The best three songs in a row on a Beatles album

Here's the final list, untouched by tedious explanation and open to revision. It brings this absurdly drawn-out series to a close.

Worst to best:
13) "Hey Bulldog," "It's All Too Much," and "All You Need Is Love" (from Yellow Submarine)

12) "Ask Me Why," "Please Please Me," and "Love Me Do" (from Please Please Me)

11) "No Reply," "I'm a Loser," and "Baby's in Black" (from Beatles for Sale)

10) "A Hard Day's Night," "I Should Have Known Better," and "If I Fell" (from A Hard Day's Night)

9) "Two of Us," "Dig a Pony," and "Across the Universe" (from Let It Be)

8) "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "Here Comes the Sun," and "Because" (from Abbey Road)

7) "I've Just Seen a Face," "Yesterday," and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" (from Help!)

6) "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "With a Little Help from My Friends," and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)

5) "It Won't Be Long," "All I've Got to Do," and "All My Loving" (from With The Beatles)

4) "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," "Martha My Dear," and "I'm So Tired" (from The Beatles)

3) "I Am the Walrus," "Hello, Goodbye," and "Strawberry Fields Forever" (from Magical Mystery Tour)

2) "Girl," "I'm Looking Through You," and "In My Life" (from Rubber Soul)

1) "Taxman," "Eleanor Rigby," and "I'm Only Sleeping" (from Revolver)

Done.

Best three songs in a row - Pt. 13

Parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve.

Album: Let It Be
Three songs: "Two of Us," "Dig a Pony," and "Across the Universe"
Comments: If pressed, I would submit Let It Be as the one Beatles album I wish they hadn't released. I suspect there are many others who also feel this way. And why is it we do? The reasons are sundry. Consider the famously fraught and cheerless recording sessions that spawned the album. As captured on Michael Lindsay-Hogg's Let It Be film, those early months of 1969 represent something close to the nadir of Beatles relations. Despite Paul's dogged enthusiasm for the Get Back project, which was supposed to document the band as a recording band and maybe even bring about a live performance, the four of them were just not on the same page and ended up torturing themselves, even leading to George's (temporary) departure from the group. It wasn't pretty. I question if there's a compelling argument to be made that The Beatles' legacy would be less rich or engrossing without the album haunted by all of this intra-band acrimony.

Second and of greater importance: By Beatles standards, the album just isn't very good. It was supposed to mark a return to the group's non-studio-focused, rock 'n' roll roots, but that was only partially realized (Phil Spector had a hand in this, much to Paul's chagrin). Along with throwback outings like "One After 909" and "Get Back," there are a number of other genres on display - folk, psychedelic pop, sentimental balladry, and blues -, the diversity of which gives the album an uneven feel. Of course, this stylistic variety would probably count in its favor if the individual songs were of a higher quality. But too many of them are merely good, not great. I'm thinking of "Dig a Pony," "Across the Universe," "I've Got a Feeling," "For You Blue," and even the title track, as beloved as it is. Also, "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae," both of which clock in at under a minute, have always struck me as needless. They're interruptions, not songs.

Third, all of the concerns above are amplified by the fact that, though Abbey Road was recorded later, Let It Be is the final album The Beatles released; so on some level, it has to count as their parting gift to the world. This is unfortunate. What band (or fan of that band) would want their official canon to close on a moment known for its bitterness and strife and (in my opinion) mediocrity? Though my take on the matter is fluid, on some days I'd much prefer if Let It Be had never been issued as a proper album, but instead had existed in singles, bootlegs, anthologies, and the like until 2003 when it received the "naked" treatment. It still wouldn't be official, but it would likely be easier to appreciate.

In short, Let It Be is a lesser album in The Beatles' body of work. As I mentioned earlier, the problem is not that it's overrun with poor songs; rather, weighed down by expectations that only The Beatles could elicit, its half-dozen or so good-to-pretty-good songs just don't cut it. What it needs is several more classics (oh "Don't Let Me Down," where are you?), several more entries on par with, or at least much closer to, "Two of Us," the album's warm and graceful highpoint.

