The Beatles were only actively recording for about 8 years. Their first recording session at Abbey Road was on June 6, 1962 and the final Beatles recordings were made on January 3, 1970.

Although they were really only an active band for rather short period of time, they recorded many of the greatest albums in rock history. In fact they recorded so many great albums that I will have to shave off some really good ones to keep this list at a mere seven greatest albums.

#1 The White Album

The Beatles self titled double album quickly got the nickname "The White Album" upon it's release in 1968 and the name has stuck even 40 years later. While many find fault with this album due to it's sprawling nature and experimental tracks like "Wild Honey Pie" & "Revolution #9," I find the album endlessly enthralling because of these very same points.

It has so many great songs in so many different styles. It's like taking a walk through popular music history at that time. And when you get to "Revolution #9" it's like falling into a black hole or opening up a secret pathway to some strange alternate reality. Perhaps it's some far off future that we can barely imagine. Some look at the stranger, more difficult tracks on this album as a fault. As reasons why it's not as great as Revolver or Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I look at them as a strength.

But certainly the album has a lot more going for it than experimental music. It's got beautiful ballads like "Blackbird," "I Will," & "Julia." It's got great rockers like "Everbody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me & My Monkey" & the ground breaking "Helter Skelter."

It's got one of George Harrison's most powerful songs in "While My Guitar Gentley Weeps" which features a young Eric Clapton on lead guitar. It's got "Dear Prudence," "Happiness Is A Warm Gun," "Cry Baby Cry," "Back In The USSR," & "Sexy Sadie."

So many truly great songs in so many differing styles. It's a truly mesmerizing record that only gets better the more you listen to it. In my view it's the pinnacle of rock music to date.

#2 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

While The White Album is sprawling landscape, Sgt Pepper's is more like a trip to the carnival. It's a far more cohesive album. But that's not to say it's without it's unexpected turns, in fact every song on this album is quite different than the one that came before it. The difference is that on Sgt. Pepper's the songs all somehow feel connected despite being so different from each other.

While the album has more than it's share of great songs, it's really the overall feeling of the album that keeps me going back to it. I know it's become hip to hate on this album and to say it's overrated but I really feel that the people who say that aren't truly listening. This is a special album. Every song fits into the whole and more than any other Beatles album in my view, it has no weak tracks. Even Revolver (which I think is their second most consistant album) has "Yellow Submarine" which while a fun singalong does grate my nerves with it's placement right in the middle of the album.

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