The Beatles!
So earlier I mentioned that I'd gotten the Beatles stereo set for Christmas.
I really like the Beatles. There are other bands I like more, but if I'd lived in the right decade I would have been screaming along with the rest of those insane fangirls. I went through a phase in middle school where I absolutely loved them, and recently Beatles Rock Band rekindled my interest. Despite all this, when I got the Beatles box set I realized how freaking many songs they wrote that I had never even heard of before.
Please Please Me - B+
I really love this album. It's so rough and unfinished compared to the rest of their albums. And "Twist and Shout" is great in how painful Lennon's voice sounds. Er, as in Lennon sounds like he's in pain. Coughing up blood and so on. There's a bunch of good songs - "I Saw Her Standing There", "Please Please Me", "Love Me Do." And there's "Boys," which is Ringo's cover of a girl band song ("Well, I talk about boys now/What a bundle of joy!"). There's really no bad songs, either. I'd really like to recommend this one, but since the only individual album version is stereo, you'll get the weird effect of guitars, drums and bass on one side while the vocals are on the other side, which is a little annoying when you're listening to it with headphones. Still, it's by far the most "cute" album they released. Very boy band. Adorable.
With The Beatles - C
This album is just all right. There's no songs that I absolutely love on this album - "Till There Was You" is pretty cute, although I wince every time Paul says saw, and "Please Mister Postman" is fairly adorable, but as far as songs actually written by the Beatles go, the album is pretty weak. "All My Loving" is probably the best song that isn't a cover.
Also it has "I Wanna Be Your Man" on it, and I still can't Gold Star that bugger on Beatles Rock Band. So I'd say pass on this one, unless you're a big fan (like, say, me).
A Hard Day's Night - B+
Good album. The movie's pretty good too, although people I've watched it with have complained about the accents. I, uh, probably watch too much British comedies and so didn't have any problems with them.
There's really no terrible songs that make me want to claw my ears off on this one. Which is always a plus! The cowbell on "You Can't Do That" gets a little irritating at times, but most of the time I can filter it out. Most of the time.
Beatles For Sale - B-
It's an all right album. I absolutely love "I'll Follow The Sun" and "Eight Days a Week." It has a lot of covers, though, and not good covers like With The Beatles.
Help! - A
I love this album and I want to push it on people. I'm like the annoying lady who constantly wants to show off pictures of her cat/children. THIS ALBUM IS LIKE MY CAT CHILDREN.
Or not. But there are a lot of really good songs on it. Songs that I absolutely adore. Songs that I'm trying to learn to play on my guitar. Songs that I have listened to on repeat for far longer than is probably healthy.
This one almost deserves an A+! But it has "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," which drops it down a few points.
Rubber Soul - B+
This one is almost perfect. I love it a lot, but damn if some of the songs aren't misogynistic. I mean, I absolutely love the song "Run for Your Life" and sing along to it in the car all the time. But if I start thinking about what I'm saying, I feel sick. Same thing with "Norwegian Wood." Such a good song! but so misogynistic. Why, Lennon. Why did you have to write such catchy songs and be such a jerk.
All the songs here are really good. "Nowhere Man" is a favorite - and "Girl" - and "In My Life" - and "I'm Looking Through You" - and "If I Needed Someone" - basically every single song is so good. But with some really awkward lyrics. I also love "Michelle," but mostly for the misheard lyrics in it ("Someday monkey won't play piano song, play piano song.")
Revolver - A
This is my second favorite album, right after Help! This is, uh, where the Beatles started to get a little weird. I mean, before this they were a little weird, yeah, casually misogynistic, sure, but mostly they were a cute pop boy band. Now, we get stuff like "She Said She Said" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" - awesome stuff, but a little weird.
"And Your Bird Can Sing" is a song that I'm ridiculously fond of and have played far too often on Beatles Rock Band.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - A
Almost perfect! But there's that damn high pitched noise in "A Day in the Life." Curse you, Beatles! I don't listen to music loud enough to damage my eardrums, why do you punish me for it?!? I don't know if it's just the stereo mix or not, but I've found myself avoiding this album just because I forget about that noise every time. Which is a shame, because this has great songs - "With A Little Help from My Friends", "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", "Within You Without You", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"... great stuff.
Magical Mystery Tour - B
All right, so I love this album, but not many people agree with me. "Blue Jay Way" is an awesome song, shut up. And I could listen to "I Am the Walrus" for hours on end.
