Where (and what) constitutes the divide between early and late era Beatles for you?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Kim Olesen, Mar 14, 2015.

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  1. Kim Olesen

    Kim Olesen Gently weeping guitarist. Thread Starter

    Location:
    Odense Denmark.
    For me it's between Rubber Soul and Revolver. Why? Because of the distorted guitars. Just listen to Paperback Writer. The sonics are like nothing before it. Even with todays ears it does not sound particularly old. When they began using really distorted guitars there was no going back.


    For the sake of argument. You all have to make your case as to why you divide the eras where you do!!!
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2015
  2. bcaulf

    bcaulf Forum Resident

    Early era ends with 'Help!' and late era begins with 'Rubber Soul'
     
  3. LandHorses

    LandHorses I contain multitudes

    Location:
    New Joisey
    The Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out single is my dividing line.
     
  4. rockledge

    rockledge Forum Resident

    Location:
    right here
    There is no divide.
    The Beatles was a band with guys in it who were constantly learning new things and applying them, and constantly
    ( and I suspect at times self taught as well as learned from others) increasing their knowledge and ability, right along with the technology that seemed to advance right in tandem with the Beatles learning.
    I honestly think the Beatles had a very smooth and consistent transformation and there is no legitimate place to put a dividing line.
     
  5. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    The Red and Blue albums pretty much fixed it for me as between Revolver and Sgt Pepper. Plus that matches the touring/not touring split and is close to the with Brian/without Brian split. And their look changed at that time too.

    Even though Revolver is really more like the later albums.
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2015
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  6. Kim Olesen

    Kim Olesen Gently weeping guitarist. Thread Starter

    Location:
    Odense Denmark.
    To me, early era culminated with Rubber Soul. Which is why i think the US Rubber Soul (which was a mix between UK Help and UK Rubber Soul) works. And why i think Yesterday And Today does not gel as well
     
  7. vamborules

    vamborules Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT
    Early - PPM to Beatles For Sale

    Mid - Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver

    Late - Pepper and everything after
     
  8. Kim Olesen

    Kim Olesen Gently weeping guitarist. Thread Starter

    Location:
    Odense Denmark.
    No no no ;-)

    You all have to state WHY you put the divide where you do.

    :)
     
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  9. Pizza

    Pizza With extra pepperoni

    Location:
    USA
    I'd say when each turned 30 years old
     
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  10. Holerbot6000

    Holerbot6000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    For me, Revolver was the ultimate statement of the Beatles as a band and Sgt. Pepper was the beginning of the end, where the Beatles started to disappear up their own bums. Not to say they didn't produce excellent music, but they became much more concerned with their own things than they did with the band and were much more self-indulgent and inconsistent. That's why Sgt. Pepper has never been a big favorite of mine.
     
  11. Gems-A-Bems

    Gems-A-Bems Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Duke City
    The early era ends where the cannabis begins.
     
  12. bluesbro

    bluesbro Forum Hall of Shame

    Location:
    DC
    The sitar on Norwegian wood. We are in a different world now.
     
  13. DK Pete

    DK Pete Forum Resident

    Location:
    Levittown. NY
    Musically, I have to go with a couple of the posters who divided it into three eras; there is too much of a progression between the first couple of albums and Help/Rubber Soul and then from Rubber Soul to Pepper.

    On a personal level however. it's much simpler than that. The latter era, for me, began in a visual sense when-as a shocked 9 year old-I witnessed them for the very first time in moustaches and "swinging London" garb in the Penny Lane video. As a child, this moment vividly separates the early Beatles from the "new' Beatles.
     
  14. OobuJoobu

    OobuJoobu Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, UK
    The "Bigger than God" press interviews with John defending himself. John changed forever from that moment, you can see it in his eyes.

    From that point we enter later era Beatles.
     
  15. intv7

    intv7 Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
  16. fishcane

    fishcane Dirt Farmer

    Location:
    Finger Lakes,NY
    August 29th, 1966
     
  17. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    That would put the dividing line in the latter part of 1964.
     
  18. davenav

    davenav High Plains Grifter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY USA
    The inclusion of Yesterday at the tail end of the Help album is where I put the demarcation point between early and middle period. The experimentation had begun a bit earlier, but this where they pushed forward into the era where they took more time to record, and the lyrics gained a new mature worldview.
     
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  19. Regandron

    Regandron Forum Resident

    Looking back I have to agree with the posters who go with early, mid and late period.

    However living through it, did we know at the time that the 'early period" had slipped into the 'middle period'? For the sake of argument I'll go later and say that up to Sgt Pepper they were still the same young boys having fun... different fun , but the underlying vibe felt the same, a single momentum of endless joy heading in an upward direction. The late period starts with Brian's suicide in the summer of 1967, after which they made plenty of great music , but something that had gone was never replaced.
     
  20. Rodney Toady

    Rodney Toady Waste of cyberspace

    Location:
    Finland
    The early Beatles for me means the era preceding their first Parlophone recording sessions and the late Beatles would be the band after the group had ceased to exist. What's in between is just The Beatles.
     
  21. humpf

    humpf Allowed to write something here.

    Location:
    Silesia
    Between Girl and Tomorrow Never Knows (that is between November 1965 and April 1966) or after 29th August 1966. The "Bigger than Jesus" interview happened in March 1966.

    edit: But the trip to India seems to be quite important. And I believe after the success of their first film and the soundtrack and after their joint with Dylan they were never the same again. It's not just early/late distinction.
     
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  22. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Accidental overdose is more likely, unless Mark Lewisohn comes up with some new info in his upcoming books (the next 2 volumes of his Beatles biography are due out in 2020 and 2028---so it's a long wait!).
     
  23. jeatleboe

    jeatleboe Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY
    I don't think it's RUBBER SOUL as so many feel (though the addition of a sitar makes a decent case for it). I'm more inclined to choose the release of REVOLVER, due to the advancing sounds (and "Tomorrow Never Knows" in particular, which was the first track recorded for the LP). One might even argue that it was the recording of "Tomorrow Never Knows" in and of itself that was the turning point.
     
  24. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    Another vote for three periods. The first is heavy with cover songs and runs through Beatles For Sale. (A Hard Day's Night being an exception to this --I'm tempted to include it in the second period.)

    The middle period would be Help through Sgt. Pepper, which as Regandron points out is the continuation of their great upward momentum. And the rest is the third period--still with great music, but not the feeling they were moving forward into new areas.
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2015
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  25. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    The sacking of Best - the really good live era ends and the studio years dawn.
     
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