"Two of Us" is also the album opener, and (switching gears) it's where I started in my search for the 3BR (only now, with The Beatles' final release, am I using abbreviations). Its greatness helped to make the process a quick one. The opening three songs - "Two," "Dig a Pony," and "Across the Universe" - form an able contingent. "Two of Us" is disarmingly tender and so much more; the sonically taut "Pony" combines nonsensical lyrics and John's passion for Yoko to interesting effect; and, though overly lush, "Across the Universe" is a beaming kaleidoscope of sound and imagery.

After scanning the track listing and sifting through the various medium lights, I found only one other threesome that seemed like it could contend: "The Long and Winding Road," "For You Blue," and "Get Back." While solid, it doesn't boast anything that could offset the gentle potency of "Two of Us."

Only one post left....

Best three songs in a row - Pt. 12

Parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and eleven.

Album: Abbey Road
Three songs: "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "Here Comes the Sun," and "Because"
Comments: The last album that The Beatles recorded but their penultimate release, Abbey Road stands as one of the group's best and most distinct offerings. A majority of the time, it's also my personal favorite. Allow me to quote myself:

Abbey Road is just so rewarding on multiple levels. It boasts outstanding individual tracks: "Something," "Here Comes the Sun," "Because," "You Never Give Me Your Money," etc. And the Side Two song cycle? Stunningly inventive, richly whimsical, and tastefully indulgent, it's one of pop music's singular creations. Together, all of this music results in an album of impeccable tone and feel, even as it's full of striking contrasts as well. It has a unity and completeness that its free-flowing, capricious sounds would seem to belie. It's an album of technical artistry and thick pop pleasure. It feels both casually and meticulously crafted. And it's a classic, but one that rarely comes off like it's trying to attain that status.

This album, not Let It Be, is The Beatles' swan song, and I don't think they could've made a better one. For whatever reason, it's such a pleasure in ways that other Beatles albums just aren't.

As far as its best three songs in a row are concerned, you've already seen what I decided on: "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "Here Comes the Sun," and "Because." My thinking followed these lines: The Side Two medley is what first comes to mind when I reflect on Abbey Road. But because it's largely made up of either very short songs or song snippets, it didn't factor much into my consideration of the best three in a row. With the exception of the medley opener, "You Never Give Me Your Money," those songs need each other to flourish. Yes, "Mean Mr. Mustard" makes for a fine time on its own, but how much more do we value it because of the way "Sun King" snugly gives birth to it? Or because of how effectively it pairs with "Polythene Pam?" The same could be said for "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window," "Golden Slumbers," "The End," etc. This, then, shifted my focus to Abbey Road's first nine tracks, from "Come Together" through "You Never Give Me Your Money."

Next thought: If any song in that stretch but "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" had followed "Come Together" and "Something," then those three would've come out on top. Both "Come Together" and "Something" are classics, the former so playfully hip and the latter so delicately emotive (and compellingly vague). As it is, "Hammer" - a fun but exceptionally lightweight number - was too much of a burden on the other two. From there, after dismissing "Oh! Darling" and "Octopus's Garden," I narrowed it down to a four-song set: "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "Here Comes the Sun," "Because," and "You Never Give Me Your Money."

Now all four of these range from very good to great. 1) Long and full of obsessive repetition, "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is suffused with John's burning desire for Yoko, and both George's thickly overdubbed guitar part and Paul's work on the bass are top-notch; 2) I've never heard or read anyone venture an ill-word about "Here Comes the Sun," George's balmy daydream of a song. 3) The treated harmonies on "Because" make for the most hypnotic moments in The Beatles' catalogue; and 4) The variety of tones and emotions that Paul brings to bear on "Money" really elevates the song, and that romping piano part is irresistible.

Having to decide between "I Want You" and "Money" to complete the trio, I went with the former. What an absorbingly weird song it is. As noted on Wikipedia:

The song is an unusual Beatles composition for a variety of reasons, namely its length (nearly eight minutes), small number of lyrics (only fourteen different words are sung), three-minute descent through the same repeated guitar chords (a similar arpeggiated figure appears in another Lennon contribution to the album, "Because" as well as McCartney's "Oh! Darling"), and abrupt ending.

