Beatles vs. Stones

@tylermunns thanks for mentioning Rod Temperton.

@tylermunns

Agreed, the Beatles White Album is a fantastic collection of songs.

Hearing The Analogues relive it brought back many happy memories of hearing it for the first time in 1981.

Nowadays I’m even getting to like my least favourite track on there - Savoy Truffle.
 

The Stones vs The Beatles, Both are and were Fantastic. Being a guy who was a 10 year old when I f it rst heard the Beatles. I grew,up with  there,music.i know the Beatles,ended like 1970.But if you but all the music by each of the Beatles it like ,they never ended.

Just watching the 3 hour (?) documentary Get Back.  Going to take a few evenings to get through it.  Billy Preston just joined them in the studio.  For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, I highly recommend you spend some time with it.  Fascinating to watch in real time as some of the most iconic songs are created out of thin air.  McCartney just strumming the bass like a six sting as George & Ringo look on, waiting for Lennon to show up.  Paul is just mumbling to himself and suddenly you start to hear the slightest inkling there's something going on.  George stops yawning and picks up a guitar.  Ringo adds some rhythm with hands and feet.  And there it is out of nothing, the embryo of a classic.  It's takes a few days to put flesh on the bones but it's something to watch.  

@bigtwin I’m something of a film buff.  
I watch anything and everything from any time and anywhere in that medium.  
Obviously, a) Get Back is not a traditional documentary, it’s closer to an archaeological film product, b) documentaries can’t be compared to fiction films, and c) I’m a huge Beatles fan.  
All these things aside, I’m not sure any film has necessarily brought me as much joy and enthrallment as Get Back. I’m so grateful to Peter Jackson and his colleagues and Paul/Ringo/Yoko/Olivia for this film.  
One doesn’t need to like the Beatles or even music to be enthralled by the film.  
Peter Jackson had me with merely the intro. I’m sure we all would have our choices as to which pieces of footage made the final film (having seen the original Michael Lindsay-Hogg Let it Be, I know I missed a few bits Jackson left out - particularly when Paul & John share a mic for a run through of ‘Two of Us’ and go full-on silly in extremely funny fashion, or when the band is jamming w/Preston and start playing ‘Besame Mucho’ and Paul goes into ridiculously-silly over-the-top singing to hilarious effect) but I felt completely in trust of Jackson that he made a tremendous film based on what I saw.

I’m glad we had/have both. I’m a WHO fan as well.

I’m going to brag a little (ok a lot), that I got to walk across the famous "zebra crossing" to Abbey Road Studios and spend many hours (and drink a pint or two) inside the studios where the Beatles and Pink Floyd recorded, to name just two. I was working with Apple setting up a multi-media production suite.

At the time (this was the late 90’s), they re-painted the white wall outside the studio regularly so that there was space for new ’Beatles Tribute Graffiti’.

It was like going to music history church. If those walls could talk...

They are both different and great bands!

I’d have to go with the Beatles—much more melodic, for the most part.  My own favorites, however, are the Moody Blues.

@bigtwin 

Fascinating to watch in real time as some of the most iconic songs are created out of thin air.

Essential viewing for any Beatles fan.

The Beatles incredible output in just 7 years is partially revealed in Get Back as you can clearly see that they never stopped creating new songs.

Even as they are making  what eventually came to be known as Let It Be they are already preparing songs that would appear on Abbey Road.

Perhaps that's the real secret to their success?

Don't ever stop!

@cd318 Akin to the Beatles in Get Back is the video of the The Stones in the studio working on Sympathy For The Devil.  Starting out as an acoustic ballad and slowly turning into the near violence that is, IMHO, the greatest rock & roll song even written.  

@bigtwin - Yes, that Rolling Stones film was by Jean-Luc Goddard, if I recall correctly? 

It is quite clear from many of the responses (certainly not all) that this is an audiophile blog as opposed to a blog for music lovers.

The Beatles is pretty much the Sun in music, in every direction. Pure perfection for the most part. The Stones is a mess, but it works. And it works well. They contributed about 12 songs to humanity that are brilliant and elevate the listeners life like any great music does. It's that raw energy and beautiful emotional whirlwind that is so unique to them...

@bigtwin

Thanks for reminding me.

I can hardly believe that it’s well over 30 years since I last saw it on Channel 4 during their Goddard season here in the UK.

I think it was called 1 + 1 over here and Sympathy for the Devil in the US.

No idea why.

I wouldn’t mind watching it again because it made little sense back then. It was more like an oddly interesting jigsaw puzzle back then.

Nowadays, I’m a lot more familiar with the pieces.

It might also be one of the rare occasions when the Stones inspired the Beatles.

@cd318 While watching Get Back. I noticed several times they had the Stones Beggars Banquet LP in the studio with them, among others.  

@bigtwin At a birthday party for Mick Jagger in ‘68, at a really popular joint in London called the Vesuvio Club, the place was going crazy listening to an advance pressing of the upcoming Stones LP, Beggar’s Banquet that Mick had brought along to play on the house system.
Paul McCartney arrived and handed an acetate of the upcoming Beatles single, Hey Jude/Revolution to the club’s owner, saying, “here’s our new one, see what you think of it.”
After everyone went crazy for the Beatles single, asking it to be played repeatedly, Mick, according to some attendees, seemed peeved. Paul does say that Mick was also quite impressed with “Hey Jude.”

