What's your favourite Beatles album?
- September 8, 2009 9:05 PM |
- By Arts Online
The digitally remastered versions of the Beatles’ studio albums arrive Sept. 9 with a hurricane of hype. For those in the know, these discs follow the track listings that appeared on the original U.K. releases.
Are you into the psychedelic reveries of Sgt. Pepper? Abbey Road’s slick production? Or maybe you’re a devotee of their middle period and have a tough time choosing between Rubber Soul and Revolver. We want to know which Beatles album is your favourite — you can vote at the bottom of this article. Before you cast your vote, here’s a guided tour to refresh your memory.
POLL: Who's your favourite Beatle?
Please Please Me
Year of release: 1963
Standout tracks: I Saw Her Standing There, There’s A Place, Twist and Shout
Overview: Back in 1963, albums were an afterthought – much more attention was paid to the singles charts. For the Beatles’ first LP, producer George Martin simply decided to throw them in an Abbey Road studio for a day to recreate much of their live repertoire, honed over the years in Liverpool and Hamburg. Please Please Me was laid down in just under 10 hours, a far cry from the 129 days it would take to record Sgt. Pepper.
Less-than-stellar moment: A Taste of Honey, a turgid cover of a movie theme song.
Bonus fact: The album’s exultant finale, Twist and Shout, was the last song recorded in that marathon session. The group saved it until the end, knowing full well that Lennon would sing himself hoarse.
With The Beatles
Year of release: 1963
Standout tracks: Money (That’s What I Want), It Won’t Be Long, All My Loving, Please Mister Postman
Overview: Another impressive collection of cover versions and originals largely borrowed from the band’s live set list, With The Beatles took slightly longer to record than their debut album — the 14 songs were assembled in just 28 hours, over six days.
Less-than-stellar moment: Hold Me Tight, one of the rare Lennon-McCartney songs that never really achieves liftoff.
Bonus fact: Robert Freeman’s black and white photo of the unsmiling, turtleneck-wearing Beatles made for moody cover art – yet another area in which the group would innovate.
A Hard Day’s Night
Year of release: 1964
Standout tracks: A Hard Day’s Night, If I Fell, And I Love Her, You Can’t Do That, Can’t Buy Me Love
Overview: The first (and only) Beatles album that consists entirely of Lennon-McCartney originals. A Hard Day’s Night features seven tracks that appeared in the delightful Richard Lester movie of the same name, and another six that didn’t.
Less-than-stellar moment: I’m Happy Just to Dance With You, an uncharacteristically formulaic tune written by Lennon for Harrison to sing.
Bonus fact: This is very much Lennon’s album. His vocals and songwriting come to the fore on numerous tracks, including You Can’t Do That, a tune about jealousy and infidelity that indicates an imminent move away from teen-friendly love songs.
Beatles for Sale
Year of release: 1964
Standout tracks: No Reply, I’m A Loser, Eight Days A Week, What You’re Doing, I’ll Follow the Sun
Overview: Hastily assembled for the Christmas market, Beatles for Sale arrived in stores only five months after A Hard Day’s Night. Given the time constraints, it makes sense that only eight of the 13 tracks were Lennon-McCartney compositions. Still, introspective songs such as No Reply and I’m A Loser reveal increasing lyrical sophistication.
Less-than-stellar moment: Mr. Moonlight, an overwrought cover of a Roy Lee Johnson song that features a cheesy Hammond organ solo.
Bonus fact: In the U.K., the band almost always kept singles and albums separate, which explains why I Feel Fine – released just a week before Beatles for Sale – wasn’t included on the album.
Help!
Year of release: 1965
Standout tracks: Help!, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, Ticket to Ride, Yesterday
Overview: The second big-screen Beatles vehicle was a globe-trotting comedy-adventure, shot as the lads were seriously embracing marijuana. As with A Hard Day’s Night, the soundtrack album contains seven songs from the movie and an additional batch of non-film tunes. Help! doesn’t rank in the upper echelon of Beatles product, but the experimentation continues: You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away features Lennon in full-on Dylan mode, and Yesterday takes the band in an orchestral direction.
Less-than-stellar moment: Act Naturally – Ringo covers the Buck Owens country classic about making it in Hollywood. Amiable and reflective of Starr’s burgeoning acting career, but glaringly out of sync with the rest of the album.
Bonus fact: According to the Guinness World Records, Yesterday is the most-covered tune of all-time, with over 3,000 interpretations. Among the giants who’ve had a go at it: Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Marvin Gaye and Frank Sinatra.
Rubber Soul
Year of release: 1965
Standout tracks: Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood, In My Life, Nowhere Man, If I Needed Someone, Michelle, Girl
Overview: A quantum leap forward, Rubber Soul represents the Beatles’ full embrace of the recording studio. This was no rush job – the band spent around 100 hours at Abbey Road. On Norwegian Wood, Lennon continued to mine Dylanesque territory and Harrison even added some sitar – further proof that the band’s sonic palette was expanding.
Less-than-stellar moment: The only song ever written by Starr, Lennon and McCartney, the jaunty country ditty What Goes On falls short of the impossibly high benchmark set by the other tracks.
Bonus fact: Rubber Soul’s album cover was the first to omit the group’s name.
Revolver
Year of release: 1966
Standout tracks: Taxman, Eleanor Rigby, Here, There and Everywhere, Tomorrow Never Knows, For No One, Got to Get You Into My Life
Overview: The studio experimentation continues on this Swinging London masterpiece. It’s hard to believe that Revolver was released just two years after A Hard Day’s Night — the musical transformation is so stark. This isn’t a conventional pop album. McCartney’s Eleanor Rigby, for one, deals with the theme of death and contains a haunting string section arranged by George Martin; Lennon’s Tomorrow Never Knows is inspired by LSD and The Tibetan Book of the Dead, and features backwards tape loops. Due to its breathtaking production and songwriting, Revolver often winds up at No. 1 in polls of the greatest albums of all time.
Less-than-stellar moment: There isn’t a lame track on this album, but of George Harrison’s three tracks, the Indian-flavoured Love You To is the least compelling.
Bonus fact: After making massive technological advances with this album, the band decided to stop touring and become a studio-only entity.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Year of release: 1967
Standout tracks: A Day in the Life, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, With a Little Help From My Friends
Overview: Ten months after Revolver, the soundtrack to the Summer of Love arrived – one of the most ambitious, painstakingly recorded rock albums of all time. Although it poses as a concept album — on which the Beatles pretend to be another band — the “concept” disappears after the second track and doesn’t reappear until the penultimate song. Still, what creative audacity — just listen to the orchestral climax and that final chord of A Day in the Life. This is a band at the peak of its powers.
