The Beatles - Beatles For Sale (1970) [Vinyl]

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

It was inevitable that the constant grind of touring, writing, promoting, and recording would grate on the Beatles, but the weariness of Beatles for Sale comes as something of a shock. Only five months before, the group released the joyous A Hard Day's Night. Now, they sound somewhat worn out, and, in Lennon's case, bitter and self-loathing. His opening trilogy ("No Reply," "I'm a Loser," "Baby's in Black") is the darkest sequence on any Beatles record, setting the tone for the album. Moments of joy pop up now and again, mainly in the forms of covers and the dynamic "Eight Days a Week," but the very presence of six covers after the triumphant all-original A Hard Day's Night feels like proof that they were having trouble keeping up with the unending demand for new albums. Beneath those surface suspicions, however, there are some important changes on Beatles for Sale, most notably Lennon's discovery of Bob Dylan and folk-rock. The opening three songs, along with "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party," are implicitly confessional and all quite bleak, which is a new development. This spirit winds up complimenting McCartney's heartwarming "I'll Follow the Sun" and the thundering covers of "Rock & Roll Music," "Honey Don't," and "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!," while their are tinges of melancholy that pop up in unexpected places -- "Every Little Thing," "What You're Doing," and even George's cover of Carl Perkins' "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby." It's hard not to come away with leaving the impression that Beatlemania may have been fun but now the group is both wiped out and looking for new means of expression. This duality results in an uneven album, but its best moments find them moving from Merseybeat to the sophisticated pop/rock they developed in mid-career.