The Hunt for the Perfect Discography: The Beatles, Part One

Is it possible for an artist or band to go their whole career without a single bad album? Surely some have managed it? 

Today, I will look at The Beatles' discography:

Please Please Me (1963)
Despite it's critical acclaim, this is not one of my favourite Beatles albums. That does not however make it a bad one! I simply prefer the post-'Revolver' time in their career. In no way is this album terrible, though you could argue the fact that nearly half of the album's tracks being covers brings it down a notch. Ringo's track 'Boys' is pretty awful.

With the Beatles (1963)
Similarly to 'Please Please Me', 'With the Beatles' features nearly fifty percent cover versions and the early rock and roll style The Beatles debuted with. This is probably my least favourite of the band's 'great' albums and, according to Last.fm, it's the one I have listened to the least. Again, Ringo cuts a terrible track with 'I Wanna Be Your Man', though the Harrison-sung cover of Chuck Berry's 'Roll Over Beethoven' makes up for it. 'All My Loving' grates on me also, though that may be due to over-exposure.

A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Serving as the soundtrack to their 1964 film debut of the same name, 'A Hard Day's Night' shows where Lennon and McCartney began to improve on their composure, receiving songwriting credits for all thirteen tracks. Lennon primarily wrote most of the material on the album contributing nine of the songs. The album features two of the band's biggest hits in 'Can't Buy Me Love' and the title track. Probably my second-favourite early Beatles album behind 'Help!'

Beatles for Sale (1964)
Another good album, featuring tracks such as 'I Feel Fine', 'Eight Days a Week' and 'Baby's in Black'. 'Rock and Roll Music', another Chuck Berry cover, is also a highlight. 'No Reply', 'Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby' and 'I'm a Loser' are also standout tracks, making 'Beatles for Sale' the strongest release so far.

Help! (1965)
The second soundtrack album and fifth album overall, 'Help!' is a near-perfect offering by the Fab Four. Nearly song on the album is great with the band only slipping up with 'Act Naturally' (Ringo again!) and 'Another Girl', though both tracks are listenable. 'I've Just Seen a Face', 'Ticket to Ride', 'Help!' and 'The Night Before' are highlights. I think I actually hate 'Yesterday' though. Yes, okay, it's a beautiful song but I'm just sick to death of hearing the fucker.

Rubber Soul (1965)
Here is where things start to really pick up. Not unlike 'Help!', 'Rubber Soul' is arguably a perfect album. Notably the album in which The Beatles began to evolve from their previous Merseybeat sound and become something much more. This album has got everything from French ballads ('Michelle'), folk influences ('Norwegian Wood'), baroque pop ('In My Life') to threats of murder brought on by jealousy ('Run for Your Life'). The compressed and harmonised piano effect found on 'The Word' would later influence the psychedelic wave of music of the late sixties. Only 'What Goes On' brings the album down from true perfection (fucking Ringo again!) being the second-longest track on the record.

So there we have the first six albums from The Beatles and not one is a stinker thus far. Stay tuned for the second part of their discography coming soon!