The Beatles 18 Month Mid-Career Transformation
George Harrison commented in their 1995 Anthology documentary that from his viewpoint the content on the 3 album mid-Beatle period sequence of Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Clubs Band could have been interchangeable. He also clearly felt fondness for this period of their relationships in the recording process. The tension that was to permeate the recording of the upcoming The Beatles (White Album) was in direct contrast with these sessions.
This was a very transformative and productive period beginning with recording Rubber Soul in October 1965 through the completion of recording Sgt. Peppers in March 1967. Roughly 18 months. These 3 albums held the No1 position in the US and UK charts for a combined 27 and 44 weeks respectively.
During these 18 months, the Mop-Top Beatles image slowly slid into history only to unveil their maturing self-awareness of a broader range of deeper subjects and a growing mastery of the studio recording process and its possibilities.
Their decision to abandon live performance and concentrate on producing studio-based masterpieces fell in the middle of this 18 month timeline.
During this time Paul McCartney commented that their songwriting habit became an obsession. They were already a massively prolific songwriting group who would eventually release 189 original songs in 8 years and release a still standing record of 20 No1 hits. Good luck comparing their musical superiority to anyone in any genre in this short number of years.
I’m going to group songs into 4 grade school-based rating categories. Remember, I’m comparing the Beatles vs. the Beatles. I’m a ripe 73 and know first-hand how superior they were compared to other musicians. The ranking is just my opinion.
A — The Best
B — Really Good
C — Good
F — Album Filler
Here’s my ranking of their 18 month output consisting of 44 original songs released on 3 No1 albums and 3 non-album singles containing 3 No1 songs:
· A Rated (The Best) — 17 Songs
o Norwegian Wood
o Nowhere Man…Reached No3
o Michele
o In My Life
o Taxman
o Eleanor Rigby…Reached No11
o Here, There and Everywhere
o For No One
o Got To Get You Into My Life
o Tomorrow Never Knows
o Day Tripper (Single release) …Reached No5
o We Can Work It Out (Single release)…Reached No1
o Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
o She’s Leaving Home
o A Day In The Life
o Strawberry Fields Forever (Single release)…Reached No8
o Penny Lane (Single release)…Reached No1
· B Rated (Really Good) — 11 Songs
o Drive My Car
o Girl
o I’m Looking Through You
o Good Day Sunshine
o Paperback Writer (Single release)…Reached No1
o Rain (Single release)…Reached No23
o Lucy in the he Sky with Diamonds
o Doctor Roberts
o With A Little Help From My Friends
o Getting Better
o When I’m Sixty-Four
o Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
o Baby You’re A Rich Man…Reached No34
· C Rated (Good) — 12 Songs
o Think For Yourself
o I Want To Tell You
o She Said, She Said
o Wait
o Yellow Submarine…Reached No2
o Good Morning, Good Morning
o You Won’t See Me
o Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
o If I Needed Someone
o Within You Without You
o Lovely Rita
o And Your Bird Can Sing
o Fixing A Hole
· F Rated (Album Filler) — 4 Songs
o Run For Your Life
o What Goes On
o Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite
This list of 44 original songs spans numerous genres, breaks new ground in recording engineering techniques, introduces new instrumentation, demonstrates the use of innovative time signature shifts and they produced only 3 album fillers.
The 17 songs on just the A-Rated list would earn any band or performer legendary status and a Hall Of Fame Award in any genre.
This 18 month time period accounts for less than 20% of the Beatles 8 year career but close to 25% of their original song releases.
I know that this article exposes me to many rabid fans who’ll passionately disagree with my ratings. The Baby Boomers that witnessed the Beatle phenomena will never forget how deeply they affected a generation. It’s one of many aspects about this band that will allow them to maintain their standing as the most impactful musicians of all time as I wrote in an article I published which you can read here.
I have many other articles about the Beatles on this site.
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