100 Greatest Beatles Songs
100 Greatest Beatles Songs
* * * 9 2 PA G E B U M P E R S P E C I A L * * *
Beatles
Greatest
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make The BeATles
100
Songs
ROOT56
JGERMEISTER
WITH GINGER BEER
BAND LIST
5 SOUNDING OFF
6 ON REPEAT
17 ANATOMY
OF AN ALBUM
MIA Arular
19 SOUNDTRACK
OF MY LIFE
Tom McFarland Jungle
20 RADAR
Meet Dublin alt-pop duo All
Tvvins and 19 more new bands
76 REVIEWS
alBuMs
The Prodigy
The Day Is My Enemy
Marching Church
The World Is Not Enough
Mini Mansion
The Great Pretenders
Circa Waves Young Chasers
and more
FilM
Mommy
and more
liVe
90 CROSSWORD/
THINGS WE LIKE
100
Greatest
Beatles
Songs
70 Beatles:
The Solo Years
In the wake of the split of the century,
John, Paul, George and, yes, even Ringo
turned in some of the best music of
their lives. We trace the ups and downs
of their solo careers and compile the
40 best post-Beatles songs
74 Ethan Hawke
The actor who compiled The Black
Album of solo Beatles songs for the
film Boyhood explains why the Fabs
solo work isnt the end of the story,
but a whole new story
K-X-P
Kanye West
Kornl Kovcs
Lets Talk Daggers
Lower Dens
Loyle Carner
Marching Church
MIA
Mini Mansions
Mr Tophat &
Art Alfie
Mumford & Sons
Muse
Noel Gallaghers
High Flying
Birds
Only Real
Organised Scum
Orlando
Otherkin
Pale Honey
Petter Nordkvist
Phil Spector
Pins
The Prodigy
Public Access TV
Ringo Starr
Roberto Clementi
Shirley Said
St Vincent
Stormzy
The Soft Moon
Sufjan Stevens
Sun Kill Moon
Take Turns
Tame Impala
Venera 4
Villagers
Warpaint
Warpaint
Wiley
Young Fathers
Yung
***SHAMELESS PLUG!!!***
78
7
23
21
79
6
77
7, 7
78
23
8
6
84
77
22
22
23
23
23
89
22
76
6
78
23
21
7
21
79
7
7
21
6
22
6
10
6
21
7
85
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REGULARS
All Tvvins
20
Andrew Hung
7
13
Arcade Fire
Ariel Pink
82
Attic Fowler
22
Axel Boman
23
The Beatles
26
Bella Figura
23
Benoit Pioulard
79
Best Coast
6
Bjrk
85
Bo Rocha
22
Britain
21
Broadbay
21
Circa Waves
79
23
Cold Courage
Death Cab For
Cutie
77
Declan McKenna
21
DJ Ulf Eriksson
23
Django Django
6
Dolce
23
Drenge
14
Ethan Hawke
74
Ezra Furman
22
Fllakzoid
78
Fraser A Gorman 22
Friendly Fires
23
Giant Swan
21
Girlpool
7
Gleam
21
Grimes
6
Hannah Cohen
78
Hinds
7
Hodgy Beats & Don
Cannon
77
Hop Along
6
Jake Rollins
22
Johnny Marr
7
The Jon Spencer Blues
Explosion
79
Juan Wauters
22
Jungle
19
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P O s T NME, 110 Southwark St,
London SE1 0SU
SUEDE
REMEMBER ME!
It was such a pleasure to see Godlike Genius
winners Suede live at the NME Awards. It was
about one hour before the Gaz Coombes gig in
Birmingham when I realised they were getting
the award, and it meant I couldnt concentrate
(so sorry Gaz), because Id been waiting for
a Suede gig so badly for the nine months since
I saw them last in Japan. I think everyone at
the O2 Academy Brixton understood why
Suede deserved the Godlike Genius when
they saw their passionate, aggressive, energetic
and beautiful performance, especially Bretts
showmanship. I read the interview in the
magazine a week later, and after seeing the
part about new fans I burst into tears because
the Japanese girl Brett was talking about was me. Being
remembered by my favourite band in the world makes me
so happy its the most brilliant thing. I cant thank my
mum enough for having me, and being a big Suede fan.
Rin Kato, vie email
[email protected]
twitter.com/nme
T W iT T E R
were the right choice for Godlike Genius this year: no,
it wasnt when Brett and co pulled up outside the venue
in a stretch limo looking like the cast of The Matrix, but
when they blew the roof of the O2 Academy Brixton
at soundcheck the day before. Watching the band
blasting out the hits, totally at the top of their game,
was a special, special moment. Big up to em they
totally deserve it.
is already a stadium-sized
anthem and had the place
rocking. Champagne
Supernova was a flashback
in time, and something very
special. You just had to look
at the reaction of the fans
from the very back row
to the moshpit down the
front, arms aloft and in full
voice. We witnessed just
what an influence Oasis had
on thousands of peoples
lives. The encore of dont
Look Back In Anger, AKA
What A Life!, and The
Masterplan rounded of a
truly fantastic gig, and a
fantastic rocknroll show.
Stephen McCormick, via email
www.seetickets.com
E m a iL
WHERES NOEl?
Someone tell me where
Noel Gallagher is please.
Shhh, its a surprise.
Courtney Love, via Twitter
NOEl BETTER
THAN OASIS
I took my daughter down to
Glasgow on Saturday night
for the Noel Gallagher gig.
The sound was incredible.
Everybodys On The Run
LOOK WHOs
sTaLKing
I had the honour of
meeting the wonderful
Ex Hex after their
amazing gig in
Stockholm. They were
all lovely, of course.
Rock on!
Paul Eade, Stockholm
Wins 50 of
Answering you
this week:
Matt Wilkinson
20
1. Tame Impala
Let It Happen
6. Warpaint
Ill Start Believing
2. Public Access TV
Metropolis
7. Grimes
Realiti
3. Loyle Carner
Mufasa
8. Villagers
Hot Scary Summer
9. Django Django
Reflection
5. Muse
Psycho
shamil tanna, mac boucher, matt sau, young fathers, miqui brightside
16. St Vincent
Teenage Talk
17. Hinds
Davey Crockett
20. Girlpool
Ideal World
FIVE TOuRIng
ESSEnTIalS
van
Mccann
Catfish & The Bottlemen
single ladies
Hitting the UK for a series of gigs this
week, the LA four-piece explain why
theyre releasing tracks ad hoc
jordan hughes
10
BOOK
The Story Of
The Streets by
Mike Skinner
he tells of riding
a BMX into a London estate
agents in a Lacoste tracky.
They go to kick him out
until he tells them he has a
100-grand-a-month budget.
BOXSET
Phoenix Nights
We love Peter Kays
Phoenix Nights. our
sound guy Mike is so
southern that we have
to watch it with subtitles on,
because he has no idea what
theyre saying.
FIlM
Well Take
Manhattan
Its about david Bailey, the
photographer, and stars
Karen gillan. Its about him
going to new York to shoot
for Vogue, and
the belief in
yourself and
ambition that
ittakes to be
a success.
gaME
Fifa 15
We play a lot on the bus
and at home. I try to go easy
on Larry, our guitar tech. Im
cursed. I dont like beating
my mates all the time, but Im
just too good.
HOME COMFORT
Lambert & Butler
I cant smoke any other
ciggies, so I fly them
everywhere. Thats my foot
on the ground. as long as
Ive got Lambert & Butler,
Im home.
Catfish & The Bottlemens
tour begins at Leeds O2
Academy on March 23
Warpaint
(lr): Jenny Lee
Lindberg, Stella
Mozgawa, Emily
Kokal, Theresa
Wayman
hookworms
Johnny Marr
the cribs
MATT SALACUSE, POONEH GHANA, BEN BENTLEY
12
X-Posure
Listen XFM, March 24, 10pm
Black Rebel
Motorcycle Club
Benicssim
Sky Arts, March 21,
1.30am
The San Francisco band
have just announced a live
watch
Twin Peaks
X-Posure
Listen XFM, March 2324,
10pm
Chicagos scrappiest
rocknrollers (below) drop
by the XFM studio to
recreate some of the
highlights of their
2014 album, Wild
Onion. Theyll play
four songs, including the
ramshackle Flavor and
I Found A New Way.
