In Search of Beatles Rock but not Pop

Some superb posts here, particularly Zaikesman, and a great thread. One aspect of the evolution of the Beatles' music which doesn't seem to be mentioned above is the emergence of "Album Rock" from the top 40 AM-based radio that took place starting in 1967-68 or so. Remember, most songs, to get any airplay on AM, had to be 3 minutes long or less, and the Beatles' earlier work was tailored to meet that restriction. It wasn't till Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" (which initially was played without the last two verses) that some of the longer, more complex work came to be played on AM radio, and then FM album rock stations started to spring up (WNEW FM here in NY, for example) which would play full album cuts, thereby freeing up the artists from the restrictions pop radio put on them. The Beatles' earliest work was geared for airplay; their later work was not all masterworks by any means, but clearly involved more complex music and lyrics and longer cuts. To some extent, I think you can probably attribute album rock and FM stations to the emerging maturity of the Beatles and their progeny; who knows, maybe you can draw an analogy to classical music, with the evolution from the Classical to the Romantic periods, as composers broke from the strictures of form to put more and more emotion into their music. Food for thought, anyway.

Hey CW,

I do agree with all of the above. To answer one of your questions...

Yes. In general, you can say that John Lennon's songs tend to lean towards rock and Paul McCartney's towards pop. That line blurred at times, but John's poppiest songs still tend to be a lot less bubblegum than Paul's. John was more heavily influenced by 50s rock and blues-based R&B. Paul was equally influenced by those styles, but I think he enjoyed the poppier elements where John seemed to prefer the grittier, more raw sound. "Come Together" and "I Am The Walrus" where John..."Blackbird" was Paul. I think "Blackbird" worked so well because it was simple, beautiful, and it's Paul's take on the civil rights struggle. I do like Paul's songs very much, but I do have issues with some of Paul's songs being "style over substance" (especially his solo stuff from the mid-70s on...), but "Blackbird" isn't one of them...I really think that was one of his songs with a lot of feeling and sincerity.

Overall, I think the best thing about the Beatles was that they did everything and they did it perfectly...sometimes all on one album. That approach does make them very hard to pin down. There really are no albums where they flat out rock, or any that are all pop. There is a huge amount of variety on all of their albums...less pronounced on the earlier records (and maybe "Let It Be"), and extrememly pronounced on records like "Revolver" and "The White Album". Both main writers were influenced by many different styles of songwriters, and they continued to remain open to various influences as they progressed...most of which were introduced directly, or indirectly, into their songs. I really do think that their amazing scope is one of the things that made them the influential, important band that they became. The leaps between albums were unpredictable and profound...as were the leaps between songs on a single album...yet they still managed to tie those disparate styles together and make them part of a cohesive whole. They weren't following trends as much as they were setting them, and I really think that helps to make them sound fresh today while so many of their contemporaries' work sounds extremely dated.

Like I said earlier...all of the above makes it hard to label one album as the "sappiest/poppiest". I'm looking through all of my Beatles albums and I think you might enjoy a lot of the songs on the "Past Masters Volume 2" CD. It's a collection of their singles...definitely some of their best, and not many ultra poppy Paul songs at all. As far as psychedelic goes...that's easy. "Revolver" features some of the earliest psychedelic songs ever, but there manys styles on the record, including plenty of Paul's poppiest numbers. "Sgt. Pepper's" is the obvious choice, but it does tend to represent the sunnier side of psychedelia. It was mostly Paul's project. There are some great John songs too, but they are some of his poppiest and most heavily arranged (though still interesting and great). The songs may not be your favorites, but I highly recommend checking it out for the excellent production and arrangements. It affected everything that was made after it. I think of "Magical Mystery Tour" as its evil twin. The songs aren't as strong overall, but the production and arrangements are equally inventive...darker and more avant garde than Sgt. Peppers. The songs strike me as darker too...even if that's not necessarily true, subject-wise. John was doing lots of psychedelics and Paul was doing lots of cocaine, and I do think that manifests itself in both interesting and not so interesting ways. The sense of the band members going in different directions begins with this album. The so-called "White Album" may be one of the best for you to begin checking out. The mood is a little less sunny and more melancholy overall, and the stylistic range is huge. They woke from the beautiful hippie dream and there was a lot of selfish, internal tension brewing. The split between John and Pauls' writing was drastic, and they often worked on their own songs in neighboring studios at Abbey Road, simultaneously (with George or Ringo, but not each other). It includes some of Paul's most rocking songs, three excellent George Harrison songs (and one great one), and some of John's most honest songs up to this point. It also includes John's experimental tape piece, "Revolution #9", which isn't for everyone and it's certainly not sappy pop. "Let It Be" was meant to be a return to basic, traditional guitar rock so you might like that one. It includes Paul's "The Long And Winding Road", but the rest does stick to the idea of them playing as a band once again, and the songs tend to be much less experimental than the preceeding albums. It sounds like you already heard "Abbey Road". That was the last album they recorded and it is generally divided into two distinct sides...one being John's and one being Paul's (and both featuring songs by George). I think it's great, but it does lack some of the sense of inspiration and comraderie that was so appealing on their earlier albums. Still...it's amazing that they managed to forget some of their differences and create such an impressive record. I do think it sounds a little more dated than some of their others (maybe the use of the early synthesizer??), but I still enjoy it quite a bit.

