DavidMahler
Headphoneus Supremus
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Quote:
I sound like the ultra fanboy saying this.....but every single Beatles official release is basically a perfect album to me...... Can anyone really improve Hard Day's Night, Beatles For Sale, Please Please Me, not to mention Revolver, Abbey Road, White Album....
You don't have to love every song to love an album.......the Beatles didn't release one album which shouldn't be in every accomplished music library. Please Please Me has to be their first great achievement.......it's more continuously good than any rock and roll record had ever been up until that point...... On that single record you get I saw Her Standing There, Please Please Me, PS I Love You, Twist And Shout, Do You Want To Know A Secret, Love Me Do (which is not one of my favorites but very beloved), not to mention my favorite pre-Rubber Soul beatles song Ask Me Why....... and There's A Place is a killer tune as well.....
That one album offers 2 number one hits and neither of them are as famous as Twist and Shout or I Saw Her Standing there........how many records can claim to be as consistent.........very few artists have a record as consistently great as Please Please Me, you can probably count them on two hands, maybe 3.....I'll try to name who I think does.......I do feel that Please Please Me is a stronger achievement then their second album With The Beatles and the reason is, unlike Please Please Me, the best songs of the sessions which led to With The Beatles were intentionally left off the album in favor of being exclusive singles.....these songs are...."I Want To Hold Your Hand", "She Loves You" and "From Me To You"......The interesting thing which never gets talked about here is the fact that in addition to creating probably the greatest cycle of albums of all bands, the Beatles undoubtedly had the best singles of the entire AM radio era.
A Hard Day's Night is a soundtrack of sorts, but has some additional material. A Hard Day's Night is to me, the ultimate Beatles album of the Beatlemania period.......the whole first side gets constant radio play. But the second side is more interesting to me.
Beatles For Sale is my favorite pre-Rubber Soul album by a mile because I think it demonstrates their best musicianship and homage to the blues in a very fashionable way. I also think No Reply and I'm A Loser are two of Lennon's best Beatles songs period. People credit the Byrds and Dylan with the folk rock revolution, but in truth I'm A Loser was released before Dylan went electric and before the Byrds were even a known entity. Yes Dylan's influence is obvious on that track, but kudos to Lennon for being the first artist to really delve into folk-rock territory.
Help! is to me both great and weak at the same time. It probably is my least favorite pre-Rubber Soul album by them despite it having some of their most beloved and famous material. The title track and Yesterday are about as wellknown as a song can be. Ticket To Ride is a beautiful track. I feel like Tell Me What You See is a bit of a throw away and I'm not nuts about Act Naturally nor Dizzy Miss Lizzy.
You can clearly feel an artistic shift beginning with Rubber Soul. Revolver is to me a psychedelic evolution of Rubber Soul, but i prefer Rubber Soul just a bit because it's a bit more personal. Sgt Pepper is probably their greatest achievement in terms of creating an album that is a statement of art. It's not my favorite, but I think it's amongst the 20 greatest records I've ever heard. The White Album appears to be the most flawed of all the Beatles albums, maybe Let It Be beats it out. The White Album to me is the most honest record the Beatles would ever make and covers the most musical territory. Not all the tracks are pristine, but the record plays the only way it can, and the writing (particularly Paul's writing for me) on this record makes the White Album my favorite album of all time, with nothing as a close second...........a far second would be Pet Sounds for me. Abbey Road is their most polished work and it's obvious that head-fiers would adore the sonic sheen of that record which sounds vastly more modern than the other Beatles albums. Let It Be has the beatles at a complete split demonstrating some of their best and worst stuff all at the same time. It's an album which I think is ultimately the worst Beatles album, BUT has moments which make it better than more consistent albums.
Just in terms of personal taste I would rank my appreciation of Beatles albums in this order......
1. The White Album
2. Abbey Road
3. Rubber Soul
4. Revolver
5. Sgt Pepper
6. Magical Mystery Tour
7. Let It Be
8. Beatles For Sale
9. Please Please Me
10. Hard Day's Night
11. With The Beatles
12. Help!
if Yellow Submarine counted as an album I would put it last.......AND if the Past Masters Volume 1 & 2 were counted as an album (which I think is really not fair) it would probably rank at number 6.
| Originally Posted by Pale Rider /img/forum/go_quote.gif This could be fun; what do you think is? |
I sound like the ultra fanboy saying this.....but every single Beatles official release is basically a perfect album to me...... Can anyone really improve Hard Day's Night, Beatles For Sale, Please Please Me, not to mention Revolver, Abbey Road, White Album....