Gengahr
steve Lamacq
watch BBC 6 Music,
March 1920, 4pm
Lammo presents his
show live from Austin,
Texas this week as annual
music festival SXSW is
fully underway. Hell be
joined by guests from
Soak to Frank Turner, but
one of the highlights will
be Gengahr performing
live at his BBC Introducing
showcase. Tune in to hear
the best bits.
Bleach, Brighton
March 19, 7.30pm
2. Habitats
3. Hyena
4. Courtney Barnett
5. Lonelady
as told to dan stubbs (opinion); hazel sheffield (lost album) photos: getty, james quinton
BY ANDREW
LOOg
OLDHAm
The former Rolling
Stones manager
insists warnings
of a dangerous
precedent being set
by the recent court
case are nonsense
R E L E A S E D A T E
january 1986
L A BE L slash
BE S T T R A C K S i held her in
13
14
wE wAnTED To AchIEvE
moRE ThAn wAS poSSIbLE
wITh Two InSTRumEnTS
RoRy LovELESS
ANDY HUgHeS
Drenge
Austin is a city where every sight has its own sound. From our small stages to our
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StORY BehINd
the SLeeVe
MIA studied art at Central
Saint Martins in London and
exhibited paintings before
she released music. Shes
always been closely involved
with her visual presentation
(sleeves, website, videos,
styling) and her imagery
has a strong correlation
with her music. The Arular
cover, co-designed with
filmmaker Steve Loveridge,
works as a companion piece
to the songs, which are also
collage-like, vivid and rich
with political symbols.
THIS WEEK...
MIA: Arular
Londoner
Mathangi
Arulpragasams
provocative
debut is 10 years
old thisweek
the BACKGROUNd
After a tumultuous
upbringing that took her
from London to Sri Lanka
and back again, Mathangi
Maya Arulpragasam, aka
MIA, first hit the cultural
radar as an artist and
filmmaker. She designed
thecover for Elasticas
second album, 2000s
TheMenace, and travelled
with the band documenting
their tour on video. The
support act, Peaches,
encouraged MIA to make
beats on aRoland MC505 groovebox. Back in
London, and sharing aflat
with Elasticas Justine
Frischmann, she continued
to make music and released
her first single, Galang, in
2003, attracting the interest
of XL, who signed her for
Arular an intentionally
raw, panoramic album
that matched the sounds
she grew up listening to
(hip-hop, ragga, baile funk,
dancehall, electro, grime)
with fragments of fierce,
mutinous lyrics gathered
from her own experiences
and from reading about
theworld around her.
FIVe FACtS
2
3
LYRIC ANALYSIS
London calling/
Speak the slang
now Galang
The first lyrics from the
albums first single and a nod
to The Clash, who MIA would
go on to sample on her
breakthrough song, Paper
Planes, from her second
album, Kala.
I bongo with my
lingo/And it beat
like a wing, yo
Sunshowers
A statement of intent. Shell
stir up controversy with her
lyrics if she wants to, shes
saying; keeping quiet is not
an option.
Everything I own
is on IOU Pull Up
The People
A comment on living with
debt, as everyone seemed
to be in 2005. Three years
later, the banks went bust,
unsurprisingly.
FAMOUS FAN
She is the future of music,
and the future of music
is here. Public Enemys
Chuck D
the AFteRMAth
Arular was very much
celebrated by critics, but
not a commercial hit. With
second album Kala, MIA
wanted to ofer more, saying,
With Arular, the thing
Iproved was that I could sing
over anything. The question
that people were asking
around me, and I was asking
myself, was whether Iwas
actually musical. Kala was
a more accomplished album,
and included Paper Planes,
which turned MIA in to a
superstar after it was used in
films Pineapple Express and
Slumdog Millionaire. Then,
at the 2012 Superbowl halftime show, she performed
a song shed written with
Madonna and Nicki Minaj,
flipped America the bird and
all hell broke loose.
17
89,000
4.8m
$20
12 minutes
18
WHO THE
FUCK IS
+ GOOD WEEK +
NEW 2
3
4
NEW 5
6
NEW 7
8
- BAD WEEK -
Mick Thomson
Adams apple
NEW
NEW
NEW
Alex Larke
IN BRIEF
NEW
NEW
NEW
NEW
NEW
NEW
NEW
NEW
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
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31
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39
40
The Official Charts Company compiles the Official Record Store Chart from sales
through 100 of the UKs best independent record shops from Sunday to Sunday.
TOP
OF THE
SHOPS
THIS WEEK
mILqUE &
mUHLE bIRmINGHAm
FOUNDED 2013
WHY ITS GREAT Based in the
custard Factory, they offer intimate
gigs and events featuring local acts.
TOP SELLER LAST WEEK six
organs of admittance Hexadic
THEY SAY We provide adventurous,
underground vinyl and cassettes,
and also music fanzines, comics,
presses and occasional art prints.
neWsDesK compiLeD By DaViD RensHaW pHoTos: coRBis, Dean cHaLKLey, sHaWn BRacKneLL, geTTy, sHamiL Tanna
01
Tame Impala
Daft Punk
Tom
McFarland
Jungle
THE SONG I DO AT
KARAOKE
Wild Thing The
Troggs
19
LISTEN NOW
NME.COM/
NEWMUSIC
NEW
BaNd
OF ThE WEEK
20
all Tvvins
Dublin duo ditch math-rock for Hooky
basslines and Killers choruses
BaSEd
Dublin
Haim, Jungle
SOCIaL facebook.com/
alltvvins
BUy Thank You is out on
March 23
SEE ThEM LIvE London
Birthdays (March 24), Dublin
Whelans (25), Limerick Kasbah
Social Club (27), Galway Roisin
Dubh (28), Belfast Voodoo
Club(29)
BELIEvE IT Or NOT All Tvvins
might be the latest arrival in
the Chvrches/Alvvays school
of v usage, but the band
formerly known as Twins say
they only adopted that spelling
when theyneeded an available
Twitter handle. The other option
was Twins1999
FOr FaNS OF
MORE
NEW MUSIC
Gleam
These Birmingham
shoegazers sound
remarkably accomplished
considering they only
played their first gig in
February. Debut track Isnt
Real reveals a strong My
Bloody Valentine influence,
with dizzying distortion
and pitch-bending guitars
recalling the work of Kevin
Shields pioneering outfit.
Adominant lead vocal
rounds of the bands noisy
but melodic sound.
S O C IA l facebook.com/
gleeeam
H E A R T HEM soundcloud.
com/gleeeam
Britain
BUZZ ACT
OF THE WEEK
Shirley Said
Shirley Said are an electro
psych duo from Latina,
near Rome, and their debut
single Salvation smacks
of the same brooding
sophistication as The xx and
Polia. Frontwoman Giulia
Scarantinos voice is adead
ringer for Bjrk as she
artfully seethes her lyrics
over a dark and cinematic
trip-hop accompaniment.
S O C IA l twitter.com/
shirleysaid
H E A R T HEM soundcloud.
com/shirleysaid
S E E T H EM l I v E The
Finsbury, London (March 26)
Take Turns
Leeds quartet Take Turns
hail from Yorkshire, but their
hearts lie across the Atlantic.
Their adoration of Pavement
Giant Swan
Giant Swan are an
embryonic duo from
Bristol who press repeat
and take aim at the sun.
Robin Stewart and Harry
Wright coax raw-hearted
live experiences that shift
and bleed between sonic
movements, drifting away,
serene and discordant,
from the noise-techno
squall. Their self-titled
debut EP isout on Bristol
label Howling Owl, and
they headof on tour with
BloodSport next month.
SO CIAl facebook.com/
giantswanmusic
HEAR T HEM youtu.be/
LohBU7gMxmE
Broadbay
Declan Mckenna
Hertfordshire-based
16-year-old Declan
Mckenna is still something
of a bedroom guitarist,
but latesttrack Brazil has
thrust him into the limelight
following a clutch of Radio 1
plays. Hints of Jef Buckley
and Jamie T abound.
S O CIA l twitter.com/
deccoooo
H E A R H IM soundcloud.com/
declan-mckenna
Giant Swan
BAND
CRUSH
Wiley
Stormzy
Stormzy reminds me of the hunger Dizzee Rascal
had when he made Boy In Da Corner. Hes got a
song where hes questioning himself, cos hes quite
tall and big so hes got a bar thats like, How can I
be scared? Big man like me with a beard? He speaks
about the topic at hand, about his life. Hes honest.
