The Beatles

I've been listening to a lot of The Beatles lately, and if anything, I've been loving them more than ever. I got two of their remastered albums for my birthday last month (Rubber Soul and The Beatles, aka The White Album). These two albums, to me, represent two important stages in their songwriting evolution. With Rubber Soul (and Revolver, which I've been listening to a lot also), they perfected the "two minute pop song". It's amazing to me that such complete, dense songs full of meaning can be so short. Then with The White Album, they figured out a way to extend their songs without adding fluff. The songs are just as compelling, but many of them are twice as long as the ones they were writing earlier. Among their many innovations, this ability to write songs in a way that seemed so effortless is one of the most fascinating to me.