The Beatles' Solo Careers Poll - Voting and General Discussion Thread

It's not just a lovin' machine, it doesn't work out if you don't work at it!

1. While I like the idea that Press is weird McC I and II shit with an Invisible touch budget, I didn't dig it on first listen last night. Yet I remember from a 1986 RS cover story that Townshend and Phil play with Paul on "angry," a song which he claimed then had something to do with being mad that thatcher did not want sanctions against South Africa. "wow," 15 year old me thought, "that might be pretty rockin.'" 32 years later, I learn that its pretty darn weak for one of his "okay, now THIS is the RAWK tune on this album" selections.

2. Wild Life is the worst record I've heard yet from my trawl through 70s Harrison and McC. At least Red rose has Little Lamb Dragonfly.

idk wild life kinda grew on me even though it’s def the worst wings record. “tomorrow” is just too good

has anyone come out of this exercise with a greater appreciation for Denny Laine? Who's the best Wings guitarist?

i never have the slightest idea who's playing what tbh, especially when it's down to just the three of them.

I asked last week about who played lead after the McCulloughs (or on BOTR).

there's an alternative mix of 'Angry' here which is a little more rockin than the album version (though still not all that rockin)

https://youtu.be/DX6rz64xNNY

hearing this version made me think that 'Angry' is maybe Paul's attempt to 'do' Oingo Boingo?

should've called it 'oingry'

Who's the best Wings guitarist?

Henry!

Alfred, are you talking about after London Town?

I think my ballot is just about done, I haven't managed to go through absolutely everything but there's a lot of stuff I've a) heard for the first time or b) re-listened to with fresh ears so thanks to everyone for all the campaigning here. Honestly thought I'd never fill a 100-track ballot when this thread started!

Sent!

I should've been clearer: BOTR. I know the two McCulloughs (and Juber) played lead.

oklahoma was never like this

oh look Paul DOES play the solo in "Press."

"Beautiful Boy" is all about the simple, elegant (acoustic?) bass line, and that one unexpected, beautiful low note it hits at the end of the first chorus

The starting point for 'Angry', according to Eric Stewart, was that McCartney was reading a review and said something like "who the hell do they think they are to try and tell me what to do with my life?" and Stewart was like "yeah, let's write a song around that"

also this immortal comment:

"It actually only took two hours to get that track down, which is incredibly quick these days.. .What makes me angry are things like Thatcher’s attitude to the blacks in South Africa… People who burn children with cigarettes. That sort of thing makes me angry — not bad reviews of my albums.”

Hehehehe! You can see what Lennon meant when he described McCartney as being a good PR person.

And of course the Press to Play sessions had the now famous "Hugh, when did you write your last number one?" moment.

I can't remember what it was supposed to be a review of now, probably something to do with Broadstreet.

"It actually only took two hours to get that track down, which is incredibly quick these days.. .What makes me angry are things like Thatcher’s attitude to the blacks in South Africa… People who burn children with cigarettes. That sort of thing makes me angry — not bad reviews of my albums.”

I'm having a hard time not hearing that quote in an exaggerated Dana Carvey impersonation: "The thing is... burning kids with ciggies... it's no good."

when I read this quote to a friend about twenty years ago, I couldn't finish it cuz I was laughing so hard

I wrote this piece on the occasion of the FLOWERS reissue.

glancing over the ever-richer playlist, a few "big" john songs it doesn't look like we've covered in the midst of all the wonderful deep-diving:

Imagine - anyone going to vote for this? i might not. don't know if that's fair. it's very very hard to hear it fresh. even the other big hits, i can recover the way they initially fascinated me in the mid-90s. i can remember thinking jealous guy was amazing, i can a friend and i both being really struck by #9 dream. but i can't even remember: did "imagine" ever move me, did i ever find it profound...? i must have, right? i was an idealistic kind of teenager.... it's unknowable.

Happy Xmas - this i can get behind, though i don't need to hear it often. it's not quite "give peace a chance" but as far as his big-tent singalongs go it's not bad.

Mind Games - hearing it in my head it's pretty great but also fuzzy - goes from "Miiiind games" to "----ritual, do the comet wheel" (?) and i can't remember the rest. "Peace on Earth" is in there too....

Stand By Me, Just Like Starting Over - i always get these mixed up. I think the latter is pretty good. good middle-aged settled-down love song.

oh you know what RULES though is the ramshackle and pounding Lennon/Nilsson "Subterranean Homesick Blues." hottest thing Nilsson ever cut after "Jump Into The Fire."

so interesting that harry and john ended up pals. makes complete sense in terms of lifestyle and humor and so on. musically though harry is much, much more like paul, in a lot of ways that john would elsewhere assert were not his bag in any way.