@tylermunns  I have to believe there was a lot of mutual respect between all those guys, if not outright friendship.  McCartney/Lennon were, IMHO, a little further ahead of Jagger/Richards in their songwriting.  The first Beatles LP was +/- 3 years before the Stones.  

Yes, I think each group recognized the different talents of the other one. The Beatles wrote great songs. The Stones were more focused on the music, the sound, the beat. The Stones had the advantage of longevity. The Beatles were basically done by 1969. That's when the Stones' best music was just starting.

If you prefer pop, you choose the Beatles. If rock and roll is your thing, it's the Stones.

Similar quandary as Duke vs. the Count in my mind, Not really apples to apples, all had different musical aspirations/goals I believe.

Bottom line, it’s all good when played on hi hf! 😀

@phil59 

If you prefer pop, you choose the Beatles. If rock and roll is your thing, it's the Stones.

That sounds about right.

I always preferred the Beatles whilst my heavy rock/metal fan younger brother always preferred the Stones.

I still remember buying him a copy of the Stones Rolled Gold double LP for his birthday whilst he was still at school.

Jefferson Airplane 

@bigtwin 

March 22, 1963 - Please Please Me, 1st Beatles LP

April 16, 1964 - England’s Newest Hitmakers, 1st Stones LP

13 months, not 3 years. 

@larsman

1 + 1 was the original title of the avant-garde film by Jean-Luc Godard otherwise known as Sympathy for the Devil.

@unreceivedogma - the scene that sticks out most for me was when they are all around the mic doing the 'Woo! Woooo!'s in the background for 'Sympathy'.

@larsman

The film also includes Black Panthers, Maoists, Nazi sympathizers, a bunch of white women getting shot, and “Eve Democracy”.

it’s about the 60s, not (just) about the Stones.

There’s an interesting scene in the rehearsal when they change “who killed Kennedy?” on the fly to “Who killed the Kennedys?”

@unreceivedogma  I stand corrected.  Guess you really can't trust anything you read on the internet.  🤣

@bigtwin 

The Beatles 1st US release was January 10, 1964. 
So, in the US, it was 3 months. 

@unreceivedogma  Yes, but I was thinking along the lines of when they started at a writing team and suggesting Lennon/McCartney were out of the gate a bit sooner.  Once Jagger/Richards started to hit their stride with Beggars Banquet, there was not looking back.  IMHO, their work from Beggars though Exile, equals the best of the Beatles.  Different style of music, more soft rock vs hard rock, but both collections have stood the test of time and that's what really speaks to the quality of the songs.  

@bigtwin

I see your point. Two things:

- the first Stones LP was mostly covers of American blues compositions. It wasn’t until the 2nd to 3rd LP that originals by Jagger/Richards, at the urging of Oldham, I believe, started to predominate. Because they released their first 6 LPs within 2 years, there’s really not that much of a meaningful start lag behind Lennon/McCartney.
- Beggars Banquet, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street are thought of as the Stones canonic high point, but I throw Aftermath - the first LP with all original compositions - in there as well.

Well, I have like twenty-plus Stones Lp's and two Beatles.  

@unreceivedogma 

The first Beatles US single, She Loves You, was released in August or September 1963, followed by I Want to Hold Your Hand. The first album release indeed was January 1964. And the first public appearance was on the Ed Sullivan Show, 2/9/1964.

@unreceivedogma 

I agree Aftermath may be an artistic breakthrough because they wrote all the songs. But I see it as just a transition to much better songs ahead. The earlier albums had many great performances that were cover songs, with some originals too.

I'm a Kinks fan from the British Invasion bands but between the 2, I would go Beatles all day and all of the night. 

@dz13 

You dedicated follower of fashion, you.

Nowadays it's a little too easy to forget that the UK had so many great bands back then.

The Beatles, the Stones, the Animals, the Who, the Hollies, the Kinks, the Yardbirds, Herman's Hermits, the Incredible String Band, the Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Cream etc.

At the very least they must have all been giving each other plenty to think about.

The British Invasion was probably the only good thing that came out of the JFK assassination.

hmmmmm...let's see, how do you like your cheeseburger? onions? pickles? tomatos? Better yet, Cheeseburgers or chop suey? Tacos or hot dogs? Why do these ramblings continue on and elicit so many responses? The Beatles were beat/rock, Stones initially blues/rock. Apples and oranges. Both unbelievably good. By the way Phil59, the Beatles first U.S. single was "Please Please Me" b/w "Ask Me Why", July '63 on VJ records #498. STOP! Let's get back to JBL vs. KLH.

P.S. bigtwin what are you smokin'? I'd love to try it. Hope your first post in this misguided adventure was sarsacm. Again, if not, what are you smokin'??  AB

 OOPS! Sorry bigtwin, the first comment I was referring to was from onhwy61, not yours. Guess I'd better check on what I'm smokin'!

When I was a child and teenager I used to listen more to Beatles. Now it turns out that Rolling Stones sometimes motivate me more. I would not predict that when I was a young.