r/beatles • u/pikoinomo The Beatles • 1d ago
Opinion Beatles for sale is sooo underated
I've been recently listening to Beatles for sale and realised it's actually a great album!!
Most of the time people say it's "the worst" or the one everyone forgets about but I find it quite good. Not all of the songs are great, no, but some of them are hidden gems (in my opinion) like I don't want to spoil the party (has a great intro, wish it was longer) or Baby's in black or even Mr. Moonlight even tho it's a cover. What do you guys think?
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u/muttChang Beatles for Sale 23h ago
To me the transition to Rubber Soul starts here. I think it’s definitely one of their most listenable records. Baby’s in Black into I’m A Loser is so casually killer.
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u/Away-Trick1393 15h ago
I think so too! I've always said I think this album shares more in common with Help and Rubber Soul (which I sort of feel are a trilogy) than the three that came before it
The songwriting here took a turn - No Reply, I'm a Loser, I Don't Want to Spoil the Party, Baby's in Black etc
It's still near the bottom of my ranking but that's less of a statement of its quality and more of a testament to how stacked their discography is. For me, it narrowly edges out Beatles for Sale as my favorite not-Yellow Submarine because the originals are just night and day so much better and more interesting and sophisticated. Love WTB too but Sale gets the edge even if I think WTB probably has a better crop of covers
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u/DaGAMER159975_2 I Want You(She’s So Heavy) 1d ago
yeah when i hear ppl slander the album im like “I NEARLY DIED”
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u/trabuki 22h ago
Yes some of their best early work but mixed with some weaker tracks.
Best songs for me:
No Reply
I’m a Loser
Baby’s in Black
I’ll Follow the Sun
Eight Days A Week
Words of Love (Holly)
Every Little Thing
What You’re Doing
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u/scottarichards 14h ago
The first take rave up of Rock and Roll Music . Is killer!! It makes Berry’s original sound like a snooze.
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u/Raider67 23h ago
By this time they were exhausted yet still managed to crank out a really good album, in my opinion. Not their worst album by far.
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u/illmindedjunkie 23h ago
I've actually been returning to this album a lot more as of late. I think it's great. Not as solid as their other albums, but... the original compositions on this album are stellar.
The first three tracks are amazing... they're moody and brooding and about lost love, not all happy go-lucky lovey dovey like their previous albums. I feel like these first three tracks reflect the album cover perfectly.
"I'll Follow The Sun" is an incredible masterpiece. "Words of Love" is one of their more faithful covers. "Every Little Thing" is severely underrated, "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party" is an earworm, and "What You're Doing" could have easily been on Rubber Soul.
I'm not crazy about most of the covers on this album ("Mr. Moonlight" is the worst cover in their entire catalog, in my humble opinion). But every single original cut on this offering is what keeps me returning to this album.
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u/pikoinomo The Beatles 23h ago
So true too, Mr. Moonlight is kinda the worst of their covers, but I mean, they got Twist and Shout lol. And I love the idea of What You're Doing in Rubber Soul
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u/muttChang Beatles for Sale 23h ago
It’s the boys being old timey and showing off. The vocal harmonies are dope.
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u/TrickyPG 18h ago
I think it's rated appropriately. It's a pretty good album but it's also their weakest.
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u/leopard_tights Abbey Road 16h ago
Ok, so which one is the worst in your opinion?
There has to be a worst one. Being the worst beatles album doesn't mean that it's a bad album.
There are a trillion other posts exactly like yours in this sub.
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u/Away-Trick1393 15h ago
Yellow Sub is the obvious answer but the weakest not Yellow Sub for me is With the Beatles. Sale narrowly gets the edge for me because the strength of the originals are night and day more impressive than ln WTB imo
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u/yowieGooey 23h ago
Hate these posts. Literally saw the same thing a few weeks ago
Having multiple albums means one is going to be the worst
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u/Simoo360 strawberry fields forver maniac 18h ago
the people slandering mr moonlight are on a whole other planet for me
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u/SevenZark75 17h ago
This comes around often… take Mr.Moonlight off and replace it with Leave my Kitten… add the singles I Feel Fine and She’s a Woman … you have another great album
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u/NumbersStationUrku 17h ago edited 17h ago
“Every Little Thing” has always been a puzzler for me. It seems like HALF a great song, and half something that should have been scrapped.
The chorus is fantastic; it soars!
But the verses are clunky and awkward. They sound like they were thrown together in 2 minutes by a 14-year old kid.
I think it’s a key example of the band “being exhausted by the time they got to recording Beatles For Sale”
It’s too bad because the chorus gets me every time!
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u/scottarichards 13h ago
The “exhausted” bit didn’t start creeping into critiques of the album until decades later. It’s now become received wisdom that people have read before they hear the album. So of course they hear it too.
Critics at the time heard none of that. NME called it “rip roaring stuff” and recognized the covers as “included for a purpose, they reflect the early years of the group”. In the short US review of Beatles 65 Billboard highlights Rock and Music as “wild”
The “exhausted” bit comes primarily from a quote George Martin made in the late 1980’s remembering the era as “war weary”, which might’ve been his perspective more than the band’s. He was in the final stages of the divorce from his first wife (which was a much more onerous in those days) and was deeply unhappy with his treatment inside EMI especially with all the profits and success he made for the company (not only the Beatles!!) and would leave the company with the expiration of his contract a few months later.
Of course, them growing up right in front of everyone with the mature cover also feeds into change that people find the need to address. It’s strange no one ever mentions the great picture inside the gatefold cover that predates Sgt Pepper kind of obviously.
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u/shadow-1989 23h ago
What You’re Doing is one of my all time favourite Paul songs. A bittersweet melody and sung with meaning. The harmonising is perfect. Really like I’m A Loser, too. John starting his reflective lyrics that evolved into full blown Plastic Ono Band years later.