Thus the matter was settled.

Best three songs in a row - Pt. 11

Parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten.

Album: Yellow Submarine
Three songs: "Hey Bulldog," "It's All Too Much," and "All You Need Is Love"
Comments: Despite its abundance of tracks, I didn't struggle to nail down The White Album's best three in a row. In contrast, there were only six songs to choose from on Yellow Submarine (side two consists of a symphonic score arranged by George Martin), and for a while I found myself unable to commit one way or another. Curious, huh? The problem was that, relatively speaking, the gap in song quality between the album's best and worst track isn't very wide. Though Yellow Submarine is the most negligible record in The Beatles' canon, all of its songs hold their own, ranging from fluffy but solidly enjoyable to inventive and hugely enjoyable. Thus it took me a bit to establish a best-to-worst order. All of this for Yellow Submarine?

I started under the assumption that "All You Need Is Love" was the finest of the lot, but this soon didn't feel right. I think I was mistaking its enduringly iconic status for greatness. In the end, it's little more than pleasant and tuneful (cheeringly so, I should add). Disabused of that notion, I dropped "Love" down a couple of spots and elevated the strutting, rollicking "Hey Bulldog" to the top. After some hemming-and-hawing and tinkering, this is what my list ended up looking like: 1) "Hey Bulldog" 2) "It's All Too Much 3) "All You Need Is Love" 4) "All Together Now" 5) "Only a Northern Song" 6) "Yellow Submarine." Conveniently, the top three come right in a row on the album.

About them ... "Bulldog" is all panache and aplomb, easily one of The Beatles' most fun songs; "It's All Too Much" achieves a deft blend of psychedelia and rock; and "Love" is exactly as I described it above. The rest of the album is either a bit too light and sugary (e.g., the title track and "All Together Now") or clever but awkward (e.g., "Only a Northern Song). But again, there isn't an outright dud among the six, which tripped me up in a way that no previous Beatles album had.

Best three songs in a row - Pt. 10

Parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine:

Album: The Beatles (aka The White Album)
Three songs: "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," "Martha My Dear," and "I'm So Tired"
Comments: One might suspect that, regarding my mission with these posts, The White Album would present some difficulties. After all, it's long and sprawling, needing 30 songs and four sides to get from start to finish. That's a wealth of room for strong stretches of music. And most Beatles fans would agree that, bloat and all, it is a very rewarding album, even uniquely so. A staple observation from White Album reviews is that, on some level, the double LP benefits from its excesses and indulgences; they're a source of charm. And who could really imagine the experience of The White Album without all those animal songs, or with "Revolution 1" but not "Revolution 9?" We accept it as it is and enjoy it as it is.

That doesn't mean we enjoy the whole of it, though. It's an inescapable fact that not all of The White Album's oddities and affected amusements (many of them essentially solo compositions, a product of the band's disunity) are very satisfying, and some are downright masturbatory. When you combine these songs - the bad and the ugly - with the good, it can make for uneven listening. For instance, disc one tracks like "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," Wild Honey Pie," "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill," and "Piggies" often just seem to be in the way, disrupting the momentum whipped up by the many outstanding entries around them. Buried amidst the 17 songs of that disc is an efficiently masterful album; what The Beatles left for us was something longer and perhaps more memorable and interesting, but also eccentric to a fault. Conversely, disc two, which for the most part lacks highlights on par with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," and "Martha My Dear," could not function well on its own. In a way, it feeds off the strength of disc one. Though I really dig songs like "Sexy Sadie," "Long, Long, Long," and "Cry Baby Cry" the only true classic there may be Paul's blistering, bludgeoning "Helter Skelter."

