I Me Mine: A Beatles Timeline
- Thread starter Han
- Start date
Interested to see. I think this will probably center around George Harrison based on the title. Of course, the title may have nothing to do with the subject matter. Anyway I look forward to it. Although Norton and I are working on one so hopefully we aren't writing the exact same thing.
...And if it is, I will use AH Kabala to raise the spirit of Maverick to mucky it up.
I Me Mine: A Beatles Timeline
by Han
by Han
RINGO: George was upset with the way that John and Paul treated him. He was growing as a musician and was becoming more annoyed with the way that John and Paul wanted him to play all his solos just so, whereas before he had much more freedom with his solos. They also didn't let him play his songs (or spend too much time on them). George got tired of feeling inferior and quit the band during the Get Back sessions. We tried to get him to come back for the next few weeks, but it was final; George was out of the band.
PAUL: John was open to bringing Eric Clapton in, but Ringo and I put a stop to that idea. After it became clear that George wasn't coming back, the three of us had a meeting at John's house where he plainly told us he was leaving the group. I think that he wanted space for him and Yoko, and the Beatles were encroaching on that. George leaving gave John ideas, and the Beatles had split up before our eyes. I spent a few weeks at my farm in Scotland trying to clear my head. Luckily Linda was there to get me through such a difficult time; I don't think I could have handled the breakup without her. Once I had finally gotten over the shock of the Beatles breakup, Linda and I married in a small ceremony, and after our honeymoon, we set to work on my first solo album, McCartney. None of us announced the Beatles breakup until the end of the year though.
-The Beatles Anthology
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So no Get Back/Let it Be album, and certainly no Abbey Road. And btw, I'm not sure if you're aware, but Get Back/Let it Be was actually worked on before Abbey Road. It was also intended to be released before Abbey Road under the title "Get Back". However, the sessions degenerated. The Beatles (or, more specifically, Paul McCartney) had come up with the idea of going back to a basic Rock and Roll, and tried to push out George Martin, and Paul told Martin something to the effect that he didn't want his overdub bs. The sessions, as said previous, fell apart. They then turned the session tapes over to Glyn Johns to try to put something together that was reasonable for an album from literally hundreds of hours of recordings. He gave them one acetate which they rejected, then another, which was also rejected. Then the project was shelved. After Get Back/Let it Be fell apart, the Beatles moved on to do an album with George Martin at the helm once again. That album became Abbey Road, and took some songs that had been worked on during the Get Back/Let it Be sessions which were good and did them for that album, and also did some new songs for it. After Abbey Road was released, and I think when the Beatles were splintering, Allen Klein I think it was went to Phil Spector and had him take the Get Back/Let it Be session tapes to make an album out of it. Spector did, but also added A LOT of overdubs which conflicted directly with the original concept of a stripped down, back to basics album. In fact, it was when McCartney heard Spector's overdubbed version of "The Long and Winding Road" that he got pissed off enough to quit the Beatles.
So you've just taken out Let it Be and Abbey Road, and if an album is released, it will have to be taken from the Get Back Session tapes. The good thing of that is, it could contain songs that were later put onto Abbey Road that they worked on during those sessions. The bad thing is it will be an album that is cut and paste and kinda artificially cobbled together like Let it Be.
Also, if it is ever released, the "Let it Be" film will also have an interesting scene in Harrison's leaving.
I'm interested to see the butterflies that come of this. As of now, it doesn't seem all to different from the OTL situation, but I hope things do pick up and I have confidence they will.
So you've just taken out Let it Be and Abbey Road, and if an album is released, it will have to be taken from the Get Back Session tapes. The good thing of that is, it could contain songs that were later put onto Abbey Road that they worked on during those sessions. The bad thing is it will be an album that is cut and paste and kinda artificially cobbled together like Let it Be.
Also, if it is ever released, the "Let it Be" film will also have an interesting scene in Harrison's leaving.
I'm interested to see the butterflies that come of this. As of now, it doesn't seem all to different from the OTL situation, but I hope things do pick up and I have confidence they will.
Btw, this may help if you intend to release something like "Let it Be" by having someone take the sessions and cobble them together into an album.
http://www.beatlesbible.com/features/get-back-let-it-be-sessions-complete-song-list/
http://www.beatlesbible.com/features/get-back-let-it-be-sessions-complete-song-list/
I'm not sure a "Let it be" could be cobbled together, Harrison did storm out pretty early in the recording sessions.
On another note Unless his depression causes him to scrap most of his 1969 material McCartney might be a much better album here.
I couldn't agree more about the White Album. It was by no means a bad record (or records) when compared to other artists but its disjointed and incomplete nature, thought charming and necessary by the Beatles themselves at the time, proved to be undeserving of their up to that point flawless level of quality. Subsequently, the White Album was regarded as their worst by not only the band themselves and George Martin, but until recent years, by critics and the listening public at large. It needed to be a single disc album followed by an album of the fleshed out end result of the remainder material.
They would have more incentive to reunite the earlier they split, imo. By 1970 the personal quarrels had turned to endless litigation and borderline outright slander: Apple Scruffs.
If a shred of common ground or friendship had existed between the egos when they split, it would leave room for an easier reunion and this could result in a long term Beatle career in the seventies, though, hopefully not a Who or Rolling Stones type span of lifelessness. Best case scenario: the reunion results in a massive change of direction coupled with an at least underlying motivation towards returning to roots.
Not to derail the thread, but your question on Sgt. Pepper has merit. If the band split following the death of Brian Epstein and waited to reunite for a couple of solo albums, their careers would be remarkably different and such a reunion as described in the above paragraph would be more likely.
I'm sorry to continue the digression, but since I dissent from the general opinion I want to make a brief comment. I disagree on the White Album personally. I'll agree that it is not as well produced as some of their other efforts, but it has more than 12 good songs on it. Indeed, it was my favorite album of theirs for years. This is partially because it was the first album of theirs I listened to. I like the White Album, because, at least at points, the album shows all the three creative forces in the band at or near the height of their creative powers. I'll admit there are songs that are weak on the album, or to be more charitable, B-side material, and that includes the song after which I have named myself after here. But still, I couldn't hope to successfully reduce the album to a single LP and keep all the songs on the album that I like.
That's an opinion and one that differs from critics, fans, George Martin, and the band itself.
It's not a bad album, but it is probably their weakest effort due to the amount of effort they put into it. Them's the facts, regardless of whatever fan-love we may have for it. I see your point and the bias behind them, but, honestly, from a musical perspective and from the perspective of those involved, it could have used more incubation and effort.
No worries, if it is one disc, the rest of the songs you like, in completed and polished form, would surface on the next release, and your username on AH.com is safe.
Not to further derail the derailment, but this thread's awful quiet anyways.
O no...this will be the fourth good tl in a row Han let drop if it is allowed to die!