Follow the Leader: Episode 76: Red or Blue Beatles?
Martinex1: Follow the Leader today... pick a topic and we will jump on the bandwagon! Cheers!
23 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Last week Martinex asked which greatest hits album we'd take to a desert-island and some comments mentioned the Beatles' Red and Blue albums...both of them...as if they were a single item rather than TWO separate albums. So my question today is:
Obviously this question is open to everybody not just those who mentioned the Beatles :D
And you can't cheat by choosing the "1" album instead!
To answer my own question: I've never been that much of a Beatles fan (gasp!) but I love "Across The Universe" which is on the Blue album so I'll choose that one.
I think I would prefer the Blue Album, mainly because when I was growing up, I listened to the songs on the Red Album almost endlessly. When I picked up the Blue Album, I got to hear a lot of songs I'd never heard and they've become some of my favorites.
One of the things that's obvious now is that with the advent of the CD in the 80's, there could have been many more great songs included that had to be left off of the original format. It's interesting to ponder what songs could have been added to each collection, but as it is, both collections are nearly perfect.
Ok, I'll buck the trend here and go Red (and no, my name has NOTHING to do with it :)
My favorite Beatle LP's were Rubber Soul and Revolver, and their material from 65-66 was magnificent. As that period was included on the Red LP, it gets my vote.
I'll go with the Red Album. Not necessarily because I prefer the music, but when my parents got their first car stereo, with a tape deck, the Red Album cassette was the first tape they bought for the car. I remember going with them to Peaches to get it. For a long time, it was the only tape we had, played it on every car trip that was longer than 30 minutes. Lots of good memories of those songs playing in their 1978 Scirocco.
Of course if we're talking "proper" Beatles albums, I prefer Rubber Soul and after to the earlier stuff.
If we absolutely have to pick one of those two, I'll go with Blue. However, I think it's criminal that in both of those collections there's only two songs from Revolver - which is, hands down, my favorite album of theirs.
Edo - I feel your pain. I don't understand having so little of Revolver on Red.
Lennon was quoted as saying "For No One" was his favorite song by McCartney. Love the French horn!
And then "Got to Get You into My Life" went on to #1 in the USA around 1976?
All that said, I was not old enough in the 60s to have a sense of the Beatles and their popularity so perhaps Revolver just didn't rack up a bunch of # 1 singles compared to other albums to put them on Red?
Neither Revolver nor Rubber Soul had an abundance of hits, but they were some of the band's best songs. One of the cool things about the Red and Blue albums was that they led me to check out the other recordings of the band, so I got to find all of these great tunes I might have missed otherwise. It was also cool to hear George Harrison getting his songwriting chops on these two albums.
Tough call. My father gave me those two as tapes as my first introduction into music together with my first radio+tape recorder when I was about 10 years old. I listened to them literally a hundred times!
The Red Album has the better melodies and most impressive choral singing (is this the correct english term?). This is what seized me immediately until today.
But the Blue Album got the better instrumental riffs and is much more diverse. I love "Old Brown Shoes", "While my guitar...", "Come Together". So I go for the Blue one.
If the question would be "What Album is essential to make the Beatles immortal?", I would definitely say the Red one. Because it is so much different and better than the other music in those years. But in 1967-1970 the Beatles were not so much "better" than other groups and the songs are not that special anymore. In fact I prefer most Rolling Stones riffs over the Beatles riffs.
As I wait for folks to show up for a production meeting. . .
George Harrison's ALL THINGS MUST PASS album was indeed a three album set-- but the third was sort of a "bonus" disc. IIRC it was called Apple Jam or Apple Scrufs or Apple Peels--- or something like that, and it was a much looser, free-form (maybe studio jam?) offering. I don't think I've listened to it more than once or twice, honestly.
Soooooo, gonna be Red album for me, but only by a whisker. After one of our mid-70's blizzards in SW Michigan, my sisters and I were stir-crazy enough to walk through the snow-covered golf-course, vacant fields, vacant lots, and assorted folks' back yards (about 1-1/2 miles, maybe) to our local grocery store once it opened back up. We didn't get any groceries-- I just had money burning a hole in my pocket. Our store had the obligatory alphabetized record bin (with a surprisingly strong selection), and that early/late photograph design on those covers caught my eye, as it always did. I thought, heck, the Beatles are pretty good, I remember a lot of their songs--- maybe not as good as the Monkees, but still pretty decent. . .
And I showed my sister both albums and asked which she thought would be the better choice. She said the Red one had the better songs as far as she could tell (she was probably 12), so that's what I went with. Trudged back home (thigh-deep snow in some places), and put it on my Dad's stereo. . . and that was it. Musical preferences changed FOREVER. By the time summer rolled around, I picked up the Blue Album, and was pretty much playing both of them just about every day. Even now, both collections have a strong early-summer association for me. On Memorial Day it would be: do the brief, rather somber parade with the marching band; go home and change into shorts, have lunch, put on the Red Album, and then almost certainly hit the lake for swimming in the afternoon.
