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Originally Posted by evollove
Occurred to me RUBBER SOUL was the last one where everyone played on everything. After that, things began to slowly splinter. Maybe the lack of a "group" feeling to the material is why the later stuff might be well and good, but maybe not as charming or fun? There's a hint of sadness on WHITE album, isn't there? Just me? Never mind.
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There is absolutely a kind of disjointed feel to everything that came after Rubber Soul — with the possible exception of Abbey Road, which, with the medley and all, gives the illusion of a united sound, and Let it Be, which I believe did feature the whole band playing together live in the studio at points. But yeah. I think part of it was the discovery of new studio tools and recording techniques, and thr emergence of ego within the band leading to isolated takes and whatnot. You can hear it right from the beginning of Revolver. The solo in "Taxman" for instance sounds like it's passing by in a jet. Compare it to the "Ticket to Ride" solo, which may have been isolated for all I know, but still sounds like an extension of the group energy in the song, and you can see just how different things were before and after.
And Sgt. Pepper? Forget about it. That album sounds like the work of a "band" for exactly one song (the title track). If Revolver was the tipping point for the Beatles-as-rock-band, Sgt. Pepper was when the band (mostly McCartney) sent the whole bloody thing tumbling off a cliff. I think the Beatles' retirment from the road was a major part of this. I read somewhere that Paul said something along the lines of, "now that we're not playing live, the recordings are our performance."
And then you have the White Album, which, let's not mess about, is essentially just 4 solo albums thrown in a blender. Or, I guess more accurately, 2 solo albums (McCartney, Lennon), one EP (Harrison), and a maxi-single (poor Ringo). There is only the slightest hint of cohesion on the record, and it gets out of the way quickly (talking 'bout "U.S.S.R." fading into "Dear Prudence.") The rest of it is well-documented as being the king of all clusterfucks. BUT... I have always preferred interesting and challenging music to easy, catchy music. The kitchen sink nature of The White Album is part of what makes it so great. Where else can you find jaunty western cowboy tunes, proto-metal hard rock, mummy English singer-songwriter schlock, sneering meta-celebrity mockery ("Glass Onion") and a goddamn harpsichord? The personality of the Beatles was almost as important as their music early on, and The White Album was like the systematic destruction of the entire idea of THAT band. Pretty bold, and while it may not play through like Revolver, it has some of the best individual songs the band ever made.
But yeah, long ramble short, Rubber Soul was the last real group efffort Beatles album. I can see how some people like that era of the band, and can't quite get on board with the Beatles as Mccartney's plaything, or as four guys sitting in separate rooms, but for me that's exactly when things got interesting.