George Harrison: Search & Destroy

I'm not saying they shouldn't have done, I'm saying they did it to an embarrassing degree. There is a difference there.

― more Allegro-like (Turrican)

so the standard here is, what, turrican is embarrassed by the degree to which they wrote about their own lives?

If they were merely writing about their own lives, that would be fine... if they had still been in The Beatles. The tone of the solo Beatles when they get all self-referential isn't "this is what I did today", it's the sound of people believing their own hype.

Then again, when they tried to write about being young when they were past the Beatles' stage, it wasn't all convincing.

e.g. "Back seat of my car", I love the song, but .. really?

As far as the audience was concerned, they were still in the Beatles, in the sense that no one would let them forget it, and no one would let them rest without begging them to reunite, with the veiled subtext of "save us!"

To the extent that the Beatles themselves bought into it, they went back and forth. George lamented that the only peace they got on tour was when they went to the can; but when Vox came up with the Super Beatle amps for that tour, his response was, "'Super Beatle'?! What's more super than being a Beatle?"

In the Anthology he said, "They gave their screams, but we gave our nervous systems"; but while viewing footage of screaming throngs, he turned to the director and said, "If U2 thinks they're a big and popular band, then they should sit through this shit and they can see how popular a real band can be."

The fact that they wrote about the Beatles in their solo work as much as they did was, in part, a way of processing what the fuck they'd all been through. Paul's comparatively scant Beatle-referencing output could likely be put down to the fact that he angrily and dickishly initiated the breakup (publicly, at least) -- to put out songs in 1970-75 along the lines of "gee, I miss the fellas, and boy, we were great!" would be a dick move.

As far as the audience was concerned, they were still in the Beatles, in the sense that no one would let them forget it, and no one would let them rest without begging them to reunite, with the veiled subtext of "save us!"

That's the audience's problem rather than the band's problem. Unless you're saying that they were in some way pandering to their audience, in which case I agree.

While of course also giving themselves self-congratulatory pats on the back in song at the same time.

U2 have probably played bigger gigs and given more value for money at their gigs than The Beatles ever did post-Hamburg. Just that audiences have learned to stfu because, let's face it, those screaming crowds look idiotic now.

They looked idiotic then too tbf

Those songs on ATMP don't seem like self-congratulatory pats on the back to me. What are we talking about, "Early 1970?" "I'm the Greatest?" The "How Do You Sleep"/"Some People Never Know" back and forth?

That's because they're not. The self-congratulatory pats on the back came later, particularly when McCartney got in on the act. Before that it was merely just self-referential myth-making.

This brings me nicely to...

Paul's comparatively scant Beatle-referencing output could likely be put down to the fact that he angrily and dickishly initiated the breakup (publicly, at least) -- to put out songs in 1970-75 along the lines of "gee, I miss the fellas, and boy, we were great!" would be a dick move.

Or it could be that he genuinely wanted to move on and make music on his own terms. Which he did, and the fact that he continued to score hit after hit showed he was onto something.

this whole discussion is insane but man....... hating on "back seat of my car" ???? bonkers

He wasn't hating on it - he said he loves the song, but finds the lyric unconvincing.

I think we should all be embarrased about how much we love THE BEATLES

Yeah, whoa!

The idea that Paul has to have his relationship w/ girlfriend, while hiding from her dad. That's mmmm probably not where he was at, at that time.

'Hi Hi Hi' was probably more where he was at!

Pretty sure Morrissey has written songs about the Smiths and the break-up/aftermath of the Smiths (a bigger solo Moz fan will have to help me out here...)

Do 'The Smiths', 'Johnny', 'Andy' or 'Mike' appear in the lyrics?

Yeah if I'd been in the Beatles I doubt I would've even noticed really

Wonder if Pete Best ever thinks about it.

Destroy the 1981 comeback..

Do 'The Smiths', 'Johnny', 'Andy' or 'Mike' appear in the lyrics?

1979’s superior eponymous effort (its single “Blow Away” is a beguiling little gem that’s the equal of any McCartney)

love that entire album

Let's rap and tap at Crackerbox Palace

Sounds so much like Jerry Garcia on "Pisces Fish"

I've never listened to all of Gone Troppo before. What a weird album, not sure if its good. Some ELO-isms creeping in but also a lot of other left-field production choices.

also, this is fucking bizarre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzKjMpP4-gg

33 1/3 is not a bad album.

def a step up from Extra Texture and Dark Hoarse

there's a lovely tribute to Smokey that vocally he almost pulls off

dude really milked diminished chords for everything he could

there's a lovely tribute to Smokey that vocally he almost pulls off

dude really milked diminished chords for everything he could

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XdvDeI-neI

33 1/3 is one of his better albums, yes.

on the whole his solo releases after All Things are an exercise in frustration; every album has at least one good song, most of them have a handful of really good songs, and an equal or greater proportion of shit.

On Gone Troppo I liked the Time Bandits song and Circles is alright for a Beatles leftover.

Most people will stick up for one after ATMP; I will for Living in the Material World and Cloud Nine (which doesn't have bad songs if you consider "Got My Mind..." an annoyance instead of shit).

every album has at least one good song, most of them have a handful of really good songs,

yeah when i was on a Harrison kick last year i *think* Extra Texture is the one i decided was the worst but "You" is still awesome

that's such, to quote him, a "grotty" album. His coke album, apparently, but it sounds as if he were on quaaludes.

"You" is still awesome

yes!! And yet I still kinda wish it was Ronnie Spector singing it instead of George, it really strains his range. But what a killer riff.

I feel like this is the case with a lot of the better material scattered across his solo albums - often they're marred by poor production choices. Lynne really was a corrective in this respect.

I dunno -- that SNL sax in "You" is an irritant. I'd rather George imitate the sax.

My favorite cover songs of George and John tunes.

Lynne really was a corrective in this respect.

I disagree. The four Dark Horse albums that precede Cloud Nine are all nice sounding. Also disagree that there's a lot of substandard stuff on them, but I suppose I am a fan. They're about a wash for me, probably 33 1/3, the '79 album, and Gone Troppo all about equal, with Somewhere in England a notch below.

And Gone Troppo is the nicest sounding of the bunch.

Start the cement mixer!

Start the cement mixer!

― timellison

put-ti put-ti

there's a lovely tribute to Smokey that vocally he almost pulls off

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

i mean soul in a bowl is great but now i'm imagining george singing "piss slave", badly

i'm just not sure he was vocally assertive enough for the song

re: covers - robert wyatt's "love" and, funnily enough, "weird" al yankovic's completely straight "what is life" are particular loves of mine

oh, and i do enjoy the bush tetras' "cold turkey" as well

the one thing about a lot of his solo albums that bugs me is that his voice sounds too high. this is particularly true on Extra Texture; maybe it's the coke, but it also just sounds like he sped up the tape a lot of the time.

"the '79 album" this is my second favorite solo albums of his. I think it's mostly completely marvelous. I even like "here comes the moon moon the moon the moon the moooooon"

"Your Love is Forever"! "Blow Away"!

I even like "here comes the moon moon the moon the moon the moooooon"

no need for shame, this is a v pretty song

I dunno -- that SNL sax in "You"...