Any Beatles Album you were disappointed in ?

Revolver. Such a letdown after Rubber Soul. Except for Tomorrow Never Knows.

 

When I was in my early teens I had read so much about Sgt Peppers - greatest album, changed the nature of pop music, pop as art, etc etc. When I finally borrowed a cassette copy from my local library I was a little disappointed. The songs didn't seem to hang together particularly well. My opinion on this hasn't really changed. I loved A Day in the Life though. Even as a spotty 13 year old I could see it was pretty special.

 

Never Once. Ever.

 

What's the running time ?

 

Let It Be still does little for me. Its not bad, but I think The Beatles were capable of so much more.

 

This is a great album and definitely better than what The Beatles would have come up with by that time.

 

Naked ?
Keep your clothes on.

 

Yes! I was gonna post this. What a rip off!

 

TBH, I don't really care about the original intention. It's obvious that neither the original Let It Be, nor Naked is what the Beatles originally intended. By the time the material got to Spector, they'd given up on it.

I'm only talking about how I felt when I originally heard the album. I was a new Beatles fan and was binge listening their discography and I loved every album until I got to Let It Be, which was a letdown for me. Looking back I judged the album harshly. I think I had high expectations. I also got stuck on a couple of songs that I really disliked, mostly TLAWR, which I really, really hated.

Naked was a revelation, because I expected to dislike it and I didn't. Especially, TLAWR, which I absolutely loved. So, I went back and listened to the original LIB and realised, I liked most of it. I listen to both versions often, now.

 

Abbey Road - it felt sterile and overcooked to me - the band feeling was gone. I still think Abbey Road and Sgt Pepper are their worst albums because it doesn't sound like a bunch of guys in a room playing together.

 

Let It Be just sounds sad to me>


sean

 

Sadder still was that 3/4 of the band had Phil Spector put the finishing touches on it, but according to Paul McCartney those finishing touches were like too much icing on the cake...

~Ben

 

Thanks, I was afraid to post Revolver until I read this. Whatever its merits at the time, I don't play it much today.

 

The thing is, when people heard it back in 1967 they were not expecting to hear the record that would come to top all those surveys of "best album of all times".

It is very difficult for any record to meet such expectations.

 

In my case, hearing both the Hamburg live tapes and the Decca tapes were major disappointments at the time.

In the case of the Hamburg tapes, of course, there was the issue of the lousy sound quality -- I don't think I had ever given a thought to the issue before.

But, more importantly, all I heard in those tapes was an average band playing "oldies." I was possibly 15 or 16 and the Beatles had suddenly turned into human beings for the first time....

 

Very interesting point.

As times goes by, the cultural significance of "Sgt. Pepper's..." diminishes and the impact of the innovative arrangements and sounds washes down, we are left just with the songs. And there are many good songs in that record, but possibly not as many as in "Rubber Soul" or "Revolver"

 

I agree with you and also think that "Lucy..." and, especially, "A Day in the Life" are the high points in Pepper's. It has many other good songs, but those two are probably the undisputable classics.

However, the record has a "mood" of its own and that makes it different from other, possibly better records, if judged purpely on a song-by-song basis.

People who don't get in that "mood" will never find the record so appealing.

I think that "Pet Sounds" or "Dark Side of the Moon" are other examples of records which have a particular "mood" that defines them and goes beyond the individual merits of its songs.

 

Richie Cunningham Presents the beatles 8 days a week.
I was hoping for something with the Quarrymen church fete tape, Paul's Cavern reel, Cavern SOG/KC acetate, Star Club in full from that great sounding auction tape from a year or so back, the 63 uk desk tape etc... or even excerpts from those.
I can't weave a shark jump joke in I'm so disappointed. At least they put a photo from the Hollywood Bowl on the cover.
Oh.
Aspects of Anthology 1-3 are also deeply disappointing and short sighted.
None of the original albums were disappointing for me apart from YS because it only had 4 new tracks.

 

Eight Happy Days A Week

 

I never really warmed up to Rubber Soul, for some reason.

 

My feelings exactly. And just imagine if the UK Revolver had Paperback Writer and Rain instead of Dr. Robert and Yellow Submarine. That would be the greatest album ever by anyone. Of course it might be, anyway.

 

The MFSL pressing of Magical Mystery Tour. Premium price for the same fake stereo as stock pressing combined with no booklet(!)

 

"Baby's in Black" is great and I also consider "Every Little Thing" as filler. But it's pretty decent filler. It would have been a single for a band like, say, Hollies or Herman's Hermits.

 

Pepper: so much overated it is ridiculous!

 

When I was first hearing the studio albums in 1994/1995/1996 I remember being really disappointed with Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine compared with the rest.