YELLOW SUBMARINE

Yellow Submarine is an album by half of the Beatles and half of George Martin, and it is the soundtrack of the 1968 cartoon film Yellow Submarine. For this occasion, in addition to dusting off Revolver's song, the Beatles again used All You Need Is Love (a single already present on the American LP Magical Mystery Tour) to give the film a message. The original songs on the album are therefore left only 4: two by Harrison, from 1967, discarded by Sgt. Pepper (both with an original psychedelic-rock arrangement), one by Lennon (the best on the Lp, a good rock) and one by Paul (a goliardic choir) written specifically for the film. Overall the first side consists of 6 songs all rather original for sound, arrangements, melody, almost all of them with a surreal psychedelic goliardic tone. The second side is written by George Martin, it is all instrumental, it does not contain many melodies, being composed half of descriptive pieces of the scenes of the film, where the orchestration without the images makes no great sense: it is original and pleasant, with some melodic peak, but for the most part it's not music you will remember.

Side A. It starts with Yellow Submarine, the cartoon pop prank released for Revolver, re-presented the same: it sets the tone for the album, with its boating sounds departing. Only A Northern Song, discarded by Sgt Pepper's, has one of the most original beatles psychedelic arrangements, with extraordinary sound effects, too bad that the singer can't drag the melody and make it smoother and more accomplished. It's a missed masterpiece.

Paul's All Together Now is an unpretentious song, a camping goliardic chorus that still manages to be pleasant and contagious. It's the catchy piece. Hey Bulldog, piano ballad, with hard guitars and very high bass, is a rock piece with great rhythm, supported by powerful bass and drums: its progression, between aggressive singing, drums and sour guitars, is really serious, except then to overdo the goliardic tone of the album choirs. Final with bark and howl.

It's All Too Much is the most ambitious song on the album. It opens with a distorted guitar, which then stays in the background forming a basic acidic sound. The very catchy chorus is accompanied by the noise music that distinguishes the piece: in fact it is a melodic pop with arrangement of distorted acid guitars, percussion and cacophonous sounds of trumpets and more. The tail is too long. It remains one of the most atypical Beatles songs, even for the duration, over 6 minutes. All You Need Is Love is a hymn, melodically good but not original.

Side B. The second side opens with Pepperland, George Martin's most beautiful melody, joyful, and excellent is the instrumentation that repeats the pattern with various arrangements. At times he remembers the sound of Gershwin. Sea Of Time starts with oriental sounds, develops slowly, with a lot of inertia, then changes time and sound and becomes cheerful, and then a chamber music that fades slowly. Sea Of Holes starts dreamy, interlocutory, creates a wait, the music is very descriptive and alone, without images, it appears almost abstract. Sea Of Monsters lasts three and a half minutes. It continues the descriptive and abstract sound of the previous one, but with a greater sense of menace, except then to recall the melody of Pepperland, then Bach's air, then free-jazz sounds, to end menacingly as it began. March Of The Meanies contains the second real catchy melody of the second side, played by the brass, a menacing march, perhaps an escape full of danger. Pepperland Laid Waste is perhaps the most ethereal and abstract, with no novelty, except to pick up some menacing sounds already heard. Yellow... is a beautiful orchestral piece that develops variations from the basic melody of Yellow Submarine.

Overall, a pleasent and strange but modest album.

SONGS AND RATING: 1) Yellow Submarine 6,5/7; 2) Only A Northern Song 7,5/8; 3) All Together Now 7+; 4) Hey Bulldog 8; 5) It's All Too Much 7,5; 6) All You Need Is Love 7,5/8;

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7) Pepperland 8; 8) Sea of Time 7; 9) Sea of Holes 6,5; 10) Sea of Monsters 6,5; 11) March Of The Meanies 7+; 12) Pepperland Laid Waste 6; 13) Yellow Submarine in Pepperland 7,5.

Total: 93,75. Medium quality: 7,21; Rating: 6,5. Two Stars.