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“Best of the Solo Beatles” Boxed Set

July 6, 2017 · by solobeatles

People have asked what an anthology of the Fabs’ greatest hits since 1970 would include so below is my proposed track listing. I tried to emulate the chart-topping 1973 Beatles collection 1962-1966 and 1967-1970, commonly referred to as The Red Album and The Blue Album, with 54 songs total.

The Solo Beatles had 56 Top 10 hits, and a four-record anthology could have been compiled with just those songs, but there were some classics that didn’t make it that high on the chart (Lennon’s “Mind Games” and “Stand By Me,” for example) so the overview was expanded to three volumes.

Some songs below were included in this list because they were hits but I did not profile them in the book because I didn’t think they were the artists’ best, and the book is about the “essential” songs. (Songs not in the book are indicated with an asterisk.) Still, realistically a solo Beatle retrospective would have to include Paul’s collaborations with Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder … and probably even “Wonderful Christmastime.”

Looking over the list, it’s interesting to see how many of their finest songs are not included, as they were deep album cuts not released as singles … I guess that’s a compilation for another day!

1969-1974 (The Yellow Album)

Side One

1. Give Peace A Chance
2. Instant Karma
3. Maybe I’m Amazed
4. My Sweet Lord
5. What is Life
6. Another Day
7. Power To The People

Side Two

1. It Don’t Come Easy
2. Imagine
3. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
4. Hi Hi Hi
5. Back Off Boogaloo
6. My Love
7. Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

Side Three

1. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
2. Live And Let Die
3. Mind Games
4. Helen Wheels
5. You’re Sixteen
6. Jet
7. Photograph

Side Four

1. Band On The Run
2. Whatever Gets You Thru the Night
3. Oh My My
4. Junior’s Farm
5. Dark Horse
6. Only You
7. #9 Dream

1975-1983 (The Green Album)

Side One

1. Listen to What the Man Said
2. The No No Song *
3. Venus And Mars/Rock Show *
4. Stand By Me
5. Silly Love Songs
6. You *
7. Snookeroo

Side Two

1. Let ‘Em In
2. Crackerbox Palace *
3. Mull Of Kintyre
4. With a Little Luck
5. Blow Away
6. Wonderful Christmastime *
7. Rockestra *

Side Three

1. Goodnight Tonight *
2. (Just Like) Starting Over
3. Coming Up
4. Woman
5. Waterfalls *
6. Beautiful Boy
7. Watching the Wheels

Side Four

1. All Those Years Ago
2. Take It Away
3. Ebony And Ivory *
4. The Girl Is Mine *
5. Say Say Say *
6. In My Car
7. Pipes Of Peace *

1984-2005 (“The Indigo Album”)

Side One

1. Nobody Told Me
2. No More Lonely Nights
3. Borrowed Time
4. We All Stand Together *
5. I’m Stepping Out
6. I Don’t Want to Do It
7. Once Upon a Long Ago *

Side Two

1. Got My Mind Set On You
2. My Brave Face
3. When We Was Fab
4. This One *
5. Handle With Care
6. Put It There
7. End of the Line

Side Three

1. Weight of the World
2. Hope of Deliverance
3. Free as a Bird
4. Real Love
5. Young Boy
6. Beautiful Night
7. Flaming Pie

Side Four

1. No Other Baby
2. From a Lover To a Friend
3. Any Road
4. Jenny Wren
5. Never Without You
6. Fine Line
7. Liverpool 8

* Not profiled in the book

The Road to All Things Must Pass

April 26, 2015 · by solobeatles

The triple album All Things Must Pass was the culmination of a remarkable recipe of influences George Harrison had been synthesizing for years — Indian music, gospel and soul, slide guitar — matched with a new found commitment to more accessible vocals and hit songwriting, all set against producer Phil Spector’s epic backdrop.

In the mid-‘60s Harrison took time out from the guitar and focused on the sitar while Clapton, Hendrix, Beck, Page and others competed to be the most technically impressive. As Simon Leng points out in his excellent book While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison, Harrison had been the bridge between ‘50s rock guitarists like Carl Perkins and Elvis’ Scotty Moore and the ‘60s guitar virtuosos, but he didn’t relate to his contemporaries’ showboating.

Then, in late 1968, he visited with Dylan and the Band during the latter’s recording of Music For Big Pink (with tunes such as “The Weight”), and found kindred spirits ushering in a new, more restrained era where the musicians once again served the song itself as opposed to using it as a backdrop for instrumental pyrotechnics.

