Is “Abbey Road” the best album released by The Beatles?

I prefer REVOLVER, but this and RUBBER SOUL round up the top 3.

The White Album has some great material but also some less good songs.

Hard to say. My personal favorite was Rubber Soul. But I do love Abbey Road.

I love this album. Great songs.

My favorite is Rubber Soul but Sgt Pepper's was their biggest artistic achievement.

How many albums did they release?

Abbey road is my favorite. It predicted what rock and pop would sound in the 70s. The side two medley is my favorite thing they ever did.

I too prefer Rubber Soul and Revolver

I believe it is.

It has a lot of classics on it. It’s a great album that plays well and easy to listen to

Sgt Pepper is perfection

Revolver and I have a special relationship. But Abbey Road is pretty great!

Rubber Soul. They started sucking their own dicks after that.

Sgt Pepper followed by Rubber Soul and Revolver (tied for second)

Rubber Soul and Sgt Pepper are better. Octopus's Garden completely ruins Abby Road and Maxwells Silver Hammer irritates the crap out of me. Two of the worst tunes ever. I also prefer Yesterday and Today over Abby Road. If you're a big Beatles fan I recommend visiting Liverpool and doing the Beatles Magical Mystery tour. I didn't think I'd like Liverpool but ended up loving the city.

R14 that’s so funny because I LOVE Octopus’s Garden.

But agree about Maxwells Silver Hammer.

Here Comes The Sun is just so good.

White album.

Which album is the one where they're dressed up like animals on the cover? One of the songs is "You Say Goodbye" or something like that?

That's the only one I'm familiar with, my brother and I listened to it a lot as young children (it was our father's)

I generally despise every Ringo tune. I can't stand his nasal, whiny voice. I also think George Harrison was underrated. His older Beatles tunes are still some of my favorites.

I love Abbey Road EXCEPT for Ringo's awful songs and singing. Rubber Soul and Revolver, yes. I like Stg Pepper, but not as much as the aforementioned three.

The usually overlooked Magical Mystery Tour is a big favorite of mine, and I still have the copy I bought in 1967. Great songs, not a dud in the bunch.

"How many albums did they release?"

In the 1960s, rock bands and singers were packaged so that the record company released lots of 45s, no LPs. Then the record company would put together a Greatest Hits LP containing all of the singles - A&B sides. The Beatles were packaged in a similar manner up until Rubber Soul. Before that the UK albums were different than the US albums. Someone mentioned "Yesterday & Today." That was a US album not available in the UK. In other words, you can't say "how many albums did The Beatles release" because the first few years was completely controlled by EMI and Capital Records. Of those, I love The Beatles Second Album best. Maybe because it was my first - Christmas 1964.

I’m listening to their “Please Please Me” album that came out in 1963 and it’s fantastic

I didn’t know they had UK albums and USA albums at first. Why not just release one album to both?

Underrated love for Magical Mystery Tour, the US Version.

What is the difference between the UK and US versions? R23

While I love the trippiness of Revolver, side two of Abbey Road is one of top five favs.

But I'd say Revolver comes close if not ties Abbey Road

R24, it was merely an EP everywhere else and didn't have the singles.

Another vote for Rubber Soul.

[quote]Underrated love for Magical Mystery Tour, the US Version.

That's my fave, along with Abbey Road.

I grew up round the corner from Abbey Road and my best friend lived opposite Paul McCartney. There were fans there all day long climbing on his walls to get a look.

Revolver!

Abbey Road is commercially their most successful album.

If there was no other reason to like and respect them...

“During the 1964 US tour, the group were confronted with racial segregation in the country at the time. When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated. Lennon stated: "We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money." City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show. The group also cancelled their reservations at the whites-only Hotel George Washington in Jacksonville. For their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated.“

Yes, side 2 is completely sublime. Nothing better.

Let It Be can be a bit draggy...my faves on that and on Abbey Road are George's.

What is all this snark about Ringo and "Octopus' Garden"? It's a perfect song.

Go fuck yourselves, motherfuckers.

Yes, I have strong feelings about this.

R35 I love that song too. I don’t get the hate.

One thing that stands out is pretty much everyone chooses one of their middle to later albums over their early ones.

No “HELP!” Or “A Hards Day Night” or “Beatles For Sale” mentioned

[quote]or “Beatles For Sale” mentioned

I actually dislike that - it was the only one I didn't grow up with. My parents bought them all as they came out. Apart from that and The White Album for some reason, which is also an unfave. I never listen to it. It lacks warmth for me.

Revolver is my favorite.

I was watching a documentary about John Lennon's making of the Imagine album and fuck there were some awful songs. I'm really not a fan of much of his post-Beatles work.

But I love him and his mind.

Abbey Road is their biggest success, commercially. It’s their only album to go to number one ALL OVER THE WORLD. It was number one everywhere. None of their other albums did that.

You have tourists hanging out at Abbey Road all day, every day.

Would YOU go see it if you came to London?

Many great Beatles albums, but Abbey Road is my favorite.

In fact of all music groups and all their albums, Abbey Road is my favorite of all time.

Sure, OP. Frank Sinatra liked "Somewhere" a lot, too.

You can excuse "I Want You/She's So Heavy?" Surely there were one or two other pieces that Lennon had laying around that would have been better than this torture, if they'd have given them a finish. It's about the worst of the dull Yoko-love shits he insisted on smearing around - to prove something to himself in the midst of the drug fog, ego pretending to be wisdom and the Ono manipulation games.

