Favorite Beatles album

[tented]

What's your favorite Beatles album? Do you prefer the early ones, such as "Please Please Me" or "A Hard Day's Night"? Or the middle period ("Revolver" or "Sgt. Pepper")? Or the late ones, as in "The Beatles [White Album]" or "Abbey Road"?

Or, which is the most important Beatles record, even if it's not necessarily your favorite?

For me, my favorite is "Let It Be", but I think the most important is "Revolver" (my second favorite).

One caveat: You can't use any of the compilations, such as the Red and Blue collections, or "No. 1".

 

[Kieran]

Good thread! I think Sgt Pepper was most important at the time, but that influence hasn't translated over the decades. Still my favourite Beatles album, though.

I agree about Revolver, I think it's kind of flawless. That, or Abbey Road...

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

This is like answering the question " Which child of yours you love more?" :snigger

Abbey Road, I guess...uzzled

 

[tented]

Good thread! I think Sgt Pepper was most important at the time, but that influence hasn't translated over the decades. Still my favourite Beatles album, though.

I agree about Revolver, I think it's kind of flawless. That, or Abbey Road...

Exactly. I know there are a lot of firsts on Pepper, but it's actually quite dated if you listen to it today. It didn't age nearly as well as people originally thought it would. "Within You Without You" is my favorite track. And "A Day in the Life" -- another great song.

But here's a factoid rarely pointed out: Not even one song from Pepper became a No. 1 hit. So why has it been hailed by so many as the greatest album of all time? I think it became a snowball effect of critics claiming it's the GOAT of albums, but now we're seeing people stepping back from that.

"Revolver" is the one making the top of lists these days, and rightly so. That's the one where the Beatles got serious, quit touring, and became a studio band. They tried everything on that record, and what could have been a disastrous experiment turned out to be a masterpiece.

This is like answering the question " Which child of yours you love more?" :snigger

Abbey Road, I guess...uzzled

Two mentions of Abbey Road in two replies. It still surprises me how great that one is considering what an argumentative mess the band was by that point. It's frustrating they ended with such a work of true genius, but perhaps it's best they left it at that.

 

[Kieran]

I dunno what might have been, had they continued. Maybe a self-indulgent messy and contrary seventies. But they were certainly much better together, than apart. Rubber Soul is another great record that shows their full range. To be honest, all their albums from Rubber Soul onwards are fairly much landmarks in pop music...

 

[tented]

I dunno what might have been, had they continued. Maybe a self-indulgent messy and contrary seventies. But they were certainly much better together, than apart.

In his final interview, Lennon described being in a taxi in NYC. The driver had the radio on, and naturally a Beatles song came on the air. When it was over, the DJ expressed how happy he was that the Beatles broke up. Lennon shouted, "Yes! Someone gets it!"

It get it, too. Look at the Stones and the Who. Would anyone genuinely feel deprived if they had broken up decades ago? Isn't it just a bit embarrassing what they've turned into? Aren't bands like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin better off for having walked away before their reputations suffered?

Rubber Soul is another great record that shows their full range. To be honest, all their albums from Rubber Soul onwards are fairly much landmarks in pop music...

Exactly. Back then, the Beatles and Dylan were incapable of doing anything less than great.

 

[Kieran]

It's one way of looking at it, that the Stones and the Who basically created tripe for so many years, but why couldn't the more talented Beatles have been a disciplined and driven group through the seventies - and eighties (if Lennon had lived)? Why not? I can't help but think that it was personalities getting out of control that ruined the Beatles. Dylan's personality never got out of control - sure, he lost intensity on occasion, but he didn't have to deal with band mates.

But lesser bands than the Beatles worked through the personality stuff, but it ruined the Beatles. It's a shame, because if they had been able to stay close, who knows?

 

[shawnbm]

Well, they have been my favorite group since childhood and, like many, their songs are like the soundtrack of my memories of childhood and adolescence. I will turn fifty next year and whenever I run into someone from school years, they always ask if I still love The Beatles--LOL!