Dylan and the Band respected Harrison as an equal, so when Harrison returned to London for the January 1969 Get Back sessions, he could no longer endure the condescending treatment he received from Lennon and McCartney, who viewed him as their little brother. He briefly quit, then recalled how much better the guys had behaved when Eric Clapton came into the studio to play on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” the year before. He hit upon the idea of bringing his friend keyboardist Billy Preston to flesh out the group’s sound, since the climax of the Get Back sessions was going to be a concert on the roof of Apple Records. With Preston in tow, Harrison returned to the group.

Later that year he would produce an album for Preston and also one for Doris Troy (whose hits included “Just One Look”), both soul albums with heavy gospel influence. Working with the Edwin Hawkin Singers gospel choir (whose songs included the classic hit “Oh Happy Day”), he found the black American equivalent of the spirituality he felt in Indian music.  During this time Preston recorded Harrison’s song “My Sweet Lord,” but it went unnoticed.

Harrison then saw first hand how black music could be translated by Southern whites when he met husband-and-wife team Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, who mixed soul, gospel, rock, blues, and country in a traveling revue called Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. The friends included no less than Clapton, Duane Allman, Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge, Dave Mason, King Curtis, and the guy who would go on to drum with the solo Beatles more than anybody, Jim Keltner. The revue was also how other future regulars Bobby Keys, Jim Price, and Jim Gordon came into the solo Beatles’ orbit. When Harrison saw Delaney and Bonnie in concert on December 1, 1969, he yearned for the entourages’ carefree camaraderie and asked if he could join their tour.

On the road, Harrison asked Delaney how to write gospel songs, and their improvised jam session became the genesis for “My Sweet Lord.” Delaney also mentored Harrison in the slide guitar. Harrison unveiled his new bottleneck technique in an early take of “If Not For You” on Dylan’s album New Morning (1971). Dylan ultimately did not use that take, but Harrison would do his own version of the song on All Things Must Pass (and could be heard on New Morning’s “Day of the Locust.”)

Harrison’s new guitar style, coming as it did at the dawn of his new era as solo artist, was like a superhero giving himself a new costume. He incorporated techniques learned from his apprenticeship in Indian instruments and fused them with slide techniques developed under Delaney’s tutelage, emerging with one of the most distinctive sounds of the early ‘70s, heard on his own songs, Lennon’s, Starr’s, and Beatle protégée Badfinger’s. It was similar to the way Keith Richards crystallized his own unique sound in the late ‘60s with the secret recipe of open tunings and no sixth string.

Along the way Harrison had also transformed his songwriting. When he had stalked out of the Get Back sessions, his songs were not the kind to burn up the hit parade (“For You Blue,” ”Old Brown Shoe,” and “I, Me, Mine”).  But if he was going to tell McCartney and Ono to shove it and still keep his forty-acre estate, he’d have to start writing hits.  Amazingly, he knocked two out of the park: “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something.” The latter became Harrison’s first number one hit and Sinatra proclaimed it the greatest love song of the twentieth century.  Harrison had penned the highlights of the last Beatle album just before the group disintegrated, the ultimate graduation from the Lennon-McCartney songwriting school of osmosis.

Harrison worked on his voice, too. Whereas he once sung with the surliest, thickest Liverpool accent of the bunch, now he lightened it up a notch, as he did with his melodies, fashioning them more warm and upbeat. As with his songwriting, he drew on what he learned vocally from the others, having been the “invisible voice” in the harmonies for ten years.

The Beatles’ producer George Martin never saw Harrison as an equal to Lennon and McCartney, so when Harrison branched out on his own he sought a new partner.  Phil Spector was the maestro behind a string of classic girl group and Righteous Brothers singles in the early 1960s that– in Lennon’s words – kept rock alive between the time Elvis went into the army and the year the Beatles arrived. A tiny man with a Napoleon complex, Spector created  “little symphonies for the kids” via huge orchestras and innovative recording techniques.

Lennon and McCartney both released debut solo albums that were as minimalist as possible – Lennon’s featured just him, Ringo, and Klaus Voormann on bass, while McCartney played everything on his himself.  Harrison, in contrast, brought in Delaney and Bonnie’s sizable backing group and a dozen other musicians.  Harrison was determined not to be like McCartney had been to him and dictate how his friends should play — instead, Harrison allowed the musicians to contribute what they wanted. They would all remember the happy atmosphere of All Things Must Pass.

The explosive bombast of Spector’s production made the album stand out from his ex-bandmates, just as his Indian epics stood apart from the others on the mid-60s Beatles albums. The Spector Wall of Sound was the perfect backdrop for a musician who had been ignored and was now determined to make as big a splash as possible. (Though Harrison would later regret using so much echo.)  Harrison’s euphoria at his freedom was palpable in each cut, and the timing for his religious theme was impeccable.

