#13

The Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, was always my favorite of theirs. I liked most of their older work far better than their later stuff.

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TheTrechantGrumpus

I was a big fan of the White Album. Although I love the Beatles' creative spell, I cannot consider Sgt. Pepper's a masterpiece, especially to the much more delicate, emotionally and spiritually-appealing Pet Sounds and SMiLE from the Beach Boys.

Terrapin_Station

"The White Album" is my favorite of theirs as well. But I love Sgt. Pepper's, too, as well as most other Beatles.

NikoGotGame

Honestly agree with everything being said on this topic

bob_32_116

I disagree with the OP, but all opinions are allowed here.

I regard Revolver and Sgt Pepper as the group's two best collections of songs. Considering song quality, there is not much to separate them. Where I think Pepper has the edge is that it's much more of an album as a construct, rather than just a collection of songs. It's been said many times over the years that it was one of the first albums of this kind, if not THE first.

I think the existing track ordering on Revolver seems almost random and is rather poor. I have thought of several orderings that I think work better than the one supplied. On the other hand I would never listen to Sgt Pepper on "shuffle". As a program of music, to me it's just perfect.

Pepper has one song that I could live without: "Good Morning, Good Morning". "When I'm Sixty-Four" is a lightweight but that's OK, I like the way it breaks the rather sombre mood after the George Harrison song.

As for their other later period albums:

Rubber Soul: pretty much the pinnacle of their "normal" songwriting period, before they started to sound psychedelic/progressive, which began with Revolver. The style on rubber Soul is not that much different to the albums that preceded it, it's just that the songs are better.

"The White Album": has songs that I love and quite a few that I despise. I respect its experimental nature, but if i owned it I would probably have a regular play-list consisting of about half the songs.

Abbey Road: I'll never understand the acclaim this album receives. I don't like any of the first four songs; tracks 5 & 6 are OK, but just OK. Things get better on the second half - there are no real missteps here - but overall I find it a half-arsed album.

Let it Be: like Abbey Road, a terribly inconsistent album, but I think the high points on Let It Be are better than those on Abbey Road, and the low points not as low, so I rate it higher - not a popular opinion, I know.

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The Beatles existed as a band for a relatively short time compared with many other big rock acts, eg. the Who, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, the Kinks. You might say that, creatively, they burned themselves out rather than fading away. I personally felt that when their time was done they all knew it, and were ready to move on. Many other bands should learn from their example.

monglae

Beauty is in the ears of the holder :P