One Beatles song that oughta get more notice

[lightningsmith]

Man, to me this is it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5D3FMioSoc

One of the sweetest song endings ever.

 

[SGNick]

I don't much like that song... I think Free as a bird was the better of the two projects because it just sounded like The Beatles, only.... older.

 

[JamminJoe]

I agree with the OP that "Real Love" is a much overlooked song. If you search for the original takes on the song, it has the signature 70's lennon sound. I love how the other 3 beatles put there own stamp on the song and make it all of theirs. Just makes you wonder how much better the 70's songs of the beatles on their own could have been even much better if they stayed together. I love harrison's guitar on this.

 

[todaystomorrow]

I agree.... liked it much better than Free As A Bird. And I love the guitar on it as well. I just listened to this yesterday after not hearing it for well over a couple of years. Weird seeing this thread.

 

[Jahn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuEOKK8d43c&feature=related

Love this version. I'd rather hear the real John Lennon voice rather than the digitally over-processed robot ghost voice Lennon in Free as a Bird and Real Love.

 

[pete692]

I am in the middle of a solo-Lennon phase, and boy I gotta tell ya, I seriously underestimated his later output. The weight of knowing how it all ended just ratchets up the emotion on that stuff.

 

[Redbell]

I Need You from the Help album.

 

[duckbunny]

"Hey Bulldog," It's All Too Much," and "It's Only A Northern Song" off of Yellow Submarine. For me, all three are masterpieces, and even Beatles fans forget about them.



-db

 

[dverna]

"I'm Down"

B-side to "Help"

 

[guitgator]

this one....think about the rockin' 4/4 beat to this and how common it would later become in rock, metal and pop music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaYJaFWTHgM

 

[Wiz-ski]

I too think that "Real Love" is overlooked - I think it gets a lot of flack for Jeff Lynn's production signature, thus making it not SOUND like a Beatles record. I never understood the over-processing of John's vocal - maybe the original tapes were degraded somehow and needed some processing to get it "listenable"...but with that said, after I got over worrying about how the vocals sounded, I realized how great the vocal melody is & George's playing is fantastic. Really a great Beatles song in my opinion...

I love the original demo tapes as well - the song's lyrics have a whole different meaning, and listening to a very broken down take of John and his guitar gives me the chills everytime - much like in Anthology, when George Martin plays back "A Day in the Life" with John's vocal track isolated.

I would have to agree with some of the previous posters as well - Hey Bulldog and I Need You are two of my all time favorite Beatles tunes, but seem to be forgotten. Hey Bulldog's riff based verses and "You can Talk to Me" chorus is raw rock n roll at it's best. "I Need You" kind of escaped me in the past and flew under the radar - until one day I heard my 3 year old son singing it to himself in the bathtub (Both my sons have watched Help and AHDN ad nauseum). The lyrics are so simple and conversational, yet still communicate longing.

 

[Jon Silberman]

If you search for the original takes on the song, it has the signature 70's lennon sound. I love how the other 3 beatles put there own stamp on the song and make it all of theirs.

Agree with the 1st sentence. Disagree with the 2nd. And that's the problem. It's not a Beatles tune. It's a John Lennon solo song the Beatles play on.

This doesn't mean it's not a good song, of course.

 

[Smakutus]

I like both of those "new" Beatle tunes, though I like Free As A Bird a little better.

John was always wanting to mess with his vocal sounds back during the Beatle's recording years, so the processing of the vocals here are in that same vein. I like it.

Agree with the 1st sentence. Disagree with the 2nd. And that's the problem. It's not a Beatles tune. It's a John Lennon solo song the Beatles play on.

This doesn't mean it's not a good song, of course.

But that is the way they worked in the later years. This time John wasn't there to control them through to the finish and Paul probably recorded something that John wouldn't have liked on them. <g>

Jeff

 

[KRosser]

I love "Free As A Bird", but I'll tell you - under any normal circumstances "Real Love" would be a classic in anyone's catalog. What an amazing song. It does everything a great pop tune should do.

I wouldn't feel so precious about John not being there. He wasn't there for a third of Abbey Road either.

 

[lightningsmith]

...maybe the original tapes were degraded somehow and needed some processing to get it "listenable"...but with that said, after I got over worrying about how the vocals sounded, I realized how great the vocal melody is & George's playing is fantastic. Really a great Beatles song in my opinion...

Bingo. Lennon used a handheld tape recorder on all of Real Love's takes, which is why compensating its poor quality makes it sound out very processed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Love_(John_Lennon_song)

But nevertheless, this is an AMAZING song. As you put it, the vocal melody is great and George's playing is fantastic - couldn't have been more sweet and endearing, especially at the last part. So I don't know what's the big deal with others for not liking it due to its over-processed vocals that can only be properly rectified by bringing a dead man back to life.

 

[korby]

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)"

 

[stratovarius]

"Hey Bulldog," It's All Too Much," and "It's Only A Northern Song" off of Yellow Submarine. For me, all three are masterpieces, and even Beatles fans forget about them.

Good choices!

 

[supergenius365]

"Baby You''re a Rich Man" and "Hey Bulldog"

 

[SGNick]

"The Inner Light" has the most beautiful vocal melody ever recorded.

Say what you want about Indian flavoring or whatever, the vocal melody is the most beautiful thing ever written.

 

[JamminJoe]

Agree with the 1st sentence. Disagree with the 2nd. And that's the problem. It's not a Beatles tune. It's a John Lennon solo song the Beatles play on.

This doesn't mean it's not a good song, of course.

The song is pretty good to start with. But with the added elements from the 3 remaining Beatles and Jeff Lynne, it becomes a great pop song. In its final form, it sounds closer to the Beatles (with ELO influences) than it does solo-Lennon. That's all I'm saying.

The solo-Lennon songs are great songs, but sometimes I think there is a sameness to the production elements that prevent it from being as good as the Beatles songs. It happens a lot to solo artists who break away from their band. They lose the external influences in their songs because they have to have full control, and their songs don't quite reach the same potential. All IMHO of course.