The end of the ‘60s saw a huge spiritual revival, as people looked for answers in the midst of a massive social upheaval (civil rights movement, anti-war movement, feminist movement, gay rights movement, Sexual Revolution, drug revolution). While many explored Eastern religions, Christianity also saw a huge resurgence, Lennon’s comment that it would “shrink and vanish” notwithstanding. “Jesus Freaks” bridged the gap between hippies and Christians, and the airwaves swelled with Biblical imagery. Songs with Gospel themes included The Byrds’ “Jesus Is Just All Right,” the Youngblood’s “Get Together,” Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky,” Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and Ocean’s “Put Your Hand in the Hand.” Harrison rode the wave higher than any of them with “My Sweet Lord,” the best selling record of 1971. After its release, two smash hit musicals in a similar vein would open in New York, Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell.

All Things Must Pass was three discs of much-needed light that countered the depressed darkness of the other Beatles’ debuts, and was the most sprawling high-profile release until Guns N Roses’ Use Your Illusion quadruple album 20 years later.  Harrison referred to the set as recovering from an “an eight-year dose of constipation,” an appropriate description for the first triple album by a mainstream artist. Many of the songs had been composed over the previous four years but rejected by Lennon and McCartney for inclusion on Beatles albums. In 1966 Harrison got three songs on Revolver (his peak in per-album composition count), but “Art of Dying” and “Isn’t It a Pity” were rejected. It was at this time that Harrison started stockpiling tunes, though many of the most accessible tunes on All Things Must Pass seem to have been composed after Harrison had his “Something”/”Here Comes the Sun” commercial breakthrough: “My Sweet Lord,” “What Is Life,” “Awaiting on You All,” and “The Ballad of Frankie Crisp.”

As George Martin said about The White Album, it would have been advisable for Harrison to carve All Things Must Pass down to one stupendous release and dole out the best of the rest over the next year or two. As it was, his next studio release wouldn’t come until 1973. With the third album comprised of long studio jams with Eric Clapton and friends, Harrison did seem to be pushing the limits of what a Beatle could get away with. Yet despite a hefty price tag, the album sat at No. 1 for seven weeks in the US and eight in the UK.

It would take Harrison 18 years to come close to revisiting that level of success. In 1970 and 1971, however, it seemed that the younger brother had left his older siblings in the dust.

Had Harrison pared it down to one stellar record, it could have been an undisputed masterpiece. And the two primary moods of the album could each rest nicely on either side of the album: the epic Spector orchestrations on side one, with the country/folk sound influenced by Dylan, the Band, and Nashville guitar player Pete Drake on side two.

Side One

  1. My Sweet Lord
  2. What Is Life
  3. Awaiting on You All
  4. Wah-Wah
  5. Hear Me Lord
  6. Run of the Mill
  7. Isn’t It A Pity

Side Two

  1. I’d Have You Anytime (co-written by Dylan)
  2. If Not For You (Dylan)
  3. Behind That Locked Door
  4. I Live For You (belatedly released on the 2000 remastered version)
  5. Apple Scruffs
  6. Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp
  7. All Things Must Pass

Ethan Hawke Makes Solo Beatles Compilation in BOYHOOD

October 8, 2014 · by solobeatles

Richard Linklater’s terrific film Boyhood has a great sequence where the father, Ethan Hawke, gives his son a mix of solo Beatles tracks. Buzzfeed printed Hawke’s playlist along with his heartfelt note about how coming to terms with the Beatles’ breakup echoed coming to terms with his own divorce. Thanks to Hawke and Linklater for reminding the world that the great Beatle music didn’t stop in 1970!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ethanhawke/boyhood-the-black-album?bftw=main#3f36lx9

CREDIT: Matt Lankes for IFC Films

Where Do I Start With Paul McCartney? My Latest Article in Slate.Com

October 15, 2013 · by solobeatles

To mark the release of Paul McCartney’s new album NEW (out today), Slate.com asked me to come up with his Top 10 solo songs. Impossible to do but I gave it a shot … I’m sure everyone has a completely different list!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/10/15/paul_mccartney_best_solo_songs_after_the_beatles_where_to_start_video.html

Tune Into Fab Four Radio’s Side Track Sunday This Sunday (11/11) at 7 PM Pacific/10 PM Eastern

November 11, 2012 · by solobeatles

Host Happy Nat and I will play and discuss the Solo Beatles’ Best Songs of the ’70s.  (Video playlist here.)

