Revolution - Official ILX Beatles tracks poll results

I find myself breaking down the music chronologically... For me this makes it easier to view the catalog as a whole. You mention "early" "middle" and "late" which is pretty much how I think of it also.. 3 distinct eras..

The first era is clearly "Beatlemania.." "Love Me Do" and everything up until the "Help!" soundtrack.. Simple enough.

"Yesterday" sort of signaled the end of the first era and foreshadowed Rubber Soul.. Their 3 most focused LP's followed, and the Magical Mystery Tour EP was probably the high-point in their studio experimentation, which they moved away from immediately afterwards.. (this would include side 1 of Yellow Submarine also)

Third era is the only one completely without Brian Epstein who it seems was holding them together more than they realized.. "Lady Madonna/The Inner Light" is definitely the start of this era.. White Album and Abbey Road are clearly 4 individuals and no longer a strictly group effort.. more guest appearances in this era than in the other 2 (clapton & billy preston)

Apart from I Am The Walrus, Penny Lane & Strawberry Fields, it's deathly dull and the worst stuff they did. Strangely though, those 3 songs are amongst the very best songs they ever recorded.

i have two tracks from this album on my list and it's none of these three! i never really got the love for Strawberry Fields.

I sort them out in my mind somewhat close to that, though not as distinctly:

Early -- everything before Beatles for Sale.

Transitional -- Beatles for Sale.

Middle -- from Help! through Revolver.

Transitional -- Sgt. Pepper/Magical Mystery Tour

Late -- White Album forward.

No real explanation--everyone will see that a little differently.

Just read this on the Wikipedia page: "Although their output has come to include vault items and remixed mash-ups, the core Beatles discography recorded during the 1960s is 217 tracks and approximately ten hours of music."

Ten hours. Measure their impact on the world against the idea of ten hours.

"I Me Mine" was recorded early in 1970, but yeah.

It's only about ninety seconds though, a mere rounding error

Any road up, one track that didn't make the chart but I wished it had, was "I feel fine", because I told Alice that they used to make videos in a very simple way back then, in fact one time The Beatles supplied overseas countries with one where they mimed while having their lunch: Fish and chips out of a bag! Take That, Lady Gaga!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG3EJIsJDeI

some quality product, that

This is preaching to the choir, but the mind reels from how many truly great songs they had in a relatively small corpus. Listening to it again all in one piece as I did for this poll was jaw-dropping, I thought I was going to be "meh" but just. wow.

I had "Honey Pie" at number ten on my ballot. To me, that's old world channeling of a deep nature and a very high level, comparable to The Basement Tapes or Tiny Tim.

I don't understand the above post in the slightest.

Been listening to early Beatles all day today. Conclusion: it's alright, but a bit shit but kinda great in parts but mostly meh.

― Post-Manpat Music (dog latin), Saturday, July 16, 2011 7:27 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

this post is almost as stupid and meaningless as the one where you said a Beatles song is like their equivalent of a Blue song

― dread the flopson (some dude), Sunday, 17 July 2011 18:22 (Yesterday)

When did I say this?

To clarify, there are (what I think of as) early Beatles songs that I really love - "She Loves You" particularly. But there's so much stuff I'd consider throwaway or hugely dated, I found them hard to listen to in anything other than an educational context. The earliest stuff sounds like it's from a completely other time to the Rubber Soul material. IMO it wasn't until after Beatles For Sale that they stopped being scholars and started being masters. Your opinion may differ, of course.

I do have a lot of time for Magical Mystery Tour. It represents the Beatles at their most colourful and psychedelic. Carrollian surreality merging with everyday Merseyside landscapes. The Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and I Am The Walrus triumvirate might eclipse a lot of moments on here, but there are few songs I don't like. 'Flying' works as one of the only Beatles instrumentals (discounting Yellow Submarine s/t). 'Fool On The Hill' sees McCartney getting wistfully rural and uncharacteristically self-deprecating. 'Baby You're A Rich Man' is gloriously barmy. 'Your Mother Should Know' has a really interesting winding chord sequence that goes all over the place. And it's all rounded off as a concept EP - a stronger concept than Sgt Peppers, one might argue.

39. Getting Better Sgt Pepper (Points: 211, Voters: 10, Number Ones: 0)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCcU2xfvz0o

38. Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight Abbey Road (Points: 211, Voters: 10, Number Ones: 0)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je_VObgUwzM

I made an excutive decision here: Everyone who voted for this track put "Golden Slumbers" only, apart from one voter who had put "Carry that weight" so I combined the votes for this medley.

Apols if you really only like one (or the other) of this songsection..

Oh, and the "Trash" cover above came out ahead of the Beatles version..

