krista4
Footballguy
We're back! I'm not quite ready to start, but thought I'd start the thread so we can all organize ourselves, block out time on our calendars, buy lots of booze, let our families and friends know we'll be unavailable for a few months, etc. I'll let the regulars check in here for a couple of days and then @ anyone from the earlier thread that I want to make sure sees this thread!
I'm actually more excited for this thread than I had been for the first. Maybe it's a little bit of confidence gained from the nice reactions to that one, but largely I'm stoked because I suspect that most people don't know the post-Beatles stuff nearly as well as they do the Beatles songs. I know I didn't. Unlike the first thread where many people already had their favorite and most-hated selections, that's not so much the case here, and I'm positively giddy at the idea of introducing some folks to songs they might not even have heard before but find they love.
Unfortunately it's going to take a while to get to the ones I'm most excited about, since I've ended up with...checks notes...290 selections! That is after a ton on winnowing down - I could easily have had 50% more than that. Which brings me, as with the first thread, to a little about...
The Process:
Like the initial thread, this is not a list of the Beatles songs I think are “best”; it is a rank order of which songs I like the most. But unlike the first thread, this *is* a limited selection of only those songs I really like. There are others that were in my first cut that I also enjoy, but these made some arbitrary cut line in my head that makes them worthy of being shared with all of you. In that way, this is a little more fun for me as I don't have to talk about something that hurts my ears at all (I'm looking at you, "Taste of Honey").
Much like before, to put together the list, I started by, over the course of months, sitting - first with ex-Mr. krista and then later on my own - and listening to all of the albums by each former Beatle, with the exceptions I'll note in a second. I started with Paul and Flowers in the Dirt, because it's an album that had fascinated me. Then I went back to the beginning and did the rest of his albums in order. In contrast to the earlier project, this time I was smart enough to mix the non-album singles in to correspond chronologically with the albums, so as not to be jarring. Then I covered George's records, then Ringo's, then John's.
To be clear on what was evaluated, I included all studio albums for each of the lads, minus Paul's classical records as I didn't see how I could compare those. I omitted all live albums, compilations, etc., but did include any live tracks that were released as singles (not many). I also excluded any songs where a Beatle was covering a Beatles song, as Ringo has a tendency to do or as Paul did in most of Give My Regards to Broad Street. I did include any significant collaborations such as the Traveling Wilburys, the fireman, etc., and any one-off collaborative singles that weren't on the relevant Beatle's albums. I also included any less significant collaborations or songs that weren't released as singles in situations where I damn well wanted to. Arbitrary and final.
I made separate notes and initial lists for each of the Beatles, then listened to their individual playlists an embarrassing number of times, continuing to delete and add and re-order. Recently I found a song on my George list that didn't exist, apparently, as I couldn't find any record of it anywhere. What's worse is that it was ranked over about a dozen other songs. So I corrected any weird crap on the lists and, once I felt reasonably comfortable, melded them together, first Paul/George, then added a sprinkle of Ringo, then a smattering of John.
As before, what I’ll be posting is not an argument that a particular song is objectively better than another; it’s just what I like best. And also as before, when I couldn’t decide on an order, I’d ask myself which song I’d rather hear if I could only hear one of them again for the rest of my life.
The Result:
The final list of 290 comprises 141 Paul songs, 71 from George, 49.5 John, and 29 Ringo. Two albums have each of their songs represented on my list, if you consider All Things Must Pass to include just the "real" songs on the first two records and not the jams and stuff on the third. Since I've essentially given one of them away, you can feel free to guess which album is the other lucky winner.
As usual, the caveats:
1. A note about fan favorite ex-Mr. krista: as most of you know, we were divorced in June. However, before that, he had participated in the listening of most of Paul's albums, so I have extensive notes and will still be including him in many write-ups, or in interludes where I post some of his best reactions. In addition, on a trip in late July I made him listen to my George selections as a little sanity check for me, and I have some milder input from that. To avoid the awkward "ex-Mr. krista" designation, I'll refer to him in the thread as "OH" for his screenname Oliver Humanzee.
2. Ringo has few songs represented, and those that he has are verrrrrry bottom-heavy, with only four selections in the top 100. Despite that, this remains a very Ringo-friendly environment, and bouncers will be waiting at the door not only to ensure you're wearing your masks, but to remove forcibly anyone who doesn't adhere to our pro-Ringo sentiment.
