Best Beatles Album

pinksoir

Ok, so as a sort of reaction to the "10 best Beatles songs" thread, I've decided to post this best album thread. I love the Beatles, but to be honest, listing my ten favourite songs is impossible. But more importantly, you can't really delve into any interesting debate about your favourite songs, and all that happens is a bunch of people write down a list each.

So vote for your favourite album, but also explain why. Whilst this is just as subjective as the "favourite song" idea, it at least narrows it down to a choice of 14 (I've included Magical Mystery Tour too). Also, as good as Beatles songs are on their own, you really must listen to an album to fully appreciate them. The were pioneers of the album format after all.

So My choice is Rubber Soul.

For me it's their best album. It's unbelievably consistent;every song is as good as, if not better than the one preceding it. They foray into mock French chanson (Michelle), traditional Greek (Girl), proto-funk (The Word), Harrisons first venture into sitar music, and contains 'In My Life', for me their best song and a real competitor for best song ever written.

They were really at the top of their game with this album. John and Paul were very much writing together, George was getting a look in with the spiteful and brilliant "Think For Yourself", and even Ringo's effort is amazing. Listen to "What Goes On" and try not to smile.

I love all the Beatles' albums, but for me this was when they were at their peak songwriting-wise.

Latchy

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

I love all the Beatles albums but an going to go with Revolver because it was original , fresh and expermental . The chord changes on some of the tracks like Dr Robert , I'm only sleeping , Taxman, are spot on .It was the bridge between the 'mop top Beatles ' and the more socially aware, studio orinatated, Beatles .

pinksoir

Revolver

Latchy wrote: »

I love all the Beatles albums but an going to go with Revolver because it was original , fresh and expermental . The chord changes on some of the tracks like Dr Robert , I'm only sleeping , Taxman, are spot on .It was the bridge between the 'mop top Beatles ' and the more socially aware, studio orinatated, Beatles .

http://www.kindakinks.net/misc/articles/beatles.html

This is Ray Davies' review of Revolver. I'd have to say I agree with a lot of what he says. There really isn't a bad song on Rubber Soul and Revolver isn't up to the same standard. There are absolutely brilliant songs on it; For No One (Davies missed this on his review), I'm Only Sleeping, Here There And Everywhere, Taxman, Good Day Sunshine and of course Tomorrow Never Knows.

But then there are the below average songs; She Said She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing, I Want To Tell You. These are nowhere near the standard of the rest of the songs on the album, and likewise nowhere near any songs on Rubber Soul. Then there is Yellow Submarine. It's bad. It's a funny song I suppose but it's just nonsense.

Royale with Cheese

Let It Be

Abbey Road for me. Best album of all time in my opinion.

Would probably put Revolver second, then maybe the White Album or Rubber Soul. Never got the fuss around Sgt. Peppers.

Glassheart

Yellow Submarine

pinksoir wrote: »

http://www.kindakinks.net/misc/articles/beatles.html

This is Ray Davies' review of Revolver. I'd have to say I agree with a lot of what he says. There really isn't a bad song on Rubber Soul and Revolver isn't up to the same standard. There are absolutely brilliant songs on it; For No One (Davies missed this on his review), I'm Only Sleeping, Here There And Everywhere, Taxman, Good Day Sunshine and of course Tomorrow Never Knows.

But then there are the below average songs; She Said She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing, I Want To Tell You. These are nowhere near the standard of the rest of the songs on the album, and likewise nowhere near any songs on Rubber Soul. Then there is Yellow Submarine. It's bad. It's a funny song I suppose but it's just nonsense.

The thing that bends my mind about those two albums is that the gap between the last recording session for Rubber Soul and the 1st recording session for Revolver is a mere 16 weeks!
That's completely inconceivable these days. Especially with music of that caliber...

grumpytrousers

pinksoir wrote: »

But then there are the below average songs; She Said She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing, I Want To Tell You. These are nowhere near the standard of the rest of the songs on the album, and likewise nowhere near any songs on Rubber Soul.

Interesting that. Over at Word Magazine they were having a discussion about the best track on Revolver. And Your Bird Can Sing won out. No more than any other opinion here, it's entirely subjective, but I'm with them on that.

One mans weaker track, etc etc etc...

http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/revolver-poll-results

JimiTime

Yellow Submarine

I voted for 'The White Album', but it could have easily have been others. 'Let it be' is an album that doesn''t come in for much praise, but I have to say it is really up there for me. A great raw record. I love the little jam 'Dig it', and had a bootleg of the let it be sessions where that went on for about 8 minutes. I love 'I've got a feeling', one of my fave Beatles tracks. Its like they refound the whole playing live together again. Even though this was The Beatles at breaking point, you can't help but get a sense of fun IMO. With the exception of 'Maggie Mae', I don't think there's weak track for me.

pinksoir

Revolver

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Abbey Road for me. Best album of all time in my opinion.

