I’m 22. I like old (old to me) music, from the 60’s, and 70’s. I really like the Beatles.
Now, I want some of their music, but I’m not sure what I should do. Should I buy separate albums, or by the Red, White, and Blue albums? I guess I’m a casual fan, and have never even heard of a lot of the songs on the White album.
So, should I go with the Red, and Blue, and skip individual albums? Any advice?
Adam
“Life is hard…but God is good”
beatle tricked me with his thread post ‘Day Tripper’ and I thought for sure that it was about THE Beatles, and I was disappointed, but only for a moment!
If you’re just a casual fan, the red or blue album (CD or cassette, unless you really MEAN the record albums) are both good. Rubber Soul has always been my very favoritest of all their music. Another good choice would be the ‘20 Best Master’s’ It is black and white, with a number of their best hits too.
Hi Arg,
J
“We should have as high a regard for the church so as to keep it out of as many things as possible”
Fluther Good -the Shadow of a Gunman.
Sean O’Casey
Jeremy…
On behalf of the group, I’d like to thank you, and I hope we passed the audition.
ARG–you can’t go wrong with any Beatle album. I would save the “Anthology” albums until you’ve become more familiar with all the songs. The “Anthology” CDs are mostly made up of alternate versions of Beatles classics, mixed with live recordings.
The Beatles changed their styles a lot over the course of their career, so at first you may want to stick with the albums from the time period that your favorite music of theirs was released. For instance, my brother and I are both big fans of the Beatles. However, he prefers their early music, and I like the later stuff. So that’s the kind of albums we buy.
As for the “red” and “blue” albums, I personally can’t recommend them, unless you only wanted to get a couple albums. You’ll be missing some songs that were not hits, but good songs anyway. (At least I don’t think they’re complete.)
As for specific albums…
Sgt. Peppers is very good, but a lot more eclectic than many people who aren’t familiar with it realize.
The white album is excellent though even more eclectic than Sgt. Peppers.
Rubber Soul is probably my favorite. Several big hits, and not quite as experimental as much of the music that came afterwards.
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What is John Kricfalusi (“Ren and Stimpy”) doing these days?
I’m all for the White Album and Sgt. Pepper. Conceptually, they’re both brilliant, musically, they are amazing. I remember when I was but a wee lass, I’d beg my parents to play the “Dr. Pepper” album, so I could listen to “Lucy with the Diamonds.” I think my parents were concerned they had a future LSD addict on their hands, but I turned out reasonably OK, anyway. 
Habit rules the unreflecting herd. - Wordsworth
As an “old” person who was around when the Beatles hit it big, I prefer myself Rubber Soul album, the first I ever owned, in fact.
But, to be honest, I’m more of a Grateful Dead fan.
Rubber Soul is great, but I think Abbey Road was my favorite. If you are lucky enough to find the British versions, they have songs that were not released here in the states.
I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!
PCW,
I think the albums out on CD now all carry the original UK lineups. Like you said, back in the bad ol’ vinyl days the US versions were shorted by enough songs so they could get 3 US albums from 2 UK. For instance The UK Rubber Soul and Revolver albums were released here as Rubber Soul, Revolver and Yesterday and Today. That only happened with the pre-Pepper albums, though.
I’d put The White Album first (does anyone else remember when it was called “The Beatles’ Double Album” and had “The Beatles” embossed and with a serial number?).
Next is Abbey Road, then Sgt. Pepper (which is a bit dated now) and Rubber Soul.
“East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx
Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. www.sff.net/people/rothman
To answer the OP, the red and blue albums are both “greatest hits”-type packages. I don’t remember which is which, but they are organized loosely chronologically: one is their earlier work and one is their later work.
As someone else stated, if you are a fan of the earlier songs, that tend to me more oriented toward straight rock & roll and pop (Twist & Shout, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Love Me Do, etc.) than the early one is best. If you prefer the hippy-trippy psychodelia songs (Strawberry Fields Forever, Norwegian Wood, and the solo efforts) than the later one is for you. You cannot go wrong buying one or both and then later buying the original albums that contain the songs you like best.
Sweet Basil
Thanks for the advice all. It seems that everyone would reccomend the White album as well, so I think I’m going to get all three, red, white, and blue. (I know that’s not in chronological order, but I’m a patriotic guy)
Guy Propski: I’ve never heard a Beatles song I didn’t like. My father has Anthology I, and II, which I borrowed. The recordings seemed poor, and I thought they were a bit like bootleg albums at times. Hopefully, these other double albums won’t sound like that. I’m mostly looking for better sound quality than the Anthologies.
Adam
“Life is hard…but God is good”
Hell, there aren’t THAT many Beatles albums. Buy 'em all.
PLEASE, PLEASE ME
WITH THE BEATLES
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT
HELP!
BEATLES FOR SALE
RUBBER SOUL
REVOLVER
SGT. PEPPER
MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
THE BEATLES (white album)
YELLOW SUBMARINE (this one’s skippable, due to the aforementioned George Martin soundtrack side B)
ABBEY ROAD
LET IT BE
These are the main releases, in the order they were issued in England (MMT was an EP…side B of the album adds the 1967 singles). Add the two anthologies which incorporate all the other singles that didn’t make it onto albums, and you’ve got the lot.
Hey, I’m a Grateful Dead fan, too. And a Charlie Mingus fan, and a Dmitri Shostakovich fan. But these are the BEATLES, god damn it! This is IMPORTANT! Civilization must GO ON!
Uke
Magical Mystery Tour isnt their best Album,
But Its my favourite…
Roll up…
J
“We should have as high a regard for the church so as to keep it out of as many things as possible”
Fluther Good -the Shadow of a Gunman.
Sean O’Casey
I would recommend “Rubber Soul,” “Abbey Road,” and “A Hard’s Day Night.” Everything else by the Beatles worth hearing is played on the radio.
Save your money Arg, and invest in some real music – buy a complete set of Jimi Hendrix’s stuff.
The White album is a must. I’ll throw my vote in the mix for Sgt. Pepper, and my personal favorite, Abbey Road.
If you enjoy the White Album, I should also recomend John Lennon’s solo work. “John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band” in particular. This is a continuation of the direction he was headed in The White Album. “Mind Games” and “Rock and Roll” are also great examples of his work. The compilation “Lennon Legend” spans his career pretty well, although I’m not a big fan of “Milk and Honey” or “Double Fantasy”.
McCartney’s early work with the Wings is worth listening to as well.
Still trying to think of something witty to say here
See if you can get “Rarities”, too. It contains the version of “Across the Universe” that should have been released, not the powder-puff version found on “Let It Be”. It’s all good, though.
Remember, I’m pulling for you; we’re all in this together.
—Red Green
I have read that the White Album was not a Beatles album at all. That they did not appear together on any of the songs. It was a collection of idividual songs. Can anyone affirm or deny this?
As an aside…I do like the Beatles music. Being 48 I remember them in their heyday. But I have no real respect for a band that couldn’t take their music on stage.
Not true. A few of the songs are only Paul (“Blackbird”, “Why Don’t We Do it in the Road?”, for examples), “Julia” just has John on it, “Good Night” just has Ringo, but most of the songs have all of them.