MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR  -  THE BEATLES

YEAR:  1967
LABEL:  Parlophone/Capitol
TRACK LISTING:  Magical Mystery Tour,  The Fool on the Hill,  Flying,  Blue Jay Way,  Your Mother Should Know,  I Am the Walrus,  Hello Goodbye,  Strawberry Fields Forever,  Penny Lane,  Baby You're A Rich Man,  All You Need Is Love
IMPRESSIONS:  Put the abyssmal film out of your mind; this is a superb album.  In fact, I've always preferred it to SGT. PEPPER actually.  I mean, just look at the tracks.  The eponymous album opener is one of my favourite Beatle songs ever.  There's the absolute classic "I Am the Walrus" (yet another of my top Beatle tunes).  One of McCartney's best "granny songs" appears in the form of "Your Mother Should Know" and the groundbreaking singles "Strawberry Fields Forever" (which many people think is actually on SGT. PEPPER) and the radio-friendly smash "Penny Lane".  Then, there's possibly my very first ever favourite song:  "Hello Goodbye".  I actually have a very solid memory of myself at 2 years old outside on a sidewalk somewhere toddling along to the sound of "Hello Goodbye" on a transistor radio someone was holding.  I remember very clearly hearing the song and running towards someone unsteadily on my toddler legs.  This has always given the song a mythic quality for me and whenever I hear it I get a lovely feeling of nostalgia.  Even the rather unimpressive "Fool on the Hill" holds a soft spot in my heart because my late friend Peg loved it.  After all this, the album ends with another of my faves ("Baby, You're A Rich Man") and the anthem "All You Need Is Love").  There aren't many albums as impressive as this and it was actually spliced together by adding a side two of singles to a side one originally released in Britain as an EP!
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Magical Mystery Tour,  Your Mother Should Know,  I Am the Walrus,  Hello Goodbye,  Strawberry Fields Forever,  Baby You're A Rich Man,  All You Need Is Love
GUEST ARTISTS:  Mal Evans (percussion on "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Strawberry Fields Forever"), Neil Aspinall (percussion on "Magical Mystery Tour"), George Martin (piano on "All You Need Is Love"), Mick Jagger (backing vocals on "All You Need Is Love"), Keith Richards (backing vocals on "All You Need Is Love"), Marianne Faithfull (backing vocals on "All You Need Is Love"), Keith Moon (backing vocals on "All You Need Is Love"), Eric Clapton (backing vocals on "All You Need Is Love"), Pattie Boyd Harrison (backing vocals on "All You Need Is Love"), Jane Asher (backing vocals on "All You Need Is Love"), Graham Nash (backing vocals on "All You Need Is Love")
FACT SHEET:  MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR is the Beatles' ninth album.  Originally released as an EP soundtrack album for the film of the same name (side one), side two was added to make up a complete album in the U.S. by making side two a collection of recent singles.  The idea for the film was conceived by Paul McCartney as a scriptless coach journey which was broadcast over the BBC during the 1967 Christmas holidays; the film was universally panned but the soundtrack EP/album became a #1 album for 8 weeks.   

