**** Arguably The Beatles’ most prolific (and one of their most beloved) albums, Abbey Road is an enjoyable collection from a veteran band of hitmakers reaching one last peak before heading separate ways. Rather than phoning it in, though, The Fab Four delivered an excellent set filled with hits, trippy ballads, and sunny harmonies without…
**** It’s not uncommon to read that Revolver is not only the greatest Beatles album, but by virtue is the greatest album of all time. Nonsense. While Revolver is a consistently great album that finds The Beatles really delving into the weird, drugged out psychoses of their minds, there’s no way an album with a…
**** Despite my rather substantial knowledge of them and their work, I often have a bit of a difficult time writing about The Beatles. On the one hand, they’re one of the greatest bands of all time with a rich catalog of great songs boasting a startling variety and development over the course of their…
**** Though The Beatles would go on to revolutionize the music industry with their later albums like Rubber Soul and Revolver, their debut LP is made up of much simpler Pop songs almost half of which are covers. Though many may prefer the diversity of their later work, I find Please Please Me‘s simplicity to be…
Though I listened through a number of full Beatles albums this week, the artist that truly stole my heart was Curtis Mayfield, who I’ve been re-discovering through My Morning Jacket guitarist Jim James’ 2010 playlist of his favorite songs from the underrated soul man. With two solo tracks (and another as a part of The…
Aerosmith has dominated my life over the course of the last week, but they aren’t the only artist I’ve been listening to. This week’s playlist highlights my two favorite Aerosmith songs ever written, but also a protest anthem for the ages, a Folk crooner I’d never heard before, and one of the most famous songs…
370. “All You Need is Love” – The Beatles This is a decent, hippie love song, but it is nowhere near the best that The Beatles have produced, much less one of the greatest songs ever. Burnes’ Turns: No Top 500 Consideration: No 369. “Killing Me Softly with His Song” – Roberta Flack This is…
400. “Baby I Need Your Loving” – Four Tops The Four Tops are consistently one of those bands that are right on my fence between good but forgettable and excellent and this song is no exception. It’s certainly catchy and soulful, and I can certainly understand the appeal, but is it really one of the…
**** When I first prepared to listen to The White Album nearly a year ago, I fully expected to hate it. I have a strange sort of relationship with The Beatles; they’re one of my favorite bands and stir up a rather broad spectrum of emotions in me when I listen to them. They’re one…
**** There was a golden triangle of influence in the mid-’60s as The Beatles began their transition from Pop superstars to Psychadelic weirdos changing music forever in the process. It began with Rubber Soul which blew the minds of pretty much everybody who heard it in 1965, not the least of which was Brian Wilson, the…
The Soundtrack Online 