(Well, I’ve had to keep it to three)
So, I’m a Beatles fanatic. I could try to list my favorite Beatles albums from start to finish (does “Yellow Submarine” even count?”), but I decided to list my top three instead. Far easier!
My top 3 Beatles albums:
1. Abbey Road
Lots of reasons.
It’s a beautifully produced record by George Martin. The sound is so clean, vibrant and everything is just… tight. There are no messy White Album loose ends or Let it Be rooftop wisecracks. Yellow Submarine instrumentals.
First, there are the circumstances surrounding its recording, which makes it pretty incredible it even got made in the first place.
They had recently been through the fray of spending hours upon hours recording the Get Back sessions, with little result – bitter arguments with each other. Paul was overstepping a bit as a leader combined with John taking a more “I don’t give a shit” attitude, George wanting to assert himself and feeling fed up, and Ringo just being miserable. The material was eventually left to Phil Spector to wade through and organize into Let It Be, released in March 1970. It was done so amongst the mess of McCartney also wanting to release his first solo album, McCartney, confusing press releases about their breakup and various threats of lawsuits.
Following the Get Back sessions, but before their actual breakup, George Martin got a call from one of them out of the blue. He was asked if he’d be interested in going back to the studio to start something brand new. That album, Abbey Road, was the last album they recorded together.
On Abbey Road, you get a tremendous sense of completion. George Harrison said at one point, “…it felt as if we were reaching the end of the line.”
Well, the second half.
If I ever get asked, “What’s your favorite Beatles song?” I often try to cheat and say, “The second half of Abbey Road.” Primarily Paul’s creation but starting with George’s “Here Comes The Sun.” After finishing the first side with the white noise of John’s majestic and epic “(I Want You) She’s so Heavy,” to flip over and open with something so beautiful is startling. And then from there… “Because,” “You Never Give Me Your Money,” “Sun King,” “Golden Slumbers,” etc., all the way to… the end. Just. Pure. Magic. They each take turns doing solos on “Carry Your Weight/The End,” with Ringo on drums as well. “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” Again, just that sense of completion.
And then Paul’s little cheeky “Your Majesty.” To me, almost a signal that “Hey, never say never” to the fans. I love every single inch of this record. And I haven’t even really talked about the first half. Do I need to when it has “Something” on it? One of the greatest love songs of all time?
2. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper hits the Beatles right in that sweet spot where they were at the height of their experimentation, talent, influence, and, indeed, drug-induced psychedelia. The concept was Paul’s. After deciding to stop touring and put “Beatlemania” on hiatus (forever, it turned out), the notion was to come up with an alternative band to The Beatles, so that is how the album developed. They looked at The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. They wanted to surpass it and, in doing so, created one of the first concept albums ever.
It’s easy now to take material like this for granted but imagine yourself in late 1967. There was nothing else that had been released resembling Sgt. Pepper. A gatefold sleeve with lyrics inside, cardboard cutout figures of the band, etc.
And then listen to the damn thing – it is brilliant, flowing from start to finish. A masterpiece through and through, dominated mainly by Paul, though it doesn’t feel like it, culminating with “A Day in The Life,” not just one of the greatest Beatles songs but also one of the greatest rock songs of all time. I mean, Ringo sings on track 2 for f**k’s sake – that’s how confident they were, with George Martin at the helm. He knew and they knew – it was going to be unique and a masterpiece.
“Lovely Rita,” looking back on it, is probably one of the most psychedelic tracks Paul wrote. George’s “Within and Without You” is also a pleasant surprise, unlike anything they had done (well, anyone had ever done before then) using Indian instruments, the sitar, etc., creating a whirlwind of mysticism and intrigue. The whizzing and wheezing of “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” listening to it thinking you were in a circus.
And a lot of that comes back to George Martin and again, like Abbey Road, his wonderful production, his ability to rein in this genius talent and produce something not only so creative but just coherent, to begin with. Paul and John (and George, of course) wrote the songs – they were the musical geniuses for sure. But without George Martin, Sgt. Pepper easily could have been a disaster. He pulled all the strings together to make it work.
3. A Hard Day’s Night
Abbey Road always to me is a predominantly “Paul” Beatles record, but A Hard Day’s Night feels, to me at least, like a “John” record. It holds a special place in my heart as being my introduction to the Beatles. The one album my parents had lurking amongst their LPs of Burl Ives, Leonard Bernstein, Bob Newhart, and The Goon Show. I must have listened to it every morning, getting ready for school for ages and ages. I devoured it. I would read the back of the album tons of times. I didn’t really know who the Beatles were, but after playing A Hard Day’s Night practically to death, I went to the local record store and managed to get my parents to buy their 1962-66 and 1967-70 compilations (Red and Blue), and that was it. The adoration began.
But A Hard Day’s Night… That opening E major chord. Through and through a perfect example of everything great about the Beatles in the full flow of their early career. The absolute height of Beatlemania. Faultless. Years and years after I listened to the album, I rented the VHS from the video store down the road, but I didn’t need to watch the film to enjoy the music (though I love the film.)
Half of the songs aren’t in the film; the second half. George makes an appearance, but the record is divided into John and Paul’s songwriting. Still, in my view, the overall feel is John (he certainly takes lead vocals on most of the songs). Rocking, swinging, funny in a way. “I Should Have Known Better” has one of the most fantastic harmonica harmonies ever. You’ve got songs like “Can’t Buy Me Love,” a Paul rocker, “If I Fell,” a John swooner. “Things We Said Today,” just beautiful. One thing I love about this album is that they wrote every single song, unlike many of their early albums which would borrow at least 2 to 4 cover songs. The whole album rocks from start to finish, and by the time it is over, you’ll be hitting repeat, if it’s not already set.
So while the teenagers were screaming around the world, this is 100% Lennon/McCartney at the height of their collaborative prowess. While after this album, it’s hard to admit Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting skills gradually moved on independently, this is a remarkably enjoyable listen, one which is utterly unique for its time and just plain fun.
The rest?
I could attempt to list the rest in order, such as “The White Album,” “Revolver,” etc., but after that, it just gets… difficult. For instance, one album I’d love to rank but really can’t is George and Giles Martin’s “Love,” which from start to finish I think is a work of genius, albeit not an official Beatles album.
So a top three is pretty much as far as I can go. Sorry.
