Three Different Beatles Albums Chart This Week — And Two Of Them Return
It's almost never surprising to see The Beatles on the charts in the United Kingdom. The group remains one of the most beloved and listened-to acts in history, especially in the band's home country, where the musicians first found one another and began creating the music that would go on to define a generation.
Sometimes, one tune or compilation from the group holds steady in the U.K., but this frame, a pair of best-of sets not only show up on multiple tallies, they manage to climb nearly everywhere. That's partially thanks to the fading impact of Record Store Day releases, which dominated the charts last week, but also simply because people never seem to get enough of The Beatles.
This frame, three classic collections by The Beatles appear on the U.K. charts: 1962–1966, 1967–1970, and 1. Each title finds space on at least one list, though not all are moving in the same direction. Only 1 — the best-of project packed with the band's many No. 1 singles — takes a step back, dipping a few spots on the Official Albums Downloads chart. Meanwhile, 1962–1966 and 1967–1970 are on the rise.
Between the two companion collections named for the years during which The Beatles' original singles were released, 1967–1970 is the top performer this frame. The set pushes back into the upper half of the Official Albums chart, jumping to No. 50 on the ranking of the most-consumed full-lengths and EPs in the nation. It also enjoys a solid boost on the Official Albums Streaming roster, climbing from No. 52 to No. 45.
While 1967–1970 posts the stronger numbers overall, 1962–1966 is no disappointment either. The earlier collection, which highlights tunes released during the band's initial breakthrough years, rises from No. 98 to No. 88 on the Official Albums chart. It also lifts on the Official Albums Streaming tally, albeit by a slightly smaller margin. This time around, it moves from No. 82 to No. 77.
Each of the three Beatles albums mentioned has now spent at least one year on every chart it currently lands on. The shortest span among them belongs to 1962–1966 on the Official Albums Streaming chart, where it hits 52 weeks — or exactly one year — on the tally this frame. Meanwhile, 1 continues to enjoy truly incredible staying power, as it has thus far racked up an eye-popping 235 appearances on the Official Albums Downloads list.
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The more fully formed nature of McCartney's songs revealed itself early on with Yesterday. While all other Beatles music up until then had collaborative qualities, the band came close to not releasing Yesterday as a Beatles song. It was a McCartney creation right down to the instruments, but he and Lennon had agreed early on that all their music would be by them both. Funny about Yesterday was that in McCartney's recollection, 'we all regarded it as filler on the Help! album.' The filler wound up reaching #1 in the U.S. As they say, no one knows anything. Not only did the Beatles have no clue about Yesterday's eventual popularity, record companies in England didn't initially grasp the Beatles. Leslie notes that Decca Records chose Brian Poole and the Tremeloes over the Beatles, while Columbia and HMV turned manager Brian Epstein down too. Finding the Beatles a record contract proved 'soul-sapping work' for Epstein. Yet, while Yesterday was an unexpected hit, when the Beatles recorded "Please Please Me," producer George Martin quite simply knew. On the studio's intercom, he said 'Gentlemen, you've just made your first number one record.' Leslie's description of McCartney is of 'sheer exuberance and joy in being alive.' Abundant genius too. He could play all the instruments, and as a left-hander he could pick up a right-hander's guitar, turn it upside down and play it flawlessly. Lennon was the founder of the Quarry Men that McCartney aimed to be a part of. He was also older than McCartney. Lennon was seen as the leader, though McCartney quickly established himself as 1B to Lennon's 1A. About this, Leslie references a comment from McCartney that eventually the newby 'got up to his level…we grew to be equals. It made him insecure. He always was, really.' Which is essential in high achievers. McCartney too. Leslie cites the Kinks Ray Davies' description of McCartney, that he 'was one of the most competitive people I've ever met. Lennon wasn't. He just thought everyone else was shit.' Two sides of the same coin? George Harrison saw them both as 'egomaniacs,' while the surely exuberant McCartney acknowledged about himself that he was 'a turd.' It's no insight to say that the rampant insecurity was the catalyst for great music. They couldn't compliment each other probably because a little bit died inside of one another when the other happened upon a great song. They needed each other for those songs, but it hurt just the same. Leslie fascinatingly reports that the Beatles made Rubber Soul in fifteen days, which is a fraction of the time it takes to make an album today. The speculation here is that this was the prolific nature of Lennon and McCartney at work, plus Parkinson's Law must enter the picture. C. Northcote Parkinson observed that the amount of time required to finish a job expands with the time allotted to it, and back in the 1960s studio time was incredibly expensive, and by extension, precious. The album was made, and insecurity loomed large in its creation. Leslie indicates that with Lennon, 'a desire to beat Dylan, and a need to keep up with Paul was bringing out the best in John.' Classics by Lennon from the album included 'Norwegian Wood,' along with 'In My Life.' Leslie reports that more than any other Beatles song, 'In My Life' unearthed the most conflicting recollections from Lennon and McCartney about who did what. No doubt it was Lennon's song, but McCartney claims he contributed the song's melody, along with the guitar riff. Whatever the truth, 'In My Life' eventually led to 'Penny Lane' by McCartney. Competitors known to sing to each other, looking deeply in one another's eyes, made great music because the other made great music. It's all so interesting, and as was so often the case with the book, it raised questions. What if Dylan had an equal in the studio, and what if Wilson did? Did Quincy Jones make up for the relatively less talented Jackson brothers, or would Michael Jackson have soared to even greater heights with a family member or fellow artist routinely working to outdo him? What's interesting and fun at the same time is that jealousy and competition aside, the Beatles truly were a group. Contrast the latter with the Rolling Stones. From Keith Richards's memoirs (review here) it's evident that the members very much led and lead separate lives away from touring and making music. Maybe that's why they're still together today? With the Beatles, Leslie