All the Lonley People: A Beatles TL.

Intro 1968-1969
POD, August 15th 1968: Ringo Starr and George Harrison announce their departure from The Beatles, this was following tension during the recording of their new album.

September 20th 1968: The Beatles are officially dissolved by John; there was public mourning in London, that day was nicknamed, "The Day London Cried".

November 11th 1968: Two Virgins is released by Track.

December 1st 1968: George Harrison gives Piggies to Jimi Hendrix; John and Paul begin work on solo albums with John leaving EMI for Motown and Paul staying at EMI
December 5th 1968: George and Ringo both start working on solo albums, though no announcement is made until January 7th.

January 7th 1969: George Harrison and Ringo Starr announce that they are both working solo albums; George has signed to Island Records and Ringo has signed to Decca.

January 15th 1969: Paul begins recording a song called, "Helter Skelter" in Paris

George Harrison released Among the Trees on October 8th and Ringo released Sentimental Journey on December 12th.

Among the Trees track list:
1. Isn't it a Pity
2. The Art of Dying
3. What is Life
4. Gopala Krishna *
5. Something

6. I'd Have you Anytime
7. Run of the Mill
8. I Live for You *
9. Beware of Darkness *
10. For You Blue
11. Circles
12. Not Guilty *
13. As my Guitar Gently Weeps (With Eric Clapton)

* These songs were cut by Phillips on the US release; Warner restored them on the 1980 US pressing.

Sentimental Journey track list:
1. Sentimental Journey
2. Night and Day
3. Whispering Grass
4. Bye Bye, Blackbird
5. I'm a Fool to Care
6. Star

7. Blue, I'm Turning Grey Over You
8. Love is a Many Splendored Thing
9. Dream
10. You Always Hurt the One You Love
11. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
12. Let the Rest of the World Go By

Among the Trees received positive reviews from critics; Bob Marley and The Wailers played as studio musicians on the album after George Harrison met them in Jamaica in early 1969, this wouldn't be the first Bob Marley and The Wailers would serve as studio musicians as they would do the same on Get Back, Sticky Fingers,and Octopus' Garden to mention a few. Sentimental Journey received mixed to negative reviews.
 
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Ike Turner? The Ike Turner? How is he going to get along with Yoko Ono, and by extension John Lennon? Why would they pick Ike Turner?

My hunch is that if George and Ringo left, Lennon would decide that it wasn't worth the trouble and would leave as well. In real life Paul McCartney's first solo album had two good songs and lots of filler because he wanted to release it as quickly as possible; with time to prepare it might have been pretty good, in fact assuming Lennon got the experimental stuff out of his system as he did in real life the early 1970s might have had a more consistently good set of Beatles solo records.

No Abbey Road though, that's a shame.
 
Ike Turner? The Ike Turner? How is he going to get along with Yoko Ono, and by extension John Lennon? Why would they pick Ike Turner?

My hunch is that if George and Ringo left, Lennon would decide that it wasn't worth the trouble and would leave as well. In real life Paul McCartney's first solo album had two good songs and lots of filler because he wanted to release it as quickly as possible; with time to prepare it might have been pretty good, in fact assuming Lennon got the experimental stuff out of his system as he did in real life the early 1970s might have had a more consistently good set of Beatles solo records.

No Abbey Road though, that's a shame.

I remember hearing that after George left Ike and Tina were suggested,
skip to 1:19 if you want to hear the proof
Though after reading your post I should rewrite my first post.
 
Hendrix doing wah-wah guitar instead of the piano parts on "Piggies" ... that's a glorious thought.

*wah-wah-wah-wah-wa-a-a-ah, wah-wah-WAH-Wah-wah-wah wah*

"In theeeir miiiinds, there's ... something, lacking...
WHAT THEY NEEEEEDS-a damn good whacking!"
 
1970 to February 15 1972
April 12th saw the release of Get Back; issued by Parlaphone in the UK and Capitol in the US, George Martin served as producer.

