Imaginary Next Beatles Album
By: Rob
Category: 1960s, 1970s, Beatles, Downloads, Entertainment, Music, Songs, The Seventies, sixties
Last month, George Harrison’s solo albums were made available on the iTunes store, meaning that you can now buy Beatles solo stuff on iTunes, with the Beats themselves coming next year, it says here.
This news reminded me of a game Roy and I played a few years ago: proposing a track listing for an imaginary “next Beatles album” as if they hadn’t split up in 1969, and hadn’t all released solo albums in 1970.
The rules are as follows:
- No more than 25 minutes per side (because that’s about the limit for a vinyl album).
- At least one track with a Ringo vocal
- No more than two tracks with a George Vocal
- The rest made up of Lennon or McCartney tracks
- Songs should be from first solo releases.
Now, my own effort is here, and as you can see I’ve cheated like mad with the Ringo track. I should have included “It Don’t Come Easy,” his first solo single (written by - or with - George), and not “Photograph” which comes from 1973, but I’ve always loved “Photograph,” and feel that - for various reasons - Ringo’s solo career really started with Ringo in 1973, which because it features contributions from all four Beatles is the spiritual home of what-might-have-been.
When I first approached this problem a few years ago, I also cheated on the Lennon and McCartney tracks. I did this because I felt Paul’s early solo work was mostly lightweight shite that wouldn’t have made the cut on a Beatles album; and I felt the Lennon’s first album was mostly shite of a different nature, complete with anger, bitterness, and self-loathing in equal measure. Surely, I thought, if the whole break-up hadn’t happened, these feelings would have been suppressed for a while longer, or (in EastEnders terms), the four of them would have got it sorted out.
So back then, I allowed myself to go as far forward as Band on the Run for Paul and Imagine for John. This was utterly disgraceful, and I apologise.
This time around, apart from Ringo, I’ve stuck to those 1970 solo albums, recognising that everything would have been recorded differently, and sounded better, as a Beatles project. Paul’s lightweight stuff would have been given some weight by harmonies and better production values; John’s tracks would have been similarly improved. So you can add rule #6 to the list above: you’re allowed one cheat track.
I couldn’t include “God” because of the I don’t believe in Beatles line, but I did include “Working Class Hero.” It was that, or “Cold Turkey”. “Cold Turkey” may be the more likely selection in an alternate universe, but I’ve always hated it. I do think, however, that there would have been no swearing on a Beatles record; anyway, John’s swearing was a deliberate (and childish) poke in the eye of the Fab-era, and in the not-splitting-up scenario wouldn’t have happened.
Feel free to post your own track listing/sequence in the comments, or forward me a link to a blog entry and/or iMix on the iTunes store. I’ve always referred to this album as Imaginary, a little pun, but you might come up with a much better title. I’m not happy with my sequence, and can’t help thinking that The Beatles in 1970 might have allowed Ringo a nod towards the rock ‘n’ roll revival that was happening at the time, so his track might have been a cover, as on his first two solo albums. All of these things are up for debate, so grab your anorak.
Track listing: Imaginary
Side 1
- Instant Karma! - John (instant classic. Almost good enough to be on a Beatles record.)
- What is Life? - George (again, I’ve always loved it, and this is a more Beatles-like tune than “My Sweet Lord”)
- Every Night - Paul (The McCartney arrangement is somewhat shambolic, but I feel sure this would be superb as a Beatles track proper)
- Teddy Boy - Paul (was going to be a Beatles track, anyway, wasn’t it?)
- Photograph - Ringo (cough)
- Remember - John (ooh, just noticed that this is like a theme thing, following on from “Photograph.” Probably insufficiently different from Karma?)
- Man We Was Lonely - Paul (again, would need considerable beefing up in the Beatles sweatshop)
Side 2
- Working Class Hero - John (A doubtful inclusion, but given the context of the era, there would surely have been a response to things like Let it Bleed)
- Beware of Darkness - George (I liked “If Not For You” for this spot, but it wouldn’t have been allowed because of Dylan’s involvement)
- Look at Me - John (very White Album)
- That Would be Something - Paul (another Paul track that would have been quality-controlled to excellence)
- Oo You - Paul (we’re short of out and out rockers, aren’t we?)
- Isolation - John (probably another doubtful entry if I’m honest)
- Maybe I’m Amazed - Paul (a strong one to close the set, though it’s not that good, it gets a bit lost in the middle there, and would need a tighter arrangement and better musicianship to get on a Beatles album).
Clearly there are many permutations possible here, and this game could even be continued for the album-to-come after this one (would everything suddenly come good in 1973?).
I think Ringo needs his two strongest, IMHO,
It Dont Come Easy and Back off Boogaloo
Stephen Baxter wrote a short story, “The Twelfth Album,” about two guys who discover in a dead friend’s apartment something that couldn’t possibly exist, a Beatles album entitled “God.”
The story’s a bit of a lightweight, but I put the album together as best I could. Baxter’s running order:
Side One
Gimme Some Truth
It Don’t Come Easy
Every Night
All Things Must Pass
Child of Nature
Back Seat of My Car
Side Two
Instant Karma
Isn’t It A Pity?
Junk
Wah Wah
God
Maybe I’m Amazed
It’s not perfect, and I cheated a little on two tracks. (And Baxter’s version of “Maybe I’m Amazed” is nothing like McCartney’s version; in his story, Lennon takes the lead vocal.)
Yet, the “album” has grown on me, and I like it.
I think I’ll give your track a list a try, though.
In a similar vein, Doctor Who author Jon Blum put together a track listing for a 1990s reunion Beatles album.
A couple of random thoughts on some of your comments regarding various songs.