I recommend trying all of their albums (especially those starting with "Beatles For Sale" and later) and see what you think. It sounds like you're bound to dislike much of Paul's output. That may be true, but I bet you'll still end up loving a minimum of 1/4 to 1/2 of every album. You can always buy them, listen to each, make your own CDs with all of your favorite songs, and re-sell the originals. Beatles CDs always sell on the used market. That's about the only way you'll ever be able to get a Beatles album with the mix if songs you prefer.

P.S. If you do find yourself preferring John's songwriting, you may want to check out his solo albums " The Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine"...they're two of his best, and they go back to more of a basic style and leave most of the Beatles-like arrangements behind. Have fun!

Good points all - we could obviously go on talking Beatles 'til the walruses come home! I do find it interesting about CW's and Ben's ages, since I was also born in that providential year of 1964 (a little too late, if you're into the stuff I am), but was given my first Beatles records around the tender age of 6 or so (Rubber Soul first, then the Blue and Red 2-LP collections in that order).

In fact, permit me to tell a story about my first conscious exposure not only to The Beatles, but also to stereo equipment. Although my father was a classical and jazz record collector who frequently played music in the house during the evenings after dinner, when I was still young enough to go to bed before he started listening, his system and music never made much of an impression on me that I can remember, other than waking me up from time to time.

Back when I still had yet to receive the first little portable record player of my own, at a time when I would have been only 3 years old, my family (with me still as the only child) took the longest trip I had yet been on to see old friends of my father's. This couple had a son, who was probably in his late teens or early twenties at the time (my Dad remarried late) - the Summer of Love. He listened to headphones in their living room, and the sight of him with this contraption over his ears and long hair (remember how large 'phones were then? The coiled stretch cords?) apparently fascinated me.

He indicated he would put them on me and let me try them, and in one of my earliest memories at all of any kind, he got up and removed them from his head and placed them over mine, adjusting them as small as they would go. I didn't hear anything yet, but he went over to the record player and cued up something, which turned out to be the thing I had overheard him talking about with the assembled adults, and I recall hearing the phrase "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and not knowing what that meant. Apparently it - whatever it was - was something worthy of discussion however, and seemed be known (at least in name - my folks didn't listen to Rock) to everyone there but me.

Having cued the turntable, he walked back past me where I was on the middle of the floor, telling me that the music would begin in a moment, and turned to sit down and face me on the couch, in between his mother and my parents as they all watched and waited to see my reaction. Not knowing exactly what to expect, I was awestruck when sound so loud I could see the adults laughing but not hear them, filled my head to what seemed like the extent of the whole world.

It was a kind of music I had never experienced before, and it affected me greatly. "Picture yourself in a boat on a river...Marmalade skies...Kaliedescope eyes...Boom! Boom! Boom!" He had cued up "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", and I was being thoroughly psychedelicized! I thought it was just the most incredible thing I had ever heard.

I have no memory myself of the next part of the story. I just remember listening, enraptured, until the headphones were removed and I could hear once again the adults for whom I was such a source of amusement. But my parents told me in later years that after the music began, and my eyes grew wide and my mouth went open, that I became so excited that I went and totally astonished them by literally turning a cartwheel right there on the carpet in front of the sofa, with the headphones still on me!

Now, understand - I do not know how to turn a cartwheel. I have never turned a cartwheel in my life, before or since that day. But I guess that there in that moment, hearing The Beatles for the first time, I was just moved so intensely by the spirit of the music that details like actually being able to perform this kind of stunt were rendered completely irrelevant. Anyway, it was, as they say, a very auspicious beginning to my future relationship with The Beatles and their music, and they have always been my favorite musical group ever since, and I'm sure always will be.

P.S. - The best book that I know of to read about the phenomenom the was The Beatles is called "Shout! The Beatles In Their Own Time", written by a journalist from an older generation who covered the group for a British newspaper during their heyday, and which was published in the 80's.

Zaikesman: Great story! Reminds me of when I was in grammar school and would curl up and go to sleep with my trusty transistor radio playing top-40. One night (mid-1960's) I woke up in the wee-hours and the strangest sounds were coming from under my blanket -never heard anything like it! Turned out to be Ravi Shankar. And I never heard surf-music again...

Hey, I like Ravi - and Jimi - as much as the next guy, but I loves me some surf music!! (And Dick Dale could be the bastard son of those two anyway...)