Get Back Track List
1. Lovely Linda
2. That Would Be Something
3. Maybe I'm Amazed
4. I Will
5. Every Night
6. Mother Nature's Son

7. Teddy Boy
8. Blackbird
9. Get Back
10. Back in the USSR
11. Helter Skelter
12. Can you Take me Back *


Not listed on the track listing until 1995. Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer would all cover Helter Skelter in their own solo careers; Bob Marley would record a version for Exodus, it wouldn't be released until Kaya, and Peter Tosh would record a version for Mystic Man, though unlike the original it would be more influenced by Punk.

Get back received positive reviews
Whilst Get Back received positive reviews and reached number 3 in the US and number 1 in Britain and France, John recorded he ultimately would have no released material in 1970; John was sitting and having dinner with Yoko at a Detroit hotel on the 13 of October 1970 when he was alerted by an EMI representative that several people from EMI and Transamerica wanted to meet with him. The next day John and Yoko met with representatives from EMI and Transamerica about a release of Yellow Submarine, an album that was to serve as the soundtrack for a cancelled film of the same name, UA wanted to release the album and wanted to film John Lennon making an album; John okayed its release

"I gave them (UA) the greenlight, I told them to scrub my name from it; the thing (Yellow Submarine) was a fucking pile of shit." John Lennon speaking with Rolling Stone in 1990

George and Ringo also okayed Yellow Submarine's release, but Paul didn't initially okay the release; after months of negotiations, Paul okayed Yellow Submarine's release. Yellow Submarine was released on November 22, 1971.

Yellow Submarine Track List:
1. Yellow Submarine
2. Only A Northern Song
3. All Together Now
4. Hey Bulldog
5. Its To Much
6. All You Need is Love

7. Pepperland
8. Sea of Time
9. Sea of Holes
10. Sea of Monsters
11. March of the Meenies
12. Pepperland Laid Waste
13. Yellow Submarine in Pepperland

Yellow Submarine received mixed reviews; Lady Madonna would appear on Wings at The Speed of Sound, the Inner Light will appear on All Things Must Pass, and Across the Universe will appear on Mind Games. It wouldn't be until 1986 that the Yellow Submarine movie would be released.

December 1971 would see the formation of Wings; its line up is as follows:
Paul McCartney: Bass, Keyboard, and Lead Singer
Denny Laine: Lead Guitarist and Back Up Vocalist
Denny Seiwell: Drums
Linda McCartney: Background Vocals
Henry McCullough: Guitar

On February 15th 1972 John Lennon's Shaved Fish was released; issued by Motown in the US and by MCA Records worldwide.
1. Instant Karma
2. Give Piece a Chance
3. Gimme Some Truth
4. Cold Turkey
5. Yer Blues

6. Everybody had a Hard Year
7. Well, Well, Well
8. Hold On
9. Mother
10. Julia

12. Look At Me
13. Working Class Hero
14. I Found Out
15. Isolation

16. Remember
17. Love
18. God

Shaved Fish received positive reviews.
 
February 16th 1972 to March 10th 1973
John became more involved in film projects as he was attached to produce a series of features which included A Quiet Night In Modesto, Shaved Fish,Lady Sings the Blues, and Mame; though around this time George and Paul also had some film projects in the works such as Raga, a documentary produced by George Harrison that aired on CBS about Indian culture; The Concert for Bangladesh, a concert film that documents a concert George Harrison and a few other musicians put on for Bangladesh; and Paul and his new band signed a deal to compose a soundtrack for a Walt Disney Productions film, Wings would produce the soundtrack for The Rescuers and Paul McCartney would preform some of the soundtrack for Basil of Baker Street (Wings would be approached to provide a soundtrack for the Black Cauldron but they would ultimately turn it down).
The Concert for Bangladesh was released March 26th 1972 through 20th Century Fox., the film was a critical and financial success.
United Artists released Shaved Fish of June 15th 1972 to positive reviews; the film revolves around John Lennon and Yoko's life after the Beatles broke up in 1968.
Lady Sings the Blues was released on October 12th 1972 by United Artists in the US and Universal overseas; the film's plot is the same as otl, the film received positive reviews, and grossed $20,000,000 worldwide


