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[Joe]

4.  Beatles For Sale: Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and Little Richard--and Smoky Robinson!

Smokey Robinson?

[Revolver42]

John very much on the early albums , Paul more so after Rubber Soul .
But i do think John and Paul were working well on the whole up to and including Sgt. Pepper's , then it went pear shaped or should i say Yoko shaped .

Glad you brought that up, Dave.  Most people, and I stress most, regard the albums from Rubber Soul onward as the best.  You and I agree that Paul was probably the most important during this period, but John always gets more praise.  Always been interesting to me.  

I was just a toddler when John was killed so I have nothing to go by.  However, for you longer fans was it also the feeling pre-1980 that John was looked upon much greater than Paul in the Beatle years?  Thanks!

[DaveRam]

Glad you brought that up, Dave.  Most people, and I stress most, regard the albums from Rubber Soul onward as the best.  You and I agree that Paul was probably the most important during this period, but John always gets more praise.  Always been interesting to me.  

I was just a toddler when John was killed so I have nothing to go by.  However, for you longer fans was it also the feeling pre-1980 that John was looked upon much greater than Paul in the Beatle years?  Thanks!

I think Paul really got into his stride as a songwriter after Rubber Soul and was very much a creative force in music up to the mid 70's , the guy was a hit machine for a good decade with very little help from John  ?
I think John was uninterested in The Beatles after Brian's death and meeting Yoko and although he still wrote some brilliant songs , i feel he lost interest in been a superstar .
His murder kind of hid that fact as we all rushed to make him a saint , the 25 years of grief that followed his death was very difficult for Paul to counter or anybody with a different point of view , but latley i think Paul's contribution to The Beatles and his successful solo career are been recognized .
I'm very much with George Martin when he said he could'nt put a cigarette paper between who was the best between John and Paul , it's the best assessment i've heard of their talent and George should know if anybody ?
I've found all this John and Paul camp sh*te increasingly pointless as the years have gone on .
We should be greatful we had both of them and George and Ringo and put all this nonsense to bed as to who was the best .
The Beatles collectively are the best .


(smile)

[walrus_21]

I think John was a much better interview, and Playboy and Rolling Stone really fawned on him.  To be fair, he was incredibly funny and witty, but could also be very tough on Paul.  Some of it Paul deserved.   And there was a lot of buzz that John was back, with Double Fantasy.  His death was so shocking and moving.  

[JonnyBeatle]

Interesting question and yes it does come down to a John Vs. Paul thing... but that's alright. Hm... I'd have to think on this actually. I'll just pick out one help to try this out on... A Hard Day's Night.

The answer for AHDN has to be Lennon. McCartney wrote "Things We Said Today," "Can't Buy Me Love," & "And I Love Her" which are 3 of my favorite songs on the album. But Lennon was the key songwriter behind the other 10 songs on the album... so 10 vs 3 (even if the 3 are very good) make this a pretty easy decision.

---

As far as the Beatles For Sale discussion, I actually prefer it to the other 2 albums that I find it comparable to (With The Beatles & Please Please Me) ... Really on all 3 of those albums I don't care for the covers much (although I do think PPM's covers are a bit better... mostly because of "Twist & Shout" but I've also always kind of liked "Anna" & "Baby It's You" for some reason) ... I like the originals on Beatles For Sale more. "No Reply," "I'm A Loser," "Baby's In Black," "I'll Follow The Sun," "8 Days A Week," "Every Little Thing," "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party," & "What You're Doing" I think is a pretty great set of originals... I don't even think it's close vs. With The Beatles & Please Please Me. I don't get why so many people put those albums above Beatles For Sale. I think it's a very underrated album (although still worse than all of the other Beatles albums, save Yellow Submarine which I don't really think of as an album.)

