T2580 - The Beach Boys finish Smile

[Guajolote]

“Now, just 'cos I'm letting you record this doesn't mean it's on the record, right? You can tell this story when we're all dead and you tell it accurately. Don't put a slant on it. The reason the facts got fudged is because we know how everyone loves to play the blame game. It's just something unfortunate that happened and something good came out of it. No heroes and villains, pun completely intended.

“OK, the official story isn't true, it wasn't a piece of equipment that fell on Brian. The conspiracies aren't true either. There was no psychotic episode, no drug overdose, none of that stuff. We were having a vocal session, it went badly and got worse. A punch was thrown. Brian was out cold. Everybody had a different reaction, but a staff member at the studio called an ambulance and Brian got admitted to the UCLA Medical Center with a concussion. I'm not telling you who threw the punch and whether Brian was meant to be the target or not. You know how the fans can get. Everybody got forgiven. We're all friends these days OK?”

- Unnamed source

"That wasn't the scary part. By the time I knew about Brian's concussion, he was conscious and the nurses were looking after him. They kept him in for observation and…well…it wasn't the same then as it is now. When the doctor said the words 'psychiatric evaluation' I started to cry. At that time, to me at least, I thought they were going to put him away. But the doctor was very sweet and he'd noticed Brian…well his behavior was a little…unusual. Brian was very suggestible in those days and deeply interested in new ideas about the mind. Oh, the books he used to bring home. Anyway, we got him a psych evaluation and that was the beginning of a new Brian."

- Marylin Wilson

"The difference was immediate, as is common with 'The Talking Cure'. For my part, I was really only involved in two long meetings where Brian worked out which songs would be finished and what shape they'd have. One of the meetings certainly helped me keep perspective on being a part of a burgeoning underground movement. As I arrived at Brian's house, one of his medical coterie was there and on being introduced to me this eminent psychiatrist beamed and said, “It's Dick Parks' boy, isn't it?”. I felt about ten years old, but I think Brian looked on me with renewed respect."

- Van Dyke Parks

THE BEACH BOYS - SMILE (March 27th 1967)

Early reviews for the album in the U.S. were mixed but tended towards the negative. Billboard called it, “dazzlingly arranged but confusingly written”. As with the previous album, the reception from music journalists in the UK was more positive, but less so than with Pet Sounds. New Musical Express hailed Smile as, “brilliantly avant-garde and progressive”, but added, “the lofty ideas can be alienating in places”. Disc and Music Echo declared it, “ten years ahead of its time, which might not be much comfort for those of us living in the present”.

(Wikipedia)

Beach Boys Rethink Direction
Single and album both stall at 16, are they giving up art-pop?

(Disc And Music Echo)

"We knew Brian wasn't going to be happy. Brian might have been a little more together thanks to his new doctors, but it hurt us, we figured it would devastate Brian. But he kind of didn't react at all. He was on to his next idea. Capitol wanted to know what we were going to do next and Brian told them, 'the next album won't be anything like Smile'. EMI in the UK took their own action and then it got more complicated."

- Carl Wilson

 

[Guajolote]

"Most of us were upset at EMI releasing a track off the album as a single without asking us. The word got back that they thought Heroes And Villains had 'underperformed' and they wanted to put things straight by releasing something off Smile that was verse-chorus-verse, y'know? I was the one chosen to tell Brian about it and I wasn't prepared for his reaction."

- Carl Wilson

"It's like a vote of confidence. I'm happy they've found something on the album they think is worth releasing as a single. If it's a hit, you can be sure we'll come over to England and thank you all in person!"

- Brian Wilson quoted in Melody Maker, May 1967

"Thanks for making Child Is Father Of The Man our second #1 in England! Capitol over here saw what happened and it's now racing up the charts here in the USA. But I made a promise and The Beach Boys will definitely be playing some shows in Great Britain this fall and I'll be coming with them."

- Brian Wilson quoted in Melody Maker, June 1967

BEACH BOYS UNVEIL NEW SOUND AT MONTEREY

With their single and album riding high in the charts, the Beach Boys surprised everyone at the closing night of the Monterey Pop Festival by only doing two songs from Smile (Prayer and Child Is Father Of The Man). The band took the opportunity to show off a new soul music style and promised a new album in the same mode to be released at the end of this year. Keep an ear out for the songs that made the Monterey crowd dance, Wild Honey, Darling [sic] and Let The Wind Blow. Before the new album is recorded, leader Brian Wilson says he'll be visiting England for a holiday!"

(New Musical Express, June 1967)

Brian Wilson: Pet Sounds was a bigger hit over here, Smile was a hit here before it took off in the US, so I thought I'd come over and say 'hi' and 'thanks' and see what's happening here.

Simon Dee: Have you met the Beatles this time around?

Brian: Not yet, no. I'm having dinner with Brian Epstein this week. The Beach Boys are going to have their own record label. I'm hoping he's gonna teach me how to be a businessman. I'm hoping as well as a record label, we might be able to branch out into TV and films.

Dee: Where do you get all this energy from?

Brian: I'm under the care of a psychiatrist. [murmurs in the audience] I'm not ashamed of that. I have depression, I take medication.

Dee: When you say 'medication'…

Brian: Ha! No I don't mean that stuff. I'm not going to lie, I did take acid back when everyone was doing it, but my psychiatrist says that could have done me much more damage. I've been reading up on the risks. Have you ever heard of Murray Jarvik?

Dee: I can't say I have.

Brian: He's studied LSD very closely, before there were any rock stars taking it. You should have him on this show.

Dee: I wouldn't want to deprive Panorama of the pleasure."

(Dee Time, BBC1, August 17th 1967)

"It certainly showed me what was really happening in the drug culture. It wasn't what I'd thought – spiritual awakenings and being artistic – it was like alcoholism, like any addiction. The kids at Haight-Ashbury had left school and dossed out there, and instead of drinking alcohol they were on all kinds of drugs.

“That was the turning-point for me – that's when I went right off the whole drug cult and stopped taking the dreaded lysergic acid. I had some in a little bottle (it was liquid). I put it under a microscope, and it looked like bits of old rope. I thought that I couldn't put that into my brain any more.

“Not long after that Brian Wilson came out against it. He was telling me of all the mental illnesses it can bring out. I didn't go down the medical, sort of scientific route he went, but it was nice to have someone else at that level in the scene who was also done with acid. It still dominated the culture at the time, but there were a few of us who turned away from it. Brian certainly made psychiatry and therapy a bit of a fad in the British scene."

