The Top 10 Beatles Album Tracks

The Beatles released over 200 tracks before their 1970 break-up, around 30 of these were released as singles or double A-sides

Of these singles, 'Paperback Writer' is my all-time favourite Beatles’ track. It was their first single release that wasn’t about love and although they're not their best lyrics, it has a powerful forward energy to it. I love the guitar riff and the large pulsating bass on it. On the fadeout, there’s a moment where the guitar sounds almost scorching. For me, none of their other tracks sound anything like 'Paperback Writer'.

This is my opinion and purely subjective, I'm sure you'll vehemently disagree with this list but for me - in no particular order - these are the best of the rest:

"Dear Prudence" The Beatles (1968)

I came to ‘Dear Prudence’ late in my Beatles history. During my teens (in the 80s), I always felt The White Album was a bit patchy and difficult to get into so didn’t pay it the attention I should of. It was actually Siouxsie and The Banshees cover of Dear Prudence that woke me up to its majesty.

This is one of John’s songs written during their time out in the Rishikesh commune. One of the other residents there was Mia Farrow’s sister, Prudence. John felt that Prudence spent too much time meditating and not having any fun, hence “Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play”.

John produced quite a sensitive vocal on this beautiful song. George contributes an outstanding lead guitar, you can hear the Indian influence on it.  It’s one of my favourite Lennon songs of all time. The way it builds from a subtle guitar finger-pick riff right up to the last chorus is just brilliant.    

"Tomorrow Never Knows" Revolver (1966)

In many ways this is the ultimate Beatles song being their most experimental track, their most psychedelic, their most spiritual and certainly among their most adventurous. It still sounds miles ahead of anything being done today. Whenever I listen to it I try and imagine its impact on the listener back then, it must have sounded out of this world, nothing like it had gone before.

Much of today’s music can be traced back to this song. The processed vocals, on one chord, sampled loops that are layered, backward music. Then there’s that awesome drum beat and the looping sounds, this recording influenced and even helped create music that came about years later such as techno and other electronic beat-based music.

"Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream" – Indeed! Great advice for everyone!

"In My Life" Rubber Soul (1965)

'In My Life' is one of the most amazing, and well written songs I have ever listened to. I heard this song while growing up as a teenager and never thought too much about it. It took several decades of maturing for its lyrics to finally hit me.  Now, at 50, the song still makes me reflect on the true and good life I have lived. We all have things to remember with fondness, to miss with sadness, and if we're fortunate, to love with our whole heart in our lives. 'In My Life' reflects on those things that actually define what life is really all about.

'In My Life' is basically an autobiographical song about John Lennon's life and as such, it’s a very beautiful and touching ode, you can't just create this kind of emotion. The melody haunts you with every listen. The lyrics are timeless. For me, it’s not only one of John's best but is indeed one of the greatest songs ever written and performed.

Funny too how some of The Beatles best songs never got released as a singles, this being one of them!

"I Need You" Help (1965)

One of the highlights of the ‘Help!’ album. George Harrison wrote this rather melancholic song for his then girlfriend and future wife, Pattie Boyd. It’s one of George's most underrated songs and to be honest sounds like something Paul would have written, rather than George.

I Need You has a haunting, faraway sound to it and the lyrics tell a story which I'm sure many people can relate to. It’s quite genius musically, saying so much by doing so little. It’s truly a very good song with a strong melody and showed that Harrison had started to develop into a formidable songwriter.

George could write some beautiful melodies - Too bad they didn’t let him do it more often!

"Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" The Beatles (1968)

In my opinion, this is one of The Beatles' best rock tracks. It has a great bass sound and actually sounds a bit like early Led Zeppelin. That intro isn’t too shabby either !  

There are many interpretations of what the lyrics actually refer to. Me, I think it’s totally a drug song with the simple message that you can hide anything from anybody except yourself. To me, it sounds like a reference to heroin, which John was using at the time. "The deeper you go, the higher you fly; the higher you fly, the deeper you go" does sound like a needle in the vein reference.

