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How to listen to the Beatles re-releases?

There have been some stupid questions asked on these forums over the years, and several of those stupid questions have come from me. Perhaps here's another one for the ages...

I'm 38 and have never really listened to the Beatles catalog. I own "Peppers", "Rubber Soul" and "Abby Road" on vinyl, plus "Love", but wouldn't say I'm as familiar with their body of work as I am with, say, R.E.M (they were "my" band during my high-school and college years).

However, I've pre-ordered both the stereo and mono Beatles re-releases. What's the best way to re-introduce myself to the genius of the "fab four"?

Should I sit down and work my way through their collection chronologically? Is there a good companion book to read through while I listen? Should I listen to an album over-and-over until I really "get it" before moving on to the next? Both mono and stereo?

There are albums that I pick up and think "Wow...It would have been awesome to listen to this the first day it was released." Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors". CCR's "Willy...". Rush's "Moving Pictures". Etc. The excitement of the release. The cultural and musical context. The significance. I'll never be able to experience that with the Beatles, and I'd like to put myself in a place (mentally) to really listen to the Beatles for the first time (again).

Does this make sense? Blast away. I figure I couple of people will understand what I'm asking and have some thoughtful suggestions.
128x128nrenter
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,309 posts
 
FWIW here's a few Beatles tunes that I covered quite often with my kids before bed when little and recommend:

I Will
Bad Boy
All My Loving
Hello Goodbye
All Together Now
All You Need Is love
I've Just Seen A Face
All I've Got to Do
You Won't See Me
Love Me do
Twist and Shout
Words of Love
I should Have Known Better
Penny Lane
When I'm 64
All My Loving
Little Child
Hold Me Tight
It Won't Be Long
Rocky Racoon
Ob la di
The Word
Tell Me Why
You can't Do That
Can't buy me Love
Eight Days A Week
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
if you didn't live through 'beatlemania' it is impossible to believe just how important they were to anyone with access to a radio....even historically, just putting all those songs into the context of a career that lasted less than a decade, and consider that every jazz, classical, country, folk, pop,and whatever 'icon', old and new, defered to them ...well, you might be able to get an inkling of what was going on. just the comotion on threads here are meager distant ripples.....there were those who hated the beatles (even then), but of course, some people 'hating something' is natural too.
tfkaudio
591 posts
 
I recently played all the Beatles albums, and I did so chronologically. You can better appreciate their development as musicians/writers that way.

But don't worry about how to do it. Just do it.

And if you want to REALLY appreciate them, do this: Each time you play one of their albums (say, "Beatles For Sale" from 1964), follow it up with ANY other record by ANY other artist from the same year.

Finally, I think it's poignant to remember that, when the Beatles broke up in 1970, none of the members of the band were even 30 yet.

What did y'all accomplish before you were 30?

Cheers.
byegolly
140 posts
 
"there were those who hated the beatles (even then).."

Beatles haters I've run into over the years seem to really like Elvis and they put him into the mom/apple pie/red, white, & blue category. They always remember Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" comment, and in general equate the Beatles with drugs and loose morals (but seem kinda abscent-minded in remembering that "The King" was also "The King of prescription dope."
lloydc's avatar
lloydc
752 posts
 
Chasmal, compared to what? The Beatles are unsurpassed in the field of pop music, much less productivity in the field in a 6 year period, and may always be.
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