Every now and then, I'll do a theme month focusing on something else than movies and television - so far I've tackled music, literature and football with such projects. Last year's Music Month was such a hit, in fact, that I'm going for a sequel! So, for April 2022, prepare for some kick-ass music-related lists.
The first of my four music-themed posts is a ranking of the albums by the arguably greatest rock band of all time - The Beatles. They recorded and released twelve studio albums in their career (some would say thirteen, but I'm not counting the studio-album-compilation-album-soundtrack-album hybrid Yellow Submarine for the purposes of this list), and analyzing them in the form of a ranking is a great way to look at all the creative directions their music took throughout the 1960's. So, without further ado, this is my ranking of the Beatles' albums!
12. Beatles for Sale (1964)
The Fab Four never really did a bad album, but their fourth outing is definitely as close as they got to that. While it is salvaged by bangers such as Eight Days a Week and their cover of Chuck Berry's Rock and Roll Music, there is no escaping the fact that Beatles for Sale is an overall weak and semi-boring album when compared to the rest of the band's works.
The core of this explanation can be found from the contrast between what the band wanted and what was wanted of them. By this point, Lennon and McCartney had evolved as songwriters (Harrison was finding his creative voice as well) to the point that they were able and willing to go into more creative and complicated directions than the straight-forward Beatlemania-phase pop rock that had made them popular - but the studio executives weren't ready for that yet. Beatles for Sale is essentially a band ready to experiment, not being given a chance to experiment, forced to repeat the same schtick they've been doing for the past three albums, and their lack of excitement shows.
11. With the Beatles (1963)
After my take on Beatles for Sale, I must clarify that there was nothing wrong with the simple Beatlemania-era charm back when it was fresh and the band's heart was still in it. The group's sophomore album may not be an artistic masterpiece, but it sure is a solid listen with some hellishly catchy tunes and heartstring-tugging harmonies.
While the album is somewhat lacking in great original material as Lennon and McCartney were still in the process of growing as songwriters, the album contains some of the very best covers they ever did - Chuck Berry's Roll Over Beethoven and The Marvelettes' Please Mr. Postman are covered brilliantly, as is Meredith Wilson's Till There Was You, where Paul's singing voice is at its most pure and angelic. Ringo Starr also gets to showcase his charming-if-not-technically-majestic singing chops in I Wanna Be Your Man, one of the album's better original compositions even though the band itself saw its value as 'fuck it, let's give this song to the Rolling Stones'.
10. Let It Be (1970)
I've never been the biggest fan of the Beatles' final album to be released, although I do see the appeal - its highpoints can be seen as some of the highpoints for rock music as a whole, with iconic songs like Get Back, The Long and Winding Road and the legendary title track. But as a whole, as an album you listen from start to finish, there's just something that doesn't quite do it for me.
It has to do with the fact that the band was going through a tumultous period while writing these songs as well as recording them, as all four had grown into songwriters with their own artistic vision and own direction, ready for a solo career, getting ready to call it quits amidst escalating tensions. I'm not sure if it's a case of these tensions literally translating into the music, as in 'the band couldn't write as beautiful and harmonically coherent music when their personalities weren't in harmony', or if it's more of a placebo thing (knowing the context behind the album, one can't listen to it without thinking of all the drama and in-fighting, which makes the listening experience more upsetting). Either way, Let It Be is an album where the sum of its parts isn't as great as the individual parts, but dammit if those parts aren't worth some heavy recognition all the same.
9. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
This charming work from the height of Beatlemania hits a sweet spot - the boys had grown as songwriters and instrumentalists after the first two albums, but they weren't yet tired of doing the same thing as would be evident on the fourth album. A Hard Day's Night was also the first Beatles album to consist entirely of original compositions, proving that there was less need for covers in the mix now that the group had really found their own voice.
While no song on A Hard Day's Night is a 10/10 world-changing masterpiece, the overall level is very solid and there are some certified bangers, like Can't Buy Me Love, If I Fell and obviously the title track with its iconic opening chord. While albums like this don't reach the artistic heights of later Beatles, it's still a very charming and endearing listen and quite the collection of tunes in its own right.
8. Revolver (1966)
Now, I know that many Beatles fans would place Revolver much, much higher. While it is a severely important album and many of the songs are undeniably awesome, there's just something that prevents it from being among my top tier favorites.
