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[daytrip202]

Which Beatles album do you think showcased them best as one group instead of four individuals.  This does not have to be your favorite album, but just the one that you think is both great and shows the Beatles working together at their best.  As always include why you say so.

P.S. single may be included in you reason, so if you choose revolver, Paperback Writer and Rain can be included as Revolver tracks.  Strawberry fields and Penny Lane w/ Sgt. pepper.  Etc.

[tkitna]

I'm going to take a stab and say 'Help!'

They all four collaborated together and they were just starting to break out of their 'poppy' Beatles image. Plus they started smoking pot and the creativity was starting to hit.

[Rowdy]

Help, RS and Revolver.....that period seemed to be when everybody had a nice slice of involvement in the projects...

[Herecomesyoursun]

I'd say RS

[Bruno]

I'd say between AHDN, Help and Rubber Soul.
In Revolver they started to work separately, like Paul with Eleanor Rigby and John with Tomorrow Never Knows

[dr.robert]

a hard days night  and help

[Frightwolf]

Please Please Me.

Their opening album and the one with all the classic Beatles harmonies.  Definitely sounded like a unit at this point.

[number14]

I would say please please me too. This is when lennon and mccartney worked together a lot.


none of their later albums thats for sure.

[Bruno]

I don't see a complete group effort in Please Please Me.
Ringo was a new member and Paul and John didn't give George too much participation in the album.

[Frightwolf]

But that's when they had all the Beatles harmonies with the whole group singing a lot of the songs, and even RINGO sung a song (though it was Boys, he still had a feature).  People are saying Revolver and such, but those show a lot of individual works (Paul's goal must have been to use as little of the Beatles as possible in that album).

I think there's a lot of misconceptions about how the Beatles worked. You need to read Lewisohn's "The Beatles' Recording Sessions" to get a feel for what went on the studio.

You could call the Beatles a "together" group for all albums up to (nut not including) the White Album. That album contains almost all individual efforts, with the Beatles acting as each others' sidemen. Sure there "solo" efforts earlier (such as Yesterday, E Rigby) but those songs had the support of the other three or had a lot of input from them).

People ought to be careful of judging group togetherness from how many lead vocals a Fab had. It's ridiculous to imply Ringo or George played minimal roles on some albums -- hey, the drummer and lead guitarist in a rock-n-roll band not important??!

My feeling is that the pinnacle of the Beatles recording as a totally committed unit WAS during the REVOLVER sessions.

Some replies to individuals:

Bruno: I'd say between AHDN, Help and Rubber Soul.
In Revolver they started to work separately, like Paul with Eleanor Rigby and John with Tomorrow Never Knows E Rigby had huge group input (except for playing). Tomorrow had Paul "playing" the tape loops and Ringo's drumming is tops!

Frighty: Please Please Me. Their opening album and the one with all the classic Beatles harmonies.  Definitely sounded like a unit at this point. They were a unit, yes, but other albums show them definitely more together; Ringo was still new. And ... er... harmonies? All the classic harmonies?? Ahem, all their albums are filled with their harmony singing! That can't be the criterion!

Number 14: I would say please please me too. This is when lennon and mccartney worked together a lot. none of their later albums thats for sure. The Fabs were more than L and McC working together.

Frighty again: But that's (ie PPM) when they had all the Beatles harmonies with the whole group singing a lot of the songs, and even RINGO sung a song (though it was Boys, he still had a feature).  People are saying Revolver and such, but those show a lot of individual works (Paul's goal must have been to use as little of the Beatles as possible in that album). Ringo had a song on almost every album, so that's irrelevant. And that statement about Paul's goal on Revolver is ridiculous.

[Frightwolf]

[quote by=Maria link=Blah.pl?b=albums,m=1090568621,s=11 date=1090651703]Some replies to individuals:
Frighty: Please Please Me. Their opening album and the one with all the classic Beatles harmonies.

My replies to Frighty in bold:

In response to the first point, it can indeed be criterion.

[pc31]

i would venture to say i like the collaberation that went on during a hard days night.this boy is a great triple harmony that is just a joy to watch on the ed sullivan tape.i think they worked harder to please in the beginning but as they grew more familar with the recording facilities i think they began to relax a bit and kinda slip off some of the pressure being stoked upon them earlier.they use to be eager to please everyone at first it seems too.or did i imagine that?

[Frightwolf]

My replies to Maria in bold:

Do you know what harmony singing is? The Beatles' works are FULL of harmony singing -- uh, they're kind-of famous for it. PPM has some harmony singing, yes, but they got MUCH better ... I am in music and play it regularly.

Sure, history dictates that the Fabs conceived the album in the form of the UK version, but who really knows for sure. 

Huh? John Lennon talked about the effort the Beatles themselves put into the amount of songs per album, as well as the sequencing. He said this in the 1974 New York interview he did on WNEW radio (he was on the show for 2 hours and acted as disc jockey too).

[Frightwolf]

Like I said Joe, who really knows for sure? We all the conflicting stories we've gotten from John and Paul.  For example, John claims that Paul helped with the middle-eight section of In My Life, yet Paul claims he conceived the whole thing.

[Herecomesyoursun]

[quote by=Frightwolf link=Blah.pl?b=albums,m=1090568621,s=15 date=1090777364]

Frighty: I won't answer you point by point, because I notice you twist things a little (for example, I didn't say their music was "full of complete harmonies").

But I will say your knowledge of Beatle-lore is very limited. If you know the Beatles as well as you like to make out, how could you - how could you - think All Together Now was a Ringo song? Can you not tell the difference between Paul's voice and Ringo's? Not being able to tell the difference on that matter makes your raving on a higher vocal matter - their harmony singing - a bit empty!