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Thursday, January 20, 2005Only Sleep
My current favorite Beatles song is "I'm Only Sleeping" off of 1966's Revolver. So good.
// posted at
8:12 PM //
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© Jim Pascoe. All Rights Reserved.
7 Comments:
I have long maintained that Revolver is far and away the finest Beatles album. And "I'm Only Sleeping" is a magnificent example of the level of craftsmanship and attention to detail that made them so important then, and still important now.
Not to mention that it expresses a sentiment that everyone reading this comment can relate to.
Mike's post reminds me of a question I like to ask everyone: What do you think of the difference between the US and the UK editions of the early Beatles albums? I'm sure that most of us here in this country are familiar with the US edits that were released. But I've grown really fond of the "original" UK releases, especially when you look at the whole Beatles discography.
Well, I am a long-time Beatles fan (my mother was a great fan, and I learned it from her old LP's spinning on the turntable), and I have owned both versions on vinyl. The US version omits "And Your Bird Can Sing", which is, to my mind, an absolutely essential cut on this album. This song really showcases the band's prowess as musicians at the height of their effectiveness as musicians - I'd argue that many of their later efforts lack the straightforward rock sensibility of this song on any track. And what an effective song it is. Dr. Robert, on the other hand, is a less damaging omission, but I have always liked this song and miss it while it's away.
But the most damaging omission on the US version is "I'm Only Sleeping". The guy who cut that from the LP should have been murdered for it. To remove both "I'm Only Sleeping" and "And Your Bird Can Sing" was completely inexcusable. The US version of the album fails to properly document the band's sound of that era, and omits the finest work of the era as well.
It wasn't until recently that I started to agree with Mike that Revolver is the Beatle's crowning achievement. Really, none of their other albums are as strong a showcase of their talent as musicians, as songwriters and as innovators in the field.
My current (for a couple years now) favorite Beatles song, also from Revolver, is And Your Bird Can Sing. It may not be their strongest lyrical effort, but that song just rocks.
I have to agree with everything that has been said here so far. To paraphrase Mike, "I have seen a lot of posts on this topic, and they were all great".
But I'm going to diverge. Revolver was the contemporary Beatles release when Brian Wilson conceived "Smile". The Beatles and Beach Boys (or, perhaps more accurately, McCartney and Wilson) had been playing a virtual game of "Can You Top This" for each band's recent releases, and Smile was supposed to answer the challenge posed by Revolver, until Wilson began his meltdown and the sessions were shelved unfinished. But I recently picked up the recently-released, finally-finished "Smile" and I have to say that had it been successfully completed and released as originally intended, I opine that "Sgt. Pepper" would have sounded a lot different. Perhaps not "drastically", but certainly "significantly", because it would have been compared to "Smile" instead of -- well, instead of nothing, because there was really nothing like "Sgt. Pepper" before then. "Smile", not "Sgt. Pepper", would surely have been considered the first "concept album" -- although after repeated listens, I'm still unable to tell you what that concept was.
By the way, I post using this name in a sly nod to Master James, who greeted the news of my baby's birth by referring to him as "Miniwop".
"Uberwop" is the best thing I've heard all day.
Interesting post, Suave.
At least you're not the Unter-Wop.
Or the Ubermange.
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