Would probably put Revolver second, then maybe the White Album or Rubber Soul. Never got the fuss around Sgt. Peppers.

The thing about Sgt. Pepper is that it was completely out of left field when it came out. The difference between it and Revolver, and indeed it and any other records of the time, is unreal. You can hear the roots of their experimentation on Revolver, but Peppers takes it to a whole new level. It was the perfect example of what great bands should always do. Be unpredictable, inventive and don't stick to the same formula, even if it works. Evolve, or die.

Beatlemania was really losing momentum - they'd stopped touring and had become an immersed studio band. The variety of songs on Sgt Pepper is crazy too; from rock and roll, to music hall, to psychedelia, to classical, to circus, to Indian, to melodrama. And George Martin's contributions, if in any way overlooked before, really must be paid heed to on Peppers.

Sgt Pepper is an album that people of our generation can easily take for granted, but it's influence on subsequent generations of musicians is one of the things that makes it so important. In the context of the era in which it came out, it was light years ahead of it's time, and hasn't ever been topped by any other artist, nor even come close to.

Plus, it's amazing to listen to when stoned. It's so visual.

grumpytrousers wrote: »

Interesting that. Over at Word Magazine they were having a discussion about the best track on Revolver. And Your Bird Can Sing won out. No more than any other opinion here, it's entirely subjective, but I'm with them on that.

One mans weaker track, etc etc etc...

http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/revolver-poll-results

I don't think it's a bad song by any stretch. Most bands of that time would be more than happy to have written it. I just don't think it's up to the standard of any song on Rubber Soul, and certainly there are better songs on Revolver. Though as you say, it's all subjective.

JimiTime wrote: »

I voted for 'The White Album', but it could have easily have been others. 'Let it be' is an album that doesn''t come in for much praise, but I have to say it is really up there for me. A great raw record. I love the little jam 'Dig it', and had a bootleg of the let it be sessions where that went on for about 8 minutes. I love 'I've got a feeling', one of my fave Beatles tracks. Its like they refound the whole playing live together again. Even though this was The Beatles at breaking point, you can't help but get a sense of fun IMO. With the exception of 'Maggie Mae', I don't think there's weak track for me.

I think Let It Be is terribly underated. I was thinking of Maggie May while reading what you wrote and I'm glad you took exception to it at the end! Seriously, Across The Universe, For You Blue, I Me Mine, Dig It, Get Back? All amazing songs. And like yousay, the feeling of them being a live band again really comes through. Really raw. As with Peppers, evolve, or die. Though ironically enough it was their last record. Daring to the end, I say.

grumpytrousers

In a sense, whilst it's a tough job coming up with the 'best' Beatles album, the 'favourite' album is a tougher nut to crack. The Beatles story is almost perfect, from beginning to end, beginning, to all intents and purposes with a wailing harmonica on Love Me Do and (pedantry re Abbey Road/Let It Be chronology, and Her Majesty aside) ending with 'The love you take is equal to the love you make'.

Either way, 'best' and 'favourite' will always be subjective choices, but sometimes you gotta go behind the music.

In terms of an emotional connection - which is where 'favourite' comes in - I can take or leave the middle period ones, which flies in the face of a lot of conventional, and recieved wisdom. Rubber Soul really does sod all for me. Revolver I love from a musical perspective, Pepper - yeah - okay, and The White album is occasionally brilliant but needed a little trimming.

Abbey Road AND Let it Be I find fascinating in that (as i've said before on threads passim) you had four guys who were getting close to absolutely hating each other, but could still produce this kind of music. And it *was* done together with a view to making THIS Beatles record as good as any other. Listen to the final stretch of Abbey Road. Lennon might have reckoned he wanted to string up Macca, but he still piles in with a feck-off raggedy assed solo on 'The End'. Listen to the Everly style harmonies on 'Two of Us' and you can still hear the two teenagers impressed, respectively, at the others guitar prowess and f*ck you attitude at the Wooton Fete in 1957. It's the knowledge that all that was going on coupled with the music that makes it a more special album for me.

go to the other end of the spectrum and listen to Hard Days Night. It's ALL Beatles. At this point, they've just gone and pretty much told the professional Tin Pan Alley songwriters that their days are numbered. From here on out, groups will write their own songs. Oh, and they'll not be needing your session musicians. Oh and you can tell the A&R man that he needn't bother his hole coming by the studio, we'll be okay with the producer, thanks very much. And any covers we do, we'll be choosing them ourselves, because we want to - though as it happens from that point out, they did none.

