don't you think that description is a bit reductive of the beatles' career? i find it almost insulting to the depth & profundity of their songwriting. can you name me one artist that had their stylistic range (from folk to country to blues to rockabilly to soul to r&b to music hall to psychedelic rock to hard rock, the list goes on & on & on) in such a short period of time, accomplished with such a dazzling array of success (including vast amounts of critical favor & praise nearly a half century later, peerless enduring popularity, record-breaking album sales & unmatched influence)? i doubt you could name a single musician. the beatles played these styles so successfully & exerted such influence - even now - that the type of music they popularised is commonly looked unfavorably upon as "simple pop/rock," but let's not forget that nobody was this daring before them & very few have been since. their production innovations, intricate arrangements & songwriting techniques have been worked so firmly into pop music that it's easy to reduce their music to mere vere-chorus-verse four-beats-to-a-bar rock & roll. the problem with discovering a work of art commonly lauded as influential at a later date is that you've probably encountered the work it influenced first, so its truly innovative qualities are lost - this is a real shame, especially with a band so wildly creative & talented.


i'd hardly call such masterworks as sticky fingers, exile on main street & some girls - all recorded after brian's departure - "the same music" over & over again. to be fair, they didn't truly sink into that territory until the 80's.


i'd end dylan's political era (& change the name to "topical") short of bringing it all back home since that album is filled with mostly surrealistic poetry, & it's mostly renown for his stylistic & lyrical diversions; an argument could be made for it ending before another side... as well, but i won't get nitpicky. also, desire was released in 1976, so the "love-torn" era should probably be extended thus far.

on another note, i quite like nashville skyline - it may be a bit slight in its ambition, but it's got a warm, earthy sound that's both comforting & friendly. i recall one critic referring to it as "a deep, humane & interesting statement about being happy" - i agree. not to mention, from a musically historical standpoint, it did much to popularise country-rock & concrete the genre as a significant force in pop music.