A better 1969 for The Beatles..?

Ok, it's been a while since we had a Beatles thread, but I've just thought of a way that 1969 could have gone much better for them.

It depends on when the idea of a live "comeback" Beatles concert was first proposed.

If memory serves me right, the original plan was to showcase some White album shows in late 1968. Does anyone know for sure if that original plan was floated *before* the White Album was sequenced & sent for pressing?

If the idea came up during the White Album sessions, clearer heads (maybe a sober John, or if Paul was a bit more tired after the tension of 1968) could have taken stock of the situation before mixing/editing, and suggested a decent break before going into any live rehearsals.

To give them some breathing space, they decide to listen to George Martin's idea for a single album in late 1968 from those sessions - with a slight tweak.

They select the more complex, layered productions for the late 1968 album, and hold the rest of the tracks for another single album in, say, March 1969. That gets them a decent break. Then they can rehearse in March or April (no cameras present, thanks) for some shows drawn from the March 1969 album, with a few selected older tracks & some new tunes like Get Back.

I'm sure George Harrison would've gone for this plan if Not Guilty & Sour Milk Sea are in the lineup for those 2 albums or late 1968-early 1969 singles. Sour Milk Sea as an early 1969 Beatles A-Side, perhaps.

This is all assuming Ringo can be persuaded to turn down his role in the Magic Christian, mind you. Thoughts?
 
I think the monetary problems they were having at Apple were the bigger problem - they were bickering in large part because of that, the same way a married couple in financial trouble will get into arguments that start out like "You know, I never told you this, but you sound like a pig when you eat." They're still going to turn on each other in the rehearsals if the Allen Klein/Lee Eastman divide isn't straightened out somehow - in fact, it might be worse. Maybe find a way to get Paul on board with Klein as manager, or find a third party to step in as manager (the interval you suggest might allow more time for this).
 
Maybe find a way to get Paul on board with Klein as manager, or find a third party to step in as manager

Given the way Klein acted (and ask the Stones too), Paul was kind of vindicated here.

I think another manager would have been for the better; Epstein's death was IMO the event that led to the breakup.
 
Oh, don't get me wrong; Paul was totally right about Klein. I'm just saying that they would need to get on the same page as far as having a single manager, even one as evil as Klein. (Here's a notion: maybe Klein convinces Paul he's "the one" by setting up Yoko somehow, causing her and John to split up....XD)
 
But yeah, a third party would have been much better. (Eastman wasn't acceptable to the others; Paul's father in law as manager?)
 
Maybe find a way to get Paul on board with Klein as manager, or find a third party to step in as manager (the interval you suggest might allow more time for this).

Fair point that the money & management were big drivers for the breakup, but I think you've also got a point that a break to sort these issues out could achieve a lot.

As it was, the White Album recording/mixing was completed in mid October 1968, and they were at Twickenham starting rehearsals for their next project on 2 Jan 1969. Just two and a half months.

Ideally they would've sorted out the Apple mess before starting the next Beatles project.. and with the wealth of songs 'in the can' they had from 1968, they could've bought themselves the time to do that.
 
My own PODs for this would be Brian Epstein living past 1967 and,secondly, John Lennon never meets Yoko Ono.
 
OK, I decided to take a stab at track listings for the two albums you suggested:

A DOLL'S HOUSE, released October 1968: (the "more produced" album):

Side One: Back in the USSR, Glass Onion, Obladi Oblada, The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, Don't Pass Me By, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Julia.
Side Two: Martha My Dear, Sexy Sadie, Honey Pie, Mother Nature's Son, Long Long Long, What's the New Mary Jane [1], Good Night.

REVOLUTION, released March 1969 (the "we might be able to do some of this stuff live" album):

Side One: Revolution [2], Dear Prudence, Blackbird, Piggies, I'm So Tired, Rocky Raccoon, I Will, Happiness Is a Warm Gun.
Side Two: Birthday, Yer Blues, Cry Baby Cry, Everybody's Got Something to Hide, Why Don't We Do it in the Road, Savoy Truffle, Helter Skelter, Revolution (reprise) [3].

[1] Replaces Revolution #9 ITTL.
[2] The 45 version, held back for the album: Not Guilty is the B-side of Hey Jude instead.
[3] A slight reprise of feedback and "white noise" from Revolution (the original basis of Revolution #9 in OTL).

Released separately as a single in March 1969: Sour Milk Sea/Jubilee.
 
Brian definitely played a hand in keeping the band together. Had he lived longer, I imagine the last few years would have been drastically different.
Yes, Brian could have advised them on how to set up Apple in a more better and organized way and also get them to tour again by investing in a larger and louder PA system complete with bigger amps and monitors in time for 1969.
 