- George Harrison, Anthology, 1995

"Am I an anti-drugs crusader? What's that? I don't know what that means. I'm on drugs right now. I have a prescribed dose of Valium. If I was diabetic, I'd take insulin. I'm a depressive, I take Valium. I'm not telling the kids, 'don't do drugs'. I'm saying to everyone, look after your mind. For me, street drugs put my mind at risk, so I don't take them. That's all I'm saying. You wanna hear the scientific names for my problems? I'd rather talk about our new album."

- Brian Wilson, press conference, November 1967

"Paul McCartney once said to me that he was jealous, the Beach Boys had beaten the Beatles at going back to their roots. It sure as heck didn't feel that glorious at the time. The kind of soul music Brian had us playing wasn't our roots. But Brian was writing with Mike again, it felt more like the old days. And we were playing our own stuff again, no session guys. I was overjoyed…at first. Brian worked us like he worked that Wrecking Crew. That's why I'm the last voice on the album, shouting 'Gosh darn it I've got blisters on my fingers'. To be fair to Brian, he was just as hard on himself. Harder. He stayed in the studio, after we were gone, getting all the keyboard parts *exactly right*. That's why we could put up with it, he wasn't making us do all the work. The sales figures didn't hurt, either.

On top of all that, he managed to produce an album for someone else."

- Al Jardine

 

[Guajolote]

THE MONKEES - CHANGES (1968)

Side One
Porpoise Song
Auntie's Municipal Court
St. Matthew
Tapioca Tundra
Daydream Believer

Side Two
Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again? Or, The Karma Blues
P.O. Box 9847
Can You Dig It
(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love [1]
Circle Sky
Reprise [2]

"We expected innovation from The Beatles, but Spring '67 The Beach Boys pipped everyone to the post. A lot of people weren't prepared for that. I've always loved The Beach Boys, but they lacked a certain credibility in some sections of the industry at that time. Smile was shock to a lot of people who'd looked down on The Beach Boys. We couldn't help but notice that at Monkees HQ.

But Smile wasn't important on its own, the fact they followed it with Wild Honey was the thing I think sent a message to guys like us. There was a pressure building on groups to choose if they were gonna be 'serious' or not. Either you're with the hippies or you're just entertaining the kids and for some reason that was a bad thing in those days. The Beach Boys said 'do both'. Here's Smile, they can outgun any 'progressive' music out there. Now here's Wild Honey, they can make people dance.

The Monkees were from all over, but we were LA guys at heart and that idea was a real boost to a lot of bruised egos in this town. Even some of the trippy bands felt they had to stoop down and prove their pop credentials. You've got Vanilla Fudge rushing out an album of three minute pop songs, just to show that the ten minute jams were their choice, not because they didn't know when to stop. All four of us had a little spring in our step after that.
OK, we'd done it the wrong way round. Headquarters was our garage band album and Pisces was the psychedelic one, but we went into 1968 confident we could keep up with anyone.

Michael and Peter, who were not the closest of friends before, started making plans and they agreed to keep Chip [Douglas] in on the decision making process. Everybody was being very co-operative. I guess another thing we have to thank Brian Wilson for was everyone seeing a shrink. After the pot and the acid, there were a lot of people about who were mellow because of therapy. Didn't last of course, but anyway.

Meanwhile back at the ranch Raybert [the company that made the TV show] were pressing for us to make a movie. Bob Rafelson wanted to take on the American media and the whole Monkee phenomenon. Peter and Mike however want to make a great album and a movie of the album. They started talking about maybe a documentary about this amazing album they were sure we were going to make, maybe a concert film, too. Davy wanted to make a 90-minute Monkees episode, I wanted to have a good time and Columbia wanted a return on their investment. Us being us, we ended up with a Monkees episode, that turned into a satire that turned into a documentary that ended with a concert. I had a good time making it and it returned Columbia's investment, but not as much as they hoped. Everybody seems to love 25% of the film and wishes the other three-quarters would go away. Except me, I love the whole thing."

- Micky Dolenz

[1] If you want to compile your own version of this, I use the recording that's just Peter and guitar

[2] This is the last 1:10 of Porpoise song, the bit after the false ending

 

[Guajolote]

THE BEACH BOYS - DIAMOND HEAD (1968)

Side One
Can't Wait Too Long
Little Bird
With Me Tonight
I Believe In Miracles
Be Still
Cool Cool Water [1]

Side Two
Little Pad
Mona Kana
On A Holiday
Oʻahu [2]
Cool Cool Cool Water [3]

"People talk about Smile, but for me making Diamond Head was the best time to be a Beach Boy. Smile was finished in a burst of inspiration and we started Wild Honey thinking Smile had been a bust. The energy was all nervous energy, y'know? On Diamond Head, Brian was mellow, but fast at the same time. People call that album the sequel to Smile, but on Smile, we were trying to get everything down on tape, like it was our last chance. In early 1968 we had time. And as brothers, it was the best time, the last time we were all on the same page. Dennis was all over Diamond Head and I think Brian had decided I was the right guy to work on singles. A lot of that work ended up being the Do It Again album. Don't get me wrong, we all still love each other, but…we went through 1968 without arguing."

- Carl Wilson

"With this album, The Beach Boys continued the pattern they started in 1967, an arty album in the first half of the year and a more pop album for the second half. This collection sat nicely between 1967's Wild Honey and Fall 1968's Do It Again. The second side seemed to wind up the "Element Music" idea that had been kicking around since Smile (where a proposed suite had been whittled down to just one element as the group rushed to finish the album). While Wild Honey was seen by fans to contain earth and air music in places, Diamond Head was a showcase for water inspired pieces. The album is also notable for three pieces by Dennis Wilson, who was coming into his own as a writer and producer."

- Andrew Barbicane - The Beach Boys: A Comprehensive Overview [4]

While everyone's still recovering from the mind blowing sounds on Diamond Head, Brian Wilson has revealed the next Beach Boys album will be called Friends.

(New Musical Express, July 1968)

A new Beach Boys album comes out next month. It will be called Do It Again and not Friends as previously reported.

(New Musical Express, October 1968)

THE BEACH BOYS - DO IT AGAIN (1968)

Side One
Do It Again
We're Together Again
Be Here In The Morning
Transcendental Meditation
All I Want To Do
Be With Me

Side Two
I Can Hear Music
Rock And Roll Woman
The Letter
Bluebirds Over The Mountain
Cotton Fields
Walk On By

"There isn't a quote-unquote Friends album. Brian didn't get finished with it. It's very sweet, peaceful music. But it wasn't what we should have been doing. Brian was getting…distracted. He was a father and…[long pause] I think that easy listening music he was making was like him trying to be a version of our dad. He was going to be a good dad who wrote that kind of Lawrence Welk stuff. That way, he could be the dad to baby David that he wanted our dad to be to us. [long pause] I dunno.