CHAOS AND CREATION IN THE BACKYARD  -  PAUL MCCARTNEY

YEAR:  2005
LABEL:  EMI
TRACK LISTING:  Fine Line,  How Kind of You,  Jenny Wren,  At the Mercy,  Friends To Go,  English Tea,  Too Much Rain,  A Certain Softness,  Riding To Vanity Fair,  Follow Me,  Promise To You Girl,  This Never Happened Before,  Anyway
BONUS TRACK:  I've Only Got Two Hands (hidden track)
IMPRESSIONS:  That old duffer Macca was not really on my radar when this album came out.  While working at the Hellmouth we "overhead played" McCartney's previous releases typified by that horrendous 9/11 "Freedom" song and the word I used to describe his output then was "insipid".  That's why "BACKYARD" is such a gobsmack because it's incredibly listenable from start to finish and the only embarrassing moment in it occurs when he rips off "People Get Ready" for the first verse of "Anyway".  Or should I call that "homage"?  Somehow it doesn't feel like we're meant to recognize the Curtis Mayfield song but instead it seems more like an "unconscious plagiarism" instance a la George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" or the Rolling Stones' "Has Anybody Seen My Baby".  Other than that, "BACKYARD" is Macca's strongest album in years . . . probably decades.  A great deal of credit for this goes to producer Nigel Godrich who was used to producing Radiohead and Beck and really had no fawning reverence for the ex-Beatle.  This was apparently just what McCartney was looking for when he asked Godrich to produce (at the suggestion of the eminent Sir George Martin, no less).  Apparently, Godrich was fairly blunt and wouldn't allow McCartney to skate by with sub-par material.  In Macca's own words, Godrich "...refused to allow me to sing songs that he didn't like, which was very cheeky of him".  McCartney was reportedly taken aback at first but then upon listening to the results knew he'd made the right choice in producer.  This album has the paradoxical quality of sounding very fresh and energized while at the same time sounding very Beatlesque to me; however its done in such a way not to sound like a pastiche but instead as emerging from McCartney's natural creative bent.  He wasn't copying anybody when he was with the Beatles and Godrich has somehow allowed McCartney to tap that same wellspring.  But all the credit cannot go strictly to the production end because McCartney provides the tunes which would sound good even stripped down and acoustic.  Godrich has managed to kick McCartney up his geriatric bum and enabled the old rocker to sound like the old fab lad whose creativity knew no bounds.  Just when I had counted him out, too!
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Fine Line,  How Kind of You,  Jenny Wren,  At the Mercy,  Friends To Go,  English Tea,  Too Much Rain,  Riding To Vanity Fair,  Follow Me,  This Never Happened Before,  I've Only Got Two Hands
FACT SHEET:  CHAOS AND CREATION IN THE BACKYARD is Paul McCartney's 13th solo album.  Paul McCartney plays a great many of the instruments himself.  The album was nominated for three Grammy Awards including Album of the Year.  "Friends To Go" is inspired by and dedicated to George Harrison.  The cover photograph of a young Paul McCartney playing guitar in his family's back garden in Liverpool was taken by his brother Mike McCartney(aka Mike McGear) and was originally titled "Paul Under Washing" before being retitled "Our Kid Through Mum's Net Curtains".    

HELP!  -  THE BEATLES

YEAR:  1965
LABEL:  Capitol/Parlophone
TRACK LISTING:  Help!,  The Night Before,  You've Got To Hide Your Love Away,  I Need You,  Another Girl,  You're Going To Lose That Girl,  Ticket To Ride,  Act Naturally,  It's Only Love,  You Like Me Too Much,  Tell Me What You See,  I've Just Seen A Face,  Yesterday,  Dizzy Miss Lizzy
IMPRESSIONS:  This is not the HELP! album I grew up with; that was the US version which was truly a soundtrack album featuring instrumental pieces from the movie on half the album.  However, this is the "real" HELP! album and what's to be said about it that hasn't been said before.  Obviously it's got some solid mid-period Beatles numbers in it.  There's John Lennon's favourite Beatles song "Help!" which he preferred in its original slow-tempo, piano-driven ballad format instead of the commercial rocker it became; the song was Lennon's self-described "fat Elvis" song which was an unconscious cry for help by Lennon at the time.  Then there's apparently everybody ELSE'S favourite Beatles song "Yesterday" which is actually a solo track by Paul McCartney with no other Beatles present; the song was thought by its author to be somebody else's so he constantly went around humming the tune to everyone he met asking "What's this song?"  After everyone assured him that it was indeed a newly-written song and not someone else's, Paul assigned it the temporary title "Scrambled Eggs" before the lyrics were finalized.  Also featuring two George Harrison songs (of varying degrees of success) for the first time on a Beatles album since 1963's "WITH THE BEATLES".  A good, solid Beatles album.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Help!,  The Night Before,  You've Got To Hide Your Love Away,  I Need You,  Another Girl,  You're Going To Lose That Girl,  Ticket To Ride,  I've Just Seen A Face,  Yesterday
GUEST ARTISTS:  John Scott (flute on "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away)
FACT SHEET:  HELP! is the Beatles' fifth album and the "somewhat" soundtrack to their second movie; seven songs appear in the film.  The iconic cover photo is by Robert Freeman and DOES NOT feature the Beatles spelling out H-E-L-P in semaphore; they were supposed to originally but the correct letters did not look aesthetically pleasing so the fabs are in fact spelling out the letters N-U-J-V.  Of course, the Beatles being the Beatles, the original UK cover photo was reverse-printed so, if you hold it up to a mirror, the boys are spelling out L-P-U-S (i.e. "Help us").  "Act Naturally" was written by Johnny Russell and Voni Morrison.  "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" was written by Larry Williams.  "I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much" were written by George Harrison; all the other songs are by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.  This is the last Beatles album to feature cover songs until "LET IT BE" in 1970 included folk song "Maggie Mae".  The song "Wait" was originally recorded for this album but instead ended up going on "RUBBER SOUL" when it was one song short.       

