Even if you don't think much of their music (to which I would ask... why are you reading this?), it is safe to say you've at least familiar with the Beatles. Everyone is. Countless books and films have been made about them, and their influence on music and popular culture in general is still relevant and noticeable today. Lots has already been explored, analyzed (and don't forget parodied) about this band from so many different angles that I can't truly do anything like that justice. Instead, I'll explore their albums primarily from a fan's (mine!) perspective.
(Also I'm sticking with the typical UK releases for the early albums, not comparing them with the US editions which have totally different track listings and even different versions of certain songs).
Anyway let's roll. I hope this list please pleases you (sorry).
#13 -- Yellow Submarine (1969)
**1/2
To be fair, Yellow Submarine isn't really a Beatles album. They were obligated to release a soundtrack album for the Yellow Submarine movie and reportedly were not enthusiastic about the project.
As such, it's a pretty disjointed outing. All of the "new" Beatles material are unreleased tracks rejected from previous albums. There's a throwaway quality to these recordings... the whole enterprise definitely feels like a collection of B-sides (or in this case, B level B-sides).
Which is not to say they're bad songs. "Hey Bulldog" is a memorable rocking Lennon romp and "Only A Northern Song" reminds of Sgt. Pepper with it's noisy sonic experimentation. Harrison's "It's All Too Much" sounds like it would fit right in with his solo effort All Things Must Pass, or even early Tame Impala if you wanna jump ahead forty years. The problem is just that the rest of the Beatles material is forgettable filler or songs that appear on previous (better) albums ("All You Need Is Love" and the title track).
The second side is exclusively orchestral work from the film turned in by producer George Martin, which while enjoyable for what it is, calling it "Beatles" isn't exactly honest since they had nothing to do with it. Thus my point that this isn't a Beatles album: all the tracks are either instrumentals done by their (incomparable) producer Martin, songs from other records, or leftover tracks from previous sessions. It's fun as a historical curiousity... these throwaway songs are decent but well below their usual standard.
#12 -- Beatles For Sale (1964)
***1/2
Here's the thing: there isn't a bad Beatles album (discounting Yellow Submarine). You can argue there isn't even a mediocre one, and I would agree for the most part. The worst Beatles albums (a very weird phrase to say) either aren't as cohesive as their truly great ones, or have some real clunkers that mess it all up.
Beatles For Sale falls into that second category. The band must've been completely exhausted at this point: consider this was their fourth full length album recorded and released in less than two years, while doing world tours and filming a freaking movie around all of that. Compared to the jumpy energy of A Hard Days Night, they seem weary on this record... not just vocally but by the nature of the songs themselves. Tunes like "No Reply", "Baby's In Black" and "What You're Doing" reflect this: a lively band used to bouncing off walls now sound jaded, even insecure. Even on the cover they look like they just needed a break from all this madness.
This does give For Sale an element that makes its good moments so terrific. Lennon would later explore deeper personal territory and introspection than on "I'm a Loser", but this song is where that really starts. "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party" is similar... just a brilliantly sad song so misleading in its upbeatness. .
That being said, it has some real flops. The cover "Mr. Moonlight" is downright unlistenable, like a cheesy song someone in a comedy film plays while trying (and failing) to romance their sweetheart. Likewise most of the other covers (there are a lot... exhausted band don't forget) just seem rather flat. Buddy Holly's "Words of Love" is an exception, and "Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey" has always been fun because I love when McCartney just lets loose like that.
The originals definitely overshadow the covers. "Eight Days A Week" is perfect early Beatles... "I'll Follow The Sun" is just so sweet, simple and beautiful (apparently McCartney wrote it when he was 16), and "I'm a Loser" is a standout Lennon song and important when considering his canon. Overall, it's an okay album... ballooned by some great all-time early Beatles tunes and bogged down by a lot of tracks you'll want to skip. Stars and scrubs.
#11 -- Let It Be (1970)
***1/2
Before anyone mentions or even thinks it... yes yes I know Abbey Road was recorded after Let It Be but was released before blahblahblah.
I've never really loved Let It Be that much, for two reasons. First, the tensions in the band were just unbearable at this point: there are multiple bootlegs where you can hear them arguing, so I have a negative association with this album because of that. Yoko didn't break up the Beatles, Let It Be did? Not exactly true either way, but still.
