The Smiley Smile Message Board

So I'm back in the midst of serious Beatles obsession! Ah yes. They are the best.

So let's chat all things Beatle. Even if you do vote for the last option.


...ATM I am leaning towards Sgt. Pepper or Magical Mystery Tour. But I'm not sure.

white, by a wide margin.

Abbey Road, without a doubt.

A Hard Day's Night. With The Beatles a close second!

Rubber Soul! I like the U.S version more, but I like that this is the pivot album for the band. In some songs you hear the style that came before it, while other tracks show you where the band was heading.

I really like the White album the best. So much versatility. Every song is exhibition in style and expression. Revolver is a close second for me followed by Magical Mystery Tour.

Magical Mystery Tour is not a real album and how could you compare a double album to the others?? In all fairness!

Why is not a "real" album? Because it contains outtakes and singles in adddition to tracks for the special?

It's a singles collection, the band members never wanted to release it.

Yet it is still on every discography list as a proper album anyway. *shrugs*

apologist

Believe me, if Apple Corp. didn't consider it legit, they wouldn't have added it as part of The Beatles canon of albums. They have been pretty tight about not messing with it for the last 25 or so years. As an album it is a great listen, but then again I am an American who has only listened to it that way for the last 45 years.

Boy, throw the Americans a bone here. Everyone knows that as great as they were, it was their popularity in the U.S. that made them rock gods. That would never had happened had it not been for American Beatlemania.

I like the American releases far better than the British ones. same thing with the Stones' albums.

I've got to go with Revolver. That albums is filled with those bright, shiny Epiphone Casinos. Love, love, love that sound. Only Paul had one for Help! and Rubber Soul, but both John and George got them for Revolver and they sound brilliant. They really paint that album for me.

Same here. They are rock and roll albums.

I suppose I'd go with Abbey Road. I've always enjoyed the somewhat novelty of hearing Beatles through the solid state console.

The White Album has some real crap on it but as a double disk it has more then enough great songs on it to make it my favourite Beatles record.

Don't Pass Me By?

Don't Pass Me By is great. If insane. But I could not, in my heart of hearts, vote for the White Album as much as I love it because it has Ob-La-Di Ob La fucking Da on it, and that is the worst song they ever wrote.

I need to listen to some of the American track orders, the only one I've been bothered to do it with is Rubber Soul. I do like the slight irony that the cohesive nature of Rubber Soul, that inspired Brian to make his own similar album length statement, was in fact manufactured by Capitol execs and not the band (or did Brian score a British version?).

Maybe I should have put the Past/Mono Masters on there. Most of my favourite Beatles tunes are singles!

I keep meaning to reorder my playlist to mimic the America releases so I can see what all the fuss is about. I am going to make reminder for myself to try it tonight.

Yes plus Happiness is a Warm Gun, Savoy Truffle, Revolution#9, Bungalow Bill....  all awful!

Magical mystery tour. I've always found myself coming back to this one. Say what you will about the movie but it's the beatles at the height of their psychedelic period, what more could you want? It's almost like their SMiLE.

What the motherfucker? That's probably my favourite song on The White Album!

Abbey Road. By far.

BTW, all of you voting White Album - have you heard the 1968 demos bootleg? Listening to it right now, love the vibe of those Esher demos.

White album all the way.

After that it's a close run between MMT and A Hard Day's Night ...

Yes what a stunning boot. Haven't listened to it in a while. You've inspired me to dig it out again. That's a magical time - when The Beatles get back from India and are demoing their new songs on acoustic guitars. Doesn't get much better than that!

Flabby Road for all you Flabby people out there..
(http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/9577/93096831.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/607/93096831.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

Please Rut Me, with Yellow Submarine Sandwich at a close second. C-H-E-E-S-E-A-N-D-O-N-I-O-N-S baby!!! :lol :lol

The avant-gardists and hippies all voted for White album and Abbey Road. These are the same people that say that BW's best song is "A Day in the Life of a Tree".  Right?


Beatlemania would have been even bigger and better if the british albums were released in America.  :P

Abbey Road! Followed by Revolver and Magical Mystery Tour. Sgt. Pepper's ain't bad either, though I've never been able to make it all the way through the White Album.

How could you get bigger than The Beatles in 60's?!

