Riot

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Riot is an American heavy metal/hard rock band founded in New York City in 1975 by guitarist Mark Reale. Reaching a peak in popularity in the early 1980s, the band has continued a long-running career punctuated by personnel and management instability. Riot has toured with AC/DC, Molly Hatchet, Sammy Hagar, Kiss, Vandenberg and Black Sabbath among others.

Early years (1975-1983)

Riot was formed in 1975 in New York City, New York when Kon-Tiki guitarist Mark Reale and drummer Peter Bitelli recruited bassist Phil Feit and vocalist Guy Speranza. The line up recorded a four-track demo, which they hoped would be included in a proposed compilation of new rock bands. While waiting for the project to get off the ground, they added Steve Costello on keyboards.

Reale took the various demos to New York based producers Billy Arnell and Steve Loeb, who also owned Greene Street Recording Studio and the independent label Fire-Sign Records. Arnell & Loeb turned down the compilation proposal but signed Riot. The band added second guitarist Louie Kouvaris, replaced Feit with Jimmy Iommi and recorded its debut album, Rock City. After a promising start and support slots with AC/DC and Molly Hatchet, the band were unable to maintain momentum, and were on the verge of breaking up for good by 1979.

In that year however, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal broke mainstream, and the band came to the attention of influential DJ Neal Kay who spread the word about them in Britain. British fans bought imported copies of Rock City which was recorded and produced by Billy Arnell and Steve Loeb and released on their Fire Sign Records. Encouraged, Arnell & Loeb recorded the band's new album Narita. In the course of recording, Kouvaris was replaced by band roadie Rick Ventura.
Subsequent to a successful support of Sammy Hagar on his US Texas tour Capitol Records offered Riot a worldwide deal for Narita, mostly to support Hagar. Capitol and Hagar needed a harder, younger edge to associate with him, so Riot was chosen if they agreed to support Hagar on his UK tour. Hagar and Riot had a successful tour, but Riot was dropped by Capitol as soon as they were finished promoting Hagar. Riot's management, Billy Arnell and Steve Loeb spent their last dollars remaining from the Capitol advance retaining important indie FM radio promotions to promote the Riot album. They put it on as many radio stations around the country as possible, thus raising the radio profile enough to where Capitol picked up their option for another record. And thus began Riot's biggest selling album titled Fire Down Under.

When the record was completed some months later, Capitol turned the record down calling it "commercially unacceptable" which put the band in contractual limbo. Capitol also refused to let the band out of the contract and insisted if the band wanted off Capitol, they would have to sue. A campaign was organized and financed by producer Billy Arnell & Steve Loeb with fans around the world, but especially in the UK where the fans picketed the offices of EMI Records. Finally Elektra Records worked things out with Capitol's Rupert Perry and signed Riot and immediately released Fire Down Under which then soared into the Billboard Top 100 chart.
Breakup and reunion (1983-present)

Singer Guy Speranza (b. March 12, 1956 – d. November 8, 2003) had difficulty melding his religious convictions with his role in the band and was replaced by Rhett Forrester (b. September 22, 1956 – d. January 22, 1994) for the next album, Restless Breed (1982). Though a striking frontman, any hope of a major breakthrough was sunk by a combination of Forrester's erratic behaviour on the road, a changing of the guard at Elektra, and the 1983 success of Quiet Riot's single "Cum on Feel the Noize". The next album, Born in America, (1983) was self- financed by Steve Loeb and was released on Quality Records, an independent Canadian label. A note on the reverse of the album tried to explain away would-be fans' confusion between Riot and the now #1-selling Quiet Riot, but support melted away, leading to the band's disintegration.
Reale relocated to San Antonio, Texas, where he recruited former S.A.Slayer members Steve Cooper, Don Van Stavern, and Dave McClain (now with Machine Head) for a short-lived new band called Narita. By 1986, Reale and Van Stavern had made their way out to Los Angeles in an attempt to resurrect Riot along with former members Sandy Slavin and Rhett Forrester. Another vocalist that was tried out was Harry 'The Tyrant' Conklin (Jag Panzer) who was dismissed after losing his voice on the second night of back-to-back gigs due to excess drinking. Eventually, Reale mended fences with producer Steve Loeb and moved back to New York. Drummer Mark Edwards (Steeler, Third Stage Alert) was recruited to complete the new rhythm section along with bassist Don Van Stavern, while Greene Street Studio manager Dave Harrington brought in Tony Moore (real name: Tony Morabito) for vocals. A new Riot was born. Loeb cut a four-track demo at his Greene Street Studio in Soho, NY and along with real estate maven turned rock manager Vince Perazzo brought the band to CBS Associated, who offered the band a worldwide deal. Edwards elected to leave the band as his own L.A.-based group Lion was getting signed to Scotti Brothers.


He would be superseded by San Antonio, Texas native Bobby Jarzombek, formerly with Juggernaut, who cut the rest of the drum tracks for what would become the Thundersteel album, released in 1988. It was followed by the more experimental The Privilege of Power (1990), which saw the band augment their state-of-the-art heavy metal sound with horns, courtesy of the Brecker Brothers and Tower of Power. The album also featured a guest vocal appearance by Joe Lynn Turner of Rainbow fame. Second guitarist Mike Flyntz joined the ranks for the band's 1989 Thundersteel tour of Japan where Riot maintained their strongest subsequent following. Bassist Don Van Stavern would quit the band after the US leg of the The Privilege of Power tour and was replaced by fellow Texan Pete Perez (ex-Karion).

