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Author Topic: Rank the Beatles' Studio Albums  (Read 14367 times)
petsoundsnola
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« on: September 14, 2015, 07:28:47 AM »

1. Revolver
2. Rubber Soul
3. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
4. Abbey Road
5. A Hard Day's Night
6. The Beatles
7. With the Beatles
8. Help!
9. Magical Mystery Tour
10. Please Please Me
11. Beatles for Sale
12. Let it Be
13. Yellow Submarine
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rab2591
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« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2015, 07:33:46 AM »

1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. Rubber Soul
3. Abbey Road
4. Revolver
5. Sgt. Pepper
6. White Album
7. With The Beatles
8. Please Please Me

The rest are kind of in limbo for me.
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« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2015, 08:08:14 AM »

13.  Yellow Submarine Soundtrack
12.  Beatles For Sale
11.  The White Album
10.  Please Please Me
09.  Let It Be
08.  Sgt. Pepper's
07.  With the Beatles
06.  A Hard Day's Night
05.  Help
04.  Rubber Soul
03.  Magical Mystery Tour
02.  Revolver
01.  Abbey Road
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petsoundsnola
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« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2015, 08:10:07 AM »

13.  Yellow Submarine Soundtrack
12.  Beatles For Sale
11.  The White Album
10.  Please Please Me
09.  Let It Be
08.  Sgt. Pepper's
07.  With the Beatles
06.  A Hard Day's Night
05.  Help
04.  Rubber Soul
03.  Magical Mystery Tour
02.  Revolver
01.  Abbey Road

Wow, when I first read this, I didn't realize you were ranking them from lowest to highest.  I thought, "Yellow Submarine at the top, WTF"?"  Cheesy
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KDS
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« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2015, 08:22:13 AM »

That would be pretty funny.  Yellow Submarine is the obvious choice because of the score and the two previously released tracks. 

Other than that, it's not an easy list to make. 
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EgoHanger1966
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« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2015, 09:29:57 AM »


A Hard Day's Night
With The Beatles
Please Please Me
Help
Beatles For Sale
Rubber Soul
Abbey Road
Revolver
Sgt Pepper
Magical Mystery Tour
White Album
Let It Be

Not counting Yellow Sub.
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« Reply #6 on: September 14, 2015, 09:52:46 AM »

Abbey Road
Sgt. Pepper's
The White Album
Revolver
Rubber Soul

A Hard Day's Night
Help!
Beatles for Sale
With the Beatles
Let It Be

Please Please Me
Yellow Submarine
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JK
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« Reply #7 on: September 14, 2015, 10:33:06 AM »

1. Please Please Me, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Abbey Road
2. The rest
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« Reply #8 on: September 14, 2015, 10:42:04 AM »

1/ The White Album (even though it has some total shite on it)
2/ Abbey Road
3/ Magical Mystery Tour
4/ Help!
The rest until................................................................
...................................................................................
12/ Let It Be
13/ Yellow Submarine
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« Reply #9 on: September 14, 2015, 12:12:01 PM »

1. Yellow Submarine Songtrack
2. Abbey Road
3. Revolver
4. White Album
5. Sgt. Peppers
6. Magical Mystery Tour
7. Rubber Soul
8. Hard Days Night
9. Let It Be (.... naked)  Shocked
10. Please Please Me
11. Beatles For Sale
12. HELP
13. With The Beates
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« Reply #10 on: September 14, 2015, 01:43:21 PM »

1. Revolver
2. A Hard Day's Night
3. Rubber Soul
4. The Beatles
5. With the Beatles
6. Sgt Pepper
7. For Sale
8. Help
9. Please Please Me
10. Let It Be
11. Abbey Road.

