Okay, this post is unconscionably late — I meant to write it at the end of April! Life has just been so busy lately that blogging has fallen by the wayside. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up this weekend, since I don’t have to work on Monday. Anyway, here are my thoughts on Beatles for Sale, the Fab Four’s fourth U.K. studio album. Overall, my impression is that it still qualifies as “early Beatles”…they hadn’t yet really started experimenting or pushing boundaries. Still, there are a few great tunes on this album! Here are my thoughts:

“No Reply” — This one doesn’t quite have the “wow” factor I’d expect from the first song of an album. It’s pleasant enough but ends kind of abruptly.

“I’m a Loser” — Here’s the jaunty song about heartbreak that the Beatles are so good at! I like this one a lot, particularly the low vocal notes.

“Baby’s in Black” — I like the very short chorus in this one. Otherwise, the song is a little bit dull.

“Rock and Roll Music” — A Chuck Berry cover. I guess I can understand why the Beatles did this, but their sounds are just so different! I’d rather listen to the original, personally.

“I’ll Follow the Sun” — Love this sweet little song! The Beatles seem to write about the sun well. 🙂

“Mr. Moonlight” — I really don’t like the melody of this one; it’s boring and just drags on and on. Probably my least favorite song on the album (and, incidentally, not a Beatles original).

“Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!” — Not bad, but I couldn’t help thinking it was extremely weird that the Beatles would sing a song about Kansas City. I suppose they were covering it as a marketing technique, but it just seemed silly to me.

“Eight Days a Week” — One of my favorite Beatles songs thus far. It’s just so happy and romantic!

“Words of Love” — For some reason, this song reminds me of “Turn, Turn, Turn” by the Byrds. It’s a Buddy Holly song originally, which may explain why I felt it sounded derivative.

“Honey Don’t” — This song sounds strangely like the Beatles are channeling Elvis.  Lots more 12-bar blues, also…although I did enjoy the cute little guitar solos.

“Every Little Thing” — I liked this one! So far I haven’t been a huge fan of the Beatles’ slower songs, but this one had some interesting harmonies.

“I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party” — The Beatles obviously DO want to spoil the party.

“What You’re Doing” — The guitar lick that repeats throughout most of the song is my favorite part. There are some fun vocals on the verses, too.

“Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” — Another cover tune. When I listened to this album, I found it was pretty easy to pick out the songs that were not Beatles originals. Perhaps my Beatles immersion project is starting to pay off! 🙂 In other news, I’m writing about Help! next…I’ll probably post about it tomorrow, so stay tuned!