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

"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.

He's McCartney's equal.

The Hoagy Carmichael covers on that record rule, btw!

Why do I underrate "Teardrops???" Never again. Great song.

Just feelin like he's taking over from the rain

I should have voted for "Writing's on the Wall," too. Always liked that one. The Beatles could have done a great job on it a la "Long Long Long."

We never talk about new wave George but there it is - "Blood from a Clone"

Is that a reference to the Alice Cooper song?

I don't know. It's about music industry people.

"Apple Scruffs" is the perfect Dylan pastiche

I don’t have the time or energy or residual Beatlemania to participate properly in this thread, but speaking of George and Dylan, I assume you guys still like “If Not For You,” or had that fallen by the wayside?

better than Dylan's imo

Heck yeah, beautiful version of that song!

yeah I praised it upthread!

yup, excellent cover

There's three, which one do u mean?
three Let it Be guitar solos? tbh only familiar w the album version

On 'I Dig Love', it always sounds to me like George is singing "mmm I love dick" in the second verse.

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,

Ha, Paul said something similar in the Scorsese doc ("He made that up on the session...,and if you think about it that's the song. I didn't write that!").

The riff on 'Atomic' by Blondie is near enough the same, too.

ah, I had never noticed : good one !

It's a cool riff. It makes the second chord an added sixth chord.

hehe

taking sides: Ringo's COOKIES!! on "Early 1970" vs. John's COOKIE on "Hold On"

This is cool! Shakey had this on the George singles list. From a kids' TV show, 1992.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC8Ap2Z424k

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ride_Rajbun

Whoah that is good! I hadnt listened to it

hree Let it Be guitar solos? tbh only familiar w the album version

Album version, single version and filmed version are all different iirc

what the devil is up with "pretty little head"

loving the Nilsson cover of Subterranean Homesick Blues, but jfc could these guys lay off the saxophones occasionally?

Arrow Through Me surprisingly good