Shortly after the release of A Doll's House, the Beatles begin attempting to address their financial problems at Apple.

Allen Klein flies to London and meets with John and Yoko. John is impressed and suggests Klein as a manager to the others. But Paul is skeptical, based on what Mick Jagger has told him about Klein, plus he wants his future father-in-law, Lee Eastman, to manage the group. Without the pressure of additional recording sessions in January (plus filming), the Beatles have more time to talk these things over in a calm manner; Paul in particular hopes to alleviate some of the tension that arose during the summer and fall sessions. He readily understands that Eastman can't manage the group because of his closeness to Paul.

The other three Beatles and Neil Aspinall all but abduct John for a meeting in January to get him away from Yoko. They listen while he expounds on Klein. Paul gently suggests that part of the reason why Yoko is so sold on Klein is that he has offered to fund her art projects; and that there may be a reason for that as well. John flies off the handle and leaves angry, but the question Paul raised nonetheless troubles him.

When he gets back to his flat, he begins probing Yoko a bit about Klein's offers to fund her art projects. She is cagey at first. But John is not satisfied with her answers and his questions start to grow more pointed.

Then Yoko makes the single biggest strategic error of her life: she blurts out that Klein told her that "Apple money" would be used for her art projects. As John later tells an interviewer, "It was like a hammer hit me over me head." Was getting close to the Beatles' money what motivated Yoko? Has she been using me all this time???? She miscarried my baby; did she get pregnant in the first place hoping I would be tied to her.... The argument now escalates, and escalates, and escalates some more.

Two days later John shows up for a band meeting. When Ringo casually asks where Yoko is, John snaps, "She's not fucking here; do you see her?" He is morose and angry throughout the night. Finally, after smoking a joint, he breaks into tears and tells the others that he and Yoko have split up. Paul does his best to comfort his old mate, spending the next few days listening to John pour his heart out (and making sure John doesn't do anything drastic with booze or drugs). Paul's actions have the effect of repairing the damaged bond between himself and John. Other than writing a sleazy tell-all book about her relationship with John (which will prompt Lennon to write the caustic "How Do You Sleep" in retaliation), Yoko fades from public consciousness after this point. But John, of course, goes to find his true soulmate....

Meanwhile, Paul is alarmed to learn that Dick James, the Beatles' publisher, has decided that because of the turmoil at Apple to sell his shares in Northern Songs to Sir Lew Grade, the British TV magnate. Paul implores James to change his mind, but James insists it's a done deal. So then Paul takes the drastic step of going to see Grade himself.

Grade is a bit nonplussed when Paul shows up with his lawyers-in-law Lee and John Eastman, but he turns on the "Paul McCartney charm" and wins him over. Grade agrees to a deal whereby the Beatles will buy the remainder of the NEMS Enterprises shares and, through Apple, own 52 percent of Northern Songs to Grade's 48 percent. The deal will cost the Beatles some money but it leaves them in control of their copyrights.

Paul confesses to Grade that the Beatles are still in need of a manager. Grade promises to come up with some suggestions.

A few days later, Grade comes to the Apple offices to meet with John and Paul. He has a suggestion, an American agent and manager whom he has worked with and knows well: Bernie Brillstein. Paul likes his credentials, and John is won over when Grade tells him that Brillstein's clients include the up-and-coming American puppeteer Jim Henson, whose work Lennon admires.

Brillstein, contacted by Grade, flies to London and meets with all four Beatles. Although they are uncomfortable at first when he tells them that he wants to keep his existing clients, he is able to assure them that he will assemble a strong management team to handle the day-to-day affairs of Apple and bring order to the chaos there. The Beatles hire him as CEO of Apple.

Jim Henson, likewise, is unhappy with Brillstein's new job at first, but Brillstein assures him as well that he will not neglect Henson and his Muppets, "even if I have to fly back and forth across the Atlantic once a week." In the end, Henson - who has just signed on to bring his Muppet characters to the new children's show Sesame Street - is won over by Brillstein as well as the excitement of the Beatles connection. And in fact, the Beatles connection will come in handy for the Muppets, with original songs given to Henson over the years by Paul ("it gave Paul a place for his bubblegum stuff," Lennon would say wryly).
 
Heck, you kids got me all inspired.
I tried a mock-up of a possible cover for Revolution, assuming the one for A Dolls House would be the John Byrne painting. The idea is, per the title, it'd invoke some sort of revolutionary imagery, seeing as how Lennon was about to go full 'give-peace-a-chance'.

vQ5wuze.jpg
 
This isn't just good for The Beatles, it's pretty good for Henson. (Do I see a Beatles guest appearance on "The Muppet Show" on the cards?:cool:)
 
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