Second though, is that these songs don't bring out any emotional connection for me, which is what I think this record demands from the listener. "Two of Us" is a sweet little song buthas a hundreth of an effect on me when compared to say, "Golden Slumbers". "Let It Be" the song is definitely a beautiful tear jerker, but it also reminds me of an ex-girlfriend and so just isn't a song I enjoy very much. Meanwhile songs like "The Long And Winding Road" are completely ruined by Phil Spector's stupid over-the-top 'wall of sound' production shenanigans. There's a great song in there but those strings strangle it to death.
My personal favourites on Let It Be are the more rock'n'roll numbers: 'Get Back' is a delightfully odd lyrical romp that grows with how it insists upon itself; 'I've Got A Feeling' is a classic Beatles song where Lennon and McCartney merge two different melodic ideas into a cohesive tune; and 'One After 909' just rolls with fun. A forgotten classic of this album is Harrison's 'For You Blue', a straight upbeat blues/folk number that stands out here because it is unapologetically sweet, ego free and tender.
Let It Be captures a lot of the Beatles at their best at this point in time, but has always felt like an incomplete album and thus it lacks a strong sense of flow. The best songs are truly incredible, but considering how they eventually gave up on this project to later record something else as their true swan song... this just isn't anywhere close to their best records.
#10 -- With The Beatles (1963)
****
My dad won't like me putting this one here.
It's tough with Beatles albums... this is a great early one, hitting you seductively with classics like "All I've Gotta Do", teasing with hope like 'All My Loving' ("i will send to you"... what a lyric), and the immediate energy of "It Won't Be Long". This record just starts with three punches to the sensibilities, and they're all wicked tunes.
The album loses steam at points, but not to the point of being dreadful (*cough* Mr. Moonlight *cough*), just forgettable. Critics/some very close friends of mine discount anything Beatles before Rubber Soul, arguing it all sounds repetitive, isn't as amazing, cerebral and mature as what they'd later create. Or it just isn't their cup of tea.
Myself though, I like and will defend early Beatles stuff because... they just sound so good. Perhaps it's the benefit of hindsight knowing the directions they would later take, but frankly this is just good 60s pop music, played with enthusiasm by excellent musicians. This album is terrific and yet somewhat forgotten within the Beatles canon (despite the iconic cover... which, well it's the Beatles so they're kinda all iconic).
#9 -- Magical Mystery Tour (1968)
****
Another good album (or double EP if you're specific). But when talking Beatles, good falls behind the shadow of great. Then great cowers under the shadow of sheer brilliance.
Also, this has got to be one of the worst album covers of all time. At least one of the worst by a universally known band. It's like a Care Bear had a few too many margaritas and didn't make it to the toilet in time.
As an album, it catches the Fab Four at their most loopy. I've never liked "All You Need Is Love" (despite its persevering message); "Hello Goodbye" is fairly overplayed, though has a sing-along quality that cannot be denied. "Baby You're A Rich Man" is rather lame also.
Frankly, Mystery Tour is a weird outing by the boys. The opening tune is energetic, like inviting you to a fabulous circus filled with delights. Thing is, that idea falls apart before that song even ends. It proposes something so grand but promises and delivers nothing... simply repeating its premise through multiple melody changes. It's a good song (because the Beatles could make a song about diarrhea appealing, surely) but has no direction.
Luckily, the rest of the album has some wonderful songs. Few will agree with me but 'Your Mother Should Know' is a top McCartney song, Beatles or otherwise. That melody just floats on a cloud, and the touch of piano brings it back down to earth while the George/John harmonies give it so much depth. So damn good, and just so quintessentially Beatles.
I'd be a foolish also to not mention "Strawberry Fields", "Penny Lane", or "I Am The Walrus". So... okay I mentioned them. Amazing songs. Done.
Okay... fine. 'I Am The Walrus" is surely a song of its time, yet accordingly timeless. It is wonderfully without form, yet conforming mostly to melodic principles. A lyrical and musical tour-de-force difficult to do justice to. All I can say... it is a song that forces you to dive into a world where associations are meaningless, words mean everything and nothing, and all is true unless you actually believe it. Also if anyone reading this doubts Ringo's drumming ability, or even (gasp) considers him the weak link in the Beatles.... just listen to how he holds "Walrus" together. Brilliant stuff.