Fab Four Radio continuously streams Beatles and Solo Beatles songs and you can find them at http://fab4radio.blogspot.com/

Check out Happy Nat’s website The Beatles Rarity at http://www.thebeatlesrarity.com/

(For the playlist below, press the fast forward arrow on the lower left to skip to the next song.)

Those Were the Days — An Alternate “Best of Apple Records”

October 2, 2012 · by solobeatles

By Tom Frangione/ Beatlefan Magazine:

Ok, Ok…. let’s get the obvious out of the way right now …… No telling of the Apple Records story could be told, or could even begin to be told, without mentioning some of the greatest songs The Beatles ever recorded, such as “Hey Jude”, “Let It Be”, “Something”, or “The Long And Winding Road”, as well as their classic albums of the period such as The Beatles (a.k.a. “the white album”), Let It Be and Abbey Road.  Further, the individual band members made some of their best records in the period following the break-up while the label was still initially in operation.

There is another part of the story, though, that history neglected for far too long. From 1968 to 1974, Apple’s roster of recording artists was a true melting pot of musical influences and cultures. There was the made-for-radio pop of Badfinger; the pioneering “singer-songwriter” James Taylor’s classic first album; the gospel-flavored recordings by Billy Preston and soul of Doris Troy; precursors to what we today call “world music” offerings from Ravi Shankar and the Radha Krsna Temple (go ahead and laugh – they put two songs into the UK top 30); and of course, the angelic voice of Mary Hopkin. The many and varied musical forms among the rest of the stable included jazz, folk, early punk, reggae, classical, Dixieland brass, Cajun, and straight out rock-and-roll.

Unfortunately, when the label shut down in the mid-seventies, these recordings went out of print and remained so up until 1991 when a CD reissue campaign was launched. In between, Apple alumni such as Preston, Taylor, and even The Hot Chocolate Band went on to score major pop successes. Taylor even re-recorded several of his Apple tracks for inclusion on his later albums to reintroduce these gems.

The reissue campaign ran until 1996, with almost the entire catalog of albums being released, many with bonus tracks including non-LP b-sides and even a few unreleased cuts. However, the campaign was abandoned, leaving a few albums and several singles still out-of-print. The liner notes to the CD of James Taylor’s superb album, which contained no bonus tracks, made reference to an Apple rarities project that would definitely be “worth the wait”. The wait continues, and in the meantime most of the CD’s have gone out-of-print. Still, “new” Apple compilations have been done for Badfinger, and other recordings have cropped up in off-the-beaten path form. Rykodisc even licensed John and Yoko’s three avant-garde albums, and put Yoko’s singles on as bonus tracks. Going further, the label issued Yoko’s entire back catalog and even a boxed set.

Still, the label’s aura, created in no small part due to its utopian intentions and unbridled cronyism, remains. The upshot of Apple’s artist-friendliness, a true sign of the times, was that its founders wrote, performed on, produced, and/or sang on many of their label mates’ records. In a sublime twist of fate, the inspiration was reversed, with George Harrison nicking the James Taylor title “Something In The Way She Moves” for use as the opening line of his most successful composition. Others outside the fold took note of the Apple talent pool as well. Harry Nilsson took Badfinger’s “Without You” to #1 status worldwide and Mariah Carey took the same song to the top three on the charts twenty-odd years later. Small wonder Paul McCartney, who’s written a ballad or two in his day, referred to “Without You” as “the killer song of all time” in a VH1 “Behind The Music” special about Apple’s second favorite sons.

Fast forward to 2010’s reissue campaign, in both CD and digital download form, of a solid chunk of the non-Beatles Apple catalog. In all, sixteen original album titles were released, remastered and with bonus content. As an added bonus, a newly compiled label overview Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records simultaneously hit shelves. Still no word on that “rarities” set, but the compilation does veer a bit from a pure “hits” perspective to include some odd singles and b-sides, as well as tracks that initially saw very limited commercial release.

Examining the admittedly generous 21-title track list, I revisited a “do it yourself” project from years ago, which has provided many a good listening, a set I dubbed Those Were The Days. While I’ve amended some of the notes and source listings, the content is unchanged as an expanded alternate listening for those who love the Apple era.

While the contents are highly subjective (as opposed to having rigid criteria as applied on collections like The Beatles 1), presented here are all 23 charting singles, plus key album tracks (ok, and a few personal ‘guilty pleasures’) representing every artist but one (John Tavener) ever to have recorded for Apple. Not that I have an axe to grind with Sir John or anything, but his two albums contain just five orchestral compositions, the shortest of which, “Coplas”, runs nearly ten minutes. The others run as long as 23 minutes. You may know of Sir John from his composition “Alleluia”, which was broadcast worldwide as part of Princess Diana’s funeral procession, and is commemorated on the official BBC recording of this moment in history. A pretty high profile gig…another Apple alumnus made good.

