rank beatles albums

duck soup

son of a BANG son of a BOOM
Joined
Aug 19, 2008
Messages
735
Location
toronto, on
white album
magical mystery tour
a hard day's night
revolver
help!
beatles for sale
with the beatles
abbey road
rubber soul
please please me
let it be
sgt pepper
yellow submarine
 
1. Revolver (by a landslide)
2. Sgt. Pepper
3. Abbey Road
4. Rubber Soul
5. Help!
6. White Album
7, Magical Mystery Tour
8. A Hard Day's Night
9. Let It Be
10. Beatles For Sale
11. With the Beatles
12. Please Please Me
13. Yellow Submarine

It's been a long time since I've listened to those early records. They might move up when I listen to them again, but I don't think the Beatles early rock and roll has aged as well the the Stones' or The Kinks'. They became so much better once they got more ambitious in the studio.
 
1. Sgt. Pepper (definite favourite)
2. Magical Mystery Tour
3. Let It Be
4. Abbey Road
5. The White Album
6. Help!
7. Revolver
8. Please Please Me
9. A Hard Day's Night
10. Rubber Soul
11. Beatles for Sale
12. Yellow Submarine
13. With The Beatles
 
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W-W-Wha...?
they both suffer from weak songwriting - pepper especially. side two is largely disposable. i don't see any 'greatness' in the run of 'within you, without you' / 'when i'm sixty-four' / 'lovely rita' / 'good morning good morning' / 'sgt pepper reprise', and would challenge others to really consider that. i mean, those songs are okay, but mediocre by beatles standards, and they make up half the album. i like 'fixing a hole' and 'she's leaving home' the best on there. as for abbey road - despite the strength of 'something' and 'i want you', two terrific compositions, the first side is pretty lackluster. the early albums may not have that 'glue' that the lps had after 1966, but the strength of the songwriting - i mean, jesus christ - 'baby's in black'? 'i should have known better'?

by this point, the myth of those later records has sort of distorted them

[MENTION=36330]Comicshow MolemanBob[/MENTION] tell me why you like sgt pepper side two
 
they both suffer from weak songwriting - pepper especially. side two is largely disposable. i don't see any 'greatness' in the run of 'within you, without you' / 'when i'm sixty-four' / 'lovely rita' / 'good morning good morning' / 'sgt pepper reprise', and would challenge others to really consider that. i mean, those songs are okay, but mediocre by beatles standards, and they make up half the album. i like 'fixing a hole' and 'she's leaving home' the best on there. as for abbey road - despite the strength of 'something' and 'i want you', two terrific compositions, the first side is pretty lackluster. the early albums may not have that 'glue' that the lps had after 1966, but the strength of the songwriting - i mean, jesus christ - 'baby's in black'? 'i should have known better'?

by this point, the myth of those later records has sort of distorted them

[MENTION=25429]melody nelson[/MENTION]

"Within You, Without You" is the best song that shows of Harrison's inspiration by Indian music. It's delightfully simple and the use of a tabla and the sitar work fantastically and the bits of instrumental are heavenly. I can agree that "When I'm Sixty Four" isn't the best song on the album but it sure isn't bad if not a bit cheesy. "Lovely Rita" is a great song that combines an extremely harrowing opening and ending with what is perceived to be a cutesy Paul song (that actually tells a surprisingly raunchy little story) also the harmonies are just beautiful. "Good Morning, Good Morning" is an extremely underrated Beatles song that contains an awesome guitar riff, a great use of sound effects and again, a fantastic little tale that's very uplifting. "Reprise" is a great way to end the album on a jolly, bouncy note before it scales simultaneously into "A Day in the Life" (which should alone save it from being in the bottom three of your list)
 
Well, technically my favourite is Love, but as far as original Beatles albums go...

Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, Magical History Tour are my top three and then the others are all pretty much equal thereafter.
 