For daily new music recommendations and exclusive tracks and videos go to NME.COM/NEWMUSIC
21 mar ch 2015 | Ne w m u s ical e x pre s s
21
Britain
Despite the fact Britain have
only played a handful of gigs,
this enigmatic girl-boy duos
PJ Harvey-meets-Cocteau
Twins aesthetic has a lot of
labels excited. Live, theyre
minimalist and quietly
confident with a setup of
keyboards, guitars, laptops
and backing singer Katie
Drews pining vocals.
S O C IA l facebook.com/
britainmusic
H E A R T HEM soundcloud.
com/britain_music
Bo Rocha
22
Bo Rocha
London-based Kate Sproule
had originally envisaged
acareer in classical music,
but an Erykah Badu gig
in 2003 transformed her
perspective, convincing
her of a future in beats,
hooks and stories. All
threeelements are present
in her stunning debut
Tangerine Flake, where
a restrained drum track
combines with airy synth
Venera 4
With 2014 seeing shoegaze
become truly global
both Tel-Avivs Vaadat
Charigim and Istanbuls
Away Days made serious
industry ripples Paris
act Venera 4 should have
no trouble following suit.
The quartets latest single,
Colored Fields, adds some
call-and-response vocals to
a brilliant, nostalgic wash of
guitars, synths and Jesus &
Mary Chain-inspired beats.
So cial facebook.com/
venera4band
HEaR T HEM soundcloud.
com/venera4band
Organised Scum
Venera 4
Attic Fowler
Milwaukee guitarist Chris
Rutledge channels the
hazy Southern psych-pop
of Kurt Vile on his latest
track Bradford Beach, from
second record City Hall,
due in April. By his own
admission, its a song full
NEWS RoUND UP
Juans double
return
Gorman
hits the uK
Jake Rollins
Jake Rollins is a lo-fi artist
from Boston currently
signed to slacker-pop
haven 80N7. His recently
released debut album
Spend A Few, Make A Few
Juan Wauters
ezra siGns
Manchester four-piece
Pins release their new
album Wild Night on
June 8 via Bella union.
Produced by Dave Catching
(Queens Of The Stone
Age) and Hayden Scott,
the album was recorded
at Rancho De La Luna in
Joshua Tree the same
place Arctic Monkeys
started work on AM.
For daily new music recommendations and exclusive tracks and videos go to NME.COM/NEWMUSIC
New Mu s ical e x pre s s | 21 M ar ch 2015
WORDS: MATT WILKINSON, JAMES BENTLEY, LISA WRIGHT, TIM HAKKI, STuART HuGGETT, NAT CRAMP, HAYLEY FOx
Orlando
This is the new solo
guise of Fanfarlo multiinstrumentalist Cathy
Lucas, who labels Orlando
gender neutral and the
music as being made as for
telepathic amphibians. Early
tracks It Sends My Heart
Into A Spin and Waltz In My
Mouth deal in experimental
synth sounds and eclectic
sampling, pinned together
by space-age melodies.
HE a R H ER soundcloud.
com/ooorlandooo
S E E HER l i v E London
Lexington (March 29)
Ezra Furman
Otherkin
Otherkin
Cold Courage
NEW
SoUNDS
FRoM
WaY oUT
This weeks columnist
JacK
SaviDgE
Friendly Fires
Pale Honey
Tuva Lodmark and Nelly
Daltrey are the dynamic
duo behind Gothenburgs
Pale Honey. Their blistering
debut Youth starts with a
spindly synth rif and drums
that sound like presets,
before building into an
explosive chorus resembling
the kind of Brit grunge that
saw PJ Harvey change the
mid-90s musical landscape.
So cial facebook.com/
palehoney
HEaR T HEM soundcloud.
com/bolero-publishing
laBEl oF
THE WEEK
night-People
FOunDeD 2005 by
Shawn Reed
BASeD Saint Paul,
Minnesota
Key ReleASeS Raccoooo-oon Is Night People
(2005), Dirty Beaches
S/T (2009), Merchandise
Totale Nite (2013)
RADAR SAyS NightPeople have gained a rep
for providing a home to
some of the most forwardthinking, eye-opening acts
to emerge from across the
pond in the past decade.
Dolce
Swedish duo Dolce ofer
up something compelling
in new track Inez Palema.
Delicate vocal harmonies
from Anna Levander and
Leopold Nilsson give things
a laidback charm that will
see them compared to the
likes of Beach House.
HEaR T HEM soundcloud.
com/nomethod
Studio Barnhus
The Garden
Kornl Kovcs
music has snatches
of melody that
emerge and die
For daily new music recommendations and exclusive tracks and videos go to NME.COM/NEWMUSIC
2 1 Mar ch 2015 | Ne w M u s ical e x pre s s
23
Bella Figura
London trio Bella Figura
combine elements of Pearl
Jam with Kings Of Leons
scrufy blues on their superb
EP Something New. Its a
defiantly earthy-sounding
record, Justin Gartrys gruf
baritone vocals lurching
and murmuring over a set
of heavy guitar grooves Neil
Young would be proud of.
So cial facebook.com/
bellafiguraband
HEaR T HEM soundcloud.
com/bellafiguraband
SEE T HEM livE Brighton
The Great Escape Festival
(May 14-16)
24
FESTIVAL
CITY
The Live Music Capital Of
The World has a festival
for everyone in its
round-the-year events
ant to break out of the habit of
attending the same festivals year
in, year out? Its time to book your
trip to Austin, Texas the perfect
place to discover new thrills further afeld.
Why Austin? Its home to an insane amount
oflive music venues over 250, with many
located on the citys renowned Sixth Street, nine
blocks worth of restaurants, bars and clubs and
a community of over 2,000 active musicians.
Austin played a massive part in launching the
careers of Hank Williams and Elvis Presley, as
well as breaking British bands like The Clash
and Elvis Costello in the States something
it continues to do today with its year-round
calendar of festivals that cement its reputation
asthe Live Music Capital Of The World.
Every year, the excitement
kicks of with the SXSW Music
Conference and Festival
which this year takes place on
March 1222 where attendees can
discover the most exciting new bands
from around the world. On May 810, lovers
of all things psychedelic can get trippy at
prOmOTiON
25
100
Greatest
Songs
26
Beatles
New Mu s ical e x pre s s | 21 M ar cH 2015
10 0 G R E AT E ST
B EAT L E S SON GS
words: Mark BeauMont, Jon Bennett, GreG CoChrane, Leonie Cooper, rhian daLy, phiL heBBLethwaite, Ben hoMewood, aL horner, toM howard,
stuart huGGett, LuCy Jones, Barry niCoLson, kevin eG perry, david renshaw, dan stuBBs, Matt wiLkinson, Mike wiLLiaMs, aLan woodhouse
piCs: ed MiLes, dean ChaLkLey, danieL topete, Getty
Album
27
Pixies
The White Album, 1968
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? This track was originally just a fragment
of an instrumental. The band werent sure about it, but
George Harrisons wife pattie liked it, so they decided
to keep it
Chosen by
Saul Adamczewski,
Fat White Family
Album Please Please Me, 1963
songwriter Arthur Alexander
DiD you Know? This was the first
song recorded by The Beatles that
mentions a girl by name
10 0 GREATEST
BEATL ES SON GS
96 When Im Sixty-Four
The Killers
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? paul originally wrote when im
sixty-Four in the hope that it might come in handy
for a musical comedy
Chosen by
Album
28
94 I Me Mine
Gengahr
Let It Be, 1970
songwriter Harrison
DiD you Know? Harrison went on to use
the name of the track for the title of his
autobiography
Chosen by
Album
The Cure
Single only, 1967
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? The song title came about
when Alistair Taylor, Brian epsteins personal
assistant, asked McCartney how he wrote
songs. McCartney proceeded to ask him
to shout the opposite of what he sang:
ie, black/white, yes/no, hello/goodbye
Album
93 Dig A Pony
St Vincent
Let It Be, 1970
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? lennon wrote this song for his
soon-to-be wife, Yoko Ono
Chosen by
dean chalkley, shamil tanna, jenn five, jordan hughes, ed miles, getty
Album
92 Like Dreamers Do
Jake Bugg
Anthology 1, 1995
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? produced by Mike smith, its the only song
on this list that didnt involve George Martin or phil spector
Chosen by
Album
29
91 Hello, Goodbye
Chosen by
10 0 GREATEST
BEATL ES SON GS
90 Real Love
Gary Jarman, The Cribs
Anthology 2, 1996
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? To date, this is the last
piece of previously unheard Beatles
music to have been released
Chosen by
Album
30
89 Oh! Darling
Van McCann, Catfish &
The Bottlemen
Album Abbey Road, 1969
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? An early version of this song
which appears on Anthology 3 features
jubilant backing vocals from John, whod
just heard that Yokos divorce from her
second husband had gone through
Chosen by
31
87 A Taste Of Honey
Chosen by
Violets
Album
songwriter
Marlow
This was the first
time the band ever used double
tracking recording the same vocal
or guitar line twice for a warmer
effect. it was a method theyd use
for the rest of their career
32
86 Honey Pie
Kristian Bell, The Wytches
The White Album, 1968
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? scratches were added to
the opening line from an old 78rpm record
to give the song a dated feel
Chosen by
Album
85 Getting Better
Lucy Jones, Deputy Editor, NME.COM
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967
songwriter Lennon/McCartney
DiD you Know? John lennon had to be taken to the roof of
Abbey Road studios after accidently taking lsD during one
of the recording sessions for this song
Chosen by
Album
10 0 G R E AT E ST
B EAT L E S SON GS
Album
83 Do You Want To
Know A Secret?
