Beatles Official Albums Ranked Best To Not So Best

Discuss official releases and re-issues. The only links allowed here are to the Beatles YouTube channel or other band-sanctioned platforms.
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Ziggy C
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Re: Beatles Official Albums Ranked Best To Not So Best

Post by Ziggy C »

I was going by the original Parlophone releases.

But a list of the US releases would be, perhaps, a little different. At least, up to Rubber Soul when everything became (mostly) similar. A few extra albums thrown in: 2nd Album, Something New, VI, 65, Yesterday And Today, Early Beatles, Hey Jude, and for purists, MMT, which was but an EP in England. And AHDN was on an entirely different record label, United Artists. I'm not sure how they pulled that one off. But it was certainly a coup for them.

I grew up with the US releases. The first pop song I recall hearing was when I was just three years old. It was "Help." My parents were listening to the album on their Benjamin/Miracord turntable. The first ever album I bought with my own money was Hey Jude. I got it in a record bin at a local Sav-On drug store. I remember buying that one. My next couple albums were 1962-1966, The Beatles Story, and Abbey Road, which I bought at the same time with birthday money. Next, I went pretty much in order: 2nd Album, Something New, 65. I'd skipped Meet The Beatles because my parents had that one. At the time, I didn't realize that I'd be growing up eventually and moving out of the house. My earliest memories include sitting in the high chair while my grandmother fed me. I also remember getting a severe allergic reaction in nursery school (anaphylactic shock) after eating some hazelnuts. But what does that have to do with the Beatles? I dunno. I don't recall too many of their lyrics delving into lengthy lists of things people are allergic to. It would have been interesting, though. A nice poppy Beatlesque tune starts up. A catchy drumbeat. And then the lyrics come in: "Cat dander. Shellfish. Nuts. Yeah Yeah Yeah." I'm not even close, am I? The Beatles would've written it better. Probably would have given it away, too. My guess is Freddie And The Dreamers would've snapped it up.

The first inkling I had that something was wrong was when I heard my Dad's R2R copy of With The Beatles. I thought, "Why does it start on the 4th song and not 'I Want To Hold Your Hand.'" The next was when, at a friend of my parents, I noticed an album in their stack called "Beatles For Sale" which had a cover not unlike the cover of "The Early Beatles." Slightly different cover photos. But obviously from the same photo shoot. And a song running order near exactly like "Beatles 65."

My grammar is all over the place here. Should I put quotes around the album titles? Should I italicize? I don't think I'll be turning this one in. My English teacher would barf all over it.
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Re: Beatles Official Albums Ranked Best To Not So Best

Post by MrP »

the US albums are different until Pepper
Ziggy C wrote: Mon Jul 11, 2022 11:39 am I was going by the original Parlophone releases.

But a list of the US releases would be, perhaps, a little different. At least, up to Rubber Soul when everything became (mostly) similar. A
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Re: Beatles Official Albums Ranked Best To Not So Best

Post by Ziggy C »

MrP wrote: Mon Jul 11, 2022 2:35 pm the US albums are different until Pepper
Yes, from Sgt. Pepper onward, the albums are exactly the same. To me, Rubber Soul and Revolver are close enough. Not as aberrant as the earlier ones. OK, maybe Rubber Soul is a bit more different. The US Revolver is pretty much the same running order, albeit with three fewer songs.

But I get your point MrP.
Thanks for the correction,
Z
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Re: Beatles Official Albums Ranked Best To Not So Best

Post by Ziggy C »

OK...US albums....best to not-so....here we go....

A couple things different, besides the butchering of the UK albums to generate more capital for Capitol. I ignore the Rock and Roll Music album and everything afterwards as it was too much of a blatant money grab. As were Rarities and Love Songs, etc. Also ignoring Live At The Hollywood Bowl as Live albums don't count (IMO.) Including the Red and Blue Albums...I'm on the fence as they played a significant part in my own development when it comes to appreciation of the Beatles' catalog. Also because they became necessary as a response to the Alpha Omega pirate releases. Klein sought every means to bring money into his account. This was one of them. But since I did not include A Collection Of Beatles Oldies, I'll not include Red and Blue here. But I will include Hey Jude, even though it is kind of a greatest hits album, but not really.

The top four, for me, remain the same:
1) Revolver
2) Rubber Soul
3) Abbey Road
4) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

This list, as compared to the UK releases, is different from five onward, mainly because, in the US, the first couple movie soundtracks were a disappointment in that they included a bunch of movie score which, while unique, is decidedly not the Beatles and frequently poisons the vibe of the Beatle tracks. Also, the inclusion of tracks from the singles and EP's on the US albums shifts and often elevates their importance to me.

