#Edit: Made a few grammer corrections but a Triple Retrospective will be another year or something off lol. Not retconning my posts!

[shinygoku]

Retrospective of my Beatles Albums Retrospectives

I'm not sure how to write a snappier title than that! Anyway...

12 Albums, 4 Bugs, 1 Band. And me, having a look, listen and a think at their work and writing it up~ However, while I successfully got each review out in time for the First of each month, I can't say everything was necessarily up to the standard deserved by such a body of work. But then, I also think most of what I said still holds, so this is also a summary as well as a few little corrections or instances where I may've changed my mind on individual songs. I wanna keep my original, possibly flawed, ones unedited to better compare now, and possibly again in the future ;3

Here's a link for each instalment:

Please Please Me

With the Beatles

A Hard Day's Night

Beatles for Sale

Help!

Rubber Soul

Revolver

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Magical Mystery Tour

The Beatles (The White Album)

Let it Be

Abbey Road

And now I'll summarise each, with the Moniker I assigned them with each review. Which I now see was originally to indicate the quality, and became more esoteric and tailor made in time lmao XD;;

Please Please Me – Decent!

Decent feels a bit like faint praise for my liking, and if I were trying to arrange the Albums by quality order, PPM would not be the lowest! It's charming and impressive and I docked too many points on the covers just as they didn't write 'em. As someone who can never see a live performance by 'em, let alone a Cavern Era type gig, this is all the more novel and valuable <3 Therefore I'm bestowing upon it a new moniker of Foundational !

With the Beatles – Improvement

Again I'm annoyed at how simplistic that is, and its not giving due credit to either it or PPM. The same flaws with my approach to covers apply too, but at least 3 of those are actually stand outs on this assortment (Please Mr Postman, Till There Was You, Devil in her Heart), and the Originals that I like most, It Won't Be Long and All My Loving, are absolute bangers. As with PPM, I will give it a new one-word summary... this shall be Elaboration

A Hard Day's Night – Uneven

Yeah, that one still holds up, and it does still irk me how the weaker half of the album drags the iconic and really nice songs down. And part of it is the passage of time and standards shifting, but there's a quiet undercurrent of spite, even in the prettier songs, which I find a little irksome. Like how If I Fell, in the midst of a serenade, finds the time to comment on how the Ex will suffer..... yay? Oh, John!

Beatles for Sale – Burnout Album

I mean, that's literally what it was XD;; However again I have a lot of fondness for it, and the covers ain't all my cuppa tea but I dig several anyway. However I kinda wanna drop 8 Days A Week from my Best 3 grouping and instead put I'll Follow The Sun there. Ironic as IFTS has a similar surprise spite section but 8 Days is indeed more paint by numbers for these here Bug Boys.

Help! – Promising

I think this is where The Beatles reach the perfection of "Old Beatles" style. The themes aren't that distant but everything's refined. The only song I outright think is out of place is Dizzy Miss Lizzy, and I think that was brought in as a quick replacement when they couldn't get Wait up to standard, everything else seems more intentional, even if I'm not wild on all of them. The titular song is bizarrely underrated for a well known number, and Yesterday foreshadows the more varied instrument use and genre dabbling.

Rubber Soul – Amazing

This might be my favourite of the albums, albeit not The Best and some of the numbers here are outclassed by later songs with the same theme, and yet I really dig this Experience. I came down pretty hard on Run For Your Life, but the tedious truth is that it's still an absolute banger, just one where I feel I gotta write an apology to Women after grooving to it. It's the first album I'd consider No-Skips, the first to use a Sitar (for better or for worse lol) and also the first song with a Girl Main Character, so there's lots of fun to be had here :3c

Revolver – Revolutionary

While Revolver leaves a high water mark, it's one I find to be polarised between songs I absolutely love and ones which I kind of dislike. And of course, this is the point where the Sounds become newer and less orthodox and more noteworthy. Unfortunately I am still not impressed by George's whopping 3 songs here =w=;;; – But I find it quite telling that a fab bit of rock in the form of And Your Bird Can Sing gets lost in the shuffle of other landmark songs from one album. So like, a very valid fave album for many, but I prefer a couple others~

