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Ranking the Beatles albums 12-1 (1 Viewer)

#8 Help!

The thinking, generally, is that sometime around 1965, the Beatles stopped being the “lovable mop headed” Beatles and started to be taken more seriously.  I’m not saying I agree with that as I clearly think they were revolutionary the entire time.  I wasn’t around then, so I don’t know that I can comment on what people’s attitudes were then, but in general, the album that is seen as the Beatles beginning that transformation is 1965’s Help. 

The Beatles followed the same formula as their first movie soundtrack and they put the movie songs on the 1st side of the LP and the other songs that were written in those sessions onto the 2nd side of the LP. 

As with the other albums pre Revolver, the Beatles were under tremendous pressure to come up with an albums worth of songs, and they did it.  In fact, 12 of the 14 songs were originals with only two covers, Act Naturally by Ringo and Dizzy Miss Lizzy by John, which is one of his weaker album closers up until now, IMO.  Not bad, but not in the same stratosphere as Twist and Shout or Money.  Ringo’s voice works well with Country and Western, so I like the cover of Act Naturally by Buck Owens very much.  Plus, it’s kind of cool that they were poking fun a bit at Ringo’s positive reviews from A Hard Day’s Night.  Ringo often said he wasn’t acting in his big scene in that movie, he just “felt like ####.”  Anyway, it’s a good vehicle for Ringo’s voice and it fits with his personality.

The rest of the album is filled with strong songs, especially from John who I think was peaking during this period.  A legit cry for Help in the title track with great guitars and great harmonies.  The Dylan inspired You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away with John baring his soul.  Ticket To Ride with thunderous drums and fuzzed lead guitar (Paul) with that great thing at the end which is almost a different song (“my baby don’t care…..”).  As for Paul, he found time to write a little song which is only the most recorded song in the history of music in Yesterday.  Paul with the great vocal and acoustic guitar and George Martin putting some tasteful strings to give it that final master stroke.  Brilliant piece of music.  I also very much like I’ve Just Seen A Face, another Paul song which is very folkish.  Great acoustic guitars and harmonies.

As far as ones under the radar, You’re Gonna Lose That Girl is almost like a more mature version of She Loves You, you know, if you don’t treat that girl right, I’m gonna take her from you.  I just love the atmosphere of it.  Love the vocals.  Love the harmonies.  Love everything about it.    I also like I Need You by George.  George’s songwriting is improving and this is his best up until now.  He got a hold of an early wah-wah pedal and he uses it for the song.  I also love Another Girl with Paul playing lead guitar.  Paul has a distinct style, you could almost say he has the same style every time he plays lead with the Beatles and for some songs it works well, this is an example.

There really isn’t much bad to say about this album.  It’s a classic.  I’m not sure there are any bad songs on it.  They are clearly starting to use more musical textures, like the electric piano on Tell Me What You See and the string quartet on Yesterday.  I can find something good to say about every song on the album.  Only the brilliance that comes after it makes it look not as good as it might otherwise.  For almost any other artist, this is their masterpiece.  The fact that the Beatles topped it several times in the next 5 years of their career is nothing short of astonishing.  

Note: other than Maggie Mae during Let It Be, this is the last time the Beatles release an album with cover songs on it. And them standing on the front cover holding up their hands was supposed to spell “Help”, but it didn’t look right, so it ended up being “NUVJ”, not a catchy name for a film or for an album

Track Listing

  1. Help - John
  2. The Night Before - Paul
  3. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away - John
  4. I Need You - George
  5. Another Girl - Paul
  6. You’re Gonna Lose That Girl - John
  7. Ticket To Ride - John
  8. Act Naturally - Ringo
  9. It’s Only Love - John
  10. You Like Me Too Much - George
  11. Tell Me What You See - Paul
  12. I’ve Just Seen A Face - Paul
  13. Yesterday _ Paul
  14. Dizzy Miss Lizzy - John


Next.....kind of already blew the surprise

 
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#7 Beatles For Sale

I said quite a bit about Beatles For Sale above so this one will probably be shorter than the others.  Once again, 8 originals and 6 covers.  Time constraints made it difficult to come up with an entire album of originals for this one.  

I love all but one of the covers.  How Mr Moonlight got on this album over Leave My Kitten Alone (look it up!!!, it's on Anthology 1), I will never know, but I’m not a Beatle.  So whatever.  The other covers are my favorite of any of the early albums.  Their one and only Buddy Holly cover Words of Love, which is great, two Carl Perkins covers in Honey Don’t (Ringo) and Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby (George).  The band were huge fans of both artists so how they waited so long to cover these I don’t know, but they fit the overall acoustic/country feel of the album very well.  John and Paul both screaming their hearts out on Rock and Roll Music and Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey respectively are fabulous.  All of the more light hearted moments on the album come from these covers.

The originals, on the other hand all, either by lyric or by mood express what was going on at the time.  The classic front cover of the Beatles “done” with all this crap comes through in the songs.  No Reply, rejection.  I’m a Loser , self loathing, Baby’s In Black, depressing, I’ll Follow the Sun, leaving, I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party, drunken heartbreak, What You’re Doing, betrayal.  Every Little Thing is a love song, but it sounds a lot more somber.  The only original that really is kind upbeat is Eight Days A Week.

Closet classics are everywhere for me.  I especially like Every Little Thing with the timpani drum and the vocal and the wound up piano/guitar solo.  Love the guitars on What You’re Doing, which sound like the Byrds, who sound like the Beatles, so it’s great.  Love the linking of the subject matter with what was going on in the band in Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby.  Probably a message there.  Love the acoustic guitars on I’ll Follow The Sun, which is amazing that this was a very old song that Paul didn’t think was good enough to record until late 1964. 

You know why I like it.  Give it another listen.  Other than Mr Moonlight, I love every song on this album and I love the mood of it, even if the songs are inferior to Help. And, it has the BEST stereo mix of any Beatles album probably up until the White Album.

Track Listing

  1. No Reply - John
  2. I’m A Loser - John
  3. Baby’s In Black - John and Paul
  4. Rock and Roll Music - John
  5. I’ll Follow The Sun - Paul
  6. Mr Moonlight - John
  7. Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey - Paul
  8. Eight Days A Week - John and Paul
  9. Words of Love - John and Paul
  10. Honey Don’t - Ringo
  11. Every Little Thing - John and Paul
  12. I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party - John and Paul
  13. What You’re Doing - Paul
  14. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby - George


Next....Final 6.  Top tier

 
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Help! is my favorite Beatles album and I kinda like Mr. Moonlight.

I feel personally attacked right now

:lmao:
LOL!!  I lover John's vocal on Mr Moonlight.  Not a big fan really of anything else.  I guess Leave My Kitten Alone was a rocker like Kansas City and Rock and Roll Music so they wanted something different....It's not like I skip the song or anything, but it's always been the fly in the ointment for me. Sticks out like a sore thumb on what is otherwise a great album.  Then again, a lot of people don't think Beatles For Sale is a great album, so there's that

As far as Help, I struggled with where to place it.  I have never had it in my top 6, but I struggled between it and Beatles For Sale because Help has stronger material overall, but I love the mood of Beatles For Sale.  It was a coin flip.  

