Which solo Beatles albums are better than actual Beatles albums?

Wouldn't work for me, not a fan of the "Double Fantasy" era stuff.

 

Calico Skies is easily as good as Eight Days A Week.

If we’re going based on spins I listen to Ram more than every Beatles album ever made.

This list is in fact incorrect, because both Ram and BOTR are rated higher than AHDN and Help!

 

This is based on a weighted formula. You'll notice that AHDN and Help! are listed higher on RYM's chart of the top albums of all time.

 

Yes due to having more ratings. Which is a shame by the way. But the average rating is much better.

 

Settled artists the former Beatles had become?! Settled how? Lennon wasn't settled with the music he was doing, the man was baring his soul! McCartney sure wasn't settled experimenting and starting to put a band together from scratch! Settled, just don't see it musically or any other way!

Magic gone after the White album?

McCartney's solo material is not pure pop, there are pop elements!

That's the misconception and nonsense that some are brainwashed by!

You have to be deaf or in denial to miss the elements of folk, country, r&b, funk, hard rock, jazz, even the experimental that is throughout the man's music.

 

You are correct that more ratings carries more weight.

Here is a complete ranked list using the raw ratings:

1. 4.29 The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)
2. 4.27 The Beatles - Revolver (1966)
3. 4.18 The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
4. 4.17 The Beatles - The Beatles [White Album] (1968)
5. 4.10 The Beatles - Rubber Soul (1965)
6. 4.09 The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
7. 4.06 George Harrison - All Things Must Pass (1970)
8. 3.98 John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band (1970)
9. 3.94 Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram (1971)
10. 3.89 Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run (1973)
11. 3.79 John Lennon - Imagine (1971)
12. 3.77 The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night (1964)
13. 3.76 The Beatles - Help! (1965)
14. 3.72 Paul McCartney - Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005)
15. 3.70 Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1 (1988)
16. 3.68 George Harrison - Brainwashed (2002)
17. 3.67 The Beatles - Let It Be (1970)
18. 3.64 Paul McCartney - Flaming Pie (1997)
19. 3.61 Wings - Venus and Mars (1975)
20. 3.61 George Harrison - Living in the Material World (1973)
21. 3.58 George Harrison - Cloud Nine (1987)
22. 3.52 John Lennon - Walls and Bridges (1974)
23. 3.51 Paul McCartney - McCartney (1970)
24. 3.51 Ringo Starr - Ringo (1973)
25. 3.48 George Harrison - George Harrison (1979)
26. 3.46 The Beatles - Please Please Me (1963)
27. 3.46 Paul McCartney - Tug of War (1982)
28. 3.46 The Fireman - Electric Arguments (2008)
29. 3.45 Ringo Starr - Time Takes Time (1992)
30. 3.44 John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Double Fantasy (1980)
31. 3.43 The Beatles - With The Beatles (1963)
32. 3.40 Paul McCartney - New (2013)
33. 3.40 Paul McCartney - Flowers in the Dirt (1989)
34. 3.39 The Beatles - Beatles for Sale (1964)
35. 3.38 John Lennon - Mind Games (1973)
36. 3.38 Wings - London Town (1978)
37. 3.36 George Harrison - Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976)
38. 3.35 Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full (2007)
39. 3.33 Paul McCartney - Driving Rain (2001)
40. 3.32 Wings - Back to the Egg (1979)
41. 3.32 Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 3 (1990)
42. 3.31 Paul McCartney - Run Devil Run (1999)
43. 3.29 Paul McCartney & Wings - Red Rose Speedway (1973)
44. 3.27 Ringo Starr - Choose Love (2005)
45. 3.25 Ringo Starr - Ringo Rama (2003)
46. 3.24 The Fireman - Rushes (1998)
47. 3.22 Ringo Starr - Vertical Man (1998)
48. 3.19 Paul McCartney - Off the Ground (1993)
49. 3.19 Ringo Starr - Goodnight Vienna (1974)
50. 3.18 George Harrison - Extra Texture (Read All About It) (1975)
51. 3.17 John Lennon - Rock 'n' Roll (1975)
52. 3.17 Wings - Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976)
53. 3.17 Paul McCartney - Working Classical (1999)
54. 3.16 George Harrison - Dark Horse (1974)
55. 3.15 Paul McCartney - McCartney II (1980)
56. 3.15 Paul McCartney - Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart) (2006)
57. 3.14 George Harrison - Wonderwall Music (1968)
58. 3.14 Paul McCartney - CHOBA B CCCP (1988)
59. 3.12 Wings - Wild Life (1971)
60. 3.09 Percy "Thrills" Thrillington - Thrillington (1977)
61. 3.08 Ringo - Give More Love (2017)
62. 3.06 John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Milk and Honey (1984)
63. 3.02 The Beatles - Yellow Submarine (1969)
64. 3.01 Ringo Starr - Beaucoups of Blues (1970)
65. 3.01 Michael Salvatori, C Paul Johnson, Martin O'Donnell & Paul McCartney - Destiny (Original Soundtrack) (2014)
66. 3.00 George Harrison - Somewhere in England (1981)
67. 2.97 Paul McCartney - Pipes of Peace (1983)
68. 2.97 Paul McCartney / Carl Aubut - The Family Way: Variations Concertantes Opus 1 (1995)
69. 2.96 Ringo Starr - Liverpool 8 (2008)
70. 2.94 Paul McCatney / The George Martin Orchestra - The Family Way (1967)
71. 2.88 John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant's Memory Plus Invisible Strings - Some Time in New York City (1972)
72. 2.84 Paul McCartney - Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984)
73. 2.82 George Harrison - Gone Troppo (1982)
74. 2.82 Paul McCartney - Standing Stone (1997)
75. 2.80 Paul McCartney - Kisses on the Bottom (2012)
76. 2.79 Ringo - Postcards from Paradise (2015)
77. 2.77 Paul McCartney - Ocean's Kingdom (2011)
78. 2.76 Ringo Starr - Ringo's Rotogravure (1976)
79. 2.75 Paul McCartney - Press to Play (1986)
80. 2.75 Ringo Starr - Y Not (2010)
81. 2.72 Ringo Starr - Stop and Smell the Roses (1981)
82. 2.71 Ringo Starr - Old Wave (1983)
83. 2.70 Paul McCartney - Liverpool Sound Collage (2000)
84. 2.67 Ringo Starr - Ringo 2012 (2012)
85. 2.66 Ringo Starr - Sentimental Journey (1970)
86. 2.66 The Fireman - Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest (1994)
87. 2.56 Ringo Starr - I Wanna Be Santa Claus (1999)
88. 2.52 Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, et al - Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio (1991)
89. 2.46 Ringo Starr - Ringo the 4th (1977)
90. 2.42 Ringo Starr - Bad Boy (1978)
91. 2.35 George Harrison - Electronic Sound (1969)
92. 2.28 Various Artists - Scouse the Mouse (1977)
93. 2.00 John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions (1969)
94. 1.81 John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (1968)
95. 1.52 John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Wedding Album (169)