5) The Beatles 2nd Album is a terrific rocker of a record. It hits on all cylinders. Long Tall Sally! You Can't Do That! I Call Your Name! Every song on this record is awesome. Except perhaps I'll Get You, which has grown on me over the years.

6) Meet The Beatles is made more awesome by the inclusion of the first major Beatles single to mean anything in the US, I Want To Hold Your Hand. This album embodies to me the late '63 Beatles much more than With The Beatles.

7) Beatles '65....with the inclusion of hit singles like I Feel Fine and She's A Woman, Beatles '65 elevates.

8) Something New includes several AHDN sound-tracks. Except three (grrrrrr.) But with Slow Down and When I Get Home,...Things We Said Today, this album holds its own.

9) Magical Mystery Tour

10) The Beatles

11) Hey Jude is a collection of pretty much "everything else" which Capitol had not included on other albums. A mish-mosh of tracks and singles going back to AHDN. But with the inclusion of the title track and Revolution, as well as one of my other big favorites, Old Brown Shoe, here it is at number 11. Oh, and Rain with its flip side Paperback Writer! (Argue if you must. Rain is the better song. Should've been the A-side. Am I right or am I right?)

12) Yesterday And Today, the infamous Butcher album. Still a nice collection of hit singles and remnants from Help all the way through Revolver.

13) Help! as a soundtrack is meager. The songs are few and far between. Same with...

14) A Hard Day's Night, in which the movie score tracks, just like on Help!, are a total buzz-kill when they come up.

15) Beatles VI is low on the list mainly because its a catch-all for all the Beatles For Sale/Help tracks which didn't cut it for the other US releases. I love this album. But this is where it stands. A saving grace is that it includes Yes It Is, Dizzy Miss Lizzy, and Bad Boy.

16) The Early Beatles was Capitol's too little-too late feeble attempt to provide their own release of the PPM tracks. The VeeJay release, Introducing The Beatles, sadly, also resides at number 14 on this list, even though it is the superior album and was released "at the time," whereas Early Beatles is the Johnny-Come-Lately to the party.

17) Yellow Submarine... So why is it still so close to rock bottom? Well, even though the score can be avoided entirely by not listening to Side 2, YS is still a collection of scraps with only a smidgen of redemption value.

18) Let It Be....Even with Get Back, Let It Be, and The Long And Winding Road, all Paul gems, the overall mood of this album, from when I first heard it, up through today, is too depressing. I don't think I'll ever hold it in any higher regard, despite some fair arguments to the contrary that I've read in various threads on this forum.

So there you have it. Just like with any setlist I've ever attempted to submit to my band,...no matter how well thought-out...no matter how awesome the flow of songs,....it'll ultimately be ravaged/savaged to tatters. It is the way of things.
Last edited by Ziggy C on Sat Jul 16, 2022 9:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Beatles Official Albums Ranked Best To Not So Best

Post by Lon Chaney III »

A Hard Days Night. Has always been my favourite Beatles album. From With The Beatles to A Hard Days Night is a phenomenal leap. 13 tracks with no covers. In my opinion every track is top quality (maybe When I Get Home is borderline). I think it gets lumped with the other Beatlemania albums, people seem to think that Rubber Soul is where The Beatles started releasing great albums. Personally I love AHDN and I also love Help!, the UK version, where nearly all 14 tracks are thoroughly enjoyable. Just because these two albums don't push the musical envelope does not mean they are lesser albums. AHDN is my #1 Beatles album with Help! #2. I love every album but these two get played more than the others. Their stereo versions are properly mixed and the released mixes are very good but have been overtaken by the mixes that people on here have done. And so.....

AHDN
Help!
Revolver
Rubber Soul
Abbey Road
The White Album
Beatles For Sale
Let It Be
Magical Mystery Tour
Sgt Pepper
Please Please Me
YS
With The Beatles

To those who may be surprised at the low position of Sgt Pepper, I never really rated it that high, musically. Yes it pushed boundaries, drove Brian Wilson mad and many people consider it the Holy Grail of music. But it had some poor songs on it - When I'm 64, Fixing a Hole, Lovely Rita, Good Morning, Good Morning. George Martin has said that one of his biggest regrets was removing Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever. If they had replaced Fixing a Hole and Good Morning, Good Morning then I think the album would be much stronger. For me, She's Leaving Home and A Day in the Life are the only two great songs on it, PL and SFF would have doubled that number to 4.
Last edited by Lon Chaney III on Sat Jul 16, 2022 10:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Beatles Official Albums Ranked Best To Not So Best

