Endlessly garlanded and accompanied by fanfare for close to six decades, The Beatles can seem more like an institution than a rock ‘n’ roll band. But strip away the context. Shake off the fog of hyperbole. Allow yourself to revisit The Beatles as a band rather than as a cultural phenomenon, and you’ll be reminded just how much attitude, wit, sweat, eloquence, melody and – perhaps above all – sheer diversity John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr packed into their short run together.
It’s reasonable to say you hate some Beatles songs, even whole albums. Contrary to popular opinion, the Fabs were never perfect. Criminally overplayed, crushingly ubiquitous and occasionally twee (revisit Yellow Submarine and tell us it doesn’t set your teeth on edge): you could accuse them of all of this and more. But to claim there’s nothing in their staggeringly eclectic catalogue that moves you is to admit you’re bored with music itself.
In an age when most popular performers were still parroting the words of the Brill Building’s songwriters, The Beatles (with an honourable mention to Bob Dylan) led the charge for any band since who has ever taken the reins of their art, set out to challenge the physical, spiritual and political world around them, and dared to evolve in the face of commercial pressure to remain the same.
The Beatles managed all that, in a whip-smart eight years, and left us with a catalogue of material whose peaks simply tower over the competition. Here, then, are the greatest albums by The Beatles, and by logical extension, some of the greatest albums ever to fly the flag of rock’n’roll.
