Which solo Beatles albums are better than actual Beatles albums?

POB is IMO as top tier as you can get.

 

There is a certain gravitas and emotional depth on the best of the solo material that isn't quite there on most of The Beatles material. As much as I love say the poppiness of Eight Days A Week, a song like Run Of The Mill just packs such an emotional wallop that I find myself preferring it.

 

1) Revolver
2) Abbey Road
3) White Album
4) Sgt Pepper
5) Rubber Soul
6) All Things Must Pass
7) Band on the Run
8) POB
9) Magical Mystery Tour
10) A Hard Day's Night
11) With the Beatles
12) Ram
13) Let It Be
14) Help!
15) Imagine
16) Beatles For Sale
17) Ringo
18) Please Please Me

 

None.

 

I've found that as my musical tastes evolve and shift with the passing of time, I grow much less interested in Lennon's or Harrison's solo output, and more interested in McCartney's. He just seemed to have more passion abut creating music than the others. I believe Lennon lost his passion in the late 60's, but his incredible talent still allowed him to create a handful of gems. Harrison really seemed to tread water after "All Things Must Pass". Even the best of his later work -- "Give Me Love", "Dark Horse", "Crackerbox Palace" -- are just good, not great. To me, this is evidence that they needed Paul much more than he needed them. But that's just my opinion; and why should I speak, since I know nothing?

 

I’ll go against a Sacred Cow of this forum and say:

• Plastic Ono Band
  • Please Please Me
  • With The Beatles
  • A Hard Days Night
  • Beatles For Sale
  • Revolver
  • Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
  • Magical Mystery Tour
  • Yellow Submarine
  • Let It Be
• Imagine
  • With The Beatles
  • Beatles For Sale
  • Revolver
  • Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
  • Magical Mystery Tour
  • Yellow Submarine
  • Let It Be
• All Things Must Pass:
  • Please Please Me
  • Beatles For Sale
  • Revolver
  • Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
  • Magical Mystery Tour
  • Yellow Submarine
  • Let It Be
• Ram
  • Revolver
  • Sgt Pepper
  • Magical Mystery Tour
  • Yellow Submarine
  • Let It Be

 

Question: Which solo Beatles albums are better than actual Beatles albums?
Answer: None

 

POB, Ram, Band On The Run, Tug Of War & Flaming Pie are pretty damn good!!! Better than ANY Beatles album? Don't think so. Better than SOME? For me, yes

 

Me too, but because it would cost more to substitute

 

I think they benefited having Paul contribute to their songs - what would Old Brown Shoe have been without Paul? Likewise Something or Here Comes the Sun?

 

That is exactly how I feel! When I was much younger John was my favorite of The Beatles but like you nowadays I have very little interest in any of his solo work and George Harrison never really caught my attention. I can still put on Tug of War , Band on the Run or Ram and enjoy it as much as ever.

 

Yeah, I think we have a tendency to romanticize Lennon a fair bit when we're younger. And a tendency to poo-poo McCartney. Actually, I had this same discussion with a friend who was down visiting last weekend. He had come to the same conclusion -- independently, I might add. And to paraphrase him, Lennon's solo stuff just ain't that good. Lennon did, I think, approach Beatle-esque heights a few times, most notably with "Gimme Some Truth" and "#9 Dream", but so much of his stuff is just not bad.

 

I became a fan of The Beatles in the mid-80s or late early 80s and as you remember in those days John Lennon's murder was a dramatic thing from recent memory and I think that is why he was put on such a high pedestal when we were first getting into the music. Nowadays his life and death has been so long ago that a big portion of the fans were not even born when it happened and therefore we all look at it in a more balanced light

 

Just saw this article (haven't read it yet) and thought it belonged in one or more threads here, including this one!
Beatles Solo Albums Ranked Worst to Best
Love the picture with the article - it makes me feel sorry for young people wondering what to explore, what a daunting task!

