It's difficult to see how the Beatles could have recorded a single album after India. Yes, that's what George Martin wanted. But in a year when you'd be hard pressed to find a point of agreement between them creatively, the one thing the Beatles did agree on was that their next release should be a double album. I think that when people lament the length of the White Album, they might be seeing a different problem. The White album disunity reflects the period in which it was recorded. The Beatles were in the midst of horrible tension, there was little sense of band unity, and so the White Album reflects that.
All of this is to say is that if the Beatles were in a cohesive band mood while Lennon is still invested-you could end up with an album that while still being a two album collection-is more cohesive than the albums we have-even better than Abbey Road.
The problem is, after Epstein dies, the tension of 1968 may be unavoidable.
Sure, you could do things to change it-keeping Lennon off heroin would be a big one.
So long as that tension is there the Beatles 1968 release will not sound like the work of a unified band in the sense of their earlier output, because it wouldn't be.
For the Beatles to release a single LP after India you might need them to be at the point of a split sometime during the sessions, to the point where they have the attitude of "This is our last album, let's make sure it's as good as possible and hey-we can just rerecord the rest as solo artists anyway." Or some other prompt.
All of this is to say is that if the Beatles were in a cohesive band mood while Lennon is still invested-you could end up with an album that while still being a two album collection-is more cohesive than the albums we have-even better than Abbey Road.
The problem is, after Epstein dies, the tension of 1968 may be unavoidable.
Sure, you could do things to change it-keeping Lennon off heroin would be a big one.
So long as that tension is there the Beatles 1968 release will not sound like the work of a unified band in the sense of their earlier output, because it wouldn't be.
For the Beatles to release a single LP after India you might need them to be at the point of a split sometime during the sessions, to the point where they have the attitude of "This is our last album, let's make sure it's as good as possible and hey-we can just rerecord the rest as solo artists anyway." Or some other prompt.
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