Confession: I have, for most of my life (I'm 32) been wilfully immune to the charms of The Beatles. I've said any number of times on this blog and others that I heard them as background noise that doesn't translate into actual MUSIC for me. I used to say they were too much part of my childhood, of the cultural landscape, and I couldn't hear their music properly, and so it didn't affect me.

Then, a few weeks ago I dug out a copy of Revolver for my kids, and put it on in the car. It sort of burrowed into my head, and then about two weeks ago I made two purchases entirely on a whim.

1) "Revolution In The Head: The Beatles' Records And The Sixties" by Ian MacDonald

2) A stereo Beatles boxset from HMV.

Now I'm a believer.

Christ, you lot weren't kidding, were you? That band! They were absolutely, absolutely astonishing. I've been listening to the albums while using "Revolution In The Head" as a sort of companion, and I'm just awestruck.

I mean, god knows there are enough HJH threads on here to sustain a small country of fans, and this isn't really adding anything, except to say thanks to the Massive, really. I wouldn't have got here without you.

At the moment, the albums that are making me happiest are probably "Please Please Me", "Hard Day's Night", "Revolver" and "Sgt Pepper", although there's so much to cherish on all of them. It's really interesting seeing how McCartney's fingerprints seem to encroach on the music as the band's career progressed. I've never been a particular fan of his, but god! The word "genius" is not inappropriate here. I am in awe of their achievements, and particularly Paul's. That said, many of my favourite individual songs are Lennon performances or compositions: "Twist And Shout", "Rain", "A Day In The Life", "I'm Only Sleeping", "Tomorrow Never Knows"...

I recently said on another thread that I didn't care for "A Day In The Life" too much, by the way. Sorry. I must have been fucking MAD.

http://www.abbeyroad.com/visit/

Kids these days eh? None of them are smoking and they're all wearing shoes.
Via Very Good Plus.

The Bisto family has been listening and dancing to Beatles For Sale and marvelling at the juxtaposition of tracks like Rock and Roll Music with the nonemoremacca I'll Follow The Sun. Bisto daughter the younger (two and a half) wanted to know if I'd changed the music. I blew her mind by telling her it's the same band but they were just that damned good. (OK, OK with Peppa Pig style lingo but you get the gist). Not sure she's convinced it's the same band though.

I totally subscribe to the view that Lennon had a great rock 'n' roll voice but, ay caramba, McCartney really nails the raw and raucous on Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey. Wow. What a send off for Side 1. Face of an angel, voice of the Devil. Younger Bisto wanted to know if he's alright and did it hurt to sing like that? It probably did I tell her but she's not fazed by his pain.

Mind you we ALL stopped in our tracks at the acoustic melancholy of Every Little Thing, that bass piano is outstanding, but those cascading guitar notes just weaken the knees and senior Bisto daughter (6 and a half) wants to "look at John" on YouTube - the old sly devil is still working his magic.

Just before that track the Bisto girls giggled like mad at the fade-in of 8 Days A Week, their eyes and mouths widening as the track gets louder - what a great ploy to open side 2, totally blows you away and Ma Bisto has sung her heart out to that one, slightly perturbing the Bisto daughters with her conviction. I just feel slightly horny but it's "the family room' so I calm down.

nonemorebyrdsmacca What You're Doing has again intrigued us all. Is it the same band? the girls are asking again. I'm thinking it's the blueprint for Chrissie Hynde's song-writing, a forerunner for Brass In Pocket/i>.

Half an hour later we're done. 30 minutes of magic, intrigue and music and a strong suggestion from the junior clan members that I've not played just music by The Beatles but have infiltrated their canon with the music of others. In other words they can't believe that it's all music by the same band.

I was born in 1967. What is it about The Beatles that appeals to generations that weren't around when this music was being made? Neither of my daughters were around when the last compilation album ('1') was released but they've lost themselves in this music tonight.

Today I came across this 1977 Boz Scaggs tour programme which shows him lighting a cigarette from another cigarette. By today's standards it's quite a shocking image because it's something that you simply don't see anymore, certainly not on a publicity photo. Nobody in their right mind would use an image like this to promote themselves these days.

And yet it doesn’t seem that long ago that smoking was totally cool. People actually thought nothing of posing on their album covers holding a cigarette. Imagine that!

Look back through the early Beatles' photos and be amazed at how many of them show one or more band members smoking. Macca is even carrying a cigarette on the cover of Abbey Road (although I believe it's been touched out on some versions of the sleeve) and at least two of the Stones (Mick and Bill) are holding cigarettes on the cover of the UK Five by Five EP from 1964. It seems unthinkable now that someone didn't tell them to keep the cigarettes out of the shots.

Those were certainly different times.

Having read the thread about The Moment A Band Lost You I can´t help but wonder how you found your favourite band(s)?

Older siblings? TV? Radio? A magazine? Friends? A boy/girl you tried to impress?

On the last day of fourth grade (1988) my mother took me to a local record store called Z, where I would end up working for a couple of years about a decade later. She said "pick anything you like", or rather "välj vad du vill". I went for the B section, found The Beatles 20 Greatest Hits and knew that´s the one I wanted.Had never heard of them before. Probably just grabbed one.

We came back home, I took this magic artefact out of the mainly white cover and She Loves You started. Game over. A new chapter had started.

