Do you have a favorite Beatles Album?

Hello to Jung Roe!  I have seen you all over the MLT Facebook page, but do not know if I have ever introduced myself.  I’m MLT2 Michael, and it is nice to finally “meet” you!

I know the answer to your question, but I know that you wish to hear from Lisa or Mona themselves for the official answer.  As of a couple years ago, they had two Beatles’ albums that were tied for their fave.  One of them is also my fave Beatles’ album and it is in my TOP 5 ALBUMS of ALL-TIME along with the 2012 and 2017 MLT original albums and 2 by The Moody Blues from the early 70’s.

What do you think, Jung Roe?  There is NO ONE to whom we can favorably compare to the MonaLisa Twins, eh?  They are INCREDIBLE and AMAZING and every other superlative word we can come up with for them!!!  <3 <3

Hi Jung and Mike. This is no spoiler as I have heard the Twins mention it in one of their videos so I don’t think they’ll mind me mentioning it here. Obviously they will correct me if I’m wrong or their favourite has changed.

’Rubber Soul’ and ‘Revolver’. I can’t wait for their next cover from Revolver and I hope it is ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ which my money is on owing to the Twins affinity with birds (and also bats now I believe). Probably my two favourite albums too, although I also love the ‘White Album’. Well actually I love all their albums.

I wonder if it would be feasible for MLT Club Members to fund MLT to do a cover of both albums, and at Abbey Road studios. Much more costly than their home studio productions unfortunately though! We could have a competition to decide what the cover album titles should be. Costly to produce with studio hiring as I stated but imagine the publicity that could be generated for them!

The Beatles recorded their first album at Abbey Road in one day (13 hours duration) so I’m confident M&Ls engineering guru papa could have them primed to get in and out of the studio in a couple of days! All that editing and post production stuff that record producers do could be done at home. Pardon my ignorance about the technical stuff, I don’t know much about this side of the music business. Perhaps there’s another behind the scenes video option to take us through the full production process.

Jus a thought!

By the way, can you think of any songs the Beatles have done that have bats in them? I’m not envisaging them cover ‘Bat Out of Hell’ either!

Howard

Howard,

Nobody loves The Beatles more than I do and nobody loves Revolver more than I do but I’m more than happy with the Beatles and More projects. This takes advantage of their ability to do wonderful covers of extraordinary songs and it allows them to choose songs based on what they like and what they think they can do especially well.
I am totally opposed to them taking the time to do remakes of an entire album- I would much rather see them take the time to write and record the successor to Orange.  The Beatles are the greatest musical phenomenon since Beethoven. No matter how much Richard Wagner admired Beethoven, to make his own musical mark required that he go his own way. If we believe Mona and Lisa Wagner are as talented as we say- let’s encourage them to write their own music, to make their own great records, to take their own huge chances, to have their own occasional flops so that when they call it a career, they can have their own place in musical history.

Also, with how well they make records from their personal studio, why in the world do they need to record at Abbey Road? I think we need to be careful to give the Twins all the room they need to be themselves and not just a band that does incredible covers of the Beatles.

But you know, my friend- as different as our opinions are on this- as you have said so eloquently, the Wagner’s know far better than we do and will make the decisions that are right for them.

Thanks for sharing Tim. Don’t take my suggestion too seriously though. Just one of those throw it out there ideas of mine I knew/expected (and hoped) would attract some debate. We are similar in many ways for that and I knew my suggestion was unrealistic but just wanted to show my appreciation for those two albums. As far as ‘why in the world would they need to record at Abbey Road’? Well that was just me speaking from a marketing point of view thinking of all the free publicity that could eventuate and also the reason for my suggestion that some costs be funded by the MLT Club. I also suggested that most of the work (editing etc) could be completed at their home studio.

Don’t worry, as also expressed by others, and myself previously, I much prefer their time and finances be devoted to their original material.

And as for that bipolar thing, you are certainly not alone and we get to appreciate the many diverse thoughts of yours that emanate from both sides of the polar spectrum!

In some ways I feel you are very fortunate, as being just your common, garden variety depressive, I only get to experience the lows and not the many highs that you would. I can only dream of being bi-polar. Keep those thoughts coming and don’t be afraid to question any of my ideas that seem to be a little off target. You may find this hard to believe Tim, but I’m not perfect! LOL!!

Hi all;

Not that I would answer for them……but I think we can find out more about each other as well if we answer this question.  Also, I wonder if anyone else makes a distinction between favorite song/album and best.  For example, my favorite Beatles song is one of the songs that started it all, i.e., “She Loves You”.  I remember RnR before the Beatles and I actually have 45s for songs like “Hey Little Cobra” and “Sugar Shack”.  Those are not necessarily bad songs but when I heard “She Loves You”, it was a musical style that I had never heard previously.