Even if I though Yellow Submarine counted as a proper album, I'm not at all familiar with it.
I don't like their solo careers and Abbey Road to me sounds like a sample of their solo work..
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« Reply #11 on: September 14, 2015, 03:11:31 PM »

Abbey Road is possibly the worst "classic" album.
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the captain
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« Reply #12 on: September 14, 2015, 03:24:18 PM »

I'll be the guy who goes ahead and sticks with the now-passe, previously gospel opinion regarding #1... (I do stand behind it, though. In fact, I might still stand behind the even-more-passe opinion that it's the best pop album of all time.) Really ranking is tough, so I'll do the Chad Ford/NBA Draft preview thing and go with tiers.

1. Pepper.
2. Revolver, Rubber Soul.
3. White, Abbey, MMT.
4. Help, Hard Day's, For Sale.
5. The rest.
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« Reply #13 on: September 15, 2015, 05:15:14 AM »

Abbey Road is possibly the worst "classic" album.

While I respect your opinion on Abbey Road, I'm just curious as to why you feel its the worst "classic" album. 
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« Reply #14 on: September 15, 2015, 07:53:40 AM »

It's possible I've never been able to judge Pepper fairly. Perhaps it was at first too sophisticated for me as a child, then too over-familiar to me as an adult.
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« Reply #15 on: September 15, 2015, 02:07:10 PM »

Abbey Road is possibly the worst "classic" album.

While I respect your opinion on Abbey Road, I'm just curious as to why you feel its the worst "classic" album. 

Just so we can stop using the annoying quotation marks, what I meant by that was, of all the albums that are now considered to be classic, Abbey Road is possibly the worst one.

Most of the songs simply aren't good. Hell, the whole second half is a bunch of songs they couldn't be bothered to finish, so they (ingeniously, I'll admit) glued them all together to make something greater than the sum of its parts. The quiet Beatle is the only one who contributes anything that can stand on its own. It's all pretty, sparkly production covering up lacking songwriting. I have the same complaint about most of Sgt. Pepper's.
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the captain
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« Reply #16 on: September 15, 2015, 02:55:19 PM »


Most of the songs simply aren't good. Hell, the whole second half is a bunch of songs they couldn't be bothered to finish, so they (ingeniously, I'll admit) glued them all together to make something greater than the sum of its parts. The quiet Beatle is the only one who contributes anything that can stand on its own. It's all pretty, sparkly production covering up lacking songwriting. I have the same complaint about most of Sgt. Pepper's.

I dispute the premise that because the second-half songs aren't finished as standalone songs, that the result isn't great music. Certainly, a series of independent, standalone pop songs is one way to make music. But there is no one way, there are many "one ways." I love side two of Abbey Road so, so much. To me, it's tapas: each song is just enough to pique my interest, and then we move on. The production / arrangement tricks to combine it all makes it that much better. That is something to be praised, I think, not something to feel guilty about.

And Pepper, well I just love those songs (which are all standalone, a few segues notwithstanding). I've never understood people's criticism of those songs, a criticism that has built in the past decade or two. Personally I think it's just overreaction backlash from the album's first 25 or 30 years of almost universal praise. But those songs that some people criticize--"When I'm 64," "Fixing a Hole," "Lovely Rita," or whatever--I think they're great songs! I just love them all, every last one. I think that album is so full of color, of texture, of tunefulness, of arrangements, of production. Love it.
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« Reply #17 on: September 15, 2015, 04:55:31 PM »

I dispute the premise that because the second-half songs aren't finished as standalone songs, that the result isn't great music.

Well, that is most certainly not what I said. I just don't happen to think most of those song fragments are good. Like most of the first side.


And Pepper, well I just love those songs (which are all standalone, a few segues notwithstanding). I've never understood people's criticism of those songs, a criticism that has built in the past decade or two. Personally I think it's just overreaction backlash from the album's first 25 or 30 years of almost universal praise. But those songs that some people criticize--"When I'm 64," "Fixing a Hole," "Lovely Rita," or whatever--I think they're great songs! I just love them all, every last one. I think that album is so full of color, of texture, of tunefulness, of arrangements, of production. Love it.

