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GREATEST HITS ALBUM REVIEW

THE BEATLES

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1967 - 1970

Released - 1973, on Apple Records. Produced by George Martin, except tracks 27 & 28, produced by Phil Spector

John Lennon - Lead & Backing Vocals, Rhythm, Lead, Slide Guitars, Bass on track 15, Percussion, Harp, Keyboards
Paul McCartney - Lead & Backing Vocals, Bass, Drums, Lead Guitar on track 15, Keyboards, Percussion
George Harrison - Lead and Rhythm Guitars, Backing and Lead Vocals
Ringo Starr - Drums, Percussion, Keyboards, Backing Vocals, and Lead Vocals on tracks 4 & 25

Additional Personnel - Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Keith Moon, Marianne Faithfull, Pattie Harrison, Jane Asher, Graham Nash, Mike Sammes Singers and several others.

All songs written by Lennon/McCartney except "While My Guitar Gently Weeps",  "Old Brown Shoe", "Here Comes The Sun" and "Something", written by G. Harrison and "Octopus's Garden" written by R. Starkey.

# SONG

YEAR RELEASED

RATING
     
1 Strawberry Fields Forever 1967 10.0
2 Penny Lane 1967 10.0
3 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 1967 10.0
4 With a Little Help from My Friends 1967 10.0
5 Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds 1967 10.0
6 A Day in the Life 1967 10.0
7 All You Need Is Love 1967 10.0
8 I Am the Walrus 1967 10.0
9 Hello Goodbye 1967 10.0
10 The Fool on the Hill 1967 10.0
11 Magical Mystery Tour 1967 10.0
12 Lady Madonna 1968 10.0
13 Hey Jude 1968 10.0
14 Revolution 1968 10.0
15 Back in the U.S.S.R. 1968 10.0
16 While My Guitar Gently Weeps 1968 10.0
17 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da 1968 10.0
18 Get Back 1969 10.0
19 Don't Let Me Down 1969   9.6
20 The Ballad of John and Yoko 1969 10.0
21 Old Brown Shoe 1969   6.0
22 Here Comes the Sun 1969 10.0
23 Come Together 1969 10.0
24 Something 1969 10.0
25 Octopus's Garden 1969   8.4
26 Let It Be 1970 10.0
27 Across the Universe 1970   9.0
28 The Long and Winding Road 1970 10.0
Ave.   9.75

Review

This is the companion greatest hits double album to 1962 - 1966. You sure can see how much not only The Beatles appearance changed in just a few short years (just check out the two LPs covers, with photos taken at the same location of the Fabs just 6 years apart), but boy did their music change too!

No longer a pop group, they were now a pure rock band with songs that said a lot more than just I love you and I wanna hold your hand! Thanks to John Lennon, some of the most far-out lyrics written by anybody were now showing up on their records, and it seemed to rub off on Paul McCartney in some of his songs, too. 

The best overall song on here was written by Paul for John's young son, Julian, "Hey Jude". It was at the time of its release the longest time running single ever released and was a smash hit, and most people were fooled into thinking the lyrics were about heroin addiction. The best written song in this greatest hits package has to be John's "I Am the Walrus", with "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" (another Lennon penned gem) a close second. One more song to make the "best" list would be "Revolution" with one of the first and best acid lead guitar parts ever played, courtesy of John.

The three greatest songs ever written by George Harrison show up on here, too, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Here Comes The Sun" and "Something". But what in the world is his "Old Brown Shoe" doing on here? This one is a weak song, if not for the slide guitar and neat bass it would not even be an average song, but for sure it was not a Beatles greatest hit, nor a song that most Beatles fans cared for. Almost any other song from '67 -'70 would have fitted in better than this dull one!

I guess I could close out this review in the same matter that I closed out my review for 1962 - 1966, nothing more needs to be written about this album, yes, it too speaks for itself! Damn, the Beatles were one GREAT group!

- Keno 2005

To listen to some soundclips from THE BEATLES 1967-1970 or to purchase it, click on: The Beatles: 1967-1970

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