And while it appears on the newly sanctioned Apple collection, you won’t find Brute Force’s “Fuh King” promo-only single on here either.

I’ve also chosen to exclude tracks that were merely licensed from other labels (hits such as “Love Is Blue”, “Games People Play” and “I Can Sing A Rainbow” which appeared on scattered Apple soundtrack albums) as well as anything from the classic Phil Spector Christmas album that Apple reissued.

The following suggested song selection includes the running times for each track. Similarly, if you want your compilation sequenced chronologically, knock yourself out, as the release dates for each track are included as well. Whichever route you choose, be sure to check the running times before doing any substitutions. In keeping with the fine “D.I.Y.” tradition, the discs have very little breathing room left over.

Except where noted, the best source for all tracks are the CD remasters, which came out in 2010. All chart data represents a single’s highest position reached on Billboard in the US, and Melody Maker in the UK.

DISC ONE (TOTAL RUNNING TIME = 78:42)

Those Were The Days – Mary Hopkin (released 8/68, running time 5:08): A #1 single in the UK and #2 in the US, this record introduced the Beatles’ new label to the world.

Something In The Way She Moves – James Taylor (12/68, 3:02): A standout album track. JT later rerecorded this track for his mid-70’s greatest hits collection on Warner Brothers.

No Matter What – Badfinger (10/70, 3:00): A perfectly crafted Mal Evans production, this was a top-10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Inconceivably not included on the forthcoming Apple retrospective.

Sour Milk Sea – Jackie Lomax (8/68, 3:53): Written by George Harrison during the white album period. While the single made it to #117 in the U.S., you can’t help but think the Fabs had higher aspirations for this native Liverpudlian. His lone Apple LP Is This What You Want boasts three Beatle-sidemen.

Sweet Music – Lon and Derrek Van Eaton (3/72, 3:44): This gorgeous song, produced by George Harrison, recalls his own “Isn’t It A Pity”. While this track can currently be found on the CD Give A Little Love, issued privately by the Boy Scouts Of America and is planned for the Apple compilation as well, the duo’s album Brother remains unreleased on CD and is criminally not part of the current reissue plan.

That’s The Way God Planned It – Billy Preston (7/69, 5:33): A good example of Preston’s gospel tinged records of the era, and a show-stopper at the Bangla Desh concert. Seemingly typical of the chart disparity of many Apple singles, this went into the UK top-10, but went only as far as #62 in America.

The Jasmin Tree – Modern Jazz Quartet (12/68, 5:12): This established and well renowned combo recorded two albums for Apple.

Baby Blue – Badfinger (3/72, 3:35): Produced by Todd Rundgren for the superb Straight Up album, this song went to #14 in America. As with “No Matter What”, a major omission from the forthcoming commercial “best of” collection.

The Ballad Of New York City – David Peel and the Lower East Side (4/72, 4:01): Part of John and Yoko’s entourage of neo-radical hippies of the era, the couple can be heard chatting at the start of this record. Tolerable enough to include here, it gets extra credit for the ‘lets go Mets’ chant during the fade out. Curiously, the album from which this hails, The Pope Smokes Dope, was issued on CD in Europe on Peel’s own Orange Records (Apples and Oranges, get it?), not to be confused with the bootleg label bearing the same name. However, it is not part of the current reissue program at press time.

Golden Slumbers / Carry that Weight – Trash (10/69, 4:13): Issued within a week of the Beatles own Abbey Road original, this is pretty much a straight forward copy job, right down to the string arrangement. Made it up to #112 in the US.

Que Sera Sera – Mary Hopkin (9/69, 3:06): This one DID crack the top 100, going up to #77 stateside. Curiously, this did not chart in the UK where her singles generally fared better than they did in the U.S.

Carolina In My Mind – James Taylor (12/68, 3:38): A #68 single in America, this was another one JT revisited for inclusion on his greatest hits album.

Thingumybob – Black Dyke Mills Brass Band (8/68, 1:55): Coupled with “Yellow Submarine”, this was the group’s only Apple single.

Jacob’s Ladder – Doris Troy (8/70, 3:02): One of the few artists signed to the label who had prior chart success, her single “Just One Look” made the top-10 in 1963.

Try Some Buy Some – Ronnie Spector (4/71, 4:19): Wife of producer extraordinaire and former Ronnette, her lone Apple single climbed to #77. Keeping it all in the family, George liked this one so much he used the same backing tracks and overdubbed his own vocal for later release.

