Album Side Tourney--Rnd 1, Match 3, LIB 1 vs. TB 2

[joeyself]

LET IT BE, Side 1

"Two of Us" 3:37
"Dig a Pony" 3:55
"Across the Universe" 3:48
"I Me Mine" 2:26
"Dig It" Lennon 0:50
"Let It Be" 4:03
"Maggie Mae" 0:40

THE BEATLES, Side 2

"Martha My Dear" 2:28
"I'm So Tired" 2:03
"Blackbird" 2:18
"Piggies" 2:04
"Rocky Raccoon" 3:41
"Don't Pass Me By" 3:42
"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" 1:41
"I Will" 1:46
"Julia" 2:54

Two albums originally released on the Apple label, and largely recorded back-to-back are paired this time. Make your choice, and please feel free to comment about anything that this match brings to mind.

[wooltonian]

I'm going to go for 'Let it be' - side one, although I suspect I'll be in a minority.

Reasons? Actually side two of the White Album is my favourite side, but only 'I'm so tired' and 'Blackbird' are big favourites of mine -- the rest are so-so with the exception of 'Don't pass me by' which is terrible.

For 'Let it be', I really like 'Two of us', 'Across the universe' (although not my favourite version), 'I me mine' and 'Let it be' (my favourite version). Even 'Dig a pony' raises a smile. Don't be put off by 'Dig it' and 'Maggie Mae' -- even taken together they only last one minute thirty seconds, so neither really matter in the great scheme of things.....

.....if they had only done the blindingly obvious and culled these two tracks in favour of 'Don't let me down', the world would view 'Let it be' in a totally different light. The biggest travesty in the entire remit of Beatles track selection / sequencing.

[Steve Marinucci]

I think I've been in the minority vote every time so far. I'm going for the White Album Side 2. Better stuff.

[John S. Damm]

LET IT BE, Side 1

I surprised myself here. More later though.

[Joe Karlosi]

This was the hardest one for me so far. In the end I went with LET IT BE, SIDE 1. Not really sure why in this case... I think it just flows better to me. Personally, I think sides 1 and 3 of The White Album are the best!

[winstonoboogie]

I will go with LIB Side 1, only because I like all the songs, (yes, even "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae", maybe because they're so brief!) I love all of WA Side 2 except "Why Don't You Put it On the Toast", as John parodied it .
So to sum up, LIB Side 1, by a razor-thin margin - maybe even narrower!

[ursamajor]

I've also gone for LIB S1. I think TB 2 has plenty of filler material, Martha My Dear, Piggies, Rocky Racoon, Why Don't We Do It in the Road are not Beatle greatness material. I'm So Tired, Blackbird, I Will and Julia are what hold that side together.

LIB S1 has great tracks, bang-bang-bang, although the little snippets of Dig It and Maggie Mae are an annoyance that I can put up with.

[Joseph McCabe]

LET IT BE
My view on LET IT BE is that it is a mediocre album - by Fab standards. A review I read at the time said that any other band would love to have an album of this standard! I don't know about that, but it's a way of saying how high the Beatles had "raised the bar" - and here they have gone under it.

So SIDE ONE: I can't bear Two Of Us: the song seems to have a quite artificial air about it. Never liked it.

Dig A Pony is a song that Lennon could write, to order, in about 2 minutes. I like it, yes, but it's nothing special. Across The Universe is excellent, and special - and doesn't it feel out of place on this album? I Me Mine is also a fine song. These songs (ATU and IMM) give this side a fighting chance.

Let It Be - solemn, hymnal, anthemic, ambiguous and boring.

Dig It and Maggie Mae: Dig It has a nice groove (as they used to say!), but needs several minutes at least to display its charm. The comparatively few seconds on offer here is ridiculous. Maggie Mae is irrelevant.

WHITE ALBUM
Side 2 is the weakest of the four sides - but how many gems are here?

Martha My Dear is a good tune, with silly lyrics which spoil it. I'm So Tired sees another Lennon classic. Blackbird (which I think was written about a blackbird, but has had a blackpower "subtext" become its "true" meaning, with the approval of Macca himself). Good song.

Piggies - well, I like it a lot but I'm partial to Harrisongs! Rocky? - impossible not to like. I know that I "shouldn't", but you'll forgive me if I tell you that I also like Ob-La-Di! And ... I also like Ringo's effort. What an absurd song, but your first is always special, isn't it? As typically Ringo as Help From My Friends.

