Post by Mongo the Destroyer on Apr 22, 2018 0:04:53 GMT -5
I know we’ve got some Beatles fans here. They were an amazing band, and even after breaking up all of the Beatles put out rockin’ albums in their solo careers.
But what if they didn’t break up?
I thought it’d be fun to write about and guess at what albums the Beatles would put out if they continued on being a band together. The Beatles were extremely prolific, they would put out a 12-14 song album every year; sometimes two. They were so prolific that the year Let it Be came out (1970) all of them actually were competing with it with their solo albums. With that in mind, let’s theorize what the albums would be like starting with a second album at the end of 1970 all through today (since Paul and Ringo are still alive). We’ll also write a little fiction about it along the way! If you want to grab a year just post in here and when you’re year comes up you can post it, otherwise I’ll slowly compile the albums myself.
There’s a few ground rules and they all follow the same lines: Anyway, it’s still the Beatles. So…
1. All songs come from their solo careers or unused material from the Anthology CDs. This does include their work with other bands. It’s also likely that almost all the songs will be written by one of them since they stopped doing covers early in their career- this will be a problem for Ringo at times
2. No instrumentals, aside from Yellow Submarine’s soundtrack the Beatles were a band that combined their efforts and included lyrics. This will be especially frustrating for George early on since he wants to blossom creatively but will feel Paul and John’s style to be somewhat restrictive (which is actually how we got “All Things Must Pass”)
3. Nothing directly attacking the Beatles/other members. There are a few songs from their solo careers that are not so…friendly. Obviously such a song wouldn’t make it onto their combined albums. But stuff that is more indirect is absolutely possible (like “I Me Mine” was on Let it Be).
4. Try to keep that Beatles “feel.” If it’s too out there, it’s likely they wouldn’t put it on the album unless it happened to be a really experimental year for all of their careers. Along those lines, only Beatles can be the lead singers; no solo band mates (so no Yoko or Wings members). HAVING SAID THAT, if there’s a song written by like Paul or John that happens to have a different singer and might work with Ringo or George you can have them as the singer. Also, if it makes sense for them to work together on a song, that’s fine too.
5. No “future” songs. That means that you have to choose songs from either that year or before.
I think that’s it. Try to keep the albums between 12-14 tracks and if it’s a really prolific year in their solo careers we can either have them release two albums (as they often did) or a double album like the White Album. Also, just as a note; most albums from the Beatles weren’t named after their songs; only some were. I’m probably gonna try to pick one of the year’s solo albums for the album names.
Alright, so with that in mind let’s go BACK IN TIME to 1970….
Plastic Beatles
Behind the Music:
Abby Road was a mess. John wasn’t even there, he recorded everything separately and it was mixed together. Paul was making everyone crazy. George “quit” multiple times. Needless to say, everyone wanted out. After the album finished they went their separate ways; helping to polish up what many thought would be their final album, Let it Be, at their leisure (after all it was almost already fully recorded). This was a lucky break though, because everyone was able to take a year off and do their own thing. Tempers cooled and a lot of new songs were written through their emotional turmoil. After the success of Let it Be and the fun of their rooftop concert, the lads decided that maybe they’d give this another shot. They realized that all of them had a lot of material they recorded separately (planning to release as solo albums) and learning from Abby Road and Let it Be that this could be melded together to sound like a cohesive unit they decided to combine their efforts and keep the Beatles going just a little longer. Ringo didn’t have any original material; but that was par for the course. Oh well. George suggested some instrumental tracks to pad out the album, but was quickly shot down by Paul and John (even though Paul recorded some instrumental pieces on his own too), leading to him once again question being a Beatle. This glut of emotional release from each man exploded into a powerful, though somewhat artificially produced (probably for real this time last) album, Plastic Beatles.
Track List:
But what if they didn’t break up?
I thought it’d be fun to write about and guess at what albums the Beatles would put out if they continued on being a band together. The Beatles were extremely prolific, they would put out a 12-14 song album every year; sometimes two. They were so prolific that the year Let it Be came out (1970) all of them actually were competing with it with their solo albums. With that in mind, let’s theorize what the albums would be like starting with a second album at the end of 1970 all through today (since Paul and Ringo are still alive). We’ll also write a little fiction about it along the way! If you want to grab a year just post in here and when you’re year comes up you can post it, otherwise I’ll slowly compile the albums myself.
