Had Epstein pressured the band to give Harrison more space on the albums and more room to release singles of songs he wrote, I think there would be a benefit. That would have meant less room for Lennon and McCartney, which means they would have to put the better material they had on the album, at least to the degree that Harrison would push their material out in this scenario. That would be a benefit in itself, as it would mean they have to bring their A game, but what it would also potentially mean is that Lennon and McCartney would be able to stew on material for a bit longer which they would otherwise release, and improve it, and it could also mean Lennon and McCartney merge together different song ideas one another has to get it on the album or because they don't have to fill up the albums as much and can really go to work on merging and/or improving the best elements.
WI: Brian Epstein lives?
- Thread starter Romantic Nihilist
- Start date
I was also thinking over the fact that Epstein would potentially be overseeing a Beatles where the "Paul is Dead" rumor comes about in 1969. That is if it still comes about, which certainly isn't certain. If it did, I don't quite know how Epstein would handle the situation. It would need to be debunked, as McCartney is very much alive and it may be viewed as a potential PR issue. On the other hand, the rumor increased Beatles sales across the board. People were buying albums to play them backwards and playing their old albums backwards, and when you did that it quickly wore out the albums meaning they had to buy new copies. And increased interest in the Beatles in that area increases interest overall, thus helping sales.
I have a hypothesis that that rumor's underlying cause were concerns that the Beatles were on the verge of or had already split. According to Hunter Davies, there were rumors circulating in 1967 in England, before Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane was released, that some member of the group, the rumors usually named McCartney, had died. Incidentally, this was around the time the Beatles quit touring, and a period during which fans could be forgiven for worrying about the group's future. The next time those rumors crop up just happens to be after the Beatles had passed their point of no return as a group. I hope this idea is not too close to a conspiracy theory itself, but a fanbase worried about the future of the band might explain the popularity if not the origin of the hoax.
Point being, if fans are not worried about a likely split, the rumor goes nowhere, or about as far as the considerably vaguer 1967 version did. And we all presume with Epstein around the band will not be on the verge of a split in 1969.
Of course my answer depends on Davies' account being accurate and there is a possibility that it isn't.
Surely Epstein would do everything he could to keep them together, but even then he would be well aware of the hostility such a request would cause, not out of any malice towards Harrison, but because none of the Beatles wanted Brian meddling in the music that way. It is worth noting that some of the material he would eventually use as a solo artist had already been vetoed. For example, for some reason John Lennon did not like Isn't it a Pity, he repeatedly refused to allow it to appear on a Beatles album. Harrison was trying to have that song recorded as early as Revolver. Given that, it is hard for me to see that particular song recorded by the Beatles.
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I don't mean anything so bold as going into the studio and saying "lads, let's give George some more songs". But there are other ways to facilitate that. Certainly passive ways to facilitate it. The Harrison issue certainly needs to be addressed, because otherwise George Harrison is going to leave the band at some point regardless of what's going on. He had just grown too big to be kept to a status in the tracklist that hadn't changed much since the beginning. By 1969 it was just ridiculous. And if Harrison leaves the band, then Epstein will certainly have to deal with that issue.
Yoko was discussed, but another problem for Lennon is Harry Nilsson. Nilsson is a bad influence on Lennon, and he feeds into and aids all the bad things about Lennon. He is a friend in self destruction. If Nilsson enters Lennon's social sphere the same as he did, which he very well may given how much the Beatles thought of him and his abilities, he will be something to worry about for Brian Epstein, if Epstein can't put some influence to keeping things in order concerning him so it doesn't get out of hand.