"The Valium was beginning to be a problem. The doctors had been careful with his dosages, but it wasn't a wonder drug. Brian had gone from being calm to distant an then from distant to being…numb. Then he started getting confused. The doctors weaned him off it but for a while after that, he just seemed tired all the time. Do It Again is what we could pull together and I think it holds together pretty well."

- Carl Wilson

[1] This version owes a lot to Love To Say Dada, it's tight and orchestrated
[2] There are going to be some tracks (or titles anyway) that don't exist IOTL
[3] This reprise is more like the Cool Cool Water from the end of Sunflower
[4] Original character. I have two friends who've written books on The Beach Boys and they're both called Andrew. Rather than put words in their mouths, I've conjured up another one.

 

[Guajolote]

THE MONKEES - LISTEN TO THE BAND (1968)

Side One
I'll Be Back Upon My Feet
My Share Of The Sidewalk
As We Go Along
Lady's Baby [1]
Tear The Top Right Off My Head
Magnolia Simms

Side Two
Little Girl
Someday Man
Merry Go Round
You And I
Rosemarie
Goin' Down
Listen To The Band

"There was a point up until the mid-60s when teen pop and pioneering rock were pretty much the same thing. Just as The Monkees started, those two strands started to separate. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if Brian Wilson hadn't finished Smile, that separation would have come much earlier. There were rumours that when Brian was hospitalized, the new Beach Boys album would be cancelled as no-one knew how to finish it without him.

"But it wasn't a miracle. We weren't exactly accepted by the heads, y'know, we were just less unacceptable. The attitude from San Francisco turned to kind of patronizing instead of hostile. So instead of the counterculture using us as an example of everything wrong with pop, they used it to build themselves up. 'The counterculture is so amazing, even The Monkees want to be part of it'. The old 'they can't play their instruments' thing was replaced with 'they learned to play their instruments'. That was bullshit, too, but any port in a storm, right?

"So with all that happening, Listen To The Band was The Monkees album it was OK to like."

[1] Take it as read that ITTL, Peter hasn't spent endless sessions recording this one, meaning there isn't the bad blood between him and Nez over the cost

 

[Guajolote]

"It had been hanging over us since Sgt Pepper, the idea that we were no longer 'honest'; we were too dependent on studio trickery. Wild Honey didn't help. The Beach Boys beating us to the punch a second time. So we thought we'd beat the Beach Boys at their own game. Record an 'art' album and an 'honest' album at the same time. But we all got locked into our own little things and the songs all sounded like they came from fifteen different albums, not two, so we just put them all out at once. Then Get Back was going to be honest, but we got sent home."

- Paul McCartney, Anthology, 1995

"They make it sound like I stormed in and laid down the law, but it was nothing like that. The boys knew I wouldn't make a creative suggestion and anyway, they wouldn't take it if I did. All I did was go down to Twickenham Studios and effectively hold an impromptu board meeting of Apple. They had all these very ambitious creative ideas, but they'd started rehearsals without a business plan. They were spending Apple money on rehearsals with no definite plan on how the investment was going to pay off.

"I felt guilty about reminding them of their responsibilities, but they weren't 19-year-olds who'd been slipped amphetamines anymore. They were grown men, parents and businessmen.

"I feared the group was on the verge of splitting up and that it was my fault. I could have run Apple my way, but it was their company. If Apple was running everything, then I thought I should tell them how, why and where their money was being spent.

"Anyway, whatever happened, it was nothing like that bloody silly film."

- Brian Epstein, Anthology, 1995

[Scene: "The Beatles" are jamming in something that's supposed to be Twickenham Studios. "Brian Epstein" walks in and unplugs a suspiciously modern looking UK plug. The music stops]

Epstein: Go home, boys. You're wasting your time, money and talent.

(The Beatles: The Greatest Show On Earth, TVM 1985)

[The Beatles (the real ones) are being interviewed together]

George: Did we really record Abbey Road thinking it was going to be the last album?
Paul: It was an insurance policy. Record something epic, just in case we were going to give up. [1]
George: I didn't think we were on the verge of splitting at all.
Paul: Oh yeah, not like that. But we all been seeing shrinks and the fire was going out a bit [2]. I certainly thought we weren't going to be THE BEATLES who put out an amazing album or two every year. I could see us being the Apple board for a few years. Basically what we ended up being in the late 70s.
George: A gang instead of a band.
John: What we are now. The next Beatles project is a vegan chilli sans carne and DVD night.
Ringo: Sounds good.
John: At Ringo's.
Ringo: Ya bastard!

(Anthology, 1995)

[1] Whether this was the case in OTL is arguable, but relations between The Beatles are different here. The possibility of ending the group doesn't mean ending the friendship, so they're more able to face the idea.
[2] It's something of an all-purpose butterfly. Brian Wilson's open enthusiasm for conventional psychiatric medicine has caused a lot of people to dabble and some of the issues that cut short careers have been lessened. This will just bring a different set of problems. I want this timeline to be better than OTL, but it won't be the best case scenario.

 

[Guajolote]

THE BEACH BOYS - SUITE SIXTEEN (1969)

Side One
Loop De Loop
San Miguel
Celebrate The News
Deirdre
A Time To Live In Dreams
Break Away

Side Two
Got To Know The Woman
All I Wanna Do
The Nearest Faraway Place
Persuasion
Forever
Time To Get Alone

"Terrible."

- Dennis Wilson

"Great songs, but it nearly broke us."

- Al Jardine

"We did the best we could."

- Carl Wilson

"A real drag."

- Mike Love

"I'm proud of what they did. I like listening to that one. The songs are really good, but I think people thought we were kind of square and that's why the other Beach Boys don't like it."

- Brian Wilson

"There's always been something a little unhip about The Beach Boys and that's fine. Do It Again and Suite Sixteen are very honest Beach Boys albums. But because Brian had pulled back a little, the critics started claiming the rest of the band had smothered Brian's 'art'. Not true at all. For a start, he was much more involved with Suite Sixteen than he was with Do It Again. It's just that he seemed to get tired quickly and it was very difficult to get any sort of response out of him, good or bad. One thing you couldn't say about Brian in the old days was that he was cold, but that's what he was becoming towards the end of the 60s. Mike would sometimes try to get a rise out of him and Brian would just say 'You can quit the group at any time. Brother Records would be happy to put out a solo album from you'. The business side of things was a great way for him to avoid confrontations. He always had a financial report to go over whenever his father would stop by.

"Anyway, Suite Sixteen is full of great pop songs and one really weird thing from Brian [1]. But we look kinda goofy on the cover and it's clear Brian isn't part of the original picture. The title is both kind of dumb and pretentious at the same time. And who celebrates their 16th album anyway? So I guess it gave some critics a get out clause. They could excuse their looking down on The Beach Boys despite Smile knocking everyone sideways by saying the good stuff was purely Brian and since Diamond Head we hadn't let him do his own thing. Depressing."