Magical Mystery Tour.

I'd have to throw down for Rubber Soul or Revolver. Perhaps it's because I never seriously got into The Beatles like almost everyone else has but some part of me thinks from Sgt. Pepper's... onward their experimentalism outweighed their songwriting proper, the end result being a lot of songs that sound half-finished (if not half-baked) but have a lot of production to make that seem less apparent. (Though I'd be a fool to say some of these songs, and others besides, are not still good listenin'.) Also, I was listening to "Strawberry Fields Forever" a while ago and I realised two things about it I had not previously been aware of: first, that the drum track and Mellotron riff are super cool; second, that the lyrics are incredibly stupid they become simply funny -- as if the music didn't make John's drug use evident enough, haha.

edit: And yes, I do realise this is rich coming from a Beach Boys fan, the group with the legendary unfinished album of half-finished or -baked songs!

Rubber Soul, in part because this album IMO featured Lennon's best 3 songs:

1. Girl
2. Nowhere Man
3. In My Life

I've probably listened to this album a hundred times over the past 25+ years and have yet to get sick of it.

I can't decide what to vote for!


It's Help! vs. Rubber Soul vs. Sgt. Pepper vs. Abbey Road.

(Hard Day's Night and Revolver not quite doing it for me at crunch time, probably due to prerponderance of B grade material. White Album, has previously stated, has Ob La Di Ob La Da on it and can thus get f***ed).


So....

Help! - in the good corner, we have Help, Yesterday, The Night Before, Ticket to Ride, I've Just Seen A Face, I Need You. In the dud corner, we have Yesterday, Another Girl, Act Naturally (I love Ringo but come on), Dizzy Miss Lizzy (although they sound huge - two note guitar riff FTW). It's probably the best they got as the 'rock band' sound for me, and it has a nice vibe.

Rubber Soul - Probably quicker to list what I don't fucks with - Run For Your Life (seems a damp squib to end it on, as well as the usual concerns), What Goes On (I prefer Sufjan Stevens' nuts cover, here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNmPCcaFPbM). That's it. And everyone is on incredible form, here. George's songs are particular highlights.

Pepper - It was the album that made me love them. Fixing A Hole, Getting Better, She's Leaving Home, LSD, Day In The Life, Within Without You. It's a wonderful vibe, probably their best 'album' album - it's got great flow. And it is also probably my favourite production.

Abbey Road - a lot I don't f*** with here, too (maxwell's fuckin silver hammer). But the highs are ridiculous. Something, The Medley, I Want You, Come Together, Octopus's Garden (I love that), Here Comes The Sun. It does seem like Paul's manifesto, though.

Going to have to go for Pepper for strictly emotional reasons, although Rubber Soul is probably 'better'.

For me I like from top to bottom. All of them are exceptional except maybe Yellow Submarine. I like what they did with it in 1999 better.
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Help
Beatles For Sale
With The Beatles
Magical Mystery Tour
Please Please Me
A Hard Days Night
The White Album
Pepper
Let It Be
Abbey Road
Yellow Submarine

Growing up it was Abbey Road by a wide margin but it's been Revolver for years now and still is.

I'm surprised to see the White Album getting so much love from everyone. I like the White Album, but it's probably not in the top half of Beatles albums for me.

I voted for Revolver. It hits the mark for me on song writing and production/experimentation. Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road are close, but I just like Revolver better.

The Beatles? Are they some kind of Britpop band? I bet they aren't as good as Oasis!

Well said by hypehat - I agree with his breakdown.

It's Sgt. Pepper for me, too.  It's definitely the easiest listen - as Paul described, "I was into clean sounds - maybe a Beach Boy influence at that point."  It's got that wonderful clean warmth to it that, in my experience, is only matched by Nilsson's "The Point" and Pet Sounds.

I've always loved the White album and Abbey Road since I first bought them back when I was 14 and still lived under the delusion that The Beatles were the best band of all time.

The Beatles wish they were as good as Oasis.

Magical Mystery Tour for me, love it.

Boom.

I'm 100% Abbey Road. It's my favorite album of all time. My vote for the unquestionable masterpiece above everything else I've ever heard. Been so since I first heard it when I was nine or ten. We were on vacation in Puerto Rico, and I think I listened to it everyday. It still makes me happy to listen to it, even though I don't do it enough.


