The Phenomenal Fab Four

The Beatles came on the scene when they were most needed by the world of rock and roll. With their unusual hairstyles, awesome music, and popularity they quickly became known as The Fab Four. However, it seemed that as quickly as they skyrocketed to fame they were also changing in many different ways and even though you would expect that a band like this would have kept on rockin' they disbanded after releasing 12 albums. But with all the compilations and other special releases, it was enough to make them legends and very successful on their solo musical journeys.

They were Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr who came together in 1960 in Liverpool, England to form the English rock band The Beatles.

Their debut album was Please Please Me with 14 songs and a mix of both original material credited to Lennon-McCarthy and cover songs. Two singles were released first “Love Me Do” and the title track. Both songs were written by Lennon-McCarthy. The album stayed in the Top Ten for over a year in the UK. This album is at number 39 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

With the Beatles, the second album was released in 1963. The album included seven songs by Lennon-McCarthy, the first recorded solo composition by George Harrison “Don’t Bother Me”, and six covers of rock and roll and Motown R&B hits. A non-album single “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was released. In the US the group’s first two albums released on Capitol Records were Meet the Beatles and The Beatles’ Second Album. This album is at number 420 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The third album was A Hard Day’s Night released in 1964. These were songs from the soundtrack to the band’s film of the same name. All 13 tracks were written by Lennon-McCarthy. The two singles released were the title track and “Can’t Buy Me Love”.

Beatles for Sale was the fourth album to come out the same year. In North America, it was released as Beatles ’65. The originally released album became available in the US in 1987. This included a non-album single “I Feel Fine”. Eight tracks on this album were original compositions and the rest were cover versions of various artists. The band’s cover version of Chuck Berry’s “Rock and Roll Music” topped the singles chart. The song “Eight Days a Week” was omitted from the US version of the album but became The Beatles’ seventh number one hit in the US and was released as a single in the US in 1965.

The Beatles’ fifth album Help! was the soundtrack to their film of the same name. There were 14 songs and the two singles released were the title track and “Ticket to Ride”. The second side of the album included “Yesterday” which became the most-covered song ever written. On this album, The Beatles played around with musical sounds including a flute section in “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” and a string quartet in “Yesterday”. The album was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry BPI in 1994.

Rubber Soul the sixth album came out in 1965 and included a non-album double A-side single “Day Tripper”/”We Can Work It Out”. The North American version on Capitol Records had ten of the fourteen songs and two tracks that were withheld from the album Help! This album was referred to as a folk rock album and incorporated a mix of pop, soul, and folk musical styles. Showing their musical talents instrumentation was sitar, harmonium and fuzz bass. Among the popular songs from the album were “Michelle” and “In My Life”. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at number five on their 2012 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2013 the BPI certified it Platinum and in the US it was certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA.

In 1966 The Beatles came out with their seventh album Revolver. The album came with a double A-side single “Eleanor Rigby”/ “Yellow Submarine”. This album was their final recording project before retiring as live performers. This was a different kind of album with tracks like “Tomorrow Never Knows” incorporating heavy Indian drone and “I Love You To”, a foray into Hindustani classical music. From this came a non-album single “Paperback Writer”. In the UK the album had 14 tracks and in the US 11 tracks. The release of the album coincided with their final concert tour. Revolver spent seven weeks at the top of the UK Record Retailer chart and six weeks at the top of the US Billboard Top LPs chart.

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was the eighth album released in 1967. At the end of August 1966, The Beatles had retired from touring. From this album came a double A-side single “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane”. The album is considered one of the first art rock LPs and a progenitor to progressive rock. There were many different kinds of sound effects and tape manipulation as could be heard on “Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds’, “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!”, and “A Day in the Life”. The album spent 27 weeks at number one on the Record Retailer chart in the UK and at number one for 15 weeks on the Billboard Top LPs chart. In 1968 four Grammy Awards were won among them Album of the Year and was the first rock album to receive this honor. The album was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. It remains one of the best-selling albums of all time.

The Beatles or the White Album was the ninth album to be released and is the only double album by The Beatles. It came out in 1968. The album included 30 songs of which 19 were written during March and April of 1968 at a Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India. At the recording sessions, at EMI Studios in London, John Lennon already had his new partner, Yoko Ono. For two weeks in August Ringo Starr left the band and tensions just grew. Issued on a single were “Hey Jude” and “Revolution”. This is also the album that includes one of their memorable songs “Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da. The RIAA certified this album 24x Platinum. To celebrate its 50th anniversary a remixed and expanded edition of the White Album was released in 2018.

With their tenth album, The Beatles took us on a Yellow Submarine, released in 1969. It was the soundtrack to an animated film of the same name. The album included six songs by the band, among them four new songs and the previously released “Yellow Submarine” and “All You Need is Love”. The album reached the Top 5 in both the UK and the US. Another version of this album Yellow Submarine Songtrack was released on the film’s 30th anniversary.

Abbey Road was the eleventh album and the last album they started recording, even though their last album was Let It Be and was completed before the breakup. This album was released in 1969. It came with a double A-side single “Something”/”Come Together”. The musical styles incorporated in this album are rock, pop, blues, and progressive rock. Two Harrison songs are “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun”. The cover of the album featuring The Beatles walking across a zebra crossing outside Abbey Road Studios has become one of the most famous and imitated in recorded music history.

The twelfth and final album by The Beatles was Let It Be and was released in 1970. It came out almost a month after the band’s public break-up. The album went on to top the charts in both the UK and US. It is considered to be one of the most controversial rock albums in history. Singles from the album were the lead single “Get Back”, the title track, and “The Long and Winding Road”. A documentary film of the same name was released. There was also the eight-hour documentary series “The Beatles: Get Back” covering the January 1969 sessions and their rooftop concert.

For The Fab Four from start to finish it had been a long and winding road to take. Let us not forget when they took us on a Magical Mystery Tour. This was released as a double EP in the UK and an LP in the US. It was the soundtrack to the TV film of the same name in 1967. Among the songs were the title track, “The Fool on the Hill”, “I Am a Walrus”, and “Hello Goodbye”. The album topped the Billboard Top LPs chart in the US for eight weeks.