The Best Beatles Solo Albums.

[Dead Parrot]

TUG OF WAR is a good one. The title track, "Take It Away", "Wanderlust", "Ballroom Dancing", "Here Today", even "Ebony and Ivory" (in the contest of the LP) are all terrific. Easily Paul's best 80's LP.

I'd say it's a toss-up between Tug of War and Flowers In The Dirt for best 80's Macca album.

[GuyO]

Essential (should be in every home):
John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band (1970)
George Harrison - All things must Pass (1970)

Very, very good (essential if you can afford them):
Paul McCartney - McCartney (1970)
 Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram (1971)
Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run (1973)
Paul McCartney - Chaos & Creation in the Backyard (2004)

Pretty good (but not essential):
George Harrison - Concert for Bangladesh (live 1972)
 Paul McCartney & Wings - Venus & Mars (1975?)
Paul McCartney - McCartney II (1980)
Paul McCartney - Flowers in the Dirt (1988?)
Paul McCartney - Flaming Pie (1997)

Enjoyable and/or pretty good depending on mood, but not essential:
 John Lennon - Imagine (1972)
John Lennon - Walls and bridges (1974)
George Harrison - Living in the material world (1971)
George Harrison - Cloud 9 (1987)
Paul McCartney & Wings - Wings over America (live 1976)
 Paul McCartney & Wings - Back to the egg
Paul McCartney - Tug of War (1982)
Paul McCartney - Back in the USA / Back in the world (live 2003)
Paul McCartney - Memory almost full (2005)

[TimmyC]

Memory Almost Full
London Town
Flowers in the Dirt
Red Rose Speedway
Ram
All things Must Pass
Cloud Nine
Ringo
Time Takes Time

Not a Lennon fan...

[pixletwin]

Brainwashed should get name checked more often than it is. It's my second favorite George album behind All Things Must Pass. Every song has it's own personality and the feel on the album is amazingly upbeat and spiritual.

[RangeRoverA1]

[delet.]

[pixletwin]

Every song has it's own personality and the feel on the album is amazingly upbeat and spiritual.

Even Rocking Chair in Hawaii?

Yup. Even Rocking Chair in Hawaii. I guess you didn't "get the picture". 

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I love Rocking Chair in Hawaii -- a great re-make of one of George's favourites!

[Lonely Summer]

Brainwashed is one of George's best. I need to work on "Any Road" - it sounds simple, but the way the words flow over the rhythm is actually quite challenging.

[Peter Reum]

My vote would go to All Things Must Pass.

[JohnMill]

My vote would go to All Things Must Pass.

Same here with JL/POB coming in a close second. 

[MBE]

Ringo-Nothing is really essential except for Ringo, BOB, and Blast From Your Past. Try to get Coochy-coo if you can find it on 45, great BOB offcast.

George-The Wilbury's albums and Cloud 9 are great, the best however is All Things Must Pass. I also enjoy 33 and a third, and the self titled one from 1979.

Paul-I stick mainly to the seventies but his two oldies rock and roll albums are nice, Unplugged is good, and I find I play Flaming Pie and Memory Almost Full a little more than other recent ones.. Press to Play is good song wise though it sounds very 1986. Still none of them are as good as albums like McCartney, Ram, Band On The Run, Venus and Mars, Over America, and Back To The Egg. Most of his non album singles are very nice too.

John-I love John, dislike Yoko immensely. So though I find it too subjective to play often, his POB does have a really interesting sound. Imagine and Walls are more my speed. I also like Instant Karma and Nobody Told Me a lot.

[Lonely Summer]

Ringo-Nothing is really essential except for Ringo, BOB, and Blast From Your Past. Try to get Coochy-coo if you can find it on 45, great BOB offcast.

George-The Wilbury's albums and Cloud 9 are great, the best however is All Things Must Pass. I also enjoy 33 and a third, and the self titled one from 1979.

