Favorite Beatles Albums

The history and music of the Fab Four
Folkie
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Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by Folkie »

To all who are interested: Please list your favorite Beatles albums in order of preference. (Please stick to the original British releases.)

Here's my list:

1. Revolver

2. Rubber Soul

3. Abbey Road

4. The White Album

5. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

6. Help!

7. A Hard Day's Night

8. Magical Mystery Tour

9. With the Beatles

10. Beatles for Sale

11. Let it Be

12. Please Please Me

13. Yellow Submarine
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jps
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by jps »

If I were to use Enzo Ferrari's philosophy about his favorite car, my favorite Beatles album is the next one they will make. :mrgreen:
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Ontario_RIC_fan
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by Ontario_RIC_fan »

Folkie wrote:To all who are interested: Please list your favorite Beatles albums in order of preference. (Please stick to the original British releases.)
Ah but in which reality?

I am very fond of GOD from 1971. :D
God2__by_The_Beatles edit.jpg
Lennon's vocal on MAYBE I'M AMAZED is superb!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelfth_Album
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BigJohnAZ
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by BigJohnAZ »

After Abbey Road, the rest are fluid and not set in stone except for Yellow Submarine and Help!

Abbey Road
The White Album
A Hard Day's Night 
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Rubber Soul
Revolver
With the Beatles
Please Please Me
Beatles for Sale
Let it Be
Magical Mystery Tour
Help!
Yellow Submarine
1977 4001 Autumnglo with Rotosound S/S roundwounds
Folkie
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by Folkie »

Your list has got me rethinking the order of mine. I just listened to Abbey Road for the first time in years, and I'm tempted to list it first, as you do (very little filler, and side two is quite simply a masterpiece). Also, I agree with you that it's somewhat invidious to rank the albums in a hard and fast manner. After all, The Beatles' career spanned about ten years, and the albums from different periods are so stylistically varied. One surprise I encountered when making my own list was how low I'd ranked "Sgt. Pepper," which some critics consider to be the most important rock album of all time. Aside from "A Day in the Life," which is truly "mind-blowing," I feel the album sounds dated (to the extent where "When I'm Sixty-Four" is a little too jaunty and "She's Leaving Home" is positively maudlin!). Looks like we both agree that "Let it Be" and "Yellow Submarine" belong near the bottom. And I hope I didn't neglect "A Hard Day's Night" by ranking it in the middle.
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by JakeK »

Revolver
Rubber Soul
A Hard Day's Night
Help!
Abbey Road (While I will not doubt this is a great album, it is a very sad one for me. It sound like a band parting company)
Long Tall Sally (UK EP) (I'm shocked this one is never mentioned anywhere, as it had four previously unreleased songs)
Sgt. Pepper
White Album
With The Beatles
Beatles For Sale
Please Please Me
Magical Mystery Tour
Let It Be (this is where Abbey Road could've headed if they hadn't put aside their differences)
Yellow Submarine (would've been better as the original intended EP)
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antipodean
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by antipodean »

Hard Day's Night
Sgt Pepper's
Rubber Soul
Abbey Road
Please Please Me
Revolver

Controversy Warning!

I have always thought that Revolver received much more acclaim than it deserved. It strikes me as being very uneven (though nowhere near as uneven as the White Album). "Got to Get You Into My life", "Yellow Submarine" and particularly "I Want To Tell You" are absolute clangers that I skip when I listen to the album. The rest is brilliant. "Taxman", "She Said She Said", "I'm Only Sleeping" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" are stunningly fabulous.
"I don't want to sound incredulous but I can't believe it" Rex Mossop
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by Folkie »

Well, there's no accounting for taste, but, needless to say, I disagree with you about Revolver. Keep in mind how hard it is to make a totally even record, without a trace of filler. At their best, even The Beatles and Bob Dylan couldn't pull it off. "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" occupies much of Abbey Road's first side, A Hard Day's Night has at least two unnecessary tracks ("I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" and "When I Get Home."), and Revolver, in my opinion, has two or three: "For No One" and "Got to Get You into My Life" among them. What I consider to be Dylan's greatest album (Bringing it All Back Home) has several filler tracks on its first side. And, of course, a two-record project, like The White Album or Blonde on Blonde, is likely to be much more uneven. In my opinion, any record with more than six or seven outstanding tracks deserves recognition. Even Rubber Soul has its weak moments, but the cumulative effect remains powerful.
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by cjj »

jps wrote:If I were to use Enzo Ferrari's philosophy about his favorite car, my favorite Beatles album is the next one they will make. :mrgreen:
LOL! Yeah, I can agree with that!
:lol: :lol: :lol:
I have NO idea what to do with those skinny stringed things... I'm just a bass player...
Folkie
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by Folkie »

Here's my list (with some revisions):

Revolver
Rubber Soul
Abbey Road
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The White Album
A Hard Day's Night
Help!
Magical Mystery Tour
With the Beatles
Beatles for Sale
Let it Be
Please Please Me
Yellow Submarine
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brammy
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by brammy »

What surprises me about many of these lists is the low ranking of 'Please Please Me'..... As George Martin has said, it was an attempt to capture what the Beatles were doing at in the clubs at the time and was recorded in one marathon session.... arguable the most productive recording session of all time. An AMAZING rock'n'roll album.

