Review Summary: An excellent double album, featuring about 6 classic songs, some novelty songs and filler that is actually quite good.
#10 on
Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time
The Beatles is the second Beatles album I have listened to, and I would be lying if I said I didn't have extremely high expectations of the album. Having only recently listened to
Abbey Road and already being able to call it one of my favorite albums, I decided to go backwards in their discography, passing by
Let it Be at the moment as it hasn't caught my interest from the songs I have heard.
Disc One
Disc 1 has some of the set's best songs, including "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Dear Prudence." One of my only gripes with the first disc is how the best songs are placed so far apart. Between each fantastic songs there are about five or six songs, most of which can be considered filler, that range from good ("Piggies") to annoying ("Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"). Luckily, the variety in the record manages to keep my attention and ultimately, leaves me wanting more. It also closes almost beautifully with "Julia," which took some time to grow on me but is one of my favorites on the disk.
In conclusion, Disc 1 has some commendable songs but leaves me wanting a bit more. If it were the whole album, my rating would probably be lower. Personally, I prefer Disc 2 but it does contain my all-time favorite Beatles song. Even though it's a bit inconsistent, it has some amazing tracks and I believe deserves a
4.1 out of a possible 5 points.
Best Tracks:
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
"Dear Prudence"
"Julia"
Worst Tracks:
"Wild Honey Pie"
"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?"
Disc 2
Coming into Disc 2, "Birthday" is a breath of fresh air, and serves as a better opening track than "Back in the U.S.S.R." did on Disc 1. Paul McCartney has never been my favorite Beatle, but it's safe to say "Birthday" is one of the best tracks of either CD. The next three songs continue the flow it has going and though they don't reach the heights of the first track, they had not reached the lows Disc 1 had by that point. There also seems to be less filler on Disc 2, and the songs that could be considered fillers are interesting and actually quite exceptional, such as "Savoy Truffle."
Disc 2 really fits and flows together better than Disc 1, and the only flaw it really has is the atrocious "Revolution 9," which shouldn't have been included at all. Its counterpart, "Revolution 1" is much better. Though Disc 2 doesn't have as phenomenal of an ending as the first disc, it is more consistent and an enjoyable listen, and yields some truly classic tracks. Its final rating is, for me,
a 4.2 out of 5.
Best Tracks:
"Helter Skelter"
"Revolution 1"
"Birthday"
Worst Track:
"Revolution 9"
Overall, while I don't believe
The Beatles is a classic album by any means, it is an excellent one and undeniably worth a listen from anyone. I reccommend it to those who like variety and music and are fans of the Beatles but haven't heard it yet.
![http://i33.tinypic.com/10p3nl2.jpg[/img]](http://i33.tinypic.com/10p3nl2.jpg[/img]){kind=link}