Without The Beatles

The Beatles broke up at the end of 1970 after releasing their final album, the somewhat patchy but still occasionally brilliant Let It Be. It wasn’t actually the last album they recorded – the Get Back tapes were abandoned in 1969 and Abbey Road recorded in its place with the tapes being resurrected and completed as Let It Be for release in 1970. However,  I have often wondered what a new Beatles album would have sounded like if they had remained together. All four members wrote and recorded solo material on the group’s breakup. This varied between the highly personal to the very commercial. The quality also varied as well but when they were good they were very, very good. As a thought experiment, I’ve tried to piece together what I imagine a 1971 Beatles album would have looked like based on songs that the Fab Four released as solo recordings in 1970 and 71. I’ve used the Revolver album as a basis for the format: 14 songs with no two consecutive tracks having the same singer and everyone gets a go on lead vocals (even Ringo!)

Of the post Beatles solo albums George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass could easily have filled an entire Beatles album on it’s own. In fact their last recording, Abbey Road, would not have been anything like as fondly remembered without George’s input: he wrote the two best songs and his contribution both on guitar and Moog synthesiser were standout moments. For this reason I think George’s songs are the easiest to pick out: What Is Life is a great rocker which is the classic way of opening a Beatles Album (think Drive My Car, Taxman, Sgt Peppers, Back in the USSR); Isn’t It a Pity and My Sweet Lord are both wonderful pop songs and The Ballard of Frankie Crisp and All Things Must Pass would also be candidates for singles. I could have gone on but All Things Must Pass is such a good album that the hardest thing is knowing what to leave off.

At first sight it would seem that John Lennon’s early solo projects provide a wonderful selection of songs. Indeed they do, with both the excellent but highly personal Plastic Ono Band alongside the more commercially orientated and highly successful Imagine. However, I suddenly found myself crossing tunes off. Mainly, this is because they have a strong anti-Beatles and particularly anti-McCartney sentiment. It’s a pity as some of them are great tunes but I couldn’t see God getting on to a joint project with lines like “I don’t believe in Beatles”. Still, Imagine and Jealous Guy are both top class tunes and Love (from the Plastic Ono Band) is wonderfully anti-commercial yet compelling in the way that Eleanor Rigby or Julia were. I’ve also included Mother and Working Class Hero from Plastic Ono as they were both brilliant songs in their own right but I suspect that the latter would have to be edited for swearing on a Beatles release.

Paul McCartney is the one I find problems with: the album “McCartney” sounds like little more than a demo tape (aside from the excellent Maybe I’m Amazed) although songs like Junk could rate for inclusion but were turned down when recorded in Beatles’ sessions. Ram is also at odds with the Beatles ethos but his singles at this time were well produced and still musically intriguing. It seems odd that the most commercially minded of the four should produce the least commercial material although this was the ethos he was aiming at with the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. Another Day and Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey were both deserved hits and would easily have made it on to a Beatles album (although, possibly not the singles they were).

Of course there is also Ringo and, even though his writing credits for the Beatles were few and far between, he could knock out a decent tune once in a while. It Don't Come Easy is probably one of his best and deserves to get a look in. Overall, I’ve ended up with rather a Lennon-Harrison bias: there are many other great songs from this time that I’ve left out but I wanted to image what they would have done as a working quartet. So here is what I think 1971’s “Without The Beatles” may have looked like:

1. What Is Life – Harrison

2. Love – Lennon

3. Maybe I’m Amazed – McCartney

4. Ballard of Frankie Crisp (Let it roll) - Harrison

5. Jealous Guy – Lennon

6. It Don't Come Easy – Starr

7. Mother – Lennon

8. Another Day – McCartney

9.My Sweet Lord – Harrison

10.Working Class Hero – Lennon

11. All Things Must Pass - Harrison

12. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey –McCartney

13. Isn’t it a Pity (version 1) – Harrison

14. Imagine – Lennon

It’s often said that the Beatles were never the same on their own and, of course, this is true as the dynamic of working as a solo performer is completely different to working as a group but they did produce some great material when they went their separate ways. If the album above had been released in 1971 it is quite possible that it would be hailed as their greatest achievement. Of course it wasn’t and we will never know quite what a new Beatles album would have sounded like. In truth, they probably split at the right time rather than the slow decline into mediocrity endured by many of their contemporaries who stayed together too long. At least technology has now caught up with us as I can programme my MP3 player to play Without The Beatles.