Less-than-stellar moment: Sorry, but after all these years, When I’m 64 is jarringly twee compared to psychedelic classics like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and A Day in the Life.
Bonus fact: Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane were originally intended for Sgt. Pepper, but manager Brian Epstein decided they should be released on a single in advance of the album.
Magical Mystery Tour
Year of release: 1967
Standout tracks: I Am the Walrus, The Fool on the Hill, Strawberry Fields Forever, Baby You’re a Rich Man
Overview: The soundtrack to the Beatles’ ill-fated, largely improvised TV movie sees the band still in psychedelic mode. Although the movie was savaged by critics, it’s musically significant because it gave us I Am the Walrus, a Lewis Carroll-inspired Lennon masterpiece.
Less-than-stellar moment: Blue Jay Way – George droning on about waiting for publicist Derek Taylor to arrive at a house in L.A.
Bonus fact: This is the only Beatles album being re-released in its U.S. configuration. It contains the six tracks from the movie, along with some stellar 1967 hit singles (including Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields Forever, Hello Goodbye, All You Need Is Love).
The Beatles (a.k.a. The White Album)
Year of release: 1968
Standout tracks: Back in the U.S.S.R., Julia, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Helter Skelter, Blackbird, Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Overview: Perhaps the most eclectic rock project ever, The White Album contains elements of blues, country, honky-tonk, doo-wop, British music hall, experimental sound collage, 1950s-style rock ’n’ roll and folk-rock. By 1968, the Beatles’ group dynamic had eroded. The three songwriters in the group basically used the other members as session musicians on their individual tracks. Still, the results are sprawling, disturbing and utterly compelling.
Less-than-stellar moment: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da – a McCartney reggae jam that Lennon detested. Ringo’s Don’t Pass Me By is also a bit of a shambles.
Bonus fact: McCartney wrote Helter Skelter in a conscious attempt to outdo the loudness and rawness of The Who’s I Can See For Miles. And yes, Ringo did have blisters on his fingers after recording that song.
Yellow Submarine
Year of release: 1968
Standout tracks: Hey Bulldog, All Together Now
Overview: This isn’t a full-fledged Beatles LP, but rather a hodge-podge of tunes featured in George Dunning’s animated film. The soundtrack album contained only four previously unreleased Beatles songs, none of them top-drawer material.
Less-than-stellar moment: The George Martin film score tracks (including March of the Meanies and Sea of Monsters) must surely rank as the least listened-to songs on any Beatles album.
Bonus fact: In It’s Only A Northern Song, George Harrison registers his displeasure with the Beatles’ music publishing company, Northern Songs.
Abbey Road
Year of release: 1969
Standout tracks: Here Comes the Sun, Something, Come Together, Because, Golden Slumbers, The End, Side Two medley
Overview: The tracks were actually laid down after the contentious Let It Be sessions, which makes Abbey Road the last Beatles album ever recorded. It’s a suitable coda to their studio career. According to McCartney, the band decided to “put down the boxing gloves” and co-operate with each other and producer George Martin. Subsequently, it feels like more of a group effort than either The Beatles or Let It Be. George Harrison’s two songs here – Here Comes the Sun and Something – rival and perhaps even surpass the quality of Lennon and McCartney’s output.
Less-than-stellar moment: Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, another one of McCartney’s “character” songs, which tries too hard to be clever, and just ends up cloying.
Bonus fact: The Beatles briefly considered calling the album Everest, and thought about flying to Mount Everest to shoot the cover photo.
Let It Be
Year of release: 1970
Standout tracks: Let It Be, Get Back, Across the Universe, I’ve Got A Feeling, Two of Us
Overview: This is the sound of the biggest rock-pop group of all time falling apart. Yes, there are some sublime moments here, but Let It Be makes a convincing case that it was time for the band to split up. Originally conceived as a combination “back to basics” album and behind-the-scenes documentary, there was one gigantic problem: the band members often couldn’t tolerate being in the same room with each other.
Less-than-stellar moment: One After 909, a railroad-inspired Lennon-McCartney track written early on in their songwriting partnership. The album could also have survived without the meandering Dig It.
Bonus fact: Don’t Let Me Down, one of the stellar performances from the famous Apple rooftop concert on Jan. 30, 1969, wasn’t included on the original Let It Be album, due to the machinations of producer Phil Spector. (It was, however, featured on the Let It Be…Naked re-release in 2003.)
What’s your favourite Beatles album, and why? Leave your comments below.
Greig Dymond writes about the arts for CBCNews.ca.
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Comments (178)
none, never cared for the Beatles, not my scene, didn't cry when they broke up. never got into their grove.
So many great Beatles albums to choose ....
However, I would have to say Sgt Peppers & The White album are a cut above because of their wide range of fantastic & unique sounds.
Rubber Soul my favourite Beatles album. The intro to "Drive My Car" lets us know we are in for soemthing special. "Norwegian Wood" has for me, the best riff on a Beatles' song. "You Won't See Me " is relentlessly upbeat." "Nowhere Man" is a great track, with terrific harmonies. "In My Life" and "Michelle" are classic ballads.
"Girl"is superb lyrically. I could go on and on.
I liked most of the music by the group.... the first time I listened to Sargent Pepper's lonely heart club band album I was in grade 7 or 8 in school .. one of my classmates brought in record to school to play... my teacher played it on loud volume .... same year magical mystery tour album was released .... they flowed together beautifully ... all time favorite album is the last one Let It be....a fitting end to the most influencial music band to ever perform ... only disappointed the Beatles never played a reunion gig after the band split up.....
All their albums and some are excellent!! The Beatles put out the most amazing piece of music; lyrically and musically, then any other solo act or band in the world!!
Long live the Beatles.....
..and give peace a chance.
Abbey Road.
First heard in my final year of law school. It was the album that got us through school, so good, especially the last run through of titles.
Forty years, and I still play it on a regular basis, perhaps to take me back through the years, it being the one constant.
most popular group of all time, probably more famous than Jesus, all albums aree great
REVOLVER is great ABBEYROAD still great and the rest
I pretty much liked 'em all, and I cut my teeth on 12-string guitar playing a great number of their tunes. Most of the songs were great for learning the instrument because while they weren't overly complicated, there was something magical about them.
When it comes to an immortal collaboration of songs that cumulates to a cryptic conclusion, Abbey Road would be my favourite. The album was a swan song album, methinks, and probably the best of its kind out there, for me, anyway.
Then again, the White Album was fantastic, too...ah, decisions decisions.
These guys put out a fabulous body of work. It's hard to pick a favourite so I will cheat by suggesting that Rubber Soul and Revolver could have been a Great double album.
