Under the sea

My wife was looking at music reviews online the other night and called me over to look at some for The Beatles album "Yellow Submarine." She noted some of the user-submitted comments were not flattering, comments like "worst Beatles album ever" and "a waste."

And I have to agree it's their least appealing album, though the movie is wonderful.

The album includes mostly earlier released material, including four releases from "Sgt Pepper's." That's so wrong -- "Sgt. Pepper's" is meant to be listened to as a whole. It's like taking the ear of the "Mona Lisa" and calling it "Mona Lisa Redux." But that's another blog. ...

The other "new" songs were cast-offs from other recording sessions, songs not good enough for a "real" album. So, with "Yellow Submarine," you get old material and second-rate songs. No wonder folks don't like it!

What's strange about the album, though, is its different incarnations.

Jayne got me the CD last year -- part of my goal of updating my more than 30-year-old music collection. The CD includes 15 tracks:

"Yellow Submarine"

"Hey Bulldog"

"Eleanor Rigby"

"Love You To"

"All Together Now"

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"

"Think for Yourself"

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

"With a Little Help from My Friends"

"Baby You're a Rich Man"

"Only a Northern Song"

"All You Need is Love"

"When I'm Sixty Four"

"Nowhere Man"

"It's All Too Much"

My old cassette has these songs:

"Yellow Submarine"

"Only a Northern Song"

"All Together Now"

"Hey Bulldog"

"It's All Too Much"

"All You Need is Love"

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"

"Pepperland"

"Medley: Sea of Time and Sea of Holes"

"Sea of Monsters"

"March of the Meanies"

"Pepperland Laid Waste"

"Yellow Submarine in Pepperland"

I think it's like the album "Help!" In America, "Help!" had a side of instrumental from the film. The Beatles fought against this releases and hated it. In Britain, the album was complete with their songs.

So, I think I may have an earlier American release on cassette with George Martin's compositions on side 2, and the British release on CD, all Beatles songs. And, no. "Pepperland" isn't that good.

Either way, I recommend stearing away from the album (unless you're a freak like me), going to see the movie (it's a classic) and getting all the other LPs with the earlier released material (so you can buy it in 10 years in some new download-able format that makes CDs obsolete like my albums and cassettes).

Thought: And how could the Bills lose last night on a field goal?