Post by IFeelFine »

Revolver
Abbey Road
With The Beatles
AHDN
Rubber Soul
The Beatles
Beatles For Sale
Help!
Please Please Me
Sgt Pepper
Magical Mystery Tour (only an EP in the UK originally)
Let It Be
Yellow Submarine
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Re: Beatles Official Albums Ranked Best To Not So Best

Post by Ziggy C »

Interesting responses. I dig seeing how Beatle people rank the albums. I like AHDN and Help, too. I'll go through phases, even after all these years, where those two albums get more play than the others. I tend to go through phases all around. I'll rediscover the Led Zeppelin archive, move on to maybe Pink Floyd, take a detour into Rush, devour some Yes, sidle into some Doors, spend many a moon on Jimi Hendrix, bash around with The Who, slam into some old-school 70's punk rock, blow up some Van Halen, bow down to some cool Beach Boys, and oh wait, there's a ton of garage band nuggets here, break out the Kiss, climb onto some Mountain, relax with some Joni, mellow out with some CSNY, revisit the great music festivals from Monterey and Woodstock, etc.


Maintaining an immense archive for all of these bands eats up a lot of time as I consider myself somewhat of a historian and archivist. Far more music in my library than I could ever listen to in a lifetime. I have Beatlegdb to thank for feeding the beast even more. I lose myself frequently in the Beatles material that has accumulated on multiple drives here. But more times than not, its the official releases that satisfy.
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Re: Beatles Official Albums Ranked Best To Not So Best

Post by Lon Chaney III »

Ziggy C wrote: Sat Jul 16, 2022 10:07 am Interesting responses. I dig seeing how Beatle people rank the albums. I like AHDN and Help, too. I'll go through phases, even after all these years, where those two albums get more play than the others. I tend to go through phases all around. I'll rediscover the Led Zeppelin archive, move on to maybe Pink Floyd, take a detour into Rush, devour some Yes, sidle into some Doors, spend many a moon on Jimi Hendrix, bash around with The Who, slam into some old-school 70's punk rock, blow up some Van Halen, bow down to some cool Beach Boys, and oh wait, there's a ton of garage band nuggets here, break out the Kiss, climb onto some Mountain, relax with some Joni, mellow out with some CSNY, revisit the great music festivals from Monterey and Woodstock, etc.


Maintaining an immense archive for all of these bands eats up a lot of time as I consider myself somewhat of a historian and archivist. Far more music in my library than I could ever listen to in a lifetime. I have Beatlegdb to thank for feeding the beast even more. I lose myself frequently in the Beatles material that has accumulated on multiple drives here. But more times than not, its the official releases that satisfy.
What a great post! 'Phases'. I am exactly the same - nothing but Zeppelin, then Jimi, Yes, Rush and so on. But always The Beatles. Like I said, great post Ziggy.
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Re: Beatles Official Albums Ranked Best To Not So Best

Post by beatlesfanfromsop »

I grew up listening to the The Beatles U.S. releases,and this is my ranking of each U.S. release.
I like every U.S. release,and it was not that easy for me to rank some of them.
I always liked Introducing The Beatles better than The Early Beatles.
I never knew there was a Introducing The Beatles version two,and thanks to Dr. Ebbetts I found out about
it and also have his vinyl rip.

A Hard Day's Night United Artists Soundtrack
Beatles 65'
Meet The Beatles
Second Album
Introducing The Beatles Vol.1 & Vol.2
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Beatles VI
Help!
Something New
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour
Abbey Road
Let It Be
White Album
Yellow Submarine
Early Beatles
Hey Jude
Red Album 1962-1966
Blue Album 1967-1970
The Beatles Story
Rarities (US Version)
At The Hollywood Bowl
Love Songs
Rock N' Roll Music
20 Greatest Hits
Reel Music
Last edited by beatlesfanfromsop on Sun Aug 14, 2022 8:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Beatles Official Albums Ranked Best To Not So Best

Post by Ziggy C »

beatlesfanfromsop wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 11:40 pm I grew up listening to the The Beatles U.S. releases,and this is my ranking of each U.S. release.
I like every U.S. release,and it was not that easy for me to rank some of them.
I see where the compilations kind of rattle around together at the bottom. That's about where I'd put most of them. Blue and Red would be higher, if I'd ranked them, with Red just above Blue.

I'm noticing that AHDN and/or Help are close to the top on many lists. Also noticing that Sgt. Pepper isn't as close to the top as many of the so-called renowned critics and musicologists would place it. I think we know better than they.
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