10 great solo Beatles albums

Some tracks on ATMP are well produced and others are a murky mess. Ironically POB with its minimal production sounds better these days. Minimal but well produced minimal.

 

My top ten:
POB
Ram
Wonderwall Music
ATMP
Imagine
Band on the run
Rushes
Mccartney I and II
Mind Games

 

John Lennon Plastic Ono Band
All things must pass
Ram
Band on the run
Ringo
Tug of war
Flowers in the dirt
Flaming Pie
Brainwashed
Chaos and creation in the backyard

 

Apple Scruffs, for instance, sounds great.
It was produced by George Harrison - not Phil Spector.

 

10 Great? Nope. I like a lot of them, but probably not great.

Band on the Run, because he was really trying.

 

JL/POB
Imagine
Ram
Band on the Run
Electric Arguments
ATMP
Brainwashed
Beaucoups of Blues
Ringo
Time Takes Time

 

My favorite Ringo album is "Vertical Man"

 

All Things Must Pass I have listened to more than all Beatles and solo combined

 

POB
Imagine
Ram
BOTR
Walls & Bridges

 

1. All Things Must Pass
2. Plastic Ono Band
3. Ram
4. Band On The Run
5. McCartney
6. Cloud Nine
7. Imagine
8. Ringo
9. Walls & Bridges
10. Chaos & Creation In The Backyard

Vertical Man would probably come in at 11 for me, followed by Tug Of War.

 

You forgot Venus and Mars.

 

That`s the trouble with threads such as this, our use of the word `great`, where we should use `very good` instead.

 

Interesting to see quite a few lists with Walls & Bridges. It seems to have risen in stature in the past few years or so. Not sure if I'd have it at the same level of greatness as POB but it's not too far off.

 

the first 6 can maybe be called great or very good. I was using the original list link

 

All Things Must Pass
Plastic Ono Band
Band on the Run

 

Plastic Ono Band
All Things Must Pass
Ram
Imagine
Ringo
Living in the Material World
Band on the Run
Walls and Bridges
Tug of War
Cloud Nine

 

I'm not sure I fully agree with that as they have definitely done some really great solo work, but maybe it's possible Revolver needs a better word to describe it like "amazing" or "spectacular". I think when we look at it that way, their solo work CAN be great (sometimes) and Revolver and Pepper can be spectacular musical statements. NOTHING they have done in their solo work is spectacular. The worst offender? John. How do you go from all the heavy lifting you were doing in 64 or 68 to turn in what amounts to a super-mediocre stretch of music between 1970 and 1975. It's SO mediocre (and I'm talking about his entire solo career) I could probably put all the good tracks on one album and call it a day.

What has happened over the years is that each of these guys has been let off the hook pretty often for their musical foibles for the sole fact that they were Beatles at one point. Sure, that's a big deal, but does it excuse Wings Wildlife? Sometime In New York City? Not in my book. Let's call it what it is. Wildlife is horrible on the Beatle scale and why shouldn't we use that scale? Paul was a contributing member to the Beatles, so much so, in fact, that he's half of the writing partnership that put them on the map.

Your point is a really good one for discussion. I've been in the middle of mentally dissecting Paul's solo career with all of these Archive releases and I'm listening to a podcast that goes through each of his albums called "Take It Away". It's great. They are up to Flowers In The Dirt. I think out of the bunch that album makes me the most nuts only because of the potential involved of what "could have been". What we instead got was a mish-mash of an insecure former Beatle that finally had to go on the road and play Beatles songs to get his due respect.

I'm veering off course a bit here, but you get where I'm going. I'll continue to use great for things that I would give a B or B+, leaving some really spectacular Beatles moments that are A or A+ just that, spectacular.

 

Not sure if I can get to ten for great albums.
The classics are....
All things Must Pass
Band On The Run
POB
Second tier would be.....
McCartney
Ram
Ringo
Venus and Mars
Imagine
Material World
Walls and Bridges

 

I like V&M, but for me it’s not top 10.
I assume you have been sarcastic...especially with my inclusion of beucouops of blues
...but, I truly love that album. If I’m pulling a Ringo cd off the shelf to listen to, more than likely it will B of B.
I almost put Wild Life in my top 10. I’d put it ahead of V&M

 

No I’m being serious. I like it much better than Band On The Run.

 

I have a few more great albums on my list, but I limited it down to just ten.

POB
Imagine
Mind Games

RAM
Band On The Run
Tug Of War
Pipes Of Peace

All Things Must Pass
Cloud Nine
Brainwashed

 

Impossible to pick only 10.

 

All Things Must Pass
Brainwashed
Cloud Nine
Ringo
Ringo Rama
Back To The Egg
Ram
Band On The Run
Imagine
Plastic Ono Band

Not specifically listed in any order except first and last two are accurate as to what I would actually want to listen to at any given time.

 

FWIW, this more or less matches what I'd pick as the ten best, though I'd probably substitute in Tug of War for either Cloud 9, Brainwashed or Ringo. I certainly don't judge all of these to be "great", though what constitutes greatness is, of course, very subjective.

However, it's fun and interesting to discuss these things.

 

IMHO these are essential:
All Things Must Pass
Ram
Imagine
Band on The Run
Mind Games
London Town
George Harrison
Flaming Pie
Vertical Man
Electric Arguments

Just outside my Top 10 are:
Wonderwall Music
33 1/3
Red Rose Speedway
JL/POB
Venus & Mars
Ringo Rama
Rushes