It's the sound of (small r) revolution happening. Nothing would ever be the same for any band, ever again. And for that reason. for the symbolism and achievement that was Hard Days Night, I find it as an equal ranker for my favourite. It's got more behind it. It was written as a pure belter of a pop-album a time when writing songs for 14 year old girls was nothing to be ashamed of.

I'm 35, and I still sing along to it in the bath...

chalad07

Revolver

It's crazy to think of the journey the Beatles made over the course of a few short years. They went from the mop-top pop stars, to writing the greatest albums ever. Dont get me wrong, the pop they produced was perfect - but the leap was huge. I cant think of any modern bands who would have the same range - from 'Love Me Do' to 'Tomorrow Never Knows'.

In terms of favorite album - it changes all the time. I really dont know - i voted for Rubber Soul but i'm already doubting my choice! I dont think theres any bad songs on this album, just songs that take longer to grow on you than others.

bluefinger

Yellow Submarine

White album all the way. Just because there's so much on it. If you condensed it to a single album it would probably be in everyones top 5. Have to admit revolver was my favourite for years though, and Sgt. Pepper would be a close third.

david p

Let It Be

Chiming in here for Abbey Road. Talk about the variety on Sgt Pepper's all you like, but personally I think it's far more noticeable on Abbey Road.
One minute, you have the upbeat Octopus' Garden, the next it's the blues-driven I Want You, and that's when you really get an idea of the musical ground that they covered and the vastly different approach to music that John, Paul, George and Ringo had as individuals.
The segue between Polythene Pam and She Came in Through the Bathroom Window is excellent as well

Cliff Barnes

Yellow Submarine

daverage wrote: »

Chiming in here for Abbey Road. Talk about the variety on Sgt Pepper's all you like, but personally I think it's far more noticeable on Abbey Road.
One minute, you have the upbeat Octopus' Garden, the next it's the blues-driven I Want You, and that's when you really get an idea of the musical ground that they covered and the vastly different approach to music that John, Paul, George and Ringo had as individuals.
The segue between Polythene Pam and She Came in Through the Bathroom Window is excellent as well

Maccas Maxwells silver hammer ruins it for me though and a lot of the ideas are only half-finished

Boo-yah

Let It Be

daverage wrote: »

The segue between Polythene Pam and She Came in Through the Bathroom Window is excellent as well

One of the finest moments in the Beatles catalogue

Latchy

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

pinksoir wrote: »

http://www.kindakinks.net/misc/articles/beatles.html

This is Ray Davies' review of Revolver. I'd have to say I agree with a lot of what he says. There really isn't a bad song on Rubber Soul and Revolver isn't up to the same standard. There are absolutely brilliant songs on it; For No One (Davies missed this on his review), I'm Only Sleeping, Here There And Everywhere, Taxman, Good Day Sunshine and of course Tomorrow Never Knows.

But then there are the below average songs; She Said She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing, I Want To Tell You. These are nowhere near the standard of the rest of the songs on the album, and likewise nowhere near any songs on Rubber Soul. Then there is Yellow Submarine. It's bad. It's a funny song I suppose but it's just nonsense.

Yes I would agree up to a point and as somebody said ' it's all subjective .I love Rubber soul to with Nowere man , Girl , Norwegian wood , In my Life ,Drive my car .... the Beatles at their finest .Also has being said , picking a fav Beatles album is like picking a fav Beatles 10 ten singles ,you might change it every week .Ray Davis's review of Revolver is intrestiing and yes, yellow submarine was just a novelty record thrown in to make up the number just as Octopus Garden was on Abbey Road .But still a successful single ( the kids loved it ) . McCartney also said ' Here There and Everywere was influenced by hearing the Beach Boys ' God only Know's ' . One could easy pick the bones of Lennon / McCartneys stuff and make separate ' best off ' albums because Georges influences aside ,it's mainly their collective input that makes all the Beatles albums so different .

Originally Posted by daverage
The segue between Polythene Pam and She Came in Through the Bathroom Window is excellent as well

Yes ,Brilliant, and there's also the Beach Boys influenced harmonies in that sequence to

delbertgrady

Let It Be

The album I listen to the most is actually Love, but I think that's more to do with how well it sounds, and how good some of the mixes are.
I love The Beatles, but I don't think they ever made an album that didn't have at least a handful of duds on it. I voted for Abbey Road, primarily for Something and Side Two, but also because I think it deserves credit for being recorded at all, given the tension in the ranks at the time.
Revolver always scores high on these polls, but for me, the good stuff (For No One, Tomorrow Never Knows) is counterbalanced by - in my opinion - two of the worst songs in their catalogue, namely the wretched Got to Get You Into My Life and Good Day Sunshine, both of which jar with the rest of the album as much as Yellow Submarine does.
Sure, Abbey Road has Octopus' Garden and bloody Maxwell's Silver Hammer, but I think it wins out for Side Two.
The cover's f***ing superb as well.

taphead

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Revolver captures them at their very peak. But if they could have put Strawberry Fields & Penny Lane on Sgt. Pepper (at the expense of, ooh, Lucy in the Sky and, emmmm, Lovely Rita), that would have maybe trumped it.

