WI: Beatles Album in Late 1966/Early 1967

[Emperor Norton I]

This is a bit of a discussion on a "lost album"; an album that should have been there, but was not. This is something I'm surprised hasn't been brought up before.

During the 1960s, the practice for a group or artist was to release an album about every 6 months and a single about every 3 months. The Beatles themselves kept up with this practice up until "Revolver", after which there was a period of 6 months until the next single was released (Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever), and 4 months after that until the next album was released, which was "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", for a collective period of 10 months between albums.

That was all absolutely unprecedented and that time felt much longer back then than it does now. It is important to keep in mind that during that period from August 1966 to February of 1967, you heard absolutely nothing new from the Beatles. During that period, there were growing assumptions that the band had peaked, that they had become passe, that they were going to break up or had broken up, etc. And this is all against the backdrop of the hectic year of 1966, when the Beatles were run ragged after years of constant Beatlemania, Lennon drew religious backlash and the group was almost mobbed to death in the Philippines and the band decided to quit touring, and the critics were already starting to tear down what they had built up, and the Beatles took a rest and went their separate ways for a while, with Lennon and Harrison really starting to consider leaving. It was a complex situation the Beatles removed themselves from and came back with "Sgt. Pepper's", starting a second phase in their career.

What if the Beatles did release an album in late 1966 or early 1967? What would it have sounded like, and what effect would it have both on the group and on the Beatles in relation to everything else?

 

[flippikat]

if it means restructuring their tour plans in 1966, then it could do some good.

Perhaps instead of a short German tour right after finishing Revolver, then Phillipines, Japan and the USA into August, instead have a brief UK tour before a break and then recording a new album.

The thinking could be "We can't really tour Revolver as we can't play many of the songs live.. so we played a few dates at home but we'll be back in the USA after the next album."

With that in mind, maybe the late 1966 album is written with live performance in mind? Another factor is George Harrison may be called-on more to write for the album - he did a solid job on Revolver after all, and his contributions may be needed if John & Paul fall short. At the time, there's plenty of live bands playing with louder and louder amplification and all manner of guitar sounds - so inspiration is easy to find.

Another thing.. In OTL, The late '66 break gave each of The Beatles a chance to get away from the group and enjoy a life of their own for a couple of months. It's hard to say what would happen without the break.. Would they feel more committed to the band or be keen to strike out on their own earlier?

 

[MatthewFirth]

The follow-up to Revolver would probably be A Doll's House.

 

[BillyShears]

I can imagine something like It's All Too Much?

I think it'd probably sound more like Magical Mystery Tour than Sgt Pepper, weirdly.

 

[flippikat]

I can imagine something like It's All Too Much?

I think it'd probably sound more like Magical Mystery Tour than Sgt Pepper, weirdly.

It's All Too Much is exactly how I hear a late 1966 album sounding if The Beatles want to make something to tour. plenty of inspiration from the sounds they take in at the UFO Club or any number of 'Happenings' in London at the time.

Bear in mind too that George Harrison wrote Isn't It A Pity in 1966 - only for it to be rejected by the rest of the guys every time a Beatles album was recorded. with an impending deadline in late 1966, that could change.

I can see Strawberry Fields Forever being on the album too (so long as it's not taken as a single), but rather than the hybrid edit of OTL, it would likely just be the Byrds-influenced take 7 from start to finish - without the strings and brass that comes in after the edit about a minute-in.

Another influence that might seep-in is Frank Zappa. Paul McCartney once called Sgt Pepper "Our 'Freak Out'", referencing the Mothers Of Invention's debut album.. What if The Beatles took this to an extreme and made their own attempt at re-tooling 1950s R'n'B & Rock'n'Roll for a psychedelic era? One of John Lennon's favourite albums later in 1967 was Captain Beefheart's debut album, which covered similar ground too...

 

[Spelf]

Hard to say, given the time frame - lot's of stuff on Sgt. Pepper was written around March of '67, so if you're looking at the Christmas '66 season, it'd be hard to gauge. You'd see an album including (in no order):
1. It's All Too Much
2. When I'm Sixty Four
3. Isn't It A Pity
4. Strawberry Fields
5. Penny Lane
6. a song sounding something like "Fixing a Hole"
7. some type of Within Without You Indian-type song
8. a song by Lennon complaining about touring
9. something we've never heard
10. something we've never heard, possibly didn't make Revolver
11. something we've never heard
12. something we've heard parts of that later went into a different song
13. perhaps something they've recorded previously (an album appearance of One After 909 as one of the few "Rock and Roll" songs on the album?)