Ryan Malcolm, Superfood
Please Please Me, 1963
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? This was the first lennon/McCartney song to be
a hit for another artist. it was recorded by Billy J Kramer with
The Dakotas and reached Number Two in the uK
Chosen by
The frst Beatles song ever sung by George Harrison, Do You Want
To Know A Secret? was written by John and Paul and laid down in
a mere six takes. I wrote it and just gave it to George to sing, said
John in 1980. I thought it would be a good vehicle for him because
it only had three notes and he wasnt the best singer in the world.
He has improved a lot since then, but in those days his singing
ability was very poor. Harsh words, but maybe fair. I didnt like
my vocal on it, George agreed. I didnt know how to sing; nobody
told me how to. Its lush, dreamy approach is down in part to the
song its based on, Im Wishing from Disneys Snow White And
The Seven Dwarfs, which Johns mum Julia regularly sang to him
when he was little.
Ryan Malcolm: Its just too sweet; its beautiful. You can serenade
anyone with that tune.
Chosen by
Album
33
Album
81 I Need You
Only Real
Help!, 1965
songwriter Harrison
DiD you Know? This was the second
song written by George Harrison
that the band released, after Dont
Bother Me
Chosen by
Album
34
80 Yer Blues
FatherJohn Misty
The White Album, 1968
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? In 1968, John performed the
song live with Eric Clapton, Keith Richards
and, on drums, Mitch Mitchell
Chosen by
Album
79 Glass Onion
Britt Daniel, Spoon
The White Album, 1968
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? John was originally going to give the name Glass
Onion to the Apple band who became known as Badfinger
Chosen by
Album
10 0 G R E AT E ST
B EAT L E S SON GS
77 Birthday
78 The Word
Dom Ganderton, Superfood
Rubber Soul, 1965
songwriter Lennon/McCartney
DiD you Know? Like Long Tall Sally, The Word
was originally written around just one note
Chosen by
Album
76 Im So Tired
Album
35
10 0 GREATEST
BEATL ES SON GS
36
New Mu s ical e x pre s s | 21 M ar cH 2015
75 Ive Just
Seen A Face
74 Wait
Albert Hammond Jr, The Strokes
Rubber Soul, 1965
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? paul wrote wait in front of american
actor Brandon dewilde
Chosen by
Album
73 I Want
To Tell You
Chosen by Dominic
McGuinness, The
Bohicas
Album Revolver, 1966
songwriter Harrison
DiD you Know? George
struggled so hard to settle
on a title, he almost called
the song i Dont Know
Dominic McGuinness:
Thisis the first non-single
of theirs I fell in love with.
Its a great example of
George Harrison upping
his game as a songwriter.
Also, he has Lennon and
McCartney on backing vocals
ridiculous.Inthis song they
still sound like a rocknroll
band. Other tunes around this
time saw them experimenting
with the instrumentation, like
Eleanor Rigby, Love You
To, and Yellow Submarine.
But in I Want To Tell You,
the engine of a rocknroll
band ispowering the song.
George Harrison has a great
way with guitar chords as
well. Ithink this tune was
written at a time when their
Indian influence was in its
infancy. Although the sitars
and tablas havent turned up
yet, you can hear McCartney
drifting into New Delhi with
his vocal at the end. Epic
outro, too.
37
38
70 The Fool On The Hill
Jacco Gardner
Magical Mystery Tour, 1967
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? The Fool was a collective of
Dutch artists one of whom, Marijke Koger,
performed tarot readings, often turning up
the Fool card. inspired, paul related him
to the Maharishi to create this track
Chosen by
Album
10 0 G R E AT E ST
B EAT L E S SON GS
67 Martha My Dear
Dan Stubbs, News Editor
The White Album, 1968
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? Many of McCartneys best
love songs were about his then-fiance Jane
Asher, including Here, There And everywhere,
we Can work it Out and Martha My Dear
Chosen by
69 Drive My Car
Thom Burke, Citizens!
Rubber Soul, 1965
songwriter Lennon/McCartney
DiD you Know? Drive my car is old
blues slang for sex
Chosen by
Album
39
Album
66 The Long
And Winding Road
Julie Edwards, Deap Vally
Let It Be, 1970
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? The long And winding Road
is cited as the song that split The Beatles
after lennon recruited phil spector to add
orchestration to it, much to pauls disgust.
paul left the band in protest
Chosen by
Album
40
65 Yellow Submarine
Greg Cochrane,
NME.COM Editor
Album Revolver, 1966
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? The cash register
you can hear on the song was the
same one pink Floyd used on Money
Chosen by
10 0 G R E AT E ST
B EAT L E S SON GS
63 Savoy Truffle
Leonie Cooper, writer
The White Album, 1968
songwriter Harrison
DiD you Know? The song was covered by jazz singer ella Fitzgerald the
year after it was recorded
Chosen by
Album
62 Love You To
Bez, Happy Mondays
Revolver, 1966
songwriter Harrison
DiD you Know? The working title
was Granny smith
Album
41
Chosen by
61 I Feel Fine
Gus Unger-Hamilton, Alt-J
Single only, 1964
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? i Feel Fine was the first song
to get a concurrent uK and us release. it
topped the charts in both countries
Chosen by
Album
10 0 GREATEST
BEATL ES SON GS
59 Im Only Sleeping
Rou Reynolds, Enter Shikari
Revolver, 1966
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? inspiration for the song
came from paul having to wake John up
in the early afternoons to begin writing
Chosen by
Album
60 Happiness Is
A Warm Gun
The Breeders
The White Album,
Chosen by
1968
Lennon
The Mother
Superior mentioned in the
song was a reference to
Yoko Ono John called
her mother in private
songwriter
42
58 I Should Have
Known Better
Ross Jarman, The Cribs
A Hard Days Night, 1964
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? George Harrison met his future
wife pattie Boyd in a train carriage on the set of
the film A Hard Days Night she was an extra.
This song was playing at the time
Chosen by
Album
Album
43
55 Girl
Du Blonde (Beth Jeans
Houghton)
Album Rubber Soul, 1965
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? Woman, from
Lennons final solo album, 1980s
Double Fantasy, was a sequel
to Girl
Chosen by
44
Album
10 0 G R E AT E ST
B EAT L E S SON GS
54 Helter Skelter
James Brown, Pulled Apart
By Horses
Album The White Album, 1968
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? According to George Martins
records, theres a 27-minute version of the
song that was never released
Chosen by
53 Because
Mat Osman, Suede
Abbey Road, 1969
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? Lennon said the arrangement
was terrible, but McCartney and Harrison felt
this was the best track on Abbey Road
Chosen by
Album
45
50 Day Tripper
Shaun Ryder
Album Single only, 1965
songwriter Lennon/McCartney
DiD you Know? German radio
stations didnt want to play it
as tripper is German slang
for gonorrhoea
46
Chosen by
Album
48 Julia
Ryan Jarman, The Cribs
The White Album, 1968
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? This is the only Beatles song to feature John playing solo
Chosen by
Album
Album
47
10 0 G R E AT E ST
B EAT L E S SON GS
10 0 GREATEST
BEATL ES SON GS
Waves
A Hard Days Night, 1964
Lennon/McCartney
DiD you Know? This was the
third of seven Beatles singles
to hit Number One in one
12-month period
Album
songwriter
48
44 I Want You
(Shes So Heavy)
El-P, Run The Jewels
Abbey Road, 1969
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? This was the last time all four
Beatles were together in a recording studio
Chosen by
Album
49
43 Nowhere Man
Billy Corgan, The Smashing Pumpkins
Rubber Soul, 1965
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? The solo was played by both John
and Paul, in unison
Chosen by
Album
42 Two Of Us
Tom Howard, Assistant Editor
Let It Be, 1970
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? in January 1969, while working
on Two Of us, George briefly left the band
Chosen by
Album
50
40 Rain
Anton Newcombe,
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Album B-side of Paperback Writer single
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? The song is usually credited to