Where this album loses some prestige (beyond the awful cover... seriously!) are some of those well known songs that frankly... aren't all that great. This album is a good listen, but these fellas made records that far surpass this one.
#8 -- Please Please Me (1963)
****
I have such a soft spot for this album. It's no masterpiece, but is so legendary. The gang was barely in their 20s... hardened and professional from constant gigging all over... firing off their tightest live set in studio over one single day. And of course they pull it off. On 'Twist And Shout", Lennon's vocals are slightly scratched because he'd been singing all day with a throat cold, but was the last take he could do before his voice finally gave out.
When listening to Please Please Me, you hear a version of the Beatles in their infancy. Most of these songs have a cute, bob-your-head-along presence to them. Just four young lads playing songs to try and swoon girls. While concept-wise... well yeah there isn't a whole lot else to analyze beyond that... this album is incredibly enjoyable for the catchy melodies, vocal harmonies and skilled musicianship. You can argue Lennon-McCartney weren't great songwriters yet (I'd disagree, but you can argue it) but you simply can't argue that the band wasn't yet great, even at this early point. The compositions are simple, sure, but are performed with energetic precision, especially the covers.
It's raw Beatles essentially: a bit looser and fast than the second album... which is why I think I like it more. They sound more fun, even if they sound more innocent. "I Saw Here Standing There", aside from being an addictive, timeless toe-tapper of a tune, does the job of announcing to the world "The Beatles are here!" And nothing was ever the same.
#7 -- Help! (1965)
****1/2
An album I consider underrated and even somewhat forgotten in the Beatles canon, which is saying something since they made a (hilarious) movie with half of this album.
The first side features all the songs from said movie, and all seven are classics in their own right. The title track kicks it all off, bringing the weary unsettled feel of Beatles For Sale but punching up the energy by several ticks. It feels like Lennon is struggling to balance on a tightrope while he sings and you're right there with him. "The Night Before" is classic McCartney, running on an addictive melody that glides along so smoothly it's impossible not to hum along with it, while "I Need You" is a Harrison tune that always reminds me of that scene in the film where they're in the field surrounded by a bunch of tanks (not quite fitting the feel of the song...)
"You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" is a personal favourite Lennon song... finding him and the band drifting further into a Dylan-inspired folk direction that would be present on later albums. It's so good... from Lennon's vocals dripping with introspection, the closing flute solo, to the tambourine crashes in the end of the second verses. Likewise "You're Gonna Lose That Girl" is another winner... an energetic number that wouldn't have been out of place on A Hard Days Night, its superb tightness and great vocal harmony fitting perfectly here. Then, you've got "Ticket To Ride"... a masterpiece of 60s pop. The lyrics are so memorable ("I think I'm gonna be sad/ I think it's today... yeah/the girl that's driving me mad/is going away") that even reading that probably puts the melody into your head.
The first side of Help! is likely the more famous side... strange when you remember the second side has the most covered song in the history of popular music ("Yesterday"). Indeed, the second side starts rather poorly (there are some good Ringo songs but "Act Naturally" isn't one)... but then dives into a proto-Rubber Soul feel. Tunes like "Tell Me What You See" and "It's Only Love" easily would slot into that next album (recorded later in 1965 after all). As such, I've always maintained Help! really is the record where you truly see the future direction the band was embarking upon. Heck, I always forget that the beautiful "I've Just Seen A Face"is on here and not Rubber Soul.
Speaking of that song, in my opinion it's one of the very best McCartney songs, probably even a top ten Beatles song for me. It's sweet, touching and yet so fast paced... like a fleeting love you always recall that went by just a little too fast. I've always preferred it over the famous "Yesterday", which likewise is a touching song and brilliant in its catching simplicity.
The record ending with the raucous Larry Williams cover "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" seems somewhat out of place, but it's a fun tune and one of the last times you get to hear Lennon wail on a Beatles album. Overall, this really is a great album among the great Beatles albums, and an important transitional one for the musical heights they were about to reach.
#6 -- The Beatles (White Album) - (1968)
****1/2
An extremely difficult one to review, discuss, or even listen to entirely front to back. It is a roller coaster of tone, exploring an endless array of genres, moods and experiments. Love it or hate it, the White Album is certainly unique.