In 1992, vocalist Tony Moore left the group over disagreements with manager/producer Steve Loeb. Reale recruited newcomer Mike DiMeo, who had played with Howard Stern sidekick Stuttering John Melendez in a local band named Josie Sang, with a view toward making a more hard rock oriented solo album. Eventually, those plans were dropped and the proposed solo effort turned into another Riot album, 1993's Nightbreaker, which featured a remake of the Fire Down Under classic 'Outlaw' as well as covers of Deep Purple's 'Burn' and 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' by Procol Harum. It would mark the final collaboration with long-time associate Steve Loeb who stepped down from the production chair in 1995, a split initiated by Mark Reale. All told, Loeb produced or co-produced 13 Riot albums in his 19-year association with Reale and the different configurations of Riot. For the rest of the decade Riot would maintain a remarkably steady line-up for the first time in its history, resulting in a steady output of high quality albums, i.e. the Native American-themed Brethren of the Long House (1996), which saw John Macaluso (TNT, Powermad) briefly take over for Bobby Jarzombek on drums, Inishmore (1998), Shine On live (1998), and Sons of Society (1999). Jarzombek left again in late 1999, this time to join former Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford in his new venture Halford. Pat McGrath (Prototype, Killing Culture) filled in for Jarzombek on the following European tour before being replaced by veteran skinsman Bobby Rondinelli (Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult) with whom the band recorded Through the Storm (2002). In 2006, Riot returned with yet another album, Army of One, featuring new addition Frank Gilchriest (Virgin Steele, Gothic Knights) on drums. It would mark the swan song with vocalist Mike DiMeo who had earlier announced his departure in order to concentrate on his work with retro rockers The Lizards after a 12-year run with Riot. DiMeo was succeeded by noted New York area singer Mike Tirelli (Burning Starr, Holy Mother, Messiah's Kiss) whose Riot live debut came in early 2005 at the band's Atarfe Vega Rock Festival appearance in Granada, Spain.

In 2008, it was announced that the classic Thundersteel-era line-up would reunite for a tour, starting in June 2009 with shows at the Sweden Rock and Metalway festivals, and a new studio album, tentatively scheduled for a late 2009 release. Following the success of these appearances, the band appeared at three sold-out shows in Osaka and Tokyo in late October 2009.

The reunited 1988 lineup of Moore, Reale, Flyntz, Van Stavern and Jarzombek discovered that "Thundersteel" and "The Privilege of Power" had achieved near-mythical stature over the years, and had been cited as influences on many major artists, including Judas Priest.

With a resurgence of interest in the HR/HM genres and a crop of new young fans in Europe and Asia, Riot began writing and recording a new full-length album to be released in the Spring of 2010.

On December 4, 2009 singer Tony Moore announced that he was no longer a part of Riot. Moore said that he and the band had their differences and could not reconcile.

The band has since settled their differences and work continues on a new album with the entire Thundersteel lineup to be released in 2010[1]

Notes

Rhett Forrester was shot and killed in Atlanta, Georgia on January 22, 1994 at the age of 37 after he refused to give up his vehicle in an attempted carjacking. His murder remains unsolved.
Guy Speranza died from pancreatic cancer on November 8, 2003 in Orlando, Florida at the age of 47.
Mike Tirelli was diagnosed with stomach cancer in the fall of 2008 and underwent what was announced to be his final surgery in March 2009. He is reportedly recovering well.

Members

Current line up

Mark Reale - Guitar
Mike Flyntz - Guitar
Don Van Stavern - Bass
Bobby Jarzombek - Drums

Past members
Tony Moore- Vocals
Mike Tirelli - Vocals
Mike DiMeo - Vocals
Harry "The Tyrant" Conklin - Vocals
Rhett Forrester - Vocals
Guy Speranza - Vocals
Rick Ventura - Guitar
L.A. Kouvaris - Guitar
Pete Perez - Bass
Kip Leming - Bass
Jimmy Iommi - Bass
Phil Feit - Bass
Frank Gilchriest - Drums
Bobby Rondinelli - Drums
John Macaluso - Drums
Mark Edwards - Drums
Sandy Slavin - Drums
Peter Bitelli - Drums

Additional live musicians

Randy Coven - bass
Pat McGrath - drums
Harry 'The Tyrant' Conklin - vocals
Gerald T. Trevino - guitar

