The Beatles, Album by Album--Overview

In honor of music month, I'm going to attempt the mighty endeavor of chronicling the brief but impossibly bright career of my favorite rock band of all time, the Beatles. I'm a bit intimidated by this task, given the legendary status of this particular English group and the amount already written about them by every music critic ever, but I feel that it's my duty to spread the gospel of the Beatles. It frustrates me that so many people only know this band through their hits, which although they are unquestionably great and groundbreaking, represent only a small slice of what they have to offer. More than almost any other rock artist, they are an album group, and so shall remain till the end of time, no matter how often they play "Hey Jude" or "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on the radio (to name only a few). Anyways, if my writing isn't up to the task, please do not hold that against the Beatles. My only goal here is to spread some of my love for them to you. Now, sing, O Muse!, and let the spirit of John, Paul, George, and Ringo live in me!

To me, the heart of the Beatles is their sense of personality. I am drawn to the Beatles because I love the uniqueness in each of its members, and the way their personalities shine through so clearly in their music. Coupled with the fact that the two greatest pop songwriters of all time reside in it (Lennon/McCartney). The spirit of this group is in the dueling personalities of John and Paul. Paul, the relentless optimist, full of empathy and a sense of wonderment at the subtle beauty of life. John, the angry and rebellious hipster, full of bitterness at the world, and yet also with a strong idealistic backbone, and capable of tremendous emotional insight. To me, I always felt that I could relate to John more, but Paul was who I wish I was. Many a hipster or jaded youth will tell you that Paul has no soul and that John provided the real gravitas of the band, but this is bullshit. John did indeed dig deeper into negative personal emotions than Paul (goaded on in large part by his love for Bob Dylan), but Paul had an incredibly keen eye for writing songs with incredible insight into the human condition, and not just his own. "Eleanor Rigby" or "For No One" pay testament to this. I couldn't be asked to pick between these two. To me, they represent the two sides of human nature, and yet from time to time can exchange roles.

It somewhat surprises me that George has, in recent years, taken on the image of the kindly saint in the band. Much of his songwriting, especially early on, was just as bitter as Lennon, and even more reclusive. However, I think it is true that he was by far the most spiritual member of the band, and was the one who took everything they learned on their infamous trip to India seriously. He had a passionate love for Indian classical music. But what attracts me to George the most was this sense of reclusiveness and a voyage into the realm of the self. Ringo, God, he just has an amazingly charming personality. I love basically all of the songs he sings. He seemed like the funniest one by far. His voice is so innocent and happy. And he's an incredibly underrated drummer.

The Beatles rightly have an untouchable status in the world of music criticism. It seems impossible to me to call this band overrated. What would be untrue would be to call them the most innovative/original band of all time. The Beatles succeeded most at drawing inspiration from a number of sources and wrapping it into one neat, beautiful package, strongly influencing all of those who came after them because they were able to transform the musical revolutions and the changing sociopolitical current of the 1960s into a cohesive musical statement with some of the catchiest and most beautiful music ever. What matters more than their historical influence and innovation is, of course, their music, and in this area the Beatles are untouchable. Their singles were groundbreaking and always pristine; their albums, oases which you can lose yourself in for weeks and months, finding something new to latch onto every time.

There will never be another rock group like the Beatles. They could transform a mundane pop song into something breathtaking with a wave of their hands, with some magical harmony or a bridge that comes out of nowhere. Their writing was impeccable. They were strong, although not virtuoso musicians, like Cream, the Who, or Led Zeppelin. But I'm in love with their voices. That is a large part of what draws me to their music. I can't get enough of hearing them sing, whether solo or in harmony (as most of their songs end up in). The single best part of the Beatles (other than the songs themselves) is the sense of growth, which paralleled the sense of growth of an entire generation and of the world's culture. They began from their humble Liverpool roots as the brashest, catchiest band in the world. As their confidence grew in the studio, so did their sense of adventure and experimentation. Albums like Rubber Soul and Revolver chronicle not only a band growing into its shoes in the studio, but also the sense of mind expansion and emotional growth that comes along with growing into young adulthood. And the maturity and wisdom of their later albums is astonishing, considering that the band broke up before they were even 30. This was a band that an entire generation not only grew up hearing, but grew up along with. They documented a culture's growth, but also played a large part in shaping that growth.

Again, I hope I can do an adequate job at describing their music and showing why it matters to me. This is the only band I can think of with over ten albums where they are all good and all worth listening to. Their consistency is incredible. Coming up: Please Please Me.

--Edward