I´ve since bought, heard, read,seen and discussed everything I can find with their name on (pretty much), had the haircut (Paul ca Revolver), been to Liverpool twice and, well, you get the point.

How about you?

How, where and when?

It was 44 years ago today (give or take) that the shit well and truly hit the fan over John's "bigger than Jesus" comments.

The original Maureen Cleave Evening Standard interview appeared in Britain (or in London, at least) in March 1966 where it passed virtually unnoticed.

When the story was reprinted in a US magazine in August however, the southern states got their collective knickers in a twist and the book and record burnings followed.

I often wonder how Americans in general view that shameful episode now. With a mixture of bemusement and embarrassment, hopefully.

Still it could have been much worse, imagine if John had said they were bigger than Mohammed "and here's one of my cartoons to graphically illustrate the point!" ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_popular_than_Jesus

Thanks to David Quantick and Twitter, I know what I'm doing for the next hour.

http://rutleslunch.net/music.html

There has been much talk since the break-up of the Beatles about possible track selections for a “would-be” 70s Fabs album drawn from solo albums. Mr Lennon himself even suggested, shortly after the split, that fans could go away and compile their own tapes if they missed the band that much!

Keeping things a bit more simple – would the massive care to nominate four songs, one by each member, for an imaginary post-Beatles EP. I think the main rule has to be that the selections all predate December 1980 though I think the selections should also be quite Beatley (so maybe best to avoid Temporary Secretary, good though it is)

Mine are

I’m The Greatest – Ringo Starr (because it has Harrison and Lennon and has a bit of a Sgt Pepper feel and its quite good by his standards)
You Gave Me the Answer – Paul McCartney & Wings (nice ditty from Venus and Mars which sounds a lot like Martha My Dear / Honey Pie)
Crackerbox Palace – George Harrison (the title alone sounds like a Beatles tune)
Number 9 Dream – John Lennon (captures the late Beatle spirit in much the same way as ELO – though I’m not sure the Fabs ever really sounded like this? Great tune though)

"I have to say that one of the great things about the Beatles is the number of great songs they left off their albums (I mean Hey Bulldog is certainly better than Rocky Raccoon?)"
walker182 - 2 June 2010 - 6:53am

Rocky Raccoon is an easy hate target and I don't get it. It's a good song. There, I said it. In print. On the ever reliable internet. I like Rocky Raccoon. Although not necessarily a massive triumph melodically, lyrically it's got something. Something that is oddly rare in the world of music. It has a story. A well structured story that has a start, middle and end. And the jokes (there is more than one) are amusing even on repeat listens.

I have to admit that I imagine Disney style cartoon animals playing out this Western story (I'm pretty certain I use less drugs than McCartney).

The song is not a dud. Or an embarrassment. It's a vital track on the album and anyone who cuts it from a single disc White Album edit is a fool. The songs it's sandwich between (Piggies and Don't Pass Me By) are low points on that album so maybe it's guilt by association?

PS Maxwell's Silver Hammer is also a good song. There I said it. I draw the line at Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da which gets old very quickly.

Just checking my emails and the mono box set is available on Amazon for £85 at DVD's online - they say they have limited stock, but I've ordered one and face it, you can't go that far wrong!
Here's the link! Happy shopping!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B002BSHXJA/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UT...

http://www.b104fm.com/rock_report.htm

The chances are that your music collection is pretty similar to whatever your mates own. If you own the whole of the Beatles back catalogue, your mates will too (OK, so everyone owns the Beatles...). Even if you're into something like Northern Soul, you can probably assume that at least some of your friends will know a thing or two about Gloria Jones or Edwin Starr.

But what acts do you love that you've never been able to persuade anyone else about? Which band or artist has made a career despite the fact that you're the only person you know who gets it?

I'll start: I love the Innocence Mission. I don't really know much about them, besides that two of them are husband and wife, and the singer has a beautiful voice. I've tried playing them to various people, but they're always seen as a bit too whimsical, a bit too in thrall to the Sundays among my mates. Here's a taster:

I'd also nominate The Concretes - perfect Swedish pop (to my ears at least). Anyway, here's your chance to finally win someone else over - share your personal favourites below. Or perhaps you prefer to keep them as 'your' band only?

What I'm looking for - indeed, what I've always loved - are great songs that have a proper, punchy ending, rather than that wishy-washy cop out from hell, the gradual fade out. Here's three to get you started.

1. Our Lips are Sealed by the Go-Go's: not only ends on a beautiful harmony but it's actually the best bit of a brilliant song.

2. A Day in the Life by the Beatles: everyone knows this one. Possibly the most famous long piano chord in history. Unfathomably deep.

3. Teenage Kicks from the Undertones. You've heard it a million times, but it's the triumphant finish that make this two minutes of heaven extra special. Mr. Peel had a point.

Any others you'd like to recommend? (PS live versions don't count, as it's very difficult to fade out effectively in this situation...)

After enjoying the HJH mash up posted recently I've been looking for others. In the course of this search, I found this remix of Rain, which uses the out of phase stereo effect, making a bass, vocal and overdubs only version. It's almost like a dub version.

I know The Serious Albums like the back of my hand but have neglected the fresh, early rock'n'roll records since a (less pretentious/portentous) kid.

Maybe in the light of the mono remasters, which of the earlier albums do you most rate?