Okay, seriously, who buys beetles? I mean, really, that's just gross. Unless you are referring to these guys, but still, c'mon, look at their hair, it looks like...like...kids today. Get a haircut!
Anyhoo...fresh back from Hollywood, the Beatles released album number 4 just in time for Christmas 1964. So, let's see, that's what, another 5 months after that last album. hmmm, I'm thinking this might be a little rushed. And when checking the Wiki-man, yep, 6 covers all in an effort to hit stores for the holiday shopping season. And who doesn't love a good sale?
Judging by the cover, these guys are either tired or starting to get serious. And since it's their 4th album in 21 months, I'm going with tired. Let's see how they did.
- No Reply - The album starts off on a somber note - John's girl is avoiding him and no wonder, it sounds like he's stalking her - peaking through her window and calling all the time. A nice bouncy tune with a little pinch of crazy; and then it ends abruptly.
- I'm a Loser - After losing his girl in the previous song, John loses a little self-esteem, though with some nice voice inflections, I might add.
- Baby's in Black - I am going to assume that Lennon is mourning his girl from the first song, probably after John killed her in a bout of depression he suffered in song two. It's fairly short, likely to prevent John from incriminating himself. I didn't care for this so much.
- Rock and Roll Music - Now this is more like it. Lennon again jacks Chuck Berry, but this time doesn't seem to care if he breaks the song or not - he's out to prove something here. Or maybe he is just partying after stalking and killing his last girlfriend and getting away with it.
- I'll Follow the Sun - Slowing it down here, but with a nice melody. Apparently it only takes 1 minute and 49 seconds to break up with your girlfriend to wander aimlessly around the world hoping that she'll figure out what she's lost, though by then you're both alone...poor Paul.
- Mr. Moonlight - What the hell is this crap?
- Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey - They apparently combined two songs as an ode to a city I doubt they ever visited.
- Eight Days a Week - A nice fade in to a classic track to make up for the last two songs. I've always liked how the chorus slows down a bit. Word on the street is that Lennon refused to play this song live as he didn't like it, probably because it was a love song and not a stalking, freak-out-your-lover song.
- Words of Love - Covering Buddy Holly this time and not too badly either. At least they are not afraid to show their personality anymore.
- Honey Don't - Ringo again draws the short straw and gets stuck with this miserable excuse for a song. I think the bad thing about covering songs from the '50s is that they are lacking any resemblence of an actual verse and just repeat the chorus or song title over and over again.
- Every Little Thing - The instrumental is far better than the lyrics here.
- I Don't Want to Spoil the Party - Yet they do with this song.
- What You're Doing - hmmm, I could have sworn this was just on.
- Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby - Apparently George's contract stipulated that he will get to sing more songs than Ringo so they added this cover to finish off the album and shut him the hell up.
Overall, John sounds depressed on this album as his girl leaves him, he decides that he's a loser, (probably kills her), and by the end of the album his date stands him up at a party. So much for Beatlemania. Paul even leaves his girl for the sweet warmth of the Sun and after working 8 days a week, it's no wonder the album cover shows them sad and a little pissed off. Maybe they were really having a fire sale to rid the shelves of the crap before creating better albums. The first half sucks (to put it nicely) and the second half starts nicely before taking a turn for the worse so unless you enjoy feeling like crap, I'd say pass on this album as your "best of" disc (that you bought to avoid album #2) will have the good songs from this album too.
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