CC 2004: The Beatles
- Please Please Me (1963) - ****
- With the Beatles (1963) - ****
- A Hard Day's Night (1964) - *****
- Beatles for Sale (1964) - ***
- Help! (1965) - *****
- Rubber Soul (1965) - *****
- Revolver (1966) - *****
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) - *****
- Magical Mystery Tour (1967) - ****
- The Beatles (The White Album) (1968) - *****
- Yellow Submarine (1969) - **
- Abbey Road (1969) - *****
- Let It Be (1970) - *** 1/2
- 1962-1966 (1973) - *****
- 1967-1970 (1973) - *****
- Past Masters, Vol. 1 (1988) - ****
- Past Masters, Vol. 2 (1988) - *****
- Live at the BBC (1994) - *** 1/2
- Anthology 1 (1995) - ** 1/2
- Anthology 2 (1996) - ***
- Anthology 3 (1996) - ***
- The Beatles 1 (2000) - ****
This is a new entry in an old series I am slowly bringing up to date. I'm calling it Critical Consensus 2004. Several people have requested updates of the older series, and since critical opinions shift, I am revamping the entire system. I am averaging the opinions of several excellent music critics to produce a list of each artist's albums. Rather than using a number system, which was perhaps a bit clunky, I will now be using a five-star system. I've ditched placing the albums in a recommended purchasing order, instead using a more traditional chronological order.
These are not my opinions, although, since I have chosen the critics used (and I'm using many), my taste will perhaps seep through a bit.
Terribly nerdy, I know, but maybe this will help people only now beginning to dabble into certain artists' bodies of work.
Scale:
***** - Masterpiece
**** 1/2 - Classic
**** - Great
*** 1/2 - Good
*** - Above Average
** 1/2 - Average
** - Below Average
* 1/2 - Bad
* - Terrible
1/2 - One of the worst albums ever
Ooooo! I gotta know, who are the critics?
Tallyho
:?)
Personally, I would give Magical Mystery Tour five stars without a sliver of doubt.
Guess the "critics" were overloaded in '67 with the previous watershed album. In a few ways, it's just as good as Sgt. Pepper's:
-More consistent on a songwriting basis
-"The Fool on the Hill" is as beautiful a tune as Paul (ever) wrote with great imagery.
-"I Am the Walrus" and "Strawberry Fields" are as brave and bizarre as the entire previous record
-All the horns on the album add a glossy feel to it that really makes it sound fresh even today or 10 years from now.
-My God I love "Penny Lane"
Well, I do have an odd addiction to Blue Jay Way...
It seems most critics think the album plays like the cobbled collection it is rather than an unified album. Additionally, all the songs you mentioned above are on 1967-1970, so maybe that hurts the album a bit...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I also love "Blue Jay Way", as weel as "Flying".
You are right about the unified album thing.
I don't know why, but I never really dug any compilation by the Beatles (except maybe Past Masters Vol.2), including 'Anthology' and 'One'. Their albums are just so rich and thematic, that I was bored by the hits packages.
Can you even imagine if Magical Mystery Tour was like a side B to Sgt. Pepper's (all one one super-double LP)?
It's a safe bet that imaginary album would be heralded as the best of all time.
Anyhow, back to reality..
Your 'what if' reminds me that one of these days, I need to try to recreate the original planned Sgt. Peppers album that included Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever. I've no idea if it will still play as well, but surely adding those two great songs would be interesting...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Hmm... where were those tracks originally placed? Maybe I'll recreate it myself. My gut tells me that to someone who is by now used to the normal track listing of Sgt. Pepper's, those two tracks would be out of place; however, if I heard it originally intact, it would probably sound fine.