I learned to sing along with all of the songs on the Blue and Red albums before I could even speak english, and these contained a lot of songs from all of these albums as well as many singles that never made it onto the LPs. But as far as favorite albums go it has to be Revolver, though the others come a very close second. The reason, other than the obvious, is that my Mom had an original LP that she bought in England when she was a teen that we used to listen to as kids. Very scratchy, very perfect. If I could get my hands on that again I'd forgoe the remastered so called "clean" version and go with the old. Takes me back...
Abbey Road, the "White" album and then Revolver, in that order....but i love them all really...with the exception of Yellow Submarine's "movie soundtrack" tracks...which are useless non Beatles FILLER in my eyes!!
The greatest of Beatles collaborations in my mind would have to be Abbey Road. There's more than just the usual 3 minute ditties about love and the Beatles seem to have matured in both musical phrasing and lyrics. They also seemed to be past the whole psychedelic era and have moved on to beautiful ballads like, "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun".
Has to be "Abbey Road" Not many groups of the like or even to this day could do a vocal arrangement almost accappela such as in 'Because' just amazing and a fitting swan song.
I just simply enjoyed listening to them, sure there were a couple of questionable songs, but over all they were a great group, was sorry to see the break up;
The other significant point it that you could understand the words they sang, Vs the screaming of jumbled up words of today's so called singers
I managed to get most of the original albums over the years. Having started working at an early age; it was in that era the BEATLES were in thier prime.
There is no better example of the stupidity of our copyrite laws! I have purchased in numerous forms (records,CDs,tape,etc.) all of the Fab Four's material (several times)yet the music companies think I should continue to keep paying again and again for something I have already paid for! I think I will just download this...but that makes me a criminal according to the RIAA and others...Ahoy mates
So hard to choose but I'll say Abbey Road and Double White are my favorite.
It's a toss up between Revolver and Abbey Road. Revolver is an extraordinary album, made by the band at the peak of their collective powers. Abbey Road, however, is a beautiful record, a majestic conclusion to the greatest band that ever was.
Revolver for its kaleidoscopic variety and invention.
Revolver is the peak. At that point their burning talent is still on an upwards trajectory and it manifests itself unself-conciously and freely. By Pepper they are already becoming aware of how clever they are and it shows. On Revolver you can hear the joy and excitement of their creative muscles being flexed with an innocence that was all too fleeting.
You either loved them or hated them - the best album for me was the White Album, totally original, extremely varied and their best playing ever - best songs Yer Blues, Blackbird, Helter Skelter.
For me, as an album, Revolver was their peak. However, every Beatles fan could have a "favorites" mix that would likely include songs from over their entire catalogue. Revolver seemed a new beginning for the band. A more mature rich and very high band.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band would have to rate as my favourite. The songs are silly, very catchy and all very diverse - always a feel-good album for me. Not to mention, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and its impact on anthropological discoveries.
For my money, Revolver is clearly the best. Of all their albums, this is the only one I listen to straight through without skipping a track. On Sgt Peppers I routinely skip Within you, without you. It's just way too 'out there'. I can also definitely do without Lovely Rita and Good Morning. Are chickens on a rock album really necessary?
Revolver.
REVOLVER.....Not even close. This is not only the Beatles best, but the best over-all album of all time.
-b-
I go back and forth over these remarkable recordings all the time. At this moment in time, I am listening a lot to "Help" and "Beatles For Sale". The tracks still sound remarkably fresh and unselfconscious. "Every Little Thing" is just wonderful. So is "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party".
Although I love almost all of the Beatles body of work... which is amazing, considering the actual volume created between '62 and '69... my favourite was, is and will always be Sgt. Pepper.
Abbey Road because of the 15 minute medley
I would take the White album to my desert island but it would be a tough choice.
Beatles were and continue to be my fav band of all time. Throughout the years, I have naturally gotten into many other kinds of music and groups but the Beatles give me everything I love in music. They were the first band I was ever aware of. At age 6, living in Scotland, my aunt had a poster of Paul McCartney on her bedroom wall, probably 1967. I clearly remember that face. First album I ever bought was Abbey Road - it's probably still my favourite. I could go on and on for paragraphs but suffice it to say, in my opinion, the Beatles are the greatest pop group who have ever existed and the pop group who has had the most musical influence on other musicians.
They are all great but the White Album is my favourite due to the broad array of musical styles. 40 plus years on the popularity of Beatles music shows little sign of abating. I play in a band and at least a quarter of our repetorie is Beatles songs. Folks still love to hear them.
Abbey Road!
My grandpa swore by this album! This is what got me hooked on the Beatles.
I have been a Beatles fan since 1964 and I look at all their work as masterpieces. It is difficult but my favourite is Sgt. Pepper with the runner up being Abbey Road. The Beatles are iconic, it has been a long wait for these remixes.
I grew up on Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper, and the White Album - my Dad provided a solid musical education. I respect those albums. But my love goes to Rubber Soul.
White Album is my vote. When it was released it was the first time I tried marijuana...and yes, Bill...I enhaled!
My favorite Beatles album would have to be their shortest one.
Revolver easily tops list. 1966 was my personal music year. Rubber Soul is a close second, but only in retrospect.
Revolver
"She said, she said"
Sgt Pepper is one of the most outstanding albums of all time. Innovative. Engaging. It's easily the top one.
I have two favourites:
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and The White album.
But, if I may, I'd list in order of preference the following:
3rd Magical Mystery Tour
4th Abbey Road
5th Let it be.
I amazes me to this day how timeless the music is. I just never get tired of it, (except the non Beatle covers and some of Pauls hokey pop tunes). What a fabulous fusion of individual creativity.
When we lost John and later George I felt a deep and personal loss. Much more an impact than other legends from my youth like Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison.
Abbey Road, probably one of the best albums ever.Yes, even better than Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon.
Abbey Rd.
Does Rock get any more musical?
The White Album by far.
It's always the first album you buy every time a new musical medium is devised.
John may have died fully three years before I was born, but it's impossible to ignore the Beatles' technical, lyrical, and creative advancements. Without hyperbole, you could easily say that they revolutionised modern music and that every musical act since has owed a great deal to the Beatles.
Each of their albums is uniquely wonderful in its own special way, but I think it's their self-titled masterpiece that best represents their range of talent.
They are all soooo good. What a collection! There has never been a band with such influence. I love them all but have to say Revolver, Sgt Peppers Abby Road White Album and Let It Be. NOTE: 'This order subuject to chance without notice'.
Cheers!
Where is the notable mention of Octopuss' Garden
on Abbey Road?! That's a great track.
Long ago and far away there was this shift in music and the Beatles were a BIG part of that. You had to live through it to believe it. There will never be a band, ever, that will go from A to Z like the Beatles did. There was a beginning, a middle, and a end. It was like E=MC2. Suddenly, there was this shift in the Matrix that we all take for granted now. I'm glad I grew up during the 60's. I only wish I could do it all over again......
