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This is not just because Beatles Rock Band is coming out soon or that the digitally remastered collection is coming out soon (which, by the way, might be pretty cool. Yes, they have cleaned up some of the tracks but have left in the little "organic" things like Ringo's creaky bass pedal in All I've Got to Do and the chair squeak in A Day in the Life).

This might have started with me trying to learn to play Here Comes the Sun (warning: crazy hair George, and Ringo AND Phil Collins playing drums) and was compounded by me borrowing some Beatles records from my parents and listening to The Beatles Biography on audiobook (according to some Amazon reviews there are some inaccuracies but it is pretty entertaining).

After that I started watching The Beatles Anthology on DVD, which Aimee got me a while ago (you can watch the whole thing on YouTube starting here). I noticed a few gems.

First, watch this short clip where George, with the band in America for the first time, is on the telephone with someone back in England. He is listing their songs on the Hot 100, including My Bonnie, which "is a laugh." My Bonnie was a song The Beatles recorded with guitarist/vocalist Tony Sheridan as Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers in 1961 and was re-released 3 years later as a Beatles song when they hit it big.

Three years earlier, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison recorded their first songs together as The Quarrymen: A cover of That'll Be The Day, and their first original recording, In Spite of All the Danger.

They went through a couple quick name changes (Johnny and the Moondogs, The Beatals, Long John and the Silver Beetles, The Silver Beetles, The Beatles), played shows like mad and the rest is history.

Now, a lot of people mention Rubber Soul or Revolver as their favorite album, or at least when The Beatles started to transition to something beyond their early sound into something a little more complex.

I think this transition is pretty interesting. In fact, I think there's something that really marks a change in their thinking; a realization that they could do a lot more in the studio (helped along all the way by George Martin who should be up there with all four of them, really, and is still alive, yay). That thing is the opening note of I Feel Fine, a single released in between Beatles For Sale and Help!

The opening note was a bit of an accident. Paul hit an A note on his bass and it started John's acoustic-electric, which he had leaned on an amp, to feedback. It was one of the first instances of feedback in a song.

Speaking of John: he was a bit crazy. There are a lot of examples of him acting out or breaking up at concerts, but you can tell he really doesn't like playing the part of the clean-cut Beatle. After all, these guys were known as the one of the rowdiest, anti-establishment bands in Hamburg before manager Brian Epstein helped groom them into the suit-wearing, bow-after-every-song band that was introduced to America. Paul, on the other hand, was always the one shaking his head and making the crowd go wild. I think Paul got a kick out of Beatlemania where as the others got sick of it pretty quickly.

One of the best examples of John's playful/"this whole thing is a put on" moments is when they played for the Queen at the Royal Command Performance. John: "For our last number I'd like to ask your help: Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellery ..." (Watch from the beginning for a bonus Lennon poking Paul as he tries to answer an reporter's question)

(Side note: I love this version of Help! where John seems to forget the lyrics and Paul seems to start to laugh at it).

Other interesting bits: The first chord in A Hard Day's Night is kind of a weird one. More on it here. By the way, the producer told John they needed a song for the opening sequence and Lennon had A Hard Day's Night for him about 10 hours later. Also interesting that Paul sings on the bridge since John couldn't reach the notes.

This brings me to one of the reasons why I think Beatles albums are so good. Not just the combination of John and Paul's (and George's) voices when they harmonize, but you'll have a Paul song, then a John song, then a Paul song, then maybe a George or Ringo song tossed in. Granted, the writing and production are great, but having that variety in lead singers gives more replay value to the album.

Adding to that, you've got the duo of Lennon/McCartney who work so well writing songs together and as a bonus you have George Harrison, who didn't have as much practice writing as the other two early on, but came out with songs like Taxman, Something, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Here Comes the Sun, Think For Yourself and I Want to Tell You, which would be classics on their own.

And don't forget about the Ringo songs! Can't have a Beatles post without Yellow Submarine.

Anyway, another interesting bit of Beatles recording was the orchestral buildup in A Day in the Life followed by a massive E chord played by four people on three grand pianos. The buildup was 4 takes of 40 musicians in full evening dress, which the band dressed up in clown noses, funny hats, and a gorilla paw for the lead violin.

I think I've run out of things to talk about for now, I'm sure I'll add more.

Edit: One thing that confuses me though is the track list on the American LPs. For example, here are the songs on Rubber Soul if you have the CD:

Drive My Car
Norwegian Wood
You Won't See Me
Nowhere Man
Think For Yourself
The Word
Michelle
What Goes On
Girl
I'm Looking Through You
In My Life
Wait
If I Needed Someone
Run For Your Life

Here are the songs on my dad's record:

I've Just Seen a Face
Norwegian Wood
You Won't See Me
Think For Yourself
The Word
Michelle
It's Only Love
Girl
I'm Looking Through You
In My Life
Wait
Run For Your Life

It hurts my brain. But I do like the little details on the record, like listing "Paul on fuzz bass" on Think For Yourself and "Paul on piano; George Martin on harmonium" on The Word. And of course the line that appears at the bottom of a few of their records:

THIS MONOPHONIC MICROGROOVE RECORDING IS PLAYABLE ON MONOPHONIC AND STEREO PHONOGRAPHS. IT CANNOT BECOME OBSOLETE. IT WILL CONTINUE TO BE A SOURCE OF OUTSTANDING SOUND REPRODUCTION PROVIDING THE FINEST MONOPHONIC PERFORMANCE FROM ANY PHONOGRAPH.