Worst Beatles Album

[liberalpragmatist]

Well, okay, EXCEPT FOR the original Yellow Submarine, what's the worst?

I'll pick Let it Be -- not bad, but clearly inferior, and though it has plenty of great songs, they're all badly produced. Superior versions of all the good songs are available elsewhere. Plus, now we have "Let it Be Naked," a good remix w/out Spector's production.

[elperromagico]

1. Beatles for Sale.

A weak album, and something of a retreat for the Beatles, who had gone from 13 original Lennon-McCartney tracks on A Hard Day's Night to (IIRC) 8 original songs and 6 covers on Beatles for Sale. It sounds like the product of a tired band who had to turn out product in time for the Christmas market.

Luckily, they got back on track with Help!, and then produced a string of really great albums.

I agree with you, though; Let It Be is a thin album. Spector's overproduction didn't help, but some of the raw material he was given (like the lousy, demo-like version of "The Long and Winding Road") wasn't all that great to begin with.

[Lefty48197]

38. AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH

Beatles for Sale was a breakthrough album. They turned the corner with that album on their way from pop bubble gum to sophisticated music. A gem.

[catzies]

44. Is that CD, or is that vinyl? And UK or American recording?

The reason I ask is, I listened to all the Beatles records as a child (they were my parents') and I didn't know the difference until I was grown and had to buy my own. Not to mention reading Beatles books, and discographies.

I have Beatles For Sale on CD now and it's not how I remember it. I think it was a repackaging.

I was also surprised when I bought the "soundtrack" to Help! because it's very different from how I remember it; and I learned that when we had it on vinyl, it was a US release, but the soundtrack CD available now is the UK release.

My fave Beatles period is the Fab Years, 62-66. Only up to Revolver. Sorry, personal preference. It coincides with my "happy childhood" years. Their career paralleled my childhood. Born in '62, happy and innocent for a few years, then turmoil, drugs and divorce entered the picture.

By Sgt. Pepper my parents were divorced, mom was a hippie and into drugs, etc. etc. I have bad memories of the "White Album," for instance, because my mom would send me and my brother to bed early, and sit in the living room with a bunch of hippie friends, getting stoned and listening to Revolution No. 9 over and over and over. I HATE the White Album. x(

[mac56]

46. "Beatles For Sale" is the original British configuration.

Songs from that British album ended up on the US albums "Beatles '65" and "Beatles VI." Songs from the British "Help!" ended up on the US "Help!", "Yesterday and Today", and "Rubber Soul". Songs from the British "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" also appeared on "Yesterday And Today".

It's all a mess. The British releases are the way the lads and George Martin conceived them.

[XNASA]

2. Their Satanic Majesties Request

That's a no brainer.

[liberalpragmatist]

3. That was the Stones

n/t

[XNASA]

4. Wow, you really are a pragmatist.

Yes, of course it was the Stones.

It's an old musician's joke. The point being that the TSMR is merely an acid-riddled, piss poor imitation of Sgt. Pepper.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Stones. But that was a low. Glad they got it out of their system and got on with it.

[liberalpragmatist]

5. Ah, sorry abt that

Hadn't heard that one before -- then again, I'm no old musician. Sry for being so gullible

[XNASA]

7. My bad.

I should have noted my sarcasm somehow. Well, you know, like this:

:crazy:


My vote for Worst Beatle Album is LIBN.

[elperromagico]

6. Agreed. The Stones weren't really made for psychedelia.

It didn't suit them. The Stones were made to rock.

"She's a Rainbow" is a good song, though.

[stumblnrose]

12. Shmeet the Teables

I still think this Stones album is one of my all time faves and I haven't used anything stronger than coffee in decades. Bill Wyman on "In another Land" is an electronica masterpiece afore its time and "She's a Rainbow" also stands the test of time. Sure the Beatles made this sort of psychedelia their trenches, but the blues-driven Stones made a strong case for their own versatility with this one. And I spent many a late night and early morn gazing into that 3-d album cover, still got it and still love it.

[Tyler Durden]

8. BINGO! Let it be ALONE!

A Paean to Paul McCartney's ego, and only palitable with the Phil Spector "Wall of Sound." With the symphonic background, I can actually stand to listen to "The Long and Winding Road," But listen to "let it be" one more time, let alone NAKED????

OH LET ME SLIT MY WRISTS!!!

[Kathleen04]

9. Tough question..

Hmm hmm hmm...if I had to choose one I guess I'd pick Please Please Me.

[Red State Rebel]

10. Does Yoko Ono count?

[CanuckAmok]

27. Yes. All John Lennon's money, daily.

n/t

[Zuni]

42. good one

yuck yuck

[Archae]

11. Forgot which one it is on...

But the one with "Revolution #9" on it.

A few, (VERY few,) good tunes on it.

The rest are pure dreck.

[trogdor]

13. The White Album

It was highly experimental in nature. Anyway, somebody told me there was very little communication between members of the band on composition - the Beatles were already falling apart at this point.

The good tunes on this record:

Back In The USSR
Revolution #1
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Lady Madonna
the one where it mentions Gideon's Bible. Don't remember the title, don't feel like digging out my copy to find out.

[Kathleen04]

14. Rocky Raccoon

the one about Gideon's Bible=Rocky Raccoon.

Lady Madonna isn't actually on the album, but it's a single from about the same time.

I remember not liking the White Album at first, but then it grew on me and I really like it.