As for the "monkey", this is open to interpretation too, I’m sure it’s a monkey on his back but was that monkey Yoko or was it heroin? The song is a riotous celebration of drug culture alongside a rather caustic view of those hypocrites with skeletons in their closets.

"Taxman" Revolver (1966)

The first track on my favourite Beatles album and the first George wrote to be given such a prominent position. It’s a simple but bitter lyric about how much money The Beatles were paying in taxes to the government.

'Taxman' is proper blazing political songwriting. It’s a heavy rocking song with great melody and a brilliant, very memorable guitar by Paul that is a thrill to listen to. It says everything about the track that the bass riff itself was so appreciated by a certain Mr Paul Weller that he robbed it in almost its entirety for The Jam’s ‘Start’ which was their second Number One single.

"She's Leaving Home," Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

A song based on the true story of 17 year old Melanie Coe who was known to The Beatles from the show ‘Ready, Steady Go’. Whilst it tells the story about her leaving home it can also be classed as a song about the break-up between generations. A whole new generation now saw the failure of their parents.  She's Leaving Home expresses the soreness and sadness linked to this break-up. It in a way shows that the departure for new values was inevitable. She had to leave so that she could live her 60s ‘modern’ life - "Stepping outside she is free". The mother's words show her ignorance and how she tried to buy her love "What did we do that was wrong?” "We gave her everything money could buy". Everything except her freedom maybe?

Unusually, none of The Beatles played instruments on this track. John and Paul both contributed vocals which were double-tracked to sound like a quartet, session musicians under Mike Leander’s arrangement played strings.

"And Your Bird Can Sing" Revolver (1966)

Another track from my favourite Beatles album. The energy in the performance is immense, it seems like its taking flight. The guys are truly firing on all cylinders, combining some of their youthful exuberance with their now, more mature, experienced selves. Everything’s perfect in it. The amazing double lead guitar work from George and Paul. The emotion in John’s voice has a certain edge to it, there’s emotion in everything he sings here. When he sings, “But you don’t get me,” and “You can’t see me,” and “You can’t hear me,” it’s like he’s grasping, trying desperately to get you to understand. 

There’s two theories as to what the songs about, one that it refers to the rivalry between The Beatles and The Stones. Lennon saw the Stones as Beatles copyists, the 'bird' could well have been Marianne Faithfull. The second theory is that it’s a dig at Frank Sinatra after he had a go at The Beatles, belittling their music, and their mop-top hair. This may have inflamed John to write the song. “You don’t get me,” may be seen as Lennon telling Sinatra that you may think you’ve heard and seen it all, but you don’t understand me, The Beatles or the way music is changing.

"All My Loving" With the Beatles (1963)

This is a great Paul song, probably his best love song up to that point. A melody with those simple yet effective words. Add to that some great chords on the rhythm guitar by John and it’s a fantastic early highlight.

Unusually for McCartney, the lyrics to All My Loving came before the music being written as a poem after Paul came up with them whilst shaving. Appearing on their second album - ‘With The Beatles’ – the track was written during the band's tour with Roy Orbison, which began on 18 May 1963.

"I'll Follow the Sun" Beatles for Sale (1964)

I love this song. It has this haunting faraway sound to it whilst being one of the most pleasing melodies you'll ever hear. It was actually an old song when it was recorded, Paul having wrote it as a 16 year old when he was just recovering from a bout of flu. Allegedly, he was standing in his living room looking out of the windows when he got the idea about 'Following the sun'. Personally I think it’s a theme song for unappreciated males! True, the song is sad - but in a nice kind of way.

It’s the best song on Beatles For Sale. Great (if a little sparse) lyrics and a nice melody, almost folkish in quality which makes sense because The Beatles met Bob Dylan around the time of this recording. You can also here Buddy Holly’s influence on it too. 

Sometimes less is more - A simple yet beautiful song!

Do You Agree?

I'd love to here your views. Let me know what you think should be in the list !!

We Fight The Fire - While We're Feeding The Flames

Following on from last weeks blog about Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On album and its theme of saving the environment it got me thinking about who else had done ‘Green’ songs, I must admit, not many sprang to mind. However, with the growing debate of climate change, global warming, sustainable energy etc, the issue of environmentalism must surely find its way into more and more songs.