One of the things I'm looking forward to after I'm done is people posting their list so I can see how it differs from mine...

Thanks for reading!!!!

 
Gonna need some royalties here, bud.

I woke up with “Hold Me Tight” playing in my head this morning, and then happily heard it come up on the Beatles channel later.

My sleeper from this album, and again not knowing where I ranked it before KNOW it was too low, is All I’ve Got To Do.  Sexy sexy sexy John vocal that gets me.  Terrific phrasing.  Hits me in all the right spots.
Yeah, I've always liked it too.  I am in the process of reading your list and I see you don't like Not A Second Time as much as I do.

Tomato-Tom-ah-to.....Music is subjective that's why it's fun to talk about, IMO

As far as royalties, the check is in the mail

 
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Help! is my favorite Beatles album and I kinda like Mr. Moonlight.

I feel personally attacked right now

:lmao:
Help! is my 3rd favorite.  It’s interesting to see these shaking out for Guido...I knew he was a Beatles expert but didn’t have any idea of his preferences, so it’s a fun exercise to guess what might come next.  I’ve been way off on my guesses, though!  Eager to see how the rest go.

 
Yeah, I've always liked it too.  I am in the process of reading your list and I see you don't like Not A Second Time as much as I do.

Tomato-Tom-ah-to.....Music is subjective that's why it's fun to talk about, IMO
Exactly.  It’s very fun.  I like reading about why someone appreciates Not A Second Time, for instance, as it will give me a new way to listen to it.

And though it’s subjective, since it’s The Beatles there are no wrong answers anyway.

 
And though it’s subjective, since it’s The Beatles there are no wrong answers anyway.
Yeah, this is the perspective I’ve arrived at over time too.  The Beatles, for me, are like donuts.  Some are better than others, purely based on personal preference, but almost all donuts are worth eating.  Especially the two that I ate for breakfast while listening to Beatles songs today!   (There was a simple glazed that could best be described as “A Taste of Honey”.....except I enjoyed the donut)

 
Yeah, this is the perspective I’ve arrived at over time too.  The Beatles, for me, are like donuts.  Some are better than others, purely based on personal preference, but almost all donuts are worth eating.  Especially the two that I ate for breakfast while listening to Beatles songs today!   (There was a simple glazed that could best be described as “A Taste of Honey”.....except I enjoyed the donut)
I love a simple glazed!  Top tier donut for me.  Can’t say the same for A Taste of Honey.

 
Yeah, this is the perspective I’ve arrived at over time too.  The Beatles, for me, are like donuts.  Some are better than others, purely based on personal preference, but almost all donuts are worth eating.  Especially the two that I ate for breakfast while listening to Beatles songs today!   (There was a simple glazed that could best be described as “A Taste of Honey”.....except I enjoyed the donut)
Mmmmm....donuts 

 
Help! is my favorite Beatles album and I kinda like Mr. Moonlight.

I feel personally attacked right now

:lmao:
Help! is my first or second favorite  album.   Every song is strong and a few of the songs are some of their best work.  Beatles for Sale is one of my least favorite.  

 
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Track Listing

  1. Help - John
  2. The Night Before - Paul
  3. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away - John
  4. I Need You - George
  5. Another Girl - Paul
  6. You’re Gonna Lose That Girl - John
  7. Ticket To Ride - John
  8. Act Naturally - Ringo
  9. It’s Only Love - John
  10. You Like Me Too Much - George
  11. Tell Me What You See - Paul
  12. I’ve Just Seen A Face - Paul
  13. Yesterday _ Paul
  14. Dizzy Miss Lizzy - John
What a testament to their output that this could be (whether arguable or not) a band's 8th best album.

 
#6 The Beatles

The most famous double album of them all.  Quickly dubbed “The White Album” because of its white cover, this album was meant to the be antithesis of Sgt Pepper and it was.  Pepper was put together, the White Album was a mess.  Pepper was colorful, the White Album was dark.  Pepper was high fidelity, the White Album was raw.

The Beatles got back from India in 1968 and decided to make an album.  With Brian Epstein having died the year before, suddenly the Beatles were cast in the unfamiliar position of having to play business man.  Before, their only job was to make music and “be Beatles.”  Now, business disagreements found their way into the studio and their was tension.  George described the sessions for the White Album as the “rot beginning to set in.” 

Their time in India resulted in them having A LOT of songs.  The decision was made, therefore, to record them all and put them on an album together.  Since there were so many, this resulted in a double album.  Just to get this out of the way, I DO NOT think that it should have been one single album.  That’s a common exercise among Beatles fans and it’s fun to speculate, but the fact is, there are too many really good songs to make one single album.  Yeah, you could trim several, but that’s STILL too much for a single album.  I’d actually be more for putting other White Album era songs on the album instead.  Wild Honey Pie is crap and Sour Milk Sea would have been a much better choice, for example. Also, the reason why the album is loved is because of it’s uniqueness as a double album in their catalogue.  In many ways, the Beatles set the stage for many double albums in the future.  They would mostly all be kind of messy, diverse sets of music.  BTW, on the remixes of the White Album in 2018, the Esher Demos were released.  Well worth a listen as the Beatles went through most of the songs for the White Album in demo form before recording the album.  It’s almost like having “The White Album, Unplugged.”  Good stuff.

As krista kind of hit early in her Beatles song rankings, the White Album has some less than excellent songs.  Revolution #9 and Wild Honey Pie aren’t even “songs” per se.  Wild Honey Pie is, at least, short.  Revolution #9 is too long and a kind of sound collage.  Not a big fan of Piggies either with all the snorting.  It’s the only one of the 4 George Harrison songs on this album that I don’t love.  Honey Pie is another Paul 20s style jazzy number.  Like the guitar, but not sure why Paul needs another one of these.  Rocky Raccoon sounds unfinished and not that great anyway, but it’s passable.

The other issue I have with the album is that it almost sounds like each of the Beatles first solo album.  Not nearly as many harmonies as is typical on a Beatles release.  Like each of them are using the others as a backup band.

Despite these minor complaints, the fact is, there are A LOT of good songs on this album.  I want to say I read an article that claims that a poll taken of Beatles fans consistently puts the White Album at the top of the list as fans favorite album.    That really doesn’t surprise me because the album has something for everyone.  The music is so diverse as to not be believable.  Jazz, rock, country, blues, spirituals, psychedelic, acid rock, avant guard, photo metal, reggae, folk…….it has it all.  The sound is definitely more raw than Sgt Pepper, but that was the point.  To be a departure from Pepper.  Even the white cover was supposed to be the opposite of the colorful Pepper cover.

The more well known tracks like Back In The USSR, Helter Skelter, Ob la Di Ob la Da, Birthday, Blackbird and the FANTASTIC While My Guitar Gently Weeps featuring Eric Clapton on lead guitar keep the album moving, but there are so many great lesser known tracks.  I’m So Tired, Dear Prudence, Glass Onion, Mother Nature’s Son, Sexy Sadie, and Savoy Truffle, among others.  

