Hi, everyone! In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' final studio album, Let It Be, being released today, I thought I would compile my worst to best list for one of my favorite bands ever. I will be ranking them on my personal preference and how often I would relisten to them, so some takes may come as more of a surprise than others. To clarify, I am not reviewing the releases outside of the original twelve studio records*, including Capitol in North America or Parlophone in New Zealand. This is for simplicity’s sake - many of the studio records released outside of the United Kingdom featured songs that on the band’s original studio albums. I will also not be discussing any compilation records, such as Anthology, One, or Love. With all that said, here are my rankings of each Beatle record, and my thoughts on each!
*NOTE: While Yellow Submarine was the “thirteenth” record that was released worldwide and features four original cuts written purely for the film, it does recycle a few tracks from past records. In my eyes, that counts more as a compilation than anything. More importantly, the back half is made up of entirely orchestral songs by the band’s studio wizard, George Martin, not the band. So yes, while it’s acknowledged as a “studio release,” I personally do not see any point in commenting on this album and its content past this. Thank you, that is it.
WORST. With The Beatles (1963)
Is it bad to say that I enjoyed the covers of “Please Mr. Postman” and “You Really Got a Hold on Me” more the majority of this record? Thank goodness the Fab Four did not start their discography off with this record, things could have ended up very different for them. Everything they accomplished on their debut effort seems to have been put at the wayside. There’s two main points of complaint for me here: First off, I really just have not been a fan of a lot of the mixing on this thing. The instrumentals sound very faded just to give way for the overbearing vocals. It’s a shame, too. That brings me to my second hatred for this project. The very phony crooning by both John and Paul is so damn annoying and made this album sort of a dud. Aside from “All My Loving,” “Not a Second Time,” nothing really stands out to me here. It feels more like they tried too hard to sound like every other top-40 band at the time.
11. Let It Be (1970)
I have no earthly idea why the Beatles released this. I really don’t. This record has now celebrated its semicentennial, and it took a massive dump on whatever the Beatles had built up. I am not shy to say that it left quite a foul taste in my mouth. I get that the intentions were good, and it definitely presents some ideas that were unique. The project is very raw, which I’m okay with. It encompasses every element the Beatles had worked over the last eight years, which I’m also okay with. Hard rock, soft ballads, the whole nine yards. In the same breath, the whole record felt like the opposite game. Song structures either came out awesome or malformed. I liked “Dig A Pony” to some extent, but “Let It Be,” and the “The Long and Winding Road” are the real highlights here. Even though “Let It Be” kind of gets over-worshipped, those aforementioned songs are arguably some of the most empowering the band ever put out. And it’s got Paul, the mule of this project, sounding so beautiful. Here’s the catch: I just hate how all of that gets overshadowed by his sheer and utter crap deliveries on some of the tracks. I’m calling out “I’ve Got A Feeling” and “Get Back,” especially - his vocals ruin otherwise pretty decent instrumentals. Lastly, I just want to note that 3 of this album’s twelve is dedicated to one-minute interludes. It would have been better if Let It Bet was a longer record, and could have been scrapped entirely in this scenario.
10. Sgt. Peppers’ Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
All you classic rock stans out there are going to come for my head after this one, but hear my case. Out of all of the “big” Beatles albums, Sgt. Peppers’ is the one that I view as the most overrated. I guess the biggest reason why would be that I have never been a big fan its musical direction in general. Of course, you’ve got memorable tracks like “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” or “A Day in the Life.” Aside from that, not a lot of the songs really calls my name. It just feels too over-the-top to me, almost intentionally psychedelic. I also don’t really like a lot of the lyrics on here, either; they can be interpreted as forward-thinking, influential or what-have-you, but I found most them to be lukewarm. If I’m being completely honest about the project, so much less emphasis was put on that and more on the compositional elements on this project. Other projects from them were able to do more in both departments, which is why this record falls on the lower end of the list.
9. Please Please Me (1963)
I haven’t listened to this project in ages, so it was a great trip down memory lane. In that time, I had read Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers; I was fascinated by his talk about the Beatles and how a lot about the success was attributed to their many years of playing overseas in Hamburg. I kept that in mind on this relisten. I think that for a band that was releasing their first full-length record, I can see how their years of live experience certainly helped them out in the studio. While their sound can drift astray at times, the record is surprisingly clean. Nothing too crazy on here, but there are some very memorable tracks to speak of. This includes “I Saw Her Standing There,” “Anna,” “Baby It’s You,” “Do You Want To Know A Secret,” and their version of the legendary “Twist and Shout.” Don’t mistake this lower rating as me not liking the project, there’s just a lot of other projects I hold in high esteem.