I suppose, unlike familiar pop song subjects such as love, hate and drugs, songwriters face a particularly tricky challenge when it comes to penning a meaningful song about the environment. After all, what rhymes with fracking? ‘Morally lacking’ maybe? Admittedly, ‘Financial backing’ does though! So it strikes me that it can be difficult to pull off an “environmental song” without devolving into preachiness. It’s difficult to come up with songs that work as songs but successfully walk the line between sincere and sanctimonious.

So What Tracks Did I Come Up With?
There are a number of types of environmental songs to consider. There’s those that chronicle environmental ravages and aim to inspire awareness or action; there’s those that simply celebrate the beauty, wonder and regenerative capacity of nature and then there’s those that try and address the bigger picture.

Neil Young – After The Gold Rush
This comes from the same era as Marvin Gaye. The song seems to view our civilisation as a lost cause when it comes to conservation, with the cycle set to begin all over again in the future at “a new home in the sun.” The chorus too “Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 1970s” makes it abundantly clear that If we don’t change our ways, she may need to board a spaceship and find refuge elsewhere.

Johnny Cash - Don’t Go Near the Water 
This is a song that really hits the environmental issues head on, air pollution, water pollution, the lot. I must admit the lyrics are a bit overly preachy for my liking with lines like “We’re torturing the earth and pourin’ every kind of evil in the sea, We violated nature and our children have to pay the penalty” but on the other hand this is Johnny Cash, the Man in Black and if he wanted to preach to us we’d better be listening.

The Eagles - The Last Resort
A simple story about the American West and its rugged allure that continually draws new people to it who inevitably then go on to destroy the very values (serenity, pristine wilderness, solitude etc) that they sought there in the first place. Similar things have happened in this country too. Don and Glen’s lyrics “They call it paradise, I don’t know why, Call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye.” Are spot on and a warning that nature’s beauty must be embraced carefully rather than commercialising then strangling it. The next track is in a similar vein:

Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi
I’m sure for many people, this is the environmental song to end all environmental songs. With its chorus: “Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone, They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.” The idea of replacing the landscape with a giant car park is particularly offensive to most of us, considering that we think of car parks as ugly, dirty concrete slabs that seem to be empty more often than they’re in use. People are becoming more and more aware of their impact as the things they enjoyed began to disappear.

Joni could've turned this classic into a preachy rant. Instead she opts for a breezy, upbeat feel and a bit of sarcasm (or is it satire?): "They took all the trees, put ’em in a tree museum, And they charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see ’em." Genius !!

Marillion – Season’s End
A beautiful song about the hole in the ozone layer, and how we’ll explain to our children what we’ll leave behind for them by way of our actions. Season's End was Marillion's first album after the departure of Fish and signified a departure away into different territories. The lyrics of Season’s End say it all really. 

“We’ll tell our children’s children why we grew so tall and reached so high, we left our footprints in the earth, and punched a hole right through the sky. We’ll tell them how we changed the world, and how we tamed the sea, and seasons they will never know in England. So watch the old world melt away, a loss regrets could never mend. You’ll never miss it ’til it’s gone, so say goodbye, say goodbye to season’s end.”

And again, nothing’s changed in the 30 years since its release!!!

The Pretenders - My City Was Gone
Another updating of Big Yellow Taxi. Only Chrissie Hynde could make a song about land use and 'development' sound so nasty. The track is all about Chrissie returning to her hometown of Akron in Ohio, only to discover that over-development had robbed the city of its character. Worse for her were the environmental infractions, which she colourfully describes as, “my pretty countryside, Had been paved down the middle. By a government that had no pride.” I love this track, Chrissie’s voice drips with sarcasm and disgust. “The farms of Ohio had been replaced by shopping malls, and muzak filled the air from Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls.”  

Mentioned In Dispatches

Jamiroquai – Emergency on Planet Earth
Jamiroquai track that highlights several social and environmental issues affecting the world. Confused by the lack of action being taken, Jamiroquai asks if “anybody’s listening?” as he screams out that “we got emergency on planet Earth.”