John, but paul claims it was a co-write
Chosen by
41 Help!
Frank Turner
Help!, 1965
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? Help! was John lennons favourite Beatles song
Chosen by
Album
10 0 G R E AT E ST
B EAT L E S SON GS
37 Dear Prudence
Ben Thatcher, Royal Blood
The White Album, 1968
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? Ringo left the group when
the white Album sessions became too
tense, so paul played drums. when Ringo
returned a short time later, he found flowers
on his drumkit to welcome him back
Chosen by
39 Lucy In The
Sky With Diamonds
David Renshaw, Acting Deputy News Editor
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? The drawing by Julian lennon that John
said inspired this song is now owned by Dave Gilmour
Chosen by
Album
51
Album
36 Get Back
Adam Granduciel, The War On Drugs
Let It Be, 1970
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? On the single release, the band
were credited as The Beatles with Billy preston
Chosen by
Album
35 Michelle
Michel Gondry, director
Rubber Soul, 1965
songwriter Lennon/McCartney
DiD you Know? it wasnt about Michelle phillips of The
Mamas & The papas; the name just sounded French
Chosen by
Album
shamil tanna, dean chalkley, phil wallis, pieter m van hattem, getty, corbis
52
10 0 G R E AT E ST
B EAT L E S SON GS
32 Taxman
Johnny Marr
Revolver, 1966
songwriter Lennon/Harrison
DiD you Know? The Taxman solo
was rumoured to be the Tomorrow
Never Knows solo edited. it wasnt
Chosen by
33 All My Loving
Alex Turner, Arctic Monkeys
With The Beatles, 1963
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? Despite John admitting this was pauls song,
Johns wife at the time, Cynthia, believed the song was about her
Chosen by
Album
53
Album
10 0 GREATEST
BEATL ES SON GS
54
29 Penny Lane
Mike Kerr, Royal Blood
Single only, 1967
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? Theres no guitar on penny Lane John Lennon
played piano and George Harrison played congas
Chosen by
Album
touristdestination. So many
PennyLane street signs were
stolenand replaced that the
councileventually resorted to
painting the street name
directlyonto the buildings.
28 Got To
Get You Into
My Life
Mark Beaumont, writer
Revolver, 1966
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? Got To Get
You into My Life was the first
Beatles song to feature horns,
with session musicians playing
trumpet and saxophone
Chosen by
55
Album
26 Norwegian Wood
Brian Wilson,
The Beach Boys
Album Rubber Soul, 1965
songwriter Lennon/McCartney
DiD you Know? ravi shankar played
sitar on the track
Chosen by
27 Eleanor Rigby
Regina Spektor
Revolver, 1966
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? eleanor rigby is the
first recorded song in the Beatles
canon that none of the band played
on all of the music was performed
by a string section
Chosen by
Album
56
10 0 G R E AT E ST
B EAT L E S SON GS
22 Yesterday
Nadia Khomani, writer
Help!, 1965
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? a string quartet was brought in for
Yesterday, making it one of the first pop songs to
include classical instrumentation
Chosen by
Album
Lennon
Single only, 1967
Lennon
DiD you Know? John lennons
handwritten lyrics for all You Need
is love sold for $1.25 million in 2005
Album
songwriter
57
10 0 GREATEST
BEATL ES SON GS
21 Revolution
Pete Shelley, Buzzcocks
B-side of Hey Jude, 1968
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? The first version of Revolution was
over 10 minutes long and included a long end-section
featuring sound effects and Yoko whispering you
become naked. This morphed into The White Albums
Revolution 1 and Revolution 9. A faster version was
released prior to the album as the B-side to Hey Jude
Chosen by
Album
58
20 Come Together
Laurie Vincent, Slaves
Abbey Road, 1969
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? Come Together was one of Lennons
favourites among his own songs. Id buy it! he said
Chosen by
Album
getty
59
19 A Hard
Days Night
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
60
The Beatles at Chiswick House, London in 1966, making the Paperback Writer video
10 0 GREATEST
BEATL ES SON GS
18 For No One
17 Paperback Writer
16 Ticket To Ride
Noel Gallagher
Help!, 1965
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? Joseph McGrath,
who worked on the original Casino
Royale, made a video for the song
Chosen by
Album
Album
61
14 Something
Duncan Wallis, Dutch Uncles
Abbey Road, 1969
songwriter Harrison
DiD you Know? when George was first told
how great this song was, his first thought
was to give it to another singer called Jackie
lomax, who might release it a single
Chosen by
Album
on theears. My favourite
rendition would have to be
Isaac Hayes, mainly because
hisinterpretive style of
piano-playing sounds
bizarrely like the Thomas
The Tank Engine theme tune,
making it even more Beatlesesque by association.
13 Let It Be
Isaac Holman, Slaves
Let It Be, 1970
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? John thought let
it Be was nothing to do with The
Beatles. it couldve been wings
Chosen by
Album
matt salacuse, getty, dean chalkley, corbis, jordan hughes, ed miles, rex
62
10 0 G R E AT E ST
B EAT L E S SON GS
10 Hey Jude
Julian Lennon
Single only
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? it was originally
titled Hey Jules, for lennons
five-year-old son Julian as the
divorce of his parents went through. paul
later changed the title to Hey Jude after the
character Jud in the musical Oklahoma!
Chosen by
Album
12 In My Life
Bob Geldof
Rubber Soul, 1965
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? in My life was
performed at Kurt Cobains funeral
Chosen by
to his ex-bandmate
StuartSutclife.
63
Album
9 I Am The Walrus
Theo Ellis, Wolf Alice
Magical Mystery Tour, 1967
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? The voices at the end of i Am The
walrus come from a BBC radio play of King Lear,
which John was listening to as he worked on the song
Chosen by
11 Hey Bulldog
Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters
Yellow Submarine, 1969
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? Hey Bulldog was the last song
the band recorded before Yoko Ono became
a permanent presence at their sessions
Chosen by
Album
Album
8 While My Guitar
Gently Weeps
Justin Young, The Vaccines; Raekwon
The White Album, 1968
songwriter Harrison
DiD you Know? eric Clapton played lead guitar on
while My Guitar Gently weeps. He and George were
good friends, but George had difficulty persuading eric
to come to the studio as he feared the other Beatles
wouldnt like him
Chosen by
Album
64
6 Tomorrow
Never Knows
Bob Mould, Hsker D
Revolver, 1966
songwriter Lennon
DiD you Know? The title came
from a saying of Ringos, which
they used to take the edge off the
heavy, philosophical lyrics. previous
working titles for the song were
Mark i and The Void
Chosen by
Album
getty
65
10 0 G R E AT E ST
B EAT L E S SON GS
10 0 GREATEST
BEATL ES SON GS
66
4 Here Comes
The Sun
Courtney Barnett; Jamie Reynolds,
Klaxons; Ricky Wilson, Kaiser Chiefs
Album Abbey Road, 1969
songwriter Harrison
DiD you Know? George wrote the song in April 1969,
which was indeed a sunny month. it would take until
1984 for an April to record more sunlight hours
5 Blackbird
Rebecca Taylor, Slow Club; Kyle Falconer, The View
The White Album, 1968
songwriter McCartney
DiD you Know? The only three sounds recorded for the song
were pauls voice, acoustic guitar and foot-tapping. The birds
were dubbed on later
Chosen by
Album
Jamie Reynolds:
Iremember connecting
this song to the film Time
Bandits [even though its not
on the soundtrack] and the
image of a small boy playing
with a pigeon. I dont know
why. I absolutely loved it. Its
so warm and life-afirming.
