Strongest Beatle per album | Page 5 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Please Please Me: John (Number One)- Vocal performance for-“Twist And Shout “, “Anna (Go to Him)”, “Baby It’s You “, Writing-“Please Please Me “, “Do You Want To Know A Secret ” (Sung by George), Paul (close second)- is a close second with writing of “I Saw Her Standing There “, “Love Me Do “, and “P.S. I Love You, and good vocal performance on “A Taste Of Honey “, and a great collaboration on “There’s a Place” and “Misery “. George’s vocal performance is just okay on ”Chains “, Ringo does a good vocal job on “Boys “, and John’s “Ask Me Why ” is a weak song. John and Paul’s accompanying single “Thank You Girl ” and “From Me To You ” would have made the album even stronger.

With The Beatles: John (Number One)- First of all this album never gets the respect it deserves. 4 great songs from this period should have been on this album but were left off as singles. “She Loves You ” , “I’ll Get You “, “I Want To Hold Your Hand “, and “This Boy ” are all strong songs with “I’ll Get You ” Being the weakest, but the first three were collaboration between Lennon and McCartney were both Lennon and McCartney’s voices really stand out, and “This Boy ” was one of John’s strongest vocal performances. Now for the album- John penned “It Won’t Be Long “, “All I’ve Got To Do ” are solid, “Not A Second Time ” is not bad, and Lennon vocals are brilliant on his covers of “Money (That’s What I Want”, “You Really Got A Hold On Me ” and “Please Mister Postman “. His weakest moment is with “Little Child “, but I do like the energy and harmonica solo on the track. Paul (number 2) pens maybe the best song on the album with “All My Loving “, but “Hold Me Tight ” is one of his worst tracks. Paul’s vocal performance on “Til There Was You” is flawless. George (3rd) pens his first song “Don’t Bother Me ” sounds amateurish, but George makes up for by giving to fine vocal and guitar performances on “Devil In Her Heart ” and “Roll Over Beethoven “. Ringo sings “I Wanna Be Your Man ” very well, and is a great rocker penned by Lennon/McCartney.

A Hard Day’s Night: John-(Number One) One of John’s strongest albums- The Album  opens up with three very strong Lennon tracks in “A Hard Days Night”, “I should Have Known Better”, “If I Fell “, and Side two closes with two more great Lennon track in “You Can’t Do That ” and I’LL Be Back”.  “Any Time At All ” is a great rocker, Great vocal on “When I Get Home “, and I’ll Cry Instead ” is a bit of preview of what’s to come with the tone of BFS, and “Tell me Why” can be little bit overbearing with the vocals at times but still a fun track. Lennon also penned George’s only vocal performance on “I am Happy To Dance With You” is another fun tune. Paul’s productivity is 2nd on this album, but his three contributions are very strong in “Can’t Buy Me Love ” and “I Love Her”, and “Things We Said Today ”. The Long Tall Sally EP was also recorded about the same time as AHDN and includes Paul’s ripping performance on “Long Tall Sally ”, John’s great vocal performance on “Slow Down ”, and Ringo gives on of his best performances on “Matchbox ”. John’s “I’ll Call Your Name” could have easily made it on to AHDN as well.

