I m such an enormous Beatles fan that it s actually extremely difficult for me to choose just three Beatles albums as my absolute favorites (and of course whenever a music critic like myself calls something the best that s really just that music critic s favorite. )
I really think all of their albums are worthwhile listens (even With The Beatles & Beatles For Sale!) but of course there are some that are more worthwhile than others and in my opinion these are the three greatest Beatles albums.
#1 The White Album
The Beatles self titled 1968 double album is most well known as The White Album. There are those who consider this album to be a mess or miss step after the brilliant Revolver & Sgt. Pepper (we ll be getting to both of those below.) Obviously I am not one of those.
I love the album for it s variety and for it s anything goes spirit. I think it s precisely because they didn t hold back that the album remains so endlessly fascinating to me.
Are Honey Pie and Revolution #9 among The Beatles best tracks? No, I don t think so. But sometimes what makes something interesting isn t that it s the best it s that it s different. And this album has the most different songs on it.
#2 Sgt. Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sometimes I second guess myself on selecting The White Album as the greatest Beatles album. Lately I ve been thinking maybe it s time to move Pepper into that spot.
This is an album that has been dealing with a rather silly backlash for quite some time because of it being so critically acclaimed.
I m hoping that people really listening to it with an open mind (rather than forming their opinion based on some hipster nonsense) because of the new remastered box sets leads to more people understanding what is so brilliant about this album.
And what s so brilliant about this album? Everything. I believe every track on this album is a classic. Including Within You Without You and When I m 64. People love to dismiss these tracks sometimes for being too this or that, but I think their missing the point. Pepper is like a journey through all different styles of music and they are all done so perfectly.
#3 Revolver
I think one can make a strong argument that this is the greatest collection of songs that The Beatles ever put on one album. What makes it rank below Pepper for me is that it s not quite as cohesive and although it is pretty far out (it ends with Tomorrow Never Knows after all) it s not quite as far out as Pepper.
What about Abbey Road, Magical Mystery Tour, Rubber Soul, & Let It Be? Like I said, this is difficult! The Beatles released a lot of brilliant albums.
Abbey Road is probably The Beatles most popular album (it s been the biggest selling remastered CD so far) now. I think that s because it s got the most slick and most modern sound to it. Conversely I think it s actually those things that turns me off from it a slight bit. Don t get me wrong, I still love Abbey Road but just not quite as much as I love these three albums.
Magical Mystery Tour is really fantastic, but of course it wasn t actually an album in the strict sense. It was originally released as an EP and was just padded out with previously released singles (such as Penny Lane & Strawberry Fields Forever. ) But even though that s true, I actually think it holds together as an album pretty well because it s trippy from start to finish (although I always think that All You Need Is Love seems a bit out of place at the end of the album.)
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