You define the criteria. Just pick the studio album from The Beatles you think is best. The Beatles are a little tricky as different albums between the UK & US.
I’m limited to 20 options & only 20 studio albums for Beatles
I’ll probably stop with these 4 discographies.
So I have 4 favorite groups. Pink Floyd, Yes , Led Zep and The Beatles. I started with the most obscure one by far. Yes .
If you were going to put separate US and UK albums on the poll, you probably should have listed different versions separately. (I.e. the US and UK versions of Rubber Soul and Revolver are different albums.) But I see you may not have had space to do that.
Also, it bothers me that the thread titles of this and the other threads say “Best … Albums” when we’re only allowed to pick one.
Yes, this poll was much more difficult than the Led Zeppelin one, partly because they have so many great songs, but also partly because my absolute favourites are spread over half a dozen albums.
As a result, I picked Abbey Road as it includes two Harrison gems (but NOT my favourite song of his), the best song Lennon ever wrote (he’s the beatle I like the least). Also, and more puzzlingly, I chose it despite the fact that it does NOT include any great McCartney song (who wrote two-thirds of the best songs in their catalogue).
Ugh! Toughest poll ever. I had to go with Abbey Road because there are no weak spots and dammit you start with Come Together followed by Something and end with I Want You (She’s So Heavy) on side A. Then the medley on side B. Not the perfect album but close.
Sgt Pepper’s is a real close second and on a different day that might have been my pick but it loses out because the concept of them being Sgt Pepper’s band doesn’t last the whole album and at this level one little nit makes the difference. White Album loses out because of the inclusion of Revolution 9 and the exclusion of Sour Milk Sea. If those 2 songs were switched then it is 1A, 1B and 1C among those three.
Yeah, this is hard to do. I’m a Beatles middle period fan, the five albums from “A Hard Day’s Night” up to “Revolver”, but it’s even hard to pick one from these five. So I go for the album I enjoy listening to the most, and that is AHDN. It’s also one of the first albums in the transition from “Rock’n’Roll” to serious “Rock” (a transition for which Bob Dylan was the other great factor), so it gets my vote.
Pretty much a tie for first between Abbey Road and The Beatles, with the white one having just a slight edge because of it having a greater variety of songs/styles.
Let It Be recently moved up past Sgt Pepper in my rankings with the release of the super-deluxe edition that included the surround mix and Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary.
I think George has two of the best songs on the album as well. I have never really gotten into his solo albums, but it seems like right here at the end of the Beatles, he looked like he might have the most successful solo career of all.
Pound for pound, Revolver is absolute rock-n-roll dynamite, from Paul’s count-in on Taxman, to the gloriously psychedelic Tomorrow Never Knows.
I mean, an album with Eleanor Rigby, Good Day Sunshine, Got to Get You Into My Life, Yellow Submarine, Here There and Everywhere, For No One PLUS THREE George songs that showcased his developing songwriting ability.
Hard rock, ballads, strings, tape loops, India, Motown, psychedelia, and a freaking children’s song! This album is absolutely stunning from beginning to end. And it was done when they were still working with each other as a band, helping each other finish songs, and not doing things in separate studios on separate days.
From Love Me Do to this masterpiece in just three years. Pure brilliance.
Yeah, Abbey Road is my second fav. I just re-read my post from October, and I stand by every word (sometimes I re-read posts where I give a strong opinion on something and cringe; not so here!). Revolver is hands-down the most power-packed Beatles album. I look at the song listing for that album and am just stunned by how brilliant it is. Doctor Robert is easily the weakest song on the album, and even in its weakness, it’s still a catchy little tune and marks the drug-fueled times well.
(Incidentally, I say Magical Mystery Tour as an LP is tragically overlooked, as I think it’s an even better album than Sgt. Pepper. Mad props to @rippingtons_fan for being the lone vote for MMT! )
Father McKenzie Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear No one comes near Look at him working Darning his socks in the night when there’s nobody there What does he care?
I’ve always thought that Rubber Soul was their greatest achievement because it was the album that saw then Beatles become a studio band where they took control of the recording process, began experimenting with sounds and transformed themselves into the greatest band in the world. It marks the start of their creative peak - and to me that is magical.
