Recorded: 11 August - 26 October 1964
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Released: 4 December 1964 (UK)
John Lennon: vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, acoustic 12-string guitar, harmonica, tambourine, handclaps
Paul McCartney: vocals, bass guitar, piano, Hammond organ, handclaps
George Harrison: vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, African drum, handclaps
Ringo Starr: vocals, drums, tambourine, timpani, percussion, handclaps
George Martin: piano
Tracklisting:
No Reply
I'm A Loser
Baby's In Black
Rock And Roll Music
I'll Follow The Sun
Mr Moonlight
Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!
Eight Days A Week
Words Of Love
Honey Don't
Every Little Thing
I Don't Want To Spoil The Party
What You're Doing
Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
The Beatles' fourth EMI album was recorded at the height of their fame. In 1964 they recorded and released two new albums and an EP, starred in their first feature film, gave countless interviews, radio sessions and television appearances, and toured the world.
They were rather war-weary during Beatles for Sale. One must remember that they'd been battered like mad throughout '64, and much of '63. Success is a wonderful thing, but it is very, very tiring. They were always on the go. Beatles For Sale doesn't appeal to me very much now, it's not one of their most memorable ones. They perked up again after that.
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
Recording for Beatles For Sale began on 11 August 1964, just two months after the release of A Hard Day's Night. Although it wouldn't be released until December, the group's hectic schedule meant they had to fit it around their other commitments. Lacking the creative drive that had enriched so much of A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles delved back into their Cavern-era songbook, resurrecting old cover versions, early Lennon-McCartney songs, and a handful of new songs.
We're really pleased with the record and with the new LP. There was a lousy period when we didn't seem to have any material for the LP and didn't have a single. Now we're clear of things and they're due out, it's a bit of a relief.
Anthology
As with Please Please Me and With The Beatles, Beatles For Sale contained six cover versions. The group's familiarity with the songs meant they were able to work quickly, with three of the covers - Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby, Rock And Roll Music and Words Of Love - recorded in a total of five takes at the end of a session on 18 October 1964.
While Lennon had dominated the songwriting on A Hard Day's Night, Beatles For Sale was more of a collaborative effort. Baby's In Black, Eight Days A Week, What You're Doing and I Don't Want To Spoil The Party were Lennon-McCartney collaborations. McCartney also contributed Every Little Thing and an early song, I'll Follow The Sun, while Lennon came up with the opening No Reply and I'm A Loser.
Related articles:
- Honey Don't
- UK LP release: Beatles For Sale
- Rock And Roll Music
- Beatles iPod goes on sale at Bloomingdale's
- UK EP release: Beatles For Sale No 2
this album is one of their underrated albums...but this album contains a lot of great songs one of them is i'll follow the sun.
Great album, I need to pick it up sometime.
I just played this one again, twice, after many years. And I was really taken by many of the songs, including the strong opening 5 tracks, skipping Mr. Moonlight which I've always detested, and I especially liked I Don't Want To Spoil The Party, an early melancholic Lennon number. And adding in Eight Days A Week, Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey, and a few more great covers make this album quite an enjoyable listen. This record certainly gets overlooked unnecessarily.
I've noticed quite a few negative references to Mr. Moonlight, which I do like. Its got a powerful vocal. (Listen to John perfect it on the Anthology series. It also points to the fact that even from their early days they were playing a whole variety of different songs from different genres. This could also be said of many of the Beat boom groups from Liverpool. But it was this diversity as much as anything else which would define the Beatles as timeless.
This is probably my least favourite Beatles album (other than Yellow Submarine but that hardly counts). But when you look at each individual song, they're all great. Not sure what it's lacking, perhaps it's just they were still doing covers when they could have filled the album with self-written music. George didn't have any self-written songs on the album and only sang one, that's also a downside for me.
This album gets ragged on for being "war weary". Actually, I think Help is a better candidate for being tired (but I'll leave those comments for that page). Certainly it's not as varied or dynamic as Hard Days Night, but this is a very good album; especially when you add the single to the analysis. Alot is mentioned of the Dylan influence, but I think many of the acoustic tracks are also inspired by the success of the acoustic numbers from A Hard Days Night. Specifically, I believe they were building on the success of "if I Fell" and "I'll be Back". I know many of these tracks started out with a full electric line up, but I believe the above mentioned influences made it easy to go acoustic. To my mind they are doing the Everly Brothers and adding the folk/Dylan influence, along with their own awareness of their fantastic ability to sing duets. (Cynthia mentions how many times she and her friends were enraptured by the acoustic duets John and Paul would sing). As to the covers, Everybody and Moonlight are weak, but the rest are great. John dominates the writing, as Paul still seems to be looking for his voice (comparatively speaking); which I don't think he really finds until Rubber Soul. What your doing is not a very strong track. I rank it ahead of both Help and their first album and MMT and possibly Let it Be (even with Don't let me Down added). I love Georges 12 string , but it does seem to be getting old on some of these songs.
I really liked this album a lot... the covers and originals. It was an album made in a frenzied time, but you can start to hear the changes that were to be evident a year later with Rubber Soul.
What if the album lineup went like this:
No Reply
I'm a Loser
Baby's in Black
Rock and Roll Music
I'll Follow the Sun
Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby
Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey
Eight Days and Week
Words of Love
Honey Don't
Every Little Thing
I Don't Want to Spoil the Party
What You're Doing
Leave My Kitten Alone
Better? Post modern disc jockeying?
Hey Jerry, looks like you have my habit of mentally resequencing albums or adding unused tracks to see what happens. I do it all the time and my rejigged version of For Sale was pretty much the same except that I think Kansas City would have been a better closer. I agree with inserting Kitten, after hearing it on Anthology 1 I can't imagine why it wasn't used. I would have put it at the end of side one. Maybe I'd have switched round Baby's in Black and I'm a loser too. Otherwise I think you're spot on with this one. Incidentally, I think Mr.Moonlight sounds 10 times better on the remastered version - it's come to life.
This album took a long time for me to like, but once I matured with their music & came back to it, I realized how ridiculously strong it is. "I'll Follow The Sun" was my long time fav, but after really listening I realized "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party" is one of John's great performances & "What You're Doing" is definitely one of the most slept on songs they've ever made. Add in "Baby In Black", which is one of the best Lennon/McCartney combo vocals of their entire catalog, and this album is among the strong of the pre-Studio band years. As a complete work, I'd take it over With The Beatles, Please Please Me & even A Hard Days Night.