Beach Boys vs Beatles in the same years

[Moon Dawg]

This is downright silly. Any Capitol album released pre-Pepper is just as much of a "compilation" than any of them. Meet The Beatles is just as much of a hack job as Yesterday And Today. Just because you like the tracklisting a lot doesn't mean it's "integral". Integral to American fans in 1964 - yes, but to judge it against The Beach Boys albums of the same era, no - because The Beatles didn't have control over the sequencing of those albums.

 Just because LIB was released after their break-up doesn't mean you shouldn't judge it critically.

  YESTERDAY & TODAY is a great hack job.

[RubberSoul13]

 I kind of match up ABBEY ROAD and SUNFLOWER. Both albums are immaculately produced (slick maybe?) with sonic nuance, detail, precision, and a deep emotional core in spots.

 I think The Beach Boys probably beat The Beatles on singles going head to head through 1967, but The Beatles made more consistent albums. 

That's a very interesting comparision Moon Dawg. But honestly, I'm having a hard time making it! 

For the singles, the beach boys definitely beat the fabs mathematically at least. They put out way more singles. Chart-wise, I'm sure The Beatles beat The BB's though. And in my personal taste, The Beatles singles are still better than The Beach Boys, but that is only me. No doubt, The Beach Boys are number two in my book though.

[Puggal]

Early 63:Surfing USA vs Please Please Me
Please Please Me

late 63: Little Douce Coupe vs With the Beatles
With the Beatles

Early 64: Shut Down II vs Meet the Beatles
Uhh...

mid 64: All Summer Long vs Hard Days Night
maybe All Summer Long

late 64: Christmas LP vs Beatles for Sale
Tie. Neither are favorites of mine.

mid 65: Today and SDSN vs Help!
Today. Not a fan of Help or SDSN.

late 65: Party vs Rubber Soul
Rubber Soul...

mid 66: Pet Sounds vs Revolver
Pet Sounds

mid 67: SMiLE sessions vs Sgt Pepper
Sgt. Pepper

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

68: Friends vs White Album
The White Album. It's kind of unfair to compare a 90 minute double album to 25 minute album. But The White Album just has much better material. One of the best records ever made.

69: 20/20 vs Abbey Road
Abbey Road. 20/20 is a pretty embarrassing album, in my opinion. Only a few songs are worth listening to.

70: Sunflower vs Let it Be
Sunflower. Let it Be is a mess, kind of like 20/20 was (but with much better material)

[Puggal]

Because we're people with basic critical faculties. The Beach Boys have made some of the worst music ever made.

I wish the BBs broke up after "love you" to save the world from the horrors of the later recorded output.

I sometimes wish they broke up after "Good Vibrations" to save us from atrocities like "Transcendental Meditation," "All I Want To Do," and "The Nearest Faraway Place." They released so much bad music even before Endless Summer.

[dwtherealbb]

one side note is that what genre would you classify the Beatles from about 66-69. They're not really a hard rock group in the sense of Led Zep or Hendrix, but they're definitely not a pop group either. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNTOwMD1mC0

[SMiLE-addict]

^
You're forcing me to get off topic.

One of the most mesmerizing things ever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAN7HByXXxY

[Chocolate Shake Man]

The sound they achieved on Revolver is incomparable.

[kookadams]

Because we're people with basic critical faculties. The Beach Boys have made some of the worst music ever made.

I wish the BBs broke up after "love you" to save the world from the horrors of the later recorded output.

I sometimes wish they broke up after "Good Vibrations" to save us from atrocities like "Transcendental Meditation," "All I Want To Do," and "The Nearest Faraway Place." They released so much bad music even before Endless Summer.

With that the beatles shoulda broke up after revolver.

[Puggal]

The Beatles released nothing truly embarrassing like The Beach Boys did during that era. There are plenty of good tracks on albums like Friends but there are plenty of turds as well -- turds far below the standards of The Beatles weakest material.

I'm quite glad The Beach Boys didn't break up, but I find it unnerving when people talk about 1967 - 1973 as some sort of "golden age" when it was really an inconsistent time for The Beach Boys.

[kookadams]

The Beatles released nothing truly embarrassing like The Beach Boys did during that era. There are plenty of good tracks on albums like Friends but there are plenty of turds as well -- turds far below the standards of The Beatles weakest material.

I'm quite glad The Beach Boys didn't break up, but I find it unnerving when people talk about 1967 - 1973 as some sort of "golden age" when it was really an inconsistent time for The Beach Boys.

Very true. I like Friends but I would say it was their weakest album in the 60s.

