Beatles 1967-1970, The - Beatles (The) > Reviews > Brilliant Compilation May Make You Blue

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	Superb Groundbreaking Music, Including Some Non Album stuff
Disadvantages:	Octopus's Garden

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

This is a companion review to the Beatles’ Red Album. As stated in that review EMI / Apple released two excellent compilation albums The Red (1962-1966) and The Blue (1967-1970) which is this one. When released they were in vinyl format , and thanks to TallTone I know that the albums are contractually stipulated to be issued in this defined form.

One major problem with the Red Album is that it clocks in at around an hour for two CDs. The Blue is more reasonable at around ninety minutes, so you couldn’t make it a single CD without losing some tracks, although there is plenty in the Beatles canon that could have been used to enhance this compilation.

The gripe about cost , however, does hold with this album. You can easily pay between twenty and thirty GBP for this (It’s 23.99 GBP plus postage from Amazon), and this is for previously released material. However if people are willing to pay, the record companies and shops will continue to rip them off.

OK enough of the gripes. This compilation concentrates on the latter half of the Beatles’ career , presenting the listener with an excellent selection of singles and album tracks, which are more accomplished than the material on the Red album, although whether the music is better is very subjective. Everyone has their own preference and I do prefer this to the Red. It mixes album tracks with singles, and actually scores over the “1” compilation because it contains both “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields”.

The full track listing is as follows:

Disc: 1
1. Strawberry Fields Forever
2. Penny Lane
3. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
4. With a Little Help from My Friends
5. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
6. A Day in the Life
7. All You Need Is Love
8. I Am the Walrus
9. Hello, Goodbye
10. The Fool on the Hill
11. Magical Mystery Tour
12. Lady Madonna
13. Hey Jude
14. Revolution

Disc: 2
1. Back in the U.S.S.R.
2. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
3. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
4. Get Back
5. Don't Let Me Down
6. The Ballad of John and Yoko
7. Old Brown Shoe
8. Here Comes the Sun
9. Come Together
10. Something
11. Octopus's Garden
12. Let It Be
13. Across the Universe
14. The Long and Winding Road

Although I like this album better than the Red it does have, in my opinion, one enormous clanger, the absolutely awful “Octopus’s Garden”, surely one of the worst songs ever recorded, beloved of family oriented Djs like Ed Stewart everywhere, but that’s what the CD skip facility is for.

The compilation includes some great “B” sides such as “Revolution” and album tracks such as “A Day In The Life”, probably the most important song the band ever recorded. It has the full length version of “Hey Jude” and the gorgeous “Let It Be”, the cod calypso reggae of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, and manages to include some excellent George Harrison compositions such as the stunning “Something” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”.

All in all and excellent compilation apart from you know what, but again the punter is being ripped off if asked to pay above twenty notes for it. After this there were a few Beatles themed compilations released such as “Love Songs” and “Rock and Roll”. I’d love to see these on CD, but as single CDs PLEASE. No doubt they’ll make their way to the shops one Christmas.

So as with the Red album, I have to state that this is a superb compilation (with one duff track) , but vastly overpriced, so although I’ll give it an excellent rating I cannot recommend that you buy it. Go and get “1” instead.