The Beatles Divided By 4
I can’t remember how it started, but last night I was scrolling through my iTunes library and the desire to pick through George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass overtook me.
I’m a Beatles fan (who isn’t) and am moderately knowledgeable on the band, but much less so on the individual solo careers of the Fab Four. A quick aside — brought up mostly for regular readers Saleski and S.Rod — there is a picture of a young fanboy, let’s say at about age 4 (?), wearing a sleeper and a big-ass pair of ’70s style headphones while listening to Ringo. What can I say? As a kid, I liked the drums and I liked the Beatles.
Anyway, I never truly explored the solo careers and I think it’s an example of allowing myself to be unduly influenced by the music critic elite, the crowd that said Beatle solo records paled in comparison to their collective efforts. I should have immediately seen through that. I enjoy a lot of great music that isn’t as good as what The Beatles did.
I bought All Things Must Pass maybe six months ago on a roadie to Grimey’s in Nashville (fabulous store!). I’d heard it described as Harrison’s best solo work and I decided to roll the dice on it. I bought the 30th Anniversary edition, remastered, with 5 bonus tracks appended to the end of Disc 1.
Allow me to pause here so that I can empty my spleen about dumping bonus tracks in the middle of a record. There is only one time this is acceptable. If an album is originally intended as a double album but record company jackassery forces an artist to cut it down to one, it is permissable for the artist to resequence the record in accordance with their initial wishes if they ever get the chance to release the album in its proper form (Jerry Cantrell’s Degradation Trip, for example). Otherwise, bonus tracks belong at the END of a record so that the album can be experienced properly.
I bought the album, which upon its initial release was a 3-LP set, and listened through it once. It is a lot of music to get through and I do sometimes suffer from short musical attention span. It’s the byproduct of having so damn many choices. I never really delved into this record, so I started from the beginning this morning.
My experience with All Things Must Pass and Paul McCartney’s Chaos and Creation has convinced me I should consider more investigation into the solo careers of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison.
The Chaos experience happened when I started talking out of my ass and ripped an album I’d barely heard. Someone took gentle exception to what I’d said, so I bought the record to give it a more thorough listen. Listening with a more open mind led to the discovery that it was pretty fuckin’ good. I was quite pleased to admit I’d been hasty in my dismissal.
That experience got me to buy a couple more of his recent solo albums. I’d heard some good things about a couple of them but bypassed them in part because I continued adhering to the theology that said Beatle solo records weren’t very good. In my defense, his post- 9/11 song “Freedom” is one of the most awful things I’ve ever heard and that one song did more to turn me against his contemporary output than any critic. I bought Run Devil Run and Flaming Pie. I like them both.
Now that I’ve decided to explore the individual efforts, I am looking for some help from those of you who’ve already wandered this road. Where should I start? I’m thinking of going after George’s self-titled release next because I have campy good memories of listening to “Blow Away” on AM radio as a kid, but I’m open to suggestions.
I own:
- McCartney - Flaming Pie
- McCartney - Run Devil Run
- McCartney - Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
- Harrison - All Things Must Pass
- Lennon - Legend (a greatest hits package)
Filed under: Tags: Musical Musings and Random Ramblings, Paul McCartney, The Beatles
Get:
“McCartney” and “Ram”
Thanks for the tips, Paul. What about Band on the Run? Where does that one rate for you.
I agree “All Things Must Pass” is George’s finest work, the guest artists are amazing. Try The Concert For Bangaladesh on DVD, that was a great concert I was able to attend and see an amazing array of superstars, Dylan, Leon Russell (amazing version of Beware of Darkness).
The “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band” record is pretty thrilling - I think getting away from Paul encouraged him to go in a grittier direction. The songs compare well with John’s stuff from the White album.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_Ono_Band_%28John_Lennon_album%29
“Band on the Run” is good, but the two mentioned were made at the end of the Beatles, and they just have that Beatles feel….
What I’m realizing is that I know most of these records by name and know a few songs off each of them. I just have to dig in and go after them as finances allow.
