Beach Boys vs Beatles in the same years

[Curtis Leon]

(Early) 63 - Please Please Me. I will add that the best tracks from Surfin' USA and Surfin' Safari would make it a fair tie.

(Late) 63 - Gonna have to go with the Beatles here, too. Again, though, I will say that Surfer Girl combined with LDC would make a killer album. I don't blame the Beach Boys or Brian at all - three albums a year means you have to skimp on consistency a bit.

(Early) 64 - Shut Down Vol. II vs. Beatles for Sale - I know this is technically out of order, but it would be criminal to compare Shut Down w/ Hard Days Night and All Summer Long w/ Beatles for Sale. I'd have to go with Beatles For Sale here, though. The filler isn't nearly as annoying on that.

(Late) 64 - I'll have to call this a tie. All Summer Long has stronger high points, but it's too short and there's that damn filler at the end. Hard Days Night may have a lot more fluff, but it's more consistent. Could you imagine All Summer Long combined with the strong points of Shut Down Vol. II, though?

(Early) 65 - Help! vs. Today! - I'll have to go with Today, simply because it's such a massive leap forward compared to the minimal advancement on Help. It is close, though.

(Late) 65 - Summer Days vs. Rubber Soul - Yeah, I'm gonna have to go with Rubber Soul. It DID inspire Brian to record Pet Sounds, after all. This is when both bands started to enter into the halls of timelessness. It's interesting to note, too, that this is the first time either band avoids their typical filler (no covers on Rubber Soul, no talking skits on Summer Days).

66 - Pet Sounds vs. Revolver. This is when both bands start taking things seriously. Revolver is one of the greatest albums in the history of rock music, but Pet Sounds may just be the GREATEST, so I'm definitely going with the former over the latter, simply because it's a bit more timeless than Revolver, and it has more of that dammed emotional resonance.

(Early) 67 - Sgt. Pepper vs. SMiLE - Hoo boy. This is the tough one. The biggest released album ever versus the biggest UNreleased album ever. I'd have to give the award to Pepper simply for being complete, but I will say that a SMiLE finished as it should've been would have stolen the title, no contest, so I guess it's more of a tie than anything else. Sometimes I wonder how an album full of SMiLE holdovers ala Who's Next would've looked like.

(Late) 67 - (American) Magical Mystery Tour vs. Wild Honey - Tie. Flying is a bit fillerish, but Wild Honey is shorter, so it evens itself out.

68 - White Album vs. Friends - White Album. Sorry guys. I'm probably one of the biggest post SMiLE Beach Boy supporter you'll ever see, but in terms of sheer objective quality, the White Album dominates (despite that silly Revolution 9 excursion near the end). Not to mention it's literally three times longer.

69 - Abbey Road vs. 20/20 - Abbey Road, no question. Both albums are absolutely wonderful, though. But Abbey Road is the Beatles' final swan song. Sometimes I wonder how a proper early 70's Beach Boys swan song album might've looked.

70 - Sunflower vs. Let it Be - Sunflower. Too much damn Phil Spector on Let it Be. And you can tell that the Beatles' soul isn't in it throughout the whole album.

So the Beatles got a bit more victories in the same years. It certainly isn't the Beach Boys' fault, they just had an issue with properly ordering their albums and kicking out the filler. Carl or Dennis not blooming fully until '70 has an impact, too - and I will say that Surf's Up, Carl and the Passions, Holland, and Love You are all absolutely wonderful.

[rab2591]

^this.
______

Also, have loved everyone's responses - what a fantastic idea for a thread!

