THE BEATLES - Q's Top 20

[GazzaBTFC]

This is gonna cause some discussion...

 

Q has a new special edition out and it's Rock 'n' Roll Lists. Under the sub heading "burn it" (obviously a reference to all those that download and burn their own CD's), they have put together their best top 20 Beatle tunes...And I really don't know if I can take it seriously, but I'll print it here for you all to read. (The version they pick and where they pick it from is in brackets for those of us that are purists and wish to comment further).

 

1. A Hard Days Noght (From A Hard Days Night)

2. A Day In The Life (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)

3. I Want To Hold Your Hand (1)

4. I Saw Her Standing There (Please Please Me)

5. Ticket To Ride (Help!)

6. Strawberry Fields Forever (Magical Mystery Tour)

7. Yesterday (Anthology 2)

8. In My Life (Rubber Soul)

9. For No One (Revolver)

10. She Said, She Said (Revolver)

11. Things We Said Today (A Hard Day's Night)

12. Penny Lane (1)

13. Some Other Guy (Live At The BBC)

14. I Am The Walrus (Anthology 2)

15. Sexy Sadie (The Beatles or "White Album")

16. Hey Jude (1)

17. Long, Long, Long (The Beatles or "White Album")

18. Don't Let Me Down (Let It Be...Naked)

19. Something (Anthology 3)

20. You never Give Me Your Money (Abbey Road).

 

And they also list 5 to avoid... They are as follows

 

1. P.S. I Love You (Please Please Me)

2. Mr. Moonlight (Beatles For Sale)

3. You Like Me Too Much (Help!)

4. If You've Got Trouble (Anthology 2 - unfair really as the band actually accept that this was bollox and didn't release it. It only appeared as a curio on Anthology 2)

5. Maxwell's Silver Hammer (Abbey Road).

 

So what do you all think...

 

Me? I think favorites are down to personal choice and a band that had (and has) such a influence in music and life as the Beatles had, it is difficult to whittle it down to 20. And they can change so...I mean, for driving along in the car or walking to work, Bad Boy or Slow Down would definately be in my top 20 for John's voice (pure rock 'n' roll - one of the reason's he has the best voice in music...in my opinion) and the bands energy!!!

[jc]

Not a bad list... I mean, we all have our preferences. But I do have two particularly large gripes:

 

1. Shoot me down if you like, but Maxwell's Silver Hammer is actually one of my favourites on Abbey Road.

 

2. I would say Long, Long, Long is far from being one of the best tracks on the White Album, let alone one of the Fab Four's all-time greats.

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

Surprised they found 20 <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

[CANV EFM]

not sure what 'i saw her standing there' is doing in the top 20

elanor rigby and dr robert off revolver

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

Initially wasn't going to answer the thread in disgust, as it was obviously come up with by some of the most pretentious music writers known to man.

 

How anyone can claim there are three tracks hidden away on the Anthologies (a collection of out-takes, for fks sake) that are better than 95% of their official 1962-1970 out-put is entirely beyond me.

 

Have the compilers of this chart never heard Rain (b-side of Paperback Writer, and perhaps Ringo's finest ever drumming, and maybe even Macca's bass-playing at its best)? Happiness Is A Warm Gun? Revolution? While My Guitar Gently Weeps? If I Fell??

 

Are people seriously suggesting that Long Long Long or Some Other Guy are better than any of those?

 

Take with a pinch of salt, fellas.

 

 

[GazzaBTFC]

I must say I was a bit shocked with the listing but thought I'd print uis for discussion as we all appear to be Beatle "purists".

 

I would agree with "Zeal", the people who put this one together are pretentious idiots but hey, their choice is as good as anybody's

[MK James]

 

About a year ago I'd have responded with my top 5 Beatles tracks of all time, but music lists are so passe now, every issue of Mojo or Q these days has the best 10 tracks to feature an accordian or somesuch nonsense.

 

You can't go wrong with A Day In The Life of course.

 

[SteveP]

A Day in the Life is probably my all time favourite Beatles track. As for the top 20, well I also would have put in 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', 'Accross the Universe' and maybe 'All you need is love'.

 

I've kind of given up on Q, all they ever produce is lists we can't aggree on!

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

Q has really tried to widen its audience too.

