Beatles for Sale is the fourth studio album by English rock band the Beatles, released on 4 December 1964 and produced by George Martin for Parlophone. It was inevitable that the constant grind of touring, writing, promoting, and recording would grate on the Beatles, but the weariness of Beatles for Sale comes as something of a shock. Only five months before, the group released the joyous A Hard Days Night. Now, they sound beaten, worn, and, in Lennons case, bitter and self-loathing. His opening trilogy (No Reply, Im a Loser, Babys in Black) is the darkest sequence on any Beatles record, setting the tone for the album. Moments of joy pop up now and again, mainly in the forms of covers and the dynamic Eight Days a Week, but the very presence of six covers after the triumphant all-original A Hard Days Night feels like an admission of defeat or at least a regression. (It doesnt help that Lennons cover of his beloved obscurity Mr. Moonlight winds up as arguably the worst thing the group ever recorded.) Beneath those surface suspicions, however, there are some important changes on Beatles for Sale, most notably Lennons discovery of Bob Dylan and folk-rock. The opening three songs, along with I Dont Want to Spoil the Party, are implicitly confessional and all quite bleak, which is a new development. This spirit winds up overshadowing McCartneys cheery Ill Follow the Sun or the thundering covers of Rock & Roll Music, Honey Dont, and Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!, and the weariness creeps up in unexpected places -- Every Little Thing, What Youre Doing, even Georges cover of Carl Perkins Everybodys Trying to Be My Baby -- leaving the impression that Beatlemania may have been fun but now the group is exhausted. That exhaustion results in the groups most uneven album, but its best moments find them moving from Merseybeat to the sophisticated pop/rock they developed in mid-career. Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 11:28:46 +0000
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