I've been listening to the Beatles since 1964.
A Hard Days Night is my first choice because it was this album that introduced me to their music. Other choices would be Rubber Soul and Revolver. But I've enjoyed them all! And I still have the original albums!
Always liked Rubber Soul, learned how to play so many of the songs during a summer vacation on an army base. Although it was a lonely summer of 1981 for a 13 year old MB teen, babysitting my cousin's bratty boys, my reprieve was that my cousin was a huge Beatles buff and had all the original German albums, which had slightly different play lists than these featured. He also had the words and music of the songs, so I learned how to play my favs from the album (Norwegian Wood, In my Life, I've just seen a face), as well as many other songs. His English wife would also regale me with tales of visiting the Cavern and watching the Beatles perform before they hit the big time (she was from Blackpool).
I like the White Album and Abbey Road the best. When I was 16 years old in 1970, EVERYONE had a copy of Abbey Road! I have the album on CD but for some reason the vinyl LP sounded better.
Abbey Road has always been my favorite Beatles alum. The Beatles were an awesome band who broke many musical barriers that we take for granted today. Timeless music.
I was never into the Beatles until I heard Randy
Travis sing "Nowhere Man".
Actually, I'm still not into them, but Mr. Randy Travis makes them palatable.
Without a doubt, Sgt Pepper, The White Album and Revolver are my favourites. But all in all, their library of music gave feelings and rememberances to everyone in their own way. Their music, is THE difinitive collection in the history of the evolution of modern music and will never be surpassed.
Loved the early Beatles...but by mid to late 60's their music had changed...most of their songs then were too psycedelic...except for the odd and I mean the very odd song, I did not like their music anymore...their early albums were terrific....my fave song was, is, and always will be Ringo's theme.."This Boy"....my fave Beatles were, still are, and always will be...Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr...they were the best....
REVOLVER is by far the best. The way that they incorporated the London Philharmonic Orchestra gives me goose bumps, especially on the Elenor Rigby track
Trouble picking between White album and Abbey Road ; Abbey Road wins; Song diversity; Harrison's contributions;
I would have to say a tie between "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver"......They are creative, cohesive, and compelling; and they are after the nonsense pop sound of their early years, but before the band started deteriorating. I knew "Revolver" must be good when my high school English teacher had us read some of the songs as poetry.
It's truly incredible the quantity, quality and versatility of songs produced by the Beatles in the 7 or 8 short years they were together. There are good bands today that have been together twenty and thirty years that don't even come close to producing what the Beatles did in that short time frame. They were overflowing with music and talent. They were ground breakers in many areas, and not afraid to release songs any style. They either promoted or did a good job of reflecting the social change occuring in the sixties. My favourite is Abbey Road, and the last words of their last recorded album - 'and in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.' They made and were given lots of love.
Who could pick one favourite album from the greatest pop songwriters of our era? I would have to say Sargeant Pepper, Revolver, and Abbey Road would rank in the top three.
My favorite Beatles album is "Revolver". Every individual song is strong, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This is one of these albums that builds throughout, and eventually ends in pure psycheadlic bliss with "Tommorow never knows". Along with Beach Boys "Pet Sounds," this album has never been matched in its innovation, creativity and transcendence.
Still my favourite band and always will be. Strangely though, they had more influence on my choice of guitars than they did my songwriting and musical style.
For me, it's a toss up between Rubber Soul and Revolver although there are obviously brilliant tracks on every album.
Abbey Road. Went downtown on a cold December night and bought it for $5.76. My dad wouldn't let me play it at first (just in from the cold, "wait for it to acclimitize") but when I did play it I just loved it. Still do. One of their more complete records. Face it, this is a tough question to answer.
Abbey Road for me, if I had to pick one, but I don't so I have it all and now I have to get it all again! :)
Abbey Road - Golden Slumbers and just about everything else on the album
it always changes for me. right now it's between revolver and the white album. track that always has a spot in my heart, 'no reply'. such a sad pop song.
What!!! The remaining Beatles still looking to make $Hundreds of millions$ on what they produced decades ago, qu'elle surprise that they didn't do it earlier. Did they wait for Michael to pass on? Some good music but certainly no demi-gods, despite what wanna be hippie/cop-outs want to say. They kind of epitomize the 'Me' generation though, show me the money and what's in it for me kind of attitude.
The White Album was quite unique and expressed the socially-conscious side of the Beatles. It was a work of both highly-creative art and also powerful social statements.... and it was the one album that changed me from being indifferent to them as just another pop group sold by publicity agents.
Hard Days Night and Help!, hands down the best albums. I actually preferred their older sound to the newer stuff. Musical geniae, the lot of them!
My favourite is Abbey Road, which is perfect (almost too perfect, some might say). But The White Album would be second as it is the longest of The Beatles' albums and therefore the one that ultimately gives you 'more' of the band than any of the other albums.
people who listen to their music through iPods don't care about the remastering.
High Fidelity is dead.
I thought their '76 album, Destroyer, was the best!
I like the Beatles. Horribly overplayed, and terribly overrated, but I really like a lot of their songs, and I especially like the film Hard Day's Night.
Such a good little film.
It's absolutely as clever as it thinks it is.
Abbey Road; side two
The melodic and harmonic progressions from Here Comes the Sun, The Sun King, She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Polythene Pam, The End, etc. have never been equaled. Great for listening when no conversations or other distractions will lessen the enjoyment.
Enjoy.
Get these albums on iTunes or I will continue to pirate them, Paul. I'm sorry, Sir Paul (John must be rolling cartweels in his grave).
Abbey Road reason simply listened to it the most
Revolver is my favorite, it was a good transition form the early beatles to the more modern. I believe this change was from the beatles taking a 3 month break from recording and making movies.
Abbey Road.. no contest.
since the beatles had different stages in their developement, 2 albums are my stand-outs. First, Rubber Soul which is a bit of a culmination of their talent thru the early years and is not quite all psychedelia, while their second stage Abbey Road is penultimate, in production, song power, and individual talent. incredible band, an institution.
There is no one favorite album for me. But
I think in my first two albums that I heard
when I was a child, they were "Rubber Soul"
and other with a compilation of singles. I
drove crazy in that time with "If I needed
someone" or "The word".
I Think that "Rubber Soul" is my favorite.
I grew up with the Beatles and know every word to every song, every note of every solo. It's hard to be objective. But it is Abbey Road on a sunny Sunday morning that consistently gives chills up my spine.
Rubber Soul, definitely. O wait, definitely Abbey Road. But, Sergent Pepper is unmatched. What about the colourful White Album? O well, I like them all.