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band – Intelligent

This one is a bit of a paradox. It's a very strong, impressive album. However for some reason it was the one most touted as The Greatest, which I would disagree with. But, the backlash to the hyperbole also goes too far and doesn't give this fun musical experiment and proto-Concept its flowers, which it does actually deserve! Not as The Greatest Of All Time, but as a look at The Beatles, Edwardian Style, and Liverpool itself, through glass coloured by cool and varied music. And getting robbed of Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane is a shame, but this does still have A Day In The Life as the grand finale!

Magical Mystery Tour – Eclectic .....oops

I... didn't notice at the time that I used the same Snappy One Liner for two albums! In a row! Oh my god!! (In my defence, it does fit both, but the idea was to have a different one for each! Fuck!). Retconning this one as Esoteric instead ^w^;;;;;

Anyway yeah. The MMT (Soundtrack Album) got pumped up with two incredible singles, and All You Need Is Love, and also Baby You're A Rich Man [which I've warmed up to a bit since, but not fully lol]. But they weren't really supposed to be there... As for the songs that were part of the Strange TV Special's soundtrack, it's pretty harmonious and themed, with interesting choices like a lyricless (but not vocal-less, there seems to be A Cappella chanting) song in the form of Flying, and a horrible dirge that I can't stand listening to with Blue Jay Way. But the Paul and the John songs here shine very brightly~

The Beatles [The White Album] – Eclectic

Yeah, I mean. This is the very definition of Eclectic, ain't it? Like Revolver in the polarised song types, but MOOORE. More songs, more wildly varied tones, more duds that I outright avoid, but still more absolute bangers. But!! More duds, or songs that jar so harshly with my own musical preferences, at least, that I have a harder time with this one. If I was feeling more generous, I'd say there's more for everyone, but I also like the Beatles when they make songs that sound Good, y'know? Not to box them into a genre but this feels like Quantity at the cost of Quality.

Let it Be – Sombre

HOWEVER all the criticism I have for the White Album is pretty minor compared to this somewhat underwhelming assortment. Which would have sounded a lot better if it didn't have a deranged, vile, disgusting, scummy, moronic, abusive, terrible excuse of a human being and record producer pissing all over it. BAD.

Y'see, some of the songs are really nice, some are just alright but, ghhhhh, I actively avoid listening to this whole thing and the stupid ass "wall of sound" claptrap. 'Oooh let's cover all the actual music with loud blaring orchestra so the actual compositions are hidden from ears' ...you can tell The Industry was up its own ass that drowning out the real music was seen as a good move. Insane, and not in a fun way, it just makes me angry and sad.

Abbey Road – The Best

Fortunately, the REAL last album by The Beatles is a tour de force of amazing, uplifting, thoughtful and indeed very catchy numbers~ I've only talked about it recently, and at quite a length too, so I won't repeat myself too much here. But it really is their strongest Whole Album of the lot, so even the songs I find weakest are still extremely popular (Maxwell's Silver Hammer, which I think is overrated lol) and enjoyable. And, god, what a Beautiful finale it is!!

💎✨

But before I wrap this up, I wanna highlight the Hidden Gems (or in some cases, most underrated song) of each album... using the Cool Taglines I made for said albums [don't worry, it's in the same order too lmao] !!

Foundational: Misery

The world is treating me baaaaaad, Miiiisery! And yet this is so dang catchy it doesn't feel like a downer, even when the lyrics are very explicit XD An early Original, written for someone else but not taken up, and I think the Bugs made their own version more uptempo than the song as originally presented.

Elaboration: Devil In Her Heart

But her eyes they tantalize! A strong showing from George and a really catchy song. Prolly partially overshadowed as it's a cover (as I've been guilty of too lol), but I always dig this one and the unorthodox cadence to the lyrics.

