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In reaction to my good friend Karl Coppack's recent evaluation of the talents of Paul McCartney vs John Lennon (you see what I did there?), I thought I would add my 2ps worth. Before I kick off this article though, I would just like to state that this article is IN NO WAY trying to argue with Karls, erm, taste? It's just that I felt the record needed setting straight, and being in a priviliged position (your humble host), I have instantly beaten Karl down by adding a picture onto MY article, so ner! You see, the great thing about bands like The Beatles is that they inspire so much emotion, and there is nothing more interesting (to me) than listening to somebody else rant on about them Beatles. Personally, my love affair with The Beatles began at a very early age.
When I was about 4 years old, my mum had got very scratched, but playable copies of 'A Hard Days Night' and 'Rubber Soul' and I was absolutely fascinated by both of them. I didn't rate 'Hard Days Night' so highly, although you can't argue with 'If I Fell', but 'Rubber Soul' was a winner. Played 'Drive My Car' out last night actually, went down a treat. Even 'Rubber Soul' has it's duff tracks though, 'Girl' sounds dreadful to me, especially the sighs after each line of the chorus, cheesy as hell. Miserable too. 'What Goes On' is also bad, and 'Michelle' grates a bit, although it is kind of charming in it's own little way. Now the man truly responsible for getting me into The Beatles is my old man. Not that he did so by design you understand, it went like this; every Friday night he would pick me up from piano lessons at the sadly missed Medway School for Music (I was aged 11 by now) and the choice of tapes in the car on the way home (a half hour journey) was Kenny Rogers, Tammy Wynette, or 'The Beatles Ballads'. Now although 'Ballads' wasn't a great compilation, it did have some winners on; 'Hey Jude', 'The Fool On The Hill' and 'Let It Be'. (See what I did there?)
Now oddly enough, my dad actually phoned me halfway through me writing the second paragraph, and I mentioned the fact that I was writing a Beatles piece and he could take the credit for getting me into The Beatles, and I asked what his stance was on Lennon vs McCartney, and his response went like this; "I prefer McCartney I think, oh no hang on because although McCartney did go on to do more songs with Wings (I think he thinks Wings are still going!) Lennon did write 'Imagine' which was a huge hit". I can see my Dad's point, but nothing can divert from the fact that these words come from a man who wears 'I Love Greece' T-shirts and likes corned beef. Also, my Dad likes 'Help', the album. That aside, he did mention that when 'Help' was released, it was the first mainstream record that featured the duo taking it turns to sing 'behind' the main vocal part, which was kind of clever.
So, where are we going with this then? I think I will take a slightly different tactic to Karl, and basically count the stinkers on each LP from 'Pepper' onwards, and then the winner is the loser, if you follow. 85% of Beatles output pre-Pepper is pants anyway. (Sticks tongue out at Karl)
Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Right, lets think about the stinkers then, there aren't many on here, ooh hang on though, lets think about this. 'Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite' was one of John's, and is truly crap, although I like George Martin's work with the tape loops, at least I guess it was him. 'Within You Without You' was Harrison, and 'When I'm Sixty Four' was Pauls. I'm tempted to call 'Good Morning, Good Morning' a stinker as well, but I think that would be a little unfair, and I'll save that kind of behaviour for later.
Result: John 1, Paul 1
Magical Mystery Tour.
OK, McCartney really shouldn't have taken acid. Whereas someone like Syd Barrett was a transformed visionary a couple of tabs in, McCartney went off the rails totally, writing nonsense like 'Your Mother Should Know' and the dreadful 'Hello Goodbye' although the latter does have some nice vocal reverb. Ho hum.
Result: John 0, Paul 2.
The White Album.
Got this on the stereo now actually, 'Honey Pie' at the moment. Hmm. For dogs sake Paul, it's not looking good son. Stinkers left right and centre here, so lets go through them. 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da' being the first one. What an insult to reggae man! The next one, 'Wild Honey Pie' is bad, but I don't know who wrote it, I think it's McCartney though, so thats two stinkers to Paul so far. Maybe it was the beard. Ooh hang on, 'The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill' is VERY bad, and that was John. Sick, sick little puppy. The next stinkers are from George and Ringo respectively, and then Paul storms back in with 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road' which is possibly the crappiest Beatles track ever. 'Birthday' is bad, but not as bad as 'Yer Blues', 'Honey Pie' sees McCartney face to face with barking dogs (they were returning his call) and 'Helter Skelter' is just horrible. John however, doesn't do himselves any favours, ending the LP with 'Revolution 9' (a 7 minute collage of scary noises) and the yukky 'Good Night'. Scores, George Dawes.
Result: John 4, Paul 6.
Abbey Road.
This is gonna be quick, there are only a couple of stinkers from the duo on this LP, one of which is the cheesy 'Come Together' from John, and the others are 'Maxwells Silver Hammer' and 'Her Majesty', both of which expose McCartney quite frankly, as a bit of a knob.
Result: John 1, Paul 2.
Let It Be.
OK, not my fave LP of theirs but has lots of fairly nice tracks on, although there is a stinker from each, Paul invites us down 'The Long And Winding Road' (f*ck Let It Be...Naked), Spector saved a sinking ship, and 'Get Back' should have been a non LP B side.