[MENTION=25429]melody nelson[/MENTION]

As for Abbey Road I think you need to give "Oh! Darling", "You Never Give Me Your Money" and "Because" another listen...
 
sgt pepper cannot ride alone on the strength of 'a day in life', which, in my opinion, is a bit overrated anyway. i didn't say any of those songs were bad, i just don't see what is so great. i appreciate your analysis, though. i guess to me, those songs are just sound tossed-off. the melodies aren't anything special, and they rely too much on their production to enhance what is just mediocrity. at their essence, there isn't really anything beautiful about those songs to me.

often, i think about what makes a great pop song great, and it seems to me, more than anything, that the song should be able to stand on it own, stripped of all production (though, of course, there are always exceptions). but take a song like 'please let me wonder', by the beach boys. the production is simple (with the usual stunning vocal arrangement), but if brian were to sit at a piano and just sing the song alone, it would still be beautiful. i don't get that sense from 'lovely rita' or 'good morning good morning'. and you may argue that those songs aren't supposed to be beautiful, but i suppose that's personally why they don't do much for me. but i will throw on sgt pepper once in a while and it is a nice listen. see, that's the thing with the beatles - even the albums you like the least are still better than most music out there.

regarding abbey road - of the songs you mentioned, 'oh! darling' is the only song that appears on the side that i criticized. again, i just don't see any beauty or greatness in that song, it's just sort of a song you listen to and enjoy, but it doesn't knock you out. i think they had a much more successful r&b/motown throwback in 'this boy'
 
often, i think about what makes a great pop song great, and it seems to me, more than anything, that the song should be able to stand on it own, stripped of all production (though, of course, there are always exceptions). but take a song like 'please let me wonder', by the beach boys. the production is simple (with the usual stunning vocal arrangement), but if brian were to sit at a piano and just sing the song alone, it would still be beautiful. i don't get that sense from 'lovely rita' or 'good morning good morning'. and you may argue that those songs aren't supposed to be beautiful, but i suppose that's personally why they don't do much for me. but i will throw on sgt pepper once in a while and it is a nice listen. see, that's the thing with the beatles - even the albums you like the least are still better than most music out there.

I dunno. I can see your point, but Sgt. Pepper is driven by its production -- the individual songs may lack the craftsmanship of much of the Beatles' other work, but I think that's because they're being absorbed into the fabric of the production, which is enormously complex and ambitious -- a supremely talented band with a supremely talented producer working with unlimited resources during a time of extreme experimentation in popular music. A song like "I've Just Seen a Face", lovely as it is, wouldn't have fit onto this album, I don't think. There's a cohesiveness to it all that's pretty remarkable -- maybe some of the tracks are weaker than the others, but take any of them out and the whole project just tumbles to the ground. Is it as good as Pet Sounds or Freak Out! or Velvet Underground & Nico? Probably not. But it's still a great album.

But I think the Beatles are a little overrated as songwriters anyway. They were very good pop composers, but they weren't great lyricists in the Bob Dylan/Joni Mitchell/Leonard Cohen mold, and their ear for melody couldn't touch Brian Wilson's, so them moving away from self-contained singles and towards more ambitious album-projects and more prominent production methods doesn't bother me.
 
I dunno. I can see your point, but Sgt. Pepper is driven by its production -- the individual songs may lack the craftsmanship of much of the Beatles' other work, but I think that's because they're being absorbed into the fabric of the production, which is enormously complex and ambitious -- a supremely talented band with a supremely talented producer working with unlimited resources during a time of extreme experimentation in popular music. A song like "I've Just Seen a Face", lovely as it is, wouldn't have fit onto this album, I don't think. There's a cohesiveness to it all that's pretty remarkable -- maybe some of the tracks are weaker than the others, but take any of them out and the whole project just tumbles to the ground. Is it as good as Pet Sounds or Freak Out! or Velvet Underground & Nico? Probably not. But it's still a great album.
this all is basically why i think it's one of their weakest efforts. the magic of the beatles, to me, lies precisely in that loveliness that's present in 'i've just seen a face'. i don't hear that loveliness on this record. i listen to the beatles primarily for their songwriting, not the production of their albums - although i must admit, the production on revolver is stunning. that's a case where beautifully written songs paired with exquisite arrangements results in sonic ecstasy. and it wows me far more than its follow-up. pepper just seems a little bloated, i guess. all style and no substance.