Uneven: I'm Happy Just To Dance With You

I don't wanna kiss or hold your hand... See, I don't have any Anti-George bias, just the sitar leaves me cooler lmao – but anyway! THIS song is sweet and warm, the only time John wrote a song specifically for George to perform, and something I think oughta have been done more! But this deserves more of a spotlight~

Burnout: No Reply

I know that you saw me, cause I looked up to see, your face ! I wondered if the first song on an album could qualify as Underrated, but I think Beatles For Sale as a whole is, and what attention it does get is pooled mostly into I'll follow the Sun, so yeah, I'm giving this its flowers! I'm A Loser also deserves more attention, for the record.

Promising: Act Naturally

They're gonna put me in the Movies, they're gonna make a big star outta me! Another incredibly strong cover, seemingly tailor made for Ringo to sing, given his charisma on the screen, his Catholic-Stained-Glass Sad Eyes and his own fondness for the Country and Western style. And it's one I go to often as I think he has a lovely singing voice and this is Peak Ringo <3

Amazing: Wait

'Till I come back to your side, we'll forget the tears we cried. I don't have that much to say, but knowing Wait was meant to be on Help! but they postponed it, I think it was worth the........ [title drop]. The drums here are also super underrated, and the maraca sure makes itself known~

Revolutionary: And Your Bird Can Sing

You tell me that you've heard every sound there is, and your bird can swing... This is, in my opinion, THE most underrated, overlooked song on an extremely popular record by the most famous band ever, and yet it's absolutely flawless. The guitar shredding and harmonies are insane here, in a very good way!

Intelligent: Lovely Rita

In a cap, she looked much older, and the bag across her shoulder, made her look a little like a Military Man... Innuendo heavy as this may be, there's oodles of charm in this one. It's hard to pinpoint an underrated song on this album, but this has a good balance of being really strong and yet getting less airtime.

Esoteric: Your Mother Should Know

Let's all get up and dance to a song, that was a hit before your Mother was born... That's right, this song is a strangely endearing spin on "your mom" lines. Well, that and connecting with the Older Generation for knowledge that's otherwise easily lost... so while the lack of lyrical variation may seem simplistic, it has enough hidden depth and infectious rhythm that does indeed make it easier to get up and dance to~

Eclectic: I Will

Will I wait a lonely lifetime? If you want me to, I will. This one is (quite rightly) loved by those who have heard it, but it seems to avoid a lot of Radars too! Maybe as White Album's overly long list of songs makes people black out between the more famous or infamous instalments. This is a song that many long to be longer... but oh god, the lyrics hit different when thinking about the Beatles Meta ;~;

Sombre: The Long And Winding Road NAKED

Literally any song and version without Shitty Wall Of Sound. Sorry. The better songs are well known already and the lesser songs are lesser for good reason :v but for the one I selected, yeah it's one of Paul's most emotionally raw and yet beautiful works, as it's supposed to be presented and yet the defaced one gets more airplay, undeserved as it is. So this version is of it is massively slept on. The wild and windy night, that the rain washed away, has left a pool of tears, crying for the day...

The Best Album: Because

Because the wind is high, it blows my mind... Hey look, a thematic link to my previous one! Again, every song here is a strong one, even real dark horse selections like Sun King, or ones that were in the medley like Golden Slumbers. I'm selecting Because as both another John song for a more balanced list, but also it is one that kinda slips between the cracks, compared to ones about The Sun, or Hammers, or Octopus Botany. And of course, it's beautiful in its own right~

🪲🪲🪲🪲

Well, that's 5 pages of retrospective and elaboration! It was more in depth than I expected lmao, but it was a lotta fun to revisit, all the moreso when the PPM stuff was written a whole year ago...!

Neeeext time on Bug Boys 2025: I'm still not sure to be honest XD;; - I think it's between Early Singles and the film version of AHDN, but I won't tie myself to one just yet. Still, as always I want it to be posted on the First of the Month, so tune back in when February begins~