~The Beatles Albums~

This page will cover The Beatles' main discography of albums, from Please Please Me to Let It Be. For the American albums, click here! (havent made it yet)

PLEASE PLEASE ME

Release Date: March 22, 1963

Please Please Me was rushed to release due to the success of The Beatles' single of the same name, which hit Number 1 on almost every chart. The album contains both a mix of Lennon-McCartney originals and covers! Fun fact: 10 of the 14 songs on the album were all recorded in a single day! That's hard to believe for me. John claims his voice was completely destroyed after that day, which I don't blame him! His performance on Twist and Shout is amazing to listen to, but was probably Hell for his voice LOL. The cover of the album was taken at the then EMI Limited Headquarters at 20 Manchester End, in London's West End. Another fun fact: Please Please Me wasn't released in America until 1987! Some of the early American compilation albums have songs from this album, though.

My Favorite Songs From This Album: I Saw Her Standing There, Please Please Me, Do You Want to Know a Secret

WITH THE BEATLES

Release Date: November 22, 1963

Exactly 7 months after their first album's release, The Beatles released their second album. Most know this date as the day JFK got assasinated. But before that even happened, With The Beatles came out. Fun fact: George Harrison's songwriting debut is on this album, the song Don't Bother Me. This album continues the theme of mixing originals with covers, in my opinion some of The Beatles' best covers are on this album. While their previous album was basically done within a day, With The Beatles took longer due to them recording inbetween all the other band stuff they were doing. Around this album's release was when the term 'Beatlemania' was first starting to be used. None of the tracks were released as singles, but despite that it pushed Please Please Me to the Number 2 spot as it took over the Number 1 spot. Same with Please Please Me, the album wasn't released in America until 1987. However, the cover for the album was used for their American debut album- Meet The Beatles!

My Favorite Songs From This Album: It Won't Be Long, Don't Bother Me, Please Mr. Postman, Roll Over Beethoven, Devil In Her Heart

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

Release Date: July 10, 1964

Now this is one of my FAVORITE Beatles albums! In my Top 5 for sure. A Hard Day's Night was released to accompany the cinema release of their first movie of the same name. Yeah, if you didn't know they did movies, THEY HAVE FIVE. One is technically a documentary, but whatever. ANYWAY! Fun fact: This is the first Beatles album to feature songs purely written by Lennon-McCartney! Around this time, their music was spreading around the world very quickly. In the first week of April, 1964, they held ALL FIVE top spots on the Billboard chart in America! This was a busy ass year for them. Along with recording the movie and music for A Hard Day's Night, they also filmed a tv special, played a couple shows in the UK before going on a month-long tour that visited multiple areas: Denmark, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. A busy year to have in the first six months. They returned in July to attend the premier of their movie! Quote from George Harrison, taken from The Beatles' website: "If you look at our itinerary some of those years where we did maybe a tour of England, a tour of Europe, a tour of America, two albums and about four EPs, and three singles, and made a movie all in the same year - you think, 'Oh Jesus, how did we do that?'"

My Favorite Songs From This Album: A Hard Day's Night, I'm Happy Just To Dance With You, Can't Buy Me Love, If I Fell

BEATLES FOR SALE

Release Date: December 4, 1964

Beatles For Sale was recorded in a 7 day period that was split between dates in August and October. This album reverted back to the 1963 formula of doing half originals and half covers, which makes sense considering they were incredibly busy around this time with both UK, US and Canadian tours, and radio and TV apperances. They were busy bees! No songs from the album were released as singles, but The Beatles' released two songs to supplement that- I Feel Fine and She's A Woman. The album stayed in the Top Twenty for 46 weeks. Once again, Beatles For Sale wasn't released in the US until 1987. However, like With The Beatles, songs from Beatles For Sale were used on an American release. Fun fact: The cover songs featured on this album include a lot of songs The Beatles used to play during their days at the Cavern Club!

My Favorite Songs From This Album: Baby's In Black, Eight Days A Week, I'm A Loser

HELP!

Release Date: August 6, 1965

Help! is both The Beatles' fifth album and the soundtrack for their second movie of the same name. Help! is my favorite Beatles movie because the first time I watched it was with a friend who was also into The Beatles, and this is also my second favorite Beatles album. Fun fact: They were so goddamn stoned during the making of the Help! film. At the tail end of 1964, The Beatles discovered the ~MAGICAL WORLD OF MARIJUANNA~ and their music was never the same going forward in my opinion. Another fun fact: the song Yesterday was originally called Scrambled Eggs. Yummy! The album contains mostly original songs aside from two covers, George also returned as a songwriter on this album, writing TWO songs, one on each side of the album! Scrambled Eggs.. all my troubles seem so far away...

