The Intricacies of Sound: August 2013

Recommended by Bex:

This post is an extended description of a compilation I lovingly created this week, to complement the hugely popular One. As the title suggests, the release only included number one singles, and as such omitted several gems and hit singles, most notably 'Please Please Me'.

I made several changes to the tracklist before settling on this. I added two tracks from Love: an alternative 'Eleanor Rigby' and a rather beautiful and extended 'Lucy'. Great/odd track 'Girl' was also a late addition.

A detailed track-by-track discussion follows:

COME TOGETHER: A COMPILATION 1963–1969

I Saw Her Standing There (From Please Please Me)
Written with John Lennon in Paul McCartney's Liverpool front room, 'I Saw Her Standing There' is the opening track on The Beatles' debut album. The pair shirked school and wrote it mostly on guitars.

Ticket to Ride (From Help!)
Ringo Starr's monumental drumming drives this ominous rocker of thwarted desire, heavy as you could get before heavy metal. Heralded by music press as a departure from the group's more familiar territory.

Twist and Shout (From Please Please Me)
The last song on the debut, in itself notable for 11 songs recorded in a mere 10 hours. George Harrison knew Lennon's voice would suffer from the performance, so he left it until last, with only 15 minutes of scheduled recording time remaining.

Please Please Me (From Please Please Me)
The single was released on 11 January 1963 during one of the worst winters in British history. On January 12 most of the population were snowed-in watching the Beatles perform on the TV show Thank Your Lucky Stars. Widely recognised as their first number one, it reached number two on what was to become the UK Singles Chart.

And Your Bird Can Sing (From Revolver)
Descending twin lead guitars drive us through Lennon’s snappy rejection of snobbery, about the most uplifting put down you could imagine.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps (From The Beatles aka The White Album)
Mystic George mournfully contemplates the power of his instrument, with magical Eric Clapton solo. A demo version of the song was recorded by The Beatles at Harrison's bungalow, featuring several lines that were later left out:

'I look at you all, see the love there that's sleeping / While my guitar gently weeps / Problems you sow are the troubles you're reaping / Still my guitar gently weeps

I look at the trouble and hate that is raging / While my guitar gently weeps / As I'm sitting here, doing nothing but ageing / Still my guitar gently weeps'

Eleanor Rigby (From Revolver)
My current favourite Beatles track. Backed by a string quartet, McCartney's intense vignette of loneliness still resonates with melodic melancholy. For a time he settled on the name Miss Daisy Hawkins.

Any Time at All (From A Hard Day's Night)
The first song on side two of A Hard Day's Night, 'Any Time at All' was written by Lennon and recorded during the final session for the album.

The Beatles never got around to writing lyrics for the middle eight due to its late composition, but McCartney suggested a set of piano chords. The deadline for the album's final mixes meant it went on release in its unintended state.

Strawberry Fields Forever (From Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack)
Lennon's psychedelic wander through childhood memories ripples with shapeshifting technicolour sounds and rattling Ringo drums. In Anthology Lennon describes Strawberry Fields as 'psychoanalysis set to music'.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (From Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)
Rolling Stone magazine described the song as 'Lennon's lavish daydream', and one of the classic songs of psychedelia as a whole. There are few other songs that so successfully evoke a dream world in both the sonic textures and words.

In My Life (From Rubber Soul)
Deceptively simple, elegantly melodic reflection on love and life, with baroque interlude via producer George Martin. Lennon considers it 'the first time I consciously put my literary part of myself into the lyric'.

Written mostly by Lennon, it started as a set of memories of Liverpool, and became a remembrance of friends and lovers of the past. Lennon regarded 'In My Life' particularly highly, citing it – along with 'Strawberry Fields Forever', 'I Am the Walrus' and 'Help! – as among his best.

Hey Bulldog (From Yellow Submarine soundtrack)
Surrealist belter with John and Paul ripping it up in mutual delight. It is their only recording process captured by a film crew, who were shooting a promotional film for Lady Madonna. Harrison said 'it was Neil Aspinall who found out that when you watched and listened to the original, we were recording Bulldog'.

Blackbird (From The Beatles aka The White Album)
Composed shortly after The Beatles' stay in Rishikesh, India. Beautiful acoustic playing and a simple metaphor of freedom: a McCartney solo gem to rival the more celebrated 'Yesterday'.

I Am the Walrus (From Magical Mystery Tour)
Epic nonsense revelling in the ripeness of the English language. The most ridiculous possibilities of recorded sound – and the sheer absurdity of the position they held as Sixties demi-Gods.

A Day in the Life (From Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)
A journey into inner space, contrasting John's ethereal whimsy with Paul's brusquely melodic cheer and pitching all the way to orchestral apocalypse. The line 'I'd love to turn you on' was enough to get the song banned by the BBC.

All My Loving (From With the Beatles)
Though not released as a single, it drew considerable airplay. McCartney cites it as the first song where the lyrics were written first: 'I never wrote words first, it was always some kind of accompaniment. I've hardly ever done it since either'.

It Won't Be Long (From With the Beatles)
Kicking off the second UK album, it heavily featured the band's distinctive 'Yeah, yeah' signature established on 'She Loves You'.

The song was written mainly by Lennon, with help from McCartney. They were especially proud of the juxtaposition of 'be long' and 'belong', similar to the wordplay that influenced 'Please Please Me'.

Here Comes the Sun (From Abbey Road)
Recorded July-August 1969. In Anthology, George Harrison recalled it being written at the time when Apple was getting like school:

We had to go and be businessmen: 'Sign this' and 'Sign that'. Anyway, it seems as if winter in England goes on forever; by the time spring comes you really deserve it. So one day I decided I was going to sag off Apple and I went over to Eric Clapton's house.

The relief of not having to go and see all those dopey accountants was wonderful, and I walked around the garden with one of Eric’s acoustic guitars and wrote 'Here Comes the Sun'.

Girl (From Rubber Soul)
The last song recorded for Rubber Soul, 'Girl' was one of the most melancholy and complex of their earlier love songs. It explored the notion of the ideal woman, and touched upon John Lennon's feelings towards Christianity.

McCartney says his main memory is that 'John wanted to hear the breathing, wanted it to be very intimate, so George Martin put a special compressor on the voice, then John dubbed it'.

Thanks to The Beatles Bible, an excellent resource. Initially the compilation was made for my Dad, I hope that he enjoys it!