And what have people got against Why Don't We Do It In The Road? It's fantastic - I like uncute Macca! I Will is a gentle little ditty with a lovely melody - and don't you love Macca's vocalized bass? Julia is for me the real clunker - I can't stand this beginning of the ambiguous merger of mother and wife.

So, strictly on merit you understand, McCabe's vote goes to Side 2 of the White Album!

[coachbk]

The toughest one yet.
Probably my three favorite songs on the two sides are "Let It Be", "Across The Universe" and "Two Of US", all from LET IT BE. Only "Blackbird" might crack that trio. However, my next favorite songs are all from THE WHITE ALBUM, "Martha My Dear" (why are people crapping on this so much-it's a great tune), "I'm So Tired", "Piggies", "I Will" (a very complex guitar part my son tells me) and "Julia".
As for the rest of LET IT BE, "I Me Mine" is decent, I wish it was the longer snippet of "Dig It" that I have on bootleg, "Maggie Mae" doesn't detract. I never liked "I Dig A Pony".
From THE WHITE ALBUM, "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" and "Rocky Raccoon" are Paul effectively doing a couple different styles, though not my personal favorites, while "Don't Pass Me By" is way too long and not a favorite at all.
So I still am deciding how to vote. Using an average score they come out about equal, so I'll go with THE WHITE ALBUM because it has more good songs overall.

[Deleted]

LET IT BE, Side 1 gets my vote....

This is my favourite Beatles album so for me it is an easy choice.....

There are a few songs on Side 2 of the WA that i rate as fav's...

Martha
I Will
Blackbird

All Paul songs as it turns out....

[joeyself]

I took TB 2.

I like "Two Of Us" and "Let It Be" from LIB 1, but don't like this version of "Across The Universe" as much as others--including covers by Rufus Wainwright and Fiona Apple--, am not too impressed with "I Me Mine," and think "I Dig A Pony" is the worst original song the Beatles ever did (and no, I'm not forgetting the weaker efforts on the first couple of albums).

On the other hand, there isn't a track on Side 2 of TB that I tend to pass over if I can reach the CD player. Oh, I'm not crazy about "Piggies" after all these years, but I enjoy a couple that others tend to deride--"Martha My Dear" and "Don't Pass Me By." I adore "Rocky Raccoon" and "I Will," and find "I'm So Tired" to be an interesting counterpoint to REVOLVER's "I'm Only Sleeping."

So, by a comfortable margin, TB 2 gets the nod from me.

JcS

[wooltonian]

Jun 14, 2010 6:00:59 GMT -5 joeyself said:

On the other hand, there isn't a track on Side 2 of TB that I tend to pass over if I can reach the CD player. Oh, I'm not crazy about "Piggies" after all these years, but I enjoy a couple that others tend to deride--"Martha My Dear" and "Don't Pass Me By." I adore "Rocky Raccoon" and "I Will," and find "I'm So Tired" to be an interesting counterpoint to REVOLVER's "I'm Only Sleeping."

So, by a comfortable margin, TB 2 gets the nod from me.

JcS

This is one of the things that makes the White Album so fascinating -- everybody agrees that the White Album is a mixture of good, mediocre and duff tracks. However, nobody can ever agree on exactly what those tracks are. Already in this thread all the tracks on side two have been praised to the skies by some and derided by others. Everyone has their favourites and their bogey tracks, but - unique to the White Album - there is virtually no consensus on which they are.

This is why the whole thing about picking a great single album from the White Album tracks never satisfies anyone and is a pointless exercise.

[joeyself]

Jun 14, 2010 7:05:06 GMT -5 wooltonian said:

This is one of the things that makes the White Album so fascinating -- everybody agrees that the White Album is a mixture of good, mediocre and duff tracks. However, nobody can ever agree on exactly what those tracks are. Already in this thread all the tracks on side two have been praised to the skies by some and derided by others. Everyone has their favourites and their bogey tracks, but - unique to the White Album - there is virtually no consensus on which they are.

This is why the whole thing about picking a great single album from the White Album tracks never satisfies anyone and is a pointless exercise.

Excellent points, and as you said, ably demonstrated in this thread alone.