"What You Got" is another great rocker I always forget about. great sound, that skronky aggressive take on funk... wish he could have done a whole album like that.

ew -- I hate that porn jam

walls & bridges does sound a bit sad and listless to me (prob cause that's how lennon was when he made it) but some of the material is pretty strong -- going down on love, old dirt road, and of course #9 dream. beef jerky is a crazy track i always forget about -- is that lennon's only instrumental?

I'll vote for Imagine - didn't we have a surprisingly active thread last year abt whether it was sappy or genius?

The piano part is great and every once in a while the lyrics still move me - not unlike some of Yoko's conceptual art I think John somehow manages to elevate these platitudes to something that actually makes you think

and the lines You may say I'm a dreamer/But I'm not the only one are just classic amirite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L99x5y7eA4g

A lot of rong in this thread imo: Lennon’s Imagine vs Yoko’s Walking on Thin Ice

I am absolutely voting for Imagine

ethan hawke’s ballot is p good https://www.buzzfeed.com/ethanhawke/boyhood-the-black-album?utm_term=.yt2BJV3BK#.wygXBeVXl

I voted for "Imagine".

Οὖτις, did you receive my ballot?

I cant get to my email at the moment but probably!

Thanks!

"My Sweet Lord" is the other one that's just this major cultural archetype.

not only is Ethan's ballot good but those liner notes are lovely

"Rocking Chair in Hawaii" probably the best blues song a Beatle ever did. Comparable to '00s Dylan.

"What You Got" is another great rocker I always forget about. great sound, that skronky aggressive take on funk... wish he could have done a whole album like that.

― noel gallaghah's high flying burbbhrbhbbhbburbbb (Doctor Casino), Sunday, May 27, 2018 2:37 AM (fifteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I love this one, easily my favourite deep cut on Walls and Bridges, even though I completely understand what Alfred hates about it. I love that chorus and vocal, though!

All Things Must Pass is sadly underrepresented in the playlist. Presumably that's because everyone knows it and is planning to vote for like nine songs off it, but still, just in the interest of a well-balanced Beatle playlist:

WHAT IS LIFE: love the riff, love the group singalong energy when it gets to the chorus, there's so much going on in the mix but it still feels tight overall. Feel like this got rediscovered sometime in the 00s (was it in Almost Famous?) and became a real indie singalong floor-filler. Justifiably so.

APPLE SCRUFFS: My mom was fond of this one, it must have gotten some airplay back in the day...? It's cute!

WAH WAH: great multitracking on George's vocals, especially on the "and I know how sweet life can be" part. Such a different take on what a "rocker" song might be - loud, maximalist mix, but not like a fiery, cutting kind of loud.

BEWARE OF DARKNESS, ISN'T IT A PITY, I'D HAVE YOU ANYTIME, I DIG LOVE: all excellent songs that i have nothing particular to say about, except they sort of add up to give the texture and feel of this album. Lotta slow builds, lotta serious but not-quite-preachy life advice, plus love and great playing.

oh and I'm one of those who might seriously vote for "It's Johnny's Birthday." I like George when he's being funny.

skimming the wiki on ATMP came across this sentence which makes sense in context but still

An uncredited Peter Frampton played acoustic guitar on the country tracks featuring Drake.

anyway was reading it to confirm if maybe the "george had so many songs he had to release a triple album!" cliche is perhaps a bit overplayed, anyway I guess he ended up releasing around 15 original compositions (and kept an equal amount of demos unreleased) which is a fair deal but nothing unusual imo and if the songs weren't so krishna jammy would have prob fit on a good old single lp

in a way I guess I feel like George is a bit overrated, maybe has smth to do with how my friends reacted to the Scorsese doc (also last week a guy tried to tell me how George was really the melodic genius of the Beatles since supposedly he came up with the little intro motif to And I Love Her, this just a week after a self proclaimed huuuge Pink Floyd fan tried to convince me Waters was the lead singer and the voice most people associate w/ PF, srsly what is up w music fans!)

the Let It Be guitar solo is one of the best solos ever though, George definitely a great player

There's three, which one do u mean?

“beware of darkness” was nearly my no. 1

i’m of two minds about george. all things must pass was obv a bunch of material arranged in the right way played by the perfect band but the looseness of george’s actual songwriting becomes v apparent in the following solo records. when i criticize them i feel like i’m paul mccartney

it's by no means one of his "great works," but "apple Scruffs" is by an enormous distance my favorite George tune. luv the structure, the backing vox, the solo…the sheer joy…

I would say Harrison developed a looseness in his songwriting post=ATMP, not that it was present before. And I don't know how much it's present post-Extra Texture, really.

Somewhere in England is my least favorite of his final six albums, but that may be a matter of taste more than something that would lead me to make a criticism about loose songwriting.

"Life Itself" sounds really nice to me right now.