 

[Emperor Norton I]

Had an album been worked on during the period, I think it would have had a strong likelihood of being about the Beatles lives and Liverpool. That was the original idea before "Pepper" became the project, and is reflected in "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Field Forever". It would make since for it to be cemented as the idea here. On the negative side, those two singles have a strong chance of being butterflied away. On the plus side, the Beatles would create songs in their place which they never did in this universe. So it wouldn't be bad, really. To take that as a negative would be like we in the OTL lamenting that we only have what we have, and don't instead have the things we don't even know could have existed.

The interesting thing about such a project would be that it would be a concept album, and legitimately so compared to "Sgt. Pepper", which is on shaky ground concerning that classification.

 

[Spelf]

Had an album been worked on during the period, I think it would have had a strong likelihood of being about the Beatles lives and Liverpool. That was the original idea before "Pepper" became the project, and is reflected in "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Field Forever". It would make since for it to be cemented as the idea here. On the negative side, those two singles have a strong chance of being butterflied away. On the plus side, the Beatles would create songs in their place which they never did in this universe. So it wouldn't be bad, really. To take that as a negative would be like we in the OTL lamenting that we only have what we have, and don't instead have the things we don't even know could have existed.

The interesting thing about such a project would be that it would be a concept album, and legitimately so compared to "Sgt. Pepper", which is on shaky ground concerning that classification.

If you're going for the Late 66/Early 67 period, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields were already written

 

[The Admiral Hook]

If you're going for the Late 66/Early 67 period, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields were already written

Yeah, this.

Those songs are safe in this period and the Beatles thinking back to their childhoods in Liverpool would be an extremely cool concept album idea.

It may even include some experimental and heavy versions of "rock and roll" type songs, or even rockabilly - the cultural backlash of which would be interesting to see.

Heavy "ragabilly" would be a difficult thing to imagine taking hold in the mid-late sixties, sure, but if used in doses on the album it would introduce traditionalist/purist rockers to their first enjoyable taste of the new wave of heavy, experimental, and eastern influenced music, while also keeping "Hamburg style" rock and roll on the public's palette sometime longer - leaving room for more legitimate comebacks for the likes of say, Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry, or Little Richard by 1970.

Basically, what I'm saying is if the Beatles decide to include a little bit of old style rock and roll to sate their nostalgia in this concept album it could do a lot to ease the shock of the entire musical world from 1966 to 1967. That can't be anything but interesting to think about...

 

[Spelf]

Yeah, this.

Those songs are safe in this period and the Beatles thinking back to their childhoods in Liverpool would be an extremely cool concept album idea.

It may even include some experimental and heavy versions of "rock and roll" type songs, or even rockabilly - the cultural backlash of which would be interesting to see.

Heavy "ragabilly" would be a difficult thing to imagine taking hold in the mid-late sixties, sure, but if used in doses on the album it would introduce traditionalist/purist rockers to their first enjoyable taste of the new wave of heavy, experimental, and eastern influenced music, while also keeping "Hamburg style" rock and roll on the public's palette sometime longer - leaving room for more legitimate comebacks for the likes of say, Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry, or Little Richard by 1970.

Basically, what I'm saying is if the Beatles decide to include a little bit of old style rock and roll to sate their nostalgia in this concept album it could do a lot to ease the shock of the entire musical world from 1966 to 1967. That can't be anything but interesting to think about...

I think the earliest Beatle "Get Back" is in 1968 - 1967 was the height of their "musical progressiveness", so to speak, just coming off of Revolver. They simply wouldn't do, in my opinion, a straighter rock and roll album in '67.

 

[The Admiral Hook]

I think the earliest Beatle "Get Back" is in 1968 - 1967 was the height of their "musical progressiveness", so to speak, just coming off of Revolver. They simply wouldn't do, in my opinion, a straighter rock and roll album in '67.

Not the whole album, no. A song or two in an older more familiar style to emphasize the nostalgia they'd be feeling while composing their concept album. The songs would be fillers, but it would have a similar effect I posted above.

 

[Emperor Norton I]

I've been listening to "Anthology" lately, and pin-pointing on the Anthology version of "Penny Lane", etc, I think an album released in the gap period would have been closer to "fuzz". And I mean fuzz in a musical sense of being closer to croaky, and it may be hard to convey what I mean. Something also not as sweet (or syrupy, depending on your take) sounding as the material on Pepper. It'd be something with more bite, and maybe that's a better explanation of it than croaky or fuzz. Something where Pepper would comparatively be a softened sound and less in the Rock genre.

