This is the last of my imaginary Beatles albums of the 1970s, or at least the last one that I finished. For readers who don't haven't seen any of the other albums, what I've done is taken some of the best recordings by the four solo Beatles and put them together in albums, one for each year beginning in 1970. The results are about as close as we can get to hearing what the Beatles might have released as a band if they had stayed together. I assembled this album, along with What Is Life (1970), Working Class Heroes (1971), Imagine (1972), Live and Let Die (1973), and Band on the Run (1974), quite a few years ago, and at the time, I intended to continue putting together more albums in the series, though I would have had to start spacing them out more as the four became less prolific, but I never got around to it. I hope to still do it eventually, though I would also be attempted to make a few changes to the ones I've already done. Nevertheless, while other Beatles fans would no doubt make some very different choices as far as tracks to include (and even I might do the same if I were to start again), I have to say that these albums all sound pretty good, and the best of them compare well to the albums that the Beatles actually released when they were together, proving that even though the band had broken up, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr all retained their talent.
This particular album may not at first listen seem quite the equal of most of its predecessors, as the most obvious tracks from the excellent 1973 albums that I continued to draw on for this collection had been used already, but these songs are quite good too, though they may take a bit more time to grown on the listener. As with the previous albums, I have simply pasted in the liner notes I originally wrote for the album, with a brief addition at the end.
Just after finishing this entry, I went book shopping on Barnes & Noble's and discovered that last year a book with the same premise as this album series of mine was published with the title Still the Greatest: The Essential Songs of The Beatles' Solo Careers. This is actually the second book that I know of based on this concept, the other one being Let’s Put the Beatles Back Together Again 1970-2010, which I wrote about in late 2012. I decided to get this new one to see what the author picked for his albums. Though I put together my six albums before I knew about either, it's always interesting to compare other people's choices, and their selections can serve as a reference if I get around to doing any more of these imaginary Beatles albums, though in the end I'll use my own format and pick the songs that I personally think fit best.
Whatever Gets You Thru Your Life
Let Me Roll It (McCartney/McCartney) 4:47 (1973/12/05)
The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord) (Harrison) 4:33 (1973/05/30)
Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond) (Harrison) 2:44 (1973/11/02)
I Know (I Know) (Lennon) 3:49 (1973/11/02)
Mamunia (McCartney/McCartney) 4:50 (1973/12/05)
Whatever Gets You Thru the Night (Lennon) 3:16 (1974/09/26; single 1974/09/23[US])
Hari's On Tour (Express) (Harrison) 4:40 (1974/12/09)
(It's All Down to) Goodnight Vienna (Lennon) 2:35 (1974/11/15)
Junior's Farm (McCartney/McCartney) 3:01 (1974/10/25)
Dark Horse (Harrison) 3:54 (1974/12/09)
Steel And Glass (Lennon) 4:36 (1974/09/26)
Letting Go (McCartney) 4:34 (1975/05/27)
Total Time - 47:27
Bonus Tracks: Lucille 5:57 (1974/03/31)
Stand By Me 6:04 (1974/03/31)
Let Me Roll It
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1973/09; Released 1973/12/05
From Band On The Run
The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord)
Written and Performed by George Harrison
Recorded 1972/10-1973/01; Released 1973/05/30
From Living In The Material World
Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)
Written by George Harrison; Performed by Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr)
Guitar: George Harrison
Recorded 1973/03; Released 1973/11/02
From Ringo
I Know (I Know)
Written and Performed by John Lennon
Recorded 1973/07-08; Released 1973/11/02
From Mind Games
Mamunia
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1973/09; Released 1973/12/05
From Band On The Run
Whatever Gets You Thru the Night
Written and Performed by John Lennon
Recorded 1974/06-07; Released 1974/09/26 [US single 1974/09/23]
From Walls And Bridges
[Note: The link is to a version with John only on vocals (i.e. without Elton John, who aside from singing played keyboards), though on my CD I used the official version with Elton.]
Hari's On Tour (Express)
Written and Performed by George Harrison
Recorded 1974/10-11; Released 1974/12/09
From Dark Horse
(It's All Down to) Goodnight Vienna
Written by John Lennon; Performed by Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr)
Piano: John Lennon
Recorded 1974/08; Released 1974/11/15
From Goodnight Vienna
Junior's Farm
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1974/06-08; Released 1974/10/25
Single
Dark Horse
Written and Performed by George Harrison
Recorded 1974/10-11; Released 1974/12/09
From Dark Horse
Steel And Glass
Written and Performed by John Lennon
Recorded 1974/06-07; Released 1974/09/26 [US single 1974/09/23]
From Walls And Bridges
Letting Go
Written by Paul McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1975/01-2; Released 1975/05/27
From Venus And Mars
Bonus Tracks:
Lucille
Written by Penniman/Collins; Performed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Friends
Guitar and Lead Vocal: John Lennon
Drums and Harmony Vocal: Paul McCartney
Recorded 1974/03/31
Stand By Me
Written by King/Leiber/Stoller; Performed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Friends
Guitar and Lead Vocal: John Lennon
Drums and Harmony Vocal: Paul McCartney
Recorded 1974/03/31
Having released (in this what-if imaginary world) two albums in 1973, the Beatles might have followed it up with this album, entitled Whatever Gets You Thru Your Life, in early 1975. The title comes from the lyrics of "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night", which in the real world appeared on John's Walls And Bridges album and featured Elton John on keyboards and harmony vocals. It was also released as a single, resulting in a bet between John and Elton. Elton, convinced of the song's commercial potential, bet John that it would hit number one. John didn't think it would, and agreed to appear on stage with Elton if he lost the bet. The result was John's last ever live concert appearance a few months later. One of the other Lennon tracks on this album is "I Know (I Know)", from Mind Games, and the other, from Walls And Bridges, is "Steel And Glass", which is apparently about Allen Klein, the manager John, George and Ringo had hired over Paul's protests in 1969, but who was finally dropped by them in 1973.
Paul, though overall the most prolific of the four, was the only one to not release an album in 1974, having released Band On The Run at the end of 1973. The first of his contributions, "Let Me Roll It", is another track from Band On The Run and seemed a good choice to open this album. The second, the typically catchy "Junior's Farm", was released as a single in 1974, and the final track, "Letting Go", is a solid album track from Wings' 1975 album Venus And Mars (more tracks from this album will appear on the next "Beatles" album, as will more from John's Walls And Bridges).
The first track from George is the wordily titled "The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord)", a bluesy rocker with some cool guitar from Living In The Material World. The instrumental "Hari's On Tour (Express)" and "Dark Horse" are both from his 1974 album, also called Dark Horse. Unfortunately this album was marred by George's serious case of laryngitis, which is apparent on the title track. However, despite the obvious strain in his voice, the song is a good one.
George also wrote one of the two songs Ringo sings on this album, "Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)", which like the Ringo songs on the previous two sets comes from Ringo. In fact I didn't originally intend to include any songs from that album here, but as Brent said this was one of his favorite tracks and it's also quite short, I decided to squeeze it in. "Goodnight Vienna", written by John, is the title track to Ringo's 1974 album, which followed the same formula as Ringo, though this time George and Paul weren't involved.
Finally, there are the two bonus tracks, "Lucille" and "Stand By Me". [Addendum: These are from a jam that took place in LA in 1974 at John's beach house. Paul was visiting and the two of them started playing, along with other musicians present such as Stevie Wonder. It seems that most of those involved were not entirely sober, and the jams were often rather aimless. These two tracks are the most listenable, and while far from spectacular musically they are of great historical interest as being the last recordings of John and Paul playing together, and the only ones made in the 1970s.]
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