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1.58am
16 August 2012
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This is a very strange question, but I’m sincere:
For the number of times I’ve played all of the 2009 remasters, I rarely listen to ‘Past Masters ‘ (I’m an album-type-of-guy). Therefore, there are some songs I hear far less frequently than others. When I hear them on the radio they seem oddly foreign, but in a good way. Notable examples are some of the earlier stuff like “I’ll Get You “, “Matchbox “, “She’s A Woman ” and “I’m Down ” and later nuggets like “Rain ” and even “Hey Jude ” and “Revolution “.
I love what the Purple Chick bootleg Deluxe Edition series did, and included the singles chronologically, either at the beginning or the end of the album, to not only include the singles but to also present the entire song catalogue with some sort of continuity.
So… Here’s the query: Do you (the hardcore fans) ever feel less-connected to the non-album singles?
E is for 'Ergent'.
11.38pm
14 December 2009
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You’re asking two different questions there, it seems to me! (“Feel” different vs. less connected.) I usually think of the singles in the context of the timeframe in which they were recorded, with the result that the ones whose recording occured roughly concurrent with album sessions (“I Feel Fine “, “Paperback Writer “, “Day Tripper “) have a different “aura” than the stopgap ones like “Lady Madonna ” or “The Ballad of John & Yoko”. To my way of thinking, those two different sorts of singles feel more estranged than do singles-in-general from albums. (And of course, it helps that some of the most completely anomalous Beatles tracks like “You Know My Name” and “The Inner Light ” and “Ballad” are on those outlier singles.) Album-session singles feel more familiar to me, less like orphans. Like, I tend to think of “Paperback Writer /Rain ” as part of the…I dunno…totality of Revolver , like the album’s in a car travelling cross-continent, and meanwhile the single is in a trailer attached to the bumper. Travelling to all the same destinations at the same time and always in sight, yet apart. If that makes any sense.
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3.58am
16 August 2012
Offline I like your analogies. I couldn’t think of any better way to illustrate your thoughts. Well done.
E is for 'Ergent'.
1.46pm
3 May 2012
Offline I feel a kind of connection between Paperback Writer and Revolver , but as for other singles recorded near to an album time-wise, I do think of them as being singles (as in solitary, not belonging to an album). Take for example Hey Jude , I know there isn’t much ”flow” between the tracks on the White Album anyway but I can’t imagine it being on there at all, although Revolution I almost can. I think it depends on the style or ”feel” of the song, and if it’s similar in any way to that off the album that was released soon after or before it.
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7.21pm
5 November 2011
Offline I don’t listen to Past Masters , only in the car occasionally. It’s not an album to me. Even though I don’t listen to Past Masters , though, I used to only play Beatles songs on shuffle. For many off their singles (Hey Jude being the big one), I have listened to them on repeat for days. So, I’m no less familiar with most of the singles than I am with the album tracks.
The only one that really feels different to me is The Ballad Of John And Yoko . I don’t really know why, the song just sounds different than their other songs. Not as Beatley sounding.
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9.23pm
17 January 2013
Offline unknown said
The only one that really feels different to me is The Ballad Of John And Yoko . I don’t really know why, the song just sounds different than their other songs. Not as Beatley sounding.
I agree, that song is to me is very much like John’s solo work he did soon after.
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
11.44pm
5 November 2011
Offline 
Hey Hairy L! Love the new avatar!
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6.40am
Reviewers
17 December 2012
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I don’t think that they do. But I think that that is partly to do with when I grew up, and the way in which I discovered their catalogue.
As I’ve said in other threads, it was Lennon’s murder that was the turning point for me. I was off school ill on that Monday in the UK, and all day the radio was playing songs I had been hearing for years and loved, but had never connected as being by the same group. That realisation that this music was by the same four people had me lost forever.
The strange thing, coincidence, Beatley moment… whatever you may wish to call it, was that I had heard Lennon’s Starting Over on the radio in the couple of weeks beforehand, and — as the first single I bought for myself — I had trotted down to Woolworths in the High Street the Saturday before, because I loved Buddy Holly and it reminded me of Buddy in places.
My first Beatles album, which I was given for Christmas that distant 1980, was Rock ‘N’ Roll Music Volume 1. It was on the EMI budget label MfP (Music for Pleasure). MfP albums were £1.99 (the price of a single then) as opposed to full price albums which, I think, were £7.99 at the time.