Discography

Main article: Riot discography
Rock City (1977)
Narita (1979)
Fire Down Under (1981)
Restless Breed (1982)
Born In America (1983)
Thundersteel (1988)
The Privilege of Power (1990)
Nightbreaker (1993)
The Brethren of the Long House (1996)
Irishmore (1998)
Shine On Live In Japan (1998)Metal Blade
Sons of Society (1999)
Through the Storm (2002)
Army of One (2006)I will in the following weeks (?!) take you through my thoughts about The Beatles-catalog (Wikipedea also get a say). Since I'm a European, it will be the studio-albums released in Europe/England, and not the US-versions of the albums, that some of you may know better, and that includes the double-EP "Magical Mystery Tour", and not the album-version released in the US. But since a LOT, and I mean a LOT of the best Beatles-songs wasn't released on actual albums, I will also mention the songs, that wasen't released on the albums, but on singles/EP's around the same time of the albumreleases, because as my friend Jeff, I will give my personal opinion of an album-ranking as I go along, and a version of my ultimate Beatles Playlist, and I can't do a playlist without a LOT of the best Beatles-songs. I hope, as many as possible will join in with comments."Please Please Me" was the debut-album by The Beatles, and it was released in 22nd March 1963. Of the album's 14 songs, eight were written by Lennon–McCartney (originally credited "McCartney–Lennon"), early evidence of what Rolling Stone Magazine later called (their invention of) the idea of the self-contained rock band, writing their own hits and playing their own instruments. Of course the album's peak position on the UK Album Chart was at number 1. For many years, I was a mostly fan of what Beatles released from 1966 and on, and I still think, the absolute very best music was to come. Never the less, there are some fine extremely wellknown tracks on the album (I Saw Her Standing, Please Please Me, Love Me Do and the cover of Twist And Shout). What do you think of the debut-album by The Beatles? Oh, and before this album, Beatles released the singles "Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You" on 5th October 1962, and "Please Please Me/Ask Me Why" on 11th of January 1963.Album Ranking:1. Please Please MeNiels' Ultimate Beatles Playlist:1. I Saw Her Standing2. Love Me Do3. Please Please Me 4. Love Me Do With the Beatles is the second studio album by The Beatles. It was released on 22 November 1963, and was recorded four months after the band's debut Please Please Me. The album features eight original compositions (seven by Lennon–McCartney and "Don't Bother Me", George Harrison's first recorded solo composition and his first released on a Beatles album) and six covers (mostly of Motown, rock and roll, and R&B hits). The album became the first Beatles album released in North America when it was released in Canada on 25 November under the augmented title Beatlemania! With the Beatles. Again it reached the top spot on the UK Albums Chart. 2 songs charted on the Billboard Chart: All My Loving (#45) and Roll Over Beethoven (#68). IMO, it's not as strong as the debut-album, and the only really good song is All My Loving, and again the best was yet to come. The album was probably rushed out, because how long could The Beatles be at the top? 1 year? 2 years at the most?"All My Loving" is as strong as any McCartney-song. "I Wanna Be Your Man" was written for Rolling Stones, but Lennon and McCartney thought it was too good for Betales not to record it as well, and Ringo got it as "his" song on the album. I prefer the RS-version. What do you think of Beatles second album? The singles around this time counts "From Me To You/Thank You Girl" (11th April 1963), "She Loves You/I'll Get You" (23rd August 1963) and "I Want To Hold You Hand" (29 November 1963) From this album and on, I will add one or two useless informations regarding a song on the album or the album itself: 1. Allthough All My Loving was exclusively written by McCartney, Cynthia Lennon believed as late as 2005, that John had writtenthe song for her. 2. In the score of the "Superman III"-movie (1983), The Beatles' version of "Roll Over Beethoven" could be heard. One good reason for this was perhaps the fact, that the director was none other than Richard Lester, the director of A Hard Days Night and Help (the movies). Album Ranking:1. Please Please Me 2. With The Beatles Niels' Ultimate Beatles Playlist:1. I Saw Her Standing2. Love Me Do3. Please Please Me 4. She Loves You 5. All My Loving 6. I Want To Hold You Hand A Hard Day's Night is the third studio album by The Beatles, released on 10 July 1964, with side one containing songs from the soundtrack to their film A Hard Day's Night. In contrast to their first two albums, all 13 tracks on A Hard Day's Night were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney showcasing the development of their songwriting talents. The album contains some of their most famous songs, including the title track, with its distinct, instantly recognisable opening chord, and the previously-released "Can't Buy Me Love"; both were transatlantic number-one singles for the band. Since probably all of the Beatles-albums reached number 1 on the UK Album Chart (and a lot of them, the american), I leave that out from now on. Actually, it's of absolutely no importance to me, if an album hits the number spot or not. The most important thing is, if I personally like the album, and I REALLY like this album. If you devide The Beatles in "before and after Rubber Soul", this is the very best album of the periode before Rubber Soul. Besides the two mentioned songs, this album is full of good early Beatles-songs. If you only want to buy one Beatles-album from the early periode, this is the one. Another thing: Lennon was delievering a lot of good songs around this time. Imo, Lennon may have made most of the best songs from 62-65, but then McCartney took over in more than one meaning. Sure the songwriting-credits says "Lennon/McCartney" and in the very start, they wrote a lot of the songs together, but you can probably asume, that when Paul sings lead, it's mostly his song and when John sings...Well, you get the picture. What is your opinion of A Hard Days Night, the album? Singles/EP around this time: "Can't Buy Me Love/You Can't Do That" (20 March 1964), The Long Tall Sally EP: "Long Tall Sally/I Call Your Name/Slowdown/Matchbox" (19 June 1964)Album Ranking:1. A Hard Days Night 2. Please Please Me 3. With The Beatles Niels' Ultimate