mind you he does keep a ten-bob note up his nose (so is it a sleight at a certain someone's cocaine habit?)
― dog latin, Friday, 25 September 2009 12:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Polythene Pam is fantastic if it's about a tranny. Either way, Ringo's go-go drums create a beautiful effect here.
― boring movies are the most boring (Eric H.), Friday, 25 September 2009 12:09 (fourteen years ago) link
the traditional meaning of the word assumes that you are Scrooge-like
mean2 /min/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [meen] Show IPA–adjective, -er, -est.1. offensive, selfish, or unaccommodating; nasty; malicious: a mean remark; He gets mean when he doesn't get his way.
― this must be what FAIL is really like (ledge), Friday, 25 September 2009 12:10 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, but considering that most of the song is about the man not wanting to spend money (or giving the appearance of not wanting to spend money), I think that dog latin is probably using the right connotation. Or, it's a double meaning.
I mean, my strongest suspicion is that it's just doggerel and shouldn't be looked into too deeply.
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Friday, 25 September 2009 12:17 (fourteen years ago) link
The backing vocals on Polythene Pam are terrific.
This is my favourite Beatles album. Everything apart from Maxwell's and Octopus's is sublime and enormously poignant.
― chap, Friday, 25 September 2009 12:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Octopus's is ridiculously poignant. It is the saddest song ever.
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Friday, 25 September 2009 12:20 (fourteen years ago) link
I usually skip 'Maxwell' and 'Oh Darling' because they're boring, but 'Here Comes The Sun'. It absolutely infuriates me for some reason, so I'm voting for it. It's not even just the stupid complexity of the breakdown, I'm grinding my teeth long before that.
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 25 September 2009 12:26 (fourteen years ago) link
. It
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 25 September 2009 12:27 (fourteen years ago) link
It's compact and it's got everything you need from the Beatles.
It doesn't really sound like The Beatles though. Sure, it's a great pop album in its own right, and there is now way that I'd speak unfavourably of "Abbey Road" as a whole. It stands among my fave Beatles albums too, but for The Beatles, as in their typical trademark sound, you'll probably have to go back to 1966 or earlier. 1967 had some of it in it too, only it was another Beatles (the psychedelic Beatles), but from 1968 onwards they were so eclectic and fragmenting they didn't really have that typical Beatles sound anymore. They may have tried to go "back to the roots" in some of those songs, but mostly it was their Hamburg roots rather than the Merseybeat roots. The last Beatles song that really sounded like The Beatles was "All You Need Is Love".
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Friday, 25 September 2009 12:28 (fourteen years ago) link
"their Hamburg roots rather than the Merseybeat roots"
what the hell does this mean? they went back and forth between the two. they got good in hamburg but they hardly picked up on new roots.
― history mayne, Friday, 25 September 2009 12:30 (fourteen years ago) link
Didn't George always have a twenty quid note in his shoe/sandal?
― Mark G, Friday, 25 September 2009 12:35 (fourteen years ago) link
what the hell does this mean?
Plain 50s rock'n'roll minus the melody/harmony element that George Martin helped add from "Please Please Me" onwards.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Friday, 25 September 2009 12:43 (fourteen years ago) link
Geir, you make The Beatles sound crap.
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 25 September 2009 12:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Maxwell cos show off-y Paul has always irritated me.
― Adam Bruneau, Friday, 25 September 2009 12:56 (fourteen years ago) link
"the end" -- ponderous po-faced pretense.
― flying squid attack (tipsy mothra), Friday, 25 September 2009 12:59 (fourteen years ago) link
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
― Sickamous (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 25 September 2009 13:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Most wtf moment of all these threads.
THE DRUMS! THE GUITARS! THE BEASTIE BOYS!
Yes... but it still works.
― Zelda Zonk, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:02 (fourteen years ago) link
I can't see anything po-faced in The End at all.