I find it ironic that these four hippies who are so identified with "love and peace" couldn't stand to be in the same room with each other.
Revolver.
Just edges out Rubber Soul and Sgt Peppers.
Since seeing the Beatles for the first time on the Ed Sullivan show, I got hooked as a fan of theirs. They started a whole new trend in music and fashion and the fact that they can still make people sing and dance to their music 45 years after they started is a testament to their quality.
I have to say that Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is the 2nd best album ever. The first? Pet Sounds from the Beach Boys. Of course this is just my humble opinion.
who else has such a diverse catalogue something for people of all ages. From hard rock to kids songs. Who else?!
sgt. pepper's followed closely by we're only in it for the money
Abbey Road is my fave. It is still just as relevant and brilliant today as it was in the 60s. They (Beatles AND George Martin) had completly mastered songwriting and recording at that point. Not many have come close since.
Revolver. I know Pepper gets all the accolades, etc but the reality is The Beatles never could have made Sgt Pepper if they had not made Revolver first. Revolver is a total masterpiece, songwise and production wise. Those sessions pioneered recording techniques bands still try to emulate today! Fourty three years on (!) it has hardly dated at all. For me it's also one of the few albums I've ever heard by anyone where EVERY song is good. For my money, nobody has come close to touching Revolver.
(I had to roll my eyes at the first comment in this discussion...typical internet troll! LOL)
Abbey Road.
I've been trying to stock up my vinyl collection with as many original Beatles titles I can find. But above all, I'd have to say the UK pressing of Revolver is my favourite. The effortless guitar and vocal harmonies on "And Your Bird Can Sing" definitely make it one of their best and most underrated songs.
The White album. More than any other release, it has a slightly pessimistic presence, which allows for dressed-down shedding of structure and programming. The songs expose intimately the personalities and postures of the four. It is creation on-the-fly, songs recorded and produced in 17 different ways. A Beatles album coming from an indeterminate place creating new outdoor worlds of sun, sea, back-yard and soccer pitch. It's also an ALBUM in the 70's sense providing what used to be called head music. You can be sure Roger Waters listened to this one over and over. Its' major contribution to recording is like that of a great jazz album - one of attitude and style. Standout tracks include McCartney's "Blackbird" and Lennon's brilliantly arranged "Dear Prudence"
All albums were great. The Beatles were ahead of their times and ahead of the other bands, Stones, Gerry and the Pacemakerks, etc.
Best album, Sgt. Peppers, original, nothing like it had ever been produced. Their producer George Martin was a genius.
Sgt. Pepper's. Drifting in a boat on the Muskokas summer of '67, hearing the same album blasting from cottages & boathouses all over the lakes. The perfect album for the time.
Revolver continues to blow my mind.
Sgt Peppers followed by Rubber Soul and then a Hard Days Night, followed by the White Album, and then Beatles '69 and then........well you get the picture! LOL!
For pure nostalgia, it'd have to be Hard Day's Night and Revolver. I think of these as Classic Beatles, and just plain fun.
"Revolver"--out of a historic catalog, the best of the best. All four Beatles sing memorably, three of them write compellingly, and the guitars chime and the sitar rings (or is it the other way around?) like never again. A sonic world all its own, beyond even "Sergeant Pepper" and the medley on side 2 of "Abbey Road."
It's hard to come up with a favourite but I loved Rubber Soul and the White Album and Sgt. Pepper...and LOL see I can't come up with a true favourite.
I was at Best Buy today trying to look at the boxed set ALL SOLD OUT!!! Who knew 40 yrs ago what an impact they would have on the world and on music. I loved them and still do and have introduced them to my grandchildren.
I paid $4 in 1964 to see them at MLG...and still have the ticket stub!! Long may they reign.
Just a little note to Ms. Canada...you must be a riot at a party...why come onto this page and make your comment if they meant nothing to you?
Our local bands were able to cover their songs(which buddy holly-wood-ish and chuck berryish ) until norwegian wood which might have been their ( and our ) first poptune-noir...( sensitive; abstract; moody; blacknwhite;introspective; imagistic;...artistic).
Their first attempt at such an artistic album might have been sgt.p; but the artistic complex seems to have been achieved in Abbey Road, which, eo tempore,was not just a compilation of their work and a manifestation of their studio's technical mastery, but that time's soft story of the history of rocknroll, itself...in note and word and image.
They had many wonderful tunes, but Abbey Road was their one masterpiece.
I'd have a hard time picking out my favourite album by The Beatles! All of their albums were great! The fact that their music is still being played 35 years after they broke up speaks volumes. The Beatles have been my favourite group since I was 14. I was very upset and sad when they split up. I kept hoping (along with millions of other Beatles fans around the world) that they would get together one more time, maybe for a concert or a reunion album or anything. I had this hope until December 9, 1980...after John Lennon's tragic, pointless murder, I knew that hope would never be realized. I do have all their records and still listen to them and enjoy them - but for me to pick one that I like more than another would be impossible. All of their music is so timeless, so incredible. How do you pick?
For my 10th birthday, in 1964, 2 weeks after The Beatles had been on Ed Sullivan, I got Twist and Shout, Beatlemania (with The Beatles) and Long, Tall Sally albums. The first and last of these were Canadian ONLY releases, and Beatlemania is the British With The Beatles (it wasn't until Revolver that the North American and British albums would have the same song lists). These three albums are still my sentimental favourite Beatles albums - they must have been played 3 or 4 times a day each until A Hard Day's Night was released. Overall, however, I go with The White Album, Abbey Road, Revolver and Pepper, in that order. These are the number one albums, everything else is 1.5. I'm also looking forward to hearing the remastered mono set. According to all I've read, the "boys" spent much more time on the mono mixes than stereo, so I'm looking forward hearing the later work on mono. I don't know if it was EMI, Apple or whomever that took so long for this remastering to happen, but I am anticipating re-listening to this fantastic ouevre again and, hopefully, gaining more insight into the music of the greatest band ever.
Since age 12 it's been Revolver for me. I think it was the first listening album. It wasn't all 'a good beat and you could dance to it.' But then came Abbey Road. I remember being completely lost in it the first time I heard it. I still crawl inside the music almost every time I listen to it.
Sans doute.....Revolver was there awakening in which all other great albums derived from........but ya know there's something about Rubber Soul.............most under-rated album you should ask. Help !
I grew up with the Beatles...every memory is a moment of heightened awareness! Nothing has ever been quite as special as waiting every night as a teen to hear the first few notes of "And I Love Her" or "If I Fell" come across my transistor radio. But the most amazing thing is forever hearing everything they ever did throughout every phase of my life...watching my own kids, and the younger generation now knowing all the words to so many of their songs. Just the incredible fact that there are so many people doing what I'm doing right now...kinda says it all!