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Early 63:Surfing USA vs Please Please Me - PPM (Amazing Debut, recorded in 10 hours!)

late 63: Little Douce Coupe vs With the Beatles  - WTB (All my loving is amazing)

Early 64: Shut Down II vs Meet the Beatles - MTB is the same as WTB

mid 64: All Summer Long vs Hard Days Night - AHDN (Come on, any album with "And I Love Her" AND "Things We Said Today" is amazing)

late 64: Christmas LP vs Beatles for Sale -  BFS (I love Christmas, but originals vs originals, BFS wins)

mid 65: Today and SDSN vs Help! - Tie (Both INCREDIBLE, but unfair )

late 65: Party vs Rubber Soul - RS (Norwegian Wood is my acoustic style favorite song of all time)

mid 66: Pet Sounds vs Revolver - Pet Sounds (BARELY, but I can't listen to the entire Revolver in one sitting like I JUST did with Pet Sounds)

mid 67: SMiLE sessions vs Sgt Pepper - TIE (ADITL vs Surf's Up... oh man... too tough.)

late 67: Smiley Smile and Wild Honey vs Magical Mystery Tour - MMT (Hit, Hit, Hit. and STRAWBERRY FIELDS)

68: Friends vs White Album - White Album ( Only reason I like friends is Little Bird and Busy Doin' Nothing)

69: 20/20 vs Abbey Road - AR (Oh man, not even close, Cabin Essence is still one of my favorites but AR triumphs.)

70: Sunflower vs Let it Be - Sunflower (Only for "Tears"

[I. Spaceman]

Pitting The Beach Boys against The Beatles? Forget that crap. BEACH BOYS WIN EVERY DAMN TIME.

[Heysaboda]

I would take out each band's weaker albums such as Beatles For Sale because clearly they were being rushed out with lots of filler. I would limit myself to the 10 best albums by either band and would go for something like:

1) Pet Sounds
2) Revolver
3) Smile
4) Abbey Rd
5) Sgt Pepper
6) Today
7) Sunflower
AHDN
9) Rubber Soul
10) White Album

Beach Boys get 4 of the top 10 but I cannot honestly put another BB album above the three Beatles albums in 8-10.

Both bands could make great albums when they had no distractions.

It should be noted in fairness that The Beatles had George Martin whilst The Beach Boys had the Wrecking Crew, Tony Asher and Van Dyke Parks so we are not just comparing two groups of musicians, or Brian v L&M

GREAT points and excellent post.  Hard to argue with your list.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Early 63:Surfing USA vs Please Please Me

late 63: Little Douce Coupe vs With the Beatles

Early 64: Shut Down II vs Meet the Beatles

mid 64: All Summer Long vs Hard Days Night

late 64: Christmas LP and BB in Concert vs Beatles for Sale

mid 65: Today and SDSN vs Help!

late 65: Party vs Rubber Soul

mid 66: Pet Sounds vs Revolver

mid 67: SMiLE sessions vs Sgt Pepper

late 67: Smiley Smile and Wild Honey vs Magical Mystery Tour

68: Friends vs White Album

69: 20/20 vs Abbey Road

70: Sunflower vs Let it Be

I went back to my facebook reviews, where I went song by song on BB and Beatles albums and gave them each a grade 1-10. Then I gave the album the average. Some of them surprised me.

[Mahalo]

Pitting The Beach Boys against The Beatles? Forget that crap. BEACH BOYS WIN EVERY DAMN TIME.

What he said.

[SMiLE Brian]

Pitting The Beach Boys against The Beatles? Forget that crap. BEACH BOYS WIN EVERY DAMN TIME.

Agreed, this should be the new motto of this board.

[Newguy562]

Good post
So these are my preferences.
I'm a beatles and beach boys fan.

Early 63:s Please Please Me

late 63: With the Beatles

Early 64: Meet the Beatles

mid 64: A Hard Day's Night

late 64: Neither  

mid 65: Today

late 65: Rubber Soul

mid 66: Pet Sounds

mid 67: SMiLE Sessions

late 67: Tie

68: White Album

69: Abbey Road

70: Tie

[William Bowe]

Brian Wilson > John Lennon.
Brian Wilson > Paul McCartney.
Brian Wilson > George Martin.

But Beatles albums > Beach Boys albums.

[Newguy562]

Brian Wilson > John Lennon.
Brian Wilson > Paul McCartney.
Brian Wilson > George Martin.

