Where (and what) constitutes the divide between early and late era Beatles for you?

Up to "Beatles for Sale" is the early band. "Help" on forward is the late era band. I used to have the cutoff line between "Help" and "Rubber Soul." I'm sort of lukewarm on all of this.

 

Not so much a matter of early or late, as what I enjoy listening to. I like everything up to Sgt. Peppers, but after that it's definitely on a track-by-track basis.

 

I'm just the opposite. Love everything after Revolver, before Pepper I have to cherry pick.

 

Geoff Emerick's debut in "the chair" is the dividing line between early/late Beatles. That would be April 6, 1966 and "Tomorrow Never Knows".

 

I'm going with Revolver.

 

My default organization has always been based on sound.

I: 1962-1965 - Please Please Me through Help! - Innovative beat group, mostly sticking to the group format in the studio, with songs that could be faithfully reproduced live.

II: 1965-1967 - Rubber Soul through Magical Mystery Tour EP - Band increasingly experimental in the studio, using non-standard instruments (sitar, clavioline, strings) and arrangement, and employing the studio itself as an instrument. Moving away from live performance as a priority for songs.

III: 1968-1970 - 'Lady Madonna' through Abbey Road - Back to basics. Band begins stripping sound back down again (with memorable exceptions, naturally), as well as fragmenting as a performing unit, even in the studio. Even the comparatively lush Abbey Road is about half 'back to basics' ('Come Together', 'Oh! Darling', 'I Want You', 'Here Comes the Sun', 'Because')

 

When I was younger, so much younger than today it was the red/blue line.
Now I'm much older I realise I've changed my mind and it is Paperback writer that opened up the door.

 

Same here. And i think the red/blue albums was actually the reason i used to put the dividing line at SFF. But now it's Paperback Writer in my mind.

 

A guy named George Harrison disagreed with you when he said he felt Rubber and Revolver should have been a double album because it sounded like one big album. LOL

 

I consider Help to be the start of the good stuff.

 

kind of shows what he knew then.

 

For me, the early period ends and late period begins with the release of Strawberry Fields.

 

I guess I'm the outlier here because late Beatles to me means Let It Be. I guess I could be persuaded that the White Album is the dividing line. I don't think early and late is an instrument here or there but the difference between a foursome and four ones.

 

LOL.

 

To me the "late" Beatles period starts in 1967, or December 1966 perhaps, when they began recording Pepper and did the Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane single. It was after the end of their live performing career, when they became basically composers and experimenters with sound in the studio. George Martin called Sgt. Pepper their "freedom album", because they could do what they wanted their way and get it released straight around the world without record company second-guessing, marketing manipulation, different tracks, and varied packaging.

I could alternatively make a case for Revolver, as they never attempted to perform that live - by that time there was a disconnect between recording and performing in terms of complexity, and their artistic vision made final tours of 1966 sort of less relevant - they seemed like a hangover of the "performing flea" years, as Lennon basically put it once (I'm paraphrasing).

 

Them splitting up once was enough for me. No further divisions necessary.

 

To him yes. They sure don't sound much alike to me.

 

That's not quite what he says though - right at the beginning here. And with subtitles too.

For those too lazy to click on it... (only kidding, but in case some can't see the link - I know that happens) he wasn't completely sure and admitted could be wrong about it.

 

It all got really interesting when they released Revolver. That for me is transitional album for the band.

 

I'm a loser... lennon tries to get into dylan

 

Pepper is the line for me (though others are right, SFF/PL would have been the first shot in the new war).

 

Precisely.

 

Early - Through Rubber Soul and We Can Work It Out single
Late - Revolver to end

 

Paperback writer/Rain

 

When John stopped using his rickenbacker as his main axe in the studio.