But if pushed, then Revolver, Abbey Road, Rubber Soul then Help

specifically post India/Esher Acoustic demos/White Album era.

But I now have a vision of a Harry Hill style FIIIIGHT between the chirpy moptops and the bearded HJHs...

..with teams from 2 distinct eras...cheers Harry.

as I don't want to become bored of their music through over-exposure to it. By way of this self rationing, when I do hear one of their tunes I nearly always end up saying to myself "Bloody hell, they were a bit good, weren't they?"

I don't have a preference for early or late period Fabs.

But it's all great.
Current fave: Remastered 'A Hard Day's Night'

for me. I was listening to 'Mono Masters Part 2' in the gym last night, huffing and puffing away to 'Day Tripper' and 'Rain'. (to drown out the sibilant misery of the in-house techno).

I've been listening to the 'Live At The BBC' and 'Anthology 1' albums recently, which are fizzing with rare energy and sport. Packed full of quirky little nuggets ' Some Other Guy', 'Searchin', 'Leave My Kitten Alone' (great lost single, there!)
Yet other moods require the White Album in entirety at full blast, perhaps a late night session with friends needs a Revolver-Pepper-Magical Mystery Tour triple-bill. Or a sunny late afternoon might call for 'Abbey Road'. It's odd, but probably my least listened-to are 'Please Please Me' and 'Let It Be'.

Had never heard their albums up to Rubber Soul - never thought they were worth bothering with - and am now investigating them. Can't believe I'd missed out on the likes of I'm a Loser or even lesser gems like I Don't Want to Spoil the Party all this time.

What makes it for me is the pure soulfulness of Lennon's voice, shorn of automatic double tracking and all the other studio jiggery pokery of the later recordings. Especially on You Really Got a Hold On Me. Alexis Petridis sums it up:

"if you weren't around in 1963, it's sometimes been difficult to work out precisely why the music contained on the early Beatles albums had such impact ... The Beatles sound taut, vital and surprisingly brutal. Plenty of 60s British bands covered material by black US artists: they tended to bowdlerise it, but the Beatles made it more visceral. There's something authentically deranged about their covers of Twist and Shout and Money. Smokey Robinson's fabulous You Really Got a Hold On Me has its emotional compass shifted from melancholy to torment, with electrifying results."

The Red & Blue Albums:
Sides 3 & 4 of the Red Album, and the whole of the Blue Album.
General preference is post-Pepper

Will happily listen to it all (depending on mood (which appears to be a theme), but LATE Beatles is my choice

Early = no facial hair. Late = facial hair. Is that it?

I´ve always felt more like:
Early = up until and counting Help!.
Mid = Rubber Soul-Sgt Pepper´s (and the volume two that is Magical Mystery Tour).
Late = well, the rest. White Abbey Be.

If so I prefer mid. Also counting the singles from those years they really were bigger than Rod. We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper, Paperback Writer/Rain and - AND - Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane.

I was born in 1977 and nothing contemporary that I grew up with and my peer group listened to even comes close. I was a boring old fart at the age of ten. Bless me. :)

And the most underrated for me would be Help! While I can see that Rubber Soul wins out on the innovation front, Help has a warmer sound and at least half the songs are out and out classics. Also - am I the only one who is continually bothered by the "band in one ear vocal in the other" stereo mixing which blights both Rubber Soul and Revolver, certainly when played on headphones. This is less of a problem on Help!

I also love Magical Mystery Tour, probably the most consistent collection of songs they ever released..

But I would call late everything from Help onward....

.....over everything else. Late era for sure.

there are a thousand groups who could rattle off a "Revolution 9", an "I Want You", a "Savoy Truffle" or a "Polythene Pam" if they were bored or stoned enough, but not ONE who could get close to matching "Not A Second Time", "There's A Place" or "If I Fell". Concise, simple, spontaneous, dynamic, joyous and each thoroughly unpredictable and surprising.

though I love it all. A Hard Day's Night is my current favourite album. I'll change my mind tomorrow.

with Rubber Soul and Abbey Road being my overall favorite Beatles albums but I do like some early era stuff too, especially the Please Please Me album and Live at the BBC. I think Any Time at All is a great early Beatles song that doesn't get enough attention.

That one year above all others. The inventiveness was at a peak, but it was still pop music. They crossed over into rock music and towards the end became a bit derivative, for example the Fleetwood Mac influence on Sun King.

Don't get me wrong, I love them from beginning to end. But if I had to choose, it wouldn't be early or late, it would be 1967.