Some lesser known tracks that I really like are Long Long Long, which might be George’s first song about God (the 2018 mix really did wonders for this song, you can now hear it).  I love the gentleness of the song.  Love the lyrics.  Love George’s voice.  Happiness Is A Warm Gun by John is another great one.  Like 3 songs in one.  Dark mood is great, great John vocal, and some harmonies on this one.  I also really like Paul’s I Will.  Great guitar.  Great vocal.  Classic McCartney.  And John’s song to his mother Julia is fantastic.  Great guitar playing, lyrics and vocals.

Overall, this is yet again, another Beatles masterpiece.  Yeah, it’s messy and flawed, but it works because that’s what it’s supposed to be.  As Paul said, “It’s great….It’s the bloody Beatles White Album….It sold.”

  1. Back In The USSR - Paul
  2. Dear Prudence - John
  3. Glass Onion - John
  4. Ob La Di, Ob La Da - Paul
  5. Wild Honey Pie - Paul
  6. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill - John
  7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps - George
  8. Happiness Is A Warm Gun - John
  9. Martha My Dear - Paul
  10. I’m So Tired - John
  11. Blackbird - Paul
  12. Piggies - George
  13. Rocky Raccoon - Paul
  14. Don’t Pass Me By - Ringo
  15. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? - Paul
  16. I Will - Paul
  17. Julia - John
  18. Birthday - Paul
  19. Yer Blues - John
  20. Mother Nature’s Son - Paul
  21. Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey - John
  22. Sexy Sadie - John
  23. Helter Skelter - Paul
  24. Long Long Long - George
  25. Revolution 1 - John
  26. Honey Pie - Paul
  27. Savoy Truffle - George
  28. Cry Baby Cry - John
  29. Revolution 9 - no vocals, but a John song
  30. Good Night - Ringo
 
Guido Merkins said:
#6 The Beatles

The most famous double album of them all.  Quickly dubbed “The White Album” because of its white cover, this album was meant to the be antithesis of Sgt Pepper and it was.  Pepper was put together, the White Album was a mess.  Pepper was colorful, the White Album was dark.  Pepper was high fidelity, the White Album was raw.

The Beatles got back from India in 1968 and decided to make an album.  With Brian Epstein having died the year before, suddenly the Beatles were cast in the unfamiliar position of having to play business man.  Before, their only job was to make music and “be Beatles.”  Now, business disagreements found their way into the studio and their was tension.  George described the sessions for the White Album as the “rot beginning to set in.” 

Their time in India resulted in them having A LOT of songs.  The decision was made, therefore, to record them all and put them on an album together.  Since there were so many, this resulted in a double album.  Just to get this out of the way, I DO NOT think that it should have been one single album.  That’s a common exercise among Beatles fans and it’s fun to speculate, but the fact is, there are too many really good songs to make one single album.  Yeah, you could trim several, but that’s STILL too much for a single album.  I’d actually be more for putting other White Album era songs on the album instead.  Wild Honey Pie is crap and Sour Milk Sea would have been a much better choice, for example. Also, the reason why the album is loved is because of it’s uniqueness as a double album in their catalogue.  In many ways, the Beatles set the stage for many double albums in the future.  They would mostly all be kind of messy, diverse sets of music.  BTW, on the remixes of the White Album in 2018, the Esher Demos were released.  Well worth a listen as the Beatles went through most of the songs for the White Album in demo form before recording the album.  It’s almost like having “The White Album, Unplugged.”  Good stuff.

As krista kind of hit early in her Beatles song rankings, the White Album has some less than excellent songs.  Revolution #9 and Wild Honey Pie aren’t even “songs” per se.  Wild Honey Pie is, at least, short.  Revolution #9 is too long and a kind of sound collage.  Not a big fan of Piggies either with all the snorting.  It’s the only one of the 4 George Harrison songs on this album that I don’t love.  Honey Pie is another Paul 20s style jazzy number.  Like the guitar, but not sure why Paul needs another one of these.  Rocky Raccoon sounds unfinished and not that great anyway, but it’s passable.

The other issue I have with the album is that it almost sounds like each of the Beatles first solo album.  Not nearly as many harmonies as is typical on a Beatles release.  Like each of them are using the others as a backup band.

Despite these minor complaints, the fact is, there are A LOT of good songs on this album.  I want to say I read an article that claims that a poll taken of Beatles fans consistently puts the White Album at the top of the list as fans favorite album.    That really doesn’t surprise me because the album has something for everyone.  The music is so diverse as to not be believable.  Jazz, rock, country, blues, spirituals, psychedelic, acid rock, avant guard, photo metal, reggae, folk…….it has it all.  The sound is definitely more raw than Sgt Pepper, but that was the point.  To be a departure from Pepper.  Even the white cover was supposed to be the opposite of the colorful Pepper cover.

The more well known tracks like Back In The USSR, Helter Skelter, Ob la Di Ob la Da, Birthday, Blackbird and the FANTASTIC While My Guitar Gently Weeps featuring Eric Clapton on lead guitar keep the album moving, but there are so many great lesser known tracks.  I’m So Tired, Dear Prudence, Glass Onion, Mother Nature’s Son, Sexy Sadie, and Savoy Truffle, among others.  

Some lesser known tracks that I really like are Long Long Long, which might be George’s first song about God (the 2018 mix really did wonders for this song, you can now hear it).  I love the gentleness of the song.  Love the lyrics.  Love George’s voice.  Happiness Is A Warm Gun by John is another great one.  Like 3 songs in one.  Dark mood is great, great John vocal, and some harmonies on this one.  I also really like Paul’s I Will.  Great guitar.  Great vocal.  Classic McCartney.  And John’s song to his mother Julia is fantastic.  Great guitar playing, lyrics and vocals.

Overall, this is yet again, another Beatles masterpiece.  Yeah, it’s messy and flawed, but it works because that’s what it’s supposed to be.  As Paul said, “It’s great….It’s the bloody Beatles White Album….It sold.”

  1. Back In The USSR - Paul
  2. Dear Prudence - John
  3. Glass Onion - John
  4. Ob La Di, Ob La Da - Paul
  5. Wild Honey Pie - Paul
  6. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill - John
  7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps - George
  8. Happiness Is A Warm Gun - John
  9. Martha My Dear - Paul
  10. I’m So Tired - John
  11. Blackbird - Paul
  12. Piggies - George
  13. Rocky Raccoon - Paul
  14. Don’t Pass Me By - Ringo
  15. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? - Paul
  16. I Will - Paul
  17. Julia - John
  18. Birthday - Paul
  19. Yer Blues - John
  20. Mother Nature’s Son - Paul
  21. Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey - John
  22. Sexy Sadie - John
  23. Helter Skelter - Paul
  24. Long Long Long - George
  25. Revolution 1 - John
  26. Honey Pie - Paul
  27. Savoy Truffle - George
  28. Cry Baby Cry - John
  29. Revolution 9 - no vocals, but a John song
  30. Good Night - Ringo
Quantity unfortunately doesn't equal quality as this album demonstrates. Their other albums are so great, my standards and expectations are probably too high for this one. But it has too many dull songs like Glass Onion, Rocky Raccoon, Sexy Sadie, Mother Nature's Son and outright bad songs - Wild Honey Pie and Don't Pass Me By.