On an unrelated point, I think that Sgt. Pepper's is the worst of The Beatles' "classic" albums (Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's, The White Album, and Abbey Road). That's not to say that I don't like it, it's still a five star album. I used to like it less, and I've come around on it a bit more, but I still don't totally see why people think it's the best album ever. As baroque pop albums go, I think that Pet Sounds and Revolver are fuller albums, less caught up in themselves. Sgt. Pepper's seems, at least to me, to be an example of one of those albums where they say, "Hey, look what we can do!" Also, I don't think it's very psychedelic at all. Besides Lucy In The Sky and Mr. Kite!, it's definitely a baroque pop album. I have no doubts that Magical Mystery tour is their psychedelic statement, and, in many ways, the album closer to Smile. Strawberry Fields is, to me, closer to Smile than anything on Sgt. Pepper's.

Personally, I love it when bands go 'look what we can do!' when they can pull it off. And whether it's psychedelic or not is irrelevant to me.

It's hard to put a Beatles album down, but Abbey Road just feels a little bit like Paul McCartney ft. The Beatles at points. Granted, most days Paul is my favourite Beatle (I relate to the 'can write melodies with nothing to say' problem he has), but considering John and George released those amazing solo albums a year later you do wonder what happened to 'The Beatles' at that point.

I get what you're saying, and I agree that it doesn't matter whether it's psychedelic or not, I just hate it how people point it out as jump starting the psychedelic era, as if other bands had started doing the same thing, and people like Hendrix were already doing real psychedelic rock.

My favorites on Abbey Road (in no order) are a John song (I Want You), a George song (Here Comes The Sun), and a Paul song (You Never Give Me Your Money). I guess I understand what you're saying about it being mostly Paul's statement, but George had two of his strongest songs ever on that album, and so did John (IWY and Come Together). But if you listen to Ram (my favorite Beatle solo album after John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band) you'll see that Paul was still using these definite rock ideas, but translating them to a solo (or duo really) format.
I guess what I'm saying is, I both agree and disagree with you!

:P

Revolver is my favorite, followed by Abbey Road,  and the US Beatles Second Album.

How did Yesterday get in both corners?  ???

Because it's a really great song, but if I hear a bloody busker or open mic wannabe murder it ONE MORE TIME....  ;D

Revolver
Rubber Soul
Abbey Road
Magical Mystery Tour
Let it Be
The White Album
A Hard Day's Night
Please Please Me
With the Beatles
Beatles for Sale
Yellow Submarine

Bit of a tough one but I have to say Rubber Soul.

Wow No one has Sgt. Peppers?  :o

Anyhow, My Top 5 Beatle albums:
Abbey Road
Revolver
The White Album
Sgt. Peppers
Magical Mystery Tour

Rubber Soul - US version, because that's how I first heard it and it blew my mind.  I also like the color of the logo on the US version better than the UK release.

Beatles For Sale - I gotta give this one some love.  It's one of my favorites.  Beautiful cover photography,  kickin' cover versions, some wonderful originals, and fantastic vocals.  What's not to love?   "Misteeeeeeheheheeeer Mooohoohoonliiiight!!!"   Heck yeah, Beatles For Sale?  I'm buying!

Revolver -  UK version of course.   Before psychedelia got stupid.  Track for track nearly a 'Best of" album.   Great cover art too, of course.

Sgt. Peppers - Mono mix.    Just because.

Please Please Me - Almost chose the White Album, but then I think of this album, and how the band slogged through a day of recording to complete it, and how John was terribly sick that day, sucking on lozenges for his sore throat as he sang, and then at the zero hour, with his voice practically shot, he and the band capture in one mighty take a blistering, vocal chord decimating rendition of the album closer "Twist And Shout".    I love that sh*t!   The rest of the album is pretty darn good too.  Some killer vocals, especially from John. 

Gotta have the US allbums on the list. A lot of us grew up with them, even before we were old enough to buy our own copies. Actually, the first Beatles songs  I heard were on the classic album "The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles Hits". An older kid up the street had it, played it over and over until I talked mom into buying me a copy. He also had "Something New" and several of the singles. The British albums still feel wierd to me. "With the Beatles" needs I Want To Hold Your Hand and This Boy; Beatles For Sale needs I Feel Fine and She's a Woman; and WTF is Drive My Car doing in the leadoff spot on "Rubber Soul"?  :o

Rubber Soul, followed closely by Revolver. I'm in the minority here, but I think the Beatles peaked with those two albums.