There’s a few ground rules and they all follow the same lines: Anyway, it’s still the Beatles. So…
1. All songs come from their solo careers or unused material from the Anthology CDs. This does include their work with other bands. It’s also likely that almost all the songs will be written by one of them since they stopped doing covers early in their career- this will be a problem for Ringo at times
2. No instrumentals, aside from Yellow Submarine’s soundtrack the Beatles were a band that combined their efforts and included lyrics. This will be especially frustrating for George early on since he wants to blossom creatively but will feel Paul and John’s style to be somewhat restrictive (which is actually how we got “All Things Must Pass”)
3. Nothing directly attacking the Beatles/other members. There are a few songs from their solo careers that are not so…friendly. Obviously such a song wouldn’t make it onto their combined albums. But stuff that is more indirect is absolutely possible (like “I Me Mine” was on Let it Be).
4. Try to keep that Beatles “feel.” If it’s too out there, it’s likely they wouldn’t put it on the album unless it happened to be a really experimental year for all of their careers. Along those lines, only Beatles can be the lead singers; no solo band mates (so no Yoko or Wings members). HAVING SAID THAT, if there’s a song written by like Paul or John that happens to have a different singer and might work with Ringo or George you can have them as the singer. Also, if it makes sense for them to work together on a song, that’s fine too.
5. No “future” songs. That means that you have to choose songs from either that year or before.
I think that’s it. Try to keep the albums between 12-14 tracks and if it’s a really prolific year in their solo careers we can either have them release two albums (as they often did) or a double album like the White Album. Also, just as a note; most albums from the Beatles weren’t named after their songs; only some were. I’m probably gonna try to pick one of the year’s solo albums for the album names.
Alright, so with that in mind let’s go BACK IN TIME to 1970….
[Late-1970]
Plastic Beatles
Behind the Music:
Abby Road was a mess. John wasn’t even there, he recorded everything separately and it was mixed together. Paul was making everyone crazy. George “quit” multiple times. Needless to say, everyone wanted out. After the album finished they went their separate ways; helping to polish up what many thought would be their final album, Let it Be, at their leisure (after all it was almost already fully recorded). This was a lucky break though, because everyone was able to take a year off and do their own thing. Tempers cooled and a lot of new songs were written through their emotional turmoil. After the success of Let it Be and the fun of their rooftop concert, the lads decided that maybe they’d give this another shot. They realized that all of them had a lot of material they recorded separately (planning to release as solo albums) and learning from Abby Road and Let it Be that this could be melded together to sound like a cohesive unit they decided to combine their efforts and keep the Beatles going just a little longer. Ringo didn’t have any original material; but that was par for the course. Oh well. George suggested some instrumental tracks to pad out the album, but was quickly shot down by Paul and John (even though Paul recorded some instrumental pieces on his own too), leading to him once again question being a Beatle. This glut of emotional release from each man exploded into a powerful, though somewhat artificially produced (probably for real this time last) album, Plastic Beatles.
Track List:
1. Man We Was Lonely (Paul)
2. Old Brown Shoe (George)
3. Every Night (Paul)
4. Hold On (John)
5. Wah Wah (George)
6. Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (As sung by Ringo with Paul/George on backing vocals)
7. Oo You (Paul)
8. I Found Out (John)
9. What is Life (George) [Single]
10. Love (John)
11. That Would be Something (Paul)
12. Isolation (John)
13. Maybe I’m Amazed (Paul) [Single]
14. Art of Dying (George/John)
2. Old Brown Shoe (George)
3. Every Night (Paul)
4. Hold On (John)
5. Wah Wah (George)
6. Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (As sung by Ringo with Paul/George on backing vocals)
7. Oo You (Paul)
8. I Found Out (John)
9. What is Life (George) [Single]
10. Love (John)
11. That Would be Something (Paul)
12. Isolation (John)
13. Maybe I’m Amazed (Paul) [Single]
14. Art of Dying (George/John)