I read about Rubber Soul in another thread here. What strikes me most about this album is that they, although they were quite short of time, decided not to record any coversongs anymore. We've been down to discussing the cover-thing a lot already, but I have never read or heard anything about this decision they made. I know that A Hard Day's Night doesn't contain any cover, but they returned to it on Beatles For Sale and Help!. Starting with Rubber Soul, they didn't include any cover song on their albums any more. But what precisely triggered their decision? Any ideas or facts about this?
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I believe they were more publishing 'savvy' by then. They also had a lot of confidence grown in their own material and about to massively take on America? Surely the shrewd Epstein would and possibly Mr Martin would have encouraged or explained about royalties to them?
I think maybe they had recorded all the cover versions they liked and there was'nt much left to cover ,which was worthy of a place on their albums. Plus i think John and Paul got to a point quite early on ,where they did'nt need to do other people's songs as original material was exploding from there creative minds at great speed .
Plus i think John and Paul got to a point quite early on ,where they did'nt need to do other people's songs as original material was exploding from there creative minds at great speed .
I've never thought they included covers because they "needed to". A mixture of originals and covers (reflecting their stage act?) was just the way albums, including by the Beatles, were made. It was the acceptable format. They were giving away hits in 63 and had plenty of excellent material but still included 7(?) covers on With The Beatles. I think it was just that things were changing. Albums like Dylans Highway 61 must have influenced them. The album as an "art" form was changing. I still wonder though whether they sat down and made a conscious decision one day, or it just happened. I suspect the latter.
To (hopefully) illustrate the point that the evolution of albums in the 60's followed some kind of trend without any one act blazing a trail, I found this July 66 album by The Yardbirds: According to Wiki it encompassed a multitude of styles, including influences from gregorian chanting, world music and european folk music. It's similarity to Revolver, in both look and sound, and which was released a month later, is quite startling. Not that one is copying the other, but that music was moving in a general trend, pulling bands along with it.
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To ingratiate a band with the people, covers is a great way of going about it...Ask a band early on and I reckon they would be relieved to 'sly' their way in, in such a manner.
I wonder who the first rock act to debut with an album of all originals? That surely is a groundbreaking event.
Only groundbreaking if it sells. (The first off the block might have disappeared in a sea of disinterest.)
I think there is something about the familiarity of a well-known song. I have to say, I was absolutely delighted when I first heard the Beatles do "Please Mr. Postman", because I was so familiar with the girl-group version. I just sat there grinning: boys are doing this! So the Beatles didn't have to win me over to this new song (as in, "Please learn to like 'I Saw Her Standing There' enough to buy our album") because I already knew the song, and I thought the Beatles singing it was really cool.
So perhaps after they'd established an audience and marketing was no longer an issue, they could feel more confident that their albums would sell even if they featured "only" Beatles compositions.
Coo discussion, everyone!
All you've got to do is choose love. That's how I live it now. I learned a long time ago, I can feed the birds in my garden. I can't feed them all. -- Ringo Starr, Rolling Stone magazine, May 2007
For all I know, Ringo might be a yogi disguised as a drummer! - George Harrison
John from the 68 RS interview: Q: Wasn't it about the time of Rubber Soul that you moved away from the old records to something quite different?
A: Yes, yes, we got involved completely in ourselves then. I think it was Rubber Soul when we did all our own numbers. Something just happened. We controlled it a bit. Whatever it was we were putting over, we just tried to control it a bit.
Unfortunately no. Here's the link http://homepage.ntlworld.com/carousel/pob06.html It's good to read, because John is very positive about being Beatle (both past and present.) No hint of the nastiness from 1971. He also enthuses about Paul quite a bit. Doesn't sound like a man who has given up.
I wonder who the first rock act to debut with an album of all originals? That surely is a groundbreaking event.
That is a really good question. The debut album by the Mothers of Invention - Freak Out - had all Zappa originals. It was a double album, and it was groundbreaking.
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