Their music carries over to every generation and thus will never die (bonus for us old fans!).
Impossible to pick a favorite, but have to say to this day, when I put on 'Abbey Road'...cannot skip a track.
Outstanding.
One of life's true joys.
Revolver has always been my favorite. Still stands up to repeated listenings after more than 40 years.
Rubber Soul and Revolver are my favourite Beatles albums. Both feature songs that are simple but yet intricate, and there is not a crappy song on either of these masterpieces. Lennon and McCartney were able to tell complete stories in 2-3 minute ditties, which is a gift few songwriters seem to possess nowadays (should I blame corporate radio for this?). I'm still amazed at how fantastic these album sound today, given the crude recording technology of the day. George Martin is a genius.
A Hard Day's Night is pure joy. "Side one" is almost dizzying: one great song after another. Calling Happy Just to Dance with You weak is foolish. (Now When I Get Home--that's weak.) Things We Said Today is one of Paul's most underrated songs. And can we decide once and for all that the medley on Abbey Road is interminable? Faux "important"? Golden Slumbers and Carry That Weight are cheesy drama, though those guitar solos do fairly rip. It's actually Paul's weakest record. He was saving the good stuff for "McCartney." Only John (who, ironically, was barely there) and (especially) George shine on Abbey Road.
The Beatles? Was that the band Paul McCartney was in before Wings?
When I'm trying to decide which Beatles album to put on, a lot of it just depends on my mood at the time. So many of their albums are so amazing, for so many different reasons!
That said, Abbey Road seems to be their most coherent album, and it is such a poignant farewell. It was the first album I ever bought (7-year-old Janet was amused by the title 'She Came in Through the Bathroom Window'), and I will ALWAYS be happy to hear it again.
PS Beatles: Rock Band is amazing!! Go try it!
Firstly, I think someone has this ALL wrong.
The first album I remember buying was "Meet the Beatles", on Capitol. Then there was the "Beatle's Second Album", also on Capitol. "Introducing the Beatles" cmae aftert that on the VeeJay label. It must have been a contract issue. It had A Taste of Honey and a few other tracks already familiar, like "I Saw Her Standing There". After that another Capitol record album called "Something New", Then "A Hard Days Night" on United Artists, to go with their movie. Then "Beatles '65" on Capitol. I could go on, but something has happened to the names of the early albums and the arrangement of the tracks on those albums. I can only guess that it has something to do with the purchasing and selling of the rights to the tracks and contracts surrounding things back at that time, but the albums you see now - representing the early work of Capitol - have been re packaged, and the tracks are different. Check their discography on the web. You'll see there is a distinct difference.
P
Probably "Abbey Road".
George Harrison was an enormous talent, somewhat hidden away in The Beatles band.
"Here Comes The Sun," and "Something", which Frank Sinatra once said was his favourite Lennon and McCartney tune, are truly great songs from that era.
In my opinion, George Harrison did the best work after The Beatles split up. His album "All Things Must Pass" is/was a masterpiece.
Still, all of The Beatles playing together did things that none of them could do separately.
The whole was greater than the sum of its parts. Probably the greatest band of all time.
My fave Beatles album is whatever their last album was.
Whatever it was it is over 40 years ago, was it released on a foil cylinder or one sided 78 rpm vinyl? Bang bang, nah nah, yea yea obladi obla dull.
It would have to be Sgt Pepper and The White Album because of the diversity.
Sgt. Pepper. The musical invention, the bass playing and done on reductions on a Studer 4 track! I mention this fact to the young musicians today and their mouths drop open.
My mom brought home the first Beatles album to me and it skipped! Yes, I cried. The songs were so familiar I seemed to know all the words already.
All time fave is undoubtedly Abbey Road, still listen to it. I was 16 when it was released. It was poignant and bittersweetly full of joy, spoke to the souls of so many ... timeless and endlessly inspiring, just for starters.
The Band is legendary, and so is ALL of their albums. Their music today is still as popular as it was back then. Examples: The Movie, "Across The Universe" although a recent film, the Beatles music, done very well, I might add. And I am noticing the play, "BEATLEMANIA", seems to be on the rise again. And playing in a number of Cities, it is Very Hard, to pick the BEST Beatles Album. It would be easier to say they were ALL the Best, and just randomly draw one by one, whatever order they should be selected. I guess I kinda hope, "ABBEY ROAD", would be one of the first selected. HOWEVER, the Beatles early stuff, "I Saw Her Standing There", "Please, Please Me", etc., can't easily be forgotten. In fact I believe Paul still sings them at his concerts today.
I love Revolver. For me, this album sums up everything The Beatles had been and everything they would become by mixing the simple pop of their early years with the psychedelic rock they would later explore.
I can't really say I have a favourite Beatles album. I do prefer their Rock and Roll recordings best because Paul and John have such great vocal talents. Money, Rock and Roll Music, Twist and Shout, Kansas City, Dizzy Miss Lizzy, Bad Boy, Long Tall Sally, I'm Down, and Slow Down (among others). I also like I Call Your Name, Hey Jude, Don't Let Me Down, Yer Blues, Something, Here Comes The Sun, Hey Bulldog, and Here, There and Everywhere. These are just the ones that come to mind.
To add one more that I totally forgot about, but consider one of the best Beatle songs: "Oh Darling".
We had an album when I was a kid called "Meet the Beatles" They were dressed in black and standing in front of what looks like hay. The closest I can see in this list is "Please please me".
It had the song "Anna (Go with him)" and they did a remake of "Chains" by Carol King. I really liked that album. Had some good vocal harmonies. Good solid rock and roll with a mix of ballads. Back when music wasn't complicated. You had your three cords and your middle eight to break things up.
But their best would have to be either Abbey Road or Sgt. Peppers. I learned to play guitar because of these guys. I also learned from a Beatles song book. Their music is timeless.
A lot of the new generation is discovering the Beatles because a good song is a good song. If you are young and you are familiar with the Beatles repertoire and are looking to learn to play guitar. Pick yourself up a Beatles book and not only will you learn the cords but you will learn how a properly written song goes together.
My favorite is The Beatles (White Album) because it's so eclectic and strange. My second would be Revolver followed by Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper tied for third. Great band with songs that hold up remarkably over time.
I was in the ninth grade and all I wanted for Christmas was the White Album. I could not rest until I knew that it had been purchased, so I hunted in my parents' closet until I found it. Happy? You bet! (I feigned surprise on Christmas morning.) I still have that LP, plus about five other versions of The White Album, and it will always be my favourite. Such an eclectic mix, very well-produced and it still holds aural surprises for me on every listen. Can't wait for the re-mastered CD(s) to arrive in the mail...
