Beatles for Sale by The Beatles: CD Cover
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Beatles for Sale The Beatles

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  • Release Date: 10/25/1990
  • Original Release: 1964
  • Sales Rank: 6,391
  • Label: CAPITOL
  • UPC: 077774643825
 
  • Overview
  • Tracks
  • Editorial Reviews
  • Customer Reviews
  • Details & Credits
Track List
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Beatles for Sale

1No Reply 2:17
2I'm a Loser 2:33
3Baby's in Black 2:07
4Rock & Roll Music 2:33
5I'll Follow the Sun 1:51
6Mr. Moonlight 2:37
7Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! [Medley] 2:33
8Eight Days a Week 2:45
9Words of Love 2:14
10Honey Don't 2:59
11Every Little Thing 2:04
12I Don't Want to Spoil the Party 2:36
13What You're Doing 2:34
14Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby 2:23

About this Artist

Editorial Reviews

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 beaten, worn, 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 an admission of defeat or at least a regression. (It doesn't help that {|Lennon|}'s cover of his beloved obscurity "Mr. Moonlight" winds up as arguably the worst thing the group ever recorded.) 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 overshadowing McCartney's cheery "I'll Follow the Sun" or the thundering covers of "Rock & Roll Music," "Honey Don't," and "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!," and the weariness creeps up in unexpected places -- "Every Little Thing," "What You're Doing," even George's cover of Carl Perkins' "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" -- leaving the impression that Beatlemania may have been fun but now the group is exhausted. That exhaustion results in the group's most uneven album, but its best moments find them moving from Merseybeat to the sophisticated pop/rock they developed in mid-career. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

A reviewerby Anonymous

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December 19, 2007: This is the fourth by the four. Beatles For Sale. The young men themselves are not for sale. Money, noisy though it is, doesn't talk THAT loud. But you can buy this album-you probably have, unless you're just browsing, in which case don't leave any thumbprints on the sleeve! Here it is then. The best album yet-quite definitely, says John, Paul, George and Ringo-full of everything which made the four the biggest attraction the world has ever known. Full of raw John and melodic Paul, a number from George, and a bonus from Ringo. For those who like to know who does precisely what, there are details alongside each title. -Derek Taylor

A slight of left turn for the Fab Four!by Anonymous

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July 24, 2006: This album, coming on the heels of A Hard Days Night and almost two years of non-stop Beatlemania, may have been a bit of a shock for some. For on this record the group takes an unexpected darker, more mature tone. Lennon's "No Reply" & "I'm a Loser" are two of his darkest compositions and the fact that they appear so early in the band's career belies a despair within the composer that was beginning to creep more to the surface. The not so subtle threat to an ex-lover in the middle eight of "No Reply" and the poignant pain over love lost expressed in "I'm a Loser" underscore Lennon's emergent talent as one of the best songwriters of his generation. The fact that EMI allowed these songs to be released as the lead cuts on a Beatles album at this early date underscores the faith that the company had in the band. There are moments of optism here, McCartney's "I'll Follow the Sun" and "Eight Days a Week" plus the excellent covers of Chuck Berry's "Rock n Roll Music" and Little Richard's "Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey," but they do not serve to brighten the mood. In fact, the cover versions sound, for the most part, like filler. Except for the aforementioned Berry and Richard covers, the band's enthusiasm for doing covers appears muted. Their next release, the soundtrack to their second film Help! would contain only two covers. The Beatles were clearly moving beyond their club band days. The original compositions on this record clearly show a band poised to become something more than the sum of their parts. While admittedly not ranking among their best work, with the notable exceptions of "No Reply," "I'm a Loser" and "Every Little Thing," the original compositions on this album are worth hearing for the growth and maturity on the part of Lennon and McCartney as masters of their craft. It is hard for me to say whether I like this record or its American counterpart, Beatles 65, better. I give the edge to Beatles 65 because it contains the double sided single "I Feel Fine" & "She's a Woman." But, I have to admit those songs seem out of place on a record dominated by more sobering fare such as "No Reply," I'm a Loser," "Baby's in Black" & "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party." This record is a must have for the Beatles fan, but how it will play to the casual fan or the novice depends on individual taste.


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