And if you are wondering what an EP is, well “Extended Play”. It’s a 7″ 45rpm disc (for what we are talking about here). Normally this has a maximum running time of a scrap over 7 minutes on each side, sufficient for four songs in total, ideal for an LP sampler.
The Beatles produced several. Famously, the music for Magical Mystery Tour was issued as a double EP, two tracks plus one on each disc making six songs in total, including the tuneless Blue Jay Way.
So let’s start to narrow down our selection. We’ll work backwards, kind of.
The Let It Be LP is not one of their best. There’s a short running time and several songs, like Two Of Us, that are pretty ploddy. The disc does have its highlights, but few. You might have picked Maggie Mae, but it’s only a snippet of a song and barely counts. Dig It too is included as a very short extract, to give a flavour of the whole recording. The original 15 minute version might have been too much.
Abbey Road has Octopus’s Garden, one of two songs ever with writing credits for Ringo, though George Harrison did much of the work. I know many folk hate it, but it’s in the style of Yellow Submarine and fairly innocuous. The tracks around it pull it up somewhat.
My least favorite here is Something, slow and maudlin, but I can live with it.
On Sgt Pepper, I know people hate Within You, Without You, but it’s such a clever, complicated and interesting song.
The Beatles double album has some stinkers. Wild Honey Pie, Julia, Everybody’s got something to hide…, Why don’t we do it… and so on. Dismal, turgid songs that are acceptable within the context of the album but only just.
Of course, Revolution 9 is Lennon and Harrison’s move into experimental noise. It is interesting, I don’t get tired of listening to it and it is way better than the saccharine Good Night which follows it.
The Yellow Submarine soundtrack has fairly nothing songs on, not too offensive and one outright winner in Hey Bulldog.
And, as we all agree, Revolver is perfection, possibly the best rock album of all time with not one misplaced note.
Many people consider that Rubber Soul is really Revolver part 1. I disagree. It is hard to criticise Revolver. The pop tunes are perfect examples of masterful songwriting, there’s invention, energy and fun. With Rubber Soul, I find tracks like Girl and Michelle to be dismal and pretentious. It’s still a goodish LP, but doesn’t hang together as a whole for me.
The two film soundtracks, A Hard Day’s Night and Help have, it seems to me at least, better production values that many other early Beatles records. Each has one side of film tunes and one of extras. Forget the film aspect, and they are still good LPs. I hate Yesterday, but there’s nothing bad here.
That concludes all the albums where all the songs are original compositions. Other albums included cover tracks.
To be continued…