Which do you prefer - *Early* Beatles or *Late* Beatles (red/blue timeline)

Cast your vote here.

I know a poll like this was done previously, but I'd like to shake it up a bit by following the "Red album (1962-1966)" and "Blue album (1967-1970)" path. Revolver may tip the scale for some and spice up the poll a bit.

 

Revolver does tip the scale. That, imo, was the start of a new Beatles. Could even argue that Rubber Soul was the start of that. In any case, I choose late Beatles.

 

Tough one because I prefer the Red LP over the Blue LP, but prefer the later Beatles over the early Beatles LPs (most nights).....

 

Not a tough choice at all, late all the way.

 

Early. Easy. They were conquering the world, making films, touring. They had to make the breakthrough, they had to be something very special. Later years, on top of the heap, too much filler.

 

65-68

 

True, but one could argue that Revolver is "old" Beatles because it was their last album released when they were touring, not to mention their last album released before the band started growing mustaches.

 

I could accept your opinion here very easily. However, they were still touring after Revolver. It was recorded fairly quickly. At this point George is fully engaged and had three songs on that album. We see him lose interest during the sessions for Sgt. Pepper. They are still very much a band at this time. So I think drawing the line at Pepper to denote the later years is a fine demarcation.

Oh, and I vote early years. This is a fairly recent development. In the past I used to favor the later years.

 

True, very true...

 

I admire their early period the most because it was mainly live in the studio and it sound fantastic. There are significantly fewer good albums that have been made that way.

 

I voted for early Beatles since Rubber Soul & Revolver are included.

 

Early Beatles.

 

It's tough because I love everything from "Rubber Soul" on and also love "A Hard Days Night"

 

Tough call, but Late wins on points. Rubber Soul and Revolver are great albums, but the early period is weighed down by material where they were still learning their craft. If I had to pick a peak era, it would be late '65 to late '67, but there's good stuff to be found throughout their catalog.

 

Very tough. My favorite has always been Abbey Road. And I love Pepper. But I think I'd have to choose 1962-1966 if I could only have one era of Beatles.

 

Both.

Honest!

 

I initially fell in love with the red era Beatles, but the blue Beatles are way cooler. Still, you never forget your first love. Put me down for red.

 

It is a reasonable demarcation, but I'm largely a '65-'68 type, so I abstain.

 

moptops every time.

 

I went with Late Beatles because two of my three favorite Beatles albums (White Album and Abbey Road) are included. A Hard Day's Night is the third of my 3 faves but the early era had a lot of albums (PPM, WTB, BFS and Help) on which only about half of the songs really appeal to me.

The early era singles are stronger and Yellow Submarine and LIB weaken the late era but song for song I prefer post-'66 by a small margin.

 

Despite Red/Blue, I feel more like there's 3 phases of The Beatles.........

Early - through 1965 (Help!)
Middle - "Day Tripper" single/Rubber Soul through the psychedelic albums
Late - The Beatles/Let It Be/Abbey Road

I love it all.

 

I'm very glad this is only an internet poll and not an actual choice I have to make.

 

Late Beatles. Though both periods are excellent.

 

I agree, that's a better demarcation of the band's songwriting and studio prowess. But even with this I would choose the Late era.

 

Difficult. Even though I accept your rationale for the red/blue split, I think a better poll would have been early/mid/late Beatles (pick any two).

In the 3-choice scenario I would have chosen mid+late (to include RubberSoul+Revolver).
In the actual 2-choice scenario I chose late with the pain of excluding RubberSoul+Revolver.


Edit: Just notice that LandHorses made a similar post a few minutes before I posted this. I'm not the only one with this idea!