Chosen by
2 A Day In
The Life
Brett Anderson, Suede; Joe
Goddard, Hot Chip; Jonathan Higgs,
Everything Everthing; Nile Rodgers
Album Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club
Band, 1967
songwriter Lennon/McCartney
DiD you Know? At the end of the lengthy
piano-chord fade-out, The Beatles inserted
a note thats only audible to dogs
Chosen by
67
3 I Want To Hold
Your Hand
10 0 GREATEST
BE ATL ES SON GS
1 Strawberry
Fields Forever
68
TOp 10
TOp 100
I, mE, mINE
IN mY LIfE
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1977
1978
1
10
6
18
35
32
Lennon
McCARTneY
11
hARRison
sOngs On lisT
recOrded in 1 TakE
70
mOsT TAKes
HaPPINESS IS
a waRm GUN
17
sTARR
Lennon/
McCARTneY
LONG LONG
LONG
A veritable banquet
of time-related stats
5:18:17
TOTaL TImE
14
13
20
14
HELP!
GEORGE
maRTIN
aLONE
2
1
1
91
11
GEORGE maRTIN
wITH OTHERS 3
PHIL SPECTOR 4
JOHN LENNON 1
mIkE SmITH 1
0:52
shOrTesT TrAcK
2:04
shOrTesT TrAcK
releAsed As A single
All My Loving
The number of tracks from
each Beatles album in our list
18
15:55
7:47
lOngesT
enTry
On lisT
lOngesT
individuAl
TrAcK
Abbey
Road
Medley
I Want You
(Shes So
Heavy)
3:18
AverAge
Time Of
TrAcKs
SINGLE ONLY 13
B-SIDE 3
OTHER 1
10 0 GREATEST
BEATL ES SON GS
John
70
All things
must pass
Even before The Beatles split, John was
Paul
Pauls insistence on
71
GETTY
George
10 0 GREATEST
BEATL ES SON GS
72
had begun
releasing solo albums before the band broke up, putting
out Wonderwall Music in 1968 and experimental Moog
album Electronic Sound in 1969. But it was his frst
post-Beatles album, All Things Must Pass, that sealed
his reputation as the equal of Lennon and McCartney. It
was Georges vindicatory masterpiece, giving him the frst
post-Beatles UK Number One single with the Krishna pop
of My Sweet Lord and including timeless, widescreen
beauties like Wah-Wah and Isnt It A Pity. The album
stands amongst the very best post-Beatles collections;
Harrisons very own White Album.
Reputation reasserted and huge global solo success in
the bag, Harrison refned his rifs for 1973s crystal-bright
Living In The Material World and its spritely lead track
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth). Elsewhere there
was a Taxman-style dig at the rest of The Beatles suing
each other for the beneft of the lawyers (Sue Me, Sue You
Blues), lush Procul Harum piano ballads (The Light That
Has Lighted The World, Who Can See It) and strutting
boogies (Dont Let Me Wait Too Long, the title track). The
album found George struggling with the incompatibilities
between the spiritual and the material, the political and
the humane, and looking for solutions in Hindu
philosophy. There was little karma in the reviews of 1974s
Dark Horse, though; a rootsy afair widely considered his
weakest solo efort only redeemed by the afecting So
Sad. The following years Extra Texture (Read All About
It), the last ever Apple studio album, took a soulful,
Smokey-infused turn for Motown stomps like You and
lustrous ballads Cant Stop Thinking About You and
World Of Stone, but cocaine and critical snipes were
stifing Harrisons interest, and sales slumped.
Bizarrely, it took a case of hepatitis and a clutch of
lawsuits in 1976 to rejuvenate him for the cheery return to
form Thirty Three & 1/3, released on his own Dark Horse
The Top 40
post-Beatles
songs
Fact: There can be no greatest post-Beatles
solo song. This is not because they are all great
Lennons Beef Jerky is agonisingly shit, while
Maccas Give My Regards To Broad Street and
much of George and Ringos post-Beatles guf
doesnt even bear thinking about. No, the real
reason you cant put them in any kind of lasting
order is down to one thing: justification. Why is
Imagine, the song thats unconditionally and
unarguably synonymous with the word peace,
any more worthy of greatness than, say, Jet,
the most perfect festival set-opener of all time?
Why is Ringos glam-rock masterpiece Back Of
Boogaloo (which Alex Kapranos nicked for Take
Me Out) any more joyous than Georges finest
hour, My Sweet Lord? Why is Lennons last truly
perfect tune, the back-to-basics Nobody Told
Me, a more worthwhile number than Maccas
still futuristic-sounding Temporary Secretary,
recorded within a year of each other? The
answer is simple: because John, Paul, George
and Ringo are all geniuses, both together and
apart. Collected here are my own Top 40 of the
absolute best, must-hear post-Beatles classics.
This is the definitive order for today, at least
Ringo
1 GEORGE
21 GEORGE
My Sweet Lord
Beware Of Darkness
22 JOHN
Instant Karma!
3 WiNGS Jet
4 PAuL
Let Me Roll It
Temporary Secretary
5 JOHN God
6 WiNGS Live And Let Die
7 WiNGS
23 WiNGS
24 GEORGE
Nobody Told Me
28 GEORGE
Dehra Dun
29 JOHN Jealous Guy
30 JOHN
Here Today
32 JOHN Mother
33 RiNGO
Surprise Surprise
(Sweet Bird Of Paradox)
Maybe Im Amazed
36 JOHN Beautiful
Boy (Darling Boy)
37 JOHN What You Got
19 PAuL
38 KANyE WEST/PAuL
Back Of Boogaloo
18 JOHN
Admiral Halsey
Only One
39 TRAvELiNG WiLBuRyS
73
10 0 GREATEST
BEATL ES SON GS
Into the
black
In the 2014 film Boyhood, Ethan Hawkes
character gives his son a CD compilation of
John, Paul, George and Ringos best solo work,
called The Black Album as the actor had
done for his own daughter, Maya. Here he
explains why the post-breakup years are such
a significant part of the Beatles story
In the letter accompanying The
Black Album in Boyhood, I touch
onthe clichs about each Beatles
character, but its more complicated
than that. Lennon is considered to
be the one with bite, but he wrote
some of the schmaltziest solo songs. Grow Old
With Me? Like, come on. I think whats so
wonderful about their solo work is that if you
put them next to each other if you put Pipes
Of Peace next to Imagine, for example you
see how similar they all are. They were always
writing about the same things, just very simple
human things. I think Lennon has, like, seven
songs about waking up in the morning. They
cared about each other, politics, themselves
and love. And their silly love songs are the
best, because they were so serious about
falling in love and being in love, whether
youre talking about Yoko or Linda. Their
partners became characters in their songs
Lovely Linda and Oh Yoko! which
waspretty radical because its wildly selfreferential to the point of being navel-gazing
ina kind of absurd way. But I could listen to
Oh Yoko! right now I love that song.
The idea of The Black Album was to collect
the best of the solo years, but I do have
favourites within that. Id say Crippled Inside
is just a classic Lennon song its the potency
of that word crippled, and the weird, almost
country sound to the production, even though
its more of a blues song. His ability to use very
few words to great impact is unprecedented.
For McCartney, its The Back Seat Of My
New Mu s iCAl e x pRe s s | 21 M AR CH 2015
74
To pick a favourite
Beatle is to misunderstand
The Beatles. Its their juxtaposition that
makes them so signifcant. One of my other
favourite McCartney quotes is when they
asked him, Do you think of John when you
write? He says, I think of John every time
I write. I think, Oh, John would hate this.
Left to himself, McCartney can be really silly,
and John Lennon can be really self-serious.
Together they make something that were
still talking about. So the idea that theres
afavourite, its like, youre better of talking
about their outfts.
The bitchiness of the McCartney-Lennon
divorce played out on the Let It Be album, but
youve got to remember that they recorded the
happier Abbey Road after that. In a way it can
be kind of healing to realise that they actually
did fnd a way to get together and support each
other even after Let It Be tore everything
apart. I feel pretty certain that, had Lennon
been able to live, the bitchiness of it all would
have ended eventually. The closest thing we
have is Real Love, which the three surviving
Beatles recorded over an original Lennon vocal
for the Anthology albums. A lot of people
were down on it, but I like it it moves me.
Would they have recaptured the old magic
iftheyd got back together properly? How
could they not?!