I think it has to do with its position as a bridge between the simpler, early material of the Beatles and the experimental and psychedelic later phase - sure, this is often seen as Revolver's strongest suit, but for me, it makes the listening experience feel a bit emptier than many other Beatles albums. Due to the more experimental direction, there isn't as much fun charm as in the earlier albums, but due to that journey still being in the making, the experimental stuff isn't as genius and otherworldly as it would get to be in subsequent albums - so, while Revolver is sort of a 'best of both worlds' album, it also is a bit 'worst of both worlds', not hitting any of the band's strengths completely.
That said, it's still remarkable enough to make it ahead of Let It Be and A Hard Day's Night in my ranking, which is no small feat. Like I said, the album's importance in the band's development is not lost on me, and individual songs like Eleanor Rigby, Tomorrow Never Knows and Here, There and Everywhere are unforgettable pieces of music.
7. Please Please Me (1963)
I'm also aware that many Beatles fans wouldn't put the debut album quite this high on their lists. While I recognize that the band was still a work in progress at this point, I can't help but greatly enjoy Please Please Me in its own right as a simple (by Beatles standards) and lovable debut work, full of charm and energy and just a generally good time. Tracks like I Saw Her Standing There and the Twist and Shout cover are rock n' roll heritage, while tunes like Ask Me Why and Please Please Me are just heart-meltingly sweet. The perfect listen for a chill Saturday morning.
6. Rubber Soul (1965)
The group's sixth studio album comes from the folksy mid-60's era of the Beatles, as the simple conventions of Beatlemania had been moved on from and there was taste for experimentation in the air, but the really escalating rabbit hole of experimentation starting with Revolver hadn't begun just yet. This makes for a bunch of songs that have more substance and more complexity than most songs from the earliest albums, while still maintaining a heavy dose of the magic of the young and fresh Beatles.
Rubber Soul is more or less one of those albums where the sum of its parts is far greater than the parts as individuals - I've seen many fans put this album in their top 3 or even as their #1 favorite, yet tracks from it are hardly ever in anyone's top 10 favorite Beatles songs. However, the overall quality of songs in this wonderful tapestry is so high that even when none of its tracks are among the band's very highest tier, they still make for some killer music - the banger value of Drive My Car, the exotic atmosphere of Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) and the delicious amiability of Michelle, just to name a few.
5. Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
ROLL UP! ROLL UP FOR THE MYSTERY TOUR! ROLL UP! ROLL UP FOR THE MYSTERY TOUR!
Magical Mystery Tour might be one of the least thematically stand-out Beatles albums, as the overall style and atmosphere is very "let's just do Sgt. Pepper's again". But that doesn't matter, because the amount of great songs is downright insane.
You've got the anthemic and deeply underrated title track, the catchy banger Hello, Goodbye, the deep-down-the-rabbit-hole psychedelia of I Am the Walrus, the artistic majesty of Strawberry Fields Forever and the evergreen beauty of Penny Lane, all on the same record. Seriously, looking at the track list, one might mistake this for a 'Best of' compilation album instead of a studio album.
And then there's All You Need Is Love, the unbridled masterpiece that takes the spot as my #1 favorite Beatles song of all time, in addition to being in my top 10 favorite rock songs of all time. So there's that.
4. The Beatles (1968)
The Beatles, also known as The White Album, really has no right to work as well as it does. By 1968, the Fab Four had grown as artists to a point where all four had their own artistic visions, which were wildly different from each other, and the band's titular studio album is without a doubt their least coherent, most convoluted album. Featuring off-the-wall madness ranging from Paul McCartney's old-timey 'granny music' and Ringo Starr's sweet and simple songwriting all the way to George Harrison's obscure artistics and John Lennon & Yoko Ono's deep-end experimentation, while songs range from hilarious comedy music to dead-serious ballads and from radio-friendly easy listening all the way to the song that gave birth to heavy metal, the White Album should, by all rights, be an absolute mess.
And you know what? It is a mess. In the most glorious way.