My Favorite Songs From This Album: Ticket To Ride, You Like Me Too Much, Help!, Act Naturally, Yesterday

RUBBER SOUL

Release Date: December 3, 1965

Let's start this off with a quote from Ringo, taken from The Beatles' website; "Our whole attitude was changing - we'd grown up a little. I think grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers." This is the start of what I like to call "The Druggles Era". Pot (and LSD a little later on) became a huge factor in The Beatles' creative process, and Rubber Soul really shows the beginning. This album starts with the track Drive My Car, and boy does the tracklist feel like a ride. Before this album released, they did quite a bit, undertaking a tour of The US and Canada. This year was the year of their famous Shea Stadium performance. Also, they released the singles We Can Work It Out and Day Tripper in October, which are two of my FAVORITE Beatles songs. This album also featured the first appearance of the sitar, an instrument George was very interested in. He began to gain an interest in Indian culture around this time. The album cover's distorted angle was actually an accident while being projected, but I think it gives the album a lot of character. Fun fact: This is the first Beatles album to not have their name on the front of the record sleeve.

My Favorite Songs From This Album: Nowhere Man, Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), Michelle, Girl, In My Life, Think For Yourself

REVOLVER

Release Date: August 5 1966

OOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHGHGHJ REVOLVER IS MY FAVORITE BEATLES ALBUM I LOVE IT SO FUCKING MUCH. Before this they had embarked on what was to be their final UK tour, then returned for a few month break for studio time. Revolver marked a radical shift for both The Beatles AND the rock n roll scene in general. With a longer time in the studio, the band was able to experiment and come up with new creative ideas that made Revolver an absolute BANGER. George wrote three songs on this album and coincidentally, theyre all fucking bangers. The album even OPENS with his song Taxman. Yellow Submarine is also on this album, and everyone knows Yellow Submarine. God Bless Ringo Starr. The album cover is the work of Klaus Voormann, who The Beatles had known since the Hamburg days. This album uses techniques that weren't even heard of at the time, for example: Tomorrow Never Knows' reverse guitar solo. There's also more sitar on this album which fits the vibe VERY well. This is the perfect album to get high to, LOL. Fun fact: Paul wrote Got To Get You Into My Life about weed.

My Favorite Songs From This Album: I'm gonna be so honest, I love all the songs on this album. It's one of those albums where if I hear one song, I have to listen to the full thing. Like I said, it's my favorite Beatles album XD

SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND

Release Date: June 1, 1967

Whenever I ask people who aren't super into The Beatles like I am which album they think of when I bring them up, usually it's Sgt Pepper. Along with Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of The Beatles' most iconic albums. Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever were to be on the album, but this was scrapped when they were released as a single. Sgt Pepper is often considered the soundtrack to the Summer Of Love, which I totally agree with. Before starting recording for Sgt Pepper, The Beatles embarked on their final tour. Now fully dedicated to being a studio band, they could really fuck around with things. They spent over 400 hours in the studio while recording this album. And with no need to worry about replicating things in front of a live audience, they really turned things up to the max. The Beatles encouraged producer George Martin to pull of the impossible- and it was truly impressive considering they were still using 4 track recording equipment. The cover for Sgt Pepper's features The Beatles in their iconic colorful suits, behind an array of flowers and a drum, and in front of a collection of pop culture and history icons. The cover for this album completely changed the way album covers were produced from then on out. Fun fact: The BBC banned A Day In The Life, due to the usage of the lyric "I'd love to turn you on". Paul has self admitted that they were intentionally trying to be edgy with this lyric. Despite this, the album spent 27 weeks at the top spot of the charts, and stays on the charts in general for 148 weeks. A quote from Paul from The Beatles' website: "I made a suggestion. I said, 'We need to get away from ourselves - how about if we just become sort of an alter ego band?'" Another fun fact: The name Sgt Pepper comes from Paul mishearing "Salt and pepper".