Day After Day – Badfinger (11/71, 3:10): Another track from Straight Up, and a top-10 hit in both England and America, where it earned the group their lone gold record. Features George Harrison on slide guitar and Leon Russell on piano.

Without You – Badfinger (10/70, 4:43): Never a single, but featured on the group’s album No Dice. A worldwide hit for other artists as detailed earlier, this was a composite of two separate compositions by its co-authors, Pete Ham and Tommy Evans, in the best Lennon-McCartney tradition.

Govinda – Radha Krsna Temple (3/70, 4:43): One of two top-30 hits the chanting zealots scored in England.

Remember Love – Yoko Ono (7/69, 4:05): This gentle ballad, with only Lennon’s acoustic guitar accompaniment was the flip side to “Give Peace A Chance”. Available in pristine form as a bonus track on the Rykodisc CD reissue of the Two Virgins album.

Local Plastic Ono Band – Elephant’s Memory (9/72, 2:16): Keeping with the Lennon motif for a moment, this reggae tune contains lyrical references to the band’s label champions and producers, John & Yoko. The band recorded one self-titled album for Apple, which was not part of the 90’s reissue series on CD, and appears to be suffering a similar fate this time around as well, so you’ll have to use the original vinyl LP for this one.

Goodbye – Mary Hopkin (3/69, 2:24): A nifty little acoustic ballad composed by Paul circa the white album, this was a #2 single in the UK, and made it to #13 in America.

DISC TWO (TOTAL RUNNING TIME = 79:14)

Maybe Tomorrow – The Iveys (11/68, 2:52): Pre-Badfinger, before Joey Molland replaced Ron Griffiths. A moderate hit, going to #67 in the US.

Come And Get It – Badfinger (12/69, 2:22): The one that broke the band internationally, this song was commissioned for the film The Magic Christian. Penned by Paul McCartney, the band did a note-for-note performance of his self-produced demo. A top-10 hit in England and America.

Living Without Tomorrow – The Hot Chocolate Band (10/69, 2:28): Actually the b-side of their “Give Peace A Chance” single (which is slated for the forthcoming Apple “Best Of”), this simple quasi-reggae tune is quite infectious. The band recorded their lone single for Apple before scoring pop successes in the ‘70’s with “Every 1’s A Winner”, “Emma” and “You Sexy Thing”. The original 45 was the sole source for the Apple sides, until their inclusion on the band’s A’s & B’s & Rarities collection.

My Sweet Lord – Billy Preston (9/70, 3:22): Actually released BEFORE composer George Harrison’s classic version, this one peaked at #90 in the US.

Knock Knock Who’s There – Mary Hopkin (3/70, 2:33): Another major UK hit for Hopkin, going all the way to #3, but not fairing nearly as well stateside, where it stalled at #92.

The Eagle Laughs At You – Jackie Lomax (8/68, 2:24): Originally the b-side of “Sour Milk Sea”, this subsequently charted on its own, but fared little better, getting no further than #125 in America.

All That I’ve Got – Billy Preston (1/70, 3:36): Originally a non-LP single, this appeared as a bonus track on the Encouraging Words CD on Apple and is slated for inclusion this time around as well. Interestingly, again keeping it all in the family, this song was also recorded by co-author and label mate Doris Troy. Preston’s version charted at #108 in America.

We’re On Our Way – Chris Hodge (5/72, 3:02): A classic “whatever happened to…”, Hodge seemingly disappeared after recording four strong sides for Apple. Gets the nod over the equally strong “Goodbye Sweet Lorraine”, as it just missed the U.S. top-40, peaking at #44. While this will be on the forthcoming “Best Of”, his four Apple sides are available on the iTunes set 18 Songs (wonder if the folks at Apple know about that?).

Just Like A Woman – Bob Dylan (12/71, 4:51) and

Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Youngblood – Leon Russell (12/71, 9:35): While neither artist was signed to the Apple label, these live recordings are among the highlights from The Concert For Bangla Desh, currently available on CD. These appearances are exclusive to the Apple label – consider it part of the extended family thing.

Saturday Night Special – The Sundown Playboys (9/72, 2:16): This zydeco-flavored single was the group’s only label appearance. A rare 45, the a-side will resurface on the forthcoming Apple compilation.

Temma Harbour – Mary Hopkin (1/70, 3:21): Once again, the UK and US charts differed wildly on this one. A #4 single in England, it barely cracked the top-40 in America, going to #39.

Night Owl – James Taylor (12/68, 4:16): This song has an interesting history – stemming from JT’s pre-Apple sessions with his group The Original Flying Machine, it was subsequently recorded by his (then) wife Carly Simon.

