As anyone who has even a cursory knowledge of pop history will know, The Beatles released 13 albums during their time together as recording artists, on the EMI Parlophone label in the UK and on their own Apple label, towards the end of their career.
Most people might even be able to list each of these releases in chronological order, such was the pervasive influence of the group on western culture in the 1960s and beyond.
As a lifelong fan, a question I am often asked is What Is Your Favourite Beatles Album? This is akin to being asked, as a parent with three children, Which is your favourite child? Its an almost impossible question to answer, and I find the only acceptable way to approach this conundrum is to try and list a few of the Beatles albums in order of my preference. Performing this exercise at different points over the last thirty odd years would undoubtedly have thrown up differing results, so here goes for 2011 and we'll revisit the question sometime in the next couple of years!
Most people might even be able to list each of these releases in chronological order, such was the pervasive influence of the group on western culture in the 1960s and beyond.
As a lifelong fan, a question I am often asked is What Is Your Favourite Beatles Album? This is akin to being asked, as a parent with three children, Which is your favourite child? Its an almost impossible question to answer, and I find the only acceptable way to approach this conundrum is to try and list a few of the Beatles albums in order of my preference. Performing this exercise at different points over the last thirty odd years would undoubtedly have thrown up differing results, so here goes for 2011 and we'll revisit the question sometime in the next couple of years!
- A Hard Days Night: released 10 July 1964. The first Beatles album to contain exclusively self penned material. All fourteen songs attributed to Lennon/McCartney, their style and execution epitomised the exuberance and joy of youth. Lennon in particular hit a purple patch at this time, with the title track and others such as Any Time At All, I'll Cry Instead and I'll Be Back all from him. Sheer fun.
- Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: released 1 June 1967. A sprawling masterpiece, rated at number one in Rolling Stone magazines 500 greatest albums of all time, it took over 700 hours of recording time and saw The Beatles basic sound augmented like never before. Its finale, A Day In The Life, was considered by some a vision of Armageddon.
- Revolver: released 5 August 1966. Placed at number three in Rolling Stone Magazines 500 greatest albums of all time, a monumental achievement and anecdotally regarded as the bands best album. With mind shuddering songs such as Eleanor Rigby, Got To Get You Into My Life and Tomorrow Never Knows, its grandeur and ambition has rarely been matched.
- The Beatles (The White Album): released 22 November 1968. A sprawling mish mash of songs, mostly composed during their three month stint in India with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, earlier that year. It is notable for its diversity and stark in its portrayal of the Lennon/McCartney songwriting partnership as, effectively, at an end. Given a lukewarm reception critically on release (by their standards), opinions on it are now much more positive, to the extent that Rolling Stone listed it as the tenth greatest album of all time.