These are some of the thoughts that occupied me as I started to consider The White Album's three best in a row; and in the end, they helped make my task fairly easy. Eliminating all of disc two right off the bat obviously narrowed the field quite a bit. Its sole contender, "Sexy Sadie"-"Helter Skelter"-"Long, Long, Long," isn't without substantial merit, but it wasn't hard to see that some combination of songs on disc one would prove superior. Again, disc one is the better of the two, boasting a handful of classics and some very solid second-tier tracks. For my purposes, it didn't hurt that three of its lesser songs - "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "Wild Honey Pie," and "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" - come one after the other. Mind you, they still have a disruptive presence, but it's not broadly distributed. Pushing them to the side left these in the running: "Back in the U.S.S.R"-"Dear Prudence"-"Glass Onion" and then everything from "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" to "Julia," the concluding track of disc one. In other words, a bevy of superlative music remained. But that didn't mean that I struggled to arrive at my pick.

First of all, when you look at the songs that populate disc one, you find that "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" - a song so very much and only itself - is just staring at you, not letting you even entertain its exclusion. It's the anchor of tracks 1-17 and possibly the best song on all of The White Album. Critically, it's also surrounded by other high-caliber tunes. George's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" precedes; Paul's "Martha My Dear" follows; and "I'm So Tired," which on some days is my favorite Beatles song period, comes after the latter. That's possibly the best four-song stretch in the hallowed discography under discussion. But keeping it to three meant deciding between "Weeps" and "Tired." An earnest, darkly balladic guitar-burner versus a piquant, small-bore cry for sanity. Acknowledging my bias, I still went with "Tired." The way it captures John in a particular moment and in a particular state of mind is absorbing. And that vocal, which "caresses and crackles, soothes and snarls," stands as one of his finest.

Thus, "Happiness"-"Martha"-"Tired" emerged from that foursome, and it took the prize over other combinations like "U.S.S.R."-"Prudence"-"Onion" and "Dear"-"Tired"-"Blackbird." Though I wrote at length about it, the choice (again) struck me as the obvious one.

Best three songs in a row - Pt. 9

Resuming the conversation after another long and regrettable pause....

Parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight.

Album: Magical Mystery Tour
Three songs: "I Am the Walrus," "Hello, Goodbye," and "Strawberry Fields Forever"
Comments: I'll start with this disclaimer - though the Magical Mystery Tour LP is an artificial creation, its track listing consisting of the MMT EP and some non-album singles that Capitol Records decided to add on, I'm still going to approach it as I have the other albums. The Beatles' disapproval of the LP format won't factor into my thought process; I'm just following the official canon. End of disclaimer.

On some days, maybe even most, MMT is more purely enjoyable than Pepper. Song-wise, it has greater consistency from start to finish, and it doesn't bear the weight of aspirational Significance that saddles its predecessor. It feels like a loose and breezy victory lap, not needing to prove anything but certain that it's great all the same. The Beatles do indeed sound self-assured and commanding here. Carried over from Pepper, there's a lot of studio experimentation at work, which results in some career highlights like "I Am the Walrus" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" (both are trippy, and both are courtesy of John, the self-proclaimed Rock 'n' Roller). Paul matches "Fields" with his own nostalgia tour, "Penny Lane" and also serves up "Your Mother Should Know," another album standout and Tour's answer to "When I'm Sixty-Four." Lastly, though it's his sole contribution, George's "Blue Jay Way" represents one of his finest forays into psychedelia.

To put it succinctly, Magical Mystery Tour is loaded with terrific songs. In thinking about the three best in a row, I had to start with "I Am the Walrus," the album's high point and a song both bombastic and absorbing. From there, you see that "Strawberry Fields Forever" is nearby, with "Hello, Goodbye" separating the two. Now "Hello, Goodbye" doesn't offer much to speak of, but it's pleasant fluff, and the outro is killer. This triumvirate - "Walrus"-"Hello"-"Fields" - won out over the other contender, "Hello"-"Fields"-"Lane," by virtue of "Walrus" being a cut or two above "Lane."

It's a tribute to the overall strength of Magical Mystery Tour that it features a couple of songs superior to the great "Penny Lane." Underrated album in my opinion.

Best three songs in a row - Pt. 8

Parts one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven.

Album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Three songs: The title track, "With a Little Help from My Friends," and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
Comments: For the second straight time, an album's opening three tracks proved to be the worthiest. The great tyranny that Help and Rubber Soul worked against has resurrected itself. Injustice reigns!