November 21st, episode 0412 of Sesame Street aired on PBS; this episode would be famous and infamous as in this episode John Lennon, a Cookie Monster fan, appeared in a segment called, "The Boy Who Cried Monster" in the segment when Cookie Monster appeared John sang a song called, "Come Together" with the lyrics, "Here comes the monster, he come groovin' up slowly". After the episode aired Morris Levy sued John Lennon, PBS, and The Children's Television Workshop alleging the song was a rip-off of the Chuck Berry song, "You Can't Catch Me". During the lawsuit production on Sesame Street slowed; in the John Lennon, PBS, and The Children's Television Workshop won the case after the court decided, on March 10th 1973, that the Come Together and You Can't Catch Me had no similarities to each other.

"The PBS people were bloody nervous, I was as well." John Lennon
" Dthere any animosity between you and Berry?" Interviewer
"No, although I can't say the same with some of the people at PBS now a days." John Lennon. John Lennon during an interview with Rolling Stone in 1997

On November 25th 1972 Wing's first album, Wild Life was released.
Wild Life track list:
1. Mumbo
2. Bip Bop
3. Love is Strange
4. Wild Life

5. Some People Never Know
6. I am Your Singer
7. Tomorrow
8. Dear Friend

Wild Life received mixed reviews and charted at 10 in the US and 11 in the UK
During the Cookie Monster case, as it became known, George Harrison released All Things Must Pass on December 8th 1972.

All Things Must Pass track listing:
1. Bangladesh
2. Wah-Wah
3. Sour Milk Sea
4. Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp

5. Inner Light
6. If Not For You
7. Awaiting on you All
8. Old Brown Shoe
9. I Dig Love

10. Give Me Love
11. Let It Down
12. My Sweet Lord
13. All Things Must Pass

14. Hear Me Lord
15. Here Comes the Sun
16. Long Long Long


17. Out of the Blue
18. Its Johnny's Birthday
19. Plug me in

20. I Remember Jeep
21. Thanks for the Pepperoni.

All Things Must Pass was issued by Island Records and Phillips Records in the US; the album received positive attention and earned a number 2 in the US. All Things Must Pass was self produced. on January 20th 1973 Beaucoups of Blues was released.

Beaucoups of Blues track list:

1. Beaucoups of Blues
2. Love Don't Last Long
3. Fastest Heartache in the West
4. Without Her
5. Woman of the Night
6. I'd Be Talking All The Time

7. $15 Draw
8. Wine, Women, and Loud Happy Songs
9. Loser's Lounge
10. Waiting
11. I Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way
12. Silent Homecoming

Beaucoups of Blues received positive reviews, but didn't chart as high as Decca expected, so Decca dropped Ringo.

On March 1st George Harrison and Paul McCartney began writing a song that was inspired by the Cookie Monster Case
 
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March 11th 1973 to June 12th 1974
March 11th saw John get to work on another album; A Quiet Night in Modesto, now going under the name American Graffiti, was to be distributed by Universal after United Artists, Walt Disney Productions, and Columbia Pictures turned the film down.

"Maybe he {Paul} had something to do with Disney turning it {American Graffiti} down. I don't know, but at the time I thought so." John
"What about Star Wars?" Katie Curic
"No one really got that one; even in 74 when we pitched it to Hanna-Barbara and EMI they thought it would flop. Gordy financed it under the condition that if it flopped he would kick me from Motown." John

John Lennon speaking with Katie Curic in 2002


August 11th: American Graffiti is released. The plot runs the same as OTL, Lennon covers Aint That a Shame, Johnny Be Good, and Ya Ya on the film's soundtrack; American Graffiti was a success grossing $110,000,000 on a budget of $100,000. Production Companies: Motown Productions and Lucasfilm.
The success of American Graffiti got John deeper into film producing, he contemplated forming his own production company; he formed one on September 5th 1973, Plastic Elephant Productions. Plastic Elephant was the forerunner to John's other company,
Amblin
;Diana Ross was a co-founder and produced some of her films with the company. Plastic Elephant's films were released by Universal,Warner Bros., and United Artists; despite this Warner would turn down Star Wars in 1976, which lead to 20th Century Fox releasing it, Warner would only release the following 2 films from the company: Mahogany and Castle of Cagliostro.