It feels like a chore just to get to the better songs, which never happens with their other albums.

The highlight for me is hearing George finally get involved with the great While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

 
Quantity unfortunately doesn't equal quality as this album demonstrates. Their other albums are so great, my standards and expectations are probably too high for this one. But it has too many dull songs like Glass Onion, Rocky Raccoon, Sexy Sadie, Mother Nature's Son and outright bad songs - Wild Honey Pie and Don't Pass Me By.

It feels like a chore just to get to the better songs, which never happens with their other albums.

The highlight for me is hearing George finally get involved with the great While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
There are really two songs that I absolutely don't like.  Wild Honey Pie and Revolution 9.  Wild Honey Pie is short so I don't bother to skip it.  Revolution 9 is way too long.  If it was 2 minutes long it would be really bad, but tolerable.  Some of the others aren't great or anything and are filler like so much of the Beatles catalogue are not, but they are OK with me because it makes the album unique.  So I am a fan of the album, but not maybe as much as some of their others.  

But there is enough great material on this album that it absolutely belongs in the top half of my rankings.

Note: Apparently Wild Honey Pie wouldn't be on the album at all if Patti Harrison didn't like it.  She liked it, so they decided to leave it on.  At least that's what Paul says.....

 
I have no qualms with where you're ranking things, although our opinions have diverged.  While there are probably only 5 songs on the White Album that I actively dislike, and another 5 or so that I could take or leave, it does have some really good stuff.  But it would be below both Beatles for Sale and Help, which is top-tier for me.  And part of what drops The White Album for me is exactly what you said:  the group dynamic isn't there as much.  Fewer harmonies, fewer co-writing of songs.  It's the beginning of solo era work.  

 
White Album is stand-alone no matter what anyone says about it. The Beatles are the only band with enough song germs in the hold to make an album about making albums. As i said in a krista4thread™ about the upcoming PJackson movie about the Get Back sessions:

nothing like it, kids. to sit around....a buncha folks and their notions & processes & closeness to the ether & closeness to each other & axes to wail on & axes to grind & armcandies & issues & loads they got on turn thin air into fat, ####in' sounds and form them into little epics & archetypes that can live in the hearts of strangers forever........ only thing better than watching it is doing it. "Hasta la vista, baby" is nowhere near as exciting as "Play that again". can't wait -
making something out of nothing is better than sex. making a recorded song from a notion is pure Tom Brady, and he cant do it. entrusting a phrase and a riff and and as-yet unexorcized particles of creative hope to a bunch of folks who will make their additions/subtractions/multiplications to it with each their skills separate and worthy of the idea is like making weather by hand. it's godly no matter how it finishes, cuz it NEVER finishes perfect. nobody hears their song for the "classic" it is for millions of ears - they hear the mistakes and opportunities missed. for the writer/recorder it's only about the idea & the trust & the work.

i have a song, called "Not For Prophet" that i been writing on for ten years. i ain't been working on it for that long cuz i expect it to be a masterpiece. it's a funny notion about my odd & lucky style mackin' the ladies. the most singular thing about it is that it turns the word "why" into a musical note which is hidden in as many as possible places as can be conceived. i have added so many flourishes to it over the years that it has more hooks than today's entire Top 40. why do i continue to refine it when i can't get collaboration/studio time, stuck here in my frozen tomb, on my songs that i KNOW will work?! BECAUSE i know it will never see the light of day - it is the musical Picture of Dorian Gray for my song id.

like a patient coming out of a therapy session, the Beatles must have come home from India feeling raw & honest. they decided to give their fans the greatest gift they could, understanding that, as Beatles, taking a dump could be considered an art installation. they let the world see the attics of their creative minds without tidying up first. Housemother George Martin would make sure everything was seen from the best angle, so they could just let go. there are better, tighter, more inspired Beatle albums. but The Beatles will always be their greatest, because they were the only band whose flushmissiles could be taken seriously

 
White Album is stand-alone no matter what anyone says about it. The Beatles are the only band with enough song germs in the hold to make an album about making albums. As i said in a krista4thread™ about the upcoming PJackson movie about the Get Back sessions:

making something out of nothing is better than sex. making a recorded song from a notion is pure Tom Brady, and he cant do it. entrusting a phrase and a riff and and as-yet unexorcized particles of creative hope to a bunch of folks who will make their additions/subtractions/multiplications to it with each their skills separate and worthy of the idea is like making weather by hand. it's godly no matter how it finishes, cuz it NEVER finishes perfect. nobody hears their song for the "classic" it is for millions of ears - they hear the mistakes and opportunities missed. for the writer/recorder it's only about the idea & the trust & the work.

i have a song, called "Not For Prophet" that i been writing on for ten years. i ain't been working on it for that long cuz i expect it to be a masterpiece. it's a funny notion about my odd & lucky style mackin' the ladies. the most singular thing about it is that it turns the word "why" into a musical note which is hidden in as many as possible places as can be conceived. i have added so many flourishes to it over the years that it has more hooks than today's entire Top 40. why do i continue to refine it when i can't get collaboration/studio time, stuck here in my frozen tomb, on my songs that i KNOW will work?! BECAUSE i know it will never see the light of day - it is the musical Picture of Dorian Gray for my song id.

like a patient coming out of a therapy session, the Beatles must have come home from India feeling raw & honest. they decided to give their fans the greatest gift they could, understanding that, as Beatles, taking a dump could be considered an art installation. they let the world see the attics of their creative minds without tidying up first. Housemother George Martin would make sure everything was seen from the best angle, so they could just let go. there are better, tighter, more inspired Beatle albums. but The Beatles will always be their greatest, because they were the only band whose flushmissiles could be taken seriously
This is why I've NEVER been a fan of the "let's boil this down to a single album" because if they had done that, it would just be an inferior Revolver.  Because they decided to just release it all, they made something unique in their catalogue and set the bar for every bloated, messy double album in the future.

I could do without several of the songs on the album, but even if I could wave a magic wand and make them disappear, I wouldn't.  I would probably only make Revolution 9 shorter.  Just a taste of wackiness instead of full blown wackiness.  Just leave it alone.

Having said that, i still have 5 albums that I like better because they are more focused and more the work of a band instead of 4 solo artists.....

 
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I would take Please Please Me easily over the vastly inconsistent White Album.
I've always had a problem with a lot of double albums. Chop that bloated beast to a single album and then you really have something. Leftovers could be used as b-sides or carry over to the next album (Let It Be might have used a little bit of help). But yes, this early album was very solid.