Hmm--- this. . . this may have been a FAR longer reminiscence than was required for the question at hand, I suppose, mightn't it. . . ?
Blue. Hands down. It was my first Beatles' record, and while I hate "Best of" and a"Greatest Hits" albums these days, back in those days not all of their best songs were on albums at all, requiring stuff like Past Masters to fill the gaps.
At the risk of joining Tom in the abyss, here's another Beatles collection: Live at the BBC. Ok, not technically a greatest hits. But it contains a bountiful array of live cuts on 2 discs, many of which are tunes the Boys recorded nowhere else ...
SO MANY re-configured compilation albums over the years, too, Red! How many different ways can Greatest Hits be re-packaged with a few outlying recordings added/subtracted here and there? Man?
HEY JUDE, in fact, was nothing more than a compilation of non-album Single recordings (A & some B sides), which was released after the Beatles had finished recording for the last time.
BEATLES ROCK & ROLL-- which rode a Beatlemania wave in the mid-70's, which included "Got To Get You Into My Life".
BEATLES: LOVE SONGS-- unremarkable compilation; how many times can you listen to "Yesterday"--?
BEATLES PAST MASTERS vol 1 & 2-- Got 'em both; have no idea what their distinction was.
BEATLES 1-- Lot of songs, although a couple of them are stretches as far as legitimacy goes.
Two rounds of the Live BBC albums (love 'em).
Hollywood Bowl album -- technical mess; absolutely adore it.
The three ANTHOLOGY double CD sets-- mostly great.
And-- I guess there are about a zillion well-known bootlegs out there as well. . . !
23 comments:
Last week Martinex asked which greatest hits album we'd take to a desert-island and some comments mentioned the Beatles' Red and Blue albums...both of them...as if they were a single item rather than TWO separate albums. So my question today is:
Red Album 1962-1966
Blue Album 1967-1970...
...which ONE would you take to a desert-island?
Obviously this question is open to everybody not just those who mentioned the Beatles :D
And you can't cheat by choosing the "1" album instead!
To answer my own question: I've never been that much of a Beatles fan (gasp!) but I love "Across The Universe" which is on the Blue album so I'll choose that one.
But I also love "Norwegian Wood" which is on the Red album...D'OH!!
I'll stick with Blue though.
Oh brother... it's impossible to answer! The Beatles should not be punished because they had such a large body of popular work!
If only they had issued a quadruple album of hits this would be a non issue!!!
Didn't some groups actually release triple albums back in the day???
Charlie, I think George Harrison's first album was a triple album.
The Beatles could have released a triple album with fewer songs instead of the Red and Blue albums :)
I think I would prefer the Blue Album, mainly because when I was growing up, I listened to the songs on the Red Album almost endlessly. When I picked up the Blue Album, I got to hear a lot of songs I'd never heard and they've become some of my favorites.
One of the things that's obvious now is that with the advent of the CD in the 80's, there could have been many more great songs included that had to be left off of the original format. It's interesting to ponder what songs could have been added to each collection, but as it is, both collections are nearly perfect.
Those 2 minute Red Album songs are what got me hooked on the Beatles as a youngster.
But the Blue songs had a whole extra layer to them.
So, Blue for me.
Ok, I'll buck the trend here and go Red (and no, my name has NOTHING to do with it :)
My favorite Beatle LP's were Rubber Soul and Revolver, and their material from 65-66 was magnificent. As that period was included on the Red LP, it gets my vote.
Red, you swayed me! Red it is! Revolver is the best; perhaps more could have been on Red?
I'd probably go with Blue, since I like most of their later stuff.
I'll go with the Red Album. Not necessarily because I prefer the music, but when my parents got their first car stereo, with a tape deck, the Red Album cassette was the first tape they bought for the car. I remember going with them to Peaches to get it. For a long time, it was the only tape we had, played it on every car trip that was longer than 30 minutes. Lots of good memories of those songs playing in their 1978 Scirocco.
Of course if we're talking "proper" Beatles albums, I prefer Rubber Soul and after to the earlier stuff.
If we absolutely have to pick one of those two, I'll go with Blue. However, I think it's criminal that in both of those collections there's only two songs from Revolver - which is, hands down, my favorite album of theirs.
Edo - I feel your pain. I don't understand having so little of Revolver on Red.
Lennon was quoted as saying "For No One" was his favorite song by McCartney. Love the French horn!
And then "Got to Get You into My Life" went on to #1 in the USA around 1976?
