The Beatles - The Best; Simply the Best; And Nothing But the Best!

Music Wed (filed in the "better late than never" file). We r back to the greatest band series, and we have come to the Greatest Band Ever, which is none other than The Beatles. When I was a boy and even a younger man, I looked at a buffet and thought two things - first was the desire to taste everything, and second was the urge to gorge on everything I liked. As I have gotten older, I have lost the desire to stuff myself and have come to appreciate sampling a few extraordinary items and feeling content to be satiated, rather than be stuffed. So it will be with my review of Beatle songs. Sure, we could feast endlessly on their smorgasbord of musical delights, but neither time nor wisdom recommends that course of action. To organize my thoughts, I am going to pick a key song or two from each era of their short, meteoric career. I will start with the mop top, early George Martin disciplined recordings following The Beatles being reluctantly given a very limited opportunity to record in the now legendary (but then rather pedestrian and suburban) Abbey Roads studio. The first two early Beatles songs in this anthology are "Hard Days Night" which begins with the most iconic out of tune chord and ends with a group "whoa" and their now famous bow (http://youtu.be/70QfHtKdh_0) - this video reminds u of their innocent, yet genre shattering charm; the second song is the tender ballad "And I Love Her" (http://youtu.be/Nm4YlZ3oYsQ). While Paul's voice is pure and the lyrics are sweet, the real star is George's Spanish style guitar. The first song expresses the band's power to force u to get up and move ur body, while the second gives a hint of the incredible range this band would display over a short 7-year run where their creativity was matched only by their prolific output. For me, the mid-Beatles era starts with the the Revolution and Rubber Soul albums and really peaks with Sgt. Pepper, so my picks are "Norwegian Wood" which highlights the folk nature of the Rubber Soul album that includes 14 glorious songs recorded in less than 4 weeks to get the record out for Christmas shoppers (http://youtu.be/79uBB4anxbE); the next pick from Revolver was a hard choice because that album is so loaded with fantastic songs, but I must go with the first rock song to feature strings and no guitar, bass or drums - "Eleanor Rigby" (http://youtu.be/k9Itt02QOO0). Just ponder the courage, hubris or sheer insanity it took to not just record such a song in the mid-60s, but then to actually release it as an A-side single. Finally, let's end this era with a song that really celebrates the good vibe part of the 60s, the Lennon/McCartney song written specially for Ringo, "With a Little Help From My Friends" ( http://youtu.be/VRjJ_dSmKfA) which captured the joy that was extinguished in 1968 with political assassinations, the Hungarian invasion and the Paris and Chicago riots.  Say goodbye to the groovy feelings and let's wrap up this post with the "breaking-apart" era for The Beatles which extends from the White Album, continues through Let it Be and ends with Abbey Road. Here is where I plan to exhibit inexplicable restraint by celebrating my personal favorite Beatle productivity period with a single song - "I've Got a Feeling" from the tragic classic meltdown album called Let it Be in the UK and the US (but which was known as the Get Back album in Europe). Check out this clip which features every awesome element of The Beatles' magic, even as they were imploding - Paul's sweet and screeching vocals; Paul's and John's harmonies; John's bridge vocals; George's guitar solo; and even the keyboard play of the true "Fifth Beatle", Billy Preston (http://youtu.be/R9d98bxE9HY). Perfect way to end a tribute to the most perfectly flawed group of brilliant musicians ever assembled. Enjoy!