I've never loved it, but I recognize its importance and influence. My issue is the lack of cohesion (which some argue is precisely what makes it great). The band was beginning to fracture, and you can tell by how separate stylistically so many of these ideas are. This isn't so much a complete album by a band as a collection of musical concepts tied together by its own conceptual randomness. Few bands could've pulled this off and made it work.
I don't consider it a masterpiece though because frankly, not all of these songs are good. Some are actually bad: "Bungalow Bill" is more mean than poignant (though the song is notable for having the only Yoko Ono vocal appearance on a Beatles track, so insert joke here); the ramshackle "Don't Pass Me By" is painfully too long; "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" is a song I despise more and more each time I'm forced to hear it... and I've never listened to "Revolution 9" all the way through because... well Barney did it better.
Conversely, the White Album has some of the greatest songs the Beatles ever recorded. "Dear Prudence" brings cautious yet encouraging psychedelic whimsy, opening with that beautiful guitar plucking chord. "Glass Onion" is a fun lyrical trip through the band's own legend and lore, while "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" is so unsettling as it twists and weaves through an out of control descent. "I'm So Tired" is a great Lennon track that perfectly captures its title, "Piggies" is political satire both catchy and showcasing Harrison's serious songwriting chops, "Birthday" is a fun rocker and "Blackbird" is another sweet often-covered ballad that McCartney seemingly can just roll out of bed and write.
I could keep going but there are thirty freaking songs on this album. Instead, I have to mention just a few of my personal favourites. "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey" is rock n roll chaos near perfection: the song seems like it's about absolutely nothing but hooks you with the bells and craziness bouncing around the melody like pinballs. I just love it. "Savoy Truffle" is another Harrison gem, bringing serious groove, fun stop-and-start drumming and excellent keyboard licks. "Cry Baby Cry" again finds Lennon at his best, crafting compelling regal lyrics over a straightforward chord progression (the airy piano touch in this song really sells it, and just sounds so Beatles).
The best song on the album though, perhaps one of the five best songs they ever recorded, has to be the incredible "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". On most ordinary albums, a song that feels this epic or immediate would be a climax near the end. Since this is the White Album where time and space are essentially meaningless, it isn't even the last song on side one.
No matter, because this song is simply wonderful. Aside from being an absolute electric guitar masterclass, Harrison's vocals and lyrics emotionally capture a sense of detachment and disharmony, so broadly delivered that those feelings could be about the relations in the band, or a general sense of disharmony within the world at large. It's a brilliant composition, from Eric Clapton's excellent work (his presence supposedly helped Lennon and McCartney actually take the song seriously), to the little touches like the opening piano lick or McCartney and Harrison's chilling vocal harmony in the verses (with Paul's presence merely complimenting, not overtaking). "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is a truly masterful tune. Here, check out this version.
Overall, the White Album is weird. Full of genius, stuffed with filler and self-indulgence. It's so great in stretches but then something like "Don't Pass Me By" interrupts that flow and you sit there wondering how this ever got released on a record. It is certainly an engaging trip.
#5 -- A Hard Days Night (1964)
*****
Now I'm talking crazy. A Hard Days Night ahead of the White Album? Am I insane. Well yes. But is this opinion insane?
No! A Hard Days Night is a very important Beatles album and in my view easily the best of their early work. First off, it is the first LP they recorded that was all original material. This gives the record a tighter flow, each song fitting together like puzzle pieces aligned into a more complete picture.
The iconic opening chord of the title track kicks it off like a starter's pistol: this is going to be a sprint of a record... bustling with endless energy and infectious melodies. Musically it refines their early sound into an ideal package... whether it be punchy rockers like "A Hard Days Night", "Can't Buy Me Love"; soft tender ballads like "If I Fell" and "And I Love Her", or catchy broken hearts like the amazing "I'll Cry Instead", "Tell Me Why", "I'll Be Back", or "You Can't Do That".
This record has so many memorable musical touches, like the harmonica that helps the great "I Should Have Known Better" chug along... the swaying drum beat of "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You"... McCartney's wicked bass playing that keeps "I'll Cry Instead" moving so smoothly... the bridge in "Things We Said Today" that expertly picks up the tone just for those moments... and of course their vocal harmony is constantly exceptional, coming and going at just the right moments.
