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Post by R&ROVER on Sept 11, 2011 13:32:02 GMT -5
...with a few words about each.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2011 21:53:24 GMT -5
I can only make top songs list for The Beatles. Not enough of a fan to rate full albums honestly.
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Post by Hey Man on Sept 11, 2011 23:10:08 GMT -5
I am the same - know the songs more than albums. My brother had the Red, Blue, White and Magical Mystery Tour albums, so I will say that those albums got a ton of play while I was growing up.
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Post by R&ROVER on Sept 14, 2011 9:41:18 GMT -5
In no order:
1. Rubber Soul & Revolver: Truly sister records to me. This is the pinnacle of their songwriting mixed with the beginnings of their studio play, so it's a nice balance between their straight-forward pop days and the avant garde, with some folksy Dylanesque leanings starting to creep in. Really just the perfect pairing for me. If THIS had been the double studio album in their catalogue, I'd rejoice.
3. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: A sentimental favorite. It was my second Beatles album (...Live At The Hollywood Bowl...holla!!), but my first of their studio albums and I'm just captivated by the playful whimsy of many of the songs, from Kite to Good Morning. What a delight. It has its serious and lovely moments too: I'm thinking She's Leaving Home (which never fails to move me) and, of course, A Day In The Life. Almost TOO analyzed and discussed, but no less great because of it.
4. Abbey Road: Yeah, what's to be said here? The Beatles truly last effort. Geoff Emerick describes the album as rounded and organic....and it is indeed a very LUSH record. The recording is very warm and it is probably my favorite production job on any Beatles record. The songs largely speak for themselves. Side 2's medley is one for the ages, despite being disparate and otherwise disconnected tunes woven together. It works. It's mainly a McCartney feel, with Lennon literally being absent for bits of the album. They played nice on this one to a degree, although the contempt from The Beatles and Let It Be sessions was still under the surface. They really had to WORK at getting along. Wonderful ending. Love Ringo's simple insights when the name Everest was thrown around for the album title and taking pictures up in Tibet, which only Paul was angling for...and Starr threw out "Why don't we just fucking go outside and just call it Abbey Road?"
5. Magical Mystery Tour: I that this isn't a true studio album in the purest sense, but it's hard to deny the album as a collection of songs. On just the song end alone it's probably better than Pepper, tune-for-tune. Lots of magic happening here, from Pepper's castaways Penny Lane and Stawberry Fields to Hello Goodbye, the title track, Fool On The Hill, and I Am The Walrus, all of which I love.
Runners up: Beatles For Sale (the first real swing away from pure mop top pop...I'm A Loser: brilliant) and The Beatles (white album), which is chaotic and spotty but unmistakable. Yes, I fall into the "should've been parsed down into one GREAT album" as George Martin also believes, but it's a big horse pill of wonderful and sometimes awful goodness that comes in one size, with one aroma, and you either eat the whole fucking plate of it or none of it at all. That's the attitude of that album and I can accept that...
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