The Beatles were possibly the first music group I was ever introduced to as a kid. My parents played me some of Sgt. Pepper and I was hooked instantly. By sixth grade I began making mix tapes of their tunes (Yes, this was when mix tapes were still a thing), and thanks to the Compleat Beatles documentary I became an expert very quickly. In 1987 my parents bought a CD player (I felt so ahead of the curve), and The Beatles' entire catalog was one of the first available in that format. I devoured their music like crazy and for a couple years they were one of very few bands I listened to (until I discovered metal that is).
Today, along with Metallica, The Beatles are my favorite band in the universe, and when I fire up one of their albums on the ol' iPod it's a ceremonious moment. I tend to listen to their whole catalog front to back, over a period of several days. Yeah I'm a dork. Shut up.
Anyway, here's a list of what are, in my opinion, The Beatles ten greatest albums.
10. A Hard Day's Night
In 1964 The Beatles had conquered both the UK and the US, becoming such pop culture icons they were tapped to star in a feature film. Directed by Richard Lester, A Hard Day's Night starred the Fab Four as themselves, in a "day in the life" kind of story. The band travels by train to an auditorium where they'll perform for a live TV special, and in tow is Paul's troublemaker grandfather who tries to turn everyone against each other. The soundtrack album featured numerous classic early Beatles songs, like the energetic title track, the bittersweet "If I Fell," the instantly catchy "I Should've Known Better," the bluesy "You Can't Do That," and the morose "Things We Said Today." A Hard Day's Night followed up The Beatles' first two pop albums with slightly more mature content and showed a band beginning to temper their signature sound.
9. Help!
After the huge success of A Hard Day's Night, a second Beatles film was inevitable. This time it would be a big-budget James Bond-inspired screwball comedy about a Far-East cult hunting down the band in the hopes of recovering a sacrificial ring mailed to Ringo. The movie featured numerous action-comedy set pieces, plus seven brand new Beatles tunes. The music showed a bit more depth and some instrument variation, and the album boasted probably the first major departure - a somber guitar ballad of Paul's called "Yesterday." Paul was the only Beatle on the recording, and would be accompanied by a string quartet, a first for the band. Other highlights included the mellow waltz of "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," the urgent "The Night Before," and the anxiously bouncy "I've Just Seen a Face." Help! showed the band continuing to expand their musical range on their way to arguably the most creative period in their career.
8. Let It Be
Originally intended as a live concert film entitled Get Back, Let It Be eventually morphed into an album/documentary that showed The Beatles coming apart at the seams. Their interpersonal relationships were in shambles and the live recording sessions were filled with palpable tension. So unpleasant was the experience that the band opted to shelve the album and move on to Abbey Road, as a way to end their career on a high note. As the band dissolved, producer Phil Spector was hired to sort through the dozens of songs and takes, and whittle everything down to a concise record. The result was a solid-if-inconsistent album that would serve as the band's denouement. Side 1 is full of good-to-great songs, like John's strangely lyriced "Dig a Pony" and his existential ballad "Across the Universe," and Paul's iconic piano-driven title track. Inexplicably Spector also included a one-minute snippet of "Dig It," a ponderous go-nowhere jam, and their brief take on the traditional ditty "Maggie Mae." Side two's highlights were both contributions from Paul; the optimistic "I've Got a Feeling," and the energetic "Get Back." Despite Spector's orchestral embellishments on songs like "The Long and Winding Road," Let It Be features a stripped-down, intimately live snapshot of The Beatles at their lowest point. Yet even as the band crumbled they managed to churn out some undeniably great songs and cement their legacy as a transcendent rock group.