 
I've always had a problem with a lot of double albums. Chop that bloated beast to a single album and then you really have something. Leftovers could be used as b-sides or carry over to the next album (Let It Be might have used a little bit of help). But yes, this early album was very solid.
I am the opposite, I find that most of the time - after repeated listens ...I generally like most of the lesser known tunes better.

This goes for Beatles and most of my other "albums."  

I don't love Rocky Racoon - but a big fan of Glass Onion, Savoy Truffle, Mother Nature's Son, Sexy Sadie ...

Revolution No. 9 isn't terribly enjoyable but I don't really it was supposed to be.  

 
I am the opposite, I find that most of the time - after repeated listens ...I generally like most of the lesser known tunes better.

This goes for Beatles and most of my other "albums."  
"a big fan of Glass Onion, Savoy Truffle"

I would actually keep those 2 on my 15 song version. A couple of better known ones might get cut.

 
#8 Help!

The thinking, generally, is that sometime around 1965, the Beatles stopped being the “lovable mop headed” Beatles and started to be taken more seriously.  I’m not saying I agree with that as I clearly think they were revolutionary the entire time.  I wasn’t around then, so I don’t know that I can comment on what people’s attitudes were then, but in general, the album that is seen as the Beatles beginning that transformation is 1965’s Help. 

The Beatles followed the same formula as their first movie soundtrack and they put the movie songs on the 1st side of the LP and the other songs that were written in those sessions onto the 2nd side of the LP. 

As with the other albums pre Revolver, the Beatles were under tremendous pressure to come up with an albums worth of songs, and they did it.  In fact, 12 of the 14 songs were originals with only two covers, Act Naturally by Ringo and Dizzy Miss Lizzy by John, which is one of his weaker album closers up until now, IMO.  Not bad, but not in the same stratosphere as Twist and Shout or Money.  Ringo’s voice works well with Country and Western, so I like the cover of Act Naturally by Buck Owens very much.  Plus, it’s kind of cool that they were poking fun a bit at Ringo’s positive reviews from A Hard Day’s Night.  Ringo often said he wasn’t acting in his big scene in that movie, he just “felt like ####.”  Anyway, it’s a good vehicle for Ringo’s voice and it fits with his personality.

The rest of the album is filled with strong songs, especially from John who I think was peaking during this period.  A legit cry for Help in the title track with great guitars and great harmonies.  The Dylan inspired You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away with John baring his soul.  Ticket To Ride with thunderous drums and fuzzed lead guitar (Paul) with that great thing at the end which is almost a different song (“my baby don’t care…..”).  As for Paul, he found time to write a little song which is only the most recorded song in the history of music in Yesterday.  Paul with the great vocal and acoustic guitar and George Martin putting some tasteful strings to give it that final master stroke.  Brilliant piece of music.  I also very much like I’ve Just Seen A Face, another Paul song which is very folkish.  Great acoustic guitars and harmonies.

As far as ones under the radar, You’re Gonna Lose That Girl is almost like a more mature version of She Loves You, you know, if you don’t treat that girl right, I’m gonna take her from you.  I just love the atmosphere of it.  Love the vocals.  Love the harmonies.  Love everything about it.    I also like I Need You by George.  George’s songwriting is improving and this is his best up until now.  He got a hold of an early wah-wah pedal and he uses it for the song.  I also love Another Girl with Paul playing lead guitar.  Paul has a distinct style, you could almost say he has the same style every time he plays lead with the Beatles and for some songs it works well, this is an example.

There really isn’t much bad to say about this album.  It’s a classic.  I’m not sure there are any bad songs on it.  They are clearly starting to use more musical textures, like the electric piano on Tell Me What You See and the string quartet on Yesterday.  I can find something good to say about every song on the album.  Only the brilliance that comes after it makes it look not as good as it might otherwise.  For almost any other artist, this is their masterpiece.  The fact that the Beatles topped it several times in the next 5 years of their career is nothing short of astonishing.  

Note: other than Maggie Mae during Let It Be, this is the last time the Beatles release an album with cover songs on it. And them standing on the front cover holding up their hands was supposed to spell “Help”, but it didn’t look right, so it ended up being “NUVJ”, not a catchy name for a film or for an album

Track Listing

  1. Help - John
  2. The Night Before - Paul
  3. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away - John
  4. I Need You - George
  5. Another Girl - Paul
  6. You’re Gonna Lose That Girl - John
  7. Ticket To Ride - John
  8. Act Naturally - Ringo
  9. It’s Only Love - John
  10. You Like Me Too Much - George
  11. Tell Me What You See - Paul
  12. I’ve Just Seen A Face - Paul
  13. Yesterday _ Paul
  14. Dizzy Miss Lizzy - John


Next.....kind of already blew the surprise
Certainly a strong showing by John but Paul songs here are great.

 
Help! is my favorite Beatles album and I kinda like Mr. Moonlight.

I feel personally attacked right now

:lmao:
I love Mr. Moonlight.  It’s so bizarre and John’s singing is fabulous.  Great backing vocals by Paul too.

It will never be a favorite but it is fun to listen to

 
Guido Merkins said:
#6 The Beatles

The most famous double album of them all.  Quickly dubbed “The White Album” because of its white cover, this album was meant to the be antithesis of Sgt Pepper and it was.  Pepper was put together, the White Album was a mess.  Pepper was colorful, the White Album was dark.  Pepper was high fidelity, the White Album was raw.

The Beatles got back from India in 1968 and decided to make an album.  With Brian Epstein having died the year before, suddenly the Beatles were cast in the unfamiliar position of having to play business man.  Before, their only job was to make music and “be Beatles.”  Now, business disagreements found their way into the studio and their was tension.  George described the sessions for the White Album as the “rot beginning to set in.” 

Their time in India resulted in them having A LOT of songs.  The decision was made, therefore, to record them all and put them on an album together.  Since there were so many, this resulted in a double album.  Just to get this out of the way, I DO NOT think that it should have been one single album.  That’s a common exercise among Beatles fans and it’s fun to speculate, but the fact is, there are too many really good songs to make one single album.  Yeah, you could trim several, but that’s STILL too much for a single album.  I’d actually be more for putting other White Album era songs on the album instead.  Wild Honey Pie is crap and Sour Milk Sea would have been a much better choice, for example. Also, the reason why the album is loved is because of it’s uniqueness as a double album in their catalogue.  In many ways, the Beatles set the stage for many double albums in the future.  They would mostly all be kind of messy, diverse sets of music.  BTW, on the remixes of the White Album in 2018, the Esher Demos were released.  Well worth a listen as the Beatles went through most of the songs for the White Album in demo form before recording the album.  It’s almost like having “The White Album, Unplugged.”  Good stuff.

As krista kind of hit early in her Beatles song rankings, the White Album has some less than excellent songs.  Revolution #9 and Wild Honey Pie aren’t even “songs” per se.  Wild Honey Pie is, at least, short.  Revolution #9 is too long and a kind of sound collage.  Not a big fan of Piggies either with all the snorting.  It’s the only one of the 4 George Harrison songs on this album that I don’t love.  Honey Pie is another Paul 20s style jazzy number.  Like the guitar, but not sure why Paul needs another one of these.  Rocky Raccoon sounds unfinished and not that great anyway, but it’s passable.

