POLL Those Years Ago: The Beatles Solo Careers Poll Results Thread

i didn't listen to any of the compilation albums so i've never heard goodnight tonight before. it's fucking wild. where does that guitar break come from??? one of those songs that explains why paul and stevie wonder were such good friends.

did joe jackson ever get sued over "day after day"/"breaking us in two"?

Catching up a bit ...

Quibbles:
Re. "Secret Friend," I like it more as a "Paul tried out this sort of thing" more than "This is awesome." While I enjoy it, I'm not really sure if it's any better or worse than "Frozen Jap" or "Front Parlour."

Were it not for the Cheap Trick version of "I'm Losing You," I would think the song is shit. As it is, I still mostly think it is. The organ is sub-Roll With It Michelob fodder.

"Beautiful Boy" is a great song almost completely ruined by Jack Douglas's production (and Mr. Holland's Opus -- Richard Dreyfus singing "Darling ...COLLLLLE" will forever haunt me).

"Goodnight Tonight" is ... fine, but a pretty anonymous disco play that isn't groovy enough to make me really love it. Bass line isn't bad tho.

John's co-write on "Fame" has always seemed odd to me -- perhaps because I've never believed he actually sings the "Fame!" retort as he supposedly did.

Loves:
"Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)" is about as great a song as George ever wrote. Love it. TOO LOW!

"One of These Days" is not only a great song, but the one it is believed Lennon was referring to in one of his last interviews when he said Paul sounded "sad."

I completely forgot how much I liked "Crippled Inside" -- the two double basses on that (quadruple bass?) is an absolute masterstroke.

For a guy who was all about mono, I think my favorite thing about Imagine is Spector's stereo separation -- even when some of the songs on it don't totally light me on fire, they are just gorgeous to listen to.

"Magneto and Titanium Man" is probably up there among my top 20 Paul songs for no other reason than it's a completely goofy earworm.

John's co-write on "Fame" has always seemed odd to me -- perhaps because I've never believed he actually sings the "Fame!" retort as he supposedly did.

wtf he sings and plays guitar on this song

Bowie would have done an incredible version of "Hold On" for YA

you'd think so, but then again his across the universe is very very bad

it's def my favorite john song on double fantasy xp

― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Monday, June 4, 2018 1:09 PM (eighteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is kind of a diss tbh

i like the "heart of the country" -> "let it roll" transition on the playlist

I regard "Goodnight Tonight" as a song released in the disco era but not a disco song, no matter what Paul says or how high he mixed his bass (it made my ballot).

wtf he sings and plays guitar on this song

No, Bowie played the distorted bit (the bit that sounds like a brass section, according to Chris O'Leary).

So what the hell did Lennon do? He's also credit with "tape loops" which I'd guess is the intro and the Mellotron-esque scale down of "Fame" near the end of the song.

His guitar is buried amid the Alomar flourishes and, yeah, the loops. Remember how typically generous Bowie was about songwriting credit.

the shouted fame rejoinder reeeeeally sounds like john

I would have been more than happy to keep the "Beatle as guest artist" shit out of the poll entirely, tbh.

also, shout out to nicky hopkins for that wurly part on "how do you sleep?" i wonder if he knew the song would fade out in the middle of his solo.

(Not that I'm implying that 'Fame' is shit - it's anything but, but c'mon...)

(x-post)

i agree with you, but ultimately it's just 4-5 spots in a 100 song poll. i did my part by not voting for any of those tracks.

idk it makes it more fun even though i'm also like "why"

I used to find 'How Do You Sleep?' amusing for a while because of the whole Lennon dissing McCartney aspect, but once the novelty of that wore off and I started to listen to the song for what it was in a musical sense, I don't think it's really that great. 'Strawberry Fields Forever' it ain't.

"how do you sleep" is great, it's like the pettiest drone

it's just a well-done slinky, swampy rocker. i tend to ignore the lyrics tbh

I only voted for songs they played on if they left a major impression on the final mix - Harrison on Day After Day, Lennon/Ringo on Why, etc

It makes sense that Harrison plays on it, because the chord progression feels quite Harrison-like in places. I wonder how many tries it took to get the perfect Pepper-spoofing intro, too.