― nate woolls, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:06 (fourteen years ago) link
Not voting in this one. There are no bad songs on this album. I can't even rate one subjectively "not as good."
― Pancakes Batman (Pancakes Hackman), Friday, 25 September 2009 13:09 (fourteen years ago) link
I pissed everyone off on the remasters thread just by mentioning I don't like this album so I won't repeat.
My vote- Something. Something in a way I vomit everywhere, more like.
― Samuel (a hoy hoy), Friday, 25 September 2009 13:11 (fourteen years ago) link
Also, the end of The End is spectacular! Ballsy rock-out to stripped down, quirky piano and voices (and those little cheeky guitar licks!) to big ballad finish out of nowhere, all in the space of thirty seconds. And it all works perfectly.
― chap, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:14 (fourteen years ago) link
xposts
Oh Dalekyou make me stand upyou make me sit down dalekssit down Daleksetc...
― Mark G, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:14 (fourteen years ago) link
http://s.bebo.com/app-image/7925666873/5411656627/PROFILE/i.quizzaz.com/img/q/u/08/04/01/teletubbies_po.jpg
?
o_0
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:15 (fourteen years ago) link
"Also I've decided "I Want You" is one of my favourite Beatles tracks - it's so terrifically epic and towering and jazzy and heavy and crunchy and it just overwhelms. Sabbath, two years before the fact basically."
It sounds absolutely nothing like Sabbath. Nothing. Also it is a shit song and it has my vote.
Abbey Road came out four months before Black Sabbath s/t. Dont know where the 2 year timeframe comes from.
― Bill Magill, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Know what you mean about 'Something', I always found it too saccharine and I hate the way Sinatra's verdict always gets cited as somehow conclusive - but I found Take 37 as a surrogate for not being able to afford the remasters and I love it now
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:19 (fourteen years ago) link
The soaring middle eight in Something makes the song.
― chap, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:22 (fourteen years ago) link
Hi. This is a wholly unfair poll. Wholly unfair.
― Minge Box Vago (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 25 September 2009 13:24 (fourteen years ago) link
can I vote for two? Maxwell and The Endy-poo (just the part from "...and in the end" forwards)
― Paul, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:26 (fourteen years ago) link
You know if "Faust Arp" had been added as an option, it'd win by miles!
― Mark G, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:27 (fourteen years ago) link
(Nobody voting "Her Maj" ?)
"Also I've decided "I Want You" is one of my favourite Beatles tracks - it's so terrifically epic and towering and jazzy and heavy and crunchy and it just overwhelms. Sabbath, two years before the fact basically."It sounds absolutely nothing like Sabbath. Nothing. Also it is a shit song and it has my vote.Abbey Road came out four months before Black Sabbath s/t. Dont know where the 2 year timeframe comes from.― Bill Magill, Friday, September 25, 2009 9:18 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark
― Bill Magill, Friday, September 25, 2009 9:18 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark
True, but that noise ending is DECADES ahead of it's time.
― Adam Bruneau, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:30 (fourteen years ago) link
Voted "Maxwell's", though this bootleg recording from the sessions almost redeems it:
Maxwell's Silver Hammer (John Sings)
― EZ Snappin, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:31 (fourteen years ago) link
'Her Majesty' is the perfect way to sign off.
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Would be amusing if IWY(SSH) won both the best and worst track polls
would also be a flaming disgrace and would necessitate the deletion of ILM XD
gonna go with 'Something', I have decided, because urgh
― should probably be practising shorthand (country matters), Friday, 25 September 2009 13:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Adam, you've heard of The MC5, right?
― Sickamous (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 25 September 2009 13:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Definitely "Oh Darling." Generally prefer flimsy-whimsy like "Octopus's Garden" and "Maxwell's MC Hammer" over Paul-in-late-60s-primal-scream mode.
― sw00ds, Friday, 25 September 2009 13:37 (fourteen years ago) link
Not a fan of Oh Darling, but this can really only be between Maxwell's and Octopus for me. The rest all is sublime.