But, I don't like "Revolution #9"..I couldn't listen to the whole thing if I tried. At a certain point, it just starts to give me the creeps.

[regnaD kciN]

15. Agreed...

I've always thought of The Beatles (the White Album) as a very good record. Unfortunately, it was a two-record set...

;-)

[Ishoutandscream]

34. Yep, too damn long

Should have been one record.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

16. Aw come on!

White Album was great! What about the Ballad of John and Yoko, Julia, I Will, Martha My Dear..Dear Prudence...there were lots of great tracks on that album....for the worst album next to Yellow Submarine, I would have to go with Hard Day's Night or Beatles IV I think it was that had covers of shit like Kansas City on it.

[jonnyblitz]

21. The White Album is the only Beatles album I like. n/t

[Richardo]

24. White Album greats: #1 - Helter Skelter

then "Yer Blues" by Lennon, Everybody's Got Something to Hide ('Cept for Me and My Monkey), I Will (with the bass line sung, not played, by McCartney.) :-)

As a whole, the second disk (or 'record' as we used to call them) is the stronger of the two...except for that Revolution #9 Yoko-fest.
x(

[T Bone]

29. Lady Madonna is NOT on the White Album

is it ?

Maybe you have some weird British version of the White Album?

[Intelsucks]

20. I think the "White album" is top-notch

I'll admit that I always skip "Revolution #9" when I play it, but I think it's still a very solid record.

[OneBlueSky]

17. ain't no such thing as a bad Beatles album . . . n/t

.

[11 Bravo]

28. Agreed!

n/t

[nemo137]

18. well... i'd go with let it be. n/t

[Iverson]

19. probably The Beatles Story

It didn't emphasise music, so there you go.

[Gato Moteado]

22. they were all great!

not a bad one in the bunch.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

32. Huzzah!!!

[bobthedrummer]

23. Beatles IV

remember lads, you're from Liverpool not Memphis!

[edbermac]

25. Yellow Submarine not really a Beatles album

I'd go with YS where half of the tracks are a movie score by George Martin. This is not a Beatles album, more of a contractual obligation. Hey Bulldog and It's All Too Much are decent tracks though.

My second would be Let It Be, but I just got the Naked CD and it is FAR superior to the original.

And forget the murder charge, Phil Spector should be put away for life for that Wall Of Sound crap he layered on Long and Winding Road!

[NightTrain]

26. The Beatles never did an album that was less than good.

I know my saying that may surprise some of you, considering that I've work. But even my least favorite Beatles tracks are superior to about 90% of everything else I've ever heard.

But having said that, if I had to pick a least favorite (as opposed to "worst") Beatles album, I suppose I'd go for "Let It Be." And I'd be interested to see if the "Let It Be Naked" reissue changes my mind. Haven't heard it yet, unfortunately....

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

35. Agreed

=)

[T Bone]

30. Why is everyone picking on Let it Be ?

'Two of Us' was a good song. 'I, Me Mine', and put on I've Got a Feeling and really really CRANK it. That song alone saves the album. I think the Naked version of 'Long and Winding Road is EXCELLENT. But then I am an acoustic and roots music fan.

[Lefty48197]

40. Agreed, I've got a feeling ROCKS

.

[Norbert]

31. I have a CD called the Quarrymen

but I wouldn't include that. It would be like judging Sinatra works that included mid-1930s gigs in Hobokin.

If you press me for an answer I would have to say Let It Be but only because Spector and Co, had to sort through a mess and clean it up, not because of the songwriting. Spector did his best but only knows how to produce one way and, of course, he wasn't very flexible.

[Whitacre D_WI]

33. Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

"A Day in the Life" is a great song. The rest of this record is crap.

[RandomKoolzip]

36. "Help", or any "Silver Beatles" repackage with "The Sheik of Araby"..

Man, before they discovered their own aesthetic, the Beatles were competent but awful. That early. early, pre-Capitol stuff is unlistenable, but well-performed for its day.

I've always thought that "Help!" was a pretty weak album, too. Some of McCartney's lamest material ("Another Girl," uggghhhh...) and a lot of readymade water-treading by an over-worked group makes for an album I'll listen to once a year, but not much more. I've never liked most of John's songs on that record, either....Overall, compared to the shock of the new factor and excitement of the "Meet the Beatles"/"Second Album" period which came before and the innovation of "Rubber Soul" which came after, "Help!" is kinda aptly named. The only dead spot in the Offical Catalogue.....

[Lefty48197]

41. I love the Decca recordings

Including Sheik of Araby, Three Cool Cats, and Hello Little Girl. They even did a good job with Spectors, to know him is to love him. Cheesy? Yes! But consider the era, 1961-62. Plus the quality of the recordings is excellent for early Beatles recordings.

[Lefty48197]

37. There's no such thing as a bad Beatles album

Let it Be (Spectorized even) is one of my favorites. Yellow Submarine too (at least the Beatles side).

[Lefty48197]

39. The Beatles vs. Frank Ifield

It was a blatant attempt to capitalize on Frank's popularity by putting some rehashed Beatles tunes on yet another vinyl disc.

[AntiCoup2K4]

43. Magical Mystery Tour

Some of the songs were very good.. Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, I Am The Walrus, but as an album it was very weak. And the TV special it was constructed around was even weaker.

But I'd still take it over 98% of the bullshit on the radio and eMpTyV today.

[mac56]

45. Second on Magical Mystery Tour.

I think Paul was the only one into it at that point.