Sure, the Beatles made later albums that were less fixed in a particular era and more topically relevant, but I'll argue they never made an album that sounded this fun. If Please Please Me are the boys being shy or sheepish about romance, Hard Days Night is them hitting the town on a Friday night like they own the place. This is straightforward, catchy stuff that invites you to run alongside full speed with it.
#4 -- Rubber Soul (1965)
*****
I suspect most Beatles fans have some arrangement of these last four albums as their top four. Everyone I've talked to in semi-depth about the Fab Four has chosen one of these as their favourite, and Rubber Soul seems the most common choice amidst this sample size. Hey, it's a damn great album.
It begins misleadingly with the rock n'roll number "Drive My Car" (such a fun tune), suggesting none of the heavy folk influence that will so heavily affect this record. Rather, it's the second song "Norwegian Wood" that summons you down the rabbit hole into what this journey is really going to be. Also I'd be neglectful if I didn't mention how wonderful that song is lyrically, as it whisks you into this story of an encounter without a climax, but whisks you along nevertheless.
I mentioned how Help! was the album that hints at a different musical direction... Rubber Soul is the album that fully embraces it. Even a seemingly throwaway pop tune like "You Won't See Me" has a much different feel than it would've on previous records, bringing different drum fills and melodic structure. There's a dark warmness to this album, like sitting around a campfire in the woods. Safe comfort at the core, yet all around is mystery and a hidden unknown.
Rubber Soul isn't my favourite Beatles album because, while free of any bad songs, there are a few I've never loved. That said, it's loaded with true gems. "The Word" is proto-hippie culture with its "and the word/is love" vibe/message, plus the song is so strange with that odd guitar chord that squawks at you in the verses. "Girl" is just so damn fantastic, finding a regretful Lennon lamenting a love he cannot escape while the music plods behind him, perfectly capturing the feel of his plight. Likewise "In My Life" is another Lennon classic, a song of perfectly delivered nostalgia yet also one of hopefulness and appreciation of present relationships. An unbelievably beautiful song and a top song of his. I've always liked Harrison's "If I Needed Someone", a straightforward song with good lyrics and great harmonies, hinting at his rapidly developing songwriting ability.
Rubber Soul also has the best Ringo song, which (duh) is "What Goes On".
I love this album, I truly do. Every time I listen to it, I get a fuzzy feeling inside. When a lot of people think of the Beatles but aren't intimate with their full catalogue, this is the kind of album they expect. It's so great, but there are two others I like a little bit more... and then the one that's completely on another planet.
#3 -- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
*****
True story... I was chatting with a close friend who is in a couple sorta-bands with me, and eventually the subject of how I was writing this list came up. I knew I had Sgt. Pepper at #3 and felt the need to explain why, since it is widely considered one of (sometimes the) greatest album of all time. My reasoning was: "well, there are just a couple of songs I don't like", after which I then tried to name these songs... and couldn't think of one.
So yeah. I guess this album is pretty good. A lot pretty good.
A lot has been said how this is the first concept album ever made. It definitely is a loose and simple concept: the whole album being a concert by Sgt. Pepper's 'band', bookended by the opening intro track and its reprise near the end. One of my favourite albums of all time, Songs For The Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age, uses a similar framework wherein the album is a collection of songs heard on various radio stations during a drive through the Southern California desert, with "DJ" interludes between tracks. I like that concept (and Sgt. Pepper's as well) because not only is it simple, its effective because by giving these songs a frame it makes the complete work feel so much grander.
There are concept albums that dive deeper into certain ideas and do so brilliantly (later Pink Floyd is rather good at that... until The Final Cut... I'll sharpen my knives for you soon) but Sgt. Pepper announces what it is and then completely goes in any direction it pleases. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" is an extremely famous song and its visually absurd lyrics rather amusing to listen to (especially if sung by William Shatner), but at the time it must've been even more surreal because in 1967 nobody in popular music sounded anything like that. That trippyness is followed by some solid McCartney songs ("Getting Better" and "Fixing a Hole", immortalized by George Burns???) and then the heartbreaking/inspiring "She's Leaving Home" (either way it's gorgeous). Then of course, the completely insane Lennon song "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite", which is genius in tone and texture (the collage of sound as it ends still holds up today as brilliant production).