Beatles For Sale: John (Number One)-John’s stuff is very strong on this album and saves this album from being a total disaster. The album opens with some of John’s greatest tunes from the early Beatle period. “No Reply ” is a great pop tune for 1964 and “I’m A Loser ” and “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party ” are very strong and personal Lennon tracks. “Baby’s In Black ” is also very strong but was a collaboration with Paul. “Eight Day’s a Week” is mostly Paul’s, but John deliverers a scorching vocal track and the energy on the track makes it one my favorites. Paul’s stuff falls a little short for me on this album.  I love his collaborations with John on “Eight Days A Week ” and “Baby’s In Black ” but “I’ll Follow The Sun “, “Every Little Thing “, “What Your Doing” underdeveloped and  somewhat tired. The covers on this album also fall a little short. This is the first album where the Beatles did not improve upon the original version of the songs that they were covering.  Lennon’s performance on “Rock N Roll Music” comes close to the original, but seems a bit lacking. McCartney’s performance on “Kansas City ” is the same way. “Mr. Moonlight” is very  strange selection but get points for being interesting. The rest of the covers could have been left off. “Word of Love” put me to sleep and George’s voice is not suited for Carl Perkins on “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby “, and Ringo sounds flat on “Honey Don’t “. This album desperately needed the  accompanying single to give it more strength.  Lennon’s “I Feel Fine “, and Paul’s “She’s a Women” were both solid tracks.  Although I always thought that “I Feel Fine ” is a bit overrated and not as strong a “No Reply “, “I’m A Loser ” or I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party “. If the Beatles could have only waited to release the best of BFS and combined the tunes with the best of Help than they would have had a real gem.

Help: (John and Paul are tied)-Lennon Penned some of the strongest tunes on the album including-“Help “, “Ticket To Ride “, “You’re Going To Lose That Girl “, and “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away “. “You’re Going To Lose That Girl ” is often overlooked and is really a great, high energy song. I have always liked as much as “Ticket To Ride ” and “Help “.  “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away ” sound like John doing Dylan and always falls a little short for me. “It’s Only Love ” sound a bit trite. Paul’s stuff is finally there in quality and quantity. “Yesterday ” is probably one of the greatest songs ever written and is clearly the best on the album even though it sounds a bit out of place. “Yesterday ” is a sneak preview of what Paul will accomplish on Revolver . “I’ve Just Seen A Face ” is such a short and simple song, but the tune never gets old for me.  I just love it! “Another Girl “,  “The Night Before ” and “Tell Me What You See ” are cut from the same cloth as “What Your Doing” on BFS, but have actually hold up a little better this time around.  “Tell Me What You See ” is probably Paul’s weakest track on the album. George’s “I Need You ” and “You Like Me Too Much ” are as good as Paul’s “Tell Me What You See “, and John’s “I’ts Only Love”. It’s an improvement from “Don’t Bother Me ” from WTB. John seems to be going through the motions on “Dizzy Miss Lizzy “.  Maybe he had just one too many takes but DML never worked for me, and Ringo’s “Act Naturally ” is entertaining to listen to and features great guitar work from George. Other songs from this era that did not make it to the album are “Bad Boy ” which features a great Lennon vocal and would have worked better than “Dizzy Miss Lizzy “. “I’m Down ” a McCartney original would have also been a great closer. John’s “Yes It Is ” is a bit unusual and features a three part harmony, but just falls a little short for me.

