Who else thinks that the Beatles are awesome...?

I agree George Martin made a huge contribution on the early records because they were a very raw talent that needed developing and refining. I wouldn't say he was the greatest producer ever, some of his mixes are pretty basic. If you compare 'Sgt Pepper' with 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn', the Pink Floyd album even after 40+ years still leaps out the speakers at you and sounds fresh as ever.

A lot of the Beatles stuff sounds quite dated because of the production.

Edit: yeah, Zach the early songs were away ahead of their time, the chords and arrangements they were doing were way beyond anyone else at the time. 'She Loves You' even lyrically is written from a second person perspective and the chords that are used in that song are amazing, I love playing it acoustically today, amazing stuff!

The Beatles certainly had a great (you could call it cult too) following, but the truth is that there were many groups out during their prime in the 1960s who made music very similar to their own, much of which was comparatively better. Take the Pretty Things or the much of the British Invasion movement for that matter. Many groups in the movement made great albums. The only real talented Beatle in my opinion was George Harrison, particularly his Wonderwall album.

George Martin helped make them what they were (Martin had a fondness for saccharine strings, so he and McCartney saw eye to eye a lot, but he also was a fifth Beatle in the studio for "Revolver" and "Pepper").

However, Martin's career outside of the Beatles is not as distinguished. His best credit is on a couple of Jeff Beck Group albums, he worked most closely with pop act America, adding saccharine strings...

So, I wonder how the Beatles might have sounded with someone else. If Shel Talmy (The Kinks, the Who) had produced, they might have sounded more like they did in the gritty Hamburg days...?

There later stuff was awesome. Their early pop stuff was crap. I mean come on...8 days a week, there's no substance in those lyrics.