Liam's Beatles Ranking

Liam's done his Beatles project. I was going to respond in his comments, but I went on much too long. Surprise, surprise. 

 Naturally, I'd sequence it differently. I think the modern consensus is actually with Liam, and places Revolver and Abbey Road at  the top of the list. I think both are slightly over-rated, as utterly great and wonderful as they are. I'd probably go...

13. Yellow Submarine - Not really an album at all, of course. The film and its soundtrack were Contractual Obligation projects. They provided a couple of leftovers from the Pepper sessions, one of which had actually been rejected for that album ("Northern Song.") The best track - "Bulldog" - was basically made up in the studio while they were filming the "Lady Madonna" video.

12. Beatles For Sale - Made under duress, in a state of exhaustion, padded out with covers because they didn't have time to write anything. They were under such duress because they, and everyone around them, just sort of assumed they had six months to cash in and then the world would lose interest. Gosh. Hasn't happened yet. In the meantime they worked like dogs to make what they could out of their moment in the sun and by late 1964 they were running on fumes. Most bands could merely dream of making a record this good, but these guys had raised the bar.

11. Let It Be - Phil Spector simply vandalized some of it, and there are no  major songs. But they're playing together like a band, for the first time in ages, even if they were also driving each other crazy. Paul has always said "Two of Us" was about him and Linda, but it's impossible - for me anyway - not to hear it as about him and John. You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead. The end of the road was in sight.

10. Magical Mystery Tour -  it's not really an album at all, of course. The only original track that I think is totally awesome is "Walrus." They're at loose ends and they're screwing around a little.

9. Please Please Me - they were still developing as songwriters - although "There's a Place" just shimmers with beauty. What a melody! But what a freaking band they were, already! George was still a teenager when they did this. In a single day.

8. Help - the movie songs are great, but most of Side 2 is sub-par. Except for the two McCartney classics near the end.

7. Abbey Road - This is their most well recorded album by a mile, the first time they worked in eight tracks, the first time they thought and recorded in stereo. It sounds fabulous and the highlights really are stunning. There's just an unusual number of songs that make me go "meh" - "Maxwell," "Octopus," "Because" (I know, I know!) "Sun King," "Mustard," "Bathroom Window." I don't actually dislike any of them, not even "Maxwell." And man... "You Never Give Me Your Money" and "Carry That Weight" will get me every time. Every damn time.

6. Revolver - this is the best record for Beatles guitars. But I've never found the epic closer quite as awesome as the rest of the world finds it. It's certainly okay. And "Got to Get You Into My Life" is a cool song and Paul sings the hell out of it - but no one involved knew what to do or how to record a brass section (they'd never done it before!) - so I'm not wild about the track except for that great guitar lick at the end. "I'm Only Sleeping" does just that to me, and of George's three major excursions into Indian music on Beatles records, this is the failure. All the rest, of course, is absolutely prime.

5. A Hard Day's Night - a great, great Lennon album. He dominates it, with gorgeous ballads ("If I Fell"), nasty rockers ("You Can't Do That") and all points in between. Not nearly as much McCartney, but what he does contribute is fabulous.

4. The Beatles (White Album) - it sprawls, it meanders, it often sounds like solo artists rather than a band, and like almost everyone I think there's an incredible single album buried in there. And just like everyone who thinks that, the single album I'd construct would be completely different from anyone else's. But oh yeah - it's there, all right. Cutting it down to a magnificent single album is bloody, desperate work. Just try! I mean, McCartney has a point when he says to people who think it should be a single album. "It's the Beatles, it's the bloody White Album, Shut Up!" Like everyone from my generation, I've listened to "Revolution 9" all the way through multiple times. It's weirdly fascinating and could only have been assembled by actual musicians. No, it wouldn't make the cut. Absolute faves? Gosh... "USSR," "Prudence," "My Guitar," "Happiness," "Martha," "So Tired," "Birthday..." I even like "Ob-La-Di," another song John and George famously hated. George sniffed that he couldn't understand how or why Paul wrote songs like this, why he wasn't plumbing the depths of his own soul to express some personal truth. Who cares about Desmond and Molly? He's just making it up, it doesn't mean anything to him. (It's strange that someone who admired Bob Dylan so much could think such a thing.) But there's the thing - Paul McCartney cared about Desmond and Molly, even if he just made them up, and his song about them simply overflows with an affection that I personally find irresistible. 

3. With the Beatles - this has some of the greatest vocal performances ever recorded from one of the greatest singers who ever drew breath - "It Won't Be Long" "All I've Got to Do" "Please Mr Postman" "You've Really Got a Hold On Me" and "Money." If anyone has ever sung rock music better... tell me about it. And I won't believe you. I just won't. It's maybe not a great record for McCartney, "All My Loving" excepted. But I absolutely love George's very first song. I don't think he wrote a better one. Ever. In his life.

2. Rubber Soul - the best sung record in their catalogue - just amazing vocal performances by everyone, amazing harmony singing. It also has some of the best songs Lennon ever wrote, one of which also happens to be the first song I ever learned to play on guitar ("Nowhere Man".) This is the record with "Girl" and "Norwegian Wood." Mercy. (It's got one of his worst ones, too, but they stuck it at the end!) Just a great Lennon record and my fave track these days...  Paul's "You Won't See Me."

1. Sgt Pepper - I'll always be a Pepper guy. Hey, it's the first album I ever bought!  Pepper, incidentally, is the best record for bass playing. I love the Beatles rocking out, Lennon in particular, and there's not much of that here. But the songs, the songs, my God, the songs! Harrison's piece is the weakest song, but the track is fascinating anyway because of George Martin - the dialogue in the instrumental section between the Eastern and Western musicians is amazing. Two completely different musical languages, that use two actual different divisions of the notes that make up the octave. And it works. And, no I don't like Leander's arrangement of "She's Leaving Home" - Martin would have done a much better job, and Paul should have just cooled his jets. The song is so great it still works. And the rest of the album is perfect. Just perfect. And "A Day in the Life" is as great as all music, as all art, aspires to be. It's what music is for.