Beatles for Sale

Beatles for Sale

by The Beatles
Beatles for Sale

Beatles for Sale

by The Beatles

CD(Remastered / Special Edition / Enhanced / Digi-Pak)

$18.99 
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Overview

It was inevitable that the constant grind of touring, writing, promoting, and recording would grate on the Beatles, but the weariness of Beatles for Sale comes as something of a shock. Only five months before, the group released the joyous A Hard Day's Night. Now, they sound beaten, worn, and, in Lennon's case, bitter and self-loathing. His opening trilogy ("No Reply," "I'm a Loser," "Baby's in Black") is the darkest sequence on any Beatles record, setting the tone for the album. Moments of joy pop up now and again, mainly in the forms of covers and the dynamic "Eight Days a Week," but the very presence of six covers after the triumphant all-original A Hard Day's Night feels like an admission of defeat or at least a regression. (It doesn't help that Lennon's cover of his beloved obscurity "Mr. Moonlight" winds up as arguably the worst thing the group ever recorded.) Beneath those surface suspicions, however, there are some important changes on Beatles for Sale, most notably Lennon's discovery of Bob Dylan and folk-rock. The opening three songs, along with "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party," are implicitly confessional and all quite bleak, which is a new development. This spirit winds up overshadowing McCartney's cheery "I'll Follow the Sun" or the thundering covers of "Rock & Roll Music," "Honey Don't," and "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!," and the weariness creeps up in unexpected places -- "Every Little Thing," "What You're Doing," even George's cover of Carl Perkins' "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" -- leaving the impression that Beatlemania may have been fun but now the group is exhausted. That exhaustion results in the group's most uneven album, but its best moments find them moving from Merseybeat to the sophisticated pop/rock they developed in mid-career. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date: 09/09/2009
Label: Apple Records / Capitol
UPC: 0094638241423
Rank: 19261

Tracks

  1. No Reply
  2. I'm a Loser
  3. Baby's in Black
  4. Rock & Roll Music
  5. I'll Follow the Sun
  6. Mr. Moonlight
  7. Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!
  8. Eight Days a Week
  9. Words of Love
  10. Honey Don't
  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
  15. Beatles for Sale Mini-Documentary

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The Beatles   Primary Artist
George Harrison   Vocals
Ringo Starr   Vocals

Technical Credits

Paul Hicks   Remastering
George Martin   Producer
Sean Magee   Remastering
Carl Perkins   Composer
Roy Lee Johnson   Composer
Ray Griff   Composer
Guy Massey   Remastering
Richard Penniman   Composer
Mike Heatley   Liner Notes
Kevin Howlett   Liner Notes
Otis Johnson   Composer
Robert Freeman   Photography
Norman Smith   Engineer
Steve Rooke   Remastering
Sam O'Kell   Remastering
Kazuko Katagiri   Translation
Paul McCartney   Composer
Chuck Berry   Composer
John Lennon   Composer
Derek Taylor   Liner Notes
Jerry Leiber   Composer
Mike Stoller   Composer
Buddy Holly   Composer
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