1. Taxman
2. Eleanor Rigby*
3. I'm Only Sleeping
4. Love You To
5. Here, There and Everywhere
6. Yellow Submarine
7. She Said She Said
8. Good Day Sunshine
9. And Your Bird Can Sing
10. For No One*
11. Doctor Robert
12. I Want to Tell You
13. Got to Get You Into My Life
14. Tomorrow Never Knows*
A+
Well here it is - the Beatles' best album, and a highwater mark in 20th century music. I've been pretty hard on the Beatles so far, but that's mostly just because I knew this was coming. It's not quite a perfect album (I've never much cared for "She Said She Said", and "Doctor Robert" is just an obnoxious drug song and not very interesting musically beyond the little vocal harmony breakdown in the middle), but is an incredibly good one.
But what, you may ask, makes it so good?
Well, for a start, there's the eclecticism. There's a wonderful range of music on this album :
- the mutant funk of "Taxman"
- the driving, strings-only "Eleanor Rigby"
- the gentle psychedelia of "I'm Only Sleeping"
- the Indian classical (with fuzz guitars!) of "Love You To"
- the gorgeous multi-layered harmonies of "Here, There and Everywhere"
- the goofy, music hall children's song that is "Yellow Submarine"
- the chiming guitars of the experimental rocker "She Said She Said"
- the funk-pop hybrid "Good Day Sunshine"
- the Byrds-influenced, swirling pop-rock of "And Your Bird Can Sing"
- the heart-breaking chamber pop of "For No One"
- the shuffling boogie of "Doctor Robert"
- the bold, psychedelic soul of "I Want to Tell You"
- the big, brassy R&B of "Got to Get You Into My Life"
- "Tomorrow Never Knows", a driving electronic collage of tape loops, Indian drones, backmasked instruments, seagulls (actually Paul mcCartney laughing, sped-up), processed vocals, and the world's greatest drum beat, that sounds like nothing else before or since.
And really, the production on this album is astonishing. This is the album where the Beatles decided not to worry about being able to reproduce their songs live, and the result is an unprecedented use of the studio as an instrument. Everything, from the guitars to the vocals to the drums, is twisted and warped until it sounds like nothing before. True, some of the novelty has worn off over the years, but the fact that these songs hold up just goes to show how well-written and produced they really are.
Lyrically, too, this album represents a massive leap from the Beatles' previous work, and a major shift for pop in general. Suddenly, instead of writing goofy pop songs, the Beatles were meditating on the nature of life and death, embracing Indian philosophy, preaching universal love, and railing against unfair tax policies of all things (it's kind of hard to overstate just how strange "Taxman" is, given that it's a dance song about taxes). "Here, There and Everywhere" would have to be one of the sweetest love songs ever recorded, while "For No One" is a devastating look at the failure of a relationship. "Eleanor Rigby" defies all conventions of pop - McCartney singing a sad character piece about a lonely old woman with nothing but a string octet for his backing track. And "Yellow Submarine" is one of the most joyful goofs in pop, as well as being a production masterpiece.
The real highlight of this album, though, is "Tomorrow Never Knows". If the other songs on this album borrow from, warp, or defy the conventions of pre-existing musical forms, then "Tomorrow Never Knows" takes a running jump into the deep end of "What the fuck am I listening to?". It's a purely experimental song, of a kind barely classifiable as rock music, let alone pop. And the lyrics, which explore the commonalities between ego death on an LSD trip and Eastern meditation practices (inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead), are some seriously trippy shit. Yet at the same time it's wonderfully catchy and danceable. It's an incredible, strange dance track that's about 30 years ahead of its time, and easily my favourite Beatles song.
Well anyway, there's not much I can say about this album that hasn't already been said. The Beatles would go on to bigger, bolder things, but I don't think they'd ever make a better album, even if they made some more consistent ones. This is an incredible collection of songs, and an album everyone should definitely hear at least once.
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