(x-post)

like Lennon's presence/influence on some of these Yoko songs feels suspect to me, as cool as may be.

I think it was more that Yoko influenced Lennon, and then Lennon reflected that influence back into both the Yoko stuff he played on and his own work.

I would have been more than happy to keep the "Beatle as guest artist" shit out of the poll entirely, tbh.

says the guy who didn't vote at all lol

Look, keeping it to just things the four Beatles officially released under their own names is a) totally arbitrary and b) providing an incomplete picture of their post-Beatles career. For example, the *exact same band* recorded both Plastic Ono Band albums. But only John's is eligible, just because it has his name on it? Or if Wings is eligible, why isn't the Traveling Wilburys? The best, most interesting option was to allow it all, and the only sensible criteria was that a Beatle was involved. Given the difficulty with determining credit (see above discussion of "Fame") the only way to resolve that issue would be to err on the most generous side - if a Beatle was credited with doing something in any capacity, it was allowed.

By the way I voted for the Beach Boys "Vegetables" (and I wasn't the only one either) so nyah. If you cared that much you should have voted.

xp

67. Jenny Wren - Paul McCartney (feat. Paul) (531 points, 8 votes)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/15/Jenny_Wren_cover.jpg

66. Take It Away - Paul McCartney (feat. Paul) (539 points, 10 votes)
http://www.notreble.com/buzz/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Paul-McCartney-Take-It-Away-300x300.jpg

aw two of my favorite macca songs

i could only fit one song from chaos and creation on my ballot and it ended up being "anyway" but it was sooo close to being "jenny wren"

65. Remember - John Lennon (feat. John, Ringo) (540 points, 8 votes)
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0067/2072/products/R-6782548-1426549730-1369.jpeg_grande.jpg?v=1448974143

"Take It Away" my #1. That outro! The perfect George Martin production.

Well no, I didn't vote - that's correct, but if I had, I sure as hell wouldn't have voted for David Bowie and Beach Boys tracks in a solo Beatles poll. There were so many options that it would have been difficult enough to begin with, which is one of the reasons (although absolutely not the only one) that you didn't get a ballot. If it were a McCartney only or Lennon only poll etc. it may have been a different story.

(xxxposts)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMaSh20qBbg

'Jenny Wren' and 'Take It Away' both fantastic McCartney songs. 'Anyway' is one of my favourites too, Brad, so glad you found a place for it on your ballot.

Remember...
Remember...
THE FIFTH...
OF NOVEMBER!

boom

64. With A Little Luck - Wings (feat. Paul) (570 points, 10 votes)
https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/o-gAAOxyjPNRFIk7/s-l225.jpg

63. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) - George Harrison (feat. George) (571 points, 9 votes)
https://img.discogs.com/S3up-ceTOgeS6SyGcs14LHOByYU=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-7149418-1434827068-9448.jpeg.jpg

"with a little luck" and "london town" were the songs that kept climbing up my ballot. respectable showing for the former, i'm sure doc casino will be happy

62. Silly Love Songs - Wings (feat. Paul) (588 points, 9 votes)
https://images.eil.com/large_image/PAUL_MCCARTNEY_AND_WINGS_SILLY%2BLOVE%2BSONGS%2B%2B%2BDANISH%2BEXPORT%2BSLEEVE-519101.jpg

Remember was my 3. So it's TOO LOW!

and I was hoping Take It Away would be higher. I remember when MTV used to play that nonstop.

I'm so glad to see 'With a Little Luck' here - I really love the way that track sounds. One thing about it that makes me chuckle a little is just how much the synth solo in the middle sounds like the theme tune to Thomas the Tank Engine, even though it predates it by a good few years.

THOMAS WAS THE FIFTH BEATLE

I didn't vote but Give Me Love would have been in my top five.

with a little luck is fantastic, the end of the synth solo always fools me into thinking that the song is ending, but then...nope!

I'd never seen these 'Wings visit the Berlin wall' pictures before

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LFb7QRAHDM4/maxresdefault.jpg

https://78.media.tumblr.com/6cd31c0d390acc6eeef243eb56be42c7/tumblr_n9xbrnbBUW1rg1rnvo1_500.png

next entry is ironic in that context