Having recently written an article on John Lennon for KKBox (it hasn't appeared on their website yet, but probably will in the next few weeks) and with the McCartney tribute album The Art of McCartney having just been released (I haven't got it yet, but I will pick it up when I see a reasonably-priced copy here, and I'll probably be writing about it for KKBox as well), it seems like a good time for the next in my what-if-the-Beatles-hadn't-broken-up series of imaginary Beatles albums of the 1970s, following What Is Life (1970), Working Class Heroes (1971), Imagine (1972), and Live and Let Die (1973). For the second time, I violated my rule against using an album title from an actual solo release, because the title seemed too suitable to resist. This one, which has some excellent songs, particularly from Paul and Ringo, could have been released either at the end of 1973 or in early 1974. As with previous albums, I'm posting my original track listing and liner notes.
Band On The Run
Helen Wheels (McCartney/McCartney) 3:44 (1973/10/26)
Mind Games (Lennon) 4:13 (1973/11/02)
Photograph (Harrison/Starkey) 3:57 (1973/11/02)
Don't Let Me Wait Too Long (Harrison) 2:58 (1973/05/30)
Band On The Run (McCartney/McCartney) 5:10 (1973/12/05)
One Day (At A Time) (Lennon) 3:17 (1973/11/02)
Jet (McCartney/McCartney) 4:07 (1973/12/05)
Devil Woman (Starkey/Poncia) 3:50 (1973/11/02)
Sue You Sue Me Blues (Harrison) 4:48 (1973/05/30)
Out Of The Blue (Lennon) 3:23 (1973/11/02)
Six O'Clock (McCartney) 4:08 (1973/11/02)
Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five (McCartney/McCartney) 5:27 (1973/12/05)
Total Time - 48:27
Helen Wheels
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1973/09; Released 1973/10/26 (single release [UK])
Single (Also appeared on Band On The Run [US only])
Mind Games
Written and Performed by John Lennon
Recorded 1973/07; Released 1973/11/02
From Mind Games
Photograph
Written by Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr) and George Harrison; Performed by Ringo Starr
12 String Acoustic Guitar and Harmony Vocal: George Harrison
Recorded 1973/03; Released 1973/11/02
From Ringo
Don't Let Me Wait Too Long
Written and Performed by George Harrison
Recorded 1972/10-1973/01; Released 1973/05/30
From Living In The Material World
Band On The Run
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1973/09; Released 1973/12/05
From Band On The Run
One Day (At A Time)
Written and Performed by John Lennon
Recorded 1973/07-08; Released 1973/11/02
From Mind Games
Jet
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1973/09; Released 1973/12/05
From Band On The Run
Devil Woman
Written by Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr) and Vini Poncia; Performed by Ringo Starr
Recorded 1973/03; Released 1973/11/02
From Ringo
Sue You Sue Me Blues
Written and Performed by George Harrison
Recorded 1972/10-1973/01; Released 1973/05/30
From Living In The Material World
Out Of The Blue
Written and Performed by John Lennon
Recorded 1973/07-08; Released 1973/11/02
From Mind Games
Six O'Clock
Written by Paul McCartney; Performed by Ringo Starr
Piano and Synthesizer: Paul McCartney
Backing Vocals: Paul and Linda McCartney
Recorded 1973/03; Released 1973/11/02
From Ringo
Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1973/09; Released 1973/12/05
From Band On The Run
Band On The Run is made up entirely of songs released in 1973, which was the biggest year for solo Beatle releases, with the possible exception of 1970. Paul's best solo release of the 1970s, Band On The Run, is the source of four tracks (if we count "Helen Wheels", which was a single only release in the UK), including the opening, closing and title tracks. The album from which they are taken, Paul's third release with Wings, garnered the most positive critical response that any of his solo efforts had yet received. "Helen Wheels" is a solid rocker and in my opinion makes a great opening track. "Band On The Run" and "Jet" were of course no-brainers when it came to making selections, being two of Paul's best hits of the seventies and the biggest reasons for the critical plaudits the album received, while "Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five" makes a melodic closer. Yet more tracks from Band On The Run appear on the next "Beatles" album.
John's contributions come from Mind Games, his fourth solo album. This album is generally regarded as being a much better release than the overly political Some Time In New York City, though not quite as good as Imagine. Ironically, given their reputations, John doesn't rock as much as Paul on this album, but both "Out Of The Blue" and "One Day (At A Time)" are good introspective tunes in the mold of tracks like "Jealous Guy", as is "Mind Games" itself, though the latter has somewhat more elaborate production.
George's tracks, like those on the previous "Beatles" album Live And Let Die, come from his second solo album Living In The Material World. While neither of the two tracks appearing here is the equal of "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)", the big hit from LITMW, "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long" is a excellent piece of melodic rock, and "Sue You Sue Me Blues" shows George's tongue-in-cheek humor (despite his serious reputation, many of George's songs provide evidence that he in fact had the best sense of humor of the four), in this case poking fun at the Beatles' legal squabbles.
Last but not least (on this album, if not on others) is Ringo. Like his two contributions to Live And Let Die, all three tracks here come from his 1973 solo album Ringo, which was far and away his best. "Devil Woman" is a track which Ringo co-wrote with Vini Poncia, and "Six O'Clock" was Paul's contribution to the album, which, as mentioned in the notes for Live And Let Die, was the only solo Beatles release to feature all four ex-Beatles. Both of these songs are solid if not spectacular, but what really makes Ringo's contribution important to this album is "Photograph", which not only was a number one hit, but also the best song of Ringo's solo career (the only possible competition coming from "It Don't Come Easy") and in my opinion one of the best songs Ringo ever sang lead vocals for, second only to "With A Little Help From My Friends". George of course played a major role in recording the track, and while it's officially co-written by Ringo, from the sound of it I suspect that George did most of the writing (on the other hand, Ringo apparently has said he wrote most of it and George just helped him finish it). As an aside, other tracks from Ringo which were candidates for inclusion were the other number one hit, "You're Sixteen", featuring Paul on kazoo (which I excluded since it was a cover); the excellent Randy Newman song "Have You Seen My Baby", featuring Marc Bolan on guitar (left off for the same reason as "You're Sixteen") and "Oh My My", another Ringo collaboration with Vini Poncia (I decided I preferred "Devil Woman"). One other track from Ringo did make it onto the next "Beatles" album.
Thanks in particular to "Band On The Run", "Photograph" and "Jet", this is in my opinion one of the best 1970s "Beatles" albums yet, at least as far as good melodic pop songs go. And when you notice that not only all the tracks on this album but many of those on Live And Let Die and a few on the next album as well were released in 1973, you can see why I say it was possibly the best year for solo Beatle releases. As will be seen, their productivity began to decline fairly quickly from this high point, but between them they still managed to produce a lot of good material, though it was spread out over more time.
