Beatles 71 - Part I

[Osgood]

I suppose this has been done many times, but maybe not this way.

Using the solo Beatles output from 69 up to mid 71, what tracks would you include in a "Beatles 71" album?

I have included all tracks from their albums and singles from Give Peace a Chance up to Imagine. The only exclusions are the jam elpee from ATMP and Sentimental Journey, as I don't think either of them are remotely candidates for inclusions in a Beatles album. Also excluded are Yoko's B-Sides.

(I am doing this in two parts because maximum options in a poll are 50 - I am allowing 12 picks per poll, do what you like with that, it could have been a double album, why not? - tracks are ordered chronologically)

[jimboo]

Just buy all things must pass . Oh , hang on , that was 1970 right ?

[Osgood]

Just buy all things must pass . Oh , hang on , that was 1970 right ?

Yes, the period I'm considering is completely arbitrary. Basically it goes from the release of Abbey Road (but I made a mistake, Give Peace a Chance was released before AR) up to Imagine. Why Imagine? Because I wanted to vote for Gimme Some Truth. So, Let It Be was never released, maybe just a couple of singles, and they kept working together for two years on a new album. The question is: which songs would make the cut?
Or differently, which songs would you wish they had done as a band?

[Walk In My Shadow]

This Ringo album doesn't fit what the Beatles were doing.

For me it would be more of a George album than a Lennon/Macca one.

Except for Maybe I'm amazed of course.

And I wouldn't include If Not For You because they weren't doing covers anymore.

[toomanyhatz]

Yeah, there's no way to split this up the way they would have done it. George had at least half the songs worth recording, and they never would have done that.

For what it's worth, though, I went with the best 7 or 8, and added "Maybe I'm Amazed," "Every Night," "Beaucoups of Blues," and every Lennon single.

[Davey the Fat Boy]

Not enough John on this list!

[Osgood]

Not enough John on this list!

Plastic Ono Band and Imagine tracks are on part II poll

[Walk In My Shadow]

So we wait for the 'Ringo' album to come out

[Osgood]

So we wait for the 'Ringo' album to come out

Yeah, Photograph would have been a perfect Beatles song

[Sneelock]

Ringo didn't make perfect Beatles songs until after the Beatles broke up.

[naughty boy]

These poll results make a lot more sense than the other one.

'Maybe I'm Amazed', 'Instant Karma', and a whole load of George. What happy times to live in!

[Walk In My Shadow]

The 4 were always going to make solo records after the split. That was almost a given.

But what if, what if they didn't split but had gone through a cooling off period of a couple of years.

Not counting the experimental albums of John and George, their best solo songs would have made a fantastic double album.

But I'm not saying anything new here.


P.S. Ringo told the other 3 to fuck off when he made an album of 40's standards and then a Country album.
Well done Richard!

[naughty boy]

Not counting the experimental albums of John and George, their best solo songs would have made a fantastic double album.

I don't think anyone sane would doubt that.

I think the hypothetical collection would be their best since The Beatles.

[bobzilla77]

The more I think about it the more it makes sense for them to break up and make solo records.

[toomanyhatz]

Another interesting question to me is which of these would have been great Beatles songs. My vote for the top ones of these:

Cold Turkey
Instant Karma
Every Night
Isn't it a Pity
Beacoups of Blues
All Things Must Pass

[Osgood]

Another interesting question to me is which of these would have been great Beatles songs.

Erm... that was the question in the original post.

And I am surprised that so many people answer My Sweet Lord. I don't think that could have been a Beatles song.

[Osgood]

The more I think about it the more it makes sense for them to break up and make solo records.

We could imagine (npi) a scenario of solo records followed by a Beatles album. But probably the best tracks would have gone to the solo records.

I always thought that Maybe I'm Amazed would have been a fantastic Beatles song

[BARON CORNY DOG]

Yes, the period I'm considering is completely arbitrary. Basically it goes from the release of Abbey Road (but I made a mistake, Give Peace a Chance was released before AR) up to Imagine.

For what it's worth, here's our April 10, 1970 to Oct 1973 Black Album thread:

viewtopic.php?t=126167

I worked pretty hard to come up with something for that. Not sure I can put out the effort again!

[Davey the Fat Boy]

Not to piss on the thread. It's fun to think about. But the internal dynamics of the group bring what they were, I just don't think that a Beatles album released during this time would look much like this. The whole point of the solo albums was that they were all at least partially defined by the liberation of no longer having to please the others. I don't think a lot of these songs would have been written or considered in a group context.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

They hadn't written songs in a "group context" for five years at this point!