Here's how I thought through Pepper: Yes, it's a classic. And yes, it's an album that I usually enjoy quite a lot. But sometimes when I listen to it, a nagging and very specific sense of dissatisfaction sets in. What happens on these occasions is this: the songs that follow the opening trio - "Getting Better" to the reprise - all strike me as digressions and detours along the way to "A Day in the Life," the album's untouchable capstone. They seem frivolous and indulgent (some of them often do, in fact, because they are), existing to pass the time, distract, and amuse, all while the extraordinary payoff of the finale lies in wait. "Getting Better" just gambols about, while "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" serves as a parochial sideshow (apropos its subject matter).

Are these characterizations fair? Not entirely. Am I painting with overly broad strokes? Yes. There are some superior songs in that stretch. Delicate and sensitive, "She's Leaving Home" boasts one of Paul and John's most mature lyrics, not to mention a gorgeous string arrangement; I'll always be an unabashed apologist for "When I'm Sixty-Four,"* which I think shows that Paul's predilection for the antiquated could have a treacly charm; and "Lovely Rita" is just a hoot. Because of the heated backlash that's arisen in recent decades against Pepper, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that it's a wonderful record. The problem is that the influence it's exerted on pop music far outstrips how good it is on a song-by-song basis.

As I alluded to, tracks four through twelve (or maybe we should just cut the reprise from the discussion and say, "through 'Good Morning Good Morning'"), that is, the heart of the album and then some, offer a mixed bag, and drag Pepper down to a certain degree. And, returning to the subject of this post, three great songs in a row are hard to come by in a mixed bag. Thus the combination of the title track, "Friends," and "Lucy" presented the obvious choice. They're classics, and you don't need me to explain why.**

* - I've long thought there are two kinds of Beatles fans: those who celebrate "When I'm Sixty-Four" and those who emphatically do not.

** - I made it through the main body of this post without once using the phrase, "concept album."

Best three songs in a row - Pt. 7

Parts one, two, three, four, five, and six.

Album: Revolver
Three songs: "Taxman," "Eleanor Rigby," and "I'm Only Sleeping"
Comments: Revolver was the album that first led me to consider the matter of the Best Three Songs in a Row on a Beatles record. Specifically, it was the bundled greatness of "Taxman," "Eleanor Rigby," and "I'm Only Sleeping" that caught my attention, birthing this series.

Only songs of lasting excellence could manage to stand out on Revolver, The Beatles' seventh album and the one that has, in the minds of many pop critics, overtaken Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as the group's high-water mark (the line on the latter being that it's sonically overworked and too provincial). Indeed. Revolver is a masterpiece, technically innovative but not indulgent and lyrically varied but not ponderous. To no surprise (based on that description), it's studded with top-shelf individual songs, like the ones in question, "Here, There and Everywhere, "For No One," and "Tomorrow Never Knows."

The opening trio really is just superb. "Taxman," George's sardonic fulmination against the British government's gouging ways, is lean, mean rock 'n' roll. I've always enjoyed how Paul's scratchy guitar solo seems to let loose the same frustration that is animating George's lyric. Next comes one of Paul's defining moments: The orchestrally-driven and hauntingly detailed "Eleanor Rigby" shows Macca moving beyond straight pop and into the realm of literary character sketches and string octets. It was a step forward for both him and The Beatles as a whole. Finally, allow me to quote myself in regards to the third track of the trio: "... I've never been able to shake the woozy, narcotic spell of John's 'I'm Only Sleeping.' Few songs have ever matched story and sound so fittingly and brilliantly."

One classic from George, one classic from Paul, and classic one from John - it's a special succession of songs, unmatched on Revolver. If you're curious what trio came in second, I'd probably say "I'm Only Sleeping," "Love You To," and "Here, There and Everywhere." What an album.

Best three songs in a row - Pt. 6

Here are the other installments: one, two, three, four, and five.