 

none are better than anything they did after Rubber Soul except maybe the White Album ( yellow submarine is excluded as it's only half an album with four new tracks ), only POB, ATMP, Imagine, BOTR & Ringo could even begin to complete imho.

 

Lennon was put on a pedestal AT THE TIME. He was the raw, hip, counter-cultural, cynical, honest, unpredictable one. Those things were valued highly by the rock and roll press and the rock and roll world (remember, Rolling Stone was actually hip in 1970). His bold opening statement (Plastic Ono Band) and political outspokenness gave him street cred. Paul, on the other hand, put out the soft, weak McCartney album. Then Ram, which is a cool album, but loaded with pop songs with and songs with novelty lyrics - 3 Legs, Smile Away, Monkberry Moon Delight, Ram On.... The rock press sneered.

So the reception was based on a bunch of stuff other than the music. In fact, Ram and Plastic Ono Band are both cool, but in very, very different ways. It is hard to imagine Paul and John in the same band when you listen to those two albums. Which was sort of the point of the breakup. And then George was in a whole different place.

 

And I thought Paul and John were too busy raising farm animals:

 

None. And I greatly enjoy many of the solo albums but together they were fab. In my opinion, Ringo is the only one that was better on his own.

 

Solo Beatles is a mixed bag of lighter and heavier music. Even for John. By 1980, it was Double Fantasy. Paul gets accused of light material but whatever gets you through the night...sitting here watching the wheels go round and round.

 

Paul and John balanced each other out. THAT was the point of them being in the same band. Add George and Ringo and you've got yourself a band.

 

In terms of a high quality record John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is there. Imagine and Ram are strong. Tug of War is there. Also All Things Must Pass is great but as someone else mentioned it could be tightened up. More recently McCartney's Memory Almost Full is very strong. That's my two cents.
Aside from that I love Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll but that's more akin to the Beatles cover laden early albums.

 

Opinions differ!

I think absolute dreck like Piggies, Bungalow Bill, Don't Pass Me By, You Know My Name, Mr. Kite, Rev #9, descends as low as any so called valley in their solo material.

I notice many mention their earlier albums as not as good, well I'm just the opposite. I prefer the Beatles early albums over more melancholy albums like Revolver, Rubber Soul, Sgt Pepper etc. When those albums came out I remember thinking what's happened to the Beatles they don't rock anymore?

The early albums rocked, they had the excitement, and all those absolutely fantastic songs... they were hungry, full of energy!
Ticket To Ride
We Can Work It Out
Day Tripper
I Saw Her Standing There
A Hard Days Night
I'm Down
You Can't Do That
I Want To Hold Your Hand
Can't Buy Me Love
I'm Happy Just To Dance With You
Just a very small sample of absolutely great songs! Those more melancholy Beatle albums just don't do the same for me.

This is one reason why I think there are more solo albums that are just as good as some Beatles, there are great songs throughout.

Lennon's Walls and Bridges is a masterpiece, much more listenable than POB, I prefer it to those melancholy Beatle albums. Give me Wings Over America, Flaming Pie, Memory Almost Full, Imagine, Venus and Mars, Back To The Egg, Ram, Chaos and Run Devil Run to name a few. The variety and quality of the good in these works is just as good as any you'll find in the Beatles!

No not every single note is Earth shattering, but every single note of the Beatles isn't either!

I don't list Harrison and Ringo albums because they tend to sound the same to me, they don't have the variety. There are songs I like by both of them but the variety just isn't there. Harrison songs seemed to always be the same, comfortable and pleasant.

I get my Beatle fix on, but I listen to Lennon and McCartney's post Beatles material way more.

Just my humble opinion.

 

People slagging early Beatles albums are nuts.

 

I would agree. The Beatles simply were not the be all end all of All Things Music some people would make them out to be.

 

Obviously opinions vary and there will always be people who can think of solo albums they like better than some or all Beatles albums.

But if you think about the overall quality and impact of the Beatles work versus the solo albums, the solo efforts don't come close. The whole was greater than the sum of the parts IMO.

Tim