The "medley"? I agree with Lennon that it lacks authenticity - it sounds commercial, slick and insincere, but it and the rest of the album are a lot of fun. Insincere, weirded out, occasionally collaborative, pleasant and then no, with Martin running things and Yoko recovering from their car accident in a bedroom built into the studio so she could overlook and oversee for John is where they were, pretty much. Shallow poppy fun, mostly. "Come Together" is brilliant. I don't mind McCartney's "granny" pieces and certainly Harrison outdoes any of McCartneys pieces in that area with "Here Comes the Sun."

I'll take Revolver, Rubber Soul, Pepper and the White Album before listening to all of Abbey Road. But that's just my preferences. When I listen now it's mostly the early stuff and my number one favorite, "I Am the Walrus." "Dear Prudence" is second!

Eldergays, how did people react when Lennon was killed? Was it the world mourning like when Michael Jackson died?

The US vs UK albums were not different versions of the songs, they were just different packaging. Such as this US one, great songs, great cover shot (a cropped pic of them cutting a cake).

R44, yes, the world mourned. Of course it wasn't the same as Jackson's because we didn't have the kind of media we have now, however, it was enormous. What I remember most is seeing all of these young faces at memorial gatherings, people who were probably toddlers during the Beatles heyday. Since Lennon's career was spotty post-Beatles, I found it strange.

"Abbey Road is their biggest success, commercially. It’s their only album to go to number one ALL OVER THE WORLD. It was number one everywhere."

Is this one of those "it was most popular therefore it's good" arguments? R40, you're an idiot.

R46 no I’m just saying it’s still their most famous and spoken about album because it was their most successful commercially. It was a huge album and had a massive impact on pop culture. The cover art is still replicated and imitated to this day.

Critically, it was one of their more “mixed” reviewed albums. Even Lennon didn’t like it and was confused by its popularity. He said it’s not a real Beatles album, it’s a bunch of individual songs from each of the 4 put together on one album. They didn’t even work together for most songs.

Abbey Road is actually the last album they recorded together. They recorded Let It Be before Abbey Road, but released Abbey Road first

I'm most attached to the White album, except for Revolution 9

R36 okay, I’ll be the first one to say “A Hard Day’s Night” is my favourite album, with extra points for “If I Fell”. Rubber Soul is second. I also like “Please Please Me”.

In the 1960s there weren't a lot of American blacks who wanted to hear four British white boys sing their version of American black music.

It's the same today.

While listening to their first album, they def stole some sounds from black artists

One of the odd things about the Beatles is that although they wrote so many fantastic songs, all of their albums were quite patchy. There are at least a few weak songs on each of them.

R52, most ALL of the British invasion groups were greatly influenced by R&B and blues American artists - The Stones, The Animals, Beatles etc. It wasn't about "stealing" material or style.

The White album has most of my favorite Beatle's songs. As a kid I hated it. John's vocal intro to Happiness is a Warm Gun gets me every time

Lennon looked so much older than the other 3.

[quote]Abbey Road is my favorite. It predicted what rock and pop would sound in the 70s.

Abbey Road is a disco album?

Ha ha, R57. Early 1970s, besides heavy metal, was mostly folk rock, neither of which had much to do with Abbey Road. In fact, folk-rock was from the kid fans of the folk music boom in the late 1950s through the mid 1960s. Although John Devner was a member of The Chad Mitchell Trio for a while, an actual folk group of the 60s.

Their 3 most critically acclaimed albums are Revolver, Rubber Soul and Sgt. Peppers

Their most panned album by critics was Magical Mystery Tour.

Abbey Road was incredibly mixed. Many critics loved it and others hated it, and some in between.

However, the public loved Abbey Road and it became a phenomenon.

I don't get the hate - Magical Mystery Tour had Titanic-sized singles, the title track and Fool On The Hill to more than justify its existence.

R60 I’m sure today’s critics would praise it endlessly but upon its original release it was mostly disliked by Critics.

"Their 3 most critically acclaimed albums are Revolver, Rubber Soul and Sgt. Peppers"

Sgt PEPPERS?

I love Abbey Road.

I don't know if it's their best, but it's probably my overall favorite.

My least-favorite song on it is "Oh! Darling". I know, I know, it's practically blasphemy, fans LOVE it, but I just don't care for Paul's over-the-top, screaming lead vocal, or the annoying guitar on the bridge. Sometimes I can get into it if I'm in the right mood. It's a good song, I just don't care much for how they executed it. Still way better than Robin Gibb's limp, lifeless, drippy cover, though.

The critical consensus these days seems to go with "Revolver", "Rubber Soul", and the "White Album" as their best, "Beatles For Sale" and "Let it Be" as their worst. "Abbey Road" and "Sgt. Pepper" are seen as a bit overrated these days (I disagree, but that seems to be the prevailing thought).

I love them all. There's very little that they ever did that I don't like.

It’s definitely better than Britney Jean but nowhere near Oops or Glory.

The reason that the U.K. and U.S. albums are different is because of publishing money. In the U.S., royalties were calculated as a flat rate for each track: the more tracks on the album, the more money that had to be paid to the songwriter(s). In the U.K, the total songwriting royalty payable was a fixed percentage of the album price which was the divided equally, so the more songs on the album, the less each song earned.

The U.K. Beatles albums usually contained 13 songs which the U.S. label (Capitol Records) would cut down to 10 (because they refused to pay the publishing on more tracks than that). Given that there were many non-album hit singles as well (a common thing in the '60s), including songs such as 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand', 'Paperback Writer' etc., that meant the U'S. could cobble together extra tracks from various places to make their own Beatles albums.

That practice persisted until 'Revolver', which was such an important ALBUM that Capitol couldn't get away with cutting it down to ten tracks without outraging fans and critics. Thereafter Beatles albums were identical in the U.S. to the rest of the world.

R66 Correct, except that it was "Sgt. Pepper", not "Revolver".