Harmony vocals should be as prominent as the lead vocal in a mix

This might be more of something I’m noticing when I’ve made albums with bands, but I feel like many producers try too hard to make sure the lead vocal is the most prominent thing all the time. Which makes sense most of the time, but when there’s a harmony or two, it sounds way cooler when all the voices are well blended. I love the way old-school bands like The Beatles used to sound where you sometimes couldn’t clearly tell what the lead line was or who’s singing it because the most important thing was hearing the whole ensemble (Yes It Is is a great example of this). Or other times, both parts are just as melodic (since they follow the same contour), so who’s to say which one is the melody and which one is the harmony? The worst offender of this I heard was a cover of Africa (might have been Weezer). I guess the producer decided that the first/highest voice in the chorus was the lead vocal and turned all the others down. Not a great decision since it’s also the least interesting vocal part (it’s basically alternating between two notes a half-step apart). You’ll notice in the Toto version, the top voice isn’t the most prominent by the time they get to “I bless the rains down in Africa” since all the parts are important.

I mean, obviously there should be some adjustments in volume for proper blending, but it’s not so appealing if there’s an obviously loud lead line and obviously quiet harmony lines, especially if we’ve already heard the lead line on its own earlier.