I’ve thought about the alternate universe where when John offered “Cold Turkey” as a Beatles song, Paul had said “Yes.” Then “Live Peace in Toronto” might have been exactly the kind of concert that Paul had hoped for out of the Let It Be project.
And “Teddy Boy” was going to be a Beatles song, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Phil Spector had mixed a version of the song for Let It Be, but pulled it when McCartney featured the song.
Kev, “It Don’t Come Easy” should be there, I agree, and I put it there on at least one of the drafts I tried, but in the end I just don’t like it much, and I’d have skipped it every time. As for “Boogaloo”, to me it sounds too much of its time, too Marc Bolan 1972, and not enough 1970. I like that one called “Early 1970″, too, but it’s an artefact of the break-up.
Allyn: Thanks for those links. I’ve read a lot of Stephen Baxter and can’t believe I’ve not come across that one before. Reminds me of a dream I once had. which left me convinced for years that in a grey wooden chest in my parents’ house there was a late-era Beatles record with a load of unreleased stuff on it. It was such a vivid dream that I could never quite shake it off, could even picture the cover. I’ll try the Baxter version myself. Meanwhile, I’ve created an iMix of it.
I was going to say in my post that Cold Turkey might still have been a Beatles single. Ultimately, whether I consider the Baxter version or my version, I agree with you that it’s all just too conservative, and in the end not nearly good enough for a real Beatles record. On the other hand, they were always greater than the sum of their parts, and that’s why I suggest that a lot of the songs would have been greatly spruced up with the 4 working together.
I also like to think that The Beatles in the 70s would have been more democratic, and allowed George to have more than one-per-side. I haven’t put that on my version, though it’s clear that it would make for a stronger set if the three main songwriters had 4 songs each.
[...] 17, 2007 Here’s a fun game I found here. Use the initial 1970 solo output of all four Beatles to compile what might have been their next [...]
Okay, Maximum Bob, here’s my 1970s Beatles album, Hot As Sun (after the mythical lost Beatles album Rolling Stone wrote about in the early 1970s):
Side A
Oo You
It Don’t Come Easy
Isolation
Every Night
That Would Be Something
What Is Life?
Side B
Love
I Live For You
Valentine Day
Well Well Well
Apple Scruffs
I Found Out
Maybe I’m Amazed
I’m going to write up a post on my blog in the next day or two explaining the reasoning for the choices and the sequencing.
The “cheat,” obviously is “I Live For You” — it’s a third George Harrison track, and it wasn’t released until the 30th-anniversary edition of All Things Must Pass. But it’s a damned good song, and it “fits.”
There’s always reFABricated and that rather strange ‘grey album’ to consider.
Someone also made a set of synth samples from Beatle-esque music with names like Bass Tripper, Fixing A Guitar Solo, Get Back My Organ, Lucy In The Lowery and a whole bunch more. I don’t have this, but I could see the potential.
In a strange way, bands like The Apples in Stereo have carried a sort of trippy melotron Beatles (meets ELO?) production values forward. Check out New Magnetic Wonder. Reverence for the 70s from 2007. I’ll post a snip over at my place in the next day or so.
rashbre
Allyn: a quality selection, and I enjoyed your blog entry, too. Also enjoying your Lennon listening series.
Rashbre: the ultimate reFABrication would be for Paul, John, and Ringo to have been granted access to some of Lennon’s multi-track recordings for his official albums, to re-do them in Beatles style. Some nice harmony vocals added to Imagine, for example. Sacrilege, in one sense, but an interesting game. I had a listen to that Apples in Stereo track. Yeah: ELO meets Beatles meets World Party. For some reason I always have to moderate your comments, no matter how many times I approve you. WordPress obviously thinks you are a dodgy geezer.
very
p.s. I’ve read the Baxter story now, and quite enjoyed it. It’s typical of a certain style of story, but too short to have any real impact.
What a terrific, fun idea! I love it. But why wouldn’t a Dylan cover have been “allowed”? Did they only do covers of songs from previous years, not contemporary ones?
Chance, well I was just thinking that the last time they released covers on a Beatles record was on Help!, with Dizzy Miss Lizzie and Act Naturally.
I personally think the Beatles were too canny, in the Apple records era, to spit royalties with group outsiders, which is why I said that.
MB, you may want to check out this link.
A New York City Beatles tribute band performed live what they thought the 1970 album would have been earlier in the year. The article only mentions “Maybe I’m Amazed” and “Jealous Guy.”
That would have been an interesting show to see, no doubt.
Allyn: now that’s a gig I’d like to see.
[...] Baxter created “God.” Maximum Bob created “Imaginary.” I created “Hot As [...]
We got a little crazy with the idea…
Haha, i just did this myself, but I made my own rules. I suppose John Lennon went on to released his solo-album “Plastic Ono Band” in 1970 after the near break-up following the Let It Be-release. However, not knowing where to go next, the Beatles regrouped in early 1971 to start working on their next album once again (that simply would be titled “Imagine” after it`s lead single).
So that leaves off the songs from John Lennons first solo-album, but having spent almost a year apart, the songs from Ram and Imagine are now available.
SIDE ONE:
1. Ram On (folky, light opener. Like “Two of us” from the last album, only this works!!)
2. My Sweet Lord (the “real” opener. To tell you that the beatles are back.
3. Give Peace A Chance
4. Early 1970: The ringo-b-side from 1971.
5. Dear Boy
6. Instant Karma
SIDE TWO:
7. Imagine:
8. What Is Life
9. Gimme Some Truth
10. Junk
11. All Things Must Pass
12. Uncle Albert/Admiral Haisley
13. Jealous Guy