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1360
Getting Back to Where I Belong: The Beatles 1
Pros
27 chart-topping songs by the Lads from Liverpool.
Cons
None musically, but printed lyrics would have been nice.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
"She loves you, yeah yeah yeah..." What? The Bottom Line is wearing headphones, listening to this wonderful collection of Beatles' No. 1 hits.
For my 25th birthday, my friend Betsy Matteis gave me a cassette of The Beatles' 20 Greatest Hits; she has known me since I was nine years old, so she was aware of my musical tastes -- particularly my growing fondness for both Billy Joel and the Fab Four from Liverpool. With such classic Lennon-McCartney songs as I Want to Hold Your Hand, She Loves You, Yesterday, Hey Jude, and Let It Be, this Capitol "greatest hits" compendium followed the amazing eight-year reign of one of the seminal groups in pop/rock history from the "innocent" love ditties (Love Me Do, Eight Days a Week) to the reflective songs of The Beatles' final days together (Let It Be, The Long and Winding Road).
Alas, no recording format yet devised lasts forever, and magnetic tape is prone to getting worn out or being "eaten" by defective cassette players; my 20 Greatest Hits tape only lasted about seven months. A month into my 88-day Semester in Spain study-abroad stint, my cheap "made in China" Walkman-clone decided to malfunction, taking with it one of the five cassettes I had taken with me across the Pond (the others being By Request: The Best of John Williams and the Boston Pops, Billy Joel's Greatest Hits: Volumes I & II 1973-1985, An Innocent Man, and the 1977 edition of the Star Wars soundtrack album). Unhappily, the suicidal Walkman-wannabe's victim was The Beatles' 20 Greatest Hits, and although I tried to find a copy both while I was still in Sevilla (Seville) and upon my return Stateside, I never found one, not on cassette, and, inexplicably, not on compact disc.
Betsy did eventually get me my first Beatles CD (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) several years later, and a generous neighbor was nice enough to part with his Red Beatles 1962-1966 2-CD set before moving to Mexico, but I often looked in stores to see if I could find a CD of my favorite Beatles album, but it was either never produced or it always sold out.
Fortunately, Capitol released The Beatles 1, a 27-track compilation of the group's chart-topping songs, including the ones I missed the most from 20 Greatest Hits (A Hard Day's Night, Ticket To Ride, Paperback Writer, Hey Jude, and Let It Be).
The Beatles 1 presents the 27 songs in chronological order, starting with 1962's Love Me Do and ending with 1970's The Long and Winding Road. They have been lovingly digitally remastered, making each note, each drumbeat, every lyric sound much clearer than on previous CD reissues of the Fab Four's albums.
Favorite Tracks and Extras:
There is no denying that The Beatles were an integral part in the evolution of rock music; indeed, The Beatles 1 is a condensed but accurate chart of the group's own shifts from "bubble gum" young-love-and-innocence songs such as She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand to edgier material (Hey Jude, The Ballad of John and Yoko). There are sweet and storytelling ballads by Paul (Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, Penny Lane), acerbic-yet-witty or even philosophical ditties by John (Get Back, Come Together, All You Need is Love) and even George's reflective Something.
Here are my 15 favorite tracks from Beatles 1:
1. Love Me Do
3. She Loves You
4. I Want to Hold Your Hand
6. A Hard Day's Night
7. I Feel Fine
11. Yesterday
14. Paperback Writer
16. Eleanor Rigby
17. Penny Lane
18. All You Need is Love
19. Hello, Goodbye
21. Hey Jude
22. Get Back
24. Something
26. Let It Be
As for extras, there is a booklet insert that includes an introduction by The Beatles' legendary producer George Martin and 27 pages, each one lavishly illustrated with various international record covers, the dates the songs were recorded and where, and the dates they reached No. 1 spots in British and American charts. Unlike, say, the Sgt. Pepper's or Red & Blue sets, there are no printed lyrics included.
Still, the enduring appeal of the Fab Four's songs and the clarity of the sound of this CD makes The Beatles 1 a must-get album, whether it is for fans who experienced Beatlemania in the group's glory days, or for a new generation of listeners. It certainly is one of my favorite CDs, and I gladly recommend it.
Alas, no recording format yet devised lasts forever, and magnetic tape is prone to getting worn out or being "eaten" by defective cassette players; my 20 Greatest Hits tape only lasted about seven months. A month into my 88-day Semester in Spain study-abroad stint, my cheap "made in China" Walkman-clone decided to malfunction, taking with it one of the five cassettes I had taken with me across the Pond (the others being By Request: The Best of John Williams and the Boston Pops, Billy Joel's Greatest Hits: Volumes I & II 1973-1985, An Innocent Man, and the 1977 edition of the Star Wars soundtrack album). Unhappily, the suicidal Walkman-wannabe's victim was The Beatles' 20 Greatest Hits, and although I tried to find a copy both while I was still in Sevilla (Seville) and upon my return Stateside, I never found one, not on cassette, and, inexplicably, not on compact disc.
Betsy did eventually get me my first Beatles CD (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) several years later, and a generous neighbor was nice enough to part with his Red Beatles 1962-1966 2-CD set before moving to Mexico, but I often looked in stores to see if I could find a CD of my favorite Beatles album, but it was either never produced or it always sold out.
Fortunately, Capitol released The Beatles 1, a 27-track compilation of the group's chart-topping songs, including the ones I missed the most from 20 Greatest Hits (A Hard Day's Night, Ticket To Ride, Paperback Writer, Hey Jude, and Let It Be).
The Beatles 1 presents the 27 songs in chronological order, starting with 1962's Love Me Do and ending with 1970's The Long and Winding Road. They have been lovingly digitally remastered, making each note, each drumbeat, every lyric sound much clearer than on previous CD reissues of the Fab Four's albums.
Favorite Tracks and Extras:
There is no denying that The Beatles were an integral part in the evolution of rock music; indeed, The Beatles 1 is a condensed but accurate chart of the group's own shifts from "bubble gum" young-love-and-innocence songs such as She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand to edgier material (Hey Jude, The Ballad of John and Yoko). There are sweet and storytelling ballads by Paul (Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, Penny Lane), acerbic-yet-witty or even philosophical ditties by John (Get Back, Come Together, All You Need is Love) and even George's reflective Something.
Here are my 15 favorite tracks from Beatles 1:
1. Love Me Do
3. She Loves You
4. I Want to Hold Your Hand
6. A Hard Day's Night
7. I Feel Fine
11. Yesterday
14. Paperback Writer
16. Eleanor Rigby
17. Penny Lane
18. All You Need is Love
19. Hello, Goodbye
21. Hey Jude
22. Get Back
24. Something
26. Let It Be
As for extras, there is a booklet insert that includes an introduction by The Beatles' legendary producer George Martin and 27 pages, each one lavishly illustrated with various international record covers, the dates the songs were recorded and where, and the dates they reached No. 1 spots in British and American charts. Unlike, say, the Sgt. Pepper's or Red & Blue sets, there are no printed lyrics included.
Still, the enduring appeal of the Fab Four's songs and the clarity of the sound of this CD makes The Beatles 1 a must-get album, whether it is for fans who experienced Beatlemania in the group's glory days, or for a new generation of listeners. It certainly is one of my favorite CDs, and I gladly recommend it.