My favourite Album by the Beatles(who are the GREATEST Band that has EVER existed !) is RUBBER SOUL. I think they peaked with that fantastic compilation. Nothing that they recorded after seems to come close. It was near MUSICAL PERFECTION !
Revolver is still one of my favourites.
They recorded it before their last world tour and there is something special about it. They were still the Beatles on Revolver. It was before they were Sgt. Pepper and before they were rolling along a Magical Mystery Tour or recording separately as they did on the White Album. They were still very much a band.
Lennon's masterpiece, Tomorrow Never Knows, would foreshadow what they would do later production-wise with I am the Walrus and Strawberry Fields. McCartney's Eleanor Rigby, Here, There and Everywhere and For No One are gems. George Harrison raised his level of songwriting on this album as well by contributing 3 songs, including Taxman.
There is an effortless quality to this album that I love.
Each time a new album came out it was my favourite. Looking back on it now I'd probably say Abbey Road. A culmination of everything they had learned, it flows so smoothly. A fitting bookend to an amazing repertoire of music created by four lads from Liverpool.
All of them. I can't pick one 'cause I put them on according to what I feel. Really loved their beginnings, and can't help it, She loves you always gets me up and rolling! There's nothing better than the Beatles.
And in the end it has to be Abbey Road. We named our daughter after that album.
Abbey Road
Still enjoy listening to every song after almost 40 years.
Abbey Road- in particular side two. To have created such beautiful music with such tight sound and perfect harmonies during a time of bitter discontent is a tribute to how good these four really were as musicians.
Great article. The best band ever.
Magical Mystery Tour
Was a tough choice between MMT and Sgt. Pepper, but my favourite (and IMHO the best) Beatles' song, Strawberry Fields, is from MMT. OTOH, my 2nd fave song (A Day In The Life, IMVVHO) is from Sgt. Pepper. On yet another hand . . . there's Across The Universe. So hard to pick one album, but had to choose MMT by a hair . . .
None of their albums is greater above all others. There's perfection and boredom on all of them.
Abbey Road without a doubt ! Why ? Listen to it...all the way through...from Come Together to The End (Ok ok...Her Majesty...) Awesome is the only word to desribe it !!
Do we think the author is a bit of a "john" fan? We get it, you like the moody one. "John hated Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, so I do too". Put the song in context, had anyone ever done anything like that before?
As for albums, I have always been a fan of Let it be, but I am huge fan of George Harrison's "all things must pass" album, and George's songs here are right in line with that effort. Plus Paul's songs are great on this album.
The medley on Abbey road is just great, and...Ah hell, every album has something fantastic, I probably listen to Magical Mystery tour more than the other albums right now just because it has all of those singles, and some of the alternative cuts on the Anthology series are in with my most played.
Unlike the author, I think that their cover versions are fantastic, Roll over Beethoven with a Liverpool accent always makes me laugh.
In line with that, I am getting a little sick of the Mr.Moonlight bashing. My mother and father are both from Liverpool, both were in their late teens in the early 60's, both saw the Beatles hundreds of times (my father actually preferred the Swinging Blue Jeans, and who would lie about that?). My mother was a regular at the early days lunch shows at the cavern because she worked just up the road, and to this day Mr.Moonlight is her favorite song. She swears that was Lennon's best song live and was a staple of their early sets. If anybody would know, it would be her. So if only for her, can we stop knocking the song? Besides, why do we insist on finding a low point on each album? A new band today puts out a single and 10 songs of filler, and we give the Bealtes crap for one lesser song? Basically I accept no criticsim of this band. They have really held up.
PS. Best song on Yellow Submarine is "it's all too much" hands down, and "what goes on" is a great song. People should be so lucky to have low points like that.
Although a very hard decision, my choice would have to be "Abbey Road"> In my humble opinion a culmination of all four members at their very best.
I have to pick two albums - Rubber Soul and Let It Be.
I was 13 when Rubber Soul was released and I couldn't believe how evolved it sounded compared to anything else I was listening to.It was exactly what I'd been waiting for.
I also love all the songs on Let It Be. Get Back might possibly be the best rock n' roll song ever!
I know I'll listen to these albums over and over again as long as I live.
Revolver!
From George's sarcastic Taxman to John's invitation to turn off our minds, relax and float downstream. This album has it all, not to mention a killer album cover.
Rubber Soul, Abbey Road and Sgt. Peppers and they vary from time to time as to which is my all time favourite, probably because Here Comes the Sun and Norwegian Wood are two of my all-time favourite songs of theirs and with Sgt.Pepper it was just at a time in my life when psychedelic was "right for me". I love some of their music and strongly dislike others but all the while appreciate their talent.
A colleague asked me once "What's your favorite Beatles song?"
I said "That's like me asking you which kid is your favourite".
He responded instantly with the name of one of his kids. I had to pick myself up off the floor. He spent the rest of the time we worked together (over a year), trying to recover from our conversation!
Though Let It Be was the end of a band that "revolution"ized rock 'n' roll as we know it, the Beatles were at the top of their genius pinnacle.
I sing along to Sgt. Pepper's on road trips. I know all the words. LOL
Rubber Soul
The title shows how flexible and far reaching their soulful musical style was. The last album they could perform live as a four piece band. Great songs mixing a hard edge (Run For Your Life), tenderness (Girl, Michelle), reflection (In My Life, Nowhere Man)and doubts (I'm Looking Though You). Beautiful melodies, rich harmonies, clean and tasteful instrumentation - the complete package!
Oh that would be "Revolver", hands down. The album art was very cool and the songs were either unique, thought-provoking or fun to listen to. I've always been a fan; love all their albums, but always liked "Revolver" the best.
I'll just have to say "all of them". Since I have all and listen to all periodically still. Sgt Peppers probably had greatest impact though given summer of love and my age at the time.
Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream...it is Revolver
The Beatles Album I listened to most often was Abbey Road and the White Album. Revolution #9 is a complete waste of track space.
I've thought about this a lot, and it's a difficult chore (but the research is so great!).
I keep going back to Rubber Soul as my favourite. It has the sophistication of Revolver without the darkness. Let It Be might be second in line. Or is it Abbey Road? :)
Abbey Road, my fave. I was only 8 years old when the Beatles broke up - didn't get to know their music until well into the 70's. By that time I'd heard Dark Side of the Moon, Led Zepplin I and II, Deep Purple, The Who's "Who's Next" and others, most of the (early) Beatles music just seemed, well, kind of just pop.Abbey Road, to me still stands out as an album of a really tight, working band. An album well crafted, well produced and on par with many of the albums listed above.
