Getting into the Beatles...

[bostonbred]

As for the actual Beatles, listen to the White album and get back to me.

The White Album is their best work. The Beatles in their absolute musical prime. I could listen to this for hours at end.

 

[Captain_Kirk]

I'm a bigger Stones fan than the Beatles (the wife is the other way around) but I love their early records up through Revolver. Those early records showed that Lennon and McCartney were not only killer songwriters and great, great rock and roll singers but they were a kick ass rock and roll band.

Stuff like Sgt. Pepper's and the White Album didn't rock anywhere near as much as I wished they would.

I'm going to agree to disagree with you there, but I love the Stones, too ... well everything up through "Some Girls," anyway.

"Tattoo You" is a helluva album, Steak. Side 2 for us freaks from the vinyl era is just a string of outstanding rock ballads.

And "Undercover of the Night" has some good tunes as well. Beyond that, I would agree it's a steep drop off.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

I'm a bigger Stones fan than the Beatles (the wife is the other way around) but I love their early records up through Revolver. Those early records showed that Lennon and McCartney were not only killer songwriters and great, great rock and roll singers but they were a kick ass rock and roll band.

Stuff like Sgt. Pepper's and the White Album didn't rock anywhere near as much as I wished they would.

I'm going to agree to disagree with you there, but I love the Stones, too ... well everything up through "Some Girls," anyway.

"Tattoo You" is a helluva album, Steak. Side 2 for us freaks from the vinyl era is just a string of outstanding rock ballads.

And "Undercover of the Night" has some good tunes as well. Beyond that, I would agree it's a steep drop off.

God... I remember how Stones fans killed them for that when it came out.

I wore that ****er out.

 

[Huggy]

And you can throw "Helter Skelter" and some others in there but that's not my point. For an album like Sgt. Pepper's that's supposed to be the greatest in rock history there ain't a whole lot of rock and roll on there. Some great songs, yeah, but not something that sounds great blasting out of a CD player in the car. (I can crank Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed or Exile any day ) To me the Beatles sounded more like a band in the old days, although listening to the suite section of Abbey Road always reminds me of those days.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

As for the actual Beatles, listen to the White album and get back to me.

The White Album is their best work. The Beatles in their absolute musical prime. I could listen to this for hours at end.

White Album is sublime.

Dear Prudence is their most underrated song.

 

[Moderator1]

Yep. Sexy Sadie is good, too.

 

[Boom_70]

As for the actual Beatles, listen to the White album and get back to me.

The White Album is their best work. The Beatles in their absolute musical prime. I could listen to this for hours at end.

Revolution # 9 never gets old

 

[TwoGloves]

Revolver is as good as it gets with the Beatles. Stones? I like Sticky Fingers. Nice variety on that one. Anybody know why Let It Be isn't on video or DVD?

 

[bostonbred]

Yep. Sexy Sadie is good, too.

And that piercing guitar and the rough, aggressive McCartney vocals in Helter Skelter floor me everytime. I mean this was 1968! I obviously wasn't alive then, but I can't imagine what people were thinking when hearing something like this.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Revolver is stil their best, for me.
I, too, love the stuff where you can hear what a kickass bar band they must have been in Hamburg. Exhibit A -- Lennon's blasting cover of Barrett Strong's "Money."

 

[buckweaver]

Revolver is as good as it gets with the Beatles. Stones? I like Sticky Fingers. Nice variety on that one. Anybody know why Let It Be isn't on video or DVD?

You can get a high-quality DVD -- well, as high quality as a 1970 hand-recorded film can be -- on eBay for $20. And I've had it on VHS for years.

 

[Rumpleforeskin]

I like the Grey Album.

 

[Captain_Kirk]

As for the actual Beatles, listen to the White album and get back to me.

The White Album is their best work. The Beatles in their absolute musical prime. I could listen to this for hours at end.

White Album is sublime.

Dear Prudence is their most underrated song.

Good call. I'd throw "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on that list as well.

I remember back in a high school English class, one day our activities consisted of picking/voting on the best Beatles song. Why? No recall of that, but it was 1979,so maybe that explains part of it.

Anyway, the teacher had 4 classes that she had do this. Three of the 4 (including mine) picked Back in the USSR as the best Beatles song. The other class picked Eleanor Rigby. Clearly, they were out in the parking lot doing bong hits before class.

 

[Rumpleforeskin]

Rocky Raccoon is my favorite by far.

 

[Bob Slydell]

OK, if you want to get into the Beatles, start with the Blue and Red albums. Then get Beatles for Sale, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Peppers, Meet the Beatles, Help, Hard Day's Night, Yellow Submarine, The White Album, Abbey Road, Let it Be, and Past Massters I and II.

That should do it. Acutally, as groundbreaking and varied at the White Album and Sgt. Peppers is. Beatles for Sale may be favorite album.

And, listen to Pet Sounds, too. It's McCartney's favorite album.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

The only incorrect answer to "What Is Your Favorite Beatles Song?' is Revolution No. 9.

 

[misterbc]

"Money" showcases one of the 2 or 3 greatest vocal performances in the history of rock music.

 

[Bubbler]

The only incorrect answer to "What Is Your Favorite Beatles Song?' is Revolution No. 9.

Being For the Benefit Of Mr. Kite strokes balls too. It's not even a good acid trip song. If I'm on acid, the last thing I want to do is fantasize about some 1830s calliopy-ish benefit concert or whatever the **** that song is about. (Worst Beatles song? Hmm. Sounds like fodder for a thread of its own)

Anyhow, Revolver is a great place to start as far as the albums are concerned. Every Beatles' style is contained therein. It's the perfect Beatles album and probably the greatest album of all-time.

 

[doubledown68]

The Beatles tune I think is underrated is "I Will", off the White Album. Simple, quick, thoroughly touching little love song.

What impresses me about the Beatles is the complete scope of the spectrum they ran in their ever-short tenure. They started with pop songs so spectacular that they still hold up today. Then they completely revolutionized themselves and produced perhaps the greatest rock album ever, given its influence.... AND THEN they produce the White Alubum, Let it Be and Abbey Road.

 

[Double Down]

The other class picked Eleanor Rigby. Clearly, they were out in the parking lot doing bong hits before class.

This may be true. But I love that song because it's one of the most beautiful, simple, and short examples of how to tell a story. Not a lot of pop songs being written back then about loneliness and the fact that God might not exist.

Even though it's extremely popular, I still think it's one of the most underrated Beatles songs.