Tag Archives: The Beatles

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Song of the Day #1,462: ‘Things We Said Today’ – The Beatles

Best Albums of the 60s – #1
A Hard Day’s Night – The Beatles (1964)

Today’s pick is very similar to yesterday’s in that both are early albums by artists who went on to create much more ambitious and ground-breaking work.

A Hard Day’s Night was the third Beatles album but the first to feature exclusively original material. Billed as the soundtrack to the film of the same name, the album featured all of the new songs in the movie plus additional material written for the film but unused in the final cut.

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Song of the Day #1,459: ‘Elanor Rigby’ – The Beatles

Best Albums of the 60s – #4
Revolver – The Beatles (1966)

Revolver feels like the album where The Beatles really became The Beatles, which is odd because it was their seventh record and they released only four proper studio albums after this one.

But this album saw the band pivot from a pop band to psychedelic pioneers — tour guides on a head trip that would last for a decade.

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Song of the Day #1,453: ‘Drive My Car’ – The Beatles

Best Albums of the 60s – #8
Rubber Soul – The Beatles (1965)

Rubber Soul is the album on which The Beatles grew up. The lads who’d smiled through ‘Love Me Do’ and a dozen other simple ditties were now singing about Norwegian wood and nowhere men. Lyrically and musically, they were paving a new path, one from which every rock band for a generation would draw inspiration.

This album also marked the transition from touring band to studio band. The Beatles had performed their last live show — one in which their music could barely be heard over the screams, as usual. From this point on they would dedicate all of their time to recording.

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Song of the Day #1,452: ‘Help!’ – The Beatles

Best Albums of the 60s – #9
Help! – The Beatles (1965)

Help! is kind of the forgotten Beatles album. It’s not their best soundtrack. It’s not even their best album of 1965. It’s a bridge between their more straight-forward early work and the ground-breaking music to come — the classic middle child.

But it’s also a terrific pop-rock album that would be the best thing ever recorded by just about any other band.

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Song of the Day #1,446: ‘Something’ – The Beatles

Best Albums of the 60s – #13
Abbey Road – The Beatles (1969)

The second Beatles album on this list is similar to the first (Sgt. Pepper) in that its reputation and historic importance outweigh the quality of the actual songs.

They also boast the two most famous cover shots in the Beatles catalog (and perhaps in popular music history).

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