My Favorite Songs From This Album: With a Little Help From My Friends, A Day In The Life, Within You, Without You, Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!, When I'm Sixty-Four, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

Release Date: November 27, 1967

Before I talk about Magical Mystery Tour, I do want to bring up the death of Brian Epstein. It impacted The Beatles greatly, and is rumored to be a factor to their eventual breakup. I don't know if I agree with that, but I wanted to mention it. RIP Brian Epstein. Anyways, Magical Mystery Tour... I'm Gonna be so real... the magical mystery tour movie sucks ass. SORRY TO ALL THE MMT FANS, BUT GOD DOES THAT MOVIE DRAG ON. BOOTYCHEEKS, ABSOLUTE BOOTYCHEEKS. Just my own opinion. I do love how stoned Paul looks during The Fool on The Hill segment. I love the album tho, some of my favorite Beatles songs are on this album. Anyways. Even before Sgt Pepper hit the shops, the band had begun to devise a plan for a new movie, the title track had even been worked on. Fun fact: "Roll up" in the chorus for the title song is a slight reference to rolling a joint. This movie came in the form of a television film released on the BBC at Christmas time. For the UK release, the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack was released on two seven inch discs in an EP format and a booklet, telling the story of the movie. In the US, they did NOT like the idea of the two discs so made it a regular double sided album instead. Along with the soundtrack songs, they took other singles The Beatles had released in 1967 to finish the other side of the album. Another fun fact: Magical Mystery Tour joined the core list of Beatles albums after their catalog was issued on CD in 1987.

My Favorite Songs From This Album: Blue Jay Way, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields Forever, I Am The Walrus, Your Mother Should Know, Baby, You're a Rich Man

THE BEATLES (a.k.a THE WHITE ALBUM)

Release Date: November 22, 1968

Number nine, number nine, number nine-

It only took 5 years for The Beatles to release a self titled album. That's right, The Beatles released...YOU GUESSED IT, THE BEATLES!!! The Beatles is an album by The Beatles, released by The Beatles in 1968. It's better known as The White Album, so let's just call it that. After recording the single Lady Madonna, The Beatles took their famous trip to India. Oh, Ringo and your bean suitcase, how I love you. During their time in India, they wrote a buuuunch of music. Once they returned, recording started at the end of May. They were pretty much constantly in the studio up until October. The album was released with two disks, the longest album in The Beatles' core discography. Fun fact: This was their first album to be released under their new Apple label, the switch being made during the release of Hey Jude. Remember how I said Rubber Soul was like a car ride all around while you listen to the album? For me, the White Album is like a bullet train. We start the album with the jets and jazzy guitar of Back In The U.S.S.R., to John's ramblings in Glass Onion, fucking Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS OOOOOOOOOOOUGH, John's surreal performance of Happiness Is A Warm Gun, Blackbird, Julia, Good Night, GOD I COULD KEEP GOING. Some of the songs on the White Album are skips for me, but listening to the album in full is an experience I recommend everyone partake in at least once.

My Favorite Songs From This Album: Happiness Is A Warm Gun, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Revolution 9, Yer Blues, Savoy Truffle, Rocky Raccoon, Glass Onion

YELLOW SUBMARINE

Release Date: January 17, 1969

Personal fun fact: This album was released on my Dad's 4th birthday!! Yellow Submarine is the soundtrack to the movie of the same name, The Beatles' fourth movie to be exact. It was an animated film, and I personally hold it close to my heart. The original LP release contained Beatles tracks on one side, and the orchestral score by George Martin on the other side. Despite not being intended as a high profile release, it gained the Number 2 spot in the US charts and Number 3 spot in the UK charts. Yellow Submarine, the movie, features the animated Beatles members adventuring in, you guessed it, A YELLOW SUBMARINE! THEY ALL LIVE IN A YELLOW SUBMARINE! YEAHAHAHAH!!! There's also blue meanies and shit. I haven't watched the movie in a while. This is my personal least favorite Beatles album due to how often All Together Now gets stuck in my head. All together now, all together now, all together now, all togETHER NOW-

Quote from John from The Beatles' site: "I want you to get out of your seats and swim." (ok mr lennon glubglublgublgublgluub)

My Favorite Songs From This Album: Hey Bulldog, i suppose Yellow Submarine counts since its on this one, Only A Northern Song

ABBEY ROAD

Release Date:September 26, 1969

Abbey Road was the last Beatles album to be recorded, but not the last to be released. The songs for both Abbey Road and Let It Be were