[kookadams]

Every album from Surfin USA thru Wild Honey were fuckin amazing. Friends was a little weak, 20/20 was killer, Sunflower was great, Surfs Up was good not great, and Holland was good. After that with the exception of Love You they were DONE making good albums.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Friends is in my top 3 albums, and sometimes it's at number one depending on my mood.

[Puggal]

Friends is in my top 3 albums, and sometimes it's at number one depending on my mood.

I love the first half of Friends but the second half really drops for me. Anna Lee, Be Still, and Transcendental Meditation are pretty horrendous. Busy Doin' Nothin', on the other hand, is one of my absolute favorite Beach Boys songs. Brian still had it -- he just wasn't using it enough.

[Ovi]

I sometimes wish they broke up after "Good Vibrations" to save us from atrocities like "Transcendental Meditation," "All I Want To Do," and "The Nearest Faraway Place." They released so much bad music even before Endless Summer.

You wish they would've broken up for the occasional bad track on each of those albums? You seriously wish that neither Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends, 20/20, Sunflower, Surf's Up, CATP and Holland would exist? Do you hate all of those albums?

[Chocolate Shake Man]

There are two extremely absurd arguments that are running through this thread now.

[ash]

Because we're people with basic critical faculties. The Beach Boys have made some of the worst music ever made.

I wish the BBs broke up after "love you" to save the world from the horrors of the later recorded output.

I sometimes wish they broke up after "Good Vibrations" to save us from atrocities like "Transcendental Meditation," "All I Want To Do," and "The Nearest Faraway Place." They released so much bad music even before Endless Summer.

I've always loved transcendental meditation. It's totally rocking with blues/jazz sax chords and not something you could meditate to. Hilarious and brilliant.

[Summertime Blooz]

Early 63  Please Please Me

late 63: With the Beatles

Early 64: Meet the Beatles

mid 64: All Summer Long  & Hard Days Night  (can't call it)

late 64: Beatles for Sale

mid 65: Today and SDSN

late 65: Rubber Soul

mid 66: Pet Sounds

mid 67: SMiLE sessions

late 67: Smiley Smile and Wild Honey

68: White Album

69: Abbey Road

70: Sunflower

[RubberSoul13]

one side note is that what genre would you classify the Beatles from about 66-69. They're not really a hard rock group in the sense of Led Zep or Hendrix, but they're definitely not a pop group either. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNTOwMD1mC0

That's another amazing aspect of it. Let's just breakdown Revolver for a moment...

1. Taxman- Heavy Pop Rock (for the time at least)
2. Eleanor Rigby- Baroque Pop
3. I'm Only Sleeping- Psychedelic Pop
4. Love You To- Indian Pop (George Harrison Hybrid Genre  )
5. Here, There, and Everywhere- Soft Rock Ballad
6. Yellow Submarine- Children's Song/ Pop
7. She Said, She Said- Acid Rock
8. Good Day Sunshine- Ragtime/ Sunshine Pop
9. And Your Bird Can Sing- Electric Folk Rock?
10. For No One- Baroque Pop
11. Doctor Robert- Rock
12. I Want To Tell You- Pop Rock
13. Got to Get You Into My Life- R&B
14. Tomorrow Never Knows- Progressive Rock

Did I repeat any genres?...

[AndrewHickey]

Did I repeat any genres?...

Baroque pop.

Also, Good Day Sunshine is hardly ragtime. It's in straight fours for most of the song (except the chorus), not syncopated.

[RubberSoul13]

Did I repeat any genres?...

Baroque pop.

Also, Good Day Sunshine is hardly ragtime. It's in straight fours for most of the song (except the chorus), not syncopated.

It was the best term I could come up with to describe the instrumentation, not so much the musical structure.

My point is, when I listen to Pet Sounds as an album, I hear....Sunshine Pop, Folk Rock, Baroque Pop and Pop Rock...and all four of those are very close obviously, with Pop Rock being the root...leaning heavily on the pop side.

[dwtherealbb]

My point is, when I listen to Pet Sounds as an album, I hear....Sunshine Pop, Folk Rock, Baroque Pop and Pop Rock...and all four of those are very close obviously, with Pop Rock being the root...leaning heavily on the pop side.

don't you mean Revolver? Pet Sounds isn't really a rock album as it is sort of a classical one.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Funny thing about me...I'd rather listen to the worst Beach Boys song that the best Beatles song. :/

Same here. Personally, i don't "feel the love", so to speak, when i'm listening to The Beatles like i do when i listen to the boys. It's hard to explain.

Exactly. I dont care how many more records the beatles sold or how much more hype the media gave them, the beach boys just made better music, period.

That has been precisely the point of no-one in this thread.

What was/is the point of this thread? I forgets.