You're not in a minority with that opinion: as of now, this poll shows those as the second and third most popular choices, and combined, they destroy the current first choice by something like 10%. I'd say over the past decade or so, the '80s gospel (with which I grew up, for one) of Pepper as the greatest Beatles album (and even the greatest album ever) is dead and gone. You hear Rubber Soul, Revolver, white album, and Abbey Road (which is first atm here) most often.

For the record, Pepper remains my favorite Beatles album, though several are good enough as to be almost interchangeable in that respect. (Once an album is of a certain level, it's a little silly to quibble much.)

I would agree though the 1965-67 era as a whole is the creative peak of the band.

Here's something interesting - what Beatles fans think of the Beach Boys!
http://www.dmbeatles.com/forums/index.php?topic=8423.0

Love Revolver and Rubber Soul (especially US version), there are some great cuts from Yellow Submarine and White album but those albums also have much bad material on them. Hate Abbey Road (so glitzy and a song called 'The End' to symbolise their end? how cheesy-and not in a good Beach Boys way) Let It Be ruined by Spector, dont really care for Sgt Pepper and the early albums are hit or miss but generally very good. The Lennon singles were imo far more interesting than Macca's...

Abbey Road has this teeny little song called "Something" which kicks my ass every single time (and sounds awesome, too boot).

Oh, Dear...

Your thoughts on Maxwell's Silver Hammer?

LOL!!
http://www.dmbeatles.com/forums/index.php?topic=8423.msg204322#msg204322

Hey maybe we should start a conversation like that somewhere here, just to impress everyone. :)

I like MSH, but it is one of the weaker songs in the Macca canon. It was even lambasted by some when it originally came out. The best part is when Paul laughs because John mooned him from the control booth.

And George's song is named "Here Comes the Sun."

That post was really hilarious. It's so right, it's spooky.

^
I think this thread here comes pretty close to what that guy was talking about:
http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,15096.0.html

Really nerdy stuff!

BTW, as a long-time Beatles nut who has recently discovered the BB's (and is now constantly being tempted to think the BB's were the better band, though it's real close), I'm tempted to sign up for that forum and start, well, "preaching." ;)

I mean, for example, Brian wrote and recorded Warmth of the Sun around the same time Paul and John wrote and recorded If I Fell. If I Fell is a great song, and is probably the closest Beatles competitor/analog to Warmth of the Sun, but the latter clearly features much more sophisticated writing and is the better song. And I Love Her also is a close competitor I suppose, but I think WOTS still beats it.

But then, maybe doing that would do little more than stir up more of the (usually pointless) BB's-vs-Beatles arguments, so maybe I should leave well enough alone.

I believe the poster over there "Joost" is none other than Smiley Smile poster "shelter." At least according to a comparison of this thread http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,5219.0.html (http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,5219.0.html) and Joost's post here (scroll down to the middle of the page) http://www.dmbeatles.com/forums/index.php?topic=8423.540 (http://www.dmbeatles.com/forums/index.php?topic=8423.540).

Wow, Beach Boy tatoos! Now *that's* dedicated!

Would anyone be interested in a "rank the tracks" Beatles thread, ala the BB ones on the main forum?

I would be, but then I started this mess.


Are the two people who voted 'f*** the beatles' accounted for?

There are three f*** the beatles votes, and none for 'with the beatles'. Oh, the humanity.

Damn their eyes. Pearls before swine, etc....

I just discovered this a few hours ago and can't stop listening to it. I think I'm on my 6th or 7th listen. F-ing brilliant! So much more going on in this song than you hear with the vocals added in. It would make a great orchestral piece all by itself.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=L8zu4S58Tgs

The little section of "sour" notes (don't know if there's a proper term for them) at 3:04-06 I never noticed before, even though I've probably listened to this song a hundred times.

Dude, have a google for Sgt Pepper Multitracks. Prepare to die of sheer coolness.

^
Wow, you're right. I'll have to explore them later.

