Revolution - Official ILX Beatles tracks poll results

as earlier stated, we are in agreement

It's all about context though. Stick Eight Days A Week in a Kinks or a Who poll and it's my #1, easy.

Context is a killer. I can't remember if I voted for Revolution or Helter Skelter, but I've got a feeling they were both squeezed out when I made my final cull - I like both of them, and they work well together, but sound don't sound so great when you're listening to a lot of Beatles stuff from other eras.

I'd forgotten about There's A Place, but it is a proper little miracle. It's not like you have to really read between the lines to see it as a pretty cosmic song about retreating into the timeless oneness inside your head to escape the hard realities of it all. That, pretty unambiguously, is what he's singing about. You could put the lyrics up against Lennon '66 words, including Tomorrow Never Knows, and it still wouldn't look old-hat. And this is all a long time before they heard any Dylan. And the middle-eight is killer. Should have voted for it really.

Since I've learned over the years that "middle eight" in British parlance is roughly equivalent to what Americans call the bridge, I've always wondered: does the "middle eight" have to be eight bars? And this might be a dumb question, but does the terminology have any effect on songwriting practices in the UK (i.e., more conventional songsmiths actually try to make each bridge eight bars)?

In the Beatles' case, I can't think of a bridge that's not eight bars.

"No Reply" was my #1.

Didn't Redd Kross cover "There's a Place"? I can't find it on the internet. Lots of pop-punk covers of that song though. My #2. One thing I love is how you can hear it a dozen times and still not be able to quite remember it or sing it in your mind, it's so harmonically unusual. Marcus right on about this too, for that matter.

"There's A Place" was my get-it-in-the-poll vote. Glad to see it there, but I probably coulda dropped it for "Eight Days a Week," a song I love to pieces but declined to name. In the end I just figured that, objectively, it wasn't really among the Beatles' best work. But I didn't even try to be objective elsewhere, so...decisions, decisions. I'm glad I don't agonize over my choices for these polls except a little bit after the fact - if I did there'd be no climbing out of the rabbit hole.

5/20 so far for me. Does "Not Guilty" have a shot? Should it? I'm questioning putting it on my ballot

In the Beatles' case, I can't think of a bridge that's not eight bars.

― Pete Scholtes, Friday, July 15, 2011 5:35 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The guitar solo section of Day Tripper - which I think of as a bridge because it transposes the riff up from E to B, the only time in the song that occurs - is 12 bars.

xtothenp: hm, never thought of "In My Room" in the context of "There's A Place" before. mere coincidence?

which one came first, Paul?

Wikipedia has release dates for Please Please Me as 22nd March 1963 (UK) and Surfer Girl (and as b-side of "Be True To Your School" single) as Oct 28th 1963. I'm thinking coincidence, parallel mindset. another nice link between the bands, specifically Lennon/B Wilson.

thanks very much, it is telling

sort of thinking i should have had You've Got to Hide... on my list. even the video posted up thread is great.

1/20 so far (Helter Skelter was my #20), I think most of mine will be higher in the list.

Been listening to early Beatles all day today. Conclusion: it's alright, but a bit shit but kinda great in parts but mostly meh.

i am one of probably many people who grew up listening almost exclusively to 1966-70 so the early stuff is really floating my boat

early beatles is my fav beatles

Me too. Everything up to and including Revolver is solid gold. The rest, while often very very good, I find kind of dull in comparison.

Been listening to early Beatles all day today. Conclusion: it's alright, but a bit shit but kinda great in parts but mostly meh.

― Post-Manpat Music (dog latin), Saturday, July 16, 2011 7:27 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

this post is almost as stupid and meaningless as the one where you said a Beatles song is like their equivalent of a Blue song

you're calling the later stuff dull?!

xpost

obv, i listen to/enjoy the older material less. i can understand preferring it - but i would not say the mid-late Beatles is dull up against the older.

I'm baffled by the love Magical Mystery Tour gets on ILM. Apart from I Am The Walrus, Penny Lane & Strawberry Fields, it's deathly dull and the worst stuff they did. Strangely though, those 3 songs are amongst the very best songs they ever recorded.

I can't believe I'm bringing this on myself, but I find the ILM love for "Flying" completely insane

"Flying" is a classic interlude track.

Yup, it's shit. I meant to point that out when we started the thread by dissing Your Mother Should Know.

MMT & side 1 of Yellow Sub was my favorite era of Beatles last year..

You sort of have to deal with Paul being a huge dork on a lot of his songs (lyrically especially) in their last few years, but the songwriting is still killer.

Except for "Honey Pie".. fuck that shit.

Apart from I Am The Walrus, Penny Lane & Strawberry Fields, it's deathly dull and the worst stuff they did. Strangely though, those 3 songs are amongst the very best songs they ever recorded.

