Still With the Beatles

Yes, I'm still on about the Beatles. The remastered stereo box set is so cool, I might just write a blog post about each album. Or maybe a post for every two albums. I haven't quite decided yet.

So, let's see how much I have to say about A Hard Day's Night, the first album the Beatles recorded on four-track equipment. It's also the first album to contain exclusively Beatle-penned songs and the only album in the entire catalog to contain nothing but Lennon-McCartney compositions. There are no covers, and no songs written by George or Ringo.

The album is the soundtrack for the movie of the same name, or at least half of it is. When originally released, the first side of the LP contained the seven songs that were included in the movie, and the second side contained songs that Lennon and McCartney had written with the movie in mind, but were never actually included in the film.

Let me just say right off the top that putting in A Hard Day's Night after listening to Please Please Me and With the Beatles is a bit like watching the middle part of The Wizard of Oz, where it switches from black and white to color. The depth of the mixes here is leaps and bounds above those of the first two albums. I know some people still prefer the mono mixes of all the albums that were released that way, but this stereo mix of A Hard Day's Night is, to my ears, bloody awesome.

Right from the iconic opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night" (which I was tickled to read has recently been analyzed by a computer science professor at Dalhousie University here in Halifax), I knew I was entering a different world with this album. The simple fact of having vocals in the middle of the mix and the instruments separated behind them is like putting 3-D glasses on your ears. The sound is much more immediate and present, and you feel like you're inside the song.

Add the digital remastering to the equation, and you have an album that sounds like it could have been recorded last week. The sound is incredibly clean, all the instruments are fully audible, and distortion and muddiness are scarcely to be found.

I think the thing that really stood out for me on this album were the songs that used acoustic guitar: "If I Fell", "And I Love Her", and "I'll Be Back". The sound is warm, clear, and rubbery. It's hard to explain what I mean by "rubbery", but it's a good word in this context. You'll have to listen to tracks to understand what I mean. "And I Love Her", in particular, just oozes warm acoustic guitar goodness. I want to wrap myself in it.

Also stand-out on this record are the vocal harmonies, particulary in "If I Fell", in which John and Paul harmonize, and "Things We Said Today", which features a double-tracked Paul harmonizing with himself. The vocals in general are top notch (except for the falsetto bit in "Tell Me Why"), and when you strap on the headphones and really dig into the mix and listen to the individual instruments, right down to the strum level, you begin to realize… "These guys are good."

That may seem an odd thing to say, but how many of us really listen to the musicianship in the recordings of the Beatles? We love the songs, and we know they were dynamite songwriters, but when you have access to something as painstakingly produced as these stereo remasters, you gain the ability to really comprehend how talented and versatile the Beatles were as vocalists and musicians. They'd been playing together a long time before they ever started recording, and that tightness is more than evident on the songs presented here. They weren't just a lucky bunch of lads who happened to be in the right place at the right time. No… They were good.

The next album, Beatles For Sale, bears this out unequivocally. This stereo remaster is just as bright and clear as its precedessor, and the instruments pop out just as distinctly, if not moreso.

Despite the crisp sound and the bang-on performances, however, the album has a bit of a personality disorder. While it's clear that John and Paul's songwriting ablilities are evolving beyond the straight-ahead rock'n'roll/R&B roots evidenced in songs like "Please Please Me", "Love Me Do", and "I Saw Her Standing There", Beatles For Sale goes back to the formula of earlier albums by including a whopping six cover songs. Again, the performances are great, and the mix is fabulous, but I've never been as fond of the Beatles' cover tunes as I am of their originals.

There's also an unmistakeable country-ish flavour to this album, which, while not unpleasant, is a little disorienting. The inclusion of two Carl Perkins tunes ("Honey Don't" and "Everybody Wants to Be My Baby") leaves no question about his influence on the group, but the songs are starkly simple, especially when compared with the likes of "No Reply", "I'm a Loser", and "Baby's in Black", which lead off the album and give a clear indication of the direction John and Paul's songwriting is taking. "Honey Don't" is a terrible track, and Ringo sings it really badly. Thankfully, his vocal participation in the group is destined to be limited.

But even "I'm a Loser" and "Baby's in Black" have a slight country-ish feel to them, especially the guitar solo in the former. It's possible they were experimenting with styles, just as they were experimenting with recording techniques and overdubs in the studio.

While the album lacks a certain flow, it was certainly nice to revisit great songs like "Eight Days a Week", which predicts the addition of the sitar in later recordings with it's unusual jangly guitar fade-in, and "I'll Follow the Sun", a pretty, melancholy song that is easily Paul's sweetest vocal performance up to that point.

The remastering process has brought new life to these albums, and believe me, I'm looking forward to listening to the rest of the collection. And I'm going to subject you to the same microscopic analysis of each one as I experience it. I have a good ear, and I'm enjoying the process of immersing myself in each album and then writing about it. So, brace yourselves.

And don't forget to leave the light on.