Since the pre-Sgt. Pepper US albums differ in terms of content and in some cases, album titles, I decided to do a separate poll for those releases only.

What's yer favorite early Beatles album from the US?

Yep. Rubber Soul for me!

My favorite wouldv'e been the Beatles Again/Hey Jude album, but it wasn't one of the choices. That was my favorite Beatles album growing up....great album cover too.

I voted Yesterday & Today

Hard choice between Rubber Soul and Revolver, but I went with the latter since the U.K. version is my favorite Beatle album period.

Rubber Soul.........no doubt..........no hesitation!!

I prefer "Rarities". "I Am The Walrus" with the 6-bar intro kicks ass!

A few years back, and for years before that, I would have chosen Rubber Soul.
I still love it, but I voted now for Beatles 2nd.It's one of the best rock and roll albums ever made(put together?).One of the main reasons is that on this collection John Lennon sings rock and roll as well as anybody ever has.

I don't like the USA Rubber Soul much -- just knowing what I'm missing on the UK version, probably: no Baby You Can Drive My Car, Nowhere Man, What Goes On. I've Just Seen a Face is not enough compensation!

Despite being American, I don't know the USA versions of the early albums very well. I'd need track listings to make up my mind.

I agree with Pip Re: US Rubber Soul. It's missing too much of the album's...soul.

I was really torn between Meet The Beatles and Beatles '65, since both skim most of the filler off a UK album and replace it with a KILLER single.

I voted for Beatles '65.

They somehow made it a very consistent (mellow) record.....it almost fools you into thinking that the added songs didn't come from different albums/sessions. I've Just Seen A Face works well within it, but It's Only Love was never one of my favorie Beatle songs.

The songs that ended up on Yesterday & Today, are really some of my favorites on (UK/CD) Rubber Soul.

One US album I couldn't stand was the Help soundtrack. I never liked the James Bond/Indian vrsions of Beatles songs. It was OK for the movie, but not enjoyable on album. It made me appreciate the Yellow Submarine album by comparison.

My favorite part is the trumpet flourish at the end of Penny Lane.

I take it you're referring to the US version, correct? I like that album.

What? Am I the first person throwing Hard Day's Night out there? First Beatles album with all Lennon-McCartney originals? Those first half dozen cuts rock like nobody's business!

This thread's about the US albums, Mark. But I agree with you on the merits of the UK A Hard Day's Night.

Since you limited it to US, I picked Help despite the instrumentals. My fav "early" lp (I don't count Rubber Soul as early; to me their psychedelic period started with RS) is often Please Please Me. I know that Introducing is almost identical to PPM, but the UK stereo mix is so much better it's like night & day to me. For US releases, Meet & Yesterday, & '65 are also right up there.

If it was UK, Hard Day's Night would have been way up there for me also.

It's not unusual that tracks from Help would fit comfortably on Rubber Soul: the first tunes for Help were recorded in February 1965, then there was a gap of few months (shooting the movie) before they recorded the last few in June, then they recorded Rubber Soul in October and November. So "Act Naturally" "I've Just Seen a Face" "It's Only Love" and "Yesterday" were recorded about midway between the other Help tracks and Rubber Soul -- and one song from the June session, "Wait," ended up on Rubber Soul when they needed a couple extra tracks to pad out the record.