JcS

[JCV]

THE BEATLES, Side 2

I only skimmed the comments above, but am agreeing with the "nice mix," which is why I voted for this side. Although it only wins by a tad.

JCV

[stavros]

Let it Be 1 - maybe because it is often derided but I love it. "Two of us" although a McCartney song and allegedly about him and Linda has enough references to his friendship with John and you can tell John knows it. It's sung like an Everly's song and I think John & Paul enjoyed singing this sing. It always seemed a happy, positive song to me when I was young and didn't really know the history of "Let it Be". I still haven't changed my mind. "Across the Universe" is one of John's finest song but my favourite version is the Anthology one. And yes it does sound out of place on the album. "I Me Mine" is a short and sweet rock/waltz. Great performance by the Threetles. "Let it Be" is an all time classic and "Dig A Pony" has stupid lyrics but because John wrote and sang this one it turns out just great.

It is the quality of the major songs that wins it for me as Dig It and Maggie Mae are throwaways . The White Album's sprawling mass makes it a great album. But there is something indefinable about it's individual tracks that means I have difficulty deciding whether there are any truly great songs or just a lot of good ones, some average and a few duffers. I always like to enjoy the White Album in one session. Almost like a musical. If that doesn't makes sense then I really can't explain it another way.

[wooltonian]

Jun 15, 2010 13:58:36 GMT -5 stavros said:

It is the quality of the major songs that wins it for me as Dig It and Maggie Mae are throwaways . The White Album's sprawling mass makes it a great album. But there is something indefinable about it's individual tracks that means I have difficulty deciding whether there are any truly great songs or just a lot of good ones, some average and a few duffers. I always like to enjoy the White Album in one session. Almost like a musical. If that doesn't makes sense then I really can't explain it another way.

Interesting stuff. A couple of quick points:

1. I totally agree with your point about the quality of the 'major songs' on Let it be'. For all its inconsistencies, I think there are more major songs on 'Let it be' that on the White Album. I would actually go so far as to say that the only absolutely top-drawer, 'major' Beatles songs recorded during the White Album sessions were 'Hey Jude' and 'Revolution' - neither of which actually appear on the album.

2. Beacuse of the White Album's 'indefinable quality', I also have to find my own way of enjoying it. You say you listen to it as if it were a musical. If I sit down thinking, " This is the Beatles' great White Album - one of the top twenty albums of all time - a true classic, lauded by the critics and choc-full of wonderful songs", it always disappoints. I find that as a collection of songs it just doesn't live up to that billing and, as a consequence, it irritates and frustrates me. However, if I listen to it as if it's just the Beatles mucking about in the studio doing bits and pieces - demos - trying out different ideas and letting their hair down - in other words, if I manage my expectations of the album - then I can enjoy it on its own terms.

[nine]

Jun 15, 2010 13:58:36 GMT -5 stavros said:

Let it Be 1 - maybe because it is often derided but I love it. "Two of us" although a McCartney song and allegedly about him and Linda has enough references to his friendship with John and you can tell John knows it. It's sung like an Everly's song and I think John & Paul enjoyed singing this sing. It always seemed a happy, positive song to me when I was young and didn't really know the history of "Let it Be". I still haven't changed my mind. "Across the Universe" is one of John's finest song but my favourite version is the Anthology one. And yes it does sound out of place on the album. "I Me Mine" is a short and sweet rock/waltz. Great performance by the Threetles. "Let it Be" is an all time classic and "Dig A Pony" has stupid lyrics but because John wrote and sang this one it turns out just great.

It is the quality of the major songs that wins it for me as Dig It and Maggie Mae are throwaways . The White Album's sprawling mass makes it a great album. But there is something indefinable about it's individual tracks that means I have difficulty deciding whether there are any truly great songs or just a lot of good ones, some average and a few duffers. I always like to enjoy the White Album in one session. Almost like a musical. If that doesn't makes sense then I really can't explain it another way.

I think While My Guitar Gently Weeps qualifies as a truly great song.

[scousette]

THE BEATLES, Side 2

LET IT BE may be my least favorite album.

[John S. Damm]

Jun 13, 2010 10:21:15 GMT -5 John S. Damm said:

LET IT BE, Side 1

I surprised myself here. More later though.

I fell in love with LIB-1 the moment I heard the first 30 seconds of "Two Us Us." Any song with John and Paul singing together is great but in 1969 it is sublime!