As great as it is, Sgt. Pepper is really a Lennon-McCartney album. Harrison only gets the one song and it isn't one of his best ("Within You Without You"), while Ringo gets to sing the fun "With a Little Help From My Friends", which seems rather cheeky when you realize Lennon/McCartney wrote it for him. This doesn't take away from the truly great music... just that it's a case of the alpha songwriters of the band dominating affairs even more than usual.
The album winds down in fine form, with the dreamy journey of Lennon's "Good Morning Good Morning", McCartney's tale of falling for a meter maid "Lovely Rita" and the rocking reprise of the title track. Of course, no discussion of Sgt. Pepper can really be complete without the epic (and I use that word with pure truth) closing track: "A Day In The Life".
What can you really say. Aside from being one of the greatest Beatles songs, it's probably one of the greatest songs to end any album, or even one of the greatest songs ever written by anyone. It's truly a masterpiece. Lennon's lyrics of seemingly mundane happenings in a newspaper or seeing a forgettable film and that sense of dreariness, matched with McCartney's bright interlude of some fellow's morning routine... it's not exciting in substance yet musically it is so captivating (also helped by George Martin's production and ability to conduct an orchestra for certain parts... I believe he had to talk the band out of telling the orchestra to just play whatever they wanted, instead conducting them each to reach the same note/pitch at different paces). The song is timelessly human, capturing feelings subtle and relatable. What can you really say.
I know my dad would disagree (in fact I know he does... heh) but I don't think Sgt. Pepper is the best Beatles album. That said, it is great and its influence on popular music and countless musicians cannot be fully measured. Between this and the first Velvet Underground album (obviously not as publicly beloved or known at the time), 1967 was some year.
#2 -- Revolver (1966)
*****
Musically, I think Sgt. Pepper and Revolver are pretty damn close in quality. Sgt. Pepper has the grand concept, sure, but what pushes Revolver above it in my eyes is that this feels like more of a complete band effort.
Harrison's obvious talents are barely present on Pepper but on Revolver he's all over the place, with the exceptional opener "Taxman", the Eastern influenced "Love You To" (which I much prefer over "Within You Without You") and the straightforward "I Want To Tell You", which features the three main singers combining just fabulous vocal harmonies. His electric guitar playing is also a highlight and serious presence on this album, giving so many of these great tunes such memorable licks or adding to the eclectic atmosphere of the record.
All of them are in fine form, of course. Revolver was the first album the band released after they decided to stop touring, and the extra free time to explore and experiment in the studio clearly was fruitful. Ringo's drumming just pops and cracks on this album, McCartney's bass dips and surfaces like a constant wave, and again their vocal harmonies are just so damn on point (this is the album Brian Wilson was thinking about when conceptualizing Pet Sounds). Songs like "And Your Bird Can Sing" or "She Said She Said" roll with wild guitar workouts yet stay grounded thanks to those great harmonies and Lennon's lead lyrical presence, the latter song genuinely bringing the atmosphere of someone waking from a dream (which in a way, considering the song "I'm Only Sleeping", fits a kind of theme perhaps).
Along with Harrison, Revolver is a great Lennon album. "Doctor Robert" (an ode to his dealer, heh) is a wicked tune that alludes but never confesses, while if my theme of dreaming is semi-true, then the closer "Tomorrow Never Knows" is a true sonic nightmare of chaos... descending further into madness while it ascends towards understanding. I love this song and consider it brilliant: the bass and drums keep it all grounded while crazy horns, Lennon's vague lyrical phrasing and backwards guitars give it otherworldly atmosphere... like a bridge from one plain of existence to the next.
There are a few songs I could do without ("Eleanor Rigby" is heavily overplayed and "Yellow Submarine"... is "Yellow Submarine") so you can argue that Sgt. Pepper is the tighter album. To me though, Revolver is much more alive and exciting, showcasing a band equally together and focused on creating something dynamic and new. When I first really listened to it, I was about seventeen and actually didn't like it very much. I didn't get it. But it grew on me, and kept growing the more I listened... its secrets and subtle brilliance unraveling itself to me. Truly one of the greatest albums ever made.
#1 -- Abbey Road (1969)
*****
Speaking of the greatest album ever made...
The very first time I met one of my absolute closest friends, about twelve years ago when we were barely out of our teens... he was wearing an Abbey Road T-Shirt and I instantly knew I was gonna like this fella.
