When you're considering Beatles compilations, there's really only two you should even think about - there's this, 1962-66 The Red Album, an dits companion, 1967-70 The Blue Album. They were issued back in 1973 and were among the first albums I ever bought. They've got all the singles and all the best bits from the Fab Four over their eight year period when there was no one bigger.
1962-66 catalogues their early releases on Parlophone and EMI through to 1966 and encompasses the Help, Rubber Soul and Revolver albums, three of the best sets they ever recorded.
Listen to the music today and you could be in a different world, and while the Beatles certainly changed and grew while they were together, the stuff you get on this double album is simple, unadorned, honest and remarkable music. The twin lead vocals of McCartney and Lennon are magnificent.
Where to start and what to mention. The very earliest stuff like Please Please Me, Love Me Do, Hard Day's Night, at first might seem like any skiffle rock band of the time, but they're masterpieces, understated love songs which were streets ahead of anything else around at the time.
As they went on they grew more socially aware and brought out the stuff like Paperback Writer, Eleanor Rigby, You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, Yesterday. These guys were amazing writers and it's only when you listen to the music and forget the hype that you actually really get to appreciate them for what they once were.
If you want to go further than the compilations and the singles, popular critical opinion would dictate that you check out Revolver to hear the best of the Beatles in the mid 1960's, but I've always preferred the amazing Revolver, when they (or mainly Harrison) had just started getting into the Eastern and Indian sounds.
Some of the playing here is pretty functional at times (partic Mr Starkey), but that allows the true beauty of the songs to shine through unhindered.
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The closest the Beatles came to a greatest hits package, this document of the early part ... more
of their career features hit singles (in chronological order) and selected album tracks, running from "Love Me Do" through the groundbreakingRubber SoulandRevolver...
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Released in 1973, The Beatles Red Album was a fabulous collection of the group's best ... more
early work which provided a potent reminder, if any were needed, of a band that completely changed the rock landscape.This authoritative critical review features insi...
The closest the Beatles came to a greatest hits package, this document of the early part ... more
of their career features hit singles (in chronological order) and selected album tracks, running from "Love Me Do" through the groundbreaking Rubber Soul and Revol...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Feb 25th, 2001
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