Sgt. Pepper Deluxe, Purple Chick.

OK, all I'm getting is what I got the last time I tried this: A lot of sites with broken links, other sites with in-depth descriptions of what's on the disks but no link to anything to download, links to megaupload which has been shut down due to some FCC copyright thing, and other sites which make me first download a program, which then makes me download another program, and when you think you've downloaded what you want, it's not what you want.

How about something with just some mp3 downloads?

The links on this page work:

http://rockantology.blogspot.com/2011/11/beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club.html

^
Thanks, seems to be working (minus the annoying pop-up ads). Long download time when free, but looks like it'll be worth it.

Well, an hour of downloading ... and it didn't have what I wanted the most. I was looking for the parts for She's Leaving Home.

They're on Youtube but I'd like to burn it to a CD.

BTW, on the vocals (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNLbPEQygLw) for that song, John's voice sounds pretty hoarse. Even Paul strains a bit on some of the high notes. And on one of the ending "bye's" they really screw up. Pretty funny.

EDIT: Oops what I wanted was on the 2nd download. Crap, I shoulda downloaded that first. Now I'm getting a message saying I've got to wait 45 minutes to download any more stuff from there. *grrr scowl*

Listen to all of the stuff, man, it is great.

^
Yeah it's cool stuff, though some of it I've heard on Anthology.

I like Penny Lane with the oboes (or are they English horns??) instead of the French horn. Sounds more mellow, whereas the French horn kinda jumps out at you.

The greatness of the Purple Chick stuff is really hearing all that stuff in one place. The type of dream sets we will never get officially.

I've got few minutes left to go to download the 2nd one.

I don't have any blank CD's left but I'll grab some on my way back from work tomorrow. Next I'll burn them to listen in my car. Then, Nerdsville, here we come!

I thought I was getting nerdy when I bought the Pet Sounds box set back in November. This must be Nerdsville Stage 2 what I'm doing now.

Alright I got the rest.

She's Leaving Home is endlessly fascinating! But the flaws of the background vocal track especially are obvious when you listen to them isolated. John doesn't sound good at all. They must have double-tracked his voice in the final cut to gloss over his hoarseness. You can also hear him breathe, drink a glass of water, move around, and stuff. Either they edit that out, or you just can't notice it when all the other stuff is added in.

I LOVE the Sgt. Pepper multis on the Purple Chick set. I just wish the person who transferred them did so at a higher bit rate. They sound like ass.

Here is the order I like the British (plus one US) LP's
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Help
Beatles For Sale
With The Beatles
Hard Days Night
Please Please Me
Magical Mystery Tour
Pepper
Let It Be
White Album
Abbey Road
Yellow Sub
I like them all really except for side two of Yellow Sub. I may get a few comments on Abbey Road. I like it a lot just not as much as what went before.

I bought that Pet Sounds set in November, as well. OF 1997!

Usually would say White Album but gave Revolver the vote, just because I'm in the mood to. Prefer it in mono, though. 

It's corny but I love the Abbey Road medley to pieces.

I don't know for sure, but I wonder if this is the longest internet discussion ever on the Beatles vs the Beach Boys:
http://www.musicbanter.com/pop/49280-beatles-vs-beach-boys.html

Started 05-08-2010, still going on. 60 pages so far. :-o

Just voted on Rubber Soul, which now is tied with Abbey Road and Sgt Peppers...

Am I the only one who had his Beatles' obsession ruined by The Beach Boys? I used to be completely fanatic about them and they remain the only band whose discography I've listened from beggining to end (I didn't get close to Summer In Paradise yet, so...).

I don't know, they just don't do it for me anymore. I guess it's because they don't have that sweetness that pretty much all of the BB's records do. Plus, I'm not a big fan of John Lennon's voice and I do find some of his music quite annoying. While I've always liked Paul, he never striked me as some kind of genius with sparkles of brilliance thrown over his music. He is the true "hard-working guy" - complete musician all around. Great songrwriter, versatile voice, etc...

Their early stuff comes nowhere close to Brian's surf, dance and car songs. A Hard Day's Night is actually their only record which I could never listen to in its entirety.

I really like Help (the album) and Let It Be, though. Revolver and Magical Mystery Tour are also remarkable. Rubber Soul wins for me because it was an incredible change in their style and it was their melodical peak.

