My pick: Rubber Soul. It's just flawless from start to finish. It doesn't have any of my top 5 Beatles songs (not even top 7) but it's one that I listen to in its entirety the most often.
Top 5:
Rubber Soul
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Revolver
Abbey Road
The White Album
LurkerDan
07-02-03, 12:59 AM
Originally posted by evenflowddt
What's the best Beatles album, in your opinion?
My pick: Rubber Soul. It's just flawless from start to finish. It doesn't have any of my top 5 Beatles songs (not even top 7) but it's one that I listen to in its entirety the most often.
Top 5:
Rubber Soul
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Revolver
Abbey Road
The White Album That's my top 5 right there. I'd probably take the White Album with me to a desert island, but that's because I grew up with it more than the others (and it's longer!). But the best album, IMO? Damn, that's tough. I guess I'd say Sgt Pepper's is the most complete to me, but my favorite--desert island choice notwithstanding--is probably Revolver.
Hollowgen
07-02-03, 01:35 AM
actually, the only beatles album that i enjoy from start to finish is Revolver.
Johnny Zhivago
07-02-03, 10:52 AM
Man, that's tough... They're all great. Sgt. Peppers is the most polished, technical, recording of the bunch and has some unbelievable tunes... It's probably their "best" album. However, my personal favorite is The Beatles aka The White Album.
Rypro 525
07-02-03, 11:25 AM
rubber soul, revolver would have been perfect if it wasn't for yellow submerine
wendersfan
07-02-03, 12:17 PM
I go back and forth between Rubber Soul and Revolver. After that it would be A Hard Day's Night.
saoirse
07-02-03, 12:24 PM
Probably the White Album (though my version isn't white).
MurraySiskind
07-02-03, 08:18 PM
I'd have to go with Revolver.
redhenry
07-02-03, 11:37 PM
Rubber Soul
Abbey Road
Beatles For Sale
The Beatles (white album)
Revolv.....ah what's the point. They are all better than most of the crap that's been released since.
darqleo
07-03-03, 12:21 AM
REVOLVER
atlantamoi
07-03-03, 07:04 AM
Easily Revolver/Rubber Soul. After that I'd go with Help/Hard Day's Night. I was listening to Sgt. Pepper over the weekend for the first time in eons. Flog me for saying this, but a few songs on there are zzzzzzzz. I'll take ReRubber any day over it.
Captain Harlock
07-03-03, 09:17 AM
Originally posted by redhenry
Rubber Soul
Abbey Road
Beatles For Sale
The Beatles (white album)
Revolv.....ah what's the point. They are all better than most of the crap that's been released since.
:thumbsup:
Nesbit
07-03-03, 10:40 AM
Originally posted by atlantamoi
Easily Revolver/Rubber Soul. After that I'd go with Help/Hard Day's Night. I was listening to Sgt. Pepper over the weekend for the first time in eons. Flog me for saying this, but a few songs on there are zzzzzzzz. I'll take ReRubber any day over it.
I agree. The only songs I really like on the album are the two Sgt. Peppers, She's Leaving Home, Good Morning, and A Day in the Life.
It's a complete failure as a concecpt album. What's the concept? After the first two songs there's no connection within the album until they reprise Sgt Pepper. They wore fancy costumes on the cover ooo big concept.
wendersfan
07-03-03, 11:03 AM
It's so nice to see several other people who aren't 'gaga' over Sgt. Pepper. I understand why it was such a momentous album at the time, but honestly, I think every Beatles album prior to Sgt. Pepper is better.
mwj
07-03-03, 07:11 PM
Rubber Soul
A Hard Day's Night
Abbey Road
Revolver
The White Album
Captain Harlock
07-03-03, 09:29 PM
Originally posted by Mrs.Nesbit
I agree. The only songs I really like on the album are the two Sgt. Peppers, She's Leaving Home, Good Morning, and A Day in the Life.
It's a complete failure as a concecpt album. What's the concept? After the first two songs there's no connection within the album until they reprise Sgt Pepper. They wore fancy costumes on the cover ooo big concept.
The concept is the Beatles are playing as another band. In other words, you aren't listening to the Beatles, but you are listening to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band perform at a concert. Hence the old style marching band uniforms and the introduction of "Billy Shears" at the begning of With A Little Help From My Friends. The cut outs are all the famous people that the Beatles admire who are attending the concert.
