This is not simply a 'which  is your favourite Beatles album' poll, but (hopefully) a learned debate on which album was should be given the title 'best Beatles' album' based on musical merit, influence.etc.

After listening to most of the later landmark albums - ie post Rubber Soul. In terms of pure enjoyment, the simple yet catchy rock and tunes of the Hard Day's Night would probably be the best of the lot. In my opinion Rubber Soul, Revolver and Abbey Road would be the best three in no particular order. Sgt. Peppers and the White album were more experimental yet the songwriting was not as strong as those aforementioned three.

I liked their earlier stuff better

So I go with "With The Beatles" (which I am sure in America came out as "Meet The Beatles")

I think songs like "Don't Bother me" are great  :)

Much as I prefer their earlier work, I rate these three highly (one from each period)...

'Please Please Me' (their first album, parts of which were also issued in the US as 'Meet The Beatles' - and mostly laid to tape within half a day...!)

'Revolver' - the all-important middle phase album...beats 'Pepper' for sheer audacity and invention...

'Abbey Road' - the last recorded album...amazingly coherent considering the group could hardly agree on anything by this time...!

They kind of evolved into a jangle pop style on many of the songs from Help to Beatles 65 albums.  Being a jangle pop addict, I liked those albums.

i prefer the experimental stuff. i love sgt. pepper and the white album.

Abbey Road was the first album of theirs that I got so I would have to say that is my favorite for sentimental reasons. I do love everything from Sgt. Pepper and on.




'Abbey Road' - the last recorded album...amazingly coherent considering the group could hardly agree on anything by this time...!



Abbey Road was not their last. Let it Be was.




Cat

Abbey Road was not their last. Let it Be was.


That's correct in terms of issue Cat, but most of 'Let It Be' (barring one song) was recorded in January 1969 - however, the performances were deemed not to standard, so it was remixed twice and rejected...

Just over a year later, Phil Spector's controversial mix was released...

And sandwiched in between was 'Abbey Road' - I've never really got my head around the 'Let It Be' project, it seemed like a good idea that went horribly wrong...

The great producer George Martin once said that they could've combined Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour into a double LP. My favourite has to be "Rubber Soul" and "Abbey Road" but I also like the early stuff.

I prefer much of their later work from Rubber Soul to Let It Be. You can hear the maturity and evolution in the albums' songs. Previously, they did mostly covers and "girl this, girl that". I prefer the more adult-themed work.
Tanya

I prefer much of their later work from Rubber Soul to Let It Be.



same hear, I'm not crazy about the early stuff , favorites are Revolver, Sgt Peppers and the white one :)

I prefer much of their later work from Rubber Soul to Let It Be. You can hear the maturity and evolution in the albums' songs. Previously, they did mostly covers and "girl this, girl that". I prefer the more adult-themed work.
Tanya
Keeping in mind that Let It Be was not thier last LP recorded...Abbey Road was ;)

Keeping in mind that Let It Be was not thier last LP recorded...Abbey Road was ;)


Mark, I know that! I was doing a timeline of their released (not created) albums!!!!!

Tanya

i would have to say, as a big Beatles fan, it would be the White Album. Also good is Beatles for Sale.

Mark, I know that! I was doing a timeline of their released (not created) albums!!!!!

Tanya
;)I figured that Tanya, I was just messin' with ya :D :)

I prefer their slow ballads such as "The Long and Winding Road"  and "Something in the Way She Moves" more than their typical "8 Days A Week" "Hello Goodbye" "Help" type of music.  For me, a slow ballad has to have the right voice and the right emotion in it to be a good ballad, and the Beatles definitely had it.

Their other songs were good, don't get me wrong, but I can hear a typical Beatles Song and not really pay attention to the words.. but when I hear "The Long and Winding Road", i have to push everything else out of my mind and listen to it.

I prefer their earlier stuff too and I went with 'A Hard Days Night'

My sentimental fave though is 'Let It Be' as it is one of the very first albums I owned way back in 1970.....and I have to add that naked is better ;)

Abbey Road was undoubtedly the best produced album of the decade. And the songs just WENT together. Although where it loses points is the songs. Compared to many classic albums, there were many short and mediocre songs; and many fillers ie. Mean Mr. Mustard, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Octopus's Garden. Rubber Soul has so many great songs; before I heard Abbey Road and that Album I only knew the Beatles from their earlier songs and didn't particularly like them, but after hearing these two I really understand why the Beatles were so influential.

Although where it loses points is the songs. Compared to many classic albums, there were many short and mediocre songs; and many fillers...Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Octopus's Garden.

Without a doubt the weakest tracks on the LP - but I suppose they have their supporters...the 'medley' sequence on side 2 is (IMO) nothing short of inspirational...

Rubber Soul has so many great songs


That it does, but I do feel that EMI were 'flogging' the boys to death for the sake of getting the thing recorded and released for the big Christmas 1965 sales (most of it was recorded within one month...!), items like 'The Word'. 'What Goes On' and 'Run For Your Life' are hardly earth-shattering examples, but it has more than its fair share of good points...