― young depardieu looming out of void in hour of profound triumph (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 25 September 2009 13:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh Darling was the song it took me the longest to love. The clincher is when Paul goes all shouty over the arpeggiated guitars.
― chap, Friday, 25 September 2009 14:01 (fourteen years ago) link
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― tomofthenest, Friday, 25 September 2009 14:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Not much, do they have a track that has a lot of white noise over it?
― Adam Bruneau, Friday, 25 September 2009 14:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Several, from 69. Jazz noise odysseys.
― Sickamous (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 25 September 2009 14:23 (fourteen years ago) link
― flying squid attack (tipsy mothra), Friday, September 25, 2009 1:59 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
don't think you have heard 'the end', friendo.
― history mayne, Friday, 25 September 2009 14:29 (fourteen years ago) link
Sabbath, two years before the fact basically.
"Abbey Road" released September 1969"Black Sabbath" released February 1970
― Aw naw, no' Annoni oan an' aw noo (Tom D.), Friday, 25 September 2009 14:29 (fourteen years ago) link
this album rules and i like every song on it to varying degrees though 'maxwell's silver hammer' is a little repetitive and grating. 'i want you' is sick, you take away the vocals and it's a dope-ass jazz track.
― omar little, Friday, 25 September 2009 14:30 (fourteen years ago) link
i think the first side of this is remarkable, that said i voted for "maxwell's silver hammer" even tho i think it's a cool & buoyant song
this was the best of the reissues btw
― iirc flair (J0rdan S.), Friday, 25 September 2009 14:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Thanks Scik Mouthy, I will definitely look into them!
― Adam Bruneau, Friday, 25 September 2009 14:32 (fourteen years ago) link
this album rules and i like every song on it to varying degrees
totally
― Mr. Que, Friday, 25 September 2009 14:32 (fourteen years ago) link
McCartney's weak spot was always his lyrics and occasionally failing to recognise when he'd written a dud. His gifts for coming up with catchy melodies and ensuring his songs are arranged and recorded well have never left him, really.
― pen pineapple apple pen (Turrican), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 20:57 (seven years ago) link
Band On The Run!
― pen pineapple apple pen (Turrican), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 20:58 (seven years ago) link
has a bunch of crap on it!
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 20:59 (seven years ago) link
His gifts for coming up with catchy melodies and ensuring his songs are arranged and recorded well have never left him, really.
no argument here though, he def eclipsed the others in this dept.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 21:00 (seven years ago) link
Yes, I've just bought that for someone, so I've been listening to it a lot. So many of the songs are so flimsy and overlong. (xp)
― (SNIFFING AND INDISTINCT SOBBING) (Tom D.), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 21:02 (seven years ago) link
despite that I am generally a bigger McCartney fan than a Lennon one, I don't rep for any of his solo records as being great all the way through. JL/POB is the single best Beatles solo IMO, and both Imagine and All Things are really good -- about as good as the best McCartney record in fact -- but not as classic as, say, the 3rd or 4th best Beatles record.
― Dominique, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 21:06 (seven years ago) link
McCartney II tho
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 21:15 (seven years ago) link
sad that Gone Troppo is always overlooked when people discuss the best solo Beatles album
― soref, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 21:16 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLSKNzT0Ve8
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 21:23 (seven years ago) link
I like Mac II! Definitely filler on there tho (if "Secret Friend" was on the original running order in place of 10 minutes of lesser stuff, I'd certainly put it in the discussion for best Beatles solo LP)
― Dominique, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 21:30 (seven years ago) link
John has a way more interesting solo career, including his collaborations with Yoko, the Plastic Ono Band stuff, and Yoko's solo albums that he worked on as well. many of the early Yoko Ono albums have songs with more Beatles playing on them then are on actual Beatles songs. very cool experimental stuff giving maybe an alternate history of the Beatles if they kept going into pre-punk. John's solo work is patchy but i really enjoy things on just about all of his records ("Mind Games" being a hidden gem imo) right up to his death.
