Seven musical artists who turned in exquisite five-album runs

THE BEATLES

Rubber Soul (1965)
Revolver (1966)
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band (1967)
Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
The Beatles (The White Album) (1968)

As with the Rolling Stones, the different releases in the UK and USA make this a little tricky. The run above is actually not accurate for either country but does capture the new music that the lads put out between 1965 and 1968. And I figure even if you want to quibble and toss Yesterday and Today or Yellow Submarine into the mix, the run still holds up.

Rubber Soul changed rock & roll forever, allowing it to become more expressive and deeper than anything that came before. “Drive My Car” still rocked, but “Girl” ached in a more mature way than rock had previously managed.

Revolver is the greatest album from the most important band in the history of rock & roll. It is simultaneously psychedelic and classical, while still rocking.

Sgt. Pepper may have suffered from being overly praised. It is a stretch to call it the first concept album in rock history, though it is clearly the most significant. You can believe it is overrated while still being an excellent collection of songs.

The American release of Magical Mystery Tour is the forgotten album. It featured music from their worst film, and has one or two pointless tracks like “Flying.” But it also has titanic numbers like “The Fool on the Hill” and the underrated George Harrison composition “Blue Jay Way” on side one.

Side two features a couple of non-album singles that rank among the band’s most beloved songs – “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane.” In the middle of it all, we get “I Am the Walrus,” which points the way toward The White Album, an astonishing collection of musical ideas. Some of them fall entirely flat like “Wild Honey Pie” and “Revolution 9.” But there is so much to love that it washed those occasional missteps away.