Eddie Vedder – Society
This is from the film “Into The Wild.” Vedder takes us through a withering indictment of a modern culture obsessed with material gain at the expense of deeper connections with nature and each other, “It’s a mystery to me, we have a greed with which we have agreed, You think you have to want more than you need, until you have it all you won’t be free.”

Michael Jackson - The Earth Song
Probably the most well-known environmental song ever made. It uses a series of questions to help us all reflect on our responsibility to the earth, Michael’s main question is “What have we done to the world?” – I’ve not gone into this track further because, quite simply because I don’t like it!!

Midnight Oil – Earth and Sun and Moon
Allegedly inspired by a TV show about NASA astronauts who had gone into space and looked back down on the earth. They see the outline of the continents, the rivers, the weather patterns and of course they see the stains, the oil spills in the gulf and whatever else is wrong.

R.E.M. –Fall on Me (Oh, Acid Rain)
The song which appears on their 4th album, ‘Lifes Rich Pageant’ is one of the band's early compositions about environmentalism, discussing acid rain.

Belly – Feed the Tree 
From the Star album, this is Tanya Donelly’s driving ditty to respect and commitment to each other and to the cycle of life. Quite like this track!!

Lou Reed - Last Great American Whale
The lyrics say it all “Americans don’t care too much for anything, land and water the least, they’ll shit in a river or dump battery acid in a lake and complain if they can’t swim.” Nuff said !!

Gorillaz’s - Plastic Beach!
The trippy little title track of the album of the same name. A great album in my opinion. Theme of the track to me is it's a shame about that floating landfill in the ocean, Styrofoam, plastic, trash, scraps all collected in the ocean like an island. – A very current subject even though the track is 10 years old.

We’re All At Fault
My last track isn’t strictly an environmental song it covers the whole bigger picture and suggests we’re all at fault, we’re all responsible for the future and its all of us that must change things.

Rush - Second Nature
From 1988s patchy ‘Hold Your Fire’ album. Second Nature is conciliatory in its message: If we can't reach perfection in this world then let's at least settle for some degree of improvement. Writer Neil Peart is quoted as saying "Sometimes we have to accept something less than total victory,"  "It's like the difference between compromise and balance. The politician who campaigns for clean air but doesn't want to close down the stinking factory in his area because thousands of people will lose their jobs”.

The line "We fight the fire -- while we're feeding the flames", for me hits the whole environmental issue squarely on the head. Yes we all wants a better world without pollution. Yet we keep polluting!! That the crux of it all and a sad but accurate description of the modern world we live in.

A memo to a higher office
Open letter to the powers that be
To a god, a king, a head of state
A captain of industry
To the movers and the shakers...
Can't everybody see?

It ought to be second nature
I mean, the places where we live
Let's talk about this sensibly
We're not insensitive
I know progress has no patience
But something's got to give

I know you're different
You know I'm the same
We're both too busy
To be taking the blame
I'd like some changes
But you don't have the time
We can't go on thinking
It's a victimless crime
No one is blameless
But we're all without shame
We fight the fire while we're feeding the flames

What's (still) Going On then Marvin?

The sign of a truly great album is if it stands the test of time and Marvin Gaye’s, "What’s Going On" certainly does that. It’s still as meaningful in 2018 as it was 47 years ago back in 1971 it also seems to be even more relevant today.



It’s a truly brilliant album, my problem is, it’s nearly 50 years old and the same problems that the album raises still exist throughout the world today - and in most cases, are now even worse.


How It Was
The late '60s and early '70s in America were marked by great unrest: the race riots, the Vietnam War, economic slowdown, social deprivation in the cities all hitting communities in America hard. Sound familiar ???

Inspired by his brother's return from Vietnam, Gaye ignored the love songs that all the other Motown artists were recording, and wrote about the things in life that he cared about at the time.