I'll link to an earlier version of Penny Lane to try to explain it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIf_1vALIM4

 

[The Admiral Hook]

I've been listening to "Anthology" lately, and pin-pointing on the Anthology version of "Penny Lane", etc, I think an album released in the gap period would have been closer to "fuzz". And I mean fuzz in a musical sense of being closer to croaky, and it may be hard to convey what I mean. Something also not as sweet (or syrupy, depending on your take) sounding as the material on Pepper. It'd be something with more bite, and maybe that's a better explanation of it than croaky or fuzz. Something where Pepper would comparatively be a softened sound and less in the Rock genre.

I'll link to an earlier version of Penny Lane to try to explain it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIf_1vALIM4

Something a bit more, "Hey Bulldog" than "Fool on the Hill" or am I misunderstanding?

 

[Emperor Norton I]

Something a bit more, "Hey Bulldog" than "Fool on the Hill" or am I misunderstanding?

Potentially that (if I can correctly remember how the songs sound). All in a relative sense.

Even with Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane in the form they were released, you can hear that -while it does relate to Pepper and that sound- there is a bit of a difference. It feels very sunny day to me, whereas Pepper has a tendency to feel like it's sitting in a dark room listening to something professional on a stage. Pepper doesn't feel as much like I can walk around with it compared to those two songs, and feels much more like a very sit-down and focus experience. Even Strawberry Fields Forever doesn't feel like that compared to Pepper. (That may just be my opinion) I'd also say that there's actually nothing innately softer or more grandiose or lush in the basic material on Pepper. At least most of it. It's really the mix that highlights and creates what is grandiose and lush, and subsequently softens it. At least on the Stereo mix. The Mono is a lot more Rocker, and allows the guitar et al to stand out.

 

[Romantic Nihilist]

I wonder how this would affect Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys? Could have butterflies for SMiLE if Sgt. Peppers doesn't exist...

 

[Emperor Norton I]

I wonder how this would affect Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys? Could have butterflies for SMiLE if Sgt. Peppers doesn't exist...

It could keep their race tighter, thereby allowing Wilson to proceed. I'd make the analogy to the space race: Pepper would be like landing on the Moon, whereas this alternate album would be like finishing up Gemini and getting ready to launch Apollo. And the Beach Boys are the Soviets. I do not like to put it in that school of thought, though, because it makes it seem this Gap album would be somehow lesser or unevolved compared to Pepper, and that isn't fair because that is not how music works. Music as an entity doesn't evolve into being better, just different. Brian Wilson would probably look at it like that, though.

That said, it's also important to bear in mind that Brian Wilson had very serious mental and emotional problems which were just waiting to become an issue for the Beach Boys and his professional career. So it stands to reason that anything could topple his Jenga.

 

[Romantic Nihilist]

I wonder if they'd still go to India after this 66/67 record is dropped? Think about it. All the demos they recorded there... butterflied away or altered in light of this record?

 

[JimTheB]

Rockier than Pepper, but still with 'exotic' instruments? Sounds like the Stones on Aftermath!

 

[Emperor Norton I]

I wonder if they'd still go to India after this 66/67 record is dropped?

Potentially. I can't remember the details of it at the moment. If I remember correctly, the story goes that George Harrison's interest in India began when someone handed him a pamphlet or something while they were on location filming "Help!".

Think about it. All the demos they recorded there... butterflied away or altered in light of this record?

It'd be different. That doesn't meant it'd be worse. Just different, even if we'd have no idea what it would be.

Have faith in the known unknowns multiverse.

Rockier than Pepper, but still with 'exotic' instruments? Sounds like the Stones on Aftermath!

I haven't heard that album yet.

 

[tallthinkev]

One thing to keep in mind was the difference between UK and US LP's. Albums like Yesterday and Today was never a 'real' Beatles record, just a US 'bung it together and it will sell'. It was/is part Revolver, Help and Rubber Soul.
So if you want a US 'lost album' piece of piss! For a real new UK one, I don't think it could be done without messing up Sgt Pepper big time.
What could have been done is rerecording tunes they did for the BBC or their versions of songs the gave to other acts. Songs like Step Inside Love (Cillia Black), Bad to Me (Billy J Kramer) and Hello Little Girl (The Fourmost) Think you get the idea.