Inside the initial release there was a cut out of Sgt. Pepper, a pyschedelic colored inner sleeve, and it was the first rock album to have printed lyrics and one of the first to have a gatefold sleeve. On the inner sleeve are printed the words "A Splendid Time Is Guarunteed For All".
Rypro 525
07-03-03, 09:44 PM
Originally posted by Captain Harlock
Inside the initial release there was a cut out of Sgt. Pepper and a pyschedelic colored sleeve and was the first rock album to have printed lyrics and one of the first to have a gatefold sleeve. On the inner sleeve the words "A Splendid Time Is Guarunteed For All". unfortunatly none of that is on the cd.
Johnny Zhivago
07-03-03, 10:16 PM
Off topic... But... The Beatles (mainly Paul) made Sgt. Peppers the way they did after hearing and seeing Zappa/The Mothers Of Invention's debut - Freak Out. Or so the story goes...
FWIW, that record was technically miles beyond anything produced prior to Sgt. Peppers... Pet sounds included. Frank Zappa was the man and was always way ahead of the curve when it came to recording techniques. R.I.P.
BlackBeauty92
07-03-03, 11:24 PM
A hard Day's Night
Please Please Me
Help!
Beatles for Sale
Rypro 525
07-03-03, 11:32 PM
Originally posted by Johnny Zhivago
FWIW, that record was technically miles beyond anything produced prior to Sgt. Peppers... Pet sounds included. Frank Zappa was the man and was always way ahead of the curve when it came to recording techniques. R.I.P. when did he die?
Captain Harlock
07-03-03, 11:37 PM
Originally posted by Rypro 525
when did he die?
About 5 or 6 years ago of prostate cancer I think.
X
07-04-03, 01:24 AM
Originally posted by Captain Harlock
About 5 or 6 years ago of prostate cancer I think. Make that just about 10 years, come December.
Nesbit
07-04-03, 01:47 AM
Originally posted by Captain Harlock
The concept is the Beatles are playing as another band. In other words, you aren't listening to the Beatles, but you are listening to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band perform at a concert. Hence the old style marching band uniforms and the introduction of "Billy Shears" at the begning of With A Little Help From My Friends. The cut outs are all the famous people that the Beatles admire who are attending the concert.
Inside the initial release there was a cut out of Sgt. Pepper, a pyschedelic colored inner sleeve, and it was the first rock album to have printed lyrics and one of the first to have a gatefold sleeve. On the inner sleeve are printed the words "A Splendid Time Is Guarunteed For All".
Yeah I get that they're suppose to be another band but outside of the first two and the last two (and A Day in the Life is arguable) it really doesn't have a concept. Any of those songs could have been on Magical Mystery Tour or rejects we would have heard on the Anthology discs twenty years later...
redhenry
07-04-03, 03:27 AM
Originally posted by Mrs.Nesbit
Yeah I get that they're suppose to be another band but outside of the first two and the last two (and A Day in the Life is arguable) it really doesn't have a concept. Any of those songs could have been on Magical Mystery Tour or rejects we would have heard on the Anthology discs twenty years later...
Correct, and The Beatles themselves have said the same thing. They began work on it with a loose idea of a concept album but abandoned the idea when they realsied that it wasn't happening, and just released a bunch of songs, a few of which were linked.
It is only considered a concept album because some '60s journalists wanted to consider it such, and being the sheep they often are, they all just agreed wiht each other. It as certainly a different album, with lyrics, the cover shot, the postcards, the cut-outs etc, that all added to the myth.
Terry
Captain Harlock
07-04-03, 09:53 AM
Originally posted by redhenry
Correct, and The Beatles themselves have said the same thing. They began work on it with a loose idea of a concept album but abandoned the idea when they realsied that it wasn't happening, and just released a bunch of songs, a few of which were linked.
It is only considered a concept album because some '60s journalists wanted to consider it such, and being the sheep they often are, they all just agreed wiht each other. It as certainly a different album, with lyrics, the cover shot, the postcards, the cut-outs etc, that all added to the myth.
Terry
That's pretty much it. The songs were written with really no central theme.
The first songs written for the album were With A Little Helf From My Friends, When I'm Sixty Four, and Strawberry Fields Forever. The last being the "B" side ( can you believe that was B side?) of the single Penny Lane.
tofu
07-04-03, 07:15 PM
It's a tossup between Hard Day's Night and Abbey Road for me.
nazz
07-05-03, 01:14 AM
Sgt Pepper's should have had Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane on it and then it would have been a much better album than it was in my opinion.
For me the best if I have to choose is REVOLVER.