I like "Fixing a Hole", "She's Leaving Home" (although I think that one could use a different arrangement), "Lovely Rita", and "a Day in the Life". "Within You Without You" is fine. Once again, I think it's a lot of production instead of actual songwriting. But, hey, maybe that's where people's heads were at in that specific point in time: an increasing focus on production ("Whoa! Look at how cool I can make this guitar sound. And chicken noises!").

Also, that "greatest album of all time" denomination is whack, yo. I get it, it was big in 1967. The thing is, though, is it's not 1967 anymore. Most revolutionary album of all time? Maybe. I'll be waiting for the Rolling Stone list to tell me.
« Last Edit: September 15, 2015, 04:58:09 PM by Bubbly Waves » Logged
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« Reply #18 on: September 15, 2015, 05:49:55 PM »

I'm not sure what some of that actually meant.
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« Reply #19 on: September 15, 2015, 06:24:45 PM »

I feel the same way about Abbey Road that I do Sgt. Pepper's. There are a few good songs on each, but I feel as though the production took precedent in the songwriting process.

The "chicken noises" comment was a reference to "Good Morning, Good Morning" and its use of a crowing rooster.

On Abbey Road, I don't think most of the songs on the first side are good, which is the same way I feel about the second side. I'm not saying the second side is worse because it's a medley.

Rolling Stone magazine is a big proponent of the Sgt. Pepper album, and they enjoy making lists. I'm sure the album will get the nod as #1 whenever they feel like getting around to making the "most revolutionary albums" list and we can all be satisfied.

I hear a lot of praise centering around the fact that Sgt. Pepper accomplished a great deal in 1967 and that's why it's the greatest, but it is no longer 1967 and we should not be listening to and rating it with 1967 ears.
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« Reply #20 on: September 15, 2015, 06:47:35 PM »

01  A Hard Day's Night
02  Abbey Road
03  Help
04  White Album
05  Please Please Me
06  Let It Be
07  Sgt. Pepper
08  With The Beatles
09  Revolver
10  Rubber Soul
11  Beatles For Sale
12  Magical Mystery Tour
13  Yellow Submarine

It's tough to rank 'em because I like them all. But, one thing has always been surprising to me and that has been the overwhelming praise of Rubber Soul and Revolver. I just don't get it, and I'm not trying to start anything. It's a lot like Brian Wilson's love of Phil Spector and specifically "Be My Baby". I appreciate and enjoy Spector's work very much, and "Be My Baby" is a great record. But it never knocked me out or blew me away like it did with BW and other music fans. With Rubber Soul and Revolver, they are usually at the top of polls, but those albums just don't get to me like the other Beatles' albums. I think Rubber Soul and Revolver are both consistently good albums, but, to me, they don't have the "high points" that the other albums have.
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« Reply #21 on: September 15, 2015, 06:51:07 PM »

If I rank the US releases I'm bound to leave one or two out so will go with British.

1. Revolver
2. Help
3. Rubber Soul
4. White Album
5. Hard Days Night
6. Abbey Road
7. With The Beatles
8. Sgt Pepper
9. Beatles For Sale
10. Please Please Me
11. Let It Be
12. Yellow Submarine

Well...I punched up the Wiki discog page so might as well rank the US ones up to Let It Be and omitting Introducing:

1. Revolver
2. Rubber Soul
3. White Album
4. Meet The Beatles
5. Abbey Road
6. Hard Day's Night
7. Help
8. Yesterday and Today
9. Magical Mystery Tour
10. Sgt Pepper
11. Something New
12. Beatles '65
13. Beatles VI
14. Hey Jude
15. Second Album
16. Early Beatles
17. Let It Be
18. Yellow Submarine

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« Reply #22 on: September 15, 2015, 07:10:24 PM »

On Abbey Road, I don't think most of the songs on the first side are good, which is the same way I feel about the second side. I'm not saying the second side is worse because it's a medley.