- Bruce Johnston

[1] Persuasion being better known as He Gives Speeches. ITTL Brian has revisited the idea and done a full length song.

(I know the cover looks like garbage, it's meant to)

 

[Guajolote]

"One idea we'd been kicking around since before Changes was doing a double album with a solo side each. I guess if Changes had bombed, that would have been the next thing from us. Changes did OK and bought us a few crumbs of credibility, which is why we had to do Listen To The Band, to prove Changes wasn't a fluke.

"So by 1969 we were four Pinocchios who'd become real boys. Then the arguments started about our future direction and it was Davy who reminded us of the solo project thing. From there we came up with a plan to keep Colgems fed with 'product'.

"We owed Colgems two albums a year until 1973[1]. We kicked around the idea of putting out two solo albums in 1969 and 1970. Lester Sill[2] was not happy with that idea. So then we tried to sell him on the idea of one Monkees album and one solo album. Lester and Colgems were more open to that idea and asked for a Davy solo album. That turned out to be a problem.

"Colgems gave the album a big push and it was a reasonable sized hit. We then realized that what had happened was that the most commercial part of the operation had been separated from us.

"In the fall of '69, the original Monkees series went to reruns on Saturday mornings. That was the death knell. The second album for 1969 wasn't a group effort to balance out Davy's solo album, it was The Monkees' Greatest Hits.

"The execs told us that we could record the remaining 3 solo albums on Colgems dime as long as we did some commercials and interstitials for the Saturday reruns. We asked about further tours, they said 'we'll get back to you' and nothing happened.

"Mike got a hit album, I got a decent selling album and Peter got royally screwed. His album was put out with no promotion and naturally stiffed. He bought himself out of the last three years of his contract and tried to make it on his own.[3]

"Davy and Mike were promoted to being RCA artists, I put out a couple of albums on Bell and each one of us ended up wondering if we should give the other three a call when all the Monkees contractual stuff had expired."

- Micky Dolenz

[1] I gleaned this from the liner notes of the deluxe version of The Monkees Present
[2] The Monkees' musical supervisor post-Kirshner's firing and later president of Colgems
[3] IOTL, Peter bought himself out a year earlier, so ITTL we get Kool-Aid commercials with all four Monkees.

 

[Guajolote]

THE BEACH BOYS - I'M GOING YOUR WAY (1970)

Side One
California Slide
Lady
Where Is She
This Whole World
I Just Got My Pay
Slip On Through

Side Two
Soulful Old Man Sunshine
Susie Cincinnati
Our Sweet Love
Back Home
It's About Time
Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again

"It saved us, but it also hurt us. It bought us credibility, but Brian got all the credit. Not his fault and anyway, having Brian take charge is good for The Beach Boys, but…y'know.

"The critics who attacked us over Suite Sixteen thought they'd been proved right. Brian was in charge and more engaged than he'd been for a couple years, but the slightly more rocking direction was Dennis and me."

- Carl Wilson

"There was a heavy sound going around and I hadn't been paying attention. I was too busy playing with my son. So I asked my brothers to give me that sound and I guess it worked. The Moog synthesizer was me, though."

- Brian Wilson

"That album was a real mixed blessing. Brian getting all the credit for the rock sound hurt Carl and me, but oh man, those layers and layers of synth Brian put down. It was really beautiful.

"Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again was meant to be my song but Brian stole it from under me and I'm glad he did. That huge waterfall of synthesizers to end the album. He nearly wore the tape out adding overdubs. At some point he gathered us all together and said 'We need our own studio'. So Brother Studios came out of it."

- Dennis Wilson

"Suite Sixteen is meant to be an embarrassment and I'm Going Your Way is meant to be a masterpiece. What's the difference? We're not smiling on the cover of I'm Going Your Way , so everyone figured it was more serious. As far as I can tell, they might as well be a double album"

- Al Jardine

 

[Guajolote]

[The Beatles are sitting together for a joint interview]

Paul: So, Beatles For Life. Well.
John: Of all of our albums, that was certainly one of them and the music papers let us know it.
Paul: It's fine.
John: We're The Beatles. We're not allowed to be "fine". Let's move onto the next one.
Paul: Yeah, OK. I already explained it in one of my own interviews. And we can cut to that right about…NOW!

[Paul is sitting by himself in a recording studio]

Paul: In 1970, we had a few productive meetings and cleared the air. Apple was very comfortably in the black. We had a couple of singles hanging around from 1969, a few song ideas that didn't get finished. We had the luxury of just recording some songs for an album. We could see if we could combine taking it easy and being Beatles. That's why the album's called that. Beatles For Life. We decided we were going to be The Beatles forever and we were happy with that. [pause] Not many other people were. We ended up with a reputation for laziness in the 70s. Using outtakes for b-sides was meant to be a nice little bonus for the fans, but we got it in the neck for that, too. We weren't the Fab Four any more, we were die Faulen Vier. *winks* Little bonus for our friends in Hamburg, there.

(Anthology, 1995)

THE BEATLES - FOR LIFE (1970)

Side One
Two Of Us
Don't Let Me Down
For You Blue
Maybe I'm Amazed
It Don't Come Easy
Across The Universe

Side Two
What Is Life
The Ballad Of John And Yoko
Oh My Love
Old Brown Shoe
Get Back
Let It Be

Associated singles: What Is Life/Leave My Kitten Alone Let It Be/One After 909

George: I don't think that's why Blades turned out the way it did. It wasn't the bad reviews. I think the 60s had caught up with us. The 60s had gone sour with Altamont and the Spahn Ranch Massacre. We were probably a bit guilty about making it into the 70s. Also, all the arguments had been settled and then…what?
Ringo: The 60s was like a race against time, but then the time was up and I was a 30-year-old Beatle with time on my hands.
John: Even McCartney was miserable.
Paul: For me, it was the bad reviews that For Life had. We did an album of songs with no big production and the same press that had started implying we were getting gimmicky with Sgt Pepper suddenly want to know where the gimmicks went. We lost our underground credentials.
John: Some journalist asked me if I'd "left the movement". What does that even mean?
George: They liked Blades. "Dark" "ominous", those words were in every review.
John: Bully for them. If they like being depressed, they can have it.

Side One
Beware Of Darkness
Anywhere But Here [1]
Jealous Guy
Isn't It A Pity
Another Day

Side Two
Back Off Boogaloo
Too Many People
Gimme Some Truth
All Things Must Pass
Love

Associated singles: The Back Seat Of My Car/Art Of Dying Jealous Guy/Oo You

George: There was also Allen Klein to contend with.
John: Oh, don't! I'm not going to explain it?
George: Paul?
Paul: Ringo?
Ringo: George?
George: John?
John: Susan?
Ringo: G'night John-boy.
Paul: Let's get Eppy to explain that one.