At any rate, I used to say Pepper, and still put the White Album and Abbey Road on more than the others, but I absolutely love the innocence and catchyness of With The Beatles (It Won't Be Long, Little Child, Not A Second Time) and then the back to the roots of the "naked" Let It Be sessions (The One After 909, Get Back, Two of Us). In what is likely odd for most fans, I loved Magical Mystery Tour as it was the 8-track my mom had that introduced me to them (Your Mother Should Know, Fool on the Hill, I Am the Walrus). I know I should say Rubber Soul or Revolver, but I just can't. I love them all and at different levels depending on where I am in life.

 

[tented]

I love Magical Mystery Tour -- more than Pepper, actually.

Great songs: Magical Mystery Tour, I Am the Walrus, Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, Baby You're a Rich Man, All You Need Is Love, and Hello, Goodbye.

 

[tennistv]

Revolver is my favorite Beatles album. Just something about Revolver that gets to me. In the best way. Maybe it was all the experimentation that sprang out from that album.

 

[Kieran]

Welcome to the forum, tennistv!

I wonder if the OP could be changed to a poll to reflect things here? The Beatles have about 11 studio albums...

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

1. revolver.
2. rubber soul.
3. the magical mystery tour.
4. the white album.
5. a hard days night.

 

[jhar26]

Revolver, Abbey Road, Sgt. Peppers..... I think you can still make an argument for Sgt. Peppers. The concept, or whatever people perceive as it's concept may be a bit outdated but if you take each of those songs on an individual basis it's a truly awesome collection. But leaving aside that Yellow Submarine soundtrack there's no such thing as a poor Beatles album imo. Each Beatles album could have been a greatest hits or best of album from (almost) anyone else. At a time when most big name artists take an eternity to come up with a new album that we can call ok if we're lucky, it's mindboggling that once upon a time there was a band that managed to produce so much great music in such a short space of time. Their early stuff (pre-Rubber Soul) was great as well. It was more basic, and they quickly progressed from that, but on it's own terms those early albums were awesome as well, especially A Hard Days Night and Help! (which was sorta a transitional one I guess).

 

[tented]

I think you can still make an argument for Sgt. Peppers. The concept, or whatever people perceive as it's concept may be a bit outdated but if you take each of those songs on an individual basis it's a truly awesome collection.

But how do you explain that nothing from Pepper made it to No. 1?


It's always great to see you around, jhar!

 

[Kieran]

I think Pepper wasn't a singles album. I mean, A Day in the Life, Mr Kite, these kind of songs roll into each other easily on record but they're not necessarily singles material, imo. It was written as an album, kinda different to what they did before. I don't even know which songs were released as singles, though I can guess that When I'm 64 most likely was...

 

[tented]

I think Pepper wasn't a singles album. I mean, A Day in the Life, Mr Kite, these kind of songs roll into each other easily on record but they're not necessarily singles material, imo. It was written as an album, kinda different to what they did before. I don't even know which songs were released as singles, though I can guess that When I'm 64 most likely was...

It never occurred to me to look this up. I just assumed With a Little Help, A Day in the Life, and When I'm 64 were released as singles, but none of them were.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_discography#Singles

Not one song from Pepper was released as a 45. I'm stunned. Good call, Kieran.

 

[Kieran]

Well, I didn't call it, to be honest, because I expected that there would be some singles from it, but when I said I didn't think of it as a singles album, it's because I thought of it as an album created as a block, or unity, and not just a random bunch of songs they put out as a disc.

I think Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane were recorded at the same time, and put out as singles, but left off the album, for whatever reason...

 

[shawnbm]

Brother Kieran is correct about the Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane release. They were placed on Magical Mystery Tour later in the year, but recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions and released as a single. That single, along with Hey Jude/Revolution, is right at the top of any single they released after the end of the touring days.

 

[Kieran]

This is an interesting article about the Beatles last song, and album...

 

[tented]

This is an interesting article about the Beatles last song, and album...

Great article! Thanks, Kieran.