I am incredibly biased here. For several years this was my favourite album of all time, period. Eventually I decided/realized that my tastes were diverse enough, my influences as a musician equally strong elsewhere, that choosing one album above all the others wasn't fair. So Abbey Road is merely one of my favourite albums of all time. But I do think it is the greatest Beatles album and the absolute perfect farewell, a chef's kiss for such an incredible and influential band.
Side one, I'll admit, is not as strong as side two (what is though?). "Come Together" is great for its strange lyrics (another Lennon classic) and awesome bassline, giving an offbeat loungey kind of vibe (and really unlike any other Beatles song). "Something" is a lovely song, soft and beautiful, though I've heard it just a little too much (still enjoyable though)... meanwhile Steve Martin ruined "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" for me in the awful Sgt. Pepper movie (don't look that movie up. Seriously. Do. Not).
One song I just completely love, more than anyone I know, is the song that closes side one: "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". Part of me likes to imagine an alternate universe where the Beatles stayed together at least through the early 70s and made more songs like that (among anything else they might've created that would've been awesome). Oh baby. That main guitar riff that opens and closes the song is so seductive, like it's hypnotizing you while it drags off into impending doom. I've loved this song forever but until recently never really considered it as a proto-metal song of sorts... I mean Abbey Road predates the first Black Sabbath album (and is bluesy as much of that record also). So there we go! The Beatles also invented heavy metal... prove me wrong.
Side two is where the legend begins. "Here Comes The Sun" is another song I've heard too often, but it's still a pleasant listen and really showcases Harrison's lyrical talent (his excellent All Things Must Pass would be released just a year after Abbey Road). "Because" is just transcendent vocal harmony, a chillingly simple song carried by those three voices singing like one omnipresent being. "You Never Give Me Your Money" is classic McCartney, opening with some piano and kicking in that dewy sweet voice of his... so damn good. It builds and progresses, adding little touches until before you know it it's evolved from 'just another Paul ballad' into that rollicking bridge, then those vocal harmonies kick in again to take it all home. "Oh that magic feeling/nowhere to go" is such a precisely vague, perfect lyric, suggesting despair or freedom, whichever you prefer. Just a magnificent song. Damn this album is so freaking good.
If I wrote about every song we'd be here forever, so I'll get to the famous medley. I've always found the first half (Mustard/Pam/Bathroom Window) a pleasant reprieve, plus all of them are great short songs in their own right. Then once you get to "Golden Slumbers"... I start losing it. There's a sadness to it, a regret "once there was a way/to get back home" and it tugs at those heart strings, especially with Martin's subtle touches in the background and McCartney's piano gently letting the song flow until he unleashes full force in the chorus, then slowly coming back to the verse. Leading into "Carry That Weight", it might be the best Beatles song Ringo sings lead on (I'm kidding... it really is "What Goes On"), but then halfway it brings back the melody of "You Never Give Me Your Money", just making this all sound so theatrical and giving the album a sense of serious continuity. That then jumps into "The End", with each of the three guitar players trading quick solos (after a Ringo drum solo!) and you can hear each of their styles. The closing line "The love you take/is equal to the love you make" just seems like such a perfect way for the Beatles to say goodbye, this incredible band finishing with a timeless message.
Then of course, they actually close the album with the twenty second ditty "Her Majesty", just in case you thought they were taking this stuff too seriously. Chef's kiss.
Obviously, I love this album... just a masterpiece of music, a fitting swansong for the most famous and perhaps influential band of all time, and it ends with a jokey song because of course it does. What makes the Beatles so good (aside from their obvious incredible talents as musicians) is that usually they were also having fun doing it. They made Abbey Road knowing this wasn't going to work much longer and so said "hey, let's just make an album like we used to and end it like that". And that's why Abbey Road is infinitely better than say, Let It Be, because this sounds like a band that's enjoying what they're doing. Even if the end was near and obvious on this record, that doesn't cloud this album or its music with a foreboding sense. Instead it sounds like a grand finale, a band going out on their own terms, and enjoying each of these final moments. Truly a special work in any artistic medium, and long may it live.
Next up I'll be switching gears to the godfathers of doom and metal. If you don't know who I'm referring to, well don't be paranoid about it.