Beatles Playlist:1. I Saw Her Standing2. Love Me Do3. Please Please Me 4. She Loves You 5. All My Loving 6. I Want To Hold You Hand 7. A Hard Days Night 8. I Should Had Known Better 9. If I Fell 10. And I Love Her 11. Can't Buy Me Love 12. Anytime At All 13. Things We Said Today Beatles for Sale is the fourth studio album by the Beatles, released on 4 December 1964 in the United Kingdom and produced by George Martin for Parlophone. The album marked a minor turning point in the evolution of the Lennon–McCartney partnership, John Lennon particularly now showing interest in composing songs of a more autobiographical nature. "I'm a Loser" shows Lennon for the first time coming under the influence of Bob Dylan. Still Lennon was probably writing most of the best songs, but not for long (IMO). This album seems to be a step back. It's not an album full of great tracks like "A Hard Days Night", and "I Feel Fine/She's A Woman" that was released on single 27 november 1964 would had improved the album. Still there is a 100% classic (another Lennon-song) in "Eight Days a Week". And Lennon is on fire, on Chuck Berry's "Rock And Roll Music". A "hidden Treasure" imo is "Every Little Thing She Does", sounds to me like a McCartney/Lennon-song, probably mainly written by McCartney. This might be The Beatles "Diver Down"-album. What do you think?Album Ranking:1. A Hard Days Night 2. Please Please Me 3. Beatles For Sale 4. With The Beatles Niels' Ultimate Beatles Playlist:1. I Saw Her Standing2. Love Me Do3. Please Please Me 4. She Loves You 5. All My Loving 6. I Want To Hold You Hand 7. A Hard Days Night 8. I Should Had Known Better 9. If I Fell 10. And I Love Her 11. Can't Buy Me Love 12. Anytime At All 13. Things We Said Today 14. I Feel Fine 15. Eight Days A Week 16. She's A Woman 17. Every Little Thing She Does Help! is the fifth studio album by the Beatles, and the soundtrack from their film Help!, released 6 August 1965. Produced by George Martin, it contains fourteen songs in its original British form. Seven of these, including the singles "Help!" and "Ticket to Ride", appeared in the film and took up the first side of the vinyl album. The second side contained seven other releases including the most-covered song ever written, "Yesterday". Many counts this as the last LP in the first half of the Beatles-"era". There is before and after "Rubber Soul" (the next album, of course). I don't really see it like that. I see it like before and after "Revolver" (1966), because "Help" is as good as "Rubber soul" in many ways, and The Beatles didn't go from "Boy-band" to "Pot-head geniuses" from one day to the other. They developed through their "era" like no other band, and especially some of Lennon's songs on "Help" proved their progression. "You've got To Hide Your Love Away" and "You're Gonna Loose That Girl" are some of my favorite Lennon-Beatles songs of all. Off course the title-track is as strong, and "Ticket To Ride". McCartney (I know, Lennon/McCartney wrote a lot of the songs together up until around this point, and beyond, but as McCartney wrote himself "If I sing the song, I probably wrote most of it", it has to be the same regarding Lennon) wasn't quite there yet as the equal of Lennon, who still wrote most of the best songs, with exceptions, of course. But even though "The Night Before" is a very good song, it's not as great as the 5 mentioned Lennon-songs IMO. "I've Just Seen A Face" is a McCartney Hidden treasure, though. "Yesterday" is the most overplayed song in history. Still McCartney was the better singer IMO, and the best mucisian in the band without a doubt, even though Lennon also was an excellent singer. Harisson wrote two songs for the album, but they are not realy worth mentioning. Harissons time would come, though. What do you think of this album? "Ticket To Ride/Yes It Is" (9 april 1965 - The Exact day I was born) and "Help/I'm Down" (23 July 1965) was released as singles.Album Ranking:1. A Hard Days Night 2. Help 3. Please Please Me 4. Beatles For Sale 5. With The Beatles Niels' Ultimate Beatles Playlist:1. I Saw Her Standing2. Love Me Do3. Please Please Me 4. She Loves You 5. All My Loving 6. I Want To Hold You Hand 7. A Hard Days Night 8. I Should Had Known Better 9. If I Fell 10. And I Love Her 11. Can't Buy Me Love 12. Anytime At All 13. Things We Said Today 14. I Feel Fine 15. Eight Days A Week 16. She's A Woman 17. Every Little Thing She Does 18. Help 19. The Night Before 20. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away 21. You're Gonna Loose That Girl 22. Ticket To Ride 23. I've Just Seen A Face 24. Yesterday Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by English rock band the Beatles, released on 3 December 1965. It was met with a highly favourable critical response and topped record charts in the United Kingdom for several weeks, as well as in the United States, where it was issued with a different selection of tracks.Produced by George Martin, Rubber Soul incorporates a mix of 1960s pop, soul, and folk music styles. The album's name comes from the term plastic soul, which popular African American soul musicians coined to describe Mick Jagger, a white musician singing soul music. It was the second Beatles album – after the British version of A Hard Day's Night – to contain only original material, and was recorded in just over four weeks to make the Christmas market. Unlike the five albums that preceded it, Rubber Soul was recorded during a continuous period, whereas the group had previously made their albums during breaks between tour dates and other commitments. The project marked the first time that the Beatles focused on creating an album as an artistic work. Imo, Lennon was still in the lead, as the one, writing/singing on the best songs (on albums, not singles), but even though it might be a good ALBUM, it doesn't have THAT many really great songs, and the best is definitely "Norwegian Wood" imo. But again, there aren't really any bad songs on the album. I just read, that it was McCartney who arranged and wrote the "greek balalajka"-solo or what ever it's called on Lennon's song "Girl". McCartney also claims to have written the melody to "In My Life", and I tend to believe him, since it sounds more to me like a McCartney-tune than one written by Lennon, but who knows. On the next album, if I don't remember wrong, Lennon claimed, that he helped McCartney write "Eleanor Rigby", whereas McCartney said he wrote it all by himself. Who cares? I certainly do. Do you? A great single was released around the same time: We Can Work It Out (a VERY fine McCartney-song) and Day Tripper (3 December 1965)Album Ranking:1. Rubber Soul 2. A Hard Days Night 3. Help 4. Please Please Me 5. Beatles For Sale 6. With The Beatles Niels' Ultimate Beatles Playlist:1. I Saw Her Standing2. Love Me Do3. Please Please Me 4. She Loves You 5. All My Loving 6. I Want To Hold You Hand 7. A Hard Days Night 8. I Should Had Known Better 9. If I Fell 10. And I Love Her 11. Can't Buy Me Love 12. Anytime At All 13. Things We Said Today 14. I Feel Fine 15. Eight Days A Week 16. She's A Woman 17. Every Little Thing She Does 18. Help 19. The Night Before 20. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away 21. You're Gonna Loose That Girl 22. Ticket To Ride 23. I've Just Seen A Face 24. Yesterday 25. We Can Work It Out 26. Day Tripper 27. Drive My Car 28. Norwegian Wood 29. Michelle 30. Girl 31. I'm Looking Through You 32. In My Life Revolver is the seventh studio album by the Beatles. It was released on 5 August 1966 in the United Kingdom and three days later in the United States. The record spent 34 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, for seven of which it held the number one spot. Reduced to eleven songs for the North American market, Revolver was the last Beatles album to be subjected to Capitol Records' policy of altering the band's intended running order and content. In America, the album topped the Billboard Top LPs listings for six weeks.Revolver marked a progression from the group's 1965 release Rubber Soul in terms of style and experimentation, and heralded the band's arrival as studio innovators. The album's sounds include the incorporation of tape loops and backwards recordings on the psychedelic "Tomorrow Never Knows", the use of a classical string octet on "Eleanor Rigby", and the Indian-music backing of "Love You To". Aside from methods such as varispeeding, reversed tapes, and close audio miking, the sessions for the album resulted in the invention of automatic double tracking (ADT), a technique that was invented by engineers at Abbey Road studios, and was soon adopted throughout the recording industry.In the UK, Revolver's fourteen tracks were released to radio stations throughout July 1966, with the music signifying what author Ian MacDonald later described as "a radical new phase in the group's recording career". The sessions also produced a non-album single, "Paperback Writer" backed with "Rain", for which the Beatles filmed their first on-location promotional films. Together with the children's novelty song "Yellow Submarine", "Eleanor Rigby" became an international hit when issued as a double A-side single. The album's US release coincided with the Beatles' final concert tour, during which they refrained from performing any of the songs live. Upon release, Revolver was praised by British critics as a forward-thinking release, though its reception in the United States was initially muted due to the controversy surrounding John Lennon's contemporaneous statement that the Beatles had become "bigger than Jesus".This might very well be my favorite Beatles-album. At least it's definitely in top 3. At this point, McCartney (IMO) really took over as the one writing/singing most of the very best songs, as he would for the years to come. It was a healthy competion between Lennon and McCartney, but imo McCartney was the winner in the latter half of "The Beatles-era". Just look, at his contribution to Revolver: Eleanor Rigby, Here There And Everywhere, Yellow Submarine (he wrote it, Ringo sang it off course), Good Day Sunshine, For No One and last but not least Got To Get You Into My Life (and Paperback Writer from the same session). All great songs. Lennon didn't really write songs as great as these, around this time. Some, or many says that Tomorrow Never Knows is THE track on Revolver, but I don't agree at all. Revolver is also the album, where Harisson appeared as a great song-writer. "Taxman" is among my very favorite Beatles-songs. I simply love it. McCartney plays the guitar-solo on that song. Backwards :-)What do you think of Revolver?Album Ranking:1. Revolver 2. Rubber Soul 3. A Hard Days Night 4. Help 5. Please Please Me 6. Beatles For Sale 7. With The Beatles Niels' Ultimate Beatles Playlist:1. I Saw Her Standing2. Love Me Do3. Please Please Me 4. She Loves You 5. All My Loving 6. I Want To Hold You Hand 7. A Hard Days Night 8. I Should Had Known Better 9. If I Fell 10. And I Love Her 11. Can't Buy Me Love 12. Anytime At All 13. Things We Said Today 14. I Feel Fine 15. Eight Days A Week 16. She's A Woman 17. Every Little Thing She Does 18. Help 19. The Night Before 20. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away 21. You're Gonna Loose That Girl 22. Ticket To Ride 23. I've Just Seen A Face 24. Yesterday 25. We Can Work It Out 26. Day Tripper 27. Drive My Car 28. Norwegian Wood 29. Michelle 30. Girl 31. I'm Looking Through You 32. In My Life 33. Paperback Writer 34. Taxman 35. Eleanor Rigby 36. Here, There And Everywhere 37. Yellow Submarine 38. For No One 39. Got To Get You Into My Life Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the Beatles. Released on 1 June 1967, it was an immediate commercial and critical success, spending 27 weeks at the top of the albums chart in the United Kingdom and 15 weeks at number one in the United States. Time magazine declared it "a historic departure in the progress of music" and the New Statesman praised its elevation of pop to the level of fine art. It won four Grammy Awards in 1968, including Album of the Year, the first rock LP to receive this honour. gt. Pepper is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the use of extended form in popular music while continuing the artistic maturation seen on the Beatles' preceding releases. It has been described as one of the first art rock LPs, aiding the development of progressive rock, and credited with marking the beginning of the Album Era. An important work of British psychedelia, the album incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including vaudeville, circus, music hall, avant-garde, and Western and Indian classical music. In 2003, the Library of Congress placed Sgt. Pepper in the National Recording Registry, honouring the work as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". That same year, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number one in its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". George Martin said, his biggest regret was