Well, I think its pointless to argue about taste in music. People have the right to disagree with me (but not kookadams apparently). I started this thread because of the constant comparison of Pet Sounds and Sgt Pepper. When my point is Pet Sounds was closer to Rubber Soul and Revolver in time. I think Sgt Pepper is a bit more of an advanced production than Pet Sounds, but now that we have the SMiLE session, I think that would be more appropriate. Thus I made this list to see where they were at the same time. Perhaps makes more sense to think about to those of us too young to have lived through it. May be pointless if you grew up with it and were able to compare where the two bands were at any given time. 

[RubberSoul13]

My point is, when I listen to Pet Sounds as an album, I hear....Sunshine Pop, Folk Rock, Baroque Pop and Pop Rock...and all four of those are very close obviously, with Pop Rock being the root...leaning heavily on the pop side.

don't you mean Revolver? Pet Sounds isn't really a rock album as it is sort of a classical one.

Who said anything about rock albums? The thread is comparing Beatles albums and Beach Boys albums...that's what I was doing.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Didn't Rollingstones fans look down on the Beatles because they weren't pure rock n roll? I am not as much into that scene, but I thought I heard there have been Beatles vs Rollingstones conversations similar to this. I love them all for different reasons. But I think the quality of an art can be more than mere opinion. There are a lot of things I really like that I don't think are quality (early Bob Dylan, the Kinks, etc). Other things I find to be of high quality art, but don't really like (Yes, Muse, etc). So I think there can be a little more to discussions rather than taste.

[Awesoman]

Although I care not for these threads and only wish canker sores on those who clutter our message forum, I'll cave and participate on this one.  Here goes:

Early 63:Surfing USA vs Please Please Me

Please Please Me.  Sorry, but have you tried actually listening to early Beach Boys stuff?!  Yikes.

late 63: Little Douce Coupe vs With the Beatles

With The Beatles.  The Beatles' sophomore album had a variety of different songs to listen to; whereas with Little Deuce Coupe, you had a number of car songs.  Most of which were instantly forgettable.

Early 64: Shut Down II vs Meet the Beatles

Shut Down, Vol. II.  This is where the Beach Boys albums start to take a little shape and provide some memorable material.  The Beatles first Capitol Records venture offers songs we've already heard, only with a crappy toilet-bowl stereo mix.

mid 64: All Summer Long vs Hard Days Night

A Hard Day's Night.  Sorry Beach Boys, while All Summer Long has some classic songs on it, it also has a lot of filler.  A Hard Day's Night?  Nothing *but* classic hits, and absolutely no filler!  And it doesn't hurt that this was the soundtrack to a classic movie as well.

late 64: Christmas LP vs Beatles for Sale

Beatles For Sale.  The Christmas album is great, but only worth listening to during the holidays.

mid 65: Today and SDSN vs Help!

A three-way tie.  This one's a bit unfair.  You're comparing two of the Beach Boys best pre-Pet Sounds albums against one Beatles album?  Had it not been for said Beatles' album containing the most covered pop song of all time on it, the edge might have gone to the Beach Boys.

late 65: Party vs Rubber Soul

Now this one is totally unfair.  Rubber Soul all the way.

mid 66: Pet Sounds vs Revolver

Pet Sounds.  But this is really a tougher call than you'd think.

mid 67: SMiLE sessions vs Sgt Pepper

Sgt. Pepper.  Sorry, but the Beatles actually *finished* their masterpiece.  All the SMiLE boxsets in the world ain't gonna finish the album.  Had it actually been completed and released like it should have, this would be a much more interesting comparison.

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

Magical Mystery Tour.  Even though a couple songs on there are generally regarded as filler, the Beatles' album also contained several of Lennon's best (and weirdest) songs.  Sure, the Beach Boys had "Good Vibrations", but this is where the decline began. 

68: Friends vs White Album

The Beatles (White Album).  Interesting to see the directions both bands were taking with their respective albums, but this is really like pitting a puppy up against Godzilla.  Friends offered light pleasantries, but at this point they were no longer competitive with the Beatles.

69: 20/20 vs Abbey Road

Abbey Road.  Nothing against 20/20; it just suffers from some spottiness when compared to the Beatles' unofficial swan song. 

70: Sunflower vs Let it Be

Sunflower.  A true group effort by the Beach Boys.  And while none of the songs here are as memorable as some of the stuff on Let It Be, you could tell the effort was much more present with the Beach Boys. 

So yeah, I'm giving a lot of edge towards the Beatles.  Their albums just managed to be more all-around consistent.  That's not to say the Beach Boys albums they were being compared to were bad; it's just something magical was going on with the Beatles and they made few mistakes along the way.