Beatles For Sale

Story Behind the Album

As Derek Taylor stated in the sleeve of this album, this is the fourth from the Fab Four. Many critics site this album as low point in the Beatles career.  They feel there was digression; they went from having all of their own material on the previous one and now they are doing covers again.  They look tired on the cover, which I will say they do, the content has changed, and the tiltle of the album showed the Beatles may not have been at their creative best and were most likely wore down from all the tours they have been doing. I personally do not see this album as being so weak, on the contrary, I feel it was also improvement.  The single "I Feel Fine" showed a move towards experimentation, as it used feeback,and "Eight Days A Week", one of the greatest hits from the album, was the first to use a fade in, and most of the songs on here are improvements.  For example, for John's "No Reply" he was told that this was the first song he wrote that actually finished the story, and also John's song were becoming more introspective, a trait he would further develop in the future.  Particulary his songs "I'm A Loser","I Don't Want To Spoil The Party" , and "Every Little Thing" demonstrate that point well.  Paul's songs also show improvement, although they aren't quite as good as those on Hard Day's Night.  "I'll Follow the Sun" is a catchy song written by Paul when he was 15 is one of his best on there.  Although they were criticised for including covers on the album, they perform these magnificently. Specifically, John singing "Rock and Roll Music", Paul singing "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey", George's cover of idol Carl Perkins "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" is done terrifically, and Ringo contributes this time by singing another Perkins tune called "Honey Don't".   The album is not the best piece of work done by the Beatles but it shows a transition from the lovable moptops to a more serious group, only people didn't catch on to the change. Also, compared to the magnificent albums that follow, perhaps this one appears weaker.

Track Listing

1. No Reply 2. I'm A Loser 3. Baby's In Black 4. Rock N Roll Music [Berry] 5. I'll Follow The Sun 6. Mr. Moonlight [Johnson] 7. Medley: Kansas City [Lieber/Stoller]/Hey-Hey-Hey [Penniman] 8. Eight Days A Week 9. Words Of Love [Holly] 10. Honey Don't [Perkins] 11. Every Little Thing 12. I Don't Want To Spoil The Party 13. What You're Doing 14. Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby [Perkins]

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