The Beatles Top Three Albums
During The Beatles incredible career they recorded a total of thirteen. Of course that does not include the Anthology series or any of the greatest hits compilations, but instead only their official studio albums.
I first cut my choices from those 13 down to 6. Which means I had to cut out seven choices. Please Please Me was their first album and it’s an interesting piece of rock history but it’s nowhere near their top three albums so I knew I could cut it. With The Beatles & Beatles For Sale were both easy cuts. A Hard Day’s Night & Help! were a little harder to cut as I think they both have some great moments and they are great examples of their early music. Yellow Submarine was another easy cut as it only contained four new songs. Let It Be was possibly the toughest cut. Although it’s definitely flawed, I do think it’s an underrated album.
My selections as the top 3 albums by The Beatles (at least right now) are Revolver, Sgt Pepper, and The White Album. That’s not taking anything away from Rubber Soul, Magical Mystery Tour, or Abbey Road as they are all fantastic records, but for me these are the very best of The Beatles.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – This is The Beatles most famous album and because of that some people feel the need to say that it’s not that great. That it’s somehow “overrated.” That’s total nonsense. This album is not overrated at all. Listen to these amazing songs with an opened mind and you will understand what I mean. How can an album with songs as great and as varied as these be overrated? And really why does it matter how much press it’s got or how many people know about it? Isn’t what’s really important the music itself? And as I like to say, no album that includes “A Day In the Life” could possibly be overrated.
Revolver – The hipster’s choice as the greatest Beatles album. I think that’s partly because Revolver isn’t quite as well known to the general public as most of the other top choices for best Beatles album (Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road) and possibly just because it just contains so many absolutely fantastic songs. It’s quite likely to be The Beatles best collection of songs ever even if it’s not their most cohesive album.
The White Album – If I have to choose just one Beatles album, it’s this one. And that’s not just so I get 30 songs instead of 13 or 14! Although that must have quite a bit to do with it. I think perhaps if the first LP of this double album was it’s own album it’d still be my favorite album. The second LP isn’t quite as great to me but it has some really great moments too. And it’s really the whole sprawling masterpiece that I love. It’s just such an endlessly enjoyable album. I never grow tired of it.
This is just my list and it’s not necessarily set in concrete. For example, Abbey Road used to be my favorite Beatles album and the second side of the album may still be my favorite half of any Beatles album. To paraphrase a quote from Office Space: “I celebrate The Beatles entire catalog.
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