From the joyous but hugely political opener, gradually the concept of the album takes shape. What follows is a velvet soul voice in the same league as Sam Cooke and a concept album of songs which don't just hang together they are vice like in their tightness and solidity. The wonders of songs such as ‘Flying High in a Friendly sky’, ‘Mercy Mercy Me’ and ‘Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)’; the street talk and the overt social concerns make this Gaye's immortal testament to the tragedy which ultimately engulfed his own life.

Some have described the album as a 'black American' album. Listen again, you will not hear the word 'black' once! This is not one of those 70's 'Blaxploitation albums like those of Curtis Mayfield. What's Going On speaks to all of humanity just like great art should. The concept is timeless.


Those Tracks
The title track is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. ‘What's Going On’ details the futility of war (especially with the famous line "You see, war is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate"). It is as relevant today as it was when it was written, the difference is Vietnam now equates to Syria, Iraq or Yeman.

‘Flyin' High’ covers the perils of drug addiction. Even more prevalent today !

‘Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)’ is about the worsening environmental situation back in the Seventies. With the current real concerns and emphasis on pollution and global warming we're now at panic stations, so much so that 'Mercy Mercy Me' could easily have been written today.

The devastatingly poignant 'Save The Children' is deeply profound, reflecting on our rapidly deteriorating climate and desperate, abandoned children in the world.

‘Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)’ could be seen as a low on the album. It deals with the miserable life lead by many within the cities. The subject matter is certainly very bleak, with seemingly little hope of salvation, represented by the howls of genuine anguish within ‘Inner City Blues’. Yet for Gaye, all is not lost: for love offers us some hope for the future in addressing these problems.

That theme is particularly strong in not only the title track, but also in ‘God Is Love’ and ‘Right On’. To quote the latter, "Love can conquer hate every time, give out some love and you'll find peace sublime": a powerful, universal message to societies all over the world, all still facing the same problems, all with a chance of redemption.


Moods 
The album operates on two levels, you can listen to it and it’ll lift you up to a better place, it can also have the opposite effect. The music can be sad and mournful too, the lyrics seemingly looking up into the sky, pleading for some kind of redemption for mankind. And given what happened some 13 years later, it is almost painful to hear him sing lines like “Love your father” and “Father father, we don't need to escalate.”


What's the Relevance Today?
The old social problems have not gone away, and are unlikely to; what is more, we now have to deal with Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and even Yemen, in the same way that Gaye's America had to deal with Vietnam. Deep down, we all know that if we could replace hate with love, the world would be a much better place. Therefore you can consider this album not just as a product of the early seventies, but as a product for all time.

Some of the religious imagery conjured up by songs such as ‘Save The Children’, ‘God Is Love’ and ‘Wholy Holy’ may, of course, appear today as somewhat dated, not to say hopelessly optimistic, particularly in the context of the general direction of today's equivalent urban R&B music, but on the other hand, it could also be argued that their message is now even more relevant (though probably no less unattainable).

Certainly, the radical content of the album's masterpieces, the title song, with its anti-Vietnam and oppression sentiment (“Picket lines and picket signs, don't punish me with brutality”); ‘Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)’, with its self-explanatory view on world pollution and the crime/police vicious circle expounded upon in ‘Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)’ all still resonate with many people today.


Truly a Landmark Album
What’s Going On is a landmark album not only of its generation but one of current and future generations. It’s up there with the best of all time. It should be mentioned in the same breath as Pet Sounds, Innervisions, London Calling, Revolver, Dark Side of the Moon etc. as a landmark production.

The feel of the album is mind-blowing, the first time I listened to the album on my own I was transported to another place. From the first note to the last I was gripped, its beauty is undeniable; it’s more than an album, it’s a feeling. It should be preached to the masses as a tool to prevent war and hatred, No one after listening to this could harm another human being.

Simply, this isn't just music and it's certainly no ordinary album. It's a template for how we should all live our lives and no music collection whatever your tastes, should be without it!


So Prophetic
Don’t forget what a scarily prophetic album What's Going On really is. It just get better and more relevant with age, the youth of today should listen to it, learn from it, violence and hate is not the answer.