The movie is terrible though. Maybe it's better if you're on drugs. I doubt it, though. I don't think anything could have made that movie good. The "I Am the Walrus" segment is kind of hilarious, though. If anyone is reading this (I doubt it, but it's possible...) you should go look that up on Youtube. It's nightmare fuel.
The Beatles - B
I love this album, but man is it all over the place in quality. You get seriously awesome stuff like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Blackbird" and "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," but then they ruin it with crap like "Revolution 1" and "Why Don't We Do It in the Road" and "Helter Skelter."
I'd recommend it just because the good stuff is just that good, but seriously I'm considering deleting "Revolution 9" because it's just a waste of space. What were they trying to prove? That they could waste 9 minutes of their album on terrible stuff and people would still love it? Meh.
Yellow Submarine - D
I absolutely love "Hey Bulldog." In fact, the entire first half is pretty good, full of a bunch of very good Beatles songs (albeit mostly repeats from other albums). The second half is all instrumentals from the movie (which I can't get through - it's just too painful to watch).
Abbey Road - A+
First half is awesome - there's nothing bad here, except maybe "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," which took a while to grow on me. And then the medley is absolutely wonderful and I love it, especially "The End." There is nothing wrong with this album. It is perfect. It's not my favorite, but there is absolutely nothing to complain about.
Let It Be - B
It's just all right.
Past Masters
Bunch of misfit songs that didn't fit in the rest of the albums. It has a very nice alternate version of "Across the Universe" that I like, and several of the Beatles earlier songs in mono, which is really nice. The version of "From Me to You" on there is absolutely terrible, though. The version on the 1 CD released a while back is a million times better. I have no idea what they were thinking on this one. Also has the German versions of a few songs - "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" and "Sie Liebt Dich," which are both pretty fun.
I think the Past Masters is the only way you can get the good version of "Revolution," so it might be worth picking up for that. "Revolution 1" is just terrible compared to the original. I don't know what Lennon was thinking.
So, uh, if you're thinking of picking up any Beatles CDs - I'd recommend Help! if you like pop, Rubber Soul if you like pop and don't mind the mildly disturbing lyrics, and Abbey Road if you like good music.
Avoid Yellow Submarine (too many instrumentals and repeats - "Hey Bulldog" is a great song, but not worth it) and With The Beatles (just not that great).
I really like the Beatles. There are other bands I like more, but if I'd lived in the right decade I would have been screaming along with the rest of those insane fangirls. I went through a phase in middle school where I absolutely loved them, and recently Beatles Rock Band rekindled my interest. Despite all this, when I got the Beatles box set I realized how freaking many songs they wrote that I had never even heard of before.
Please Please Me - B+
I really love this album. It's so rough and unfinished compared to the rest of their albums. And "Twist and Shout" is great in how painful Lennon's voice sounds. Er, as in Lennon sounds like he's in pain. Coughing up blood and so on. There's a bunch of good songs - "I Saw Her Standing There", "Please Please Me", "Love Me Do." And there's "Boys," which is Ringo's cover of a girl band song ("Well, I talk about boys now/What a bundle of joy!"). There's really no bad songs, either. I'd really like to recommend this one, but since the only individual album version is stereo, you'll get the weird effect of guitars, drums and bass on one side while the vocals are on the other side, which is a little annoying when you're listening to it with headphones. Still, it's by far the most "cute" album they released. Very boy band. Adorable.
With The Beatles - C
This album is just all right. There's no songs that I absolutely love on this album - "Till There Was You" is pretty cute, although I wince every time Paul says saw, and "Please Mister Postman" is fairly adorable, but as far as songs actually written by the Beatles go, the album is pretty weak. "All My Loving" is probably the best song that isn't a cover.
Also it has "I Wanna Be Your Man" on it, and I still can't Gold Star that bugger on Beatles Rock Band. So I'd say pass on this one, unless you're a big fan (like, say, me).
A Hard Day's Night - B+
Good album. The movie's pretty good too, although people I've watched it with have complained about the accents. I, uh, probably watch too much British comedies and so didn't have any problems with them.
There's really no terrible songs that make me want to claw my ears off on this one. Which is always a plus! The cowbell on "You Can't Do That" gets a little irritating at times, but most of the time I can filter it out. Most of the time.
Beatles For Sale - B-
It's an all right album. I absolutely love "I'll Follow The Sun" and "Eight Days a Week." It has a lot of covers, though, and not good covers like With The Beatles.