Somehow it just doesn't matter that it's four wildly different albums rolled into one. Many albums work because of their thematic consistency, but this one finds a way to turn its utter lack of theme into a positive force: the songs just keep on coming, and you have no idea of knowing what this crazy album is going to do next, as it just keeps on surprising you. Featuring rock n' roll classics like Back in the U.S.S.R., touching ballads like Blackbird, progressive masterstrokes like Happiness Is a Warm Gun, sing-along fun-time songs like Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da and whatever the f**k Piggies is, this is a treasure chest that just keeps on giving.
And how fitting it is that the album's ending turns the escalation to a maximum: the penultimate track is the avant-garde soundscape Revolution 9, which continues to divide opinions and spark debates to this day, and after that, we end things in the most appropriate fashion imaginable: Good Night, a lullaby with my man Ringo on lead vocals.
3. Help! (1965)
Ah, right in the sweet spot for my inner folk rock enthusiast. The very next album to be released after my least-favorite instalment Beatles for Sale, this one succeeds for the same reason that that one doesn't: here the group was given the creative freedom to show how they've grown, and boy, does it show. While the band was still young and charming enough to have plenty of the early magic in the mix, the songwriting and arrangements are quite simply loads better than in previous works.
Help! is also a great album in the exact opposite way as the White Album: with this one, it's a tight-knit grouping of stylistically coherent songs, which works extremely well as a whole. It's also just one of the most delightful and ear-pleasing albums to listen to, with the sweet harmonies, touching melodies and chord progressions just being a delicious treat throughout the whole thing. Also, when the same album contains the all-time great love song I've Just Seen a Face, the downright sacred title track Help! and the universally recognized beauty and iconic status of Yesterday, that album deserves some serious praise.
2. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
For a long time, I considered Sgt. Pepper's to be the group's greatest album, as do many others (fellow prog rock enthusiasts in particular, as this experimental masterpiece had quite a major role in the birth and shaping of said genre). While a certain individual (which we'll get to in a minute) barely ousted Sgt. Pepper's in my view a few years ago, it was a difficult idea to come to terms with - with pretty much any other band, an album of this level would be a no-brainer for the #1 spot.
I distinctly remember listening to the whole thing through for the first time, as I was lucky enough to experience this in old-school vinyl format at a friend's house. Concept albums were a fairly new thing for the 14-year-old edition of Veikko Hoffman, so it pretty much blew my mind how the songs transitioned into one another, upholding the psychedelic and otherworldly atmosphere throughout the whole thing. It's the title track, until suddenly it's With a Little Help from my Friends, and then it's Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds all of the sudden, and the album just keeps on giving.
And of course it ends with A Day in the Life, one of the most larger-than-life and artistic pieces of music I've ever come across. I still get goosebumps every time the ending of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) morphs into that iconic guitar strum and the accompanying piano chords.
So, how is an album this great not at first place? Well, I've got two words for you, and those words are...
1. Abbey Road (1969)
I always loved this album, but it was just a few years ago when I had the realization that I like it even more than Sgt. Pepper's. I take my rankings seriously, and I had grown so accustomed to Sgt. Pepper's being my #1 favorite, that this lead to somewhat of a crisis - I had to consult my girlfriend at the time (very much a Beatles enthusiast herself), and my favorite university professor (arguably the leading Beatles expert in the Nordic countries, who did his disseration on the Beatles and who inspired me to do my bachelor's thesis about the use of Beatles music in music education) about this dilemma. Finally, the truth had to be accepted - as heartbreaking as it was to move Sgt. Pepper's down a slot, the fact is that the place in my heart for Abbey Road looms even larger.
While there are many reasons for this and I could easily write a 10-page essay on the levels on which Abbey Road works, there is one idea that really sums it all up: this is the one studio album I can think of where every type of good music can be found. I'm not talking about genres, but rather ideas: when you think about different ways in which a song can be good, different reasons why we enjoy music - they can all be found on Abbey Road.
You've got the spirit-lifting feel-good music in Here Comes the Sun, the out-of-the-box artistic expression in Because, the impressive showcase of the performers' musical skill in Oh! Darling, the emotionally powerful ballad in Something, the cool and entertaining rock n' roll atmosphere in Come Together, the easy-listening chill music in Octopus's Garden, the creative and wild songwriting in You Never Give Me Your Money, and the Shakespearean large-scale anthem in The End. All of that. On the same album. Christ.
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I continue Music Month II with a ranking of my top 10 favorite classical composers.
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