Abbey Road ................(simply a masterpiece - except for Paul sticking in "Her Majesty" at the end without knowledge of the other Beatles who had already split and left the finalizing of the album in Paul's hands)

Revolver.................................. (rated above Please Please Me because it is SO innovative)

Please Please Me.......... (hottest rock'n'roll band on the planet)

Rubber Soul ............. (so many beautiful and melodic and lyrical songs here)

With the Beatles .............. (great rock)

A Hard Day's Night ................ (soundtrack to the greatest movie musical of all time)

The White Album .......... (would have been a stronger one disk album by removing the lesser songs but we're still grateful to have it)

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ....... (a groundbreaking pop album, but not the best rock'n'roll album)

Beatles for Sale....... (low on the list but I still love it... The Beatles on the verge of reinventing themselves))

Magical Mystery Tour ......... (some great tracks but overall disjointed)

Help! ....................(some great songs but suffers from the filler muzak tracks)

Yellow Submarine ........... (only Phil Spector could beat this one in the race to the bottom. "Hey Bulldog" is the only really good song here)

Let it Be .........................................(aka Phil Spector's horror show)
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by Folkie »

Brammy,

I'll have to take another listen to "Please Please Me," as its been a few years. In terms of the album capturing the energy of their early live performances, I think you may have a convincing point. Whatever the case, "Please Please Me" doesn't belong at the bottom of the barrel with "Yellow Submarine" and "Let It Be," which (by The Beatles' own admittedly high standards) are both true clunkers.

The more I revisit "Abbey Road," the more I think it deserves a tie for first place with "Revolver." Of course, even "Abbey Road" has some filler tracks: "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," "Octopus' Garden," and particularly "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," all on the first side. But side two is a miniature masterpiece. McCartney's adding "Her Majesty" as the album's coda may have been meant to deflate the loftiness of "The End" with a little playful humor. Whatever the case, it doesn't detract from the album at all.

I agree with you 100% about "The White Album." If they had cut all the filler and just saved the finest moments, the album would have been much stronger. Still, it's a fascinating document of a band in transition. I also agree that "Magical Mystery Tour" is a bit "disjointed." Perhaps I placed it too high on my list, but a few stand out tracks, particularly "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane" and "All You Need is Love" make it essential listening for me.

Well, the consensus seems to be that "Sgt. Pepper" hasn't stood the test of time. I personally could live without "Getting Better," "She's Leaving Home," "When I'm Sixty-Four," and "Good Morning, Good Morning." But there was a reason the editors of "Rolling Stone" magazine placed "Sgt. Pepper" first in their list of the most important albums of all time: SP was enormously influential on subsequent concept albums and affected rock music in a very profound way. While much of the album can sound dated today, its strongest tracks--particularly the opening theme, "With a Little Help From My Friends," "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite," "Within You, Without You," and, above all, the truly mind-blowing "A Day In The Life"--are as good as anything The Beatles ever wrote. That's why I place it near the top of my list.

Just a few reflections. I hope this thread continues to generate some interest.

Robert
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Badanovski
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by Badanovski »

For me "Rubber Soul" & "Revolver" will always be at the top of the list. The songs seem crafted by the band as a whole & timeless. The instruments are well recorded & the production is neutral. It could have come out at anytime. The rest of the albums drift in & out of favor depending on mood. While I like Abbey Road, the production seems so early 70's & the tunes don't have the group feel of their earlier work. To me it feels like more of a George Martin album then a Beatles album.
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brammy
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by brammy »

I agree with you 100% about "The White Album." If they had cut all the filler and just saved the finest moments, the album would have been much stronger.
Somewhere earlier in this thread we discussed what songs would be picked to make a single killer disc out of the White Album.
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Re: Favorite Beatles Albums

Post by JakeK »

I am surprised that no one hasn't mentioned the EP Long Tall Sally. I certainly include it when I rank The Beatles' albums, as it feature four previously unreleased tracks. The middle between With The Beatles and Hard Day's Night, it featured three covers from the Cavern days, including the title track, which was performed consistently as the closing number of their act for the last 6-7 years.

For those who don't know it, here it is:


Lots of raw energy here. The original track, "I Call Your Name" is the highlight.

Seems like the consensus is the same towards Let It Be. The 2003 reassembling Let It Be...Naked is a far superior assembling of these songs, with the best versions from the 10 days of recording in the best quality. I highly recommend checking it out. I like it so much, that I don't even have a copy of the original Let It Be.
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