There seems to be sufficient Beatle interest here to strike up a discussion about this. I believe REVOLVER is most commonly referenced as the greatest Beatles album. But I don't think every song on it is a masterpiece as some have proposed. In particular, I think "And Your Bird Can Sing" and "Dr. Robert" are two of the Beatles weaker numbers, although I know guitar freaks go crazy over the former.

My vote goes to ABBEY ROAD, their most cohesive, rockinest album. It's so tight yet loose and fluid. It achieves gorgeous, stunning highs. "You Never Give Me Your Money" may be my favorite track. The only drawback for me is that "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is far from my fav beatles tune, but it's still pretty cool, especially considering the subject matter, a quirky dude with a little murdering habit.

ABBEY ROAD gets my vote for best, but THE WHITE ALBUM may be my favorite for its eclectic scope and sheer volume of great tunes.

But I really like their psychedelic stuff the most and I think that MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR would be my favorite AND the best had they gotten it together and made an actual lp. Beatles fans know that things began to fall apart after their SGT. PEPPER peak and the death of Brian Epstein.

As an obsessive Beatles freak, I compiled an "alternate reality MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR album" for my own amusement out of the original double ep, the other singles from the general time period plus the YELLOW SUBMARINE Beatles tracks. This album would've rivaled SGT. PEPPER and PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN as the best psychedelic album ever. My next post will provide the track listing and the running order (which I put a lot of thought into) . . .

ALTERNATE REALITY MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
The album that could've been, featuring probably the two greatest vintage psychedelic songs ever: "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am The Walrus" (with the possible exception of "Tomorrow Never Knows"). Further evidence that John Lennon will always be top Beatle.


Side 1

Magical Mystery Tour
Penny Lane
Blue Jay Way
Flying
Strawberry Fields Forever

Side 2

All Together Now
Lady Madonna
Fool On The Hill
It's All Too Much

Side 3

Hey Bulldog
Only A Northern Song
Baby You're A Rich Man
Your Mother Should Know

Side 4

The Inner Light
Hello Goodbye
I Am The Walrus
All You Need Is Love

I say release this album as a special double lp with artwork from the original double lp and a 3D cover with the psychedelic extras which were recorded for the film interspersed in places. I should get paid for this idea. I know, I'm fucking crazy.

It's a cool idea, but it would still not be better than Sgt. Pepper. I'll tell you why: Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane were the first two songs recorded in what were later to be dubbed the "Sgt. Pepper sessions." So, technically you'd have to give those two songs back to Sgt. Pepper if you were to do this whole parallel universe Beatles albums thing. Those are easily the two best songs on Magical Mystery Tour. So, take those two away and give them back to the album they rightfully belong to, and Magical Mystery Tour can't stand up on it's own, in my opinion. There's a reason Magical Mystery Tour was the Beatles' first flop: it wasn't that good, especially coming out on the heels of Sgt. Pepper.

Cheap Trick: Heaven Tonight.

quote:

Originally posted by chknshtconformist:

(with the possible exception of "Tomorrow Never Knows").

I am pretty sure that (in his lifetime) Miles Davis was at hand first for almost everything important. However, one exception is Tomorrow Never Knows.

My top 3 beatles albums:

1. Revolver
2. Abbey Road
3. Rubber Soul

quote:

Originally posted by mc:
It's a cool idea, but it would still not be better than Sgt. Pepper. I'll tell you why: Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane were the first two songs recorded in what were later to be dubbed the "Sgt. Pepper sessions." So, technically you'd have to give those two songs back to Sgt. Pepper if you were to do this whole parallel universe Beatles albums thing. Those are easily the two best songs on Magical Mystery Tour. So, take those two away and give them back to the album they rightfully belong to, and Magical Mystery Tour can't stand up on it's own, in my opinion. There's a reason Magical Mystery Tour was the Beatles' first flop: it wasn't that good, especially coming out on the heels of Sgt. Pepper.

Yeah, I know when "Strawberry Fields" and "Penny Lane" were recorded. I've read the records of The Compleat Beatles Recording Sessions obsessively. Yeah, those songs should've been on SGT. PEPPERS. But SGT. PEPPERS stands on its own as an album while MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR was a mess. It's just a silly fantasy, but hobbling all these songs together from roughly the same time period really does amount to something cool. The MAGICAL MYSTERY CD has some of their greatest songs but the running order is haphazzard. I obsessively fine-tuned the running order I listed above and I typically reach for my ALTERNATE MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR copy instead of the original CD.

Also, I think the YELLOW SUBMARINE songs are too often overlooked. Yeah, "All Together Now" is a kiddie song (despite the line "can I take my friend to bed"), but so is "Yellow Submarine." "It's All Too Much" is way cool and "Hey Bulldog" is actually one of my fav Beatles tunes, thanks especially to McCartney's hyperactive bass. Bad ass!

1. The White Album
2. Abbey Road
3. Rubber Soul

I like all the really super-early bootleg stuff too

1. sgt peppers
2. abbey road
3. white album
4. revolver
5. rubber soul

quote:

Originally posted by g f x:

quote:

Originally posted by chknshtconformist:

(with the possible exception of "Tomorrow Never Knows").

I am pretty sure that (in his lifetime) Miles Davis was at hand first for almost everything important. However, one exception is Tomorrow Never Knows.

I feel you on Miles, even though that's like a whole different universe. I dying to get the ON THE CORNER SESSIONS but I'm too poor. But I did get the CELLAR DOOR sessions for Christmas and they're fantastic. I was lucky enough to see him in France a few years before he died.

Jesus, maybe someone should start ANOTHER thread about the fucking beatles!

Beatlesquawk.com

quote:

Originally posted by BlackToothGrin:
Jesus, maybe someone should start ANOTHER thread about the fucking beatles!

ha!

point taken but there's been plenty of threads here for years about heaviest bands or who shreds or zeppelin or whatever. to each his own of course but i personally can't stand that music, so if i have to see another thread about badass riffing, y'all can put up with another beatles debate.

one thing for certain though: despite all the differing tastes here, we got more in common than not. an astute observer can see the common thread in music be it tin pan alley, ozzy, the dave clark 5 or (god help us) celine dion.

cheers!

Yeah, anyways, I think you can make a good arguement for most of the Beatles albums being the best. I just think their creativity really exploded . . . right around the time they started smoking pot, actually. Coincidence?