And so we have it, lets tot up the scores, John 6, and Paul a shocking 11! The problem is you see, is that by this method of evaluation, we discover that when McCartney wants to be, he can be a right bloody knob. Lennon however manages to pull off writing the odd dud, because they are rarely REALLY dud, they are normally a bit tongue in cheek. Shame really, because I don't think that Lennon wrote very many TOTAL classics, not like 'Hey Jude' (can we be friends again now Karl?) or 'Let It Be' (oh, never mind then) or 'Martha My Dear' or (I'll get me coat)..
When I was about 4 years old, my mum had got very scratched, but playable copies of 'A Hard Days Night' and 'Rubber Soul' and I was absolutely fascinated by both of them. I didn't rate 'Hard Days Night' so highly, although you can't argue with 'If I Fell', but 'Rubber Soul' was a winner. Played 'Drive My Car' out last night actually, went down a treat. Even 'Rubber Soul' has it's duff tracks though, 'Girl' sounds dreadful to me, especially the sighs after each line of the chorus, cheesy as hell. Miserable too. 'What Goes On' is also bad, and 'Michelle' grates a bit, although it is kind of charming in it's own little way. Now the man truly responsible for getting me into The Beatles is my old man. Not that he did so by design you understand, it went like this; every Friday night he would pick me up from piano lessons at the sadly missed Medway School for Music (I was aged 11 by now) and the choice of tapes in the car on the way home (a half hour journey) was Kenny Rogers, Tammy Wynette, or 'The Beatles Ballads'. Now although 'Ballads' wasn't a great compilation, it did have some winners on; 'Hey Jude', 'The Fool On The Hill' and 'Let It Be'. (See what I did there?)
Now oddly enough, my dad actually phoned me halfway through me writing the second paragraph, and I mentioned the fact that I was writing a Beatles piece and he could take the credit for getting me into The Beatles, and I asked what his stance was on Lennon vs McCartney, and his response went like this; "I prefer McCartney I think, oh no hang on because although McCartney did go on to do more songs with Wings (I think he thinks Wings are still going!) Lennon did write 'Imagine' which was a huge hit". I can see my Dad's point, but nothing can divert from the fact that these words come from a man who wears 'I Love Greece' T-shirts and likes corned beef. Also, my Dad likes 'Help', the album. That aside, he did mention that when 'Help' was released, it was the first mainstream record that featured the duo taking it turns to sing 'behind' the main vocal part, which was kind of clever.
So, where are we going with this then? I think I will take a slightly different tactic to Karl, and basically count the stinkers on each LP from 'Pepper' onwards, and then the winner is the loser, if you follow. 85% of Beatles output pre-Pepper is pants anyway. (Sticks tongue out at Karl)
Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Right, lets think about the stinkers then, there aren't many on here, ooh hang on though, lets think about this. 'Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite' was one of John's, and is truly crap, although I like George Martin's work with the tape loops, at least I guess it was him. 'Within You Without You' was Harrison, and 'When I'm Sixty Four' was Pauls. I'm tempted to call 'Good Morning, Good Morning' a stinker as well, but I think that would be a little unfair, and I'll save that kind of behaviour for later.
Result: John 1, Paul 1
Magical Mystery Tour.
OK, McCartney really shouldn't have taken acid. Whereas someone like Syd Barrett was a transformed visionary a couple of tabs in, McCartney went off the rails totally, writing nonsense like 'Your Mother Should Know' and the dreadful 'Hello Goodbye' although the latter does have some nice vocal reverb. Ho hum.
Result: John 0, Paul 2.
The White Album.
Got this on the stereo now actually, 'Honey Pie' at the moment. Hmm. For dogs sake Paul, it's not looking good son. Stinkers left right and centre here, so lets go through them. 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da' being the first one. What an insult to reggae man! The next one, 'Wild Honey Pie' is bad, but I don't know who wrote it, I think it's McCartney though, so thats two stinkers to Paul so far. Maybe it was the beard. Ooh hang on, 'The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill' is VERY bad, and that was John. Sick, sick little puppy. The next stinkers are from George and Ringo respectively, and then Paul storms back in with 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road' which is possibly the crappiest Beatles track ever. 'Birthday' is bad, but not as bad as 'Yer Blues', 'Honey Pie' sees McCartney face to face with barking dogs (they were returning his call) and 'Helter Skelter' is just horrible. John however, doesn't do himselves any favours, ending the LP with 'Revolution 9' (a 7 minute collage of scary noises) and the yukky 'Good Night'. Scores, George Dawes.
Result: John 4, Paul 6.
Abbey Road.
This is gonna be quick, there are only a couple of stinkers from the duo on this LP, one of which is the cheesy 'Come Together' from John, and the others are 'Maxwells Silver Hammer' and 'Her Majesty', both of which expose McCartney quite frankly, as a bit of a knob.
Result: John 1, Paul 2.
Let It Be.
OK, not my fave LP of theirs but has lots of fairly nice tracks on, although there is a stinker from each, Paul invites us down 'The Long And Winding Road' (f*ck Let It Be...Naked), Spector saved a sinking ship, and 'Get Back' should have been a non LP B side.
And so we have it, lets tot up the scores, John 6, and Paul a shocking 11! The problem is you see, is that by this method of evaluation, we discover that when McCartney wants to be, he can be a right bloody knob. Lennon however manages to pull off writing the odd dud, because they are rarely REALLY dud, they are normally a bit tongue in cheek. Shame really, because I don't think that Lennon wrote very many TOTAL classics, not like 'Hey Jude' (can we be friends again now Karl?) or 'Let It Be' (oh, never mind then) or 'Martha My Dear' or (I'll get me coat)..
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