Paul-I stick mainly to the seventies but his two oldies rock and roll albums are nice, Unplugged is good, and I find I play Flaming Pie and Memory Almost Full a little more than other recent ones.. Press to Play is good song wise though it sounds very 1986. Still none of them are as good as albums like McCartney, Ram, Band On The Run, Venus and Mars, Over America, and Back To The Egg. Most of his non album singles are very nice too.

John-I love John, dislike Yoko immensely. So though I find it too subjective to play often, his POB does have a really interesting sound. Imagine and Walls are more my speed. I also like Instant Karma and Nobody Told Me a lot.

John made great singles; as an album artist, he was more hit and miss.

[JohnMill]

Ringo-Nothing is really essential except for Ringo, BOB, and Blast From Your Past. Try to get Coochy-coo if you can find it on 45, great BOB offcast.

George-The Wilbury's albums and Cloud 9 are great, the best however is All Things Must Pass. I also enjoy 33 and a third, and the self titled one from 1979.

Paul-I stick mainly to the seventies but his two oldies rock and roll albums are nice, Unplugged is good, and I find I play Flaming Pie and Memory Almost Full a little more than other recent ones.. Press to Play is good song wise though it sounds very 1986. Still none of them are as good as albums like McCartney, Ram, Band On The Run, Venus and Mars, Over America, and Back To The Egg. Most of his non album singles are very nice too.

John-I love John, dislike Yoko immensely. So though I find it too subjective to play often, his POB does have a really interesting sound. Imagine and Walls are more my speed. I also like Instant Karma and Nobody Told Me a lot.

John made great singles; as an album artist, he was more hit and miss.

I think you somewhat hit the nail on the head there and I'll explain what I mean.  If you pick up the 2005 compilation "John Lennon: Working Class Hero" which is by far the definitive anthology of Lennon's commercially released output of the many that are out there, you probably have on those two discs the balance of John Lennon's truly great solo work.  That being said he has at least three albums that are in my opinion worth investigating further and those are "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" which I've previously cited as being perhaps the best solo Beatle effort out there, "Imagine" which despite the overplay of the title track has some real gems throughout the course of the record and the posthumous "Milk And Honey" which has some incredibly hard rocking tracks on it and in my opinion is vastly superior to "Double Fantasy".  "Milk And Honey" is also quite possibly the best argument for Yoko Ono as a commercially viable artist as her contributions to that record actually are pretty solid with "Let Me Count The Ways" being particularly touching given the events that transpired between when she wrote it and when it was released four years later.

However, if you really want to truly experience what John Lennon was about as an artist then the "John Lennon: Anthology" is a must have for your collection.  It might be the best archival release I have in my entire collection as it was put together with a great deal of taste and features some great music to boot.  In fact the argument can be made that when it comes to Lennon's solo career he was most at home recording demos at his piano or on his acoustic guitar and often when he'd take these songs into the studio to record the "definitive versions", he often overproduced, over thought or otherwise lost the sheer buoyancy found on many of his demo recordings of the same songs.

[pixletwin]

I agree about the John Lennon: Anthology.

I played Dear John and Mr. Hyde's Gone (Don't Be Afraid) for my kids a few nights ago and they were really into it.

[Lonely Summer]

I love John's demos. Remember hearing them - and taping them - back in 1988/89 when our local classic rock station aired The Lost Lennon Tapes. Some of the demos are better than the finished records - not as polished, but more inspired.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Brainwashed is one of George's best. I need to work on "Any Road" - it sounds simple, but the way the words flow over the rhythm is actually quite challenging.

"Stuck Inside A Cloud"just might be my all-time fave George song

[Theydon Bois]

"Milk And Honey" is also quite possibly the best argument for Yoko Ono as a commercially viable artist

Only if you discount Approximately Infinite Universe, which in another world is being acclaimed as one of the very best solo Beatles albums.