Album: Rubber Soul
Three songs: "Girl," "I'm Looking Through You," and "In My Life"
Comments: As I observed in Friday's post about Help!, John was the driving creative force on Rubber Soul. By late 1965, he had achieved an utterly dominant form, possibly the peak of his songwriting abilities. Just consider that he was responsible for Rubber Soul's three best offerings: "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," "Girl," and "In My Life," (and though I find it indulgent and mediocre, "Nowhere Man" is another Lennon original that many have cited as adding to the album's bountiful sonic riches). Vivid and sophisticated, these three songs also double as some of the strongest output of John's career. If you add in "Run For Your Life," however misogynist it may be, that gives John ownership of four out of the top five or six songs on Rubber Soul. Again, dominance.

Conversely, Paul lagged, failing to capitalize on the creative momentum he had built up earlier in 1965 with "I've Just Seen a Face" and "Yesterday." Doubtless, he contributed a handful of solid tracks - "Drive My Car," "You Won't See Me," "Michelle," and "I'm Looking Through You" - but nothing that approached the dazzling heights John had attained. How strange it is to think that on Rubber Soul, The Beatles' game-changing album, Paul didn't helm any songs worthy of the group's pantheon. At times, in fact, he seems curiously absent from the whole affair (it's a mistaken feeling though; Paul did help John write some of those classics). Perhaps this underscores the notion floated by some that the first half of The Beatles' career (from the band's founding through Rubber Soul) belonged, stylistically, to John, while the rest (from Revolver to the end) was more a reflection of Paul's artistic leanings.

In any event, John unquestionably owned Rubber Soul, and my choice for the album's Best Three Songs in a Row exhibits this truth. Vocally, lyrically, musically, emotionally, and tonally, "Girl" is a wonder. Entrancing, even. It showcases how John, though often so demonstrative in the way he conducted himself, could dial it back in his music, delivering a very restrained treatment of the manifold frustrations brought on by a certain kind of lover. As I suggested here, "Girl" might be a top ten Beatles song. Next, there's "I'm Looking Through You," a reliably satisfying rocker that's most notable for the thick resentment Paul expresses in the lyric. He was singing to his then-girlfriend Jane Asher during what was a difficult patch in their relationship. It was possibly the first time in a Beatles song that Paul had given voice to genuine feelings of bitterness, and he does it convincingly. Finally, we come to "In My Life," the most emotionally powerful song in The Beatles' oeuvre and perhaps their flat-out best. Though there's long been controversy about who came up with the melody (John and Paul both claim to have), I and many others will always regard it as purely one of John's songs, his sonically lean and movingly heartfelt meditation on the past. Everything about it - the intro, John's vocal, the harmonies, George Martin's piano solo, Ringo's drum part, etc. - makes for a stunner. It's pop music at its finest and most enduring.

Did any other trio of songs catch my eye? The combination of "Drive My Car," "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," and "You Won't See Me" is better than most. But it's surely not on par with my final selection, book-ended as it is by two classics from John.

Best three songs in a row - Pt. 5

Parts one, two, three, and four. Below is part five.

Album: Help!
Three songs: "I've Just Seen a Face," "Yesterday," and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"
Comments: On Help!, there are five masterpieces: the title track, "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," "Ticket to Ride," "I've Just Seen a Face," and "Yesterday." It's an impressive array, and it made my task difficult. This was true especially because four of the five songs are located close to one another in the track order - "Help!" and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" have one song in between them, while "Yesterday" follows "I've Just Seen a Face" without any interruption. Logically, I started with these for my analysis. But trios are the name of the game, which meant that I also had to consider the merits of "The Night Before", as it is the song that bridges "Help!" and "Love Away." Then to make a threesome that incorporated the latter pair of songs, I had to choose between "Tell Me What You See" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy." Despite being a cover, "Lizzy" triumphed. Thus it came down to the opening three songs on Help! versus the closing three.

I ultimately went with the closing three based on this line of thinking: though "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" is probably the finest of the lot, both "I've Just Seen a Face" and "Yesterday" are very close behind, with each of them handily outpacing "Help!," the fourth best of the six songs. And then I judged "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," which plays the role of frenetic album send-off that "Twist and Shout" and "Money" had before it, as bringing more to bear than "The Night Before." Altogether, it's a stunningly strong collection of songs, foreshadowing the historic greatness that would come with the next album, Rubber Soul, and basically keep coming until the end of The Beatles' career.