THE BEATLES - The Beatles

YEAR: 1968

LABEL: Apple

TRACK LISTING: Back in the U.S.S.R., Dear Prudence, Glass Onion, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Wild Honey Pie, The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, Martha My Dear, Blackbird, Piggies, Rocky Racoon, Don't Pass Me By, Why Don't We Do It In the Road, I Will, Julia, Birthday, Yer Blues, Mother Nature's Son, Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey, Sexy Sadie, Helter Skelter, Long Long Long, Revolution 1, Honey Pie, Savoy Truffle, Cry Baby Cry, Revolution 9, Good Night

IMPRESSIONS: This is my favourite Beatles album. While I had my second favourite Beatles album "ABBEY ROAD" most of my life, I didn't pick up this album (on vinyl) until around 1980-1981 and immediately fell in love with it's treasure trove of schizophrenic songs; each one stands alone as a completely different listening experience. Oh, what riches! If variety is the spice of life, this is the spiciest Beatles album, mate. It's double album length gives you something to really sink your teeth into unlike single album at that time which were over before you knew it. Remember albums at that time were usually only about 35 minutes long so the "White Album" is more what we consider a single album length today. That having been said, THE BEATLES contains some of my all-time favourite Beatles songs: "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Happiness Is A Warm Gun", "Blackbird", "Don't Pass Me By", "I Will", "Mother Nature's Son", "Savoy Truffle" and "Good Night". Also, it has the superior version of "Revolution 1"; I prefer the album version (with its more challenging slower tempo) to the harder but less interesting single version. I also like the fact that the double album length makes it less of a "Lennon-McCartney Show" and lets George and Ringo have a little more space to shine without being pushed off the album with only one song each as usual. I just don't buy the usual complaint that the Beatles were working separately instead of together as a group. From everything I've read and heard from the Beatles' own mouths, each member ALWAYS worked up a song on their own and then presented it to the group for their input or to be assigned parts to play on it. How is "The White Album" any different since that's exactly what they did here as well. The only difference being they apparently separated themselves into individual studio rooms until they were ready to present the songs to the group. So instead of doing this at their individual homes, they instead did it in different rooms in the same studio. Sounds to me like they were working closer, not farther apart. And since the Beatles being forced together in one studio room during the recording of the "LET IT BE" sessions seems to have broken the group up, the working conditions on "The White Album" seems to have been the way the Beatles SHOULD have gone in order to keep working together; if they had stayed with that formula maybe they would've stayed together and given us a few more brilliant albums. Think of that the next time you hear someone whine about "The White Album".

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Back in the U.S.S.R., Dear Prudence, Glass Onion, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, Martha My Dear, Blackbird, Piggies, Don't Pass Me By, Why Don't We Do It In the Road, I Will, Julia, Birthday, Mother Nature's Son, Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey, Sexy Sadie, Helter Skelter, Long Long Long, Revolution 1, Honey Pie, Savoy Truffle, Cry Baby Cry, Good Night

GUEST ARTISTS: Eric Clapton (lead guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"), Mal Evans (backing vocals on "Dear Prudence", trumpet on "Helter Skelter"), Jack Fallon (violin on "Don't Pass Me By"), Pattie Boyd Harrison (backing vocals on "Birthday"), Jackie Lomax (backing vocals on "Dear Prudence"), Maureen Starkey (backing vocals on "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"), Yoko Ono (backing vocals on "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" and "Birthday", speech/tape/sound effects on "Revolution 9"), The Mike Sammes Singers (backing vocals on "Good Night").