And the latter two were recorded at the very beginning of the Sgt. Pepper sessions, so.

I prefer middle to early or late. I was sort of there for late, but just barely cognizant of who the Beatles were. I would love to have been there for early--I mean, I was, but only 3. It's all of a piece, though, and it all fits together.

I find myself breaking down the music chronologically... For me this makes it easier to view the catalog as a whole. You mention "early" "middle" and "late" which is pretty much how I think of it also.. 3 distinct eras..

The first era is clearly "Beatlemania.." "Love Me Do" and everything up until the "Help!" soundtrack.. Simple enough.

"Yesterday" sort of signaled the end of the first era and foreshadowed Rubber Soul.. Their 3 most focused LP's followed, and the Magical Mystery Tour EP was probably the high-point in their studio experimentation, which they moved away from immediately afterwards.. (this would include side 1 of Yellow Submarine also)

Third era is the only one completely without Brian Epstein who it seems was holding them together more than they realized.. "Lady Madonna/The Inner Light" is definitely the start of this era.. White Album and Abbey Road are clearly 4 individuals and no longer a strictly group effort.. more guest appearances in this era than in the other 2 (clapton & billy preston)

Apart from I Am The Walrus, Penny Lane & Strawberry Fields, it's deathly dull and the worst stuff they did. Strangely though, those 3 songs are amongst the very best songs they ever recorded.

i have two tracks from this album on my list and it's none of these three! i never really got the love for Strawberry Fields.

I sort them out in my mind somewhat close to that, though not as distinctly:

Early -- everything before Beatles for Sale.

Transitional -- Beatles for Sale.

Middle -- from Help! through Revolver.

Transitional -- Sgt. Pepper/Magical Mystery Tour

Late -- White Album forward.

No real explanation--everyone will see that a little differently.

Just read this on the Wikipedia page: "Although their output has come to include vault items and remixed mash-ups, the core Beatles discography recorded during the 1960s is 217 tracks and approximately ten hours of music."

Ten hours. Measure their impact on the world against the idea of ten hours.

"I Me Mine" was recorded early in 1970, but yeah.

It's only about ninety seconds though, a mere rounding error

Any road up, one track that didn't make the chart but I wished it had, was "I feel fine", because I told Alice that they used to make videos in a very simple way back then, in fact one time The Beatles supplied overseas countries with one where they mimed while having their lunch: Fish and chips out of a bag! Take That, Lady Gaga!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG3EJIsJDeI

some quality product, that

This is preaching to the choir, but the mind reels from how many truly great songs they had in a relatively small corpus. Listening to it again all in one piece as I did for this poll was jaw-dropping, I thought I was going to be "meh" but just. wow.

I had "Honey Pie" at number ten on my ballot. To me, that's old world channeling of a deep nature and a very high level, comparable to The Basement Tapes or Tiny Tim.

I don't understand the above post in the slightest.

Been listening to early Beatles all day today. Conclusion: it's alright, but a bit shit but kinda great in parts but mostly meh.

― Post-Manpat Music (dog latin), Saturday, July 16, 2011 7:27 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

this post is almost as stupid and meaningless as the one where you said a Beatles song is like their equivalent of a Blue song

― dread the flopson (some dude), Sunday, 17 July 2011 18:22 (Yesterday)

When did I say this?

To clarify, there are (what I think of as) early Beatles songs that I really love - "She Loves You" particularly. But there's so much stuff I'd consider throwaway or hugely dated, I found them hard to listen to in anything other than an educational context. The earliest stuff sounds like it's from a completely other time to the Rubber Soul material. IMO it wasn't until after Beatles For Sale that they stopped being scholars and started being masters. Your opinion may differ, of course.

I do have a lot of time for Magical Mystery Tour. It represents the Beatles at their most colourful and psychedelic. Carrollian surreality merging with everyday Merseyside landscapes. The Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and I Am The Walrus triumvirate might eclipse a lot of moments on here, but there are few songs I don't like. 'Flying' works as one of the only Beatles instrumentals (discounting Yellow Submarine s/t). 'Fool On The Hill' sees McCartney getting wistfully rural and uncharacteristically self-deprecating. 'Baby You're A Rich Man' is gloriously barmy. 'Your Mother Should Know' has a really interesting winding chord sequence that goes all over the place. And it's all rounded off as a concept EP - a stronger concept than Sgt Peppers, one might argue.

39. Getting Better Sgt Pepper (Points: 211, Voters: 10, Number Ones: 0)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCcU2xfvz0o

38. Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight Abbey Road (Points: 211, Voters: 10, Number Ones: 0)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je_VObgUwzM

I made an excutive decision here: Everyone who voted for this track put "Golden Slumbers" only, apart from one voter who had put "Carry that weight" so I combined the votes for this medley.

Apols if you really only like one (or the other) of this songsection..