not to include Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane (Single 13 Febuary 1967) on Sgt. Pepper, and I most crtainly agree, that it was a big mistake not having those two great songs on the album. I can easily think of one song, they could had left of instead: "Within You Without You" is a throw away indian-style song by Harisson, that I always skip. If the before mentioned double A-side single had been included on the album, it might had been my favorite Beatles-albums of all. Again McCartney was in top-form, and it was his ideas that let to Sgt.Pepper, the album, and he had some fine songs on the album, but....imo the best of the best this time was from Lennon (Strawberry, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and a few weeks later, All You Need Is Love (another of my absolute favorite Beatles-songs)) but actually the two very best songs on the album was this time really co-written by Lennon/McCartney (With A Little Help From My Friends and A Day In The Life). In every way, an astonishing album, and if only Strawberry/Penny Lane had been included as well!! Is it your favorite Beatles-album? Not long after the release of Sgt. Pepper Beatles released a single (All You Need Is Love/Baby You're A Rich Man) 7 July 1967.Album Ranking:1. Revolver 2. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band 3. Rubber Soul 4. A Hard Days Night 5. Help 6. Please Please Me 7. Beatles For Sale 8. With The Beatles Niels' Ultimate Beatles Playlist:1. I Saw Her Standing2. Love Me Do3. Please Please Me 4. She Loves You 5. All My Loving 6. I Want To Hold You Hand 7. A Hard Days Night 8. I Should Had Known Better 9. If I Fell 10. And I Love Her 11. Can't Buy Me Love 12. Anytime At All 13. Things We Said Today 14. I Feel Fine 15. Eight Days A Week 16. She's A Woman 17. Every Little Thing She Does 18. Help 19. The Night Before 20. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away 21. You're Gonna Loose That Girl 22. Ticket To Ride 23. I've Just Seen A Face 24. Yesterday 25. We Can Work It Out 26. Day Tripper 27. Drive My Car 28. Norwegian Wood 29. Michelle 30. Girl 31. I'm Looking Through You 32. In My Life 33. Paperback Writer 34. Taxman 35. Eleanor Rigby 36. Here, There And Everywhere 37. Yellow Submarine 38. For No One 39. Got To Get You Into My 40. Strawberry Fields Forever 41. Penny Lane 42. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 43. With A Little Help From My Friends 44. Fixing A Hole 45. She's Leaving Home 46. A Day In The Life 47. All You Need Is Love Magical Mystery Tour was released as a double EP in the United Kingdom and an LP in the United States. Produced by George Martin, both versions include the six-song soundtrack to the 1967 film of the same name. The EP was issued in the UK on 8 December 1967 on the Parlophone label, while the Capitol Records LP release in the US occurred on 27 November and featured eleven tracks through the addition of songs from the band's 1967 singles. The EP was also released in Germany, France, Spain, Yugoslavia, Brazil, Australia and Japan. The first official release as an eleven-track LP in the UK did not occur until 1976.Despite widespread media criticism of the Magical Mystery Tour film, the soundtrack was a critical and commercial success and a number one Grammy-nominated album in the US. When EMI issued the Beatles' catalogue on compact disc in 1987, the track listing of the 1967 US LP was adopted rather than the six-song UK release. Along with the rest of the group's studio albums, Magical Mystery Tour was remastered and released on 9 September 2009 for the first time since its CD release.Imo, the singles Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane; Hello, Goodbye and All You Need Is Love/Baby You're a rich man has nothing to do with this release. It's a soundtrack-release and therefore those singles, released from February to November 1967, should stand alone (except for Strawberry/Penny, that of course should had been included on Sgt. Pepper). Of the 6 "original" songs on the EP, only 2 are real gems (The Fool On The Hill and I Am The Walrus). The other 4 songs shows that even in 1967 (Their best year imo), Beatles was not without faults. "Flying" is filler from the film, and "Blue Jay Way" shows, that Harrisson wasn't quite there yet, as the equal to Lennon/McCartney. IMO, it should had been a single (guess which tracks), therefore the EP will end very low on my album-list. Have you seen the film? Usefull/useless information:When Brian Epstein came to visit The Beatles on August 23, while they were recording "Your Mother Should Know", he looked gloomy and depressed. It was the very last session he attended.He was found dead in his bed on August 27, 1967.Album Ranking:1. Revolver 2. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band 3. Rubber Soul 4. A Hard Days Night 5. Help 6. Please Please Me 7. Beatles For Sale 8. With The Beatles 9. Magical Mystery Tour Niels' Ultimate Beatles Playlist:1. I Saw Her Standing2. Love Me Do3. Please Please Me 4. She Loves You 5. All My Loving 6. I Want To Hold You Hand 7. A Hard Days Night 8. I Should Had Known Better 9. If I Fell 10. And I Love Her 11. Can't Buy Me Love 12. Anytime At All 13. Things We Said Today 14. I Feel Fine 15. Eight Days A Week 16. She's A Woman 17. Every Little Thing She Does 18. Help 19. The Night Before 20. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away 21. You're Gonna Loose That Girl 22. Ticket To Ride 23. I've Just Seen A Face 24. Yesterday 25. We Can Work It Out 26. Day Tripper 27. Drive My Car 28. Norwegian Wood 29. Michelle 30. Girl 31. I'm Looking Through You 32. In My Life 33. Paperback Writer 34. Taxman 35. Eleanor Rigby 36. Here, There And Everywhere 37. Yellow Submarine 38. For No One 39. Got To Get You Into My 40. Strawberry Fields Forever 41. Penny Lane 42. