Off The Beatle Track

At long last! The fourth in our series naming the Most Valuable Beatle for each album. Here are the previous three entries:
Please Please Me

With The Beatles

A Hard Day’s Night

This time, we’ll look at Beatles for Sale (1964).

Songwriting:

The Beatles wrote eight of the album’s 14 tracks. Of those originals, I’d argue that three are very good: John’s No Reply and I’m a Loser and Paul’s I’ll Follow the Sun. Two others are sneaky good, and they both seem to be Lennon-McCartney co-writes: Baby’s in Black and I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party.

I’m less keen about the other three originals: the co-written Eight Days a Week and (mostly) Paul’s Every Little Thing and What You’re Doing.

Verdict: John wins this category, rather handily, in my opinion. No Reply and I’m a Loser kick off the album, and they represent a step forward in the band’s songwriting. They’re more introspective than the material on A Hard Day’s Night, and, with Baby’s in Black and I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party, they mark a shift to more adult themes.

Paul’s songwriting, on the other hand, seems to have taken a step back from his Hard Day’s Night efforts. The melodies aren’t as strong, and the tunes aren’t as memorable. But that’s ok. Paul would go on to have a stellar 1965, and 1966, and 1967, and . . . .

Singing:

John takes six lead vocals: No Reply, I’m a Loser, Chuck Berry’s Rock and Roll Music, Mr. Moonlight, Eight Days a Week, and Every Little Thing. Paul has three leads: I’ll Follow the Sun, Little Richard’s Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!, and What You’re Doing. George (Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby) and Ringo (Honey Don’t) each sings lead on a Carl Perkins cover, and John and Paul share the vocals on three other tracks: Baby’s in Black, I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party, and Buddy Holly’s Words of Love.¹

The two highlights, in my opinion, are John singing Chuck Berry and Paul singing Little Richard. I also like the harmonies on Baby’s in Black and I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party.² I suppose this is as good a time as any to say that Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby³ and Honey Don’t are two of my least favorite Beatles’ songs. I mean no offense to Mr. Perkins, George, or Ringo, but to me those songs sound the way the boys look on the album cover: tired and slightly disheveled.

Verdict: The a capella opening of Mr. Moonlight, one of the least highly regarded tracks in The Beatles’ catalog, tips this category to John.⁴

Playing:

Let’s address the elephant in the room first: I don’t mind Paul’s Hammond organ solo on Mr. Moonlight. I find it nowhere near as offensive, for example, as the reverb on Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby.

John brings back the harmonica for I’m a Loser, which also features slick country-style lead guitar from George. George’s guitar work on Baby’s in Black feels clunky by comparison.

George Martin plays piano on a few tracks, most notably Rock and Roll Music, where Ringo effectively changes the beat for the tango/mambo/congo section. I’ll Follow the Sun features no drums; Ringo plays either a packing case or his knees, but he plays it (or them) reliably well. (And he plays a suitcase on Words of Love.)

Eight Days a Week uses a fade-in intro but mostly sounds to me like the last gasp of Beatlemania. I like Paul’s bass work and George’s lead on Words of Love more than I like the song. Likewise with Ringo’s drum fills before the chorus on Every Little Thing.

Verdict: George plays several tricky intros–including Baby’s in Black, Words of Love, Honey Don’t, Every Little Thing, and I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party–so I’ll give him the nod here.

MVB: 

John completes his swep of the four 1963-64 albums. Congratulations, Mr. Lennon.

I started this exercise because I believed, without the benefit of much analysis, that John’s contributions to the early albums outpaced everyone else’s. After having reviewed these four albums, I feel even more strongly about that opinion. The key difference is the strength of John’s songwriting. Now I’m curious to see whether or when anyone can steal and album MVB from him. Stay tuned.

Who do you think was the Beatles for Sale MVB? Email me at beatletrack@gmail.com.

1. Maybe with George as a third voice. ↩︎
2. Do John and Paul switch the low and high parts on the verses and chorus of I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party? ↩︎
3. I can’t stand the reverb on Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby. Sounds to me like they’re trying to hide something. ↩︎
4. I’m a Loser, by the way, also begins with John singing a capella. ↩︎