 

All Things Must Pass, if anything

 

Well, you seem to know your way around the bold italics, don't you?
Soul-bearing or not, I find Lennon's albums musically far less interesting than his songs with the Beatles. And I'm a great Macca-fan, and he had a few brave moves (starting Wings, touring) and sounds (Ram, early lo-fi stuff), but if you compare his first solo-album with the tracks he made for the White Album...I think there's no contest, really.

 

I've always thought that Ram was like sides 5 and 6 of the White Album. Not as perfect, but clearly in the same spirit.

 

Amen. I can't get through Plastic Ono Band. It's a chore. It's way overrated as an album. It can't touch Ram and Band on the Run.

 

Opinions differ!

 

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I've always seen Ram as an extension of the second side of Abbey Road

 

I once saw Abbey Road described as Paul’s greatest solo album, and I think it’s true.

 

Spot on!

 

Take Paul's White Album tracks, lash 'em together in a playlist, and voila! Ram's dad.

 

I don’t know about better, but my favorites are

White Album
Magical Mystery Tour
Plastic Ono Band
RAM

 

Wow. What are you smoking? Can I have some? Sometime is one of the worst albums any Beatle ever made. Press to Play suffers due to its production and some of the songwriting is less than stellar but there’s not one track on that album that equals Across The Universe, Let It Be or even Two of Us or I Me Mine.

 

None.

 

Is the answer "None" ? I see BeaTleBob5 has made a similar reply !

 

I like "Ram" better than any Beatles album.

 

IMHO, everything through Rubber Soul is inconsistent. Some weak covers early on and some schmaltz. Girl on Rubber Soul is awful with Lennon’s heavy breathing. Side one ends weak with the last three songs. Side two has two songs I like (I’m Looking Through You and In My Life).

The idea that every Beatles album is better than every solo album is taking deference to an extreme.

 

Only 8 I can think off that would certainly rank above a number of Beatles albums.

George - All Things Must Pass, Living In The Material World.
Paul - Band On The Run, Ram, Chaos And Creation.
John - Imagine, Walls And Bridges, Plastic Ono Band.
Ringo - none.

I think there are quite a few more I would prefer to listen to over the albums before 'Help' due to covers songs or recording quality.

 

This fake news is getting seriously out of hand

 

Not one single solo album ranks above any of The Beatles studio albums. It isn't even that close for me. There is a great artistic balance to The Beatles which is to varying degrees absent from the solo works. Paul came closest with Band on the Run. Arguably, Imagine, Ram and ATMP are not too far off.

 

The Beatles were a magic, once in many lifetimes chemical reaction. That is why their catalogue is SO good. To try and come even near to that standard by any one of them on their own is almost too much to contemplate. Having said that, a handful of solo records do come near to being almost as good, although never quite achieving it. So, by the law of averages, they all did pretty well in the solo stakes as a whole, given what they had to live up to. It was generally in the earlier solo years when they were still holding the Beatles up as their standard of reference that they produced their best individual work though. Later on, it was only when their previous solo material itself became the quality yardstick to judge themselves against that standards dropped.