[andyec]

1. Please,Please Me John
2. With the Beatles Paul
3. A Hard Day's Night John
4. Beatles for Sale John
5. Help! John
6. Rubber Soul John
7. Revolver Paul
8. Sgt. Pepper's Paul and John
9. The Beatles John
10. Abbey Road George
11. Let It Be Paul

[JonnyBeatle]

This album by album John Vs. Paul idea is the basis for a new series of blog posts... so far Please Please Me & With The Beatles have been done... John is up 2-0 and sure to take a 3-0 lead with A Hard Day's Night.

Check It: http://www.musicbyday.com/john-vs-paul-with-the-beatles-1963/514/

[Revolver42]

Who do I need to contact to collect my royalties?  Just kidding!

[peterbell1]

Interesting thread - a bit more thought-provoking than the usual Lennon vs McCartney ones.

I'd say John on all albums up to and including Revolver, Paul for Pepper, (John on MMT if it was included), John for the White Album, (George Martin for YS), and Paul for Abbey Road and LIB.
They were both so good though that it is a very close-run thing.

Poor George - who would be the star in any other band - doesn't even feature.
As for Ringo, if I had to skip one track every time I listened to a Beatles album, then it would be his every time. Sorry Ringo!

[tkitna]

10. Abbey Road George

You give Abbey Road to George for three freaking songs (and thats me being generous with Octopus's Garden)? Unreal. Think about your answer for a second. I dont care if George's songs are your favorite, he didnt do a quarter of the work on that album that Paul did.

Abbey Road is an obvious Paul album.

[Revolver42]

You give Abbey Road to George for three freaking songs (and thats me being generous with Octopus's Garden)? Unreal. Think about your answer for a second. I dont care if George's songs are your favorite, he didnt do a quarter of the work on that album that Paul did.

Abbey Road is an obvious Paul album.

Ditto.  George's contrubutions are amazing, but just look at the beauty that Paul put in there too.  W/o a doubt Abbey Rd is Paul's.

[JonnyBeatle]

You give Abbey Road to George for three freaking songs (and thats me being generous with Octopus's Garden)? Unreal. Think about your answer for a second. I dont care if George's songs are your favorite, he didnt do a quarter of the work on that album that Paul did.

Abbey Road is an obvious Paul album.

I agree with you. I can understand thinking that "Something" and "Here Comes The Sun" are the highlights of Abbey Road, but even conceding that - there's no way you can choose George over Paul --- Paul not only wrote a good portion of the album's songs and was behind the album's most memorable feature (the second side suite) he also contributed in such huge ways to songs he didn't write... His bass line in "Come Together" is essential.

[Ovi]

Please Please Me - both of them in my opinion (John has more songs, but Paul's I Saw Her Standing There is the best song from the album)
With The Beatles - 1.Paul ,then 2.John.
A Hard Day's Night - though And I Love Her , Can't Buy Me Love and Things We Said Today are the best songs , Jonh did write 10 songs....so 1.John , 2.Paul
Beatles For Sale - definetly John's album ,and Paul comes in second.
Help! - this in my opinion is Paul's album ; I like all of his songs and i find Help! and You've Got To Hide Your Love Away a little overrated . I also hate Dizzy Miss Lizzy, so 1.Paul and 2.John
Rubber Soul - 1.John(for having the best song) and 2.Paul
Revolver - 1.definetly Paul (all his songs are masterpieces on this album) and 2.George/John (I like George's songs more, but John did write more songs...so it's a tie!)
Sgt Pepper's - 1.definetly Paul again , 2.John , though Ringo's song is good,too.
MMT - here you will probably disagree with me but I'm just tired of 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and I never really liked 'All You Need Is Love' , so 1.Paul and 2.John.
White Album - 1.Paul (I do like all of his songs) , 2.John
Abbey Road - 1.of course, Paul (Oh! Darling , You Never GIve Me Your Money and the medley are some of the best things he has ever done) 2.*surprise* Ringo! (why not? he has his first drum solo in The End, the drums in Oh! Darling are amazing and Octopus's Garden is my favourite Ringo song)
Let It Be - 1.Paul (a few great songs!) and 2.George (I love both I Me Mine and For You Blue) (ehh...where is the old John??)