writes that even after the band had become a global phenomenon, 'John, George and Ringo were in and out of one another's houses on a daily basis.' McCartney wasn't as much a part of this since he was single and living in London, but even then they were still a band in the most literal sense. When Harrison developed a fascination with the Maharishi, the whole band went to India. Lennon actually wanted to purchase a Greek island for the band members to build a house each followed by just one guest house for visitors, only for first wife Cynthia to tell him 'they [the other band members] seem to need you less than you need them.' As most readers already know, the Beatles' final U.S. tour closed the door on touring altogether. True musicians, they couldn't hear themselves play. Where it was a little surprising was with the attendance figures. Leslie reports that their show at Candlestick Park was ¾ full, and Shea Stadium only 4/5th. It's so easy to forget that by the time of those final U.S. shows, the Beatles were controversial. There was Lennon's line about Jesus that Leslie helpfully clears up. Though Lennon was 'an atheist of a distinctly religious bent,' his Jesus line 'was slightly wistful.' About Pet Sounds, Leslie confirms that the Beach Boys 'had hit a creative peak high enough to scare McCartney into proving the Beatles could do better.' Since the Beach Boys never matched Pet Sounds again, it's fun to at least wonder what might have happened if the Beatles' response in Sgt. Pepper's had quickly been met by Wilson with what was expected to be his next masterpiece in Smile. We'll never know. Notable about Sgt. Pepper's is that 'A Day In the Life' (it frequently comes in at #1 in the holiday weekend playback of the Beatles' best songs) was actually the first song recorded for the album while the last song on it. In Leslie's words, 'nothing could possibly follow it.' Lennon credits McCartney with 'I'd love to turn you on.' Which raises another counterfactual. What if Lennon and McCartney hadn't been master songwriters? Work divided unearths so much in people, so why not the Beatles? Would their good taste in songs have lifted the band to even greater heights? Elvis, whom they revered, didn't write his own music. The not-so-insightful, musically illiterate view here is that the writing is what made the Beatles. Writing is learning, and it made Lennon and McCartney much better than they would have been without it. Furthermore, their prolific nature indicates that they couldn't have not written even if the best of the best had plied them with endless songs. All that, plus consider the evolution of the band. While Leslie's book is largely about Lennon, McCartney and their fruitful collaborations, contemplate what George Harrison became. Leslie confirms what other biographers have about how Lennon and McCartney were a separate income stream within the band to Harrison's great resentment, but the facts are that at least in the early days, he wasn't writing good music. What choice did they have in reducing him to a lesser place in the hierarchy? Lest readers forget, it wasn't exactly easy for the Beatles to initially get a record contract. But record companies were wrong, and obviously music in abundance was made. Harrison, though already the best guitarist in the group, also learned how to make music. Leslie quotes McCartney as saying about Harrison, 'Well, the thing is, I think that until now, until this year, our songs have been better than George's. Now this year his songs are at least as good as ours.' What an admission, what praise in a sense, and it's worth thinking about relative to McCartney and Lennon's difficulty summoning praise for one another. No matter how good Harrison became, McCartney or Lennon he would never be. McCartney knew this, hence his ability to say what he couldn't about Lennon. Interesting about Leslie is that he's more than a biographer, or an analyzer of a friendship. It's evident from the chapters that he knows music. Which means musicians will read a different book simply because there's much in John & Paul about the making of the songs. About 'Here, There and Everywhere,' he writes of how McCartney 'allows the merest hint of something darker in the middle eight, with its chromatic, sharking guitar line over a minor chord.' Was Lennon and McCartney's friendship deeper than friendship? Leslie makes allusions to this, as mentioned writes about them singing to each other while looking deeply in one another's eyes, plus there's a quote from Yoko Ono in which she says 'I'm sure that if [Paul] had been a woman or something, he would have been a great threat, because there's something very strong between John and Paul.' Without any inside knowledge, the guess here is that as opposed to unresolved feelings, McCartney and Lennon's friendship foundered on the sad truth that familiarity breeds contempt. No doubt they competed with each other, and no doubt as the fame everyone secretly craves rose to an unimaginable level, the intensity of the rivalry underlying their friendship grew. Contemplate all this while knowing the person you're competing with is a major instigator of your own talent and vice versa such that you in some ways have to routinely be around the person you're growing contemptuous of exactly due to extreme familiarity? Wow, that's some philosophizing too. Is it right where Leslie is perhaps wrong? Probably not mainly because it's not unreasonable to believe that Leslie likely wouldn't disagree with it. Marriages struggle at times because you see the person you're married to each day. In Lennon and McCartney's case, for a thirteen year stretch they were around each other much more than married couples. With each other frequently when they weren't working, they were nearly always with each other when they were working. And we wonder why there was jealousy about wives, bitterness about how the band was run, and deep-seated anger about each other? It's really not surprising. While the Beatles' stretch of fame included endless togetherness, the Rolling Stones were apart. And while they couldn't compliment each other, the feelings were evident. Leslie quotes an associate of McCartney's witnessing the Beatle 'crying his eyes out' after a meeting of the band during which Lennon said he was leaving. Just the same for the most part, Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner attended a screening with Lennon and Ono of the documentary Let It Be, and upon seeing 'an image of Paul singing on the rooftop at Apple [the Beatles' record company], he broke down crying.' Well, there you go. Or something like that. The guess here is that as with so many friendships, they simply needed a break. Which leads to arguably the ultimate counterfactual: what if Lennon had lived? If so, it's not hard to imagine the duo recording together again, and lifting one another.