Captain Harlock
07-05-03, 10:41 AM
Well back then it was a common practice to in the UK to release a single that was not on the album. Don't ask me why, I don't know. That's why you now have the two CD collections called "Past Masters". None of those songs appeared on LP's in the 60's. Get Back and The Long And Winding Road are different versions than the ones that appear on Let It Be.
I think Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields was released in Febuary of 1967 in the UK.
redhenry
07-06-03, 08:45 AM
Originally posted by Captain Harlock
Well back then it was a common practice to in the UK to release a single that was not on the album. Don't ask me why, I don't know. That's why you now have the two CD collections called "Past Masters". None of those songs appeared on LP's in the 60's. Get Back and The Long And Winding Road are different versions than the ones that appear on Let It Be.
I think Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields was released in Febuary of 1967 in the UK.
While all that is essentially true, I think the reason The Beatles have so many non-album singles and well-known non-single tracks is their sheer brilliance and work rate. They knocked out so many great songs, so fast, that the albums couldn't keep up.
T
nazz
07-06-03, 02:45 PM
George Martin on why they were not not included on 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band':
"The reason that Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane didn't appear on the album [Sgt. Peppers] is that Brian Epstein, their manager, was worried. He said to me, 'The boys need a lift - they need a great sequel and what have you got.' Well, I said, 'We've got two wonderful songs - let's issue them both.' In those days we didn't include single releases in albums as we thought we were conning the public. One of the biggest errors I ever made." -
The Ferret
06-23-05, 10:56 PM
I'm suprised at how many people prefer the earlier Beatles to later Beatles. So shocked I thought i'd resurrect this puppy.
I've been on a Beatles craze lately, but I don't even enjoy their earlier stuff. Also suprised at the dislike of Sgt. Peppers.
My fav: Sgt. Peppers / White Album / Abbey Road (too tough to seperate)
Favourite song right now: She's Leaving Home. Anyone else want to chime in who didn't get to originally?
Rypro 525
06-23-05, 11:15 PM
Favorite album for me is "rubber soul", the first of the so called later era beatles albums. favorite song all time by them would have to be "a day in the life" from sgt pepper. i think the main "disliking" of "peppers" is because it is consitered by many critics as the best record just becuase is they consiter it the first real concept album, when most of the songs could have been on any beatles album.
The Ferret
06-23-05, 11:19 PM
You just reminded me what I forgot to mention, 'a day in the life'. I don't get why everyone loves it so much. Sure I don't mind it, but i'd even consider it one of the weaker songs on the album.
Cartload
06-23-05, 11:35 PM
I'd probably have to say for me personally it's a tossup between Rubber Soul and Abbey Road. George Harrison wrote 2 really great songs on Abbey Road.
atlantamoi
06-24-05, 07:22 AM
Singing the same tune here. My aunt left Help and Hard Day's Night at my grandmom's house and those two albums completely formed how I listen to rock music.
Anything that sounds like those albums always catches my attention. However, it's Rubber Soul/Revolver that are the big winners. Also agree with others here who aren't as enthused with Sgt. Pepper. I realize the impact it had on studio recording, but it still sort of falls back compared to what they had just done. Maybe if I hadn't heard for 30 years how it's the greatest album of all time I'd feel differently.
Alvis
06-24-05, 09:29 AM
Rubber Soul/Revolver.
DJLinus
06-24-05, 05:27 PM
Revolver
J-Dubya
06-24-05, 08:10 PM
The Beatles went downhill after Paul died.
CRM114
06-24-05, 09:30 PM
Abbey Road is stunningly perfect which is astounding after the Get Back sessions.
If I had to take just one, I'd take The White Album. Its just tremendous. Blackbird, Julia, Dear Prudence, I'm So Tired, Sexy Sadie...... Wow.
I go more for the LSD tinged Beatles personally but I love them all.
paulringodaman
06-25-05, 01:58 AM
Beatles for Sale followed closely by Rubber Soul and With the Beatles.
Clint B
06-25-05, 05:13 PM
Revolver's my pick, although there isn't a single Beatles album that I can say I dislike in its entirety.
rw2516
06-25-05, 06:24 PM
While all that is essentially true, I think the reason The Beatles have so many non-album singles and well-known non-single tracks is their sheer brilliance and work rate. They knocked out so many great songs, so fast, that the albums couldn't keep up.