Love sgt Peppers lonely Hearts Club band...
For Paul who posted on September 13, 2009 03:14 PM and is thinking of the Capitol albums as the original products, you should know that the albums as shown here are the original British releases on Parlophone, which, like Capitol, was part of the EMI empire. The albums here are presented as the Beatles and George Martin recorded them and intended them to be released. The Capitol albums (and the Vee Jay album) were bastardized products which did not mesh with the Parlophone albums, mainly because albums of the time over there usually had 14 tracks and albums over here had 12. The Vee Jay album was a bastardization of the original "Please Please Me" album, and it went to Vee Jay because Capitol declined the opportunity to release it. When the Beatles hit big over here, Capitol jumped all over the group's recent hit album in the U.K., "With the Beatles," and turned it into "Meet the Beatles," with substantial changes to the track listing. Hope that clears up your confusion.
As for my favourite album, I'll stand apart from the crowd and go with "Please Please Me." Ten songs recorded in less than 10 hours on a simple two-track recorder, then combined with the A and B sides of the group's first two singles for a 14-song album, and not one bad song in the bunch. Yes, even "A Taste of Honey" is great! John once said it was his favourite Beatles album simply because it was recorded in a single day. For me it stands as the ultimate proof that not only were the Beatles a marvelous collection of singers and songwriters, they were, at the bottom of it all, a dynamite band. :)
"Let it Be" is, for me, the most basic album necessary in my collection. I've lost all of my albums twice before in messy divorces and each time the first album I buy to rebuild my collection is the Beatles "Let it Be". My brain will forever associated with my childhood and what it was like to be me at the time.
I love all of them, they're all great albums...
and with the singles in Past masters 1 & 2, they're all the greatest songs ever heard on earth..
Sgt. Peppers. Loved it, always will.
Great catalogue of albums for sure but this is the one I continue to throw on the most.
Abbey Road. Tough decision though, they had many greats albums.
Rubber Soul, Revolver, Magical Mystery Tour and of course Pepper all have songs that to this day sound like modern day masterpieces
Just listened to the PLEASE pleas ME CD a few days ago
I mean really, the very first song, I saw her Standing there.
Would be hard pressed to find a song these days that can rock like that song does
Rubber Soul is my favorite.
Sargent Pepper's close second.
Unreal band, nothing like them before or since.
Rob
Revolver without a doubt. It has a wide range of songs and is the first glimpse of the new Beatles. One of the last purely happy albums with a few dark edges.
I love the beatles they have great relaxing music,and fun dancing music, to me all their albums are the best, beatles for the win!
It was a groundbreaking album. There isn't a single track in that was not outstanding!
Abbey Road tops the outstanding list of
unparalled musical achievments in all of the Beatles albums. They had perfected their abilities after so much experience.....
And in the end
the love that you take
is equal to the love
that you send...
Perfection honed into their work
My favorite album is Abbey Road because I love all the songs on it....I also loved many other albums but this one is the best.
Music's universality aside,the late Brian Epstein was the most important Beatle of all & to some, a record marketing genius, though he spent very little time in the Cavern,up the road from the Iron Door.
At the time (mid 50s) I preferred the latter's, smoke free,'Magnificent Seven' - reed blowers, but times do so change.
The Beatles influence on Western Civilization is well documented. Many criticize but the facts are undeniable. The debate used to be who is greater, Elvis, then the Everly Brothers, the Monkees or the Stones...none stand taller than the fabs and for me the top LP was the one I acquired last, Revolver. Cover art very original by old Hamburg friend Voorman, songs original, eclectic and way ahead of their time.
Who wrote the reviews?
They are missing the exuberance of Ringo
in Act Naturally, and What Goes On.
We hear affectionate essays into what I call organic county music.
Harrison's guitar work is great fun.
with out a doubt : sgt. peppers...." does any one now how many holes it takes to fill the albert hall?" fantastic!!
Abbey Road
In order
01-Revolver
02-Abbey Road
03-The Beatles (white album)
04-Sgt. Pepper's Lonely hearts Club band
05-Rubber Soul
06-A Hard Day's Night
07-Magical Mystery Tour
08-Help
09-With The Beatles
10-Let It Be
11-Beatles for sale
12-Please Please Me
13-Yellow Submarine
Gotta be Rubber Soul, followed by The Beatles, Abbey Road, Revolver and Hard Day's Night. Least favorite by a mile is Yellow Submarine...and come on, Ob-la-di is soo much fun to sing! I was on a date and it came on and we both started singing it! We're both in our 20s too!
Abbey Road:
Side 1 has two of Harrison's best...side 2 is pure genius with all the tracks leading into each other - for me, it's the best album side of all time.
If it wasn't for The Beatles and acid we'd have won the war !
i'm a huge fan of pretty much everything post-revolver, but i'd label pretty much everything pre-revolver as generic and boring. i recognize the anachronism in labeling early beatles as generic, but i'm waaaay too young to be able to approach these records in any other way. if i were to list them, i'd list them as so:
1. magical mystery tour
2. sgt. peppers
3. abbey road
4. hey jude
5. white album
6. revolver
7. everything else is tied for last place, including let it be and yellow submarine.
of course, hey jude was the record full of singles that never made it to an album...
The Beatles are great, here's my list:
1. Revolver
2. Rubber soul
3. White Album
4. Abbey Road
5. Sgt Peppers
6. Magical Mystery tour
Not so much a fan of the pre Rubber Soul albums...
Pepper. When im 64 is a surprisingly intoxicating song to listen. It is so wholesome and quaint. I love the fact it comes after George's 'indian trip' Within you without you. Im shocked it's listed as a less than stellar track here. Arguably there isnt a bad song on that album.
I'm not a Beatlemaniac but I grew up with the music. Some of my earliest memories are my babysitters playing Beatles 45s. Most of their music resonates with me. All the eras touched me and still do. I think I'll go hit my tune library and play dj for a while...
Revolver is my favourite followed by Abbey Road. Rubber Soul has some great songs on it, too, but Ringo isn't playing on many of the tracks. Listen to Nowhere Man; that is not Ringo playing (one can really hear it during the buzz roll which precedes the chorus). Besides, Bernard Purdie years ago claimed to have played on 26 Beatles' tracks, and it sounds like his "feel."
reading these comments gave me goosebumps. the Beatles simply the best musical group ever. Love Abbey Road...reprise...you cant beat it...the Beatles spawned groups from the Velvet Underground to Oasis, Tears for Fears...and many others...if it wasnt for the Beatles...
Each one, a masterpiece on its own, but having to choose, my favourite is Rubber Soul. It's signifies the Beatles moving beyond simple rock and roll into new sounds and directions and really shows their greatest strength - songwriting.
rubber soul