Society always celebrates the records that top the Billboard 200 album chart. Back of The Billboards is a Music Times weekly segment that looks at the opposite end: the new record that finished closest to the back of the Billboard 200 for the previous week. We hope to give a fighting chance to the bands you haven't heard of. This week we look at Mexican pop star The Beatles(?) and its new EP ''Long Tall Sally'(?!?).
Week of 12/05/2014
WHO: The Beatles
WHAT: Long Tall Sally
SPOT: 196
We're always quick to point out when reporting on rising vinyl sales that the format's success won't make up for the huge drops in other segments of the music sales market. Nonetheless, the emergence of The Beatles' Long Tall Sally EP as this week's Back of The Billboards showcase proves that vinyl sales are doing enough to at least make a dent in the Billboard 200, even during the busiest of sales months. Sally was rereleased last week exclusively on vinyl as part of Record Store Day's "Back to Black" Friday event. The entry went to no. 1 on the British vinyl charts and moved enough copies of the 7" release in the United States to land on the overall album charts.
Music Times would make the argument however that Long Tall Sally should be more than just a collectible however.
The Beatles will never live up to the original versions of tracks such as Little Richard's titular single, or Larry Williams' "Slow Down," but this four-song set captures the band at some of its most raucous moments. The group's adoration for the old-time rock 'n' roll has hardly been recorded as well as during the band's interpretation of "Sally" or Carl Perkins' "Matchbox." It makes the group's original r'n'r numbers seem almost domesticated by comparison. This marks the only original studio recording the band did where any of these tracks can be found.
Long Tall Sally features one original from McCartney/Lennon, "I Call Your Name," but we'd recommend the covers foremost.