Disc 1
1. Paul McCartney & Wings,
BandOn The Run
2. George Harrison,
My Sweet Lord
3. John Lennon feat. The Flux
Fiddlers & The Plastic Ono
Band, Jealous Guy
4. Ringo Starr, Photograph
5. John Lennon, How?
6. Paul McCartney, Every Night
7. George Harrison, Blow Away
8. Paul McCartney,
Maybe Im Amazed
9. John Lennon, Woman
10. Paul McCartney & Wings, Jet
11. John Lennon, Stand By Me
12. Ringo Starr, No No Song
13. Paul McCartney, Junk
14. John Lennon, Love
15. Paul McCartney & Linda
McCartney, The Back Seat
Of My Car
16. John Lennon, Watching
The Wheels
17. John Lennon, Mind Games
18. Paul McCartney & Wings,
Bluebird
Disc 2
1. John Lennon, God
2. Wings, Listen To What The
Man Said
3. John Lennon, Crippled Inside
4. Ringo Starr, Youre
Sixteen Youre Beautiful
(And Youre Mine)
5. Paul McCartney & Wings,
Let Me Roll It
6. John Lennon & The Plastic Ono
Band, Power To the People
7. Paul McCartney, Another Day
8. George Harrison, If Not For You
(2001 Digital Remaster)
9. John Lennon, (Just Like)
Starting Over
10. Wings, Let Em In
11. John Lennon, Mother
12. Paul McCartney & Wings,
Helen Wheels
13. John Lennon, I Found Out
14. Paul McCartney & Linda
McCartney, Uncle Albert/
Admiral Halsey
Disc 3
1. John Lennon, Grow Old With Me
(2010 Remaster)
2. Wings, Silly Love Songs
3. The Beatles, Real Love
4. Paul McCartney & Wings,
My Love
5. John Lennon, Oh My Love
6. George Harrison, Give Me Love
(Give Me Peace On Earth)
7. Paul McCartney, Pipes Of Peace
8. John Lennon, Imagine
9. Paul McCartney, Here Today
10. George Harrison, All Things
Must Pass
11. Paul McCartney, And I Love Her
(Live on MTV Unplugged)
75
76
The Prodigy
The Day Is My Enemy
Hodgy Beats
& Don Cannon
LIAM
HOWLETT
ON
Phil hEbblEthwAitE
Marching Church
This World Is Not Enough
the iceage frontman leaves punk behind onhis
unspeakably pretentious but riveting solo debut
Anyone who thought Iceage majorly
wussed out with 2014s countryflecked third album Plowing Into The
Field Of Love, look away now. This World Is
Not Enough, Elias Bender Rnnenfelts solo
debut, sees the unsmiling frontman stray ever
further from his hardcore roots, with help
from members of fellow Danish bands Lower,
Sexdrome and Choir Of Young Believers.
Unspeakably pretentious and rarely less than
riveting, it lurches from piano jazz (Every Child
(Portrait Of Wellman Braud)) and Bowie-esque
plastic soul (King Of Song) to demented early
Bunnymen vibes (the electric Hungry For
Love) all delivered by a man who sounds like
hes trying to vomit up his soul. Freakier still
is the lugubrious cover of soul staple
Dark End Of The Street, which recalls
Nick Caves romance with classic
songwriting circa Kicking
Against The Pricks. What next
for our sweet Danish prince? A
duet with Kylie? AlEx dEnnEy
Only Real
Jerk At The End Of
The Line Virgin EMI
when he
emerged
in 2012
with early
tracks like
the bouncy Cadillac Girl,
many pegged niall Galvin
as a blissed-out indie kid.
on 2013 EP days in the
City, the west london
songwriter showed there
was more to only Real
than that. Jerk At the
77
Fllakzoid
78
Ringo Starr
Penny Lane
found
Lennon and
McCartney
looking back
at their younger selves. On
his 18th solo album, Ringo
Starr attempts the same
trick, opening with Rory &
The Hurricanes, a rocknroll
number named after his preBeatles outfit, and linking
the names of Beatles songs
for the title tracks lyrics.
Macca might be the one
lathering Just For Men and
cosying up to Kanye, but
Starr seems to be the Fab
whos losing his grip on
reality, mixing reggae,
rockand boogie-woogie
tocreate arecord that
would have sounded dated
in his 70s solo heyday.
Sometimes Im up,
sometimes Im down, he
sings, like a man with piles
of money whos not quite
surewhy hes making
a new album. Funny,
that. Dan STuBBS
ALBUM
OF THE WEEK
Mini Mansions
The Great
Pretenders
alex Turner and Brian Wilson
guest on the QOTSa side-projects
wonderful second album
K-X-P
Hannah Cohen
Luis Vasquez
isnt the first
musician to
sound like
hes trying to
escape from an indie-rock
straitjacket, but rarely do
the results thud with such
vicious, delicious abandon.
the Californians first two
albums as the Soft Moon
cribbed chiefly from the
gothic end of 80s post-
noeL GarDner
Lower Dens
Escape From Evil
Ribbon Music
Seeping in
ona languid
guitar line
that recalls
the ones
Beach House filled 2010s
teen Dream with, escape
From evil starts sleepily.
the haze drifts into ondine,
but thereafter Lower Dens
third album sees the
Baltimore duo explore new
ground. Whereas 2012s
nootropics was a thicket of
looped guitars, escape
Circa Waves
Young Chasers
the Liverpudlians
rekindle the spirit of
the Strokes on their
debut. Its a blast
new Yorks
tJSBe have
zipped
between
blues, punk,
funk and rocknroll since
recording 1991 bootleg
album a reverse Willie
Horton with Steve albini
and Mark kramer (Low,
Galaxie 500). this 10th
album was conceived as a
portrait of their hometown,
but the result is a collection
of cheesy, mostly average
funk-rock. Betty Vs the
nYPD is best, blues guitars
and rumbling bass lending
an edge to Spencers
gabbled vocals, while tales
of old new York: rock
Boxs mapping of the citys
musical haunts is turgid (I
said CBGB, thats the place
to be Come on punks, do
it), andcloser Cooking For
television sums up the
albums shortcomings with
a muddled approximation
of Parliaments
classic funk sound.
rHIan DaLY
Benot Pioulard
As theyre four
Liverpudlian lads
playing jaunty, catchy
three-minute pop songs on
guitars no 50sslant, no
electronic R&B,not the tiniest
hint of apsychedelic tribal
sacrifce you wont be
allowed to like Circa Waves. Snobs will demand this
debut album comes plastered with stickers reading
Warning: Contains Blatant Strokes And Toxic Levels Of
Kook, View And Wombat. Sniping reviewers will paint
their fans as flthy scavengers of the indie landfll,
gnawing on the rotting carcass of The Pigeon Detectives.
And, for fear of being restrained and incarcerated in
some institution for the culturally remedial, nobody
willmention how refreshing, fun and free it all sounds.
So whisper it: Circa Waves are a blast. First single
GetAway, My Love and
T-Shirt Weather tear from the
traps with the vivacity of Two
Door Cinema Club mainlining
military-grade Merseybeat.
Thetitle-track fres out jubilant
oooh-ooohs, Lost It is prime
Shins and Good For You, The
Luck Has Gone and Stuck In
Sonnet Kranky
S
even the most po-faced generation needs
RE L E A S E DATE March 30 L A B EL Universal/Virgin EMI P R ODUCER Dan Grech
light relief, and in recent years all
L E N GT H 40:32 TRAC KL I STI NG 1. Get Away 2. T-Shirt Weather 3. Fossils
the pop kids have had is the hollow
4. Lost It 5. My Love 6. Deserve This 7. Young Chasers 8. Good For Me
faux-indie of Bastille. So sod the
9. Stuck In My Teeth 10. Best Years 11. The Luck Has Gone 12. So Long
scowlers heres your permission
13. Talking Out Loud BEST TR ACK Young Chasers
topogo. Mark BeauMont
Composer
Benot
Pioulard
doesnt exist.
Hes a front
for Seattle-based musician
thomas Meluch, whose
steady flow of releases
under the pseudonym
intersperse charming, lo-fi
folk with field recordings
and stretches of hazy
instrumental shoegaze. on
Sonnet, his fifth album,
Meluch disappears further
still, bringing suites of
stately ambient collages to
the fore. Heavy with tape
hiss, only a Shade of
Celadon retains the bones
of a song, with a mufled
verse and wordless chorus
hidden deep behind gusts
of fogged-out guitar. adjust
to its glacial pace and
heavenly moments like
upon the Break arch and
the Very edge of Its Flame
glow like distant stars,
coming on like lost
Sigur rs tracks.
