Beatles are overrated. In some ways, they’re correct. The Beatles never really had a brilliant guitar player, although Paul McCartney could certainly rip apart a bass with a catchy riff. But no one would rank either John Lennon or George Harrison among the greatest guitar players of all time (Note: I beg to differ with Rolling Stone’s ranking of George Harrison in the top 20, which is absurd. Imagine instead if The Beatles included Eric Clapton in George’s shoes). None of the The Beatles’ singing voices are particularly striking either. Yes, Lennon and McCartney matched the greatest of rockers. But neither was a Freddy Mercury or Roger Daltrey.
Furthermore, The Beatles never really had much of a stage presence. In fairness to them, the group stopped touring during the Fall of 1966, before their best music was to be written. But many of their concerts and the footage that exists now seems terribly dated. And even had The Beatles continued to tour into the late 1960′s during the period of their greatest energy, it’s hard to imagine any of the bandsmen turning into either Mick Jagger or David Bowie. Prince makes The Beatles seem lame, by comparison.
The negatives acknowledged, it’s even more mind-boggling to consider The Beatles musical achievements. They initially recorded on ancient 4-track and later 8-track soundboards. They utilized tiny speakers during their stage shows, the likes of which now sell for $75 at a pawn shop. In short, the technology of the day had serious trouble keeping up with The Beatles evolving sound, which matured with each and every Billboard-busting album. Take the years 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969 separately and you’re essentially listening to a musical group light-years improved than the year before. They never took a step backward nor did they stand still. Each album was a step way ahead of the last (except for Magical Mystery Tour, perhaps).
You already know the timeless masterpieces — from Twist and Shout to Yesterday to Eleanor Rigby to Hey Jude to Let It Be. As strong as this archive of hits is, what makes The Beatles an unequaled creative force is, in fact, their secondary material. By secondary, I mean songs that didn’t quite make it to number one, and weren’t considered hits.
Listen to the following ten songs on my countdown list and you’ll immediately realize two things. First, these songs could have been released a decade or two later and still would been received widespread acclaim. Second, these non-hits could have been signature songs for just about any other artist. But since The Beatles already dominated the radio airwaves with so many mega-hits, little additional space or market options existed for these extra songs at the time. Fortunately, the passage of years now gives us a greater perspective. I’d even argue some of these songs are better than the far more popular, universally familiar material.
Of course, any discussion of The Beatles would be incomplete without mentioning the astounding stream of recorded music that was released during pop music’s boom years when Rock ‘n Roll and Motown gave the entire world a treasure trove of incredible sounds. Indeed, The Beatles themselves had to compete for supremacy in what’s unquestionably the most creative era of modern music history.