God Save Us – Bill Elliot and the Elastic Oz Band (7/71, 3:16): A peculiar single, inspired by the Oz obscenity trial (“Oh, God save Oz…”), the b-side was John Lennon’s “Do The Oz”. Lennon’s version of this song, and its b-side, appear on his ‘Anthology’ box set. Elliot later recorded with the band Splinter, on Harrison’s Dark Horse label.

Ain’t That Cute – Doris Troy (2/70, 3:52): Co-written with George, and featuring a guitar solo by a young Peter Frampton, this was the lead-off track from Troy’s self-titled Apple album.

Rainy Day Man – James Taylor (12/68, 3:00): Another one with its origins in The Original Flying Machine, Taylor revisited this one a decade later for inclusion on his album, Flag.

Think About Your Children – Mary Hopkin (10/70, 3:00): The disparity continues…this time a #20 single in the UK, but going no further than #87 in America.

Liberation Special – Elephant’s Memory (9/72, 5:40):  A good example of this New York based band’s tight rock and roll, again unavailable on CD, so the original LP is the best place to find this one.

Joi Bangla – Ravi Shankar (8/71, 3:23): Issued right around the time of the Bangla Desh campaign, it remains available only on the original 3-track single.

Hare Krsna Mantra – Radha Krsna Temple (8/69, 3:34). Wow…how many other chants go as high as #11 on the pop charts?

Listen, The Snow Is Falling – Yoko Ono (12/71, 3:24): Originally appearing on the b-side of the classic “Happy Xmas” holiday single, this one is available in best quality on the recently reconfigured Lennon/Ono Sometime In New York City disc .

Apple Of My Eye – Badfinger (11/73, 3:06): “Oh I’m sorry but it’s time to move away….” laments this farewell single from Apple’s most promising protégé’s. A fitting swan song, it got no higher than #102 in America.

The beauty (and fun) of a “D.I.Y.” such as this is that pretty much, anything goes.  If you want to replace the Bangla Desh performances with a Tavener track, go ahead, be a purist.

No one said putting this together on your own would be easy. Several of the tracks only ever appeared in their original vinyl form, were not part of the previous CD reissue campaign, and are long out of print. Seasoned collectors may have these, but don’t plan on walking into your neighborhood Best Buy and picking up “Joi Bangla” anytime soon.

Label compilations such as this are now commonplace in the CD boxed set era. What is not commonplace is a label with the diversity and cultural significance of Apple, making this (or a similar type) compilation worthy of the current label heads’ consideration. That said, oddities like non-LP Jackie Lomax cuts might be better suited, together with the “digital download only” bonus material for that long overdue rarities set, and affording room on the “Best Of” set for tracks like “No Matter What” and “Baby Blue”. While some might contend that’d make the disc to Badfinger-heavy, well folks, “facts is facts”; they were the biggest act on the label apart from the Beatles themselves.

As it stands, “Best Of”, while absolutely a long overdue and worthwhile endeavor, proved unsatisfying given its “mostly hits, with some oddities thrown in” approach, rather than a more appropriate in depth look at the labels legacy.

Happy Birthday, Ringo!

July 7, 2012 · by solobeatles

In honor of his 72nd birthday, here’s 5 great Ringo songs (that he never plays in concert, unfortunately!)

Songs of the Break Up

March 25, 2012 · by solobeatles

The video playlist for the songs the Solo Beatles wrote venting about the group’s acrimonious split.  To play the mix continuously, please go to the YouTube playlist below and select “Play All”.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4A03B06E33001F52

In 1969, the Beatles’ Apple Records label was hemorrhaging money due to the idealistic hippie chaos that defined its operation for a year, with many employees stealing. Lennon wanted to bring in manager/accountant Allen Klein to clean it up, since Klein had succeeded in getting the Rolling Stones the best record deal in the business. But Klein also ended up owning the copyrights to all the Stones’ songs written before 1971 — not Jagger and Richards — and McCartney didn’t trust him. His wife Linda’s father Lee Eastman was a successful New York music lawyer, so McCartney pushed for him. But the other Beatles naturally did not want to be managed by McCartney’s father-in-law. Why they didn’t all choose a third, neutral manager is a tragic mystery. In the end, Lennon, Harrison and Starr went with Klein and McCartney went with his in-laws. (By the early ‘70s, Lennon, Harrison, and Starr would grow disenchanted with Klein themselves and file lawsuits to split with him.)

