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Product Details:
Audio CD Release Date:
October 25, 1990
Studio:
Capitol
Number Of Discs:
1
Average Customer Rating:
based on 229 reviews
Description:
A testament to the abundance of perseverance and talent within the Beatles' ranks, their fourth album was recorded in and around a busy North American and British tour schedule. Beatles For Sale also marked their last full-length release loaded with cover songs, as the Fab Four moved towards writing more of their own material. Interspersed between Beatles classics such as "Eight Days a Week" and the Dylan-inspired "I'm a Loser" are faithful renditions of songs by Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins (featuring the only lead vocals by Ringo Starr and George Harrison on this album). The frenetic, inspired take on Chuck Berry's "Rock And Roll Music" is only superseded by a tremendous medley of "Kansas City" and "Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey," that finds Paul McCartney's exuberant vocals comparing admirably to his hero Little Richard, providing a vibrant centerpiece on Beatles For Sale. EMI. 2005.
Track Listing:
1.
No Reply
2.
I'm A Loser
3.
Baby's In Black
4.
Rock and Roll Music
5.
I'll Follow The Sun
6.
Mr. Moonlight
7.
Medley: Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey
8.
Eight Days A Week
9.
Words Of Love
10.
Honey Don't
11.
Every Little Thing
12.
I Don't Want To Spoil The Party
13.
What You're Doing
14.
Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Review:
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Fab Four in fine form on fourth recordDec 24, 2008 Though they wrote and recorded some of the most beloved rock and pop song originals in the history of rock `n' roll, the Beatles were also a splendid cover band that let it all hang out onstage and off. Before the psychedelic, more polished days of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," the easy acoustic breeze of "Rubber Soul" and all-out experimentation of "The White Album," the Fab Four were a raw-rocking, speed-taking, leather-jacket-wearing, loutish bunch who cut their chops in and around Liverpool, all across barren England and in the cesspool of Hamburg, Germany, occasionally axing band members along the way and eventually reaching stardom. Though "Beatles for Sale" is not the beginning of it all, the album is a fine representation of what this group was about from the outset.
For starters, these guys loved American rock `n' roll, and it's evident on this record. On the perky "Honey Don't" by Carl Perkins, for example, Ringo Starr's assured vocals sound as American as apple pie, and his commands of "rock on, George" and "rock on, George, for Ringo one time" give the song a gleeful spontaneousness that is pure levity. Elsewhere, John Lennon's passionate, raging vocals on Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music" are simply on fire, while the lively piano, drums and bass that surround him are as equally rocking and fun. Other rousing covers include the short medley of "Kansas City" and "Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey," sung like a seasoned pro by the soulful Paul McCartney and enhanced halfway through by George Harrison's precise guitar licks. Another rollicking number is the closing track -- sung with true American soul by Lennon -- Perkins' "Everybody's Trying to be My Baby." If ever there were songs to get the joint jumpin' on a Saturday night, these ones would be it.
As for the Lennon/McCartney compositions, they don't disappoint, though they are lighter fare compared to the fiery cover tunes. But what these songs lack in an all-out rocking sound, they make up for with genuine writing ability. Tunes like "No Reply," "I'm a Loser," "I'll Follow the Sun," "Eight Days a Week," "Every Little Thing," "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" and "What You're Doing" fully display all the finest attributes of the duos' budding songwriting partnership: sublime vocals in full-flowered harmony together; beautiful melodies often interspersed with subtle exoticism; self-deprecating lyrics about the pitfalls of love; rugged harmonica, fluid bass work and on-the-spot guitar work. That essential Beatles stuff is all here, ripe to enjoy.
Amid all the fervent rockers and tuneful originals, two songs on "Beatles for Sale" disappoint slightly. "Baby's in Black" (Lennon/McCartney) and "Mr. Moonlight" (Roy Lee Johnson) are a tad plodding, and surprisingly, the vocals a bit grating. Otherwise, anyone looking to discover the Beatles' early magic would do well to start with this gem of an album.
Beatles for SaleDec 17, 2008 I bought this CD used to help round out my Beatles CD collection. The CD is in great shape and arrived quickly. As a Beatles aficionado, I rate this disk 4 out of 5 stars. In 1964, The Beatles recorded and released two albums, made one movie, and toured the United States for the 1st time. As a result, half the songs on this CD are covers of American rock and roll classics, rather than all original Beatles material. They ran out of bandwidth, essentially. Still, the songs are great, and the originals include classics like I'm A Loser, Eight Days A Week and No Reply. Covers include Chuck Berry's Rock & Roll Music, Buddy Holly's Words Of Love, a couple of nice Carl Perkins tunes and the great medley Kansas City - Hey, Hey, Hey, one of my favorite Beatles covers. Well worth the $7 or so that I paid! I've yet to get a bad used CD from Amazon.
Good Beatles' early days workDec 02, 2008 This is an early Beattles' work. Their song writing skills was not fully evolved as their later work. Still you can hear glimpse of enthusiasm in their songs.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
A difficult album to judgeSep 08, 2008 The reason this is a difficult album to judge is because it's almost like two different albums: the originals and the covers.
The cover songs - which account for 6 of the 14 tracks - are the weak links. It's not that they're bad - even "Mr. Moonlight" (often derided as the "worst song the Beatles ever recorded") is very listenable - it's just not up to the quality of the Beatles' original songs. But, as it's been said, this album was sort of a rush job, so you can't blame them. Plus, "Beatles for Sale" has the difficult task of following up the hugely popular 100% Lennon/McCartney genius of "A Hard Days Night."
The 8 original songs are what make this album. Uncharactaristically melancholy, almost all of the originals (excluding only "Eight Days a Week" and "Every Little Thing") are about the bad side of relationships. The first three songs are goose-bump raisingly negative, and show a growing maturity in Lennon/McCartney's song-writing, both lyrically and musically. The cluster of origianals at the end of the album are very musically interesting, showing a preview of the sound of their future releases of '65-'66.
I think that the 8 originals on "Beatles for Sale" surpassed anything the Beatles had produced up to that point, and are even a little better than the music on "Help!" ("Help!" seems to be alot more commercial, due to it being written for the movie, but that's another story). Unfortunately, the rush in which this album was recorded prevented it from being as good as it could have been. Instead of a really solid knock-out album, we get a half-baked album, with 8 astounding original songs and 6 so-so covers.
I recommend this album because it has some of the Beatle's best original tunes. But don't expect a consistent album.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Still a worthy upfollower to A HARD DAY`S NIGHTJul 10, 2008 This album is often regarded as a step down after the classic A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. It is a bit unfair comparison though. First of all, on AHDN the singles ("Can't buy me love" and the title track with their respective B-sides) were included on the album. Second of all, AHDN only has 13 tracks while FOR SALE has 14. If you remove the 2 or 3 weakest tracks on FOR SALE and instead include "I feel fine" and "She's a woman" you would have a more even album for sure.
And when judging Beatles' albums one often misses the obvious fact that the fab 4 more or less rushed out their music during their whole career. They released 1 or 2 albums every year PLUS a lot of hit-singles that never were included on an album. Who could compete with that today?
based on 229 reviews
