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You are here: Home » The Beatles' albums » Beatles For Sale

Beatles For Sale

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Beatles For Sale album cover artwork 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

Buy from Amazon

Beatles For Sale (Remastered)

The Beatles. EMI 2009, Audio CD, $9.48

4.0

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.
George Martin
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.
John Lennon, 1964
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.

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Related articles:

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  • Every Little Thing

8 responses to “Beatles For Sale”

  1. jonzz says:
    Friday 29 May 2009 at 11.02am

    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.

    Reply to this comment
  2. Zach says:
    Monday 1 June 2009 at 1.07am

    Great album, I need to pick it up sometime.

    Reply to this comment
  3. salesanalyst says:
    Sunday 12 July 2009 at 5.09pm

    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.

    Reply to this comment
  4. Amphion says:
    Thursday 10 December 2009 at 2.29pm

    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.

    Reply to this comment
  5. McLerristarr says:
    Friday 26 February 2010 at 1.30pm

    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.

    Reply to this comment
  6. Stough says:
    Thursday 4 March 2010 at 3.28am

    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.

    Reply to this comment
  7. Bob B says:
    Thursday 11 March 2010 at 1.50am

    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.

    Reply to this comment
  8. Jerry says:
    Sunday 6 June 2010 at 3.30am

    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?

    Reply to this comment

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