(Anthology 1995)

"Allen Klein was always interested in managing The Beatles. He kept sending messages to them, making all sorts of innuendos about my business acumen. But Apple was being run very differently from NEMS. I was trying to include them on every decision. I'm not a business genius, but I do have a certain amount of professional pride. NEMS had part ownership of Apple, but Apple wasn't mine to play with. NEMS was the family business; at Apple, the Beatles were my bosses.

"Anyway, Robert Stigwood had bought into NEMS pre-Apple, in the hope of becoming the Beatles' manager. There was a revolt over that suggestion. Klein bought Stigwood's share of NEMS, but he couldn't really get anywhere with it. He could send these messages, but the Beatles knew where the money was coming in and going out. Also, the boys have always been loyal. To me, to George Martin, to Neil, to Mal. There have been disagreements, but it's always a mistake to test their loyalty."

- Brian Epstein, Anthology 1995

George: So Klein didn't get us, but it did leave us a bit shaken.
Paul: Well, at least he got the Bee Gees.
John: He got two Bee Gees. Robin had already fallen out with them and the Klein deal couldn't bring him back. Robin went off and did another solo album. Very weird, that one. I still like it.

(Anthology 1995)

[1] In my mind this is Momma Miss America, but with lyrics that are mainly from John

 

[Guajolote]

THE BEACH BOYS - CALIFORNIA (1972)

Side One
Hawthorne
Monterey
Big Sur
Topanga

Side Two
Sierra Nevada
Hollywood
Big Bear
Pacific Coast Highway [1]

"It finally felt like we'd won. I'm Going Your Way being well received was a shot of energy to Brian. And we had our own studios, so there was time to experiment and the cost could be covered by hiring out whichever studio we weren't using. Carl and me were still smarting a bit from the press coverage, but Brian was now totally sure his progressive cred was unassailable and he was going to pick up the whole band and take us with him. And. He. Did!!!"

- Dennis Wilson, The South Bank Show, 1989

"Written, performed and produced by The Beach Boys. That's what it says on the cover. If you like it, thank all six of us, because it took all six of us to do this."

- Brian Wilson, press conference 1972

"As an album, I look back at it as a great triumph, but on a personal level, it's kinda sad. We were winning our last battle and we were beginning to turn our tensions inward.

"We'd been fighting this battle for respect. Brian had won that with Smile and Diamond Head, but it wasn't over until the respect had been won for all of us. We'd been putting 'Produced by The Beach Boys' on the albums since Do It Again but the message wasn't getting through. During the sessions for this album, Brian called everyone together and told us of his plan to credit the album 'Written, performed and produced by The Beach Boys'. Brian was still the leader and I was fine with that. Some members were beginning to chafe.

"What happened was we'd work up some material individually and then Brian and Carl, who was now definitely deputy leader, would work on it, arrange it and then co-produce it with whoever had come up with the original song. But egos started to inflate. The album came out and was a success, but disenchantment had started to set in.

"There's a lot of significance placed on no single coming off that album. We weren't becoming an album band, Brian just couldn't face the argument that would break out over whose song got picked. I think I got the lead single off the next album as a kind of punishment to the others."

- Bruce Johnston

[1] I did have OTL analogues worked out for each of these songs, but I thought I'd leave you gazing into a mostly unfamiliar part of this universe

 

[Guajolote]

John: 1972, what a fantastic year!
George: I can't imagine where this lazy Beatles image came from.
John: Have we already done the "faulen vier" joke.
Paul: Yeah, I did it. But seriously…
John: But seriously, folks, tip the waitresses.
Paul: Seriously, how is taking 1972 off lazy? How many albums had we put out since 1962? 15? We should have done it before, really. Like in 1968.
John: We definitely should have taken 1972 off in 1968.
Paul: We even got it in the neck for putting out a singles collection.
John: Eh?
Paul: Yeah, we were greedy for making it a double album, apparently. It was meant to complete everyone's collections. All the stuff that wasn't on the albums. Issuing four sides of hits without including the ones that were on the albums anyway was seen as some as a kind of con trick.
John: [bleep]

Paul: Seemed like we couldn't please anyone.
George: Not even the Irish?
Paul: Ouch!
John: We had to do something, say something.

Ringo: You've never forgiven us for not getting involved, have you?
John: Water under the bridge, Richie. I dunno. Maybe if we'd done it as The Beatles, it might have made a difference. Maybe it would have made things worse. I dunno. The Beatles was no longer a name to conjure with in 1972.
George: Did we have one of our "extraordinary board meetings"?
Paul: I think we did, yeah. All that came out of it was a plan to renegotiate with EMI.
George: Before and after every 70s album, except maybe For Life, there'd be a secret agreement that this was IT, we were splitting up. I think Paul's to blame for us not splitting up after Blades.
Paul: Every time we did anything, the press would say "are they going to be any live shows?". Is it fair to say we'd all developed stage-fright?
John: Beatle-stage-fright. I could go out onstage as John Lennon, but yeah, there was a mental block on the idea of walking out onstage as The Beatles.
Paul: I had a plan.
John, George and Ringo: Paul always has a plan!
Paul (giggling): Apple was being very businesslike by this point. No investing in hip boutiques or any of that. Eppy was putting our money into normal things, but nothing we'd object to. He turned down some very promising investments in some very dodgy companies. Long story short, Apple had a stake in London Weekend Television. What's more, as the name implies, they were only responsible for two-and-a-bit days of TV, so their studios weren't in use as much as the other companies'. So, I thought we could do a TV concert. No touring, but we could reach the world and prove we could still play live. We put that on the 'things to do' list for 1973.
John: I still needed the rest of 1972 to get off heroin. I hadn't been able to shit for three years.
Ringo (facepalms): Johnny, Johnny, Johnny!

(Anthology, 1995)

 

[Guajolote]

THE BEATLES - LIVE (TV SPECIAL 1973)

The Night Before
Rock And Roll Music
Boys
Savoy Truffle
Old Brown Shoe
Lady Madonna
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
For No One
Don't Let Me Down
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Two Of Us
Six O'Clock
Yes It Is
I'm Down
Revolution
What Is Life
A Hard Day's Night
Jet
It's All Too Much
Twist And Shout

John: You know when you play a show and there's a pause between the end of the song and the audience applause and it's AGONY? This was that.
Ringo: How do you mean?
John: We put out the special and the initial reaction in the press was "That's it?". For a couple of days there was a big shrug from the critics and then suddenly everyone seemed to say "That was good". Sweet relief. A Beatles thing that didn't have the whole world's happiness hinging on it. I don't know about you lot, but it was nice not to be the messiah anymore.
Paul: It was the turning point in the whole backlash we'd been up against since For Life. The BBC did a news report about the "Beatles revival" because young kids were playing our records in discos. They interviewed a young DJ and he said "Beatles records are good for dancing to" and I thought THAT'S IT!
John: Everyone remembered we were a rock 'n' roll band.
Ringo: So how come our next album was a big AOR double album thing?
George: We're Beatles. Beatles get to be perverse.

