Which album is The Beatles' worst? A (calm) discussion

Is it "Magical Mystery Tour" or "Yellow Submarine" or "Beatles for Sale," or a different album entirely? Which Beatles album would you pick as the worst of their original 13 records?

We all have favorite bands, don't we? We have bands that we defend on principle, even if there's a weaker album or a less-than-amazing song, right? Not long ago, I saw an acquaintance post something on Facebook along the lines of (and this is a paraphrase): "The Beatles would have had a perfect string of albums if only they hadn't released 'Magical Mystery Tour.'

" I guess my acquaintance thought The Beatles' 1967 follow-up to "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was rather hit-and-miss, an uneven record bogged down with more than its fair share of clunkers. I wasn't sure how I wanted to respond at the time. Others were less forgiving (or were even more damning), and in the end the original post was taken down.

So let's move that discussion here, shall we?

The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" music wasn't intended to be "an album." It was released in the UK as a six-song two-EP (extended-play) record set as a soundtrack for their third film (which bears the same name). In the U.S., singles that hadn't appeared yet on an album were appended to create a full-length record.

By: Chris Shields

Source: St. Cloud Times

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