To think that it’s nearly 50 years old, to me it sounds fresher and more vital than most of the bland R&B that is being offered up today, it's overtly political messages still blow me away.

What’s really sad about 'What’s Going On' though is the fact that it IS so relevant today, yes technology has advanced and created a new world since 1971, but the fundamental wrongs in this world are all, sadly still there.

Hak Baker – A ‘Later’ Discovery

I’ve watched Jools Holland’s ‘Later’ for decades, some weeks are really good, some don’t really reach the heights. Some of the new artists are brilliant, some not so. Last week though had a really impressive line-up including one Hak Baker, a musician who’d I’d never heard of before but I’ll certainly be following in the future.

Now first thing I’d say is that his sort of music isn’t on paper “my thing”. I’m not really into the whole grime scene at all, but Hak is something slightly different and it’s hard not to get drawn in. I’m not entirely sure how to define him, but I would say that he’s extremely talented and seriously impressive.

In case like me you haven’t heard of him, Hak Baker was born and raised in East London. As a teenager he was part of the B.O.M.B. Squad grime crew. What followed then was a phase of heavy drinking, partying and the sort of late-night behaviour that landed him a couple of years in jail. Of his time locked up, Hak’s quoted as saying “At a certain time, when I was in jail, I realised, this was bollocks: ‘this is shit.’ My mates started going jail, some people died, some people got nicked. And in jail I thought, ‘I don’t even care.’ Jail was like a break that I needed; ‘it’s bollocks out there anyway.’” 

 

After coming out of prison Hak has spent the last couple of years coming up with a collection of songs that fall under a genre that he calls ‘G-Folk’. Essentially what we’d maybe call socio-political alt-folk. The tracks often have laugh-out-loud lyrics but with a serious point behind each of them.

Alt-Folk

This ‘alternative’ folk I found engrossing. Of course over the years I’ve heard various versions of folk both traditional and modern, the only one I really like is the sort of Punk-Folk expounded by the likes of The Pogues, New Model Army and The Levellers. Hak’s ‘G-Folk’ is almost an extension of this.

Watching Hak on ‘Later’ he sounded like he was right in the room with me, which I suppose is the least a folk singer can hope to convey. His tracks are a fusion of English folk, reggae and Albion indie. They’re honest and nostalgic. His lyrics tell tales about growing up in the east end. Hak’s vocals are pretty raw, they seem to switch from singing to almost-rapping over an acoustic guitar.

More Digging

As a consequence of watching Hak on ‘Later’ I dug back into what he’s released over the last few years and was surprised to find that he’s not been snapped up by a major label. Some of the tracks I discovered included:

‘Misfits’ – The lyrics of which are a modern update on the ska, reggae and two-tone themes of the late 70s and early 80s dealing again with police brutality and what actually goes on on the real streets in a similar way that the like of The Specials did.

‘Skint’ – Is a very quick way into Hak. As all good punk songs do, it weighs in at a rapid two minutes 46 seconds and paints a picture of the struggles and grinds of inner city life.

‘Tom’ is a touching song about one of Hak’s mates who died and the impact of his death on their group of friends. He largely speaks the first verse in a very sombre manner, with lyrics like “we’d give anything to bring back our boy, the lads miss you, we all do”. It ends with Hak lamenting “That’s life I guess…” as an ominous synth raps the track up.

The New.... with some tradition

Hak brings up to date decades of both folk and inner city tradition into something that to me feels not only of 2018, but very believable. He brings us a sound that tips a nod to the past but brings in the foundation of today's modern music.

I’m sure as a white middle aged guy I’m not Hak’s target audience but I find there’s something compelling about him. His semi-spoken politically charged lyrics are full of real life stories of dodging the police and revelling in the traditions of London’s inner city. In many ways his work updates tracks like The Clash’s ‘Guns of Brixton’ and ‘Police and Thieves’, or The Equals’ ‘Police on My Back’ from all those years ago. Hak’s music is like nothing else that’s around at the moment and it’s incredibly captivating.

The Misfits(EP) is available for download on the likes of Amazon, there’s some decent stuff on You-Tube too – Go look it up, you won’t regret it. !!