FACT SHEET: THE BEATLES is the Beatles' ninth album (number 9, number 9...); the titles of the album is THE BEATLES and not "The White Album" although that's what it's usually called. The original working title for the album was "A Doll's House". The album was the first released after the death of their manager Brian Epstein and the first album released on their new Apple label. Most of the songs were written in Rishikesh, India while the Beatles were on a transendental meditation course with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with some work being done at Trident. Recording sessions were filled with tension and apparently featured all four Beatles basically working solo and bringing in the others for specific recording needs. The Beatles at the time were in a great deal of turmoil stemming from everything from Brian Epstein's death, group in-fighting, dissillusionment with the Maharishi, business pressures from Apple Corps and the continuing presence of Yoko Ono in the studio. Paul McCartney is reported to have played drums on "Dear Prudence" because Ringo Starr had temporarily quit the group; this resulted in the other three Beatles sharing drum and bass duties on "Back In the U.S.S.R." as well during this period. George Harrison asked Eric Clapton to play lead guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and reciprocated by collaborating on the song "Badge" on Cream's "GOODBYE" album; during Clapton's time in the studio tensions eased and the Beatles were, according to Harrison, "on their best behaviour". This is the album which saw the Beatles move from 4-track to 8-track recording as well as experimenting wildly with a vast array of different musical genres and sounds from 1930's dance hall to country-western to avant-garde John Cage-like noodling to lush movie score sensibilities. The album cover was designed by pop artist Richard Hamilton to contrast Peter Blake's ornate SGT. PEPPER cover; the original album cover featured "The Beatles" in raised embossed lettering with a serial number to suggest a limited edition numbered release. "Dear Prudence" was written for Mia Farrow's sister Prudence who was in India at Maharishi's seminar but would often not come out of her room. "Glass Onion" overtly refers to the current "Paul Is Dead" urban legend with the lyric "and here's another clue for you all/the walrus was Paul". "Martha My Dear" was written for Paul McCartney's sheepdog Martha. "Julia" refers to John Lennon's mother. "Sexy Sadie" is about the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

ABBEY ROAD - The Beatles

YEAR: 1969

LABEL: Apple

TRACK LISTING: Come Together, Something, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Oh! Darling, Octopus's Garden, I Want You (She's So Heavy), Here Comes the Sun, Because, You Never Give Me Your Money, Sun King, Mean Mr. Mustard, Polythene Pam, She Came In Through the Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, The End, Her Majesty

BONUS TRACKS: None unless you consider the fact that "Her Majesty" was originally a "hidden track" i.e. it was not listed on the album cover. The reason for this was that originally it was part of the side 2 medley between "Mean Mr. Mustard" & "Polythene Pam" but Paul McCartney didn't like it there so it was cut. Engineers had been trained NEVER to throw anything away so it was spliced onto the end of the master tape with 14 seconds of red leader and mistakenly recorded onto the final master. The Beatles, however, liked it there and left it.

IMPRESSIONS: ABBEY ROAD is the Beatles' 11th album and the last one they recorded (although LET IT BE would be released after it). This is my 2nd favourite Beatles album after "THE WHITE ALBUM". ABBEY ROAD is also the very first non-kiddie "grown-up music" album I ever bought with money I got for my 7th or 8th birthday. Not a bad way to start, right? As you will probably begin to notice, I'm a sucker for albums which run songs together into "song suites" and it probably originates with this album; side 2 of course runs songs together into a "song cycle".

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Something, Oh! Darling, I Want You (She's So Heavy), Because, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, The End

GUEST ARTISTS: Billy Preston plays organ on "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"

FACT SHEET: After the acrimonious debacle of the "Let It Be" sessions, Paul McCartney suggested to producer George Martin that they try making another album; Martin agreed only if he would be allowed to produce it like they used to do in the old days. The Beatles, probably sensing this was their last hurrah, agreed to put their differences aside and came up with their most cohesive, harmonious album in years. Side 1 or "the John Lennon side" contains separate songs independent of each other with several "rockers" while Side 2 or "The Paul McCartney side" features songs integrated into a connected song cycle (obviously an influence on Kate Bush's HOUNDS OF LOVE album and scores of others). "Something" would become the first Beatles #1 single NOT written by Lennon/McCartney and subsequently everybody's favourite George Harrison Beatles song. "Octopus's Garden" would be the final Ringo Starr-penned Beatles song and "The End" would feature the one and only drum solo by Ringo in the entire Beatles catalogue. The last time the Beatles would ever record together in the studio was on the song "I Want You (She's So Heavy). The (for want of a better term) chorus of "Golden Slumbers" is actually adapted from the Elizabethan lyric poem by Thomas Dekker from "PATIENT GRISEL":  "Golden slumbers kiss your eyes/Smiles awake you when you rise/Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry/And I will sing a lullaby./Rock them, rock them, lullaby./Care is heavy, therefore sleep you,/You are care, and care must keep you./Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,/And I will sing a lullaby./Rock them, rock them, lullaby."One of the assistant engineers on ABBEY ROAD was an unknown Alan Parsons who would go on to a major producing career (including the perennial seller Pink Floyd's DARK SIDE OF THE MOON) as well as helming his own group The Alan Parsons Project. The iconic (and much imitated) cover photos were taken by Iain Macmillan on the zebra crossing in front of Abbey Road Studios.