Thanks to all of you — Scott, Christian, Paul — for your input and advice.
I highly recommend George Harrison’s 1988 live recording, I think it is called Live in Japan. It was recorded on the Cloud Nine tour with George fronting Eric Clapton’s band.
The song choices are excellent and it is interesting to listen to the guitar parts and figure out who played what. The 2 players’ sounds and styles are distinctive, and guessing is usually not difficult.
But mainly, I really enjoy listening to it.
Brother Josh, the Beatle solo albums you list owning are not among their best. Generally, their earlier post-Beatle records are their best, but for Paul, I’d particularly recommend
Flowers in the Dirt (contains the cream of the crop of Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello’s songwriting collaboration)
Band on the Run - usually considered his best solo
Venus and Mars - THE best Paul solo album
Tug of War
The All The Best compilation is pretty killer as well.
Tug of War is a good one if you want to hear the song Paul wrote after John died “Here Today”. Good album choices by all those who have responded thus far. A few more:
Mind Games-John
The Best of the Dark Horse-George (If you can find it)
All the Best-Paul (A good compilation, even though ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ isn’t on it).
Not much from Ringo, although ‘Weight of the World’ is probably my favorite song from him.
Check out some of Julian Lennon’s stuff too…Photograph Smile is a great album.
For McCartney, you really have to start with his first, self titled album, the one with the original “Maybe I’m Amazed” on it. I was very impressed with this one right from the beginning, before he started getting a little silly on us.
Lets not exclude Ringo. Time Takes Time is so Ringo. Not great but very satisfying. Catchy tunes that allow you to sing along after one play.
Josh, get a copy of the “Concert for George” DVD. You will not be sorry. You might want to skip over the Indian music at first and get to the BAND. (But, by all means, listen to the Indian music at some point. Amazing.) The George Harrison tunes are performed by a pretty good list of his close friends. They are performed out of respect and love for the man and you’ll likely not think of George the same way after you hear those songs. All things must pass…but they don’t have to dissappear.
Listen to “RINGO”. Photograph is a Masterpiece. Big fat production. George wrote it.
All good suggestions, fellas, but as an old Beatlemaniac who saw them perform live several times, please don’t discount Ringo. Among my favorites are “It Don’t Come Easy”, written by George Harrison and “The No No Song” written by Hoyt Axton, as well as “I’m the Greatest”, written by John Lennon. Lennon’s “Double Fantasy” LP was his last and perhaps best solo work, though I still don’t get Yoko’s talent. I never tire of “Number 9 Dream” from the Plastic Ono Band’s “Shaved Fish” LP, which includes “Imagine”, “Cold Turkey” and “Instant Karma” — all excellent Lennon songs.
Everybody missed it - “Rock ‘n Roll” by Lennon. I got it new and wore the grooves off. Much better than what Phil Spector did to “Let It Be”.
In all fairness, McCartney and Wings is NOT solo work…it’s Paul directing people to do what he couldn’t get John and George to do…but it’s brilliant all the same.
My favorite George is, believe it or not, also not solo - it’s the Wilbury recordings…what a way to go out…playing with your favorite mates in the ultimate geezer band. I’ll lump “Handle With Care” with “What Is Life” any day of the week…when you hit 50, you appreciate those sort of things.
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Dude, I’m 47. I’ve been listening to the Beatles since at least 1969. Paul’s and John’s earliest solo albums are a must. For Paul, definately don’t miss ‘Ram’. Tons of hits on that record. ‘Imagine’ from John is awesome. Whatever record from Ringo where he sings ‘Sweet Sixteen’, you gotta have it. I’ve been attending Paul’s concert’s since ‘76. He finally did ‘Too Many People’ off the Ram album. Thumbs up Paul!
Thanks to everyone who has offered suggestions. I’ve read them all and plan to take them into consideration as I consolidate my cash. I am holding out for the recently-announced McCartney re-issues. If I’m going to get them, I might as well wait for the remastered versions.
I’ve recently bought Harrison’s self-titled and Brainwashed and I’m going to be looking into a few of these others.
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