The first dividing line seems to be pretty well agreed upon.  Help -> Rubber Soul.  Where they went from catchy but still simple and unremarkable little ditties/boy band pop songs and emerged into a massive explosion of what could be done in pop music. 

That middle period, comprised of Rubber Soul and Revolver, and to some degree, Sgt. Pepper, was the peak of Beatle awesomenedd before the third and final period, when all that creativity and experimentation went awry, descending into a mix of drug-addled gibberish, silly indulgence, and mindless hippie escapism.  

That's impossible because whatever periodization one might think of with the Beatles, it is the result of many different things.

For instance the transformation from happy dance pop á la "She Loves You" to deeper and more artistic music can not be fixed to one specific event. There are many aspects: Discovering Bob Dylan (1964), cannabis and LSD (1964 and 1965), influence from other forward thinking musicians, exploring avant-garde, new recording techniques etc.

That's only 3 and I really don't think you can call Abbey Road "drug-addled gibberish, silly indulgence, and mindless hippie escapism"

I couldn't agree more, although perversely it's a bit like 4 solo albums (or 3 solo albums and a single from Ringo).

My thoughts also.

My opinion too.

[/QUOTE]

 

yes, pretty much!

I agree 

 

I thought most people believed it was Yoko Ono that divided The Beatles.

Pre- and post-Epstein.  (summer '67)

"I knew that we were in trouble then ... I thought, 'We've had it now."

-John

"I don't think they'd have got anywhere without Brian."

-Cynthia

"If anyone was the fifth Beatle, it was Brian."

-Paul

Sorry, not sure why I typed four.  I have fixed my original post. 

Come Together = Drug Addled Gibberish

Maxwell's Silver Hammer = Even many Beatlemaniacs don't like this one

Octopus's Garden = Silly indulgence, and juvenile at that.  

I Want You (She's So Heavy) = Mind numbingly repetitious, so yes, indulgent.  And what does I Want You have to do with someone being So Heavy?  And who the hell is "she" anyway.  The song is musically interesting enough to hold for about three minutes (like most Beatle songs) but wears out its welcome long before it hits its 7+ total.  As for the lyrics, they're done even sooner.  

Other silliness follows in some of the subsequent songs.  

And thanks to the miracle of modern technology, we can treat it as such.  I actually kind of like the George Harrison solo EP contained therein.  

This. My favorite Beatles year is 1967. Magical Mystery Tour is my favorite album followed by Sgt. Peppers. Revolver is good too. I like the other stuff especially white album but find they were sometimes off the mark a bit.

Before Rubber Soul, John Lennon did imitation Everly Brothers songs while Paul McCartney had a couple of outstanding songs including I Saw her Standing There. Rubber Soul took them into a whole new world until The White Album, when the partnership between Paul McCartney and John Lennon was irretrievably broken and George Harrison came into his own and the three wrote their own music, which they turned into The White Album. Let It Be was bits and pieces while Abby Road was Paul McCartney's swan song as the group called The Beatles, working with George Martin in the studio and using a couple of songs of George Harrison and a couple from John Lennon.

I'll give you Octopus' Garden but we'll have to agree to differ on the others. Read up a bit on Come Together and I Want You ("she" is Yoko and there is a reason behind the lyrics).

Before lsd.  After lsd.

I really like the White Album, but it is not very cohesive. There are some of their best songs ("Blackbird", "Happiness Is A Warm Gun", "Dear Prudence", "I'm So Tired", "Long Long Long" and "Revolution 9" [sic] are probably my favourites), but there are also a lot of mediocre fillers. Plus I still find it very hard to cope with "Obla di Obla da".

On the other hand, it has all kinds of everything on it, and it is almost like a collage. That's probably the most fascinating thing about it. It displays a band breaking up, consisting mainly on what is essentially solo material, so it is, if you like, a great album by accident.

oh yeah

Octopus' Garden is a very good funny country pop song.

Maxwell is a weak song but it's not bad

Is "I want you" self indulgent? Yes, luckily!!! Like most of Dylan's masterpieces and prog's masterpieces.

I want you is one of the greatest masterpieces by the Beatles.

siLLy puPPy wrote: Ah, i thought this was gonna be before the real Paul died and the fake Paul took over

 

Ah, the one and only Billy Shears turns up … finally. So Sgt. Pepper was the turning point (Paul allegedly blew his mind out in a car on 9 November 1966).

pre- Rubber Soul

post - Rubber Soul

at the risk of being pedantic that would make 3 periods

I think it's well established that Beatles changed from mop top pop group to a serious and often experimental band from Rubber Soul onwards. That's when a lot of bands were becoming inspired and 'rebelling' against record companies to a degree who just wanted a puppet. The Who and The Kinks and even The Rolling Stones (bless) were part of the revolution. The Beatles though were the more pretentious end of this and that can be more easily traced through to their influence on the likes of Robert Fripp and progressive rock.

patrickq wrote: ...but for me, it’s Rubber Soul. Period 1: great pop/rock band. Period 2: greatest pop/rock band.

 

This^

Oh yes, the red and blue albums respectively. We had those when I was a kid. Two of the best compilation albums ever and you are right they pretty much settle this argument.