But Beatles albums > Beach Boys albums.

I like that & I agree.
But...........
Pet sounds > Every Beatles Album

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

The Beatles are the better group.
Brian is the better songwriter/arranger/producer.

That's the only way I can make the "Beatles are better but..." statements valid

[pixletwin]

Lyrically John Aand Paul > Brian
Musically Brian > John and Paul
Production wise I would say Brian = George Martin

So this all translates to a tie game for me.

[Emdeeh]

Pet sounds > Every Beatles Album

Wild Honey, Sunflower, Today! > Pet Sounds

But that's just my little ole opinion, your mileage may vary (and probably will!)

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Early 63:Surfing USA vs Please Please Me

late 63: Little Douce Coupe vs With the Beatles

Early 64: Shut Down II vs Meet the Beatles

mid 64: All Summer Long vs Hard Days Night

late 64: Christmas LP vs Beatles for Sale

mid 65: Today and SDSN vs Help!

late 65: Party vs Rubber Soul

mid 66: Pet Sounds vs Revolver

mid 67: SMiLE sessions vs Sgt Pepper --> impossible to call

late 67: Smiley Smile and Wild Honey vs Magical Mystery Tour

68: Friends vs White Album

69: 20/20 vs Abbey Road

70: Sunflower vs Let it Be

[Newguy562]

Pet sounds > Every Beatles Album

Wild Honey, Sunflower, Today! > Pet Sounds

But that's just my little ole opinion, your mileage may vary (and probably will!)

I love all 3 of those albums but c'mon now it's PET SOUNDS!..then again you're entitled to your own opinion.

[Tristero]

Pitting The Beach Boys against The Beatles? Forget that crap. BEACH BOYS WIN EVERY DAMN TIME.

Agreed, this should be the new motto of this board.

Nonsense.  I don't get some of the Beatles bashing that goes on around here.  Obviously, it's a Beach Boys board, so they come first here, but that's no reason to slam one of the greatest rock bands of all time.  I think Brian thought pretty highly of them. . .

[SMiLE Brian]

Pitting The Beach Boys against The Beatles? Forget that crap. BEACH BOYS WIN EVERY DAMN TIME.

Agreed, this should be the new motto of this board.

Nonsense.  I don't get some of the Beatles bashing that goes on around here.  Obviously, it's a Beach Boys board, so they come first here, but that's no reason to slam one of the greatest rock bands of all time.  I think Brian thought pretty highly of them. . .

I think highly of the Beatles as well from growing up with them, I just like the Beach Boys more these days.  I. Spaceman's answer was an awesome and funny way to say the Beach Boys were better.

[Dead Parrot]

I think it says more about just how great The Beatles were, that they seem to be the standard that every other music act has to be compared to. Go any any message board devoted to a music act, and it's inevitable that you'll get a "...... vs The Beatles" thread at some point.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

In my opinion, the Beach Boys had a greater up side, but also a greater down side then the Beatles. In other words, the Beach Boys came up with songs the Beatles could never match, but the Beatles never got too cheesey. Maybe a little, but nearly as much as the BB could. Jack Reiley was right.

[SMiLE Brian]

In my opinion, the Beach Boys had a greater up side, but also a greater down side then the Beatles. In other words, the Beach Boys came up with songs the Beatles could never match, but the Beatles never got too cheesey. Maybe a little, but nearly as much as the BB could. Jack Reiley was right.

Agree about Beatles quality control being better, the Beatles were lucky to have been long gone by the 1980s. The 1980s killed the Beach Boys with all the cheesy crap Mike spearheaded.

[runnersdialzero]

In my opinion, the Beach Boys had a greater up side, but also a greater down side then the Beatles. In other words, the Beach Boys came up with songs the Beatles could never match, but the Beatles never got too cheesey. Maybe a little, but nearly as much as the BB could. Jack Reiley was right.

