When I moved to New York in the 1970s I started collecting the British versions of all The Beatles albums. I’d never seen them on sale in America before, but this was New York and they could be found in many of the big record stores.
I knew they were the canonical albums, the albums as The Beatles had created them, before Capitol chopped them up and rearranged them for the American releases. They had more songs on them and more attractive covers and tended to be better pressings.
I had to save up for months to get a new one — they were more expensive than the Capitol albums and I was always short of ready cash — but they were good company in those scrambling days.
I remember feeling down one day in my crummy loft on 21st Street and putting on Beatles For Sale and instantly cheering up. I thought, “The Beatles never let you down.” They really don’t.
I thought, “The Beatles never let you down.” They really don’t. = So true. They were and are wall to wall pure sonic joy.
I remember when Alex Bennett had his talk show on WABC-FM in the early/mid ’70s NYC (the station may have been rebranded WPLJ by that point?). He had people call in and vote for the “worst song ever” by different performers. The result for The Beatles were “Do You Want To Know A Secret?” and “Mr. Moonlight”.
If that’s THE WORST, well, that ain’t bad. I always found “Secret” a charming bit of early Harrison. “Moonlight” is perhaps a tad overdone on the vocals, maybe a bit campy, not my favorite Beatle recorded perfomance, but not totally hideous.
BTW—The vote for Dylan was “Winterlude”.
I like “Winterlude”! Also like “Do You Want To Know A Secret?” “Mr. Moonlight” I could live without.