(Anthology 1995)

 

[Guajolote]

THE BEACH BOYS - SUNBURST (1973)

Side One
Sound Of Free
Marcella
Out In The Country
Disney Girls (1957)
Sail On, Sailor

Side Two
You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone
Sweet Mountain
My Solution
Funky Pretty
Radio Kingdom

"Things had started to sour during the California sessions and the first few shows of the tour that year were tense. Mike and I could read the room and the audiences were clearly affected by the atmosphere onstage. We all got our heads together and agreed to just do the shows as best we could. Leave the egos in the dressing room. We started putting more oldies in the setlist and very soon we were really enjoying ourselves.

"When that was over, we had to face doing an album of new stuff. Brian was pushing for us to get back in the studio as soon as we could. Having a good time playing all the old songs was one thing, but for an album of new material it wasn't a proper way of doing it. We managed to keep peace, but the recording of Sunburst was…efficient. Nothing more. We did another tour full of oldies and loved every moment, but after that we started looking for excuses not to record together. We were all trying to avoid confrontation and in doing that, we couldn't create anymore. Just as we finished the sessions, Dad died and we all reacted to it differently. So for a while, we drifted apart."

- Carl Wilson

 

[Guajolote]

The Beatles - On The Run (1973)

Side One
Band On The Run
Mrs. Vandebilt
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
Only People
Six O'Clock

Side Two
The Light That Has Lighted The World
I'm The Greatest
Bluebird
One Day At A Time
Try Some, Buy Some

Side Three
Mind Games
Jet
Tight A$
Picasso's Last Words (Drink To Me)

Side Four
Meat City
Out The Blue
Don't Let Me Wait Too Long
Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five

"People say it's Paul's album, but it's not as simple as that. You look at one way and he'd taken the lead. Look at it another way and he was doing the hard work while the rest of us put our feet up. I confess that for a while there, I was down on Paul and his…his…NICENESS. Paul needs people to like him and I thought I was better than that. I thought I was brave by upsetting people and…I was in a way. But Paul has a point. Y'know if we want world peace…world love, we have to be nice sometimes. Paul keeps doing these granny songs, but grannies need songs, too.

"So, we'd done Blades and you've got George saying 'beware of darkness' but it was us. We were there spreading the darkness around. After that, we were in a similar place to where we were with Abbey Road. Abbey Road was meant to serve as a Last Beatles Album, if we needed it. As it turned out, we didn't need it at that time. On The Run was the same thing again. We couldn't have Blades as The Last Beatles Album. We needed to go out on a high note. We needed optimism and if it's optimism you want, you hand the reins over to McCartney. So we let him write most of the album.

[interviewer says something off-mic]

He didn't? It felt like he did. We all did these demos at home and he kept putting them in different orders to get the "shape" of the album right.

[interviewer says more off-mic]

Ah, well. The reason Linda's on the front cover and none of the other Beatle wives are is because Paul and Linda were still on good terms and the rest of us were on the outs with our wives. Sorry you were saying something. What? No we weren't upset. Why? We were adults. Maybe if it had been the four of us an Linda, maybe that would have been different, but we had James Coburn and Michael Parkinson and the rest.

It was the reverse of Blades, really. On Blades, we were all depressed, but we were huddled together. We were closer than we'd been since Sgt Pepper, but it was a bond of mutual misery. With On The Run, we were all on board with making a positive Beatles album and not getting too territorial, but we were all looking past each other."

- John Lennon, Anthology, 1995

 

[Guajolote]

BRIAN WILSON - HOME AND AWAY (1975)

Side One
Come To The Sunshine (Parks)
I Think I Can Make It (Wilson)
Neon Christine (Wilson/Wood)
I'm Sorry I Apologized (Wilson/McCartney)
The Yankee Reaper (Wilson/Parks)
The Two Of Us (Wilson/Argent/White)

Side Two
A New Tradition (Wilson/McCartney)
It's Trying To Say (Wilson)
Always At Home (Wilson/Parks)
In Town Tonight (Wilson/McCartney)
Pick Me Up (Wilson/Love)
Say Farewell (Wood)


Bob Harris: Brian, there hasn't been a Beach Boys album for two years and now you're writing material here in the UK with other people. Have you quit The Beach Boys?

Brian: No. I don't think The Beach Boys have quit me either. We'll do something together soon, but it's not the right time. I want to be Brian Wilson for a while. Like, if I get together with the guys next year, I have to still be able to do it, right? If I wait for The Beach Boys to be ready, I might not be able to do it anymore. So I'll write an album without them and then I'll know what missing. What I need from them.

Harris: So you're not trying to prove anything?

Brian: I'm trying to prove that I'm still a Beach Boy. I'm in training. I'm keeping fit as a songwriter.
Harris: You've been working with Paul McCartney. Are you going to do a whole album together?

Brian: No, we couldn't get a whole thing done. We had six songs and they don't fit together. Paul is doing something very delicate right now and I wanted to do something more rock and roll. I love England and I you have some interesting stuff happening here now. Paul want me to bring my Pet Sounds feel to it. So we wrote three Pet Sounds-type numbers and Paul said he found what he wanted and could continue by himself, so I got him to help me with three English rock numbers.

Harris: I understand your brother Dennis is also working on a solo album. Are you helping with that?
Brian: No. He wants to show everyone what he can do by himself and I think that's the right thing to do. I'm looking forward to hearing it.

(The Old Grey Whistle Test BBC 2, 1975)

As The Beach Boys to ground to a halt after the death of Murry Wilson, Brian received an invitation from Paul McCartney to assist with his first solo album. Brian demurred at the prospect of producing the album, but was eager to write with new people. Brian became fascinated with how Britain's Glam Rock scene grew out of a lack of glamour in its everyday life. Wilson later said "I saw a different group every night. It was really different. All the small, gray streets. Small cars. No one was pretending during the day and then at night these groups would look like superheroes." Collaborations with McCartney, Roy Wood and Argent [2] ensued and Wilson even felt comfortable enough to cover a song written by Wood solo.

