Beatles for Sale (Enhanced, Limited Edition, Original Recording Remastered)

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The Beatles

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The fourth album by the Fabs is, yes, kind of subdued, but not by much. There are upbeat numbers like "Rock And Roll Music," the US #1 single "Eight Days A Week," Ringo's cover of Carl Perkins' "Honey Don't," and the Little Richard medley to speed things up. Gee, I've listed the bright spots of the album already!

However, songs like "I'm A Loser," "Baby's In Black," and "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party" reflect a kind of weariness creeping in that later evolved into the introspective Rubber Soul. I mean, check out the sombre mugs on the album cover!

There aren't that many cover songs here than there were on their first two albums, but the ones they cover are beauts. The best of these is Chuck Berry's "Rock And Roll Music" with that immortal chorus, "give me that rock and roll music/if you wanna dance with me."

That being said, the Beatles have expressed that melancholy in upbeat songs such as "No Reply." That is about a girl who dates someone else and has her family covering for her. The poignancy expressed with the "I nearly died" refrain. And "I'm A Loser," in the same uppity vein, has lyrics such as "Beneath this mask I am wearing a frown." is it for her or for myself that I cry?"

The mid-paced "Baby's In Black" has shades of Dylan, hard to tell since all four of them are singing in contrast to Dylan's stark solo vocal. Love that lyric: "Baby's in black and I'm feeling blue."

Paul sings a nice slow ditty "I'll Follow The Sun", which happened to be one of his earliest compositions dating back to the late 1950's. In contrast, he wildly covers the engaging Little Richard medley, "Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey." Wonder how it sounds compared to the original.

Despite being Buddy Holly fans, "Words Of Love" is the only Holly song done, and it's lovingly done on this album, with Ringo's percussive instrument being a packing case of all things!

George's only song here is the Carl Perkins number "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby." Ironically, Ringo's song here is also a Carl Perkins number. Both do their admirably best here.

For Sale is still a superior Beatles album despite the sobriety of many of the songs.

The boys look weary from their success on this album cover. It's their second album for 1964 and it's known for being another rush job. It suffers from the fact that the rapidly growing songwriting talents of John & Paul were stifled in the need to get product out as quickly as possible. For me, the weakest songs on the album are the covers. Even as a kid I was especially bored by "Rock And Roll Music" and the two Carl Perkins songs though I do like Buddy Holly's "Words Of Love". Three of the best songs begin the album. Referred to as the "Lennon trilogy", "No Reply", "I'm A Loser" and "Baby's In Black" are songs that share the darkness in the souls of lovers and show John becoming increasingly self-aware in his lyrical content. Paul's "I'll Follow The Sun" has a lovely and melancholy feel to it. "Every Little Thing" and "What You're Doing" are sweet throwbacks to the love songs the Fabs got famous for in the first place. "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party" is another Lennon song in which the narrator resigns himself to losing love. My favourite song from this album is smack in the middle- "Eight Days A Week". From it's soaring guitar line to the glorious harmonies to the catchy handclaps between 'Hold me,love me! Hold me,love me!', it's pure pop heaven. Get it for the great original songs.