Paul seems to do best when he is just doing DIY albums at home experimenting w multitracking. makes sense as this is how some White Album tracks were done!
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 21:30 (seven years ago) link
in the aftermath of the Napster/pre-iTunes era (1999-2004) I had many friends burning CD-Rs of Macca comps. I got one I treasure because of the formidable consistency of those A-sides, album tracks, and B-sides sitting beside each other.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 21:31 (seven years ago) link
there's some really great stuff on Ringo's 70s + 80s solo albums
― soref, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 21:36 (seven years ago) link
mind games is excellent except for a couple really shitty songs (tight ass and meat city come to mind).
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 21:39 (seven years ago) link
we've definitely done many versions of this. and i guess "they sure needed each other as checks and balances" is basically part of canonical beatles lore at this point. which certainly beats "if only yoko hadn't ruined everything" as far as the sophistication of narratives carried around by the general listening public. but imo the biggest problem with almost all the beatles solo records is, following an initial or nearly-initial burst of "i'm free!" creative greatness, they get lazy. maybe in a totally typical and understandable way: you've been one of the kings of the world for 5-6 years. time to just chill out and do whatever you feel like. hey, it's the Me Decade after all. this plays out in different ways and maybe overlaps a lot with them getting so far up their own success that they can't really be constrained or challenged by any of their collaborators.
macca gets the best results out of this - if you're in the mood for what he does - because he's just more restless musically and wants to try each new toy that comes within earshot. he also generally retains a gift for melody that is able to carry him through all but the dudliest of dudly pointless lyrical conceits and tangents. nothing close to the masterpiece-after-masterpiece production of the beatles, but highly listenable and for a fan (like me and several others here) very very enjoyable. but he also is very clearly surrounding himself with people who don't challenge him, esp. denny laine for a decade's worth of "sure boss, sounds good!" his best records - save early flourish ram - are produced out of weird circumstances, constraints, or collaborators: martin for tug of war, costello for flowers in the dirt, travel woes and tight timelines for band on the run, starting from scratch on the two mccartneys, etc.
with john it's more what y'all have been describing - the songwriting rapidly gets just kinda boring, you don't feel like he's really laboring over these things; indeed you feel like he wears it as a point of pride that he's not. unfortunately the muse strikes infrequently. i honestly think that POB aside you really are okay with the greatest hits for his solo career. it's a great greatest hits! there just aren't that many killer album tracks in that discography. i've listened and tried to find them. the exception of course is pussy cats. whatever its flaws that's not a boring record.
― DOCTOR CAISNO, BYCREATIVELABBUS (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 22:08 (seven years ago) link
iirc, Denny Laine was kicked out of Wings for standing up to Paul.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 22:14 (seven years ago) link
McCartney II is, at this stage, the most overrated McCartney solo record. Back To The Egg, though - underrated as fuck, and I quite enjoy the fact that I'm one of a handful of people that consider it one of his finest records.
― pen pineapple apple pen (Turrican), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 22:22 (seven years ago) link
So, Abbey Road guys
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 23:06 (seven years ago) link
What about it?
― LL Cantante (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 23:09 (seven years ago) link
It contained within it the seeds of "Spies Like Us."
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 23:18 (seven years ago) link
back to the egg and mccartney 2 are my favorites (well, along with ram and band on the run and chaos and creation)
― akm, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 23:18 (seven years ago) link
― soref, Wednesday, October 12, 2016 2:16 PM (two hours ago)
soref, where were you in 2006? You have officially joined the club that I think previously only comprised myself and Geir.
― timellison, Wednesday, 12 October 2016 23:57 (seven years ago) link
I was gonna say!
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 12 October 2016 23:58 (seven years ago) link
The time is now.
― timellison, Thursday, 13 October 2016 00:03 (seven years ago) link