The other issue I have with the album is that it almost sounds like each of the Beatles first solo album.  Not nearly as many harmonies as is typical on a Beatles release.  Like each of them are using the others as a backup band.

Despite these minor complaints, the fact is, there are A LOT of good songs on this album.  I want to say I read an article that claims that a poll taken of Beatles fans consistently puts the White Album at the top of the list as fans favorite album.    That really doesn’t surprise me because the album has something for everyone.  The music is so diverse as to not be believable.  Jazz, rock, country, blues, spirituals, psychedelic, acid rock, avant guard, photo metal, reggae, folk…….it has it all.  The sound is definitely more raw than Sgt Pepper, but that was the point.  To be a departure from Pepper.  Even the white cover was supposed to be the opposite of the colorful Pepper cover.

The more well known tracks like Back In The USSR, Helter Skelter, Ob la Di Ob la Da, Birthday, Blackbird and the FANTASTIC While My Guitar Gently Weeps featuring Eric Clapton on lead guitar keep the album moving, but there are so many great lesser known tracks.  I’m So Tired, Dear Prudence, Glass Onion, Mother Nature’s Son, Sexy Sadie, and Savoy Truffle, among others.  

Some lesser known tracks that I really like are Long Long Long, which might be George’s first song about God (the 2018 mix really did wonders for this song, you can now hear it).  I love the gentleness of the song.  Love the lyrics.  Love George’s voice.  Happiness Is A Warm Gun by John is another great one.  Like 3 songs in one.  Dark mood is great, great John vocal, and some harmonies on this one.  I also really like Paul’s I Will.  Great guitar.  Great vocal.  Classic McCartney.  And John’s song to his mother Julia is fantastic.  Great guitar playing, lyrics and vocals.

Overall, this is yet again, another Beatles masterpiece.  Yeah, it’s messy and flawed, but it works because that’s what it’s supposed to be.  As Paul said, “It’s great….It’s the bloody Beatles White Album….It sold.”

  1. Back In The USSR - Paul
  2. Dear Prudence - John
  3. Glass Onion - John
  4. Ob La Di, Ob La Da - Paul
  5. Wild Honey Pie - Paul
  6. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill - John
  7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps - George
  8. Happiness Is A Warm Gun - John
  9. Martha My Dear - Paul
  10. I’m So Tired - John
  11. Blackbird - Paul
  12. Piggies - George
  13. Rocky Raccoon - Paul
  14. Don’t Pass Me By - Ringo
  15. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? - Paul
  16. I Will - Paul
  17. Julia - John
  18. Birthday - Paul
  19. Yer Blues - John
  20. Mother Nature’s Son - Paul
  21. Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey - John
  22. Sexy Sadie - John
  23. Helter Skelter - Paul
  24. Long Long Long - George
  25. Revolution 1 - John
  26. Honey Pie - Paul
  27. Savoy Truffle - George
  28. Cry Baby Cry - John
  29. Revolution 9 - no vocals, but a John song
  30. Good Night - Ringo
You touched on the reason why the White album, while great, is not in my top 5 or 6: it definitely sounds like solo artists using the others as session men.

Absolutely some great songs though any LP with Revolution #9 is flawed.  It’s interesting but not something I want to hear often.  

 
OK, 2 posts today, the next album then a preview of the Final 4

 

#5 A Hard Day’s Night

This may also be another surprise, but yes, I think A Hard Day’s Night is better than the White Album.  I think A Hard Day’s Night is the Beatles first masterpiece.  I think 97% of all artists don’t have an album even close to this level of quality.  And I don’t care that it’s one of the early albums or the “Beatlemania” albums.  It’s unbelievably good and underrated as a set of songs and has rarely been equalled by anyone.

In 1964, things were going very well for the Beatles.  They had achieved a world wide celebrity that no other pop group or artist had ever achieved.  They were everywhere.  And yet, people kept waiting for them to flop.  Why?  Because things of this size ALWAYS flopped.  Nothing could burn this bright for long.  It took too much energy.  So, in an effort to cash in, somebody had an idea to make a movie.  Low budget and a quick payday.  That it would be a good film was never considered.  Just another bad rock n roll film that the kids would eat up.  Only problem is, the movie WAS good.  For many reasons it might be considered the best rock n roll movie of all time, but one of the main reasons was the music.

Under tremendous pressure to create songs, John and Paul wrote 13 songs, enough to fill the entire album.  With the tremendous pressure you would think it would show, but surprisingly, it didn’t.  13 well crafted songs and written by Lennon and McCartney.  A Hard Day’s Night is a QUANTUM leap from the Please Please Me and With the Beatles.  The growth of them as musicians and songwriters was unreal.  IMO, if you thought the Beatles were still a flash in the pan after hearing these songs, you were missing the forest through the trees.

No mention of this album would be complete without that famous chord that opens the album.  It has astounded and confused people since in was created.  There are sites dedicated to this search. Youtube also has a much of videos. Pretty sure the guitars are George on a 12 string playing an F with the G on top and bottom, Paul playing a D on bass and John playing Dsus4.  But George Martin also has some piano on there and I’m not sure exactly what that is.  Just a fantastic sound.

The first 7 songs are all in the movie.  The last 6 songs were songs that they wrote during the sessions that they recorded for the album.  They would do the same thing in 1965 for the Help album as well.

I’ll really say that I like every song on this album.  When I Get Home is probably the shakiest, but it has it’s moments.  If John had found another line other than “I’m gonna love her till the cows come home”, I probably would like the song better.  Also, I’ll Cry Instead John has a “chip on his shoulder bigger than his feet”, which is a terrible line, but otherwise I think a good song with a GREAT bridge.  A Hard Day’s Night with the great energy, that opening chord, and I love how John sings the verses and Paul sings the bridge.  Great solo.  George Harrison and George Martin doing it together again and the fantastic outdo with the 12 string Rickenbacker that the Byrds would love so much and use so often.  And I Love Her with the great acoustic sound, great vocals and how the song changes key right before the solo, which is kind of unique.  Can’t Buy Me Love is a classic Beatles rocker.  Everything about it is great.  Solo, vocals, Ringo banging away.

If I Fell probably can’t be considered a closet classic, because it’s too well known, but I want to focus on it for a second.  Seems like just a love song, but it’s a quirky little song.  Consider, it has no chorus, just verses and 2 bridges.  The intro isn’t repeated anywhere else in the song and as far as the key of the intro related to the key of the rest of the song, it’s kind of ambiguous.  You don’t really get your footing under you until you get to “…just, holding hands” and it settles into D Major.  The harmonies are exquisite….I don’t use that word lightly.  Just a very delicate and beautiful arrangement.  As usual, sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s singing lead and who’s singing harmony.  John sings the intro and after that, to me, it sounds more like Paul on lead, but anyway, just a beautiful arrangement and far beyond anything they had done up until now.