Whereas Lennon had once been the leader of the group, he now often felt like a sideman to the increasingly perfectionist McCartney, and began turning to Yoko Ono as his new collaborator.  The other Beatles resented her presence in the studio and finally, in the summer of 1969, Lennon snapped and told the Beatles he was leaving. Klein was in the midst of negotiating a better contract for the group that would impact their future royalties, so he convinced Lennon to keep it a secret from the press. Thus the Beatles existed in a strange limbo for almost a year. Devastated, McCartney retreated to his Scottish farm and disappeared so completely the rumor spread that he was dead.

In April 1970, McCartney emerged from isolation with his first solo album, McCartney. In the press release accompanying the LP, McCartney stated that he no longer foresaw a time that the Beatles would record together, effectively announcing the end of the group. Lennon was enraged at McCartney “scooping” him on the demise of the Beatles, yet also admired his P.R. acumen in using it to hype his record release. However, the move backfired on McCartney, as he became known as the one who “broke up the Beatles.”

To promote his own debut album, Plastic Ono Band, Lennon gave a legendary interview to Rolling Stone magazine’s Jann Wenner that pulled the curtain back on everything that had been censored about the Beatles over the previous decade: the groupies, drugs, and bribery on tour, all the backbiting of the last few years.  He was out to bury the image of the lovable moptops forever.

He railed against how McCartney and Harrison – “the most big headed uptight people” — treated Ono, regretting he didn’t punch Harrison when he told Ono she had a “bad vibe” reputation.

“I don’t forgive them for that,” he simmered.  Then he laughed, remembering all the incendiary things he’d said over the course of the session. “This is gonna be some fucking thing.  I don’t care, this is the end of it.”

He permanently alienated George Martin and the rest of the Beatles’ support team — Neil Aspinall, Mal Evans, and Derek Taylor – for saying that they had the gall to think they were actually Beatles themselves.  He couldn’t even stop himself from saying his good friend Starr’s first album embarrassed him.

Someone who felt especially lacerated was McCartney.   Shortly after the interview, he started the court case to dissolve the partnership they had all signed on August 19, 1967.  McCartney had wanted the group more than anyone, but he was such a dominant control freak that none of the others wanted to work with him anymore — yet they didn’t want to end the Beatles’ company because then they’d each get taxed individually at a much higher rate.  They wanted him to stay stuck in the same company with them even though they didn’t like him, release his albums by their schedule, and deal with their manager — who McCartney thought was probably crooked.

McCartney never truly let loose in the press back at Lennon, because, as he admitted, he knew Lennon would verbally destroy him.  Instead he began a not-so-subtle assault through his music.  Even though he changed the words of “Too Many People” from “Yoko took your lucky break and broke it in two,” Lennon soon blasted back with “How Do You Sleep.”

Harrison also chronicled everything from his walk out during the Let It Be sessions in “Wah Wah,” the endless court cases in “Sue Me, Sue You Blues,” and his sadness at their crumbling brotherhood in “Run of the Mill.”  And Starr was still smoldering over the time McCartney shoved him out of the house with “Back Off Boogaloo.”

It was a dark two years in Pepperland until McCartney called a ceasefire at the end of 1971 with “Dear Friend,” and the healing gradually began.

The 1971 Beatles Album That Should Have Been

March 19, 2012 · by solobeatles

The video playlist for the songs profiled in chapter two.

Unfortunately, the George Harrison tracks from All Things Must Pass are not available on YouTube so alternate takes have been substituted.

To play the mixes continuously, please go to the YouTube playlist links below and select “Play All” in the upper left corner.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4FFF0077CDC98851&feature=view_all

Link to Amazon to Buy Imagine

Link To Amazon to Purchase It Don’t Come Easy

Link to Amazon to Buy Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey

Link to Amazon to Buy Wah Wah (Studio Version)

Link To Amazon to Buy Another Day

Link To Amazon to Buy It’s So Hard (Studio Version)

Oh Woman Oh Why Currently Not Available On Amazon

Link to Amazon to Buy Apple Scruffs

Link to Amazon to Buy Oh Yoko!

Link to Amazon to Buy Early 1970

Link To Amazon To Buy Back Seat of My Car

Link to Amazon to Buy Isn’t It a Pity

Link to Amazon to Buy Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

The Heather Mills Story in Song

March 17, 2012 · by solobeatles

With Heather Mills as his muse in the 2000s, McCartney wrote and performed with a startling new level of honesty and vulnerability.  From the euphoria of early passion to love’s bitter implosion, McCartney chronicled the full story as starkly as Bruce Springsteen had in his own album of a crumbling marriage, Tunnel of Love.

Please go to the YouTube playlist below and select “Play All” in the upper left corner.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9AA668ECC5686CD4&feature=edit_ok

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