No, you're not. A year ago, if you asked me which band was better, the Beatles or the Beach Boys, I would have said, "Duh! The Beatles." Now I'm not so sure. However, it has not diminished my love of the Beatles, it's just that now I realize they had much better competition than I realized before. ;-)

I'm actually developing some kind of anger towards The Beatles, for all the atention they get (especially in Brazil where absolutely no one knows who The Beach Boys are)  ;D. I'm almost jealous.

A lot of people my age (that I know, at least) listen solely to what is considered cool, therefore they aren't "hip to The Beach Boys" and wouldn't dream of listening to them. In here it's like there are only Beatles, Pink Floyd and maybe Stones/The Who. It gets kind of boring to listen to this worship after a while. I wish people knew what they are missing out on.

When I was a teenager (late 70's, early 80's) absolutely nobody I knew listened to the BB's. No one. Completely off the radar screen. Everyone knew of their famous surf and fun songs, but I don't know of anyone who was even aware of Pet Sounds. I sure wasn't. I think you either need to be a kid or an adult to appreciate them. Teenagers are too worried about coolness, at least they were when I was a teenager. And for better or worse, the BB's have too much of a corny image to be cool. Kids (say, younger than about 14) are too young to care about that, and (most) adults learn not to care about it.

FWIW, around the time I was a teenager a lot of kids my age were sick of the Beatles. Lots of us might have liked them, but they received so much worship and attention from anyone and everyone 10 years older than us (which seemed like an entirely different generation) that they didn't want to hear anything more about them. Though I wasn't in that camp, I'd say they were only maybe my 4th or 5th-favorite band. I didn't really start to appreciate them until I was in my 20's.

Why can't I change my vote to Abbey Road? The medley, dude. The MEDLEY.

Yes, we are going through another round of Beatles obsession here. I could probably set my watch by it.

‍

"Rubber Soul" has always been my favourite Beatles album, there's just something about it that blows my mind compared to the earlier and later albums. My second and third favourites would be the "Magical Mystery Tour" CD  and "A Hard Days Night".

:) Mark

The UK had their only albums like please please me when meet was the official capitol debut in the US..and capitol made so many packaged albums , but I would say its agreed that there were 8 beatles albums worldwide: meet/with the beatles, hard days night, help, rubber soul, revolver, sgt pepper, the white album and abbey rd/ in america the UK albums would be imports and in the UK the truncated re.packaged albums didnt exist...

Difficult to pick one out of Please Please Me, Rubber Soul, Revolver and Abbey Road. I eventually plumped for the magnificent debut...

Introducing The Beatles was the first album I received (Christmas or birthday, can't recall which).  It was a bootleg/faux copy of the album (I've since discovered) and I loved it, still do.  Love the rough shod production, the immediacy of the performances, the mushy vocals (John and possibly Paul had colds).   It sounds like an album recorded in a day (in a good way) and it remains a special thing to me.

The American Rubber Soul was another gift back in the early eighties and it knocked me out.  Loved it then, and love it now.  prefer it to the UK version.  Only thing that might improve it is the inclusion of Nowhere man and If I Needed Someone. 

Beatles VI is one of my favorite of the American albums too.  It's just an awesome collection of great mid-sixties pop.  I loved (and still do) how they could take "just okay" songs and turn them into more than that with their arrangements and choice of instrumentation.  Great vocals too, and with (at that time) hidden gems like Bad Boy and Yes It is on it, how could it be bad?

Meet the Beatles/Beatles Second Album where also favorites - they amazed me with how great their cover versions were.

Got to hear Pepper the first time via my older brothers copy of the originally released mono - and I have never heard it the same ever again.  Need to get me a copy of the original mono pressing (IMO nothing compares to it).

The White Album was brought home by my older bro as he wanted me to hear it - scared me, much of it did, but also amused me - it was weird too because already knowing about the Manson connection and the Paul is Dead thing - it was like an album of mysteries. 

I remember looking at my brothers copy of Magical Mystery Tour when i was a very little kid - the cover made me think of Sid and Marty Krofft (or some such Saturday morning kids show).  I recall feeling creeped out by the cover too, those strange animal get ups struck me as oddly threatening somehow. 