Help! - A
I love this album and I want to push it on people. I'm like the annoying lady who constantly wants to show off pictures of her cat/children. THIS ALBUM IS LIKE MY CAT CHILDREN.
Or not. But there are a lot of really good songs on it. Songs that I absolutely adore. Songs that I'm trying to learn to play on my guitar. Songs that I have listened to on repeat for far longer than is probably healthy.
This one almost deserves an A+! But it has "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," which drops it down a few points.
Rubber Soul - B+
This one is almost perfect. I love it a lot, but damn if some of the songs aren't misogynistic. I mean, I absolutely love the song "Run for Your Life" and sing along to it in the car all the time. But if I start thinking about what I'm saying, I feel sick. Same thing with "Norwegian Wood." Such a good song! but so misogynistic. Why, Lennon. Why did you have to write such catchy songs and be such a jerk.
All the songs here are really good. "Nowhere Man" is a favorite - and "Girl" - and "In My Life" - and "I'm Looking Through You" - and "If I Needed Someone" - basically every single song is so good. But with some really awkward lyrics. I also love "Michelle," but mostly for the misheard lyrics in it ("Someday monkey won't play piano song, play piano song.")
Revolver - A
This is my second favorite album, right after Help! This is, uh, where the Beatles started to get a little weird. I mean, before this they were a little weird, yeah, casually misogynistic, sure, but mostly they were a cute pop boy band. Now, we get stuff like "She Said She Said" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" - awesome stuff, but a little weird.
"And Your Bird Can Sing" is a song that I'm ridiculously fond of and have played far too often on Beatles Rock Band.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - A
Almost perfect! But there's that damn high pitched noise in "A Day in the Life." Curse you, Beatles! I don't listen to music loud enough to damage my eardrums, why do you punish me for it?!? I don't know if it's just the stereo mix or not, but I've found myself avoiding this album just because I forget about that noise every time. Which is a shame, because this has great songs - "With A Little Help from My Friends", "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", "Within You Without You", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"... great stuff.
Magical Mystery Tour - B
All right, so I love this album, but not many people agree with me. "Blue Jay Way" is an awesome song, shut up. And I could listen to "I Am the Walrus" for hours on end.
The movie is terrible though. Maybe it's better if you're on drugs. I doubt it, though. I don't think anything could have made that movie good. The "I Am the Walrus" segment is kind of hilarious, though. If anyone is reading this (I doubt it, but it's possible...) you should go look that up on Youtube. It's nightmare fuel.
The Beatles - B
I love this album, but man is it all over the place in quality. You get seriously awesome stuff like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Blackbird" and "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," but then they ruin it with crap like "Revolution 1" and "Why Don't We Do It in the Road" and "Helter Skelter."
I'd recommend it just because the good stuff is just that good, but seriously I'm considering deleting "Revolution 9" because it's just a waste of space. What were they trying to prove? That they could waste 9 minutes of their album on terrible stuff and people would still love it? Meh.
Yellow Submarine - D
I absolutely love "Hey Bulldog." In fact, the entire first half is pretty good, full of a bunch of very good Beatles songs (albeit mostly repeats from other albums). The second half is all instrumentals from the movie (which I can't get through - it's just too painful to watch).
Abbey Road - A+
First half is awesome - there's nothing bad here, except maybe "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," which took a while to grow on me. And then the medley is absolutely wonderful and I love it, especially "The End." There is nothing wrong with this album. It is perfect. It's not my favorite, but there is absolutely nothing to complain about.
Let It Be - B
It's just all right.
Past Masters
Bunch of misfit songs that didn't fit in the rest of the albums. It has a very nice alternate version of "Across the Universe" that I like, and several of the Beatles earlier songs in mono, which is really nice. The version of "From Me to You" on there is absolutely terrible, though. The version on the 1 CD released a while back is a million times better. I have no idea what they were thinking on this one. Also has the German versions of a few songs - "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" and "Sie Liebt Dich," which are both pretty fun.
I think the Past Masters is the only way you can get the good version of "Revolution," so it might be worth picking up for that. "Revolution 1" is just terrible compared to the original. I don't know what Lennon was thinking.
So, uh, if you're thinking of picking up any Beatles CDs - I'd recommend Help! if you like pop, Rubber Soul if you like pop and don't mind the mildly disturbing lyrics, and Abbey Road if you like good music.
Avoid Yellow Submarine (too many instrumentals and repeats - "Hey Bulldog" is a great song, but not worth it) and With The Beatles (just not that great).