T
In the 60s singles(45s) were the priority, not albums with the record companies. Albums were more of a secondary byproduct. It wasn't until AOR came along that the focus changed to album sales as the primary goal of the artists and record companies. People didn't buy "Whole Lotta Love" on 45, they bought the album. As big as The Beatles and Elvis were there are rock bands who top them in album sales. ACDC and KISS have probably sold more albums than the Beatles.
Cornelius1047
06-27-05, 07:24 PM
Depending on my mood, Revolver (usually) or Abbey Road.
K
deadlax
06-27-05, 07:43 PM
Help! is probably my favorite Beatles album. I think it has some of the most beautiful moments in Beatles history, especially the organ in "I need You." And I've Just Seen a Face is one of my 5 favorite songs of all time.
After that my choices would be rubber soul, revolver and abbey road. The rest of the albums don't do that much for me on the whole.
lopper
06-27-05, 08:07 PM
It's all about Abbey Road for me. Love the album from start to finish. Let It Be and Revolver are probably numbers 2 and 3 respectively on my list of favorites.
And I'm actually very surprised at how many people are ranking "Help!" near as their favorite. I love the album (and the movie for that matter), and it's nice to see that I'm not the only one who appreciates it so much.
Tyler_Durden
06-29-05, 07:09 AM
I love them all, but Sgt. Pepper, Revolver and Magical Mystery Tour form a Holy Trinity of Beatles albums for me.
Damone
06-29-05, 10:01 AM
From 'A Hard Day's Night' onward are their best work, but of those I always thought 'Let It Be' was the weakest of the bunch....that is, until 'Let It Be..Naked' was released. Now it is my favorite Beatles album. It's not just that these are better versions of the songs...the sequence is key. The original version opened with 'Two Of Us' and ended with 'Get Back' --- The 'Naked' version opens with 'Get Back' and closes with 'Let It Be'
DVD Josh
06-29-05, 11:18 AM
What's the best Beatles album, in your opinion?
My pick: Rubber Soul. It's just flawless from start to finish. It doesn't have any of my top 5 Beatles songs (not even top 7) but it's one that I listen to in its entirety the most often.
Top 5:
Rubber Soul
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Revolver
Abbey Road
The White Album
Shit, I can't argue with this list, maybe the order, but nice call.
The Bus
06-29-05, 11:59 AM
1, of course.
*ducks*
rfduncan
07-01-05, 10:10 AM
I always thought 'Let It Be' was the weakest of the bunch....that is, until 'Let It Be..Naked' was released. Now it is my favorite Beatles album. It's not just that these are better versions of the songs...the sequence is key. The original version opened with 'Two Of Us' and ended with 'Get Back' --- The 'Naked' version opens with 'Get Back' and closes with 'Let It Be'
I have to agree. I got "Naked" for Christmas and expected to dislike it as much as the original - but was pleasantly surprised. I enjoy this newer version IMMENSELY!
If I had to take just one, I'd take The White Album. Its just tremendous. Blackbird, Julia, Dear Prudence, I'm So Tired, Sexy Sadie...... Wow.
Let's not forget Rocky Racoon, Helter Skelter, Happiness is a Warm Gun...
White Album is easily the best. Very eclectic and shows a wide range of what the best of the Beatles was. The one to take if you could only have one (barring Revolution 9;)).
astrochimp
07-01-05, 01:21 PM
I think the 5 album run from Rubber Soul,Revolver,Sgt Peppers,White album to Abbey Road is the best in music ever and i cant really put them in any order and if i did i would probably change it several times anyway ;)
Celtic Bob
07-01-05, 09:00 PM
Rubber Soul closley followed by Revolver. The UK Mono versions blow the released stereo cd's away. They are much clearer and the mix is way better.
Rypro 525
07-01-05, 09:14 PM
Rubber Soul closley followed by Revolver. The UK Mono versions blow the released stereo cd's away. They are much clearer and the mix is way better.
yeah, many of the songs in the stereo mixes are a pain in the ass to listen to with headphones. was sgt pepper's released in a mono mix? parts of that album in stereo have that kind of fake stereo type sound.
Celtic Bob
07-01-05, 09:36 PM
Yes it was. They spent more time mixing the Mono versions because at the time Stereo was not as common in the UK. I believe they spent several weeks mixing the Mono Pepper and a day or 2 to do the stereo.
I only have Rubber Soul, Revolver and Pepper in UK Mono (taken from original vinyl) on cd and a couple of compilations. Hopefully in the near future i'll get some more.
b.
shaggy
07-01-05, 09:49 PM
Let It Be
Abbey Road
Revolver
White Album
Sgt. Peppers
Buy: