I
I couldn’t have been
more than five or six
years old, sitting on the
floor of my sister’s bedroom
in front of her portable
suitcase record player
spinning Sgt. Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts Club Band
over and over. Too young
to understand the magnitude
of their success or brilliance,
and too young to be
susceptible to whatever
commercial influences might
have been at play in the
late sixties, I just knew
that I loved these songs,
that this album, in particular,
was transportive in ways
that I could never have
articulated. It was the first
time in my life experiencing
a collection of songs as
a kind of world unto itself.
It was an album inside of which
I could absolutely loose myself.
And I did that–again and again.
The Beatles, their films, when
I was lucky enough to catch them,
and a few other key American-version
albums, Meet the Beatles, Help,
Yesterday and Today, would all be
constant childhood companions,
planting seeds for the musician
I would become, long after all
my siblings had moved out,
surrounded by the music they
left behind.
II
I would be an adult before I started
buying my own copies of records
by The Beatles. I may have waited
until 1987 to start finding them
on compact disc, and then only
fifteen years or so ago acquiring
the complete stereo recordings
CD box set. Almost a completist,
I abstained from the mono mix
collection and from that whole
Anthology business, but lately,
as the 50+ year anniversaries roll on,
I could not resist these deluxe,
remixed, remastered vinyl editons.
In some ways, ridiculous.
Would my life somehow be incomplete
without hearing the demos,
the four or five different versions
of “I’m Only Sleeping” or “Yellow
Submarine”? I think I would have
survived the deprivation, missing
out on all of that bonus material.
And yet, I confess, I splurged;
on Revolver, on The White Album, and
on Abbey Road, I splurged,
and I take great pleasure in those
wide spines as they stand
large and proud close to the
beginning of all those other B’s.
III
I came late to the music of the White Album.
Of course, I knew the hits; they were inescapable,
but I had no clue how weird this record was.
It didn’t have the continuity of a Sgt. Pepper
or a Mystery Tour, but it had “Piggies,” and it
had “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road,” and
it had “Revolution #9,” eight minutes and twenty-
two seconds of near unlistenable nonsense.
For most of this record, The Beatles are clearly
at the top of their form, elsewhere they appear
to be throwing spaghetti at the wall. But
while they may have been on the verge of falling
apart, the fun of this album is undeniable, infectious,
joyous, and belies the myth of a downward spiral.
At 30 songs, this thing is packed to its very gills.
And it contains some of the greatest songs in all
of rock music, and Harrison’s finest moments.
IV
Travel to India, smoke some pot,
take some hallucinogenics, and
the music transforms. In about four
short years, the shift was nothing
short of miraculous. Listening
to With The Beatles next to Sgt.
Peppers is like listening to two
completely different bands, but
those voices, and those drums
are there as evidence, plain as day,
that the lads that brought us
“I Want To Hold Your Hand”
are the same guys who brought
us “A Day In The Life.” This
transformation, I think, explains
the staying power of The Beatles.
The most profound artists
of any era are the ones who
grow and shift, chameleon-like,
who experiment, who aren’t
afraid to trust their instincts,
who move fearlessly forward
into the unknown realms of
their creative powers. The Beatles
did that.
V
John Lennon was shot to death
in 1980. I was 16 years old.
In 1999, George Harrison was
nearly stabbed to death by
an intruder in his own home.
In 2001, he died from lung
and brain cancer. He was 58.
I was 37. Paul and Ringo,
20 and 24 years older than I,
are still alive and still making
music. I find comfort in this,
inspiration, a bottomless well
of hope. They can’t have much
time left, but both seem vibrant
and happy. To be old, without
a care in the world (not likely),
but still creative,
still leaving a mark, leaving
the world a better place
than it was before you arrived,
that’s the ticket. It’s impossible
to grow tired of these guys.
“Once there was a way to
get back home.” The Beatles
have done this for me.
“And in the end, the love you take
is equal to the love you make.”
Notes on the vinyl editions:
- The Beatles, 1962-1966/The Beatles, 1967-1970 Box Set, Apple Records, 2023, 180 gram black vinyl. Not only does this box include both the famous red and blue compilations, but both the red and the blue are expanded editions, both three record sets containing around 20 tunes combined that were not included in the original versions, making this box, I would argue, the best greatest hits collection ever assembled. The Beatles may be the only band in history to have rightfully earned a six-album greatest hits collection.
- Revolver Box Set, Parlophone/EMI Records, 2022, 180 gram black vinyl four-record set.
- Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, Parlophone/EMI Records, 2017, 180 gram black double album version.
- The Beatles (aka, The White Album), Apple Records, 2018, 180 gram black vinyl four-record set, includes The Esher Demos.
- Abbey Road, Apple Records, 2019, 180 gram black vinyl three-record set.
On the listening: Most all of the bonus material, about eight albums worth of demos, early mixes, and some out-takes, I skipped. I skipped The Beatles, 1967-1970 because most of that material is covered in my collection from Sgt. Pepper onward. Thus, sadly, in my listening, I’ve missed the songs on that album from Magical Mystery Tour and Let It Be and those gems that were hits but not on any of the albums–past masters. Still, it took me two days to get through eight LPs. I had some other things on my plate. In previous commentary, at any rate, I have amended my goal of listening to everything and I’m giving myself permission to skip bonus material, out-takes, and live records–whenever I feel like it. So there. The true point of the endeavor anyway is to listen widely and particularly to things I’ve neglected in favor of whatever is new and shiny at the moment. Onward.
michael jarmer 