YELLOW SUBMARINE

In 1968, when "Yellow Submarine" was released, the Beatles where already breaking up as a band. "The White Album", which came out about a month before "Yellow Submarine", had shown four individuals doing solo-works accompanied by fellow musicians. George Harrison had his own album "Wonderwall Music" out and John Lennon had shocked the world with "Unfinished Music - Two Virgins", recorded and produced with Yoko Ono. Paul McCartney was producing other artists and Ringo Starr was slowly becoming known as an actor. After "Yellow Submarine" only two more albums followed ("Abbey Road" and "Let it be"). The Beatles were hardly involved in the production of the cartoon-movie "Yellow Submarine". The title track, sung by Ringo, was already two years old and had been on the "Revolver"-album. It's an easy going sing-along-title, childish, but fun. "Only A Northern Song", written and sung by Harrison, one of four songs which had been written especially for "Yellow Submarine", is an organ dominated pseudo-psychedelic composition, featuring the Bach-trumpet known from "Penny Lane". This is (as well as later "It's all too much") an example for what Harrison (and I'm afraid the rest of them as well) at that time thought to be psychedelic. "All Together Now" is another sing-along-title. An acoustic guitar opening, with an ukulele dropping in, snare drum, bass and a bit of harmonica: This has certainly been a success in pubs for it's easy lyrics ("One, two, three, four, can I have a little more, five, six, seven, eight, nine - ten, I love you"). It is quite sloppy with the Fab Four taking over the lead vocals one after the other. "Hey, Bulldog" with Lennon on lead vocals is by far the best song on "Yellow Submarine". It has a nice piano intro and some good guitar-work. All in all it's a nice little vaudeville stomper gone rocking. "It's all too much": The title gives it away - it's really a bit too much, Harrison had better moments writing music. The organ though is quite nice on that one. Side one of the album finishes with "All you need is Love" and everybody knows that you can't listen to the first bars of the French national anthem without having "Love, love, love" in mind. Side two of "Yellow Submarine" is a compilation of orchestral music, written and arranged by George Martin, the famous producer. It's from the soundtrack of the film and it works for what it had been written for, but I wouldn't sit down and really listen with interest. It's not bad, it shows that Martin did have some influence on the Beatles. But it's not the Beatles and thus one hasn't got to talk about it. The four new songs from side one would have made a good EP - for a Beatles-album they just weren't enough.