Ranking the Beatles

[yesno]

John Lennon: There's no doubt that he's the most overrated Beatle.  But Imagine and Plastic Ono Band are both very good albums, and both would probably make my list of top 5 solo Beatles albums.  I'm not enough of a Beatles nut to know which of the Lennon/McCartney songs are really just by Lennon, apart from Strawberry Fields, which is very good (not as good as Penny Lane, though).  But I'd say that even if George Harrison solo had a more solid solo career than Lennon, Lennon contributed more to the actual Beatles than Harrison.

This is very controversial, I know.  But I'd even go so far as to say that Lennon was a better Beatle than Ringo.

My ranking:

As Beatles:

McCartney
Lennon
Harrison
Starr

Solo:

Harrison
McCartney
Lennon
Starr

My choice for best Beatle overall, taking everything into account, has to be McCartney.  It's only because of this board that I really have gotten into solo McCartney (I had been too scared by the mediocre 80s stuff).  That plus what I know of him being the more talented of the Lennon/McCartney team pushes him over the edge.

[jbissell]

It's only because of this board that I really have gotten into solo McCartney (I had been too scared by the mediocre 80s stuff). 

I'm currently going through this phase right now.  I listened to a lot of the Lennon solo stuff in high school and thought that Paul was too sappy for me.  George is still my favorite solo, but lately I've really been coming around to Paul.  I'm mad at myself for missing out on Ram all these years.  Still not really a Wings fan though.

[erika]

John Lennon: There's no doubt that he's the most overrated Beatle. 

I'm not enough of a Beatles nut to know which of the Lennon/McCartney songs are really just by Lennon

You should consider looking into that before you call him the most overrated Beatle without a doubt in your mind... don't you think?

[masterofsparks]

I also have this board to thank for the discovery of early solo McCartney, but as far as I'm concerned Lennon is responsible for the overwhelming majority of great Beatles songs. Almost all of my favorites are John's:

Tomorrow Never Knows
I Am the Walrus
Strawberry Fields Forever
Don't Let Me Down
Come Together
Across the Universe
Dear Prudence
A Day in the Life (partly Paul's, but mostly John)
She Said She Said

Paul wrote some great Beatles songs too, but not nearly as many as John. And he wrote Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, which is a pretty large check in the negative column.

Within the Beatles:
John
Paul
George
Ringo

Solo:
Like I said, I'm discovering (and appreciating) early McCartney. I agree with yesno that the first 2 Lennon solo albums are great (actually, I only like about half of Imagine, but the debut is a classic). George's All Things Must Pass is unquestionably the best album by a solo Beatle. I don't really know much beyond a song or two about the albums he released after All Things Must Pass, but he gets #1 anyway. Ringo is last by default because I know only a couple of songs.

George
Paul
John
Ringo

Overall:
I'm torn. In fact, I've changed my mind between voting in the poll and typing this post. Using a totally non-scientific ranking system, I'd probably rank Paul at overall #1. He took longer to nosedive into light-rock garbage than John (and his oldies album totally thrashes John's) and he's been responsible for more great moments than George. Overall, he's been the most consistent of the four.

Paul
John
George
Ringo

[erika]

I will say that if John hadn't been doing such a huge amount of psychedelic drugs at the time, his solo stuff probably would have shone much brighter.   

[yesno]

John Lennon: There's no doubt that he's the most overrated Beatle. 

I'm not enough of a Beatles nut to know which of the Lennon/McCartney songs are really just by Lennon

You should consider looking into that before you call him the most overrated Beatle without a doubt in your mind... don't you think?

Shit!  I'll do more research before wasting time on a message board next time.

I've actually read that a lot of the songs that are often said to be "by" one or the other often have significant input from both, except for in the last few years.  For example, Eleanor Rigby.  But Lennon is still overrated because he generally gets credit for being the artistic one, while Paul just wrote pop songs-- which, even if true , would be irrelevant, since there's nothing wrong with a good pop song.  And it's not true.  He wrote Helter Skelter.

[masterofsparks]

I've actually read that a lot of the songs that are often said to be "by" one or the other often have significant input from both, except for in the last few years.

According to John in the Lennon Remembers interview, there was almost no collaboration between the two except for very early on. There may've been suggestions (John's famous suggestion that Paul keep the line "The movement you need is on your shoulder" in Hey Jude when Paul wanted to scrap it, for example), but generally they wrote alone. I could be misremembering because I haven't read that interview in a long time, but that's how I remember it.

The general rule of thumb that I've been told to follow with Lennon/McCartney Beatles songs is that the person singing lead vocals probably wrote it. I'm sure it's not 100% accurate, but it seems to be a pretty decent guidepost.

[JonFromMaplewood]

Sorry for the sidetrack (not worth its own thread), but if I purchase All Things Must Pass, should I get the 30th Anniversary Edition or the original? Any reason for one over the other? Sequencing? Mono versus stereo? Anything?

[masterofsparks]

Sorry for the sidetrack (not worth its own thread), but if I purchase All Things Must Pass, should I get the 30th Anniversary Edition or the original? Any reason for one over the other? Sequencing? Mono versus stereo? Anything?

30th Anniversary edition probably sounds better than the original CD issue though it's not faultless - the song I Dig Love has a super-annoying ringing noise throughout that is probably a mastering defect. The bonus cuts are mostly garbage, but that's to be expected.

If original vinyl is out of the question, 30th Anniversary is the way to go.

[yesno]

"I Live For You" is on the resissue, which is a great song.

I actually have a number of George Harrison bootlegs from this time period that I was thinking of sharing:  The Making of All Things Must Pass, The Alternate All Things Must Pass, and (a little different) A True Legend.  They're available as FLACs all over the internet though.

[<<<<<]

Didn't Harrison literally outsell the other Beatles solo?  If so, the dollar signs speak a great deal.  I'm also appreciative of his efforts that benefited film-making.  Terry Gilliam is one of my favorite directors.  Life of Brian and Time Bandits are both classics, imo.

[Spoony]

I will say that if John hadn't been doing such a huge amount of psychedelic drugs at the time, his solo stuff probably would have shone much brighter.  

That's a common misconception.

John was not a fan of psychedelic drugs: he was actually an avid paint-huffer. The original jackets worn on the cover of Sgt Peppers started off as white with gold trimming, but by the end of the shoot he'd gotten so much paint smeared all over everything, and with so many different colors (it was 60's, and there was alot of experimentation with paint colors after all), that they had to color in the jackets with whatever paint was the most prominent. Photo prints of John with silver paint smeared in his beard fetch up to 25,000 at Sothesby's.

It was Yoko who moved him on to harder, more dangerous substances. In that famous live performance for "Imagine," that's not gum he's chewing, but a an ounce of mercury.

[erika]

John Lennon: There's no doubt that he's the most overrated Beatle. 

I'm not enough of a Beatles nut to know which of the Lennon/McCartney songs are really just by Lennon

You should consider looking into that before you call him the most overrated Beatle without a doubt in your mind... don't you think?

Shit!  I'll do more research before wasting time on a message board next time.

Hey post what you want I'm just saying you should try to figure which Beatles tunes he influenced before deciding he's the most overrated.

And Spoony, he was just trying to taste those colors, man. It's all part of the trip.

[buffcoat]

As Ronald Thomas Clontle said, "Bang bang Maxwell's Silver Hammer came down upon his head..."

[cutout]

#1 Lennon/McCartney/Harrison (tie)
#2 Starr