Listening to their early stuff makes me laugh sometimes. They were terrible. In later years they had a lot of help from studio musicians, whole orchestras ... what makes the Beatles great isn't their ability to play instruments well. I also think they made poor solo artists. The first of the British Invasion and the band model, fantastic composers ...
The Bob Dylan comparison is great. That guy is my favorite songwriter - but I have a hard time listening to if if he performs himself.
G