You don't have to love every song to love an album.......the Beatles didn't release one album which shouldn't be in every accomplished music library. Please Please Me has to be their first great achievement.......it's more continuously good than any rock and roll record had ever been up until that point...... On that single record you get I saw Her Standing There, Please Please Me, PS I Love You, Twist And Shout, Do You Want To Know A Secret, Love Me Do (which is not one of my favorites but very beloved), not to mention my favorite pre-Rubber Soul beatles song Ask Me Why....... and There's A Place is a killer tune as well.....
That one album offers 2 number one hits and neither of them are as famous as Twist and Shout or I Saw Her Standing there........how many records can claim to be as consistent.........very few artists have a record as consistently great as Please Please Me, you can probably count them on two hands, maybe 3.....I'll try to name who I think does.......I do feel that Please Please Me is a stronger achievement then their second album With The Beatles and the reason is, unlike Please Please Me, the best songs of the sessions which led to With The Beatles were intentionally left off the album in favor of being exclusive singles.....these songs are...."I Want To Hold Your Hand", "She Loves You" and "From Me To You"......The interesting thing which never gets talked about here is the fact that in addition to creating probably the greatest cycle of albums of all bands, the Beatles undoubtedly had the best singles of the entire AM radio era.
A Hard Day's Night is a soundtrack of sorts, but has some additional material. A Hard Day's Night is to me, the ultimate Beatles album of the Beatlemania period.......the whole first side gets constant radio play. But the second side is more interesting to me.
Beatles For Sale is my favorite pre-Rubber Soul album by a mile because I think it demonstrates their best musicianship and homage to the blues in a very fashionable way. I also think No Reply and I'm A Loser are two of Lennon's best Beatles songs period. People credit the Byrds and Dylan with the folk rock revolution, but in truth I'm A Loser was released before Dylan went electric and before the Byrds were even a known entity. Yes Dylan's influence is obvious on that track, but kudos to Lennon for being the first artist to really delve into folk-rock territory.
Help! is to me both great and weak at the same time. It probably is my least favorite pre-Rubber Soul album by them despite it having some of their most beloved and famous material. The title track and Yesterday are about as wellknown as a song can be. Ticket To Ride is a beautiful track. I feel like Tell Me What You See is a bit of a throw away and I'm not nuts about Act Naturally nor Dizzy Miss Lizzy.
You can clearly feel an artistic shift beginning with Rubber Soul. Revolver is to me a psychedelic evolution of Rubber Soul, but i prefer Rubber Soul just a bit because it's a bit more personal. Sgt Pepper is probably their greatest achievement in terms of creating an album that is a statement of art. It's not my favorite, but I think it's amongst the 20 greatest records I've ever heard. The White Album appears to be the most flawed of all the Beatles albums, maybe Let It Be beats it out. The White Album to me is the most honest record the Beatles would ever make and covers the most musical territory. Not all the tracks are pristine, but the record plays the only way it can, and the writing (particularly Paul's writing for me) on this record makes the White Album my favorite album of all time, with nothing as a close second...........a far second would be Pet Sounds for me. Abbey Road is their most polished work and it's obvious that head-fiers would adore the sonic sheen of that record which sounds vastly more modern than the other Beatles albums. Let It Be has the beatles at a complete split demonstrating some of their best and worst stuff all at the same time. It's an album which I think is ultimately the worst Beatles album, BUT has moments which make it better than more consistent albums.
Just in terms of personal taste I would rank my appreciation of Beatles albums in this order......
1. The White Album
2. Abbey Road
3. Rubber Soul
4. Revolver
5. Sgt Pepper
6. Magical Mystery Tour
7. Let It Be
8. Beatles For Sale
9. Please Please Me
10. Hard Day's Night
11. With The Beatles
12. Help!
if Yellow Submarine counted as an album I would put it last.......AND if the Past Masters Volume 1 & 2 were counted as an album (which I think is really not fair) it would probably rank at number 6.