You are using, though, what you consider to be the weakness of those Side B tracks in order to bolster your criticism of the album. However, if the songs were strung together ingeniously as you put it, then I fail to see what you are doing by bringing up the point.

Quote
Rolling Stone magazine is a big proponent of the Sgt. Pepper album, and they enjoy making lists. I'm sure the album will get the nod as #1 whenever they feel like getting around to making the "most revolutionary albums" list and we can all be satisfied.

Rolling Stone is hardly the only magazine to feel this way about Sgt. Pepper.

Quote
I hear a lot of praise centering around the fact that Sgt. Pepper accomplished a great deal in 1967 and that's why it's the greatest, but it is no longer 1967 and we should not be listening to and rating it with 1967 ears.

Who is "we" and how do you know that "we" are listening to and rating the album with 1967 ears?
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« Reply #23 on: September 15, 2015, 07:23:38 PM »

On Abbey Road, I don't think most of the songs on the first side are good, which is the same way I feel about the second side. I'm not saying the second side is worse because it's a medley.

You are using, though, what you consider to be the weakness of those Side B tracks in order to bolster your criticism of the album. However, if the songs were strung together ingeniously as you put it, then I fail to see what you are doing by bringing up the point.

The idea to string them together was smart because they are weak on their own.

Quote
Rolling Stone magazine is a big proponent of the Sgt. Pepper album, and they enjoy making lists. I'm sure the album will get the nod as #1 whenever they feel like getting around to making the "most revolutionary albums" list and we can all be satisfied.

Rolling Stone is hardly the only magazine to feel this way about Sgt. Pepper.

You'll notice I said "A big proponent", not "the big proponent."

Quote
I hear a lot of praise centering around the fact that Sgt. Pepper accomplished a great deal in 1967 and that's why it's the greatest, but it is no longer 1967 and we should not be listening to and rating it with 1967 ears.

Who is "we" and how do you know that "we" are listening to and rating the album with 1967 ears?

"We" are the people that listen to Sgt. Pepper. I know that "we" are listening to it and rating the album with 1967 ears because when I read praise for the album, it often talks about how revolutionary it was for its time. "Changed rock into an art form" and whatnot. It's a generalization. Certainly not true for everyone that loves it, but I do encounter that line of thought frequently.

It's the same for any album. I don't think we should be listening to something as though we're in the past. We should bring these things into the present and test if they're actually lasting instead of keeping them in a bubble. If it can maintain its stature within a modern context without saddling it with qualifiers of a past time, then it is indeed great art.

That's just what I think, anyway - like the rest of what I've said.
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« Reply #24 on: September 15, 2015, 08:36:14 PM »

1. Abbey Road - great songs with George knocking it out of the park, fantastic sonics (where for art thou analogue mastered vinyl reissue).  An utter pleasure. I will respectfully refrain from using the "C" word.

2. White Album - an iffy track or two, but nothing I actively avoid, love both the mono and stereo mixes - any set that kicks off with USSR, Dear Prudence, Glass Onion is high on my list (and it is).

3. Sgt Pepper - well, I quite like it although it didn't blow me away when i first heard it in the sleepy days of '85.  I have never warmed to either mix of She's Leaving Home, but you get that sometimes.  Whimsical, delightful and the best last track ever.

(MMT) - sure, but a personal fave, despite the dubious origins/is it an album definition.

4. Hard Days Night - possibly the only "early" Beatles album I enjoy.  Don't know why that is, but can't stop as I've got the rest of the list to go.

5. Revolver - a great album, but I think John's stuff ('cept TNK) was not as sharp as on 6. Rubber Soul, where I found Paul's stuff to be the weaker material.

7. Let It Be - should have been better, the good bits great, I rarely play it.

8. Help (I wish I've Just Seen a Face was on HDN)
9. With The Beatles (great cover art)
10. Please Please Me (nice enough)
11. Beatles For Sale (decidedly ok)

I might drag these out once every couple of years, but don't get motivated re repeat listens.

12. Yellow Submarine
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