I have to say more about "I've Just Seen a Face" and "Yesterday," both of which are stirring and strikingly personal compositions. Crucially, both were written by Paul, who through this stage of The Beatles' run had been significantly outshone by John and his more formidable songwriting prowess (just look at the previous entries in this series). On their own, both "Face" and "Yesterday" would've represented artistic breakthroughs for Paul. But together, they pointed to a major shift in The Beatles' established order, whereby Paul began writing at a level that approached John's and at a rate that exceeded his (it should be noted that John did not go quietly; in fact, he absolutely dominated Rubber Soul and still was more consistent, arguably, all the way to The End). What a contrasting pair "Face" and "Yesterday" are, the former brimming with affection-drunk enthusiasm and the latter full of introspective despair. Having one follow the other was a bold and interesting move, akin to rearranging the track order of Revolver so that "Here, There and Everywhere" and "For No One" were in succession. Those, I might add, are two more classics courtesy of Paul.

Another welcome change was breaking away from the tyranny of the opening three songs. That is, with the previous three albums that I examined, it was the initial trio of tracks that took the prize for Best Three Songs in a Row. The deviation on Help! suggests that The Beatles' albums were becoming deeper and more consistent. The second half of the '60s, of course, showed this to be true.

Best three songs in a row - Pt. 4

I apologize for the lengthy delay between the third and fourth installments in this series (that is, the one where we determine the best three-song stretch on a Beatles album). It's poor blogger etiquette to broach a topic that will take multiple posts to cover and then draw out the process. My excuse for last week's dearth of activity is that I was finishing up a class. Going forward, no excuse is valid, save a grave illness.

With that said, here are parts one, two, and three, followed by my analysis of Beatles For Sale.

Album: Beatles For Sale
Three songs: "No Reply," "I'm a Loser," and "Baby's in Black"
Comments: For the third time in a row, it's the opening threesome that proved the strongest. In this instance, it's also the most cheerless. As convention has it, Beatles For Sale is the exhausted and cynical moment from the early part of the Fabs' career (a career that had been celebrated up to that point for its joy and verve). In late 1964, The Beatles were burnt out, victims of their taxing routine of writing music, recording it, promoting it, and then touring, all done in rapid succession. It was a punishing status quo and begot one of the band's gloomier efforts, Beatles For Sale.

Gloomy and also spotty. Indeed, the level of inconsistency is such that, in my mind, the "Reply"-"Loser"-"Black" nexus faces no competition for the crown. But all three are good-to-great songs in their own right. I once wrote of "No Reply:" "Fueled by the surges of John's jealous ire, the song plays out on dangerously unstable ground. It's charged, even if simplistic drama." Next, "I'm a Loser" is John's blunt, Dylan-inspired burst of self-loathing, highlighted by such genuinely introspective lines as "Is it for her or myself that I cry." Finally, though it moves and feels like a chirpy country-western waltz, "Baby's in Black" paints an unpleasant picture: John desperately yearning for a girl who's in bereavement. It works, in part, because you're not sure whether to feel sympathy for John or be put off by his overeager emotions.

Composing John's Troubled Trilogy, these three tracks loom large over the rest of Beatles For Sale and make for a front-loaded affair (though I do enjoy the non-successive trio of John's "Rock and Roll Music" cover, "Eight Days a Week," and John and Paul's shared take on Buddy Holly's "Words of Love"). Again, there really wasn't anywhere else to look for the top three-banger.

Best three songs in a row - Pt. 3

(For an explanation, go here; for the previous entry, go here).