With my pocket money I could just about afford an MfP album a month, and there was a pretty good selection on the label. Over the next few months my collection grew from what was on MfP. Rock ‘N’ Roll Music Volume 2. A Collection of Beatles Oldies… But Goldies. Live at the Hollywood Bowl. Plus John’s Shaved Fish (which I still think is a fantastic compiliation of solo John) and Rock n Roll, George’s The Best of George Harrison (which — I’m sure much to his annoyance — was one side Beatles, one side solo), and Ringo’s Ringo and Blast from Your Past. I can’t remember there being any solo McCartney on MfP. I certainly did buy any. My first Paul album was ’82’s Tug Of War .
I also remember that, with it becoming obvious that I had become a Beatlemaniac, my separated parents bought me an eight-album mail order compilation called The Beatles Box — still the best ever Beatles compilation. And I remember buying the UK “Rarities” album that year, possibly my first full-price Beatles album.
The point of what I’m saying here — is there a point to what I’m saying here — is that I became familiar with the Beatles via compilations. And — with The Beatles Box — a chronological 100+ tracks that mined the singles and albums deeply.
Their albums in the way they put them together, it was probably ’85-’86 before I owned them all. I know I had copies of VeeJay’s Hear The Beatles Tell All and Capitol’s The Beatles’ Story years before I had Yellow Submarine . Just as I had the Magical Mystery Tour double-ep long before the US compilation album of the same name.
I grew to know and love their work with the single-only tracks mixed in among the best of their album work. To me they are indivisible.
Sorry for droning on!
Edit: for those who don’t know, have never heard of…
here’s the tracklisting to my real introduction to the Beatles –
(1.1) Love Me Do [Ringo version]; P.S. I Love You; I Saw Her Standing There ; Please Please Me ; Misery ; Do You Want To Know A Secret ; A Taste Of Honey ; Twist And Shout (1.2) From Me To You ; Thank You Girl ; She Loves You ; It Won’t Be Long ; Please Mr. Postman; All My Loving ; Roll Over Beethoven ; Money (That’s What I Want) (2.1) I Want To Hold Your Hand ; This Boy ; Can’t Buy Me Love ; You Can’t Do That ; A Hard Day’s Night ; I Should Have Known Better ; If I Fell ; And I Love Her (2.2) Things We Said Today ; I’ll Be Back ; Long Tall Sally ; I Call Your Name ; Matchbox ; Slow Down ; She’s A Woman ; I Feel Fine (3.1) Eight Days A Week ; No Reply ; I’m A Loser ; I’ll Follow The Sun ; Mr. Moonlight; Every Little Thing ; I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party ; Kansas City /Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! (3.2) Ticket To Ride ; I’m Down ; Help !; The Night Before ; You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away ; I Need You ; Another Girl ; You’re Going To Lose That Girl (4.1) Yesterday ; Act Naturally ; Tell Me What You See ; It’s Only Love ; You Like Me Too Much ; I’ve Just Seen A Face ; Day Tripper ; We Can Work It Out (4.2) Michelle ; Drive My Car ; Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown); You Won’t See Me ; Nowhere Man ; Girl; I’m Looking Through You ; In My Life (5.1) Paperback Writer ; Rain ; Here, There And Everywhere ; Taxman ; I’m Only Sleeping ; Good Day Sunshine ; Yellow Submarine (5.2) Eleanor Rigby ; And Your Bird Can Sing ; For No One ; Doctor Robert ; Got To Get You Into My Life ; Penny Lane ; Strawberry Fields Forever (6.1) Sgt. Pepper ‘s Lonely Hearts Club Band; With A Little Help From My Friends ; Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds ; Fixing A Hole ; She’s Leaving Home ; Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!; A Day In The Life (6.2) When I’m Sixty-Four ; Lovely Rita ; All You Need Is Love ; Baby, You’re a Rich Man; Magical Mystery Tour ; Your Mother Should Know ; The Fool On The Hill ; I Am The Walrus (7.1) Hello, Goodbye ; Lady Madonna ; Hey Jude Revolution ; Back in the U.S.S.R.; Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da ; While My Guitar Gently Weeps (7.2) The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill ; Happiness Is A Warm Gun ; Martha My Dear ; I’m So Tired ; Piggies ; Don’t Pass Me By ; Julia ; All Together Now (8.1) Get Back [LP version]; Don’t Let Me Down ; The Ballad Of John And Yoko ; Across The Universe ; For You Blue Two of Us; The Long And Winding Road ; Let It Be [LP version] (8.2) Come Together ; Something ; Maxwell’s Silver Hammer ; Octopus’s Garden ; Here Comes The Sun ; Because ; Golden Slumbers ; Carry That Weight ; The End ; Her Majesty
And here’s the beauty of the whole thing –
Why’s there no compilation, for all it missed in 1980 (no Tomorrow Never Knows !), that comes close?