Naw. If we talk exclusively 1960-1970 (i.e. the only fair comparison to make), I'm not agreeing at all.

Also, the Beatles got cheesy in a way different to the Beach Boys, but cheesy never the less.

[Newguy562]

In my opinion, the Beach Boys had a greater up side, but also a greater down side then the Beatles. In other words, the Beach Boys came up with songs the Beatles could never match, but the Beatles never got too cheesey. Maybe a little, but nearly as much as the BB could. Jack Reiley was right.

Naw. If we talk exclusively 1960-1970 (i.e. the only fair comparison to make), I'm not agreeing at all.

Also, the Beatles got cheesy in a way different to the Beach Boys, but cheesy never the less.

Both Groups had corny moments lol but the beach boys had way more corny moments than the beatles.
I feel bad for most of their work from 1971 - Now.
The beatles were amazing as a group, if it wasnt for brian wilson i probably would never give the beach boys a chance. They relied on him heavily that's way too much pressure.
The beach  boys best songs were way higher and better than the beatles best records.
even songs like "Wouldnt It Be Nice","God Only Knows","Good Vibrations" are better than anything released by the beatles except for a song they did called "Free as a bird".

[runnersdialzero]

In my opinion, the Beach Boys had a greater up side, but also a greater down side then the Beatles. In other words, the Beach Boys came up with songs the Beatles could never match, but the Beatles never got too cheesey. Maybe a little, but nearly as much as the BB could. Jack Reiley was right.

Naw. If we talk exclusively 1960-1970 (i.e. the only fair comparison to make), I'm not agreeing at all.

Also, the Beatles got cheesy in a way different to the Beach Boys, but cheesy never the less.

Both Groups had corny moments lol but the beach boys had way more corny moments than the beatles.
I feel bad for most of their work from 1971 - Now.

That's why I said "exclusively 1960-1970", which I think is the only fair approach to make when comparing them. If the Beatles had stuck together well past the point of disagreeing over direction and occasionally hating the f*ck out of each other, they would've put out Keepin' The Beatle Suits Alive, too. Can't tell me John and Paul didn't put out several corny and outright bad songs after 1970, so yeah.

And you "feel bad for" their work from 71-74? Srs?

even songs like "Wouldnt It Be Nice","God Only Knows","Good Vibrations" are better than anything released by the beatles except for a song they did called "Free as a bird".

"Free As A Bird" is the best Beatles song? Interesting choice, I suppose.

[Newguy562]

In my opinion, the Beach Boys had a greater up side, but also a greater down side then the Beatles. In other words, the Beach Boys came up with songs the Beatles could never match, but the Beatles never got too cheesey. Maybe a little, but nearly as much as the BB could. Jack Reiley was right.

Naw. If we talk exclusively 1960-1970 (i.e. the only fair comparison to make), I'm not agreeing at all.

Also, the Beatles got cheesy in a way different to the Beach Boys, but cheesy never the less.

Both Groups had corny moments lol but the beach boys had way more corny moments than the beatles.
I feel bad for most of their work from 1971 - Now.

That's why I said "exclusively 1960-1970", which I think is the only fair approach to make when comparing them. If the Beatles had stuck together well past the point of disagreeing over direction and occasionally hating the f*ck out of each other, they would've put out Keepin' The Beatle Suits Alive, too. Can't tell me John and Paul didn't put out several corny and outright bad songs after 1970, so yeah.

And you "feel bad for" their work from 71-74? Srs?

even songs like "Wouldnt It Be Nice","God Only Knows","Good Vibrations" are better than anything released by the beatles except for a song they did called "Free as a bird".

"Free As A Bird" is the best Beatles song? Interesting choice, I suppose.

Ok it's hard 2 say who's better in the 60's out of the bbs and the beatles.. it's a tie. They both are absolutely amazing groups..and well "free as a bird" is my personal favorite.
this might be a bias message board but i'm being honest and i feel like neither one of these groups are better than one another.
beatles had catchier songs, beach boys had sweeter melodies