Album: A Hard Day's Night
Three songs: "A Hard Day's Night," "I Should Have Known Better," and "If I Fell"
Comments: As happened the last time around, I've given the prize to the opening trio of songs. Most pop albums, and certainly those by The Beatles, are deliberately organized to make a strong showing at the outset, so my selection shouldn't be much of a surprise. Taking the songs in order... The jaunty, fleet, and iconically introduced pleasures of the title track have rightfully elevated it to the status of a classic; "I Should Have Known Better" flows by with an ease and happy-faced charm that compellingly belies the lack of certainty implicit in its lyric; finally, in addition to being a disarming ballad with graceful harmonies and a unique structure, "If I Fell" also provides a revealing glimpse of John in Vulnerable Mode, something the hardened rock 'n' roller could go into with stunning effect. These three songs are among the best that A Hard Day's Night has to offer; at the very least, they form a higher quality contingent than the other three-song stretch that caught my eye (but only briefly) - "And I Love Her," "Tell Me Why," and "Can't Buy Me Love."

Best three songs in a row - Pt. 2

To continue my discussion of the best three-song stretch on a Beatles album, I devoted some time to With The Beatles and arrived at the conclusion below. You'll find that I didn't struggle to nail down my choice for the album's contribution to the larger pool of contenders. Unlike Please Please Me, With The Beatles presents one three-song set that I see as clearly superior to the rest.

Album: With The Beatles
Three songs: "It Won't Be Long," "All I've Got to Do," and "All My Loving"
Comments: I don't think there are any other viable options. With The Beatles is a mostly rewarding album, but, with the exception of "It Won't Be Long," its high points aren't as strong as those on Please Please Me. And the same is true of its second-tier songs ("Don't Bother Me," "Please Mister Postman," "Money," etc.). Which is to say, it's a lesser album than its predecessor and has fewer opportunities for consistent excellence. However, coming out of the gate, it delivers mightily. "It Won't Be Long," (which I've swooned about on several occasions) overflows with zealous emotion and sonic thrills; "All I've Got to Do" is a masterpiece of tension and sex-dripped affection; and "All My Loving" showcases how charming and guileless Paul could be when expressing love. The choice strikes me as a no-brainer.

Best three songs in a row - Pt. 1

A few days back, I was listening to the remastered edition of Revolver, and a question occurred to me after "I'm Only Sleeping" ended and "Love You To" began: On all of The Beatles' canon albums, what is the best three-song stretch? The thought came to mind as I was marveling at how strongly Revolver opens. A trio of classics - George's "Taxman," Paul's "Eleanor Rigby," and John's "I'm Only Sleeping" - starts the album and puts it firmly on course to being one of The Beatles' finest LPs. Now my instinct was to deem this the best three-song stretch. Again, those are three bona fide classics. But, to be systematic, I decided to go through all of The Beatles' albums - from Please Please Me to Let It Be, including the American Magical Mystery Tour release -, find out what each one offered on this front, and then compare. Below is the first entry.

Album: Please Please Me
Three songs: "Ask Me Why," "Please Please Me," and "Love Me Do"
Comments: If any PPM track besides "A Taste of Honey" had preceded "There's a Place" (which itself precedes "Twist and Shout"), then I would've given the honors to the closing three tracks of the album; by my lights, "There's a Place" and "Twist and Shout" represent the two high points of Please Please Me. But the fluff of "Honey" was just too great to ignore, leaving me to look elsewhere. I then isolated what I saw as the two legitimate options remaining: the album's opening trio of songs - "I Saw Her Standing There," "Misery," and "Anna (Go to Him)"- and "Ask Me Why," "Please Please Me," and "Love Me Do." Comparing these song-by-song, I think it's a wash between "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Please Please Me." Both exemplify The Beatles' talent for swaggering, sexually-charged pop, and both are terrific. They are the two best out of the six. Next: "Anna (Go to Him)" vs. "Love Me Do." "Anna" is achingly soulful and features a superb vocal from John, possibly his most memorable on PPM outside of "Twist and Shout." But the inventive and economical "Love Me Do" is more than solid in its own right, and it bears the advantage of being an original composition. Finally, even though I lean toward a more positive take on both, I'm still fairly ambivalent about "Misery" and "Ask Me Why." It's just the case that, when I'm not in the mood for either song, "Misery" - with its glibly overstated emotions - annoys me in a way that "Ask Me Why" doesn't. Thus "Ask Me Why," "Please Please Me," and "Love Me Do" it is. But not by much.

Analysis of With The Beatles will be up tomorrow (Update: make that Saturday).