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 43. With A Little Help From My Friends 44. Fixing A Hole 45. She's Leaving Home 46. A Day In The Life 47. All You Need Is Love 48. Fool On The Hill 49. I Am The Walrus 50. Hello, Goodbye The Beatles, also known as the White Album, is the ninth studio album , released on 22 November 1968. A double album, its plain white sleeve has no graphics or text other than the band's name embossed, and was intended as a direct contrast to the vivid cover artwork of the band's earlier Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Although no singles were issued from The Beatles in Britain and the United States, the songs "Hey Jude" and "Revolution" originated from the same recording sessions and were issued on a single in August 1968. The album's songs range in style from British blues and ska to tracks influenced by Chuck Berry and by Karlheinz Stockhausen.Most of the songs on the album were written during March and April 1968 at a Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India. The group returned to EMI Studios in May with recording lasting through to October. During these sessions, arguments broke out among the Beatles, and witnesses in the studio saw band members quarrel over creative differences. The feuds intensified when Lennon's new partner, Yoko Ono, started attending the sessions. After a series of problems, including producer George Martin taking a sudden leave of absence and engineer Geoff Emerick quitting, Ringo Starr left the band briefly in August. IMO this album is a monster, and that's meant good and bad. There are some exellent songs on the album, but also a lot of songs, that probably shouldn't had been released in the Beatles-name, especially Lennon's crap called "Revolution 9". If they had included "Hey Jude" (one of my alltime favorite songs) instead of that piece of shit, and another favorite of mine : "Lady Madonna" instead of "Honey Pie" (absolute Granny-music from McCartney) maybe, just maybe the album would be my personal favorite Beatles-album. Now, I'm not so sure. Definitely a top 3, though. "Martha My Dear" and "Happiness Is A Warm gun" are (if you can call them that) the best hidden gems on any album. The first 1/3 of the album is by far the best. Even though, it feels like, there aren't as many great wellknown Beatles-classics as on Revolver or Hard Days Night, I still love this album, and treassure it as one of my absolute favorite albums, or at least one of my favorite double-albums of all. I keep getting back to it, if I feel like listening to a Beatles-album. But then it's mostly CD 1, that I listen to. What do you think? As said, the single "Lady Madonna (another masterpiece from McCartney)/The Inner Light" was released 15 March 1968.Album Ranking:1. Revolver 2. The White album 3. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band 4. Rubber Soul 5. A Hard Days Night 6. Help 7. Please Please Me 8. Beatles For Sale 9. With The Beatles 10. Magical Mystery Tour Niels' Ultimate Beatles Playlist:1. I Saw Her Standing2. Love Me Do3. Please Please Me 4. She Loves You 5. All My Loving 6. I Want To Hold You Hand 7. A Hard Days Night 8. I Should Had Known Better 9. If I Fell 10. And I Love Her 11. Can't Buy Me Love 12. Anytime At All 13. Things We Said Today 14. I Feel Fine 15. Eight Days A Week 16. She's A Woman 17. Every Little Thing She Does 18. Help 19. The Night Before 20. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away 21. You're Gonna Loose That Girl 22. Ticket To Ride 23. I've Just Seen A Face 24. Yesterday 25. We Can Work It Out 26. Day Tripper 27. Drive My Car 28. Norwegian Wood 29. Michelle 30. Girl 31. I'm Looking Through You 32. In My Life 33. Paperback Writer 34. Taxman 35. Eleanor Rigby 36. Here, There And Everywhere 37. Yellow Submarine 38. For No One 39. Got To Get You Into My 40. Strawberry Fields Forever 41. Penny Lane 42. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 43. With A Little Help From My Friends 44. Fixing A Hole 45. She's Leaving Home 46. A Day In The Life 47. All You Need Is Love 48. Fool On The Hill 49. I Am The Walrus 50. Hello, Goodbye 51. Hey Jude 52. Lady Madonna 53. Back In The USSR 54. Dear Prudence 55. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La Dah 56. Happiness Is A Warm Gun 57. Martha My Dear 58. Blackbird Abbey Road is the 11th studio album by the Beatles, released on 26 September 1969 by Apple Records. The recording sessions for the album were the last in which all four Beatles participated. Although Let It Be was the final album that the Beatles completed before the band's dissolution in April 1970, most of the album had been recorded before the Abbey Road sessions began. A double A-side single from the album, "Something"/"Come Together", released in October, topped the Billboard chart in the US.Abbey Road is a rock album that incorporates genres such as blues, pop and progressive rock, and it makes prominent use of the Moog synthesizer and the Leslie speaker. Side two contains a medley of song fragments edited together to form a single piece. The album was recorded amidst a more collegial atmosphere than the Get Back/Let It Be sessions earlier in the year, but there were still frequent confrontations within the band, particularly over Paul McCartney's song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", one of four tracks on which John Lennon did not perform. I don't agree with Lennon about him saying, that McCartney was making "music for grannies", well only with one or two exceptions. But I kind of agree, that Maxwell's Silver Hammer is not very good. Lennon himself probably wrote THE song for Grannie's, though, on the former album: "Goodnight", sung by Ringo. At times, I think this is the best album The Beatles ever made, and for the first and last time, all 3 songwriters (Ringo's Octopussy's Garden is a joke) made about the same amount of great songs on an album. Harisson's "Here Comes The sun" is one of the very best Beatles-songs at all. McCartney's contribution to the medley on side 2 are far better than Lennon's, but Lennon's "Come Together", "Because" and "I Want You" are stellar songs. When I really noticed "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" years ago (in the 90's), my reaction was "Now I know, where Cheap Trick got their sound". McCartney's vocal on "Oh Darling" is out of this world!! He is truely my favorite singer of all time. What's you opinion of Abbey Road? Before this album was released in September 1969, Betales had released a soundtrack to the movie "Yellow Submarine", but the "new" songs from that one (Only A Nothern Song, All together Now, Hey Bulldog and It's All Too Much) are not worth mentioning imo, but now I did it anyway. (17 January 1969). A single (Get Back/Don't Let Me Down) was released a year ahead of the release of "Let It Be" (11 April 1969) and the single "The Ballad Of John And Yoko/Old Brown Shoe" was released 30 May 1969.Album Ranking:1. Revolver 2. Abbey Road 3. The White album 4. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band 5. Rubber Soul 6. A Hard Days Night 7. Help 8. Please Please Me 9. Beatles For Sale 10. With The Beatles 11. Magical Mystery Tour Niels' Ultimate Beatles Playlist:1. I Saw Her Standing2. Love Me Do3. Please Please Me 4. She Loves You 5. All My Loving 6. I Want To Hold You Hand 7. A Hard Days Night 8. I Should Had Known Better 9. If I Fell 10. And I Love Her 11. Can't Buy Me Love 12. Anytime At All 13. Things We Said Today 14. I Feel Fine 15. Eight Days A Week 16. She's A Woman 17. Every Little Thing She Does 18. Help 19. The Night Before 20. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away 21. You're Gonna Loose That Girl 22. Ticket To Ride 23. I've Just Seen A Face 24. Yesterday 25. We Can Work It Out 26. Day Tripper 27. Drive My Car 28. Norwegian Wood 29. Michelle 30. Girl 31. I'm Looking Through You 32. In My Life 33. Paperback Writer 34. Taxman 35. Eleanor Rigby 36. Here, There And Everywhere 37. Yellow Submarine 38. For No One 39. Got To Get You Into My 40. Strawberry Fields Forever 41. Penny Lane 42. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 43. With A Little Help From My Friends 44. Fixing A Hole 45. She's Leaving Home 46. A Day In The Life 47. All You Need Is Love 48. Fool On The Hill 49. I Am The Walrus 50. Hello, Goodbye 51. Hey Jude 52. Lady Madonna 53. Back In The USSR 54. Dear Prudence 55. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La Dah 56. Happiness Is A Warm Gun 57. Martha My Dear 58. Blackbird 59. Get Back 60. Don't Let Me Down 61. The Ballad Of John And Yoko 62. Come Together 63. Something 64. Oh Darling 65. I Want You (She's So Heavy) 66. Here comes The Sun 67. Because 68. You Never give Me Your Money 69. She came in to the bathroom window/Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End Let It Be is the 12th and final studio album by the Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970, almost a month after the group's break-up. Like most of the band's previous releases, it was a number one album in many countries, including both the US and the UK, and was released in tandem with the motion picture of the same name.The album was conceived as Get Back, a return to the Beatles' earlier, less complicated approach to music. It was recorded and projected for release before their album Abbey Road (1969). For this reason, some critics and fans, such as me, argue that Abbey Road should be considered the group's final album and Let It Be the penultimate. The recording sessions began at Twickenham Film Studios in January 1969 as part of a planned documentary showing the Beatles preparing to return to live performance. A project instigated by Paul McCartney (who really was the brain behind The Beatles the last 2-3 years, and the reason for the band to release such a big amount of music), the filmed rehearsals were marked by ill-feeling within the band, leading to George Harrison's temporary departure from the group. As a condition of his return, the Beatles reconvened at their own Apple Studio, where they completed the recordings with the help of guest musician Billy Preston. Personally I don't really consider this a real Beatles-album, and I definitely consider Abbey Road to be the last Beatles-album. This is a soundtrack to the movie "Let It Be", which I remember seeing on TV in the mid-70's, and I was SO dissapointed. I had heard, that The Beatles was soooo great, and most of the music in the movie was absolute crap to my 10 year old ears. Well, most of "the album" IS crap, and the good songs are over-produced by Phil spector (Lennon's idea, not including McCartney on that plan). The best thing about this album is that it feature maybe my absolute favorite Beatles-song of them all: Lennon's Accross The Universe. The bad thing is, that it's nearly ruined by Phil Spector. The best version of that song appeared years later on "Let It Be Naked". Lennon wrote the song 2 years ahead of the release of "Let It Be", not in India as many believe, I've just read. "Let It Be" the song is imo the very last REALLY great song from McCartney (as "Imagine" would be for Lennon a year later on), meaning the last songs from Lennon and McCartney being way better than anybody else's songs. The magic slowly dissapeared when The Beatles was no more. Could they had made 1 or 2 more great albums in 1971/1972? I think so, yes. To end with the recording of Abbey Road on the absolute top makes The Beatles my favorite band of all time. How about you? The single "Let It Be/You Know My Name" was released 30 May 1970. I have a clear memory of seeing an add in a Donald Duck-comicbook from 1970 for "Let It Be", thinking "What are these old bearded dudes doing in my comic-book?" My very first awareness of The Beatles when it was finally over.Album Ranking:1. Revolver 2. Abbey Road 3. The White album 4. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band 5. Rubber Soul 6. A Hard Days Night 7. Help 8. Please Please Me 9. Let It Be 10. Beatles For Sale 11. With The Beatles 12. Magical Mystery Tour Niels' Ultimate Beatles Playlist:1. I Saw Her Standing2. Love Me Do3. Please Please Me 4. She Loves You 5. All My Loving 6. I Want To Hold You Hand 7. A Hard Days Night 8. I Should Had Known Better 9. If I Fell 10. And I Love Her 11. Can't Buy Me Love 12. Anytime At All 13. Things We Said Today 14. I Feel Fine 15. Eight Days A Week 16. She's A Woman 17. Every Little Thing She Does 18. Help 19. The Night Before 20. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away 21. You're Gonna Loose That Girl 22. Ticket To Ride 23. I've Just Seen A Face 24. Yesterday 25. We Can Work It Out 26. Day Tripper 27. Drive My Car 28. Norwegian Wood 29. Michelle 30. Girl 31. I'm Looking Through You 32. In My Life 33. Paperback Writer 34. Taxman 35. Eleanor Rigby 36. Here, There And Everywhere 37. Yellow Submarine 38. For No One 39. Got To Get You Into My 40. Strawberry Fields Forever 41. Penny Lane 42. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 43. With A Little Help From My Friends 44. Fixing A Hole 45. She's Leaving Home 46. A Day In The Life 47. All You Need Is Love 48. Fool On The Hill 49. I Am The Walrus 50. Hello, Goodbye 51. Hey Jude 52. Lady Madonna 53. Back In The USSR 54. Dear Prudence 55. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La Dah 56. Happiness Is A Warm Gun 57. Martha My Dear 58. Blackbird 59. Get Back 60. Don't Let Me Down 61. The Ballad Of John And Yoko 62. Come Together 63. Something 64. Oh Darling 65. I Want You (She's So Heavy) 66. Here comes The Sun 67. Because 68. You Never give Me Your Money 69. She came in to the bathroom window/Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End 70. Accross The Universe 71. Let It Be