LET'S DO THIS THING!
ETA: Spotify playlist in order, with 14 non-Spotify songs missing.
I'm actually more excited for this thread than I had been for the first. Maybe it's a little bit of confidence gained from the nice reactions to that one, but largely I'm stoked because I suspect that most people don't know the post-Beatles stuff nearly as well as they do the Beatles songs. I know I didn't. Unlike the first thread where many people already had their favorite and most-hated selections, that's not so much the case here, and I'm positively giddy at the idea of introducing some folks to songs they might not even have heard before but find they love.
Unfortunately it's going to take a while to get to the ones I'm most excited about, since I've ended up with...checks notes...290 selections! That is after a ton on winnowing down - I could easily have had 50% more than that. Which brings me, as with the first thread, to a little about...
The Process:
Like the initial thread, this is not a list of the Beatles songs I think are “best”; it is a rank order of which songs I like the most. But unlike the first thread, this *is* a limited selection of only those songs I really like. There are others that were in my first cut that I also enjoy, but these made some arbitrary cut line in my head that makes them worthy of being shared with all of you. In that way, this is a little more fun for me as I don't have to talk about something that hurts my ears at all (I'm looking at you, "Taste of Honey").
Much like before, to put together the list, I started by, over the course of months, sitting - first with ex-Mr. krista and then later on my own - and listening to all of the albums by each former Beatle, with the exceptions I'll note in a second. I started with Paul and Flowers in the Dirt, because it's an album that had fascinated me. Then I went back to the beginning and did the rest of his albums in order. In contrast to the earlier project, this time I was smart enough to mix the non-album singles in to correspond chronologically with the albums, so as not to be jarring. Then I covered George's records, then Ringo's, then John's.
To be clear on what was evaluated, I included all studio albums for each of the lads, minus Paul's classical records as I didn't see how I could compare those. I omitted all live albums, compilations, etc., but did include any live tracks that were released as singles (not many). I also excluded any songs where a Beatle was covering a Beatles song, as Ringo has a tendency to do or as Paul did in most of Give My Regards to Broad Street. I did include any significant collaborations such as the Traveling Wilburys, the fireman, etc., and any one-off collaborative singles that weren't on the relevant Beatle's albums. I also included any less significant collaborations or songs that weren't released as singles in situations where I damn well wanted to. Arbitrary and final.
I made separate notes and initial lists for each of the Beatles, then listened to their individual playlists an embarrassing number of times, continuing to delete and add and re-order. Recently I found a song on my George list that didn't exist, apparently, as I couldn't find any record of it anywhere. What's worse is that it was ranked over about a dozen other songs. So I corrected any weird crap on the lists and, once I felt reasonably comfortable, melded them together, first Paul/George, then added a sprinkle of Ringo, then a smattering of John.
As before, what I’ll be posting is not an argument that a particular song is objectively better than another; it’s just what I like best. And also as before, when I couldn’t decide on an order, I’d ask myself which song I’d rather hear if I could only hear one of them again for the rest of my life.
The Result:
The final list of 290 comprises 141 Paul songs, 71 from George, 49.5 John, and 29 Ringo. Two albums have each of their songs represented on my list, if you consider All Things Must Pass to include just the "real" songs on the first two records and not the jams and stuff on the third. Since I've essentially given one of them away, you can feel free to guess which album is the other lucky winner.
As usual, the caveats:
1. A note about fan favorite ex-Mr. krista: as most of you know, we were divorced in June. However, before that, he had participated in the listening of most of Paul's albums, so I have extensive notes and will still be including him in many write-ups, or in interludes where I post some of his best reactions. In addition, on a trip in late July I made him listen to my George selections as a little sanity check for me, and I have some milder input from that. To avoid the awkward "ex-Mr. krista" designation, I'll refer to him in the thread as "OH" for his screenname Oliver Humanzee.
2. Ringo has few songs represented, and those that he has are verrrrrry bottom-heavy, with only four selections in the top 100. Despite that, this remains a very Ringo-friendly environment, and bouncers will be waiting at the door not only to ensure you're wearing your masks, but to remove forcibly anyone who doesn't adhere to our pro-Ringo sentiment.
LET'S DO THIS THING!
ETA: Spotify playlist in order, with 14 non-Spotify songs missing.
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...should be an interesting excursion with much more discovery ahead.
but still intend on doing so, then will hit up this one. Thanks for the tag, k!