That said, Rubber Soul, Abbey Road and the White Album are excellent too.

Latchy

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

taphead wrote: »

Revolver captures them at their very peak. But if they could have put Strawberry Fields & Penny Lane on Sgt. Pepper (at the expense of, ooh, Lucy in the Sky and, emmmm, Lovely Rita), that would have maybe trumped it.

[/QUOTE

Agreed ,those two would have enhanced and giving more depth to Pepper .

Lucy could have made a good single with Rita on the B side

alipackers

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

have to go for Revolver myself with Abbey Road a close 2nd!
This was a really hard choice! So many good albums from a band that somehow still sound great today!! I'm greatful that they arent able to have a new millenium "comeback" like some of the other old bands!!!
Love that revolver album though. could listen to it all day!

Spiritoftheseventies

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Only have the one album so it has to be Revolver.

Mr.Nice Guy

Yellow Submarine

The White Album. I want to learn to play the guitar just so I can play Julia.

Spiritoftheseventies

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

taphead wrote: »

Revolver captures them at their very peak. But if they could have put Strawberry Fields & Penny Lane on Sgt. Pepper (at the expense of, ooh, Lucy in the Sky and, emmmm, Lovely Rita), that would have maybe trumped it.

That said, Rubber Soul, Abbey Road and the White Album are excellent too.

Yes but would they have taken away from the theme of the album. Wonder just out of this world Pet Sounds would have been if Brian Wilson had put Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villians on it.

Weepsie

Let It Be

abbey road has you never give me your money and thats enough for me

Bubs101

Let It Be

I would have to say the Best of the Beatles

pinksoir

Revolver

Bubs101 wrote: »

I would have to say the Best of the Beatles

Ahoy hoy.

Zangetsu

Favorite at the moment is 'Love'.

I know its a compilation/remix album but its got everything in it. Its a mystical adventure of epic proportions! Fine piece of work that....

Spiritoftheseventies

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Zangetsu wrote: »

Favorite at the moment is 'Love'.

I know its a compilation/remix album but its got everything in it. Its a mystical adventure of epic proportions! Fine piece of work that....

maybe we should have stated best beatles studio album at the top to avoid any confusion

Latchy

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

bayviewclose wrote: »

Yes but would they have taken away from the theme of the album. Wonder just out of this world Pet Sounds would have been if Brian Wilson had put Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villians on it.

Indeed , Sloop J B catchy as it is , should not have being on Pet Sounds .Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villians would have fitted in perfect . Perhaps why pet Sounds was not given the proper recognition at the time .

Spiritoftheseventies

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Latchy wrote: »

Indeed , Sloop J B catchy as it is , should not have being on Pet Sounds .Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villians would have fitted in perfect . Perhaps why pet Sounds was not given the proper recognition at the time .

yes but where do you put Good vibrations and Heroes and Villians in terms of the track listing.

Latchy

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

bayviewclose wrote: »

yes but where do you put Good vibrations and Heroes and Villians in terms of the track listing.

Take out Sloop John B and the Title Pet Sounds (which is just dog barking I think ) and I would slip them in as below



Pet Sounds


1 Wouldn't It Be Nice
2. You Still Believe
3. That's Not Me
4. Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
5. I'm Waiting for the Day
6. Let's Go Away for Awhile
7. Good vibrations
8. God Only Knows
9. I Know There's an Answer
10. Here Today
11. I Just Wan't Made for Times Like These
12. Heroes and Villians
13. Caroline, No
14. Hang on to Your Ego [Bonus Track]

Spiritoftheseventies

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Latchy wrote: »

Take out Sloop John B and the Title Pet Sounds (which is just dog barking I think ) and I would slip them in as below



Pet Sounds


1 Wouldn't It Be Nice
2. You Still Believe
3. That's Not Me
4. Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
5. I'm Waiting for the Day
6. Let's Go Away for Awhile
7. Good vibrations
8. God Only Knows
9. I Know There's an Answer
10. Here Today
11. I Just Wan't Made for Times Like These
12. Heroes and Villians
13. Caroline, No
14. Hang on to Your Ego [Bonus Track]

wouldnt put good vibrations and god only knows together.