BEATLES FOR SALE

To imply that the band was burned out at this point is incorrect. They were in their prime and still riding the crest of popularity that had propelled them into the forefront of the world's consciousness so their energy was more than up to the challenge. What seems to be occurring on this album is the appearance of the first hints that they were ready to wander off the beaten trail with their original songs. The demand for product required that they still dip into their catalogue of covers to fill out the record so we get Beatle versions of Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins but this would prove to be the last LP to do that. But there's no "She Loves You" here. For the first time we fans started to hear songs that made us cock our heads a bit. "Baby's in Black" had a strange beginning and ambience for the times, "I'll follow the sun" featured a different progression than we had come to expect from them and the odd yet fascinating drum cadence that introduced "What you're doing" showed us that things might become a little more unconventional in the recordings to follow. While admittedly not their best output of the early era, it still rocks with the exuberant joy that characterized the height of Beatlemania.