8. Help! (1965)
While certainly not as palatable and polished as other records in the catalog, I think it’s another consistent project from the group. I like some of the intentions on tracks like “I Need You,” “Ticket to Ride,” “Act Naturally.” What impedes this record as a whole, though, is what I can’t wrap my head around. Whether it was the regression of writing from the past few records, or some of the prodcution being a little more hit-or-miss, I just need more time to dwell on it. I can say that John’s more varied vocal deliveries on this project are leaps and bounds better than his botched effort on With the Beatles, doing great on tracks like You’re Going to Lose that Girl,” and “It’s Only Love.” However, it’s Paul who really steals the show on tracks like “The Night Before,” “I’ve Seen Just a Face,” and the perennial Beatles staple, “Yesterday.” Like I mentioned, this isn’t necessarily my first choice for a record that I would pick if I want to listen to them.
7. Beatles For Sale (1964)
This is another one of your solid, middle-of-the-pack Beatles record. Falling in between the early years and the middle of the road for their discography, I think it kind of gets overlooked because of that. I’ve seen a lot of people hating on this record, but I’ve never understood why. For once, not every damn cut on here is about love. If it had been released closer to Rubber Soul, it probably would have gotten a little more love. Personally, I found myself more attracted to the acoustic songs on the project more than the harder, guitar rock ones. I believe that the softer, folksy sounds are pretty progressive, as some of the ballads here were obviously of influence to their later work on projects like… well, Rubber Soul. The writing is some of the best they’d put out to that point. You see this on tracks like, “No Reply,” “I’m A Loser,” “I’ll Follow the Sun,” the hit single, “Eight Days a Week,” “Words of Love,” and “I Don’t Want to Spoil The Party.” I think my biggest gripe was that there could have been a couple more Beatle-written songs on this thing rather than filling the run time with cover songs. It’s justified for the first couple of albums when you’re not writing as much original music, but they were at a point at which they should have committed to writing their own music full time. At the end of the day, that’s really nitpicky on my end, and it doesn’t change my overall thought on the project in any way. I’ll be talking about its predecessor, A Hard Day’s Night, later on the list, but it’s clear to see that the band shook out whatever musical ya-yas they had on With The Beatles and got their act together for the future with Beatles for Sale.
6. The Beatles (White Album) (1968)
The third of five records within the “Beatles Renaissance” is pretty solid. If you’ve been reading or listening to my content for a while, you’ll know that my modern comparison of this record is to Kanye’s The Life of Pablo. Both are a melting pot of so many different musical and lyrical ideas. It’s almost like I’m trying to order something from the Cheesecake Factory’s menu, where the company’s slogan is “something for everyone.” Depending on how you view both albums, I want to make it clear that this record is above-average, but has some glaring flaws. There are some songs which I could consider as being some of the Beatles’ finest, like “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Happiness is a Warm Gun,” “I Will,” “Blackbird,” or “Julia.” Then, there are some straight-up fun songs on here, like “Back in the USSR,” “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill,” “Piggies,” or “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.” Then, we have those “why the hell are these songs part of this ninety-three minute record?” songs. Stuff like “Birthday,” “Revolution 9,” or “Wild Honey Pie” is what I mean. If some of the excess stuff was chopped entirely, it might have gone down as one of the stronger Beatles’ projects.
5. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
I honestly feel the urge to just sit down and watch both Beatles feature films after this countdown, because, wow. From the opening guitar strike on the title track to the guitar fadeout on “I’ll Be Back,” this thing consistently bumps across its lightning-fast thirty minutes and eleven second run time. I don’t know why I’ve been putting off listening to this project in full, it really exceeded my expectations! There were some familiar faces already, like “If I Fell,” the chart-topper “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “And I Love Her,” plus the criminally underrated “You Can’t Do That” to name a few. I was also turned on to some new bops. “I Should Have Known Better,” “Tell Me Why,” “Any Time At All” were all pretty solid. To me, this is the poster child of the Beatles’ early work. That hard rock sound they’d been working out for some time seems to finally hits its stride here. Furthermore, it continues the softer, more acoustic elements seen on Beatles for Sale with its fair share of soft, emotional ballads. All of that in just barely a half an hour is goddamn remarkable.
4. Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
It’s weird to think that this a top-five Beatles record from me, because I had never really considered this to ever be a a full LP. I always thought it fell into the same realm as Yellow Submarine. But, I guess Wikipedia told me that is is a studio album… so let’s break it down. The first thing you can really catch sight of is how much this influenced bands of today, specifically Tame Impala (see “Blue Jay Way”). Even though I have mixed feelings about the opening three tracks, once you hit “Blue Jay Way,” you’re listening to one of the greatest track runs in the whole catalog: “Your Mother Should Know,” “I Am The Walrus,” “Hello Goodbye,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Penny Lane,” “Baby You’re a Rich Man,” and the cherry on top of the sundae, “All You Need is Love.” I know that some of you still aren’t over the fact of how low I put Sgt. Peppers, but I wholeheartedly believe this record holds up miles better than the so-called “greatest record of all time.” Yes, it’s psychedelic, but The production is very tight and cohesive throughout. More importantly, keep in mind half the lyrics aren’t corny as hell and are actually worth a damn this go-around.
3. Abbey Road (1969)
The Beatles became a little less focused on experimentation and possibly creating a swan song in the studio. I liked that approach a lot. The resulting project is another smooth and consistent outing, and has that fine-tuned balance between production value and lyrics. Sure, it’s got a lot of quirky subject material in the lyrics, but there’s something charming in that and makes it feel special. The A-side is just oustanding, with some of the Beatles’ best lyrics on display with “Come Together,” and “Something,” but also some fun on tracks like “Octopus’ Garden” and “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.” It can also be argued that Abbey Road has more of unique experiments the band had done in their discography, with most of the entire B-side medley of this record. That goes back to the whole quirky part. They write about stupid stuff on a lot of those shorter cuts, but it’s so well done for me to even care. I think “The End” would have been a really great way to end this record, and the discography. Damn you, Let it Be and the hidden track“Her Majesty.”
2. Rubber Soul (1965)
As I’ve mentioned countless times in this article, almost every record from the first half was filled with either love songs and cover other popular songs at the time. Some of them were meh, some were decent. If we’re talking the best love songs by the band, there is no doubt in my mind when I say these are some of the most dominant, There’s so many I could name, like “Wait,” “If I Needed Someone,” and “Michelle,” being some of the best. They certainly hold up a lot better than a lot of the fan favorites. At the same time, we also see more of a thematic shift towards ideas like isolation and memory on tracks like “Nowhere Man” or “In My Life.” Beatles for Sale showed flashes of that, but it’s not until you reach Rubber Soul to where it all feels so new. Top that off with some tip-top production and some unique sounds and musical ideas, I think this record is just so damn close to being my favorite from the group. But, I don’t anything will be able to top…
1. Revolver (1966)
Before I go into a full analysis, I want to share that this is my favorite record ever. Yes. I just said that. I want to take you on a flashback. Before I started high school, I really had no music taste. Rather, I only really listened to whatever my parents played, or whatever was on the radio at the time. When I was looking through my parents record collection one day, I come across the album cover. And I think to myself, “hey, this looks cool, why don’t I check it out?” I threw it on the turntable, and, well, the rest is history.
I think that over the history of bazzreviews, I’ve seldom spoken for my love of this album before, nor the love of this band. Revolver is the record I cite as the biggest influence for me. It turned me on to so many other “out-there” records that helped shape my music taste I have today. It allowed me to realize that music can be so much more than what you hear on the radio every day. Whether we’re talking about the dense, psychedelic production, or the varied themes of love, it’s so empowering. Gone of the days of being callow young lovers, as these guys are now experiencing relationships far stronger than puppy love. The dive beyond surface-level shows a hell of a lot on these cuts, especially in “For No One,” “Here, There and Everywhere,” and “I Want to Tell You.” I haven’t even begun to mention the other crazy-ass things they write about on here: Sleep on “I’m Only Sleeping,” unfair taxes in the reign of Prime Minister Howard Wilson on “Taxman”, and drug use on the closer, “Tomorrow Never Knows.” This record has it all, and each successive song seems to top everything that the previous did… I’m not even joking when I’d say this album is an 11/10. All in all, I can’t really express my full love for this thing in a 2-minute bullet review. If you’re a diehard Beatles stan like myself or just a casual listener, I hope that you visit this album and come out of it with a similar perspective. Thank you, John, Paul, George, Ringo - and George Martin - for giving me an incredible piece of music that I have been able to cherish now and forever.
SO, do you agree with my placement of each record? Is there one you thought should have been higher or lower? If so, feel free to reach out to me. In the meantime, thanks for checking this out! Hope to see you back here and reading more bazzreviews content down the road!
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