"Dig a Pony" is the coolest inconsequential song ever! John's vocal makes it sound urgent when it is just wordplay dashed off by John who needed a new song. A little dig to the Rolling Stones but that's okay: the Stones were in the midst of their greatest period.

"Across the Universe" is simply beautiful and so heartfelt; it is a favorite of mine. I am coming around to loving Spector's version here just as I've come to love his embellishments to TLAWR.

"I Me Mine" is a dandy from Hari. A song in waltz time so much better than "Baby's In Black." Paul sounds very excited on the harmony vocal of "I me me mine, I me me mine..." I would love to hear his vocal there isolated ala LOVE.

"Dig It" is great and deserves better than the snippet we get. "Let It Be" here is the "Let It Be." George lets it rip here and I don't care if the mix is a trainwreck in places: it is exciting. The single version of LIB puts me into a coma.

"Maggie Mae" is the best song on the album, sung with more gusto than anything The Beatles had sung in the past six years! This is folk music at its best and I wish it was longer.


The Beatles, Side 2 is no slouch either.

"Martha My Dear" starts out jaunty and inviting but its initial charm fades with me pretty quickly. "I'm So Tired" is the real deal, yet another reason why The Beatles aren't forgotten or dismissed in 2010. This song is as urgent and relevant to our human experience today as it was in 1968. Lennon nails it.

"Blackbird" is McCartney nailing it and yet another reason why The Beatles aren't forgotten or dismissed. I agree with McCabe though that Paul may be basking in the glory of a meaning given the song over the years that wasn't there in 1968. Maybe I am wrong about that but Paul wasn't claiming the song was about Black empowerment when it was first Charles Manson claiming it was The Beatles call for blacks to "arise." Still, a great song anyway you look at it.

"Piggies" is okay but I liked it more as a teenager. "Rocky Raccoon" has fallen in my eyes as I get older; loved it as a young teen. This song may have cost my vote here. "Don't Pass Me By" is good but it sounds so shoddy in its recording. It sounds like it was recorded in a dirty chicken coop but maybe that was the feel Ringo was going for. The mono version is weird as Ringo's voice is so sped up.

"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" is a fun screamer. Doing it in the road is amazingly exciting even if the road I once did it in was way out in the country. The fear of getting caught.....of doing it in the road.

"I Will" is good but something is missing: a banjo or maybe cowbells! "Julia" is another favorite of mine. Nice way to finish the Side.

I've nearly talked myself into changing my vote but "Rocky" chases me to LIB-1. I want to do it in the road with Maggie Mae.

[acebackwords]

Side 2 of the White Album was the side I played to death when I first bought it as a 12 year old kid in 1968. The Rocky Racoon side. But the White Album hasn't really held up for me over the years. Maybe its the Manson connotation that ruins it for me like a bad acid flashback. "Dear Prudence" is the only song I'd go out of my way to listen to nowadays. Or it could just be that all the great songs, like "Back in the USSR," I've listened to so much that I've chewed all the musical meat off the bones.

A song like "Two of Us" on the other hand has aged really well.

[winstonoboogie]

Jun 16, 2010 18:51:35 GMT -5 John S. Damm said:

Jun 13, 2010 10:21:15 GMT -5 John S. Damm said:

LET IT BE, Side 1

I surprised myself here. More later though.

I want to do it in the road with Maggie Mae.

You better bring some penicillin!

[wooltonian]

Jun 16, 2010 20:30:49 GMT -5 acebackwords said:

Side 2 of the White Album was the side I played to death when I first bought it as a 12 year old kid in 1968. The Rocky Racoon side. But the White Album hasn't really held up for me over the years. Maybe its the Manson connotation that ruins it for me like a bad acid flashback. "Dear Prudence" is the only song I'd go out of my way to listen to nowadays. Or it could just be that all the great songs, like "Back in the USSR," I've listened to so much that I've chewed all the musical meat off the bones.

A song like "Two of Us" on the other hand has aged really well.

I agree insofar as, for me, the White Album has faded in its impact and gone down in my estimation over the years. I remember I first had that album on a Scotch C120 cassette back in about 1975. I thought the White Album was the most wonderful, interesting, diverse, outrageous, strange thing that I had ever come across. I was really excited by it, by its blend of music, its cast of strange characters, its sudden mood changes and its dark corners -- and the sheer scale of it.