I also LOVE Things We Said Today with the great acoustic guitar opening, great Paul vocal and the jarring difference between the verses and the bridge.  Great lyrics about days gone by.  I also love You Can’t Do That with the great Lennon vocal and George’s great intro on acoustic guitar, but otherwise, it’s John playing lead (love the kind of sloppy, chord solo.  Fits perfectly) and with the great Wilson Picket style cowbell.  Lennon singing about jealousy again.  Lastly, the final song, the Beatles go away from the screaming shouter to end an album and go to I’ll Be Back, another song about Lennon heartbreak and betrayal, but what a beautiful arrangement.  Love the little lead acoustic licks that are at the beginning, throughout the song and during the outdo.  Great lyrics.  Love the “I thought that you would realize….) part.  Would have been perfectly at home on Rubber Soul, IMO.   

Needless to say, this kind of quality in 1964 was unheard of.  This kind of quality was almost unheard of regardless of year and regardless of artist.  The early albums don’t get as much respect as the middle or later period for the Beatles, but I think A Hard Day’s Night belongs with those albums and that’s why it’s in my top 5. 

Track Listing

  1. A Hard Days Night
  2. I Should Have Known Better
  3. If I Fell
  4. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
  5. And I Love Her
  6. Tell Me Why
  7. Can’t Buy Me Love
  8. Any Time At All
  9. I’ll Cry Instead
  10. Things We Said Today
  11. When I Get Home
  12. You Can’t Do That
  13. I’ll Be Back
 
Thoughts on the Final Four before revealing

So, it may come as no surprise that the final four are, in no particular order, Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, Rubber Soul, and Revolver.  I have seen some differing opinions on this very thread, but chances are, most Beatles fans would have these 4 pretty high on their list, at least top 5 or 6.  I feel that this is almost chalk.   Obviously opinions differ, I just meant that the vast majority of Beatles fans love these albums.  I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone say “Boy, Revolver sucks!!!”

Having said that, I think perceptions on these albums have changed a bit over time.   I don’t mean perceptions of quality because I think the day that these 4 albums were released, most people thought they were quite excellent and were among the band’s best work.  What has changed, however, is the perception of which album is the Beatles ultimate masterpiece.

I think in the 60’s and probably through the 80s, Sgt Pepper was seen as the #1 album, not just by the Beatles but by anybody.  The other albums were held in esteem, but Pepper was seen at THE album.  Every countdown list I saw in those days always had Pepper #1.  I mean, no band ever released “their Rubber Soul.”  An artist’s masterpiece was ALWAYS called “their Sgt Pepper.”  It was part of the lexicon.  You might have an argument about #2, but #1 was Pepper.  

IMO, this perception has changed in the last 20 years.  IMO, Pepper is probably still their most significant work, even if some no longer think it’s their best work.  There are some reasons for this and I will discuss as we discuss these final 4 and ultimately where I rank them, but I thought I would address the elephant in the room.  IMO, you could take these final 4 and throw darts to pick the best and you’d be fine, but the following are my thoughts on these final 4 albums and where I would rank them.

Next……..#4

 
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OK, 2 posts today, the next album then a preview of the Final 4

 

#5 A Hard Day’s Night

This may also be another surprise, but yes, I think A Hard Day’s Night is better than the White Album.  I think A Hard Day’s Night is the Beatles first masterpiece.  I think 97% of all artists don’t have an album even close to this level of quality.  And I don’t care that it’s one of the early albums or the “Beatlemania” albums.  It’s unbelievably good and underrated as a set of songs and has rarely been equalled by anyone.

In 1964, things were going very well for the Beatles.  They had achieved a world wide celebrity that no other pop group or artist had ever achieved.  They were everywhere.  And yet, people kept waiting for them to flop.  Why?  Because things of this size ALWAYS flopped.  Nothing could burn this bright for long.  It took too much energy.  So, in an effort to cash in, somebody had an idea to make a movie.  Low budget and a quick payday.  That it would be a good film was never considered.  Just another bad rock n roll film that the kids would eat up.  Only problem is, the movie WAS good.  For many reasons it might be considered the best rock n roll movie of all time, but one of the main reasons was the music.

Under tremendous pressure to create songs, John and Paul wrote 13 songs, enough to fill the entire album.  With the tremendous pressure you would think it would show, but surprisingly, it didn’t.  13 well crafted songs and written by Lennon and McCartney.  A Hard Day’s Night is a QUANTUM leap from the Please Please Me and With the Beatles.  The growth of them as musicians and songwriters was unreal.  IMO, if you thought the Beatles were still a flash in the pan after hearing these songs, you were missing the forest through the trees.

No mention of this album would be complete without that famous chord that opens the album.  It has astounded and confused people since in was created.  There are sites dedicated to this search. Youtube also has a much of videos. Pretty sure the guitars are George on a 12 string playing an F with the G on top and bottom, Paul playing a D on bass and John playing Dsus4.  But George Martin also has some piano on there and I’m not sure exactly what that is.  Just a fantastic sound.

The first 7 songs are all in the movie.  The last 6 songs were songs that they wrote during the sessions that they recorded for the album.  They would do the same thing in 1965 for the Help album as well.

I’ll really say that I like every song on this album.  When I Get Home is probably the shakiest, but it has it’s moments.  If John had found another line other than “I’m gonna love her till the cows come home”, I probably would like the song better.  Also, I’ll Cry Instead John has a “chip on his shoulder bigger than his feet”, which is a terrible line, but otherwise I think a good song with a GREAT bridge.  A Hard Day’s Night with the great energy, that opening chord, and I love how John sings the verses and Paul sings the bridge.  Great solo.  George Harrison and George Martin doing it together again and the fantastic outdo with the 12 string Rickenbacker that the Byrds would love so much and use so often.  And I Love Her with the great acoustic sound, great vocals and how the song changes key right before the solo, which is kind of unique.  Can’t Buy Me Love is a classic Beatles rocker.  Everything about it is great.  Solo, vocals, Ringo banging away.

If I Fell probably can’t be considered a closet classic, because it’s too well known, but I want to focus on it for a second.  Seems like just a love song, but it’s a quirky little song.  Consider, it has no chorus, just verses and 2 bridges.  The intro isn’t repeated anywhere else in the song and as far as the key of the intro related to the key of the rest of the song, it’s kind of ambiguous.  You don’t really get your footing under you until you get to “…just, holding hands” and it settles into D Major.  The harmonies are exquisite….I don’t use that word lightly.  Just a very delicate and beautiful arrangement.  As usual, sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s singing lead and who’s singing harmony.  John sings the intro and after that, to me, it sounds more like Paul on lead, but anyway, just a beautiful arrangement and far beyond anything they had done up until now.