Stuart HuGGett
79
FILM
CINEMA
The Tale Of The
Princess Kaguya
Tense French-Canadian
drama explores the
fraught relationship
between a mother
and her violent son
As the enfant terrible of French-Canadian cinema,
But their happiness is jeopardised by Dies inability to
its ftting that Xavier Dolans debut, 2009s
hold down a job, and a lawsuit that threatens to put the
I Killed My Mother, saw him symbolically ofng
youngster away for a long time.
his mum. Six years on from that flms success at Cannes,
Dolan handles this potentially bleak material with
where it received an eight-minute standing ovation,
virtuoso style, bringing shades of Martin Scorseses
hes returning to the issues that made his name with
bulldozing energy to the flms storytelling rhythms, and
undimmed energy: only this time, it seems, hes come
lashings of director Gus Van Sants outsider-empathy in
down from the naughty step and is ready to apologise.
the characters. Theres even, as in one sequence where
Mommy, the 25-year-old prodigys ffth flm, concerns
Steve slow motion-dances with a trolley, some of The
working-class mum Die (Anne Dorval, who
Tree Of Life director Terrence Malicks lyrical
starred in I Killed My Mother) and her attempts
eye to this terrifcally tense, poignant flm,
to keep her violent outburst-prone, ADHDwhich is presented intimately in 1:1 aspect
sufering teenage son Steve (17-year-old Antoine
ratio a classic square image and widened
Olivier Pilon) out of trouble with the law.
during moments of optimism. Its also darkly,
Early on, were presented with a philosophical
daringly funny: another scene of bizarre
quandary. Loving people doesnt save them,
familial bonding has Steve, wearing eyeliner,
says the head of a correctional facility Steve
dancing to Celine Dion with his mum and
has just been expelled from after setting fre
Kyla, who is hammered and starts singing
to the cafeteria. Sceptics, retorts Die with
along. Shout! Shes our fucking national
adragon-like puf of cigarette smoke, will
treasure, yells Steve triumphantly. His joy
beproven wrong.
is not to last, you feel, as Mommy builds
dIr e ctor
Is she right? Despite the occasional lurch
inexorably towards a heartrending climax.
Xavier Dolan
into melodrama, Dolan keeps us guessing
But for all of Steves livewire energy, the
IN cIN eM A S
right to the end of this deeply felt, electrically
hero of Mommy is never in doubt. Anne
March 20
charged movie. Steve, whose violent tendencies
Dorval is simply amazing as the indomitable
are established early on in a scene where he
Die, who refuses to cut the apron strings even
terrorises his mother at home, is also a devoted son
as they threaten to choke the life out of her. In her
perhaps too devoted and strangely likeable sort.
and Kyla, the flms second maternal fgure, Dolan
Hisprospects seem to improve when his neighbour
pays glowing tribute to the unbreakable bonds of
Kyla, a lonely housewife with a stutter and a painful
motherhood. Because even twisted little bastards
secret, strikes up an unlikely bond with mother and son.
deserve love. Alex Denney
This
ambitious
black
comedy is
the first english-language
film from Marjane Satrapi,
the French-Iranian director
of 2007s Oscar-nominated
animation Persepolis. Ryan
Reynolds stars as Jerry,
afactory worker with an
unspecified mental illness
who stops taking his
medication and hallucinates
that his cat is telling him to
CINEMA
The Second Chance
This Danish
thriller from
Susanne Bier,
director of 2010s
Oscar-winning
In A Better World, has
afar-fetched but potentially
gripping premise. When
police oficer Andreas
(Game Of Thrones nikolaj
Coster-Waldau) and his wife
Anne (norwegian-Swedish
actress Maria Bonnevie)
wake up to find their
newborn baby has died in
CINEMA
Chappie
In 2004, neill
Blomkamp
(District 9) made
his directorial
debut with Tetra
Vaal, a short film about
acrime-fighting robot in
Johannesburg. The South
African filmmaker expands
that idea for Chappie. The
titular machine is built by
inventor Deon (Slumdog
Millionaires Dev Patel),
whofinds a broken police
robot and installs it with
newsoftware. But Deons
creation falls into the hands
of gangsters played by
ninjaand yolandi of sweary
Joburg hip-hop group
DieAntwoord. As they raise
Chappie (voiced by Sharlto
Copley) as a criminal,
Blomkamp indulges in
pyrotechnics that, while
eye-watering, feel like a
giddy homage to old-school
sci-fi that lacks District 9s
innovation. Although the
robots human qualities are
carefully rendered, Chappie
comes alive too little to
make an impact.
nICk levIne
DAn BRIGhTMORe
CINEMA
The Voices
nICk levIne
81
Mommy
This Japanese
animated film
from the
legendary Studio
Ghibli, the
makers of 2001s Spirited
Away, was deservedly
nominated for the Best
Animated Feature prize at
this years Oscars. Based on
a 10th-century Japanese
folk tale, it tells the story of
Sanuki, a bamboo cutter
who finds a miniature girl
inside a glowing bamboo
shoot and takes her home
tohis wife to bring her up
astheir own. Convinced the
girl is a princess, Sanuki
relocates his family to the
city, where her beauty
attracts a line of would-be
husbands. The centuries-old
story then takes some
unexpectedly sad and
strange turns, but gorgeous
hand-drawn visuals and
awistful score by Japanese
composer Joe hisaishi
ensure it remains warm
and charming.
GIG
OF THE WEEK
Ariel Pink
The Old Market
Brighton
Wednesday, March 4
82
83
LIVE
Noel
Gallaghers
High Flying Birds
Capital FM Arena, Nottingham
Friday, March 6
84
Bjrk
GIG
OF THE WEEK
SETLIST
do the damage
(stranded on) The
Wrong Beach
everybodys
on The run
Fade away
in The heat of
The moment
Lock all The doors
riverman
The death of You
and me
You know We
Cant go Back
Champagne
supernova
dream on
The dying of
The Light
The mexican
aka Broken
arrow
digsys dinner
if i had a gun
Ballad of The
mighty i
dont Look Back
in anger
aka What a Life!
The masterplan
Yung
theres only one word for the danish punks
first visit to the uk: chaos
85
GET YOUR
GIG IN NME
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OBJECTS OF DESIRE
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GUITAR
Gibson ES-339 Satin 2015
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CINEMA
Blade Runner:
The Final Cut
30
41
CLUES ACROSS
90
MARCH 7 ANSWERS
CLUES DOWN
1 Bogus star I arrange to
appear with Duane Eddy
(4-6)
2 One from Rio is remixed
by The Strokes (4-2-4)
3+19D Jackie Wilson song
that gave him a touch of
Sugar Sugar (1-3-3-8-7)
4 Craig ______, played
guitar for The Smiths,
The definitive
version of
Ridley Scotts
masterpiece,
adapted from
Philip K Dicks Do Androids
Dream Of Electric Sheep?, is
re-released next month.
watch in cinemas across
the UK from April 3. Visit
bfi.org.uk for more info
APP
Drizzy
Forget typing out
all those Drake
lyrics that sum up
how you feel. This
app does the work
for you, allowing you to
select quotes from various
categories straight from your
iPhones keyboard.
d ow nloa d free from
the App Store
DVD
White Bird In
A Blizzard
As teenager
Kat Connors
discovers her
sexuality,
her mother
disappears. Follow the
17-year-olds initial feelings
of freedom before she
realises the impact of
her mothers departure.
BUY 10.25, amazon.co.uk
BOOK
The Road
Beneath My Feet
by Frank Turner
The singersongwriters
recollections of
starting a solo
career after the
break-up of his band Million
Dead and his journey from
house parties to the
Olympics opening ceremony.
BUY 13.60, amazon.co.uk
BOOK
Inside The Dream
Palace: The Life
And Times Of New
Yorks Legendary
Chelsea Hotel
by Sherill Tippins
The stories of
some of the
famous hotels
most celebrated
residents,
including Bob Dylan, Patti
Smith and Andy Warhol.
BUY 8.34, amazon.co.uk
DVD
Broadchurch
Series 1&2
Catch up on the
first two series
of the gripping
crime drama
centered around
the murder of an 11-year-old
boy, starring Olivia Colman
and David Tennant.
BUY 25, amazon.co.uk
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