 

12 issues a year, and in 2003 cover stars included Britney, Christina, Robbie, Kylie and Timberlake.

 

Get Mojo guys.

 

 

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

Okay, I'll do it then!!

 

Top 5 Beatles albums, with best five songs from each!!

 

 

The White Album

• Dear Prudence
• Happiness Is A Warm Gum
• While My Guitar Gently Weeps
• Sexy Sadie
• Cry Baby Cry

Revolver

• Taxman
• She Said She Said
• And Your Bird Can Sing
• Here There And Everywhere
• Tomorrow Never Knows

Abbey Road

• I Want You (She's So Heavy)
• Because
• You Never Give Me Your Money
• Sun King
• The End

Sgt Pepper

• Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
• Lovely Rita
• A Day In The Life
• Sgt Pepper
• Fixing A Hole

Rubber Soul

• In My Life
• Norwegian Wood
• Wait
• Girl
• Nowhere Man

 

Actually... picking great songs off Sgt Pepper isn't too easy. Guess it was the sound and arrangements that made it such a superb album rather than the songs themselves.

 

Albums 6-10 to follow!!

 

 

[SteveP]

Sometimes it's easy to forget how good the beatles were, for how long and how much quality output they produced during that time.

 

I can't see another band producing anything like that for a very long time.

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

As I've always pointed out... five absolutely faultless consecutive albums (Rubber Soul thru to Abbey Road), produced inside four years (1965-69)

 

No other artist has ever, or will ever, match that sort of quality.

 

Most bands would kill to make just one album of that quality.

 

 

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

...and let's not forget that during that four-year timespan when they were creating these five all-time classic albums, they also recorded the following songs which didn't even get on the albums!!...

• Day Tripper
• We Can Work It Out
• Rain
• Strawberry Fields Forever
• Penny Lane
• All You Need Is Love
• I Am The Walrus
• Revolution
• Hey Jude
• Get Back
• Don't Let Me Down
• many, many more...

That is some fking output.

 

 

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

A Hard Days Night

• If I Fell
• You Can't Do That
• I'll Be Back
• Anytime At All
• A Hard Days Night

Help

• The Night Before
• Ticket To Ride
• You're Going To Lose That Girl
• Help
• Another Girl

Let It Be

• I've Got A Feeling
• Dig A Pony
• Across The Universe
• Two Of Us
• I Me Mine

Beatles For Sale

• I'm A Loser
• No Reply
• Baby's In Black
• Eight Days A Week
• I'll Follow The Sun

Please Please Me

• Misery
• Ask Me Why
• A Taste Of Honey
• There's A Place
• Anna

 

That's ten!

 

Which leaves...

• With The Beatles, which is my least favourite
• Magical Mystery Tour, which was only an EP in Britain until the US LP version was released here in 1976
• Yellow Submarine, which only has four new tracks on it
• various Single and EP tracks which were never included on albums... see post above!

So there.

 

 

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

Quote:

Zealster EFM UK said:
As I've always pointed out... five absolutely faultless consecutive albums (Rubber Soul thru to Abbey Road), produced inside four years (1965-69)

No other artist has ever, or will ever, match that sort of quality.

Most bands would kill to make just one album of that quality.

What about Cart..... I'll shut up now <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[Chubbhead EFM]

MKJames-nice signature, just realised where it's from!

 

Yeah, I'd have to agree with Zeal's picks there.I can't believe they put Penny Lane in that top 20. I can't stand that song! Out of all the songs they could have chosen to be at number 11, they choose fecking penny fecking lane. arrrgggghhh!!!

 

I don't like Mojo that much. It can be a bit 'stuffy' at times, if you know what I mean. I wish Melody maker and Select were still around. They were superb magazines.

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

Or Record Mirror!

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

Penny Lane is a top tune, Chubbster.

 

Has there ever been a better, and more diverse double a-sided single than Strawberry Fields / Penny Lane??

 

I think not!!

 

 

[Chubbhead EFM]

I used to like it, but I listened to it too much and now I can't stand it!

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

Thing that's great about Penny Lane, is that Brian Wilson had spent about two years trying to perfect the cleanest sound possible on record, with Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations.

 

And then Macca and the others come along and blow it out of the water with Penny Lane. The clarity on that recording is unsurpassed.

 

Fking beautiful chords too.