The Beatles are like comfort food to me.  My level of interest in them has waxed and waned over the years, but they are always something I return to eventually, and I find great comfort in them. 

This poll includes posthumous and a couple other non.essentials. it should just be Meet the beatles, hard days night, help, rubber soul, revolver, sgt pep, white album and abbey rd.

dude what

Meet The Beatles is not a real Beatles album, for starters. I barely listen to the Beatles and even I know that.

Also, what.

Is Meet The Beatles just SUPPOSED to sound like "beat the meatholes" or is my brain more broken than I had previously thought?

I'm a Revolver kind of guy although Abbey Road and Rubber Soul are right there too...and looking at the poll results...we Beach Boys fans seem to be 'there' more often than not.

Not a bad band...the Beatles I mean...either.  I'm a Harrison and McCartney kind of 'fan'.  Lennon was either GREAT or not my cup of tea.  He ranged back and forth...from one extreme to the other... .. ...imho.  Ringo?  VERY good drummer.  Comic relief.  Some MUSICAL talent...and seemingly...a pretty good guy.  I voted for Revolver in spite of him...as he also shows up on the other two.  We all live in a Yellow submarine my arse!!!  It's Blue.  :hat

I've got White 4th.

Sgt Peppers has NOT stood my test of time.  A brave release then.  Dated now.  The concept, I guess, didn't work.  It has no value in terms of it's core, content and meaning.  Just a bunch of songs which although somewhat tied together just really don't go together all that meaningfully.  [That's how it seems to me.  YOUR take is correct for you.]

George Martin deserves more credit than any beatles member,,he wasn't just producer, he was their foundation and adhesive. The beatles took a few years to get beyond the formative beginnings. Even tho they started as the beatles in 61, and recording in 62, 64 was THE year they broke thru and 66 was their end as a band, those last three yrs from 67 to 69 they were a studio group.

I never agreed with this notion. I'm on the camp who think this guy is way overrated. And anyway, aren't members in any band supposed to be forefront, since they write the music & all & producer is someone who helps shape it a little here & there? Remember in the beginning, they declined his decision & offered original song instead? The rest is history (they were right!).

Before martin was calling the shots the beatles were a no.name pub group that were rejected by numerous labels...he polished em, created their image and got them stardom. Jus like the stones they were a cover band the first albums etc. The two Ms: martin&mccartney, the brains behind everything.

I feel like my IQ goes down every time I read one of this guys posts.

Hey Kook.  You know that the Beatles played and played and played... ... ..and played live usually within the confines of chaos.  In doing so...they were tight and accomplished and could rock most bands asses off right?.

So yes Martin brought some assistance and various tricks to the party but he really just assisted.  He didn't lead the parade.

I'd also suggest that they were WAY better as a unit than they were as solo artists.  Balance ya know?

"White Album" was my first back in 1980 and it still is my favorite. Beatles, Beach Boys and Monkees are my top 3 (just like GuitarFool) for both listening pleasure and their respective histories.

good ha

I voted Rubber Soul but I like revolver equally as much.

My 14 year old daughter is obsessed by Beatles.  The Beach Boys, not so much even though she loved "Take Load Off Your Feet" when she was 3.

My 13 year old has discovered Beatlemania but also likes the Beach Boys (took him and the family to see the Mike/Bruce show in 2013).

Yeah I dont get why so many misconstrue the beatles discography. Their formative years of 61-63 were fine and dandy but 64 is when they got off the group with the Meet Album and I wanna hold your hand in the US, then 66 was really where it kinda ended with Revolver and not performing anymore even tho they officially broke up in 69 with Abbey rd. Rubber soul was by far their peak, it never got better than that. I mean peppers, the white album and abbey were good for what they were but NOWHERE near the quality of meet-hard days-help-rubber soul. The psychedelic era from 67 onward really took the life outta rockNroll...it was never better than 63 to 66.

John and George had colds during the recording - all of one day - of their debut album. I notice it most on "Anna" and "Baby It's You" - which makes it nice that they also did those songs at the BBC. John was one of the best interpreters of early rock and roll, period. He had the passion in his voice for those songs. Oddly enough, though, the first Beatles album I owned as a kid was Magical Mystery Tour - unless I count The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles Hits.