Over time, however, almost imperceptibly during the past thirty years I have downgraded my opinion of the album. Once you get used to all its strange and unique features, the songs themselves seem to lose their appeal. Individually they seem slight, one-dimensional pastiches -- many feel like throwaways, some feel laboured, many don't seem particularly well recorded. The album still fascinates me and I think it could have been substantially improved with better track selection and the inclusion of Hey Jude / Revolution, but my initial enthusiasm for the White Album has long since faded.

[joeyself]

Jun 17, 2010 4:57:04 GMT -5 wooltonian said:

The album still fascinates me and I think it could have been substantially improved with better track selection and the inclusion of Hey Jude / Revolution, but my initial enthusiasm for the White Album has long since faded.

The fast "Revolution" in for the slow one, I suppose; you wouldn't want both, would you?

I've thought about including "Hey Jude" on the album, but it would overpower everything else there. About the only spot it could fill would be the album closer, much as "A Day In The Life" did for PEPPER. If "Revolution 9/Goodnight" were jettisoned, then I guess "Hey Jude" could work in that spot. If we'd been accustomed to it being there for 40+ years, it would seem natural, but now it would just seem odd to me.

JcS

[John S. Damm]

At this time a tie! Wow, just like England and the U.S.A. at the World Cup!

Ties are nice. It means tied things are equal, no winners and no losers. There would be world peace if everyone and everything was tied. That's what the song "Imagine" is about: a tie!

[stavros]

Jun 17, 2010 10:50:16 GMT -5 John S. Damm said:

At this time a tie! Wow, just like England and the U.S.A. at the World Cup!

Ties are nice. It means tied things are equal, no winners and no losers. There would be world peace if everyone and everything was tied. That's what the song "Imagine" is about: a tie!

Time for a penalty shootout then!

[joeyself]

Hopefully, someone else will become drunk with power and cast the deciding vote. The way ties are broken in these matches is pretty simple--I discard my vote and move on to the next round unless it is something I REALLY care about, and then I come up with something else.

I rarely care enough to hold up a game, though...

JcS

[acebackwords]

"Two of Us" is one of those songs that seemed like a light-weight throw-away song at the time. But I've really come to be charmed by that song. McCartney claims he wrote it about Linda. But considering they'd only been together a couple of months at the time, its hard to believe he was writing about her when he sings "Two of us have memories longer than the road that stretches out of here." You gotta assume he was writing a love song about John and Paul. Least thats how I always interpret the song.

[Joseph McCabe]

Jun 17, 2010 16:42:46 GMT -5 acebackwords said:

"Two of Us" is one of those songs that seemed like a light-weight throw-away song at the time. But I've really come to be charmed by that song. McCartney claims he wrote it about Linda. But considering they'd only been together a couple of months at the time, its hard to believe he was writing about her when he sings "Two of us have memories longer than the road that stretches out of here." You gotta assume he was writing a love song about John and Paul. Least thats how I always interpret the song.

(1) The road stretches "out ahead" is what I hear, rather than "out of here". But that's a small point.

(2) The lyrics seem appropriate for a couple such as Paul & Linda. Both have just come out of a serious relationship, and have fallen (apparently) deeply in love. They look back on their own memories, and look to the future together. Macca said it's about him and Linda.

BUT many fans see the song is more likely to be about JOHN and Paul. Do they say that because the two sing it together? Do their fans want to be reassured that John & Paul are still OK? I think so. They could be right, too ...

[OldFred]

Jun 17, 2010 14:27:32 GMT -5 stavros said:

Jun 17, 2010 10:50:16 GMT -5 John S. Damm said:

At this time a tie! Wow, just like England and the U.S.A. at the World Cup!

Ties are nice. It means tied things are equal, no winners and no losers. There would be world peace if everyone and everything was tied. That's what the song "Imagine" is about: a tie!

Time for a penalty shootout then!

[theman]

The sheer variety of The White Album, side 2 is what does it for me.

Other than Two of Us, nothing from Let it Be side 1 is something I really feel like sitting through anymore. Let it Be is just such an overplayed song. The production in this version of Across the Universe is a mess. Dig It, Dig a Pony and Maggie Mae are mediocre. Oh, I do kinda like I Me Mine.