Thanks for heads-up. It’s fun. It is interesting that during ’62 audition the BBC producer said they were “more country and western”. Carl Perkins’ influence was apparent on early recordings but not dominant and it went away pretty quickly under weight of Lennon-McCartney songwriting. Here, it is up-front. In fact I was struck, in this pre-Lennon-McCartney juggernaut era, by the prominence of George. The album is mostly covers and by my count George has over a quarter or them. He seems more integrated in the musical by-play as well.
What’s interesting is that the Lennon-McCartney songs somehow seemed to integrate all their influences and yet sounded brand new.
Also interesting to me was how rapidly everthing changes from 63 to 64. As their act moved from covers to originals, they just somehow broke through on songwriting and instrumentation. You listen to the Beatles in one self-contained Cavern Club universe and then all of a sudden–twang!–it’s 1964 and the famous hard-to-decipher opening chord to Hard Day’s Night. You are in a different universe.
Yes — it was an amazing creative explosion. George Martin’s rare combination of good taste and openness to experimentation played a role, but mainly it was just the lads’ realization that their moment had come and their sense of joy in taking advantage of it. That and a liberal dose of unschooled genius.
I have the CD’s: it’s interesting.
The guys seem to be having fun.
Thanks for heads-up. It’s fun. It is interesting that during ’62 audition the BBC producer said they were “more country and western”. Carl Perkins’ influence was apparent on early recordings but not dominant and it went away pretty quickly under weight of Lennon-McCartney songwriting. Here, it is up-front. In fact I was struck, in this pre-Lennon-McCartney juggernaut era, by the prominence of George. The album is mostly covers and by my count George has over a quarter or them. He seems more integrated in the musical by-play as well.
What’s interesting is that the Lennon-McCartney songs somehow seemed to integrate all their influences and yet sounded brand new.
Also interesting to me was how rapidly everthing changes from 63 to 64. As their act moved from covers to originals, they just somehow broke through on songwriting and instrumentation. You listen to the Beatles in one self-contained Cavern Club universe and then all of a sudden–twang!–it’s 1964 and the famous hard-to-decipher opening chord to Hard Day’s Night. You are in a different universe.
http://www.beatlesbible.com/features/hard-days-night-chord/
Yes — it was an amazing creative explosion. George Martin’s rare combination of good taste and openness to experimentation played a role, but mainly it was just the lads’ realization that their moment had come and their sense of joy in taking advantage of it. That and a liberal dose of unschooled genius.