5. ABBEY ROAD*
* If the second side of Abbey Road was an album by itself, I would place it number 1, or at least tied for #1 with Revolver.
OK, look, I know I'm about to catch a lot of flak for what I'm about to say, but I find side two of ABBEY ROAD to be, eeehhhhhhhh, just sliiiiightly overrated. When I say overrated, I'm talking Beatles standards here, it's still better than what most other good bands can do. That said, the main culprit is John, and I actually think John would be the first one to agree with me.
"Sun King" sounds like a bad Pink Floyd outtake and "Polythene Pam" and "Mean Mr. Mustard" are just OK, but nothing special. I know, it's a medley and the sum of its parts are supposed to be greater than the whole, yadda yadda, but throwing a few of Lennon's throwaways in the middle on a McCartney medley just clashes and I truly feel is a sign that perhaps we really are watching a bunch of solo srtists making an album together, except John's forced to work in McCartney's world, and it didn't work, (and please don't view this as a knock on John, a McCartney primal scream album would be much worse).
By the time we get to "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" through "The End," the hairs on my arm are standing like the rest of you, and "Here Comes The Sun" and (John's) "Because" are both brilliant, but when the medley truly begins and we get to John's little section, let's just say side two of ABBEY ROAD is damn good, but not the all-time greatest.
I'll take the combination of "No Reply," "I'm A Loser," and "Baby's In Black" over most of John's ABBEY ROAD side two anyday.