Coming back to LA, energized, the collection of songs was completed with help from Van Dyke Parks [2] and Mike Love [3] and, as he had done with Roy Wood, Brian took on a Van Dyke Parks solo number to round out the set. [4]

The album was a decent size hit in the US, but after his constant round of media appearances in the UK (including a cameo in The Goodies), the album was a colossal hit with British audiences. This relationship was finally solidified when Brian decided to make his debut as a solo live act in London's Hammersmith Odeon.

- Andrew Barbicane - The Beach Boys: A Comprehensive Overview

[1] I don't really have anything in mind for how the McCartney numbers sound. Neon Christine is a laced with Roy Wood's rock and roll nostalgia, Wizzard perspective. The Two Of Us is just a reference to the fact that Rod Argent wrote the theme tune to a sitcom of that name in the 80s. This was an early attempt at this timeline on the "Rock albums from alternate timelines" and I was trying to avoid too much parallelism. I'd figured the further we get from the POD of Smile coming out, the less likely we are to see songs that we know IOTL. But on the later written stuff, I knew that the quickest way to give an idea of a work was to use things from OTL.

[2] But then I have to let some obvious parallels creep through. Brian has rewritten the OTL title track of Van Dyke's 1975 album.

[3] Probably something similar to Airplane from Love You. Half written by Brian on the plane back to the US and finished by him and Mike in the car home from LAX.

[4] IOTL Brian wanted Come To The Sunshine to be on 15 Big Ones, a version was recorded in October 1975, but there's some debate as to what happened to the master tape.

 

[Guajolote]

"In 1975, the four of us had a meeting about a possible reunion. It was all very friendly, but it stalled. We had an offer for a McDonald's commercial, Peter was vegetarian, so that was out.[1]

"Peter, Davy and I, we were the victims of the Monkees success. We weren't doing too badly, but the Monkees was the most famous thing about us. Nez, on the other hand, was a victim of his solo success. He was smarting from the criticism of his book-plus-soundtrack album. He kept saying 'People expect hit albums from me. If I was more famous or less famous, I could get away with personal stuff like that, but the audience just won't take it'.

- Micky Dolenz

"The Monkees reunion came at just the right time for me. I was looking at two options after The Prison. One was to claw my way back with something commercial. The other was to take a risk. Doing a new album with the Monkees was both risky and commercial. You can always trust the Monkees to save the day."

- Michael Nesmith

"So the one guy who was richer and more successful than the rest of us, was the guy who needed this the most. He reached inside his bag and pulled out a tape machine. He'd done some research on songs that we'd recorded as The Monkees but had never released and included a couple demos of his own stuff.

"It was good stuff. Peter had started the meeting being kind of uninterested. I could see the tape was changing his mind and by the end of it, he was getting agitated. When it ended he asked me if I had a guitar and once we got him one he just had to start playing us the songs he wanted to be on the album.

"The production style on that album went out of fashion pretty quickly, but it was good album for us to be putting out in 1976.

"We got a TV special and a tour, but when the dust settled, it turned out we'd spent more money than Arista wanted us to. They weren't in any hurry for a follow up. It mattered to the four of us and all our fans that we could be a 'real band' who made satisfying art. But there were enough executives who didn't care to stop us in our tracks. At least for a while."

- Micky Dolenz

THE MONKEES - ONCE MORE WITH FEELING (1976)

Side One Lead vocal
Rio (Micky and Mike)
Of You (Davy)
Good Looker (Peter)
Moonfire (Micky)
Cantata And Fugue In C&W

Side Two
You And I (Davy)
Sunny Side Up (Micky)
While I Cry (Mike)
Time And Time Again (Davy)
The Other Room (Mike)
God Given Right To Be Wrong (Peter)

[1] As was proposed IOTL and foundered for the same reason

 

[Guajolote]

This is inspired by this great promo image from Capitol in 1974

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1104807129007951878

THE BEATLES - SOLID BOOM (1976)

Side One
You Can't Catch Me
Rock Show
Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
This Song
(It's All Da-Da-Down To) Goodnight Vienna

Side Two
Ya Ya
Steel And Glass
Crackerbox Palace
I'll Still Love You
Night Out

"Every time The Beatles are lucky, people assume we're clever. When we did Solid Boom, we didn't know about The Damned or what was happening in London or any of that. [1] We were a bunch of old rockers who'd gone completely Hollywood and were too off our faces to think about whether we were speaking to the world's youth. But we owed EMI a record, Paul had used up all his big ballad ideas on his own record and I'd been sued by Morris Levy and Apple's lawyers had managed to talk him into settling as long as two of his songs appeared on a Beatles album. [2] We had to rock hard, it was all we had left in the tank."

- John Lennon, The Late Show, BBC2 1989

"I was upset that they didn't ask me to produce the album. They'd tried that before, recording an 'honest' album with no overdubs. That dissolved into bickering and recrimination, so Brian Epstein sent them all home cool off . I thought that's what was happening this time. No sooner was there talk of a new Beatles album, the next thing I heard it was going to come out with the credit "Produced by The Beatles". I felt a little betrayed, until Paul told me why."

- George Martin, Arena, BBC1 2011

"Somehow, we recorded a good album when we didn't really want to work together. But I think the difference between Solid Boom and The White Album and the Get Back sessions was that in the last two, we resented each other. On Solid Boom we were all on good terms, but we resented…working really. We decided to be good boys and get some stuff demoed in LA and halfway through we thought "this is good enough as it is". So we recorded everything at Brother Studios [3] and just sent that to EMI. People say "The Beatles invented New Wave". No they didn't. The Beatles just released their demos."

- Paul McCartney, The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time, VH1 1997

"It wasn't sloppy by any means. We did overdubs and everything, but not of outside musicians, just ourselves. We'd get a basic track down with guitar, bass and drums and then we'd go back and add my guitar and John or Paul would add an extra bit of guitar, so it was four musicians doing the work of five. It came out sounding a bit like Revolver really. [4] Except we didn't bother with any reverb, that gave the whole thing a really nice punch or "Solid Boom" as Ringo called it. Anyway, it was a laugh to record. We hadn't been that close for a long time. Close enough that John sang one of mine and I sang one of his. [5] Paul was all written out, his own fault for doing a solo album. But we felt sorry for him and let him have one of the covers, so apart from Ringo's one, we all got three vocals each."

- George Harrison, Anthology, 1995

"I loved that one, even though I only got one song on it. I was heartbroken when the reviews came in. The critics hated it. I think because it was only half an hour long. You weren't a serious musician in those days if you didn't release the longest album you could. Didn't matter to us in the end. It sold and sold and sold."