Rubber Soul: (John number one) This may be John’s finest album in terms of quality to quantity ratio. Where should I start? I will rank them in order “Girl”, “In My Life ” “Norwegian Wood ”, and “Nowhere Man ” are Grade “A” songs as good as anything else produces in the 60s. Lennon was hitting on all cylinders with these four. “Girl” has a melody that as good as anything McCartney and Brain Wilson  has ever produced and never gets the respect the song deserves. “In My Life ” and “Nowhere Man ” are autobiographical, yet have great melodies and singing. “Norwegian Wood ”  is another great melody and mood for John, and George’s sitar fits so perfectly. “The Word ” is collaboration by all 4 Beatles, and the song features a great vibe and harmonies and works on that level. “Run For Your Life ” is not John’s best lyrics but the song works as a great rocker and closing track. The song’s theme is similar to John’s “You Can’t Do That”. “What Goes On ” was co-written by McCartney and Starr. The tune would not work if John or Paul sang it as a rock tune, but I love the country twang that Ringo sings it with and Paul’s harmonies. Paul is second on this album. Most of his best work was helping the other Beatle’s develop their ideas on their tunes by adding cool harmonies or instrumentation. Paul’s best song is “Michelle ”.   Some critics have called it sappy, but to me it’s a great standard up there with “Yesterday “. The melody is so gorgeous. “You Won’t See Me” is such a departure from a typical Paul song and is one of the coolest sounding songs on the album. The track has a trippy effect of sounding like the Beatles are deliberately slowing down towards the fade out. “I’m Looking Through You” is another solid Paul tune that never gets discussed but holds up well. “Wait ” is mostly Paul’s tune that was a throw away from the Help sessions, but the harmonies on this songs are arranged nicely and make the song. “Drive My Car ” is wildly popular, but the song is only okay for me. Paul singing it with a different voice that sounds a bit contrived to me. Every Now And Then , Paul will use his so-called pseudo rocker voice, and it never sounds good to me. George is finally showing he can write decent songs with “Think For Yourself ” and “If I Needed Someone ”. “Think For Yourself ” is hardly ever talked about but remains one of my favorites from Harrison. I love Paul’s fuzz bass and the 3 part harmonies throughout the song. The other 3 Beatles would do whatever it took to turn a potentially average filler type of song into something really cool and unique. That is exactly what happened on “Think For Yourself ”. The singles for this album would have made Rubber Soul even more mind-boggling. “Day Tripper ” was mostly John’s tune and “We Can Work It Out was mostly Paul’s, but they are two of their better tunes and would have complemented the album so beautifully. I hate how EMI would leave off the singles from the same sessions.   I always add the singles to the albums on my ipod.

Revolver: (Paul is number one)-Paul finally takes the lead and becomes the leader of the group on this album. I always here how great and innovative John was with “Tomorrow Never Knows ” and “She Said She Said ”, Lennon’s material simply falls short to Paul’s near perfection, and craftsmanship with tunes such as “Eleanor Rigby “, “Here There And Everywhere ”, and “For No One . Even Paul’s lesser songs are crafted so well that they could have been easily number one hits for any other band in 1966. “Got To Get You Into My Life ” and “Good Day Sunshine ” are great pop tunes! Paul’s “Yellow Submarine ” is just daring and experimental as Lennon’s stuff and is an absolutely perfect choice for Ringo to sing as children’s song. What other band would dare to such a thing? The accompanying single for Revolver was “Paperback Writer ” which is another tune up there with “Eleanor Rigby ” as far as craftsmanship and originality. Don’t get me wrong. I love John’s stuff and creative direction, but I get tired of people foaming at the mouth at TNK. Paul also worked hard with John to achieve the sounds on “Tomorrow Never Knows ”. The songs works as kind of an acid rock trance type of dance song that is meant to be cranked up loud, but I think Lennon would go on to write much better psychedelic songs on Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour . “She Said She Said ” is a solid acid drenched song with energy and still sounds refreshing but still not on the same wave length as Paul’s “Eleanor Rigby ”. Oddly enough, John’s I’m Only Sleeping” is my favorite of his from this album. It’s sound more eerie and is a perfect surreal ballad about sleeping and more truthful about his state of mind at the time. The “B” side to Paul’s “Paperback Writer ” was John’s “Rain ”. “Rain : is another acid rock song that could have easily replace “And Your Bird Can Sing ” or George’s “Love You To ” “Dr. Robert” is okay for me, and I never have liked the vocals on “And Your Bird Can Sing ”. “And Your Bird Can Sing ” just sounds like it’s lacking something and could have been better if it was reworked. George is showing consistency now with two albums of quality songs. “Taxman ”, “I Want To Tell You ” and “Love You To ” fit the album nicely. Lennon and McCartney helped George considerable on “Taxman ” with their harmonies and Paul’s lead guitar solo. You can tell all of the Beatles worked together on the track. “Love You To ” falls a little short for me. The sitar was a ballsy move and sound exotic, but the tune is just very average.

