The Beatles are the most successful group in rock history, anyone who tries to debate this fact obviously knows little about music or is a hater of the band or it’s members. But one of the problems I had noticed with this band is they had so many big hits, but none of these were ever on one collection, a collection that spanned the bands whole music career. But in 2000, The Beatles had a album named ,“One”, released that of course featured all of the bands number one hits throughout there career. This wasn’t just a DVD on the making “The White Album” and “Revolver”, this was throughout the bands career. And it was a very good album for diehard and fans that are just starting to listen to the band.
Tracks 1-9 albums featured: “Please Please Me”- “Help!”
Tracks 1-9 really chronicle the pre-LSD era of the Beatles were the music was relatively simple, there aren’t in weird effects or lyrics in these songs and for the most part they are straight up pop/rock. The songs somewhat sound alike in the sound they create, which is mostly straightforward, but these songs are so catchy they are very hard to pass up.
The best song from this era has to be “Ticket To Ride”, it is the most complicated of all these songs lyrically as the lyrics sound more complicated compared to the other songs, and the drum work is far superior to the compared to the rest. There is a mini-breakdown after the chorus with the band repeating some lyrics fast and it leads perfectly into another breakdown with the beautiful singing of: “My baby don’t care”, and the song ends. But the amazing thing about this song is that The Beatles fit all of this in a little over three minutes. “Ticket To Ride” is the best song of the first nine songs.
The worst song has to be “Eight Days A Week”. This song features a pretty aggressive acoustic guitar which is well done and some good drum work, but the lyrics as a few songs of the first nine are, just aren’t up to my expectations for The Beatles. The band repeats there lyrical themes so much in this section of there career it gets repetitive and it makes for a hard track by track listen. The song is catchy for a while but has little staying power.
The rest of the songs are very much like “Eight Days A Week”, except with a lot better songwriting. “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, is a highlight because it shows the songwriting and instrumental capabilities the band has while still remaining catchy. The first section is the worst of the album basically because of the repetition and sometimes it feel like you are listening to the same song over and over again.
1st section rating: 4/5
Tracks 10-18: “Help!”- “Magical Mystery Tour”
The second section is the perfect blend of the pop/LSD days of the band. This is the best section of the whole album, it shows a ton of improvement in songwriting [which had to get better for the Beatles to stay on top], and instrumentally [effects start to be used]. There are even some songs which I would consider epic on this mix of songs, it’s overall a great collection.
It was hard to pick out a song that I like the best on this section but if I had to chose I would say the song “Yesterday”. It In my opinion is one of the best songs lyrically for the Beatles and features and creates a very nice mood with the guitar in the background and the singing is absolutely beautifully. The song is absolutely magnificent and is one of my favorite Beatles songs.
The worst song has to be, “Penny Lane”, it’s a good song but I don’t think it is a song that deserves to be a # 1 hit. The band wanted to make the song start off quick but the distorted vocals and the chorus doesn’t save it at all. This is probably one of the worst songs on the album and I am scratching my head on why this song was even released as a single.
Overall this section of the album shows why The Beatles have 27 number one hits. The band switches between quick acoustic guitar music [Help!] to a completely emotional songs [Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby] and even a few experimental and drug influenced songs [Yellow Submarine, Paperback Writer]. And even though all these styles are presented these songs are still very catchy and keep the momentum that The Beatles had going for them.
Section 2 Rating: 5/5
Tracks 19-27: “Magical Mystery Tour- “Let It Be”
With the third section The Beatles dip into experimental music and try to back up the statement that they are bigger than anyone on the earth [or in heaven]. The section features a lot of great tracks that have obviously influenced a lot of excellent bands [Pink Floyd, Radiohead] and even though it’s not as strong as the second section it comes pretty damn close.
“Let It Be”, wins in a close race over “Something”, “Hey Jude”, and “Come Together”, for best song of the section. “Let It Be”, features an unusual piano start to the album with some beautiful singing done by the band. The chorus picks up the beat a little bit with some beautiful voices in the background as well. When the beat picks up after the 2nd verse the song turns into one of the best songs. The song is great and if you haven’t heard it, listen to it for it’s beautiful piano work, great singing, and the ending guitar solo.
“Lady Madonna”, is probably the worst song of the section. It is still a good song but compared to the other songs in this section it’s lyrics and it’s beat just don’t match up. The beat is decent but way to mainstream and doesn’t really gel with what the Beatles are trying to do at this point of there career.
The Beatles again change there sound into a more experimental form of rock after showing us glimpses of this coming in the last section, this section contains a lot more epic and experimental songs then any other section of the “One” album. It’s not the best section but it still deserves a 5/5 rating.
Rating: 5/5
Overall, The Beatles are the greatest rock group of all time. So not having a rock collection for them is as stupid as going to school necked, but when we finally got a collection it was rewarding. The first section is a good start to the bands career, the second selection contains a wealth of hits, and the third section shows a epic and experimental side of the band we have not seen.
5/5
Beatles List [For Your Enjoyment]:
Top 10 songs:
1. Yesterday
2. Help!
3. Let It Be
4. Something
5. Eleanor Rigby
6. Yellow Submarine
7. All You Need Is Love
8. Come Together
9. Hey Jude
10. Ticket To Ride