My sentimental fave though is 'Let It Be' as it is one of the very first albums I owned way back in 1970.....and I have to add that naked is better ;)


Yep, Naked IS better....oh, and the CD ;D ;)

I don't own Let it Be Naked, Is it worth getting ? Let it Be isn't a favorite of mine

I don't own Let it Be Naked, Is it worth getting ? Let it Be isn't a favorite of mine
I'd be happy to send you a copy. I like it, but then again I enjoy most of thier stuff :)

I can't say either way.  Whenever I listen to an album it is my favorite, until I listen to another, then that is my favorite.  It is a vicious cycle, and I love it  ;)

I'd be happy to send you a copy. I like it, but then again I enjoy most of thier stuff :)


thanks ;) maybe I'll pick up a copy of it this weekend :)

thanks ;) maybe I'll pick up a copy of it this weekend :)
It's quite different without that murderer Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound :D

I knew a few who were disheartened by Revolver because of the orchestration.  They wanted to keep
the music "pure", but I just saw it as an evolution(revolution).  This is about the same time Dylan was booed for using an electric quitar.  There were some who just didn't like the way music was evolving, but the Beatles were more than singers and players they were musicians in every sense of the word and did not allow their creativity to be stifled, than god.  To understand that is to understand why they had to break-up and go on to other things.  I cannot imagine the horror of the Beatles touring the same way I see the Who, the Stones, etc.  I love those groups, but  come on......

Looking back, Abbey Road is probably the least consistent of the Beatles latter albums. I need not analyse each song, but it was buoyed up by George Harrison's two contributions.

Ahhh....the Beatles...my favorite British band of all time...I even like them more then the Stones. It's only too bad they were not around as a band longer.

Now let's see...my favorite albums are, in no particular order: Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, White Album and Abbey Road. In other words, I like all their later stuff. Their early stuff was okay.

My favorite songs are numerous...it would take too long to go through them all. I will just mention a few of them: Don't Let Me Down, Hey Jude, The Long and Winding Road, Michelle, Girl, Let It Be, I'll Follow the Sun, etc.

In closing I will just say, Beatles Forever!

I can't understand the veneration for 'Michelle'. To me one of the most unremarkeable Beatles' songs ever. Even 'Run For You Life' was better.

Let me see if I can remember all of them..

Please Please Me
With The Beatles/Meet The Beatles
A Hard Day's Night
Beatles For Sale
Help!
Yesterday & Today
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour
Yellow Submarine
The White Album(actually un-titled)
The Hey Jude Album(I think this was actually un-titled as well)
Abbey Road
Let It Be

'Hey Jude Album??'

I'm not aware of any studio album between The White Album and Abbey Road. Perhaps it was a bootleg?

'Hey Jude Album??'

I'm not aware of any studio album between The White Album and Abbey Road. Perhaps it was a bootleg?


No, its not a boot leg.  Its the album Hey Jude came off of, and like the "White Album" was actually untitled. The cover is the guys standing in a doorway, and Lennon is wearing a black wide-brim hat.

Hmm, correction, they are standing infront of a door which is closed.

http://earlybeatles.com/images/heyjude.jpg

earlybeatles.com/heyjude.html

side one side two
CAN'T BUY ME LOVE HEY JUDE
I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER OLD BROWN SHOE
PAPERBACK WRITER DON'T LET ME DOWN
RAIN THE BALLAD OF JOHN AND YOKO
LADY MADONNA
REVOLUTION

Oh and to remove any doubt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Jude_(album)

I was wrong on the timeline, it was released in 1970.  It was a "compilation" in a sense but at the time it was the only way to own Hey Jude on LP. I guess thats why its generally considered an album, despite that its technically supposed to be a compilation.

Was it released locationally (I mean, only in one country, such as the US, UK).etc? I've certainly never heard of it, nor seen it any US/UK discography.

It was released both in the U.S. and U.K. In the U.S. first in 1970, and then in the UK in 1976 I believe.

Why are you arguing with facts? I SHOWED you the cover. :D

And I originally saw it in a discography several years ago online when I was first really getting into the Beatles.

I always though they should have included 'Hey Jude' on the White Album. That would have cemented its position as the best album - despite its sprawling nature (I think they should also made it a single album, keeping only the best tracks like; 'Dear Prudence,' 'Back in the U.S.S.R', 'Martha, my dear,' 'Julia, 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps,' 'Blackbird'.etc.

with maybe a couple of exceptions, I think the songs on the album with Hey Jude were all the A and B side of singles not found on an album.
And I think the spine of the album cover said "The Beatles Again"

and my favorite album was Rubber Soul followed by Abbey Road

I just went and dug up the album.  The spine of the cover says BEATLES    HEY JUDE
however on the record itself, both sides have  THE BEATLES AGAIN
                                                                      THE BEATLES
at the top of the apple.


also, weren't the LPs released here in the USA slightly different from those in the UK?

I just went and dug up the album.  The spine of the cover says BEATLES    HEY JUDE
however on the record itself, both sides have  THE BEATLES AGAIN
                                                                      THE BEATLES
at the top of the apple.


also, weren't the LPs released here in the USA slightly different from those in the UK?



Indeed they were. There must've been some really clever marketing reason for that. Anyone know what that was?

Indeed they were. There must've been some really clever marketing reason for that. Anyone know what that was?


Money!

Basically it went like this...

The British LPs (up 'til 'Pepper') would normally include 14 tracks (7 per side, with the exception of 'A Hard Days Night' which had 13...)

Capitol in the States used to pull these LPs apart, only using 12 tracks (in the case of 'A Hard Day's Night' and 'Help', only seven!)

The remaining 'unused' tracks could then be thrown together with A and B sides of singles to make a completely different LP...clever, huh?

And people say the music industry 'wasn't as commercial' back then.  ::)