Sgt. Pepper‘s: (Paul and John tied) Now Paul may get the nod for the idea, overall contribution, and productivity for SPLHCB . Lennon did not produce much, but his songs are my favorite on the album. Paul’s title track and the reprise are great rockers with great singing and instrumentation that are perfectly placed on the album. His best tune as far as craftsmanship is “She Leaving Home” which has been praised by many contemporary classical composers, and I love Lennon’s little bits in during the chorus. “When I’m Sixty Four” often gets written off as a corny little throw away tune, but the song is crafted so well. I always love Paul’s fun little novelty songs not to be taken too seriously. How can anyone resist not signing along to words and tuneful melody? “Lovely Rita ”, “Getting Better ”, and “Fixing a Whole” are good pop tunes but are not as strong as Paul’s stuff on Revolver . Any of Paul’s tunes on Revolver would have worked better than the three I just mentioned. Now for John’s stuff. My favorite tunes on SPLHCB are “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds ”, “Being the Benefit of Mr. Kite” and “A Day In The Life ”, Now Paul sang and wrote the middle part of “A Day In The Life ”, and arranged the crazy orchestra parts, but the tune was mostly John’s and is truly a master piece. I seem to get something different out of it with every listen. Who care if the lyrics for “Being the Benefit of Mr. Kite” were taken from a poster? It’s the psychedelic circus atmosphere and Lennon’s execution of the vocal track that works for me. I suppose he received a lot of help from Martin and McCartney, but the song works perfectly of the album. Lucy also captures some vivid imagery that has not been expressed in a pop song to date. I feel like I am literally walking into Lennon’s dream, and the arrangements and instrumentation work so well for the tune. Paul’s bass playing is so melodic for Lucy and much of this album. “Good Morning Good Morning ” is just okay for me. I actually prefer the stripped down Anthology version without all of the animal noises. The song has one of the strangest rhythms and quirky arrangements and sounds like nothing else at the time. “With A Little Help From My Friends always bores me a bit, but captures the whole hippie vibe at the time. I prefer Joe Cocker’s version of the tune. I felt like George’s heart and mind were not into this album. George really needed a break more than the others from being a Beatle, and he was not a big fan of the whole Pepper Pseudo concept thing. “Within You Without” has always been tough for me to listen to all the way through. The hippie trippy feeling that he is going for sounds contrived to me. Strangely, I think Harrison would finally capture the trippy vibe that he was after on “Blue Jay Way ”. George also had two other contributions from this period that were rejected by Martin and the other Beatles. “Only A Northern Song ” and It’s All Too Much” were not considered up to par for an Album of Pepper’s magnitude and were shelved for Yellow Submarine . Two of this period’s best songs did not make it to the album. It was decided by EMI and Martin at the time to foolishly leave the tunes off the album and issue them as a double “A” single. “Strawberry Fields” and “Penny Lane ” are two of the strongest Lennon/McCartney tracks and would have worked so beautifully with Pepper. Lennon seems to have now mastered the psychedelic pop genre with SFF and sounds very genuine and sincere in his vocal delivery. George Martin seems to have had the gift of capturing the atmosphere or ambience of what the artist was going for. The song is a psychedelic masterpiece and still sound fresh today. “Penny Lane ” is a great McCartney track with gorgeous melody, beautifully arranged instrumentation, and translucent imagery that captures what it was like growing up in that part of Liverpool. If only the Beatles could have combined the best of SPLHCB with 3 or 4 songs from Magical Mystery Tour . 1967 was truly a remarkable year for the Beatles, but sadly the beginning of the end.

Sorry, I am running out of time. I will have finish with a quick synopsis for the remaining albums. Sorry for the bad grammar. Do not have time to proof read. And remember, these are just my opinions from a Beatle fan and are not meant to offend anyone.