April 12th, 1973: Red Rose Speedway is released, it is Wings second album, and it received mixed reviews; the reviews were warmer this time around.

Red Rose Speedway Track list:
1. Big Red Barn
2. My Love
3. C Moon
4. Little Lamb Dragonfly
5. One More Kiss

6. Mama's Little Girl
7. Tragedy
8. Seaside Woman (Linda)
9. Single Pigeon
10. Red Rose Medley

George Harrison came out with Living in the Material World on August 20th 1973; it received positive reviews.

Living in the Material World Track list
1. Living in the Material World
2. The Light that Has Lightened the World
3. Don't Let Me Wait too Long
4. Who Can See It
5. Miss O'Dell
6. Deep Blue

7. He Who Loves the Lord
8. Be Here Now
9. Try Some, Buy Some
10. The Day the World Gets Round
12. That's All

Living in the Material World charted at number one in the US and UK; it would be George's last album with Island Records as he would sign with Mercury Records on December 8th 1973. George's choice to sign with Mercury was partially due to Bob Marley and the Wailers signing with MGM Records after Catch'a Fire.

After Decca dropped Ringo, he received offers from several record companies; Ringo eventually signed with Columbia Records, and when his self titled album was released on November 2 1973, it was issued by Columbia in the US and CBS International.

Ringo track list
1. I'm the Greatest
2. Have You Seen My Baby
3. Photograph
4. Sunshine Life for Me
5. Early 1968

6. Oh My
7. Step Lightly
8. 6:00
9. Devil Woman
10. You and Me Babe

Ringo received positive reviews.


By January 1974, George Lucas began pitching The Star Wars to various studios studios; none bit. However after some convincing, Motown, Paul and Linda McCartney, and the BBC agreed to fund the film, the agreement gave the BBC television rights to the film; with that Lucas started pitching Star Wars to various studios as an animated film, none bit. John and George Lucas went to the UK, France, Denmark, Italy, and Japan to see if Star Wars could be made; Osamu Tezuka was interested in the concept and he, along with Osamu Dezaki, and Yoshikai Kawajiri (Under their company, Madhouse animation), became a director on the film. Toho was to distributor in Japan, Paramount was to release the film in Europe, but no distributor existed for the US yet; the rest of 1974 was spent converting the script to storyboards.

Mind Games was released on June 12th 1974

Mind Games Track list

1. Mind Games
2. Crippled Inside
3. Across the Universe
4. Jealous Guy
5. Freda People

6. Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)
7. Intuition
8. Out of the Blue
9. I Know
10. Only People
11. You Are Hear
12. Meat City

Mind Games received positive reviews.
 
Media Assets as of 1974
Warner Communications:
Warner Bros Pictures
Warner Bros. Television
DC Comics
Warner Bros. Records
Atlantic Records
Elektra

Gulf+Western:
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Television
Famous Records
Stax
Simon and Shuster
US and European syndication rights to Doctor Who

MCA:
Universal Pictures
Universal Television
EMKA
MCA Records

Columbia Pictures Industries:
Columbia Pictures
Screen Gems
The Post 1966 Northern Songs Catalog
US broadcast rights to the Flintstones

Transamerica:
United Artists
United Artists Television Productions
United Artists Communications
Blue Note
United Artists Records


20th Century Fox - 40% owned by General Electric, 1% owned by Kraftco, 25% owned by RCA, 20% owned by Phillip Morris, and 5% owned by McDonalds

Buena Vista Corporation:
Walt Disney Productions
Buena Vista Distribution Co
Walt Disney Parks Management

Up for sale:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer - Buena Vista, CBS, Motown, and Berkshire Hathaway are bidding for the once prestigious studio.
Columbia Graphophone Company - John Lennon, Buena Vista, CBS, and Warner Communications bidding.

It's rumored that CBS is considering selling Fender Musical Instruments.
 
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