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
8.46am
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline I had many a delightful day and night playing my way thru The Beatles Box. It may have had weird song selections and omissions but it was an incredible journey for someone of 12/13 years old to delve thru. Makes me laugh it contains all of Help ! except Dizzy Miss Lizzy .
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
7.13pm
21 November 2012
Offline I don’t feel less connected to the non-album singles, but I can’t imagine most of them on any of their albums. Like, I couldn’t see The Ballad Of John And Yoko on Let it be or Abbey Road . It just doesn’t fit.
9.42am
3 May 2012
Offline TBOJAY sounds so different to anything else they ever did to me (as a group), I almost don’t really think of it as a Beatles song. It certainly doesn’t sound like it fits on any album.
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BeatlebugMoving along in our God given ways, safety is sat by the fire/Sanctuary from these feverish smiles, left with a mark on the door.
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10.27am
17 January 2013
Offline unknown said
Hey Hairy L! Love the new avatar!
Thanks! I might have switched it again since you’ve written that, so not sure if that was for this one or the one from the Waterfalls video… either way, there’s a sweater vest involved! 
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
1.04pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Offline The non-album singles and B-sides always did have a slightly “different” sound to them, especially when compared to the album whose sessions they were recorded during (ie I Feel Fine /She’s A Woman and Beatles For Sale , Day Tripper /We Can Work It Out and Rubber Soul , etc). But I think that’s what makes them all the more amazing…songs recorded during the album sessions have their own distinct sounds, and the albums as a whole each have a unique and cohesive sound. Some of that I’m sure is just down to familiarity with the albums for so many years but still, it’s an incredible achievement…that’s why they’re The Beatles!
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6.08pm
21 November 2012
Offline I always felt I feel fine could fit on BFS or perhaps even on Help .
TBOJAY may sound not very Beatle-ish because it was recorded by just John and Paul, wasn’t it? Why don’t we do it on the road doesn’t sound very Beatle-ish to me either, and that was just recorded by Paul and Ringo. Maybe it’s just my imagination, because I know it was only recorded by two people, that makes it feel like that though.
6.11pm
3 May 2012
Offline ^ Yeah, I suppose it could be down to that but I dunno… ‘Yesterday ‘, for example, does sound kinda Beatley to me.
Moving along in our God given ways, safety is sat by the fire/Sanctuary from these feverish smiles, left with a mark on the door.
(Passover - I. Curtis)
12.15am
Reviewers
17 December 2012
Offline With The Ballad Of John And Yoko , I think there is a very obvious reason it sounds different. The lyric. While other songs had personal elements, inspirations, and/or references – Julia being a good example, or Sexy Sadie – they were never so blatant as TBoJ&Y. You could always find your own meaning in them. There is no reading of TBoJ&Y other than the obvious though. It is a newspaper article, a diary entry, with no room for your own interpretation. It is the only such rigid lyric ever released by them.
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9.27am
3 May 2012
Offline ^ That’s true, it could well be the reason.
Moving along in our God given ways, safety is sat by the fire/Sanctuary from these feverish smiles, left with a mark on the door.
(Passover - I. Curtis)
4.22am
10 June 2013
Offline “The Inner Light ” is fantastic- its got a groovier feel than George’s other Indian tracks and its lyrics are almost a direct pull from the Tao Te Ching. It might have worked on the White Album …
TBOJAY to me is awkward for all those reasons! Paul on the bass, drums and harmony is making it sound Beatly and a bit even like Paul’s solo stuff whereas John’s lyrics are far more like his post-Beatle work than anything he ever put out with The Beatles. So it’s got this strange “in transition” kind of sound to it which is great for when life gets like that…
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6.47pm
7 February 2014
Offline I think when the Beatles were recording the songs they wouldn’t necessarily consciously be intending to make a single. It could just be regarded as another track at the time. The most famous example would be Strawberry Fields. The Beatles were under pressure to release a new single and they only had a couple of tracks in the can at the time, so Strawberry Fields was released as a single, which George Martin highly regretted I believe. (I’m not sure if regretted releasing it as a single or regretted not putting in on Sergeant Pepper in spite of it having been a single).
Also, of course, different tracks were singles in different countries. eg. Yesterday was a single in the US but not in the UK. So was Nowhere Man I think and, of course, the US LPs were different to the UK LPs and probably in other countries it was different again, so I don’t really believe the non-album singles have any particular intrinsic quality that distinguishes them as such. I think it’s simply that that is how they chose to release them in your country and perhaps you’re so used to them being in that format that it can become a bit hard to imagine it differently.
7.19pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline I Want To Hold Your Hand was written to be the next single and when they went into the studio in February ’68 it was specifically to record a single to fill the void when they were away in India, eventually settling on Lady Madonna b/w The Inner Light .
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
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