All that said, I was not old enough in the 60s to have a sense of the Beatles and their popularity so perhaps Revolver just didn't rack up a bunch of # 1 singles compared to other albums to put them on Red?
Neither Revolver nor Rubber Soul had an abundance of hits, but they were some of the band's best songs. One of the cool things about the Red and Blue albums was that they led me to check out the other recordings of the band, so I got to find all of these great tunes I might have missed otherwise. It was also cool to hear George Harrison getting his songwriting chops on these two albums.
Tough call. My father gave me those two as tapes as my first introduction into music together with my first radio+tape recorder when I was about 10 years old. I listened to them literally a hundred times!
The Red Album has the better melodies and most impressive choral singing (is this the correct english term?). This is what seized me immediately until today.
But the Blue Album got the better instrumental riffs and is much more diverse. I love "Old Brown Shoes", "While my guitar...", "Come Together". So I go for the Blue one.
If the question would be "What Album is essential to make the Beatles immortal?", I would definitely say the Red one. Because it is so much different and better than the other music in those years. But in 1967-1970 the Beatles were not so much "better" than other groups and the songs are not that special anymore. In fact I prefer most Rolling Stones riffs over the Beatles riffs.
As I wait for folks to show up for a production meeting. . .
George Harrison's ALL THINGS MUST PASS album was indeed a three album set-- but the third was sort of a "bonus" disc. IIRC it was called Apple Jam or Apple Scrufs or Apple Peels--- or something like that, and it was a much looser, free-form (maybe studio jam?) offering. I don't think I've listened to it more than once or twice, honestly.
Soooooo, gonna be Red album for me, but only by a whisker. After one of our mid-70's blizzards in SW Michigan, my sisters and I were stir-crazy enough to walk through the snow-covered golf-course, vacant fields, vacant lots, and assorted folks' back yards (about 1-1/2 miles, maybe) to our local grocery store once it opened back up. We didn't get any groceries-- I just had money burning a hole in my pocket. Our store had the obligatory alphabetized record bin (with a surprisingly strong selection), and that early/late photograph design on those covers caught my eye, as it always did. I thought, heck, the Beatles are pretty good, I remember a lot of their songs--- maybe not as good as the Monkees, but still pretty decent. . .
And I showed my sister both albums and asked which she thought would be the better choice. She said the Red one had the better songs as far as she could tell (she was probably 12), so that's what I went with. Trudged back home (thigh-deep snow in some places), and put it on my Dad's stereo. . . and that was it. Musical preferences changed FOREVER. By the time summer rolled around, I picked up the Blue Album, and was pretty much playing both of them just about every day. Even now, both collections have a strong early-summer association for me. On Memorial Day it would be: do the brief, rather somber parade with the marching band; go home and change into shorts, have lunch, put on the Red Album, and then almost certainly hit the lake for swimming in the afternoon.
Hmm--- this. . . this may have been a FAR longer reminiscence than was required for the question at hand, I suppose, mightn't it. . . ?
HB
Gun to my head...Blue! No Red! No definitely Blue!
Btw, I think I was the one who brought up "1" on that desert island post.
Then there's the anthologies. I think there's THREE of those...
Tom
. . . and thus Tom is flung into the abyss in the waning minutes of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. . .
HB
Hahaha! African or European? Greatest movie ever HB!
Tom
Blue. Hands down. It was my first Beatles' record, and while I hate "Best of" and a"Greatest Hits" albums these days, back in those days not all of their best songs were on albums at all, requiring stuff like Past Masters to fill the gaps.
At the risk of joining Tom in the abyss, here's another Beatles collection: Live at the BBC. Ok, not technically a greatest hits. But it contains a bountiful array of live cuts on 2 discs, many of which are tunes the Boys recorded nowhere else ...
SO MANY re-configured compilation albums over the years, too, Red! How many different ways can Greatest Hits be re-packaged with a few outlying recordings added/subtracted here and there? Man?
HEY JUDE, in fact, was nothing more than a compilation of non-album Single recordings (A & some B sides), which was released after the Beatles had finished recording for the last time.
BEATLES ROCK & ROLL-- which rode a Beatlemania wave in the mid-70's, which included "Got To Get You Into My Life".
BEATLES: LOVE SONGS-- unremarkable compilation; how many times can you listen to "Yesterday"--?
BEATLES PAST MASTERS vol 1 & 2-- Got 'em both; have no idea what their distinction was.
BEATLES 1-- Lot of songs, although a couple of them are stretches as far as legitimacy goes.
Two rounds of the Live BBC albums (love 'em).
Hollywood Bowl album -- technical mess; absolutely adore it.
The three ANTHOLOGY double CD sets-- mostly great.
And-- I guess there are about a zillion well-known bootlegs out there as well. . . !
HB
Post a Comment