and [MENTION=20640]Ragged_Clown[/MENTION], i think many of their melodies hold a candle to brian wilson's - especially a lot of paul's compositions :sly:
 
While I think every Beatles album had a few throwaway songs that could have been replaced with singles (Paperback Writer and Rain on Revolver, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever on Pepper) and I have all my Beatles stuff on CD-R's, so that I can control the playlists, as they are:

1. Revolver
2. Abbey Road
3. White Album
4. A Hard Day's Night
5. Rubber Soul
6. Sgt. Pepper
7. Please Please Me
8. Help!
9. With the Beatles
10. Magical Mystery Tour
11. Beatles For Sale
12. Let it Be
13. Yellow Submarine

A few around the middle might jump around (5-10), but the tops and bottoms are pretty secure.
 
help!
with the beatles
a hard day's night
beatles for sale
please please me
-----
rubber soul
revolver
magical mystery tour
white album
-----
sgt pepper
abbey road
yellow submarine
let it be
 
The White Album
Abbey Road
Sgt. Pepper
Rubber Soul
Revolver
A Hard Day's Night
Magical Mystery Tour
Help!
Let it Be
Please Please Me
Yellow Submarine
With the Beatles
Beatles for Sale
 
1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. Abbey Road
3. Sgt. Pepper
4. Revolver
5. Rubber Soul
6. The White Album
7. Help!
8. Let It Be
9. A Hard Day's Night
10. Please Please Me
11. With The Beatles
12. Yellow Submarine
13. Beatles For Sale
 
yeah, I made up a totally ironic list outlining the pathetic commercial acts over the last 50 years (the worst offenders IMO) I can't believe you took it seriously.

listen to some indie music, thats real art. I'm not being a hipster, just trying to turn more robots into thinking people
 
yeah, I made up a totally ironic list outlining the pathetic commercial acts over the last 50 years (the worst offenders IMO) I can't believe you took it seriously.

listen to some indie music, thats real art. I'm not being a hipster, just trying to turn more robots into thinking people

Love how contradictory this is.

OK, why don't you go and buy some chinos or a Starbucks low fat no milk sweetened mochachochalochanillaccino coffee or something? In fact, have a River Island voucher on us.

Anyway,

1) Meet The Beatles/A Hard Day's Night

2) The White Album

3) Let it Be.....Naked/ Anthology/ Live at the BBC

4) Beatles For Sale/Help!

5) Rubber Soul/ Revolver

6) S.P.L.H.C.B/ Magical Mystery Tour

7) Abbey Road/ Past Masters

8) Yellow Submarine (Love it, but it could have been a little more)

9) Let it Be (Spector's pile of shit)

10) Please Please Me
 
yeah, I made up a totally ironic list outlining the pathetic commercial acts over the last 50 years (the worst offenders IMO) I can't believe you took it seriously.

listen to some indie music, thats real art. I'm not being a hipster, just trying to turn more robots into thinking people

I'm definetly not taking this post seriously.
 
[MENTION=27278]Darkel[/MENTION] is the best user of the forum. Don't dis him, guys.
 
I'm definetly not taking this post seriously.
Thats fine, I can't take anything you or joey whatever his stupid username is says seriously if you dare question my main point, The Beatles are the western civilisation's pure definition as the capitalist, commericial and generally shallow load of turd it is. Despite making a lot of good music what is the point when they don't even have a fucking point? No merits worth anything, just sleazy "Oh look, 4 attractive british guys with funny haircuts writing cheesy poppy love songs". Utterly pointless, listen to some fucking Public Image Ltd and you'll know what meaningful music is.
And without letting this thread drop into the usual "lets bash ignorant pop fans around the head with a massive fucking mallet" category, I'll say this: Yellow Submarine is a great album (what a surprise it is ranked last on nearly everone's list in here. Oh no, wait, of course it isn't. It's their rawest and most true form, without all the pomp and swagger. And not only will I say that but John Lennon could have been a good lyricist if he hadn't let Mcartney let the band down so much.

some nobody said:
Considering he has 117 posts in 3 years I don't think we have to worry about him.

yeah, 1000 spam posts v 100 worthwhile diatribes against the modern world's bullshit. what a landslide.
 
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