One little sidetrack…….I was listening to the Beatles channel on Sirius and periodically they have shows that last a half hour to an hour and on one show they were discussing why the Beatles were so different and made it so big in the US.  One theory was that the state of US RnR was just kinda floundering around for the following reasons:  1) Elvis had gone to the army and when he came back he started to make the same movie over and over with one song from each movie that was a hit and each song was following the same formula; 2) Buddy Holly died in 1959 from the plane crash and it took away a major creative force from US RnR; 3) Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash (I know, he is mostly country) were facing either prison terms or were “blackballed” for various reasons; 4) In the music industry’s hope to recreate success, they were producing the Elvis clone’s (a few Frankies and others), but Elvis was unique.  So, enter the Beatles and other English groups who took the RnR and R and B music from the US and put their spin on it.  We are still feeling the effects of that new spin today.  And to me “She Loves You” was the first one that sounded so different from what was in the US just prior to 1964.

OK.….so “She Loves You” is my favorite Beatles song but I believe their best song is “A Day In The Life”.   I have distinct memories of listening to ADITL the first time on the old stereo. It was the last song on Sgt. Peppers and after taking all of the prior songs in, they top it with ADITL.

OK…the same thing happens to albums with me.  I cannot really pick a favorite.  It falls somewhere from A Hard Day’s Night album through Revolver.  In the States we have an extra album in that mix that allowed Capitol to “true up” the changing of songs on the albums in the US vs. the rest of the world (Yesterday and Today) and I would count Yesterday and Today as a potential favorite.  But, to me the Beatles’ best album is Sgt. Peppers.

I’d like to hear others’ thoughts on best versus favorite and what is their favorite/best if you have the time.  Mike

Mike, I always mention 4 albums as my favorite/ the best. Sgt. Pepper is the greatest album ever (by the Beatles and everybody else) but sounded a little dated and overproduced mostly because it was done on 4 tracks and involved a lot more production than Revolver. and then they released the deluxe, remixed version and it’s slipped back into number 2 on my list of favorites. Revolver is the second greatest album ever and my 3rd personal favorite. The White Album is the 3rd greatest album ever (and maybe we can argue Pet Sounds, Blonde on Blonde, Dark Side of the Moon and some other great albums by other artists) and currently my 4th favorite. My personal favorite is Abbey Road though on the greatness scale I rank it behind the first 3. I don’t think it had quite the influence those other albums had but I love every track so much other than Maxwell. The most overrated Beatles album to me is Rubber Soul. I prefer the American version that has a more folk rock feel to it but I think some of the compositions are fairly weak- Wait, Run For Your Life, It’s Only Love- by Beatles standards I find them very uninspired. I much prefer Help to Rubber Soul.

You’re not going to fool me, Howard with that I’m not perfect thing. I know better, my friend!

Correct Jung, and ‘Sargeant Peppers’ sent Brian Wilson to his sand pit for quite a while. He never really recovered and they had to replace him in their touring band (Glen Campbell joined for a while). ‘Rubber Soul’ was significant as it was a departure from the albums they were producing while touring extensively. With ‘Rubber Soul’ they spent more time in the studio experimenting. I admit it hasn’t held up as well as ‘Revolver’ and the ‘White Album’, but still a very significant album in my opinion.

As for my favourite album and what I consider their best, well that keeps changing for me. One day it could be ‘Revolver’ while another day it could be the ‘White Album’ or ‘Abbey Road’. Sometimes it just depends on my mood or perhaps the way the stars are aligned!

Good call Jung. A big pity it was so competitive for him. I blame his father who put unreasonable demands and expectations on his sons. Also sold them out by selling their music cheaply without their knowledge at the time. If Brian was just able to focus on his work without worrying about what other people were doing I’m sure his contribution would have been much more significant.

I saw him live a couple of years ago at our annual Byron Bay Blues Festival. Graham Nash was also there and the original Fleetwood Mac lineup with a brilliant singer/lead guitarist in place of the awesome Pete Green.

I love the Beach Boys but personally, I believe the competition between them and The Beatles is pretty overrated. The Beach Boys were a terrific band- The Beatles were immortals. Brian Wilson was an awesome talent. John and Paul were the two most talented guys of a generation brimming with talent.
There are very few guys who continue to have impact on the music scene beyond a 5 or 6 year run and I think the tragedy of Brian lies more in how drugs, mental illness and a greedy therapist took away many good years of his life rather than it stole away his chance to make a perfect album. Pet Sounds is a practically perfect album anyway so mission accomplished. Just my opinion.