- Ringo Starr, Wogan, BBC1 1983

[1] I've avoided using the word "punk". The Beatles accidentally releasing a starkly stripped-down rock album will have bent the timeline somewhat. I'm not saying punk wouldn't happen, but I tried to sidestep answering the question.

[2] Confession, I just didn't want to clutter this album with three covers, so I used the change in timeline as an excuse. I know John Lennon still didn't manage to get all three agreed upon songs released IOTL, but I just thought I'd tidy it up completely.

[3] Paul and Brian working together has resulted in an invitation to take advantage of Brother Studios if Paul or his friends were in the neighbourhood. I know Brother Studios was in Santa Monica, not LA. Paul is either misremembering or just using the name of the city people are more likely to have heard of.

[4] So while I've used Beatles solo numbers from OTL, the recordings sound very different ITTL.

[5] I just love the idea of John singing Crackerbox Palace in a more acidic tone. George takes Steel And Glass in return. Paul sings Ya Ya.

 

[Guajolote]

THE BEACH BOYS - THE SPIRIT (1976)

Side One
It's OK
I Had To Phone Ya
Honkin' Down The Highway
Good Timin'
Mona
Let's Put Our Hearts Together
Ding Dang

Side Two
The Night Was So Young
We Gotta Groove
I'll Be He's Nice
That Same Song
Just Once In My Life
Rock And Roll Music (featuring some very special guests)

"What happened? (claps hands together and makes smashing noise) It all happened! The Bicentennial was happening and we couldn't let that pass without us. We were meant to be America's band. Brian and Dennis had shown they could have hits without us, but neither of them wanted The Beach Boys to just fade away. On top of all that, The Beatles are recording at Brother Studios! We'd gotten over the whole Beatles vs Beach Boys thing after Smile, but this time they're in our house! Bruce was busy producing other artists, but the rest of us were desperate to get recording again."

Carl Wilson, Classic Albums, BBC2 2006

"The thing that I think really spurred us on was that Brian had changed. He was dynamic again. All the psychiatrists had stopped him being so afraid, but we'd had ten years of Brian being kind of…in charge. Like Dennis said to me once, 'Those doctors gave us our brother back, but they gave us a big brother we'd never had before'. After going off to England and hanging out with McCartney, Brian came back relaxed and happy. He hadn't been that way since Pet Sounds. So, we thought we were in for a huge hit album."

Mike Love, Classic Albums, BBC2 2006

"On The Spirit, I was the one who was on at Brian about being commercial. Mike was fine with what we were doing because he was writing a lot of the lyrics. But it sounded bizarre to me. Every time I'd point out this was not the kind of thing that was in the charts, Brian would reply 'I've seen what's happening in England, things are changing'. If anyone joined in with my worries, Brian would just go down the hall, see if a Beatle was free, play them the latest mix and whichever Beatle it was would say 'That's amazing!'. So I'd be outvoted by a member of another band."

Al Jardine, Classic Albums, BBC2 2006

"It wasn't a flop. It didn't get to number 1, but it wasn't a flop. It was bit like Smile all over again. People rushed out to buy it, said 'What the hell is this?' and then a few months later all the British music press said 'This is what's happening' and it climbed back up the charts. It didn't hit the top like Smile did, but it hovered about the outside of the top ten for a loooooong time. I loved it. All our guys, our generation thought we blew it. I had like guys from the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac saying 'It's too bad man, sorry about what happened'. I just thought 'You just wait and see'. When the New Wave guys came over from England in the 80s, it wasn't Fleetwood Mac they wanted to meet. I know he's my brother but, never bet against Brian Wilson. He knows."

Dennis Wilson, Classic Albums, BBC2 2006

"A lot of young fans say 'It's just like Pet Sounds, the music's great and the cover's terrible'. (laughs loudly)"

Brian Wilson, Classic Albums, BBC2 2006

 

[Guajolote]

Russell Harty: Have The Beatles split up?

John Lennon: I hope not, we're having dinner tonight and I don't want to be stood up.

Harty: But you're all recording solo albums, that's not a good sign is it?

Lennon: We're still friends, but I think I can speak for the other guys when I say, we'd like to be something other than "The Beatles". At the end of last year, we got together to plan the
next project and spent the time jamming through our favourite rock 'n' roll numbers instead. It's too much. Being The Beatles just raises everybody's expectations. I can't face it, the others can't face it. We got lucky with Solid Boom, but right now, if you get all of us in a room together, we're going to mess around and be mates. Meeting the world's expectations is just going to spoil it all and I'd rather disappoint the world than lose my friends.

Harty: Paul was the first to go solo...

Lennon: Paul likes hard work, it's one of his best faults. The boring business side of it is that we're no longer under a contract that means we have to submit Beatles albums. So now we try being ourselves. We're all...I dunno. Can I say "masturbating" on ITV?

[Audience hilarity]

Lennon: Well, that's the last in the current series of The Russell Harty Show. Russell Harty is currently appearing in Her Maesty's Prison Parkhurst for the next 18 months in the cell next to John Lennon.

- Russell Harty, London Weekend Television, September 23rd 1977

Paul: I suppose as this is about the group, we're not going to talk about our solo albums.
John: Actually, there's one thing I've been meaning to ask for all these years and now seems as good a time as any. Why did you hide behind that name?
Paul: The Ernests?
John: Yeah.
Paul: I dunno. I'd done an album called Paul McCartney in 1975. I didn't think I could get away with an album called Paul McCartney II. Plus, I sort of still wanted to be in a band. I think I wanted to relive the early days a bit as well. There was a time when nobody really knew who the Beatles were, so I wanted to recapture some of that.
Ringo: A bit like your brother.
Paul: Yeah. He could have gone around being Mike McCartney, but instead he was Mike McGear. It didn't hide who he was, but it kind of broke that link. He was my brother and he had his own projects. He wasn't doing projects and letting the fact he was my brother do the publicity for him. So, everyone knew I was behind the Ernests, but it broke that link a bit.
Ringo: George, I think we should be offended.
Paul: No, it's fine. You do things your way.
George: I rather liked seeing my name in big type on an album cover.
John: Ringo had his name the biggest of all of us.
Ringo: That's 'cause I have the best name.
John: I think those first few solo albums show that we did the right thing. You can't make a Beatles album out of those albums, they're all too different. George's is epic and progressive. Mine's all funk and strut. Ringo's is lush easy-listening, very Radio 2. Paul's is like Ringo's performed by Kraftwerk.
Paul: Thanks. I think.
John: I love that album, it was useful a couple of years later when I was in a bad place. We're not going to go through all the solo albums are we? Please don't talk about my second solo album.
Paul: We have to talk about Ringo's fourth solo album.
Ringo: It's not a solo album, though, is it?
Paul: Your name on the cover. Them's the rules.

- Anthology (1995)