Whoop! Getting Better's where Sgt Peppers really hits its stride (along with Fixing A Hole) for me. I feel like that album's got such a big preamble you have to get over. The intro, the hoary tedium of With a Little Help, and the tiresome LITSWD (which is okay really, but a bit obvious and played out).

I couldn't separate them and didn't want to use two votes, so I voted for You Never Give Me Your Money instead.

I made an excutive decision here: Everyone who voted for this track put "Golden Slumbers" only, apart from one voter who had put "Carry that weight" so I combined the votes for this medley.

Apols if you really only like one (or the other) of this songsection..

― Mark G, Monday, 18 July 2011 11:29 (1 minute ago) Bookmark

If I'd known these were gonna be combined, I'd have voted for them. My favourite section on Abbey Road, but they work really well together and are too meagre in themselves to vote for individually. Oh well...

Or what Ismael Klata just said.

37. Hello Goodbye Single (Points: 238, Voters: 10, Number Ones: 0)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLAcxCkjqJs&feature=related

Getting Better was my #10!

Hello Goodbye is good, but something about it irks me. I think it's the lyrics, they sound like a parody - more like something the Rutles would do.

lyrics are kinda stupid, melody is superb though

The true reason why the Beatles split up was songs like "Hello Goodbye" and "Obladi", as John really didn't like them but recognised that they should exist for Paul's sake. Just, that he really didn't want to have to be involved in making them.

I like Paul's story of the Sgt Pepper sleeve - that it all came from a vision he had of a marvellous floral clock, which made him then think of a ceremony where the four of them were getting presented with medals by the mayor of a northern town. Hence the band uniforms. Then the idea of a crowd of family & friends watching, which became the gallery of heroes.

Then come the day of the shoot everything went to plan except someone didn't order enough flowers, so the marvellous floral clock died a death at the last, and instead there's that crappy guitar shape at the front because that's all they could do with the few that were left. But the clock had been the point all along!

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Clock Band

Hmmm none of these were anywhere near my top 20 (Getting Better maybe). From a horse-race point-of-view I guess it's good that they're out of the way now...

This run is "Getting Better" afaic.

Anyone see a parallel, lyrics wise, between "Getting Better" and "She Knows Me Too Well" by the Beach Boys including crepey admissions of being a complete bastard to one's spouse.

One, Two, Three, F***

36. I Saw Her Standing There Please Please Me (Points: 240, Voters: 8, Number Ones: 2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWdqh2PPvTI&feature=related

^^ Ringo totally rules on that clip

This one always gets wheeled out at karaoke nights, despite not exactly being the biggest Beatles hit of all time.

Speaking of karaoke, I always laugh when you get a group of people doing Hey Jude, and someone's always gotta do the "Hey Jud-y Jud-y Jud-y Jud-y Jud-y!" bit every time the chorus roles around.

35. Across the Universe "Our World" charity album / Let It Be (Points: 241, Voters: 12, Number Ones: 0)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCKANiM9tUM&feature=related

I'm always a fan when they do a verse with one melody that goes on forever, like this or Your Mother Should Know.

34. She's Leaving Home Sgt Pepper (Points: 242, Voters: 11, Number Ones: 1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFhoLfP8pvI

Am I right in thinking ATU gets a bad rap?

Personally I love this song. It's such a sad existential thing, like watching an episode of Brian Cox and feeling very lonely and hopeless because ultimately we're all going to fizzle out and die.

I'm always a fan when they do a verse with one melody that goes on forever, like this or Your Mother Should Know.

― Ismael Klata, Monday, 18 July 2011 12:16 (1 minute ago) Bookmark

OTM

Only two of mine so far, kind of amazed that "I Feel Fine" didn't make it.

We had to do She's Leaving Home as a text for GCSE English. It was about this time I was taught Blackbird on guitar. These two factors got me interested in the Beatles again and encouraged me to check out their albums outside of the red/blue best ofs my parents kept.

33. I Want You (She's So Heavy) Abbey Road (Points: 246, Voters: 10, Number Ones: 0)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbcTYTpxB_s

I think I Want You is the one song I really wish I'd found room for in my top 20.

32. I'm Looking Through You Rubber Soul (Points: 253, Voters: 11, Number Ones: 1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qg5lGNchYM

I Want You has grown to become one of my favourite Beatles songs. So different to anything else they ever did. Nothing comes close in terms of heaviness, funkiness, repetition. Sounds more like stoner rock. And those organs wwwuuuAAAAAHHHHH - Number #4 on my ballot. <3

Love I'm Looking Through You too. Another "invisibility" song from Rubber Soul. I like the spectral tone on some of the vocals, particularly the "Why, tell me why" bit.

wish i'd voted for I'm Looking Through You.

on the other hand, I voted for it and now I wish I haven't forgot about I Want You. oh well.