Magical Mystery Tour: John is number one with Paul being a close second. “Strawberry Fields Forever ” (read above review), “ I Am The Walrus ” are psychedelic masterpieces that surprisingly do not sound contrived. “All You Need Is Love ” works as such a strong anthem for the summer of ’67. I have never cared for “Baby You’re a Rich Man”. The song is also partially Paul’s. Paul’s tunes are almost as good. “Penny Lane ” is brilliant (read review above). “Fool On The Hill” is a very underrated song with timeless melody. “Your Mother Should Know ” always struck me as song that was not intended to be strange, but somehow fits perfectly on Magical Mystery Tour and is a bit of an oddity for the grannies, but I love the tune. “Magical Mystery Tour ” has always worked for me the same way the title track for SPLHCB has worked. “Hello Goodbye ” is shamefully poppy, but it is truly great at THAT! What a great sing a long! Who can resist? I have always like Harrison’s “Blue Jay Way ” and have preferred it to his other kind of mystic sounding song attempts. I think he pulls it off with BJW. See Harrison on my Pepper review. “Flying ” is okay and weird sounding. It fits the album and is just short enough.

The Beatles (White Album )-(John and Paul Tied)- I will be honest. I am not the biggest late Beatles fan. I like their later stuff but prefer their pre-1968 material, But I think the White Album is the best of their late Beatle period especially if you add the singles and songs recorded in early 1968 that should have made the album. “Hey Jude ”, “Revolution ”, “Lady Madonna ”, Hey Bulldog ”, “The Inner Light ”, and “Across The Universe ” could have made all made the album better. My favorite tunes off the album are “Happiness Is A Warm Gun ” and “Sexy Sadie ”, but you have a lot of average Paul songs and mediocre John songs. George is producing more, but nothing else he does on TWA is as good as “While My Guitar Gently Weeps ”.

Yellow Submarine: Not really an album- I have broken down the songs on the corresponding albums that the tunes should have went on with the exception of Paul’s “All Together Now ” is just a fun sing a long song for kids. Nothing more or less. George’s tunes are dreadful and were rightly thrown off Sgt. Pepper ’s.

Abbey Road: George- John and Paul 2^nd-. George’s tunes are lacking in quantity, but the quality is superior to John and Paul’s with the exception of John’s “Come Together ”. George’s material sounds like Lennon/McCartney with George singing them. That’s how good they are. Did Lennon/McCartney write these for George? Too bad George did not have more of these type of songs up his sleeve during his career, but George peaked and carried the album with his penned “Something ” and “Here Comes The Sun ”. I love a cappella version of “Because ” on the Love project. Lennon’s other tunes such as “I Want You” and his contribution to the medley falls short for me. Lennon’s heart was no longer into the Beatles and it shows, and to me, the medley is a bit overrated. It was a clever way to dispose a bunch of throw a way songs, but is it really as good the songs from Pepper or Revolver ? Ringo’s Octopus’s Garden is nicely produced and is a good example of what the Beatles can still do if they ALL contribute together. Paul’s other tunes fall flat for me. “Oh Darling” always sounds generic to me, and do not like Paul’s pseudo rocker voice. “Maxwell Silver Hammer” is interesting the first time through but lacks the charm and authenticity of some of Paul’s other novelty type songs.

Let It Be: (Paul- is number one)- Lets face it! Without Paul’s tunes, this album would have been a wreck. Paul had his best output for 1969 during the Let It Be Sessions. “Let It Be ”, “Get Back ”, “Long and Winding Road” are such huge hits and standards. Lennon’s best tune was “Across The Universe ” but was reworked from an early 1968 session. The song truly never received the effort from George Martin or Paul McCartney that it deserved. The rest of the material on the album just sounds sub-standard or under worked. The magic was fading. “One After 909 ” sounded uninspired. Paul uses his awful pseudo rocker voice again for “I’ve Got a Feeling”. The song sound generic and lacks Paul’s usually developed or well crafted melody, which is odd for Paul. “Dig A Pony ” and “Dig It ” is just John playing around without focus. “Two of Us” is just okay, but lacks real collaboration from the two of them. George is up to par with “For You Blue ” and “I Me Mine ”.