I also LOVE Things We Said Today with the great acoustic guitar opening, great Paul vocal and the jarring difference between the verses and the bridge.  Great lyrics about days gone by.  I also love You Can’t Do That with the great Lennon vocal and George’s great intro on acoustic guitar, but otherwise, it’s John playing lead (love the kind of sloppy, chord solo.  Fits perfectly) and with the great Wilson Picket style cowbell.  Lennon singing about jealousy again.  Lastly, the final song, the Beatles go away from the screaming shouter to end an album and go to I’ll Be Back, another song about Lennon heartbreak and betrayal, but what a beautiful arrangement.  Love the little lead acoustic licks that are at the beginning, throughout the song and during the outdo.  Great lyrics.  Love the “I thought that you would realize….) part.  Would have been perfectly at home on Rubber Soul, IMO.   

Needless to say, this kind of quality in 1964 was unheard of.  This kind of quality was almost unheard of regardless of year and regardless of artist.  The early albums don’t get as much respect as the middle or later period for the Beatles, but I think A Hard Day’s Night belongs with those albums and that’s why it’s in my top 5. 

Track Listing

  1. A Hard Days Night
  2. I Should Have Known Better
  3. If I Fell
  4. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
  5. And I Love Her
  6. Tell Me Why
  7. Can’t Buy Me Love
  8. Any Time At All
  9. I’ll Cry Instead
  10. Things We Said Today
  11. When I Get Home
  12. You Can’t Do That
  13. I’ll Be Back
Great choice!

I would have it even higher.

 
make a movie.  Low budget and a quick payday.  That it would be a good film was never considered.  Just another bad rock n roll film that the kids would eat up.  Only problem is, the movie WAS good.  For many reasons it might be considered the best rock n roll movie of all time, but one of the main reasons was the music.
It's still good for at least one watch per year for me still.  Still remember my mom taking me when it first came out.  

 
#5 A Hard Day’s Night

A Hard Day’s Night is the Beatles first masterpiece. 
i heartily agree. as i've told before, my BFF bailed me thru some hardship almost a decade ago when my health ended my career by inviting me to move back east and occupy his carriage house in exchange for daycaring his 3yo (dad was almost 60). a solid bassist, he was happy to have the noodling company as well. he practiced jazz bass for hrs each day, only doing rock/pop when there were new songs to work out for his weekender band. i have a limited vocal range but we worked around it and we were able to find ways to jam on his favorite songs. the first thing we did was he took me all the way thru Hard Day's Night.

that is some beautifulass popular music right there, i tellya - the gateway between boy band and greatest musical entity of all time. working toward a sound but keeping each thing its own. a pleasure to work on every single tune (and come up with what i've bragged to krista b4 as the best arrangement of "And I Love Her" in existence). finestkind

 
i heartily agree. as i've told before, my BFF bailed me thru some hardship almost a decade ago when my health ended my career by inviting me to move back east and occupy his carriage house in exchange for daycaring his 3yo (dad was almost 60). a solid bassist, he was happy to have the noodling company as well. he practiced jazz bass for hrs each day, only doing rock/pop when there were new songs to work out for his weekender band. i have a limited vocal range but we worked around it and we were able to find ways to jam on his favorite songs. the first thing we did was he took me all the way thru Hard Day's Night.

that is some beautifulass popular music right there, i tellya - the gateway between boy band and greatest musical entity of all time. working toward a sound but keeping each thing its own. a pleasure to work on every single tune (and come up with what i've bragged to krista b4 as the best arrangement of "And I Love Her" in existence). finestkind
What's the spelling of the first chord???

 
IMO, this perception has changed in the last 20 years.  IMO, Pepper is probably still their most significant work, even if some no longer think it’s their best work.  
I think this is spot on. For me personally, Revolver has been elevated, largely because of Tomorrow Never Knows. It’s amazing to think that it’s a 3-minute song but in that little window it marked a massive pivot for the Beatles and rock in general. Hope I’m not stealing your thunder. For me, on relistens, Revolver is a perfect album with that monumental closing piece. 

 
No mention of this album would be complete without that famous chord that opens the album.  It has astounded and confused people since in was created.  There are sites dedicated to this search. Youtube also has a much of videos. Pretty sure the guitars are George on a 12 string playing an F with the G on top and bottom, Paul playing a D on bass and John playing Dsus4.  But George Martin also has some piano on there and I’m not sure exactly what that is.  Just a fantastic sound.

If I Fell probably can’t be considered a closet classic, because it’s too well known, but I want to focus on it for a second.  Seems like just a love song, but it’s a quirky little song.  Consider, it has no chorus, just verses and 2 bridges.  The intro isn’t repeated anywhere else in the song and as far as the key of the intro related to the key of the rest of the song, it’s kind of ambiguous.  You don’t really get your footing under you until you get to “…just, holding hands” and it settles into D Major.  The harmonies are exquisite….I don’t use that word lightly.  Just a very delicate and beautiful arrangement.  As usual, sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s singing lead and who’s singing harmony.  John sings the intro and after that, to me, it sounds more like Paul on lead, but anyway, just a beautiful arrangement and far beyond anything they had done up until now.
 
Fantastic writeup overall.   I love this album.   Just listened to the whole thing again over the weekend because of this thread.  Reactions to your writeup:

1.  The opening chord.  My cousin is a really amazing bass guitarist who loves the Beatles.  He's the guy who really got me hooked on Harrison.  Anyway, he's talked with me a lot about he and his buddies sitting around trying to match the opening chord.  I loved hearing him talk about it, because it convinced me he was both passionate about and dedicated to music.   

2.  If I Fell......has always been one of my favorite songs for whatever reason.  Mrs APK and I sing along with all music, but in particular we like to goof around with different harmonies, sometimes flip-flopping who takes the melody and who sings harmony.  Sometimes we flip in the middle of the song (which is annoying).   This is the one single song I have the most trouble sticking to the harmony.  It's not even close.  And it pisses me off.  Even Mrs APK, who is a far superior trained singer than me, struggles with it.   It annoys us both.  But we still love the song.

3.   Anytime At All.  Always enjoyed this song, particularly the way he pronounces it "At...Tall" with a hard "T" sound.   Gives it more force.  It brings up both positive and negative nostalgia for me, because it's one of my random guilty pleasure karaoke songs (positive) and I vividly recall being decently drunk at a karaoke spot in Chicago and hitting on some girl I met that night, punctuating the point by singing this song.   Unfortunately, I was married (no kids yet) and made a complete ### out of myself because there were like 7 or 8 people there with me and most knew my wife.   Needless to say, a great reminder (negative) of alcohol intake leading to poor judgment.  But.....plus side, the song was a hit!!   Ah, the good old days weren't always good.

Keep the writeups coming.  Love to hear your take on these albums and songs.  

 
blang?

sorry, singer not player
LOL!!!!  I think it's more CHUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG!!

That's OK......I've seen so many people try it and they always write it different.  on one guitar I think G7sus4 /A is closest you can get on one guitar

 
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I think this is spot on. For me personally, Revolver has been elevated, largely because of Tomorrow Never Knows. It’s amazing to think that it’s a 3-minute song but in that little window it marked a massive pivot for the Beatles and rock in general. Hope I’m not stealing your thunder. For me, on relistens, Revolver is a perfect album with that monumental closing piece. 
No big deal. We'll get there sooner rather than later.  Almost at the end now

 

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