I feel somewhat like a cheat listening to this one to knock items off of a list because this is one of my favorite albums. But… I’m ticking things off the list…
Ah, the album that, had I been born two years earlier, my name would have come from (they couldn’t name me Michelle since my cousin by that name was born two years before me, see).
This is the album when The Beatles grew up and graduated from the whole Beatlemania phase and showed the world what they could do if they really put their minds to it. The had to grow up – bands like the Rolling Stones and The Who were taking center stage, and they weren’t singing about giddy relationships and the like. They recorded this at the time they discovered pot as well, which may attribute to the overall mellow mood throughout the album. Perhaps it made John Lennon and Paul McCartney realize that George Harrison actually had talent as well. Who knows, really. Obviously, The Beatles were better on drugs.
“Nowhere Man” and “The Word” are two classic examples of the expansion of the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team into the “adult world,” the former being nothing about a relationship and the latter speaking about love in an transcendent way. “In My Life,” an absolute classic song, is probably the best simplistically-written Beatles song out there. They let George Harrison shine on a couple of tracks: “Think For Yourself” and “If I Needed Someone” are great tracks. Then again, George was my favorite.
So I don’t sound completely biased, I just want to take this opportunity to go on the record as saying “Run For Your Life” is one of the worst (and most disturbing) songs I have ever heard.
The pop band was disposed of wheb recording this album and a rock band emerged. The combination of pop, folk, and rock influences created this coming-of-age album which, in my opinion, is one of the best out there, even to this day.
Track listing (UK version):
01. Drive My Car
02. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
03. You Won’t See Me
04. Nowhere Man
05. Think for Yourself
06. The Word
07. Michelle
08. What Goes On
09. Girl
10. I’m Looking Through You
11. In My Life
12. Wait
13. If I Needed Someone
14. Run For Your Life