[Lonely Summer]

"Milk And Honey" is also quite possibly the best argument for Yoko Ono as a commercially viable artist

Only if you discount Approximately Infinite Universe, which in another world is being acclaimed as one of the very best solo Beatles albums.

I never actually listened to a Yoko only album, just the collaborations with John, but I do like her songs on Milk and Honey. The John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band albums had nearly identical covers, I wonder if anyone ever took the wrong one home?

[Heteronym]

I haven't listened to much of their solo discographies, but for me, 'Ram' is not only the best of what I've heard, but also up there with the greatest pop records in my collection. Brilliant stuff.

I also enjoy 'Band on the Run', 'Venus and Mars', 'Back To The Egg', 'Tug of War' and John's songs on 'Double Fantasy' very much.

Band on the Run has a great material, but the production is rather..."meh". Every song from that album works better live.

I've always had a soft spot for McCartney (the first album). Brilliant, simple stuff.

[Vega-Table Man]

I've always had a soft spot for McCartney (the first album). Brilliant, simple stuff.

Me too. And Ram is my favorite solo Beatle album. I don't care what critics thought at the time. They just wanted Abbey Road Vol. II, I suppose, and so were unable to enjoy it for what it is (an unpretentious, incredibly melodic and enjoyable pop record).

[donald]

I've been exploring, revisiting George Harrison material.  I like it better now than I did previously.  Brainwashed and Early Takes are currently in heavy rotation on my player.  I really enjoyed the George movio bio by Marty S. 

As for other more recent Beatles solo LP's, for some reason, I'm partial to Paul's Memory Almost Full and I just love his cover of Paper Moon on the Kisses CD.  One of these days I need to do a PM playlist.  There are at least a few good songs on each of his many recordings.  Time changes one's perspective on certain music over the years.  One can listen without the bias one might have had toward, say, John vs. Paul in the early solo years.

[JohnMill]

I've always had a soft spot for McCartney (the first album). Brilliant, simple stuff.

Me too. And Ram is my favorite solo Beatle album. I don't care what critics thought at the time.

The critics of the day had it in for Macca because it was perceived at the time that he instigated The Beatles breakup.  Therefore many of them judged his solo output extremely harshly.  In fact last year when RAM got the deluxe treatment, someone dug up an old review  of RAM by Springsteen's producer Jon Landau where he basically tore the album to shreds.  Last year Landau was asked to comment on his forty year old review and lets say he had all types of egg on his face as I'm sure many of Macca's critics at the time would now speaking of their harsh reviews with the benefit of hindsight.  At least Landau had the courage to stand up and be counted for in regards to his hatchet job of a review.

[hypehat]

Macca's problem is his lyrics. This clearly doesn't bother a lot of people, as he got a #2 with Let Him In, a song literally about the act of someone ringing a doorbell. But all the same, music comes first for him and he fills in nonsense to fit a melody. If, by some feat of alternate universing, he wrote Yesterday in 1975 instead of 1965, I'd bet my right hand it would have come out as 'Scrambled Eggs, Oh My Baby How I Love Your Legs' (his initial placeholder) instead.

Too much weed or not enough incentive?

[Lonely Summer]

Paul, like Brian, is a melody man first and foremost. Let Em In might have a silly lyric, but it sure is fun to play on the piano. Is it just coincidence that one of the better lyrics of the Wings era, Mull of Kintyre, was co-written by Denny Laine? I think Paul, like Brian, should write with a good lyricist more often. Paul's early post- Beatles music was criticized for espousing cozy domesticity.....exactly what that rebel Lennon was doing on Double Fantasy nearly 10 years later. I know the critics like everything to be cutting edge and angry, but who wants to live their whole life like that? I'd trade all the biting, nasty rock 'n' roll for a happy home life any day.

[JohnMill]

Paul has written many a good lyric in his day.  "Somedays" off "Flaming Pie" and "Distractions" off "Flowers In The Dirt" immediately come to mind and that is just off the top of my head.