The Beatles' Solo Careers

Cookie!

ha I look away for an hour and look what happens

Walls and Bridges has its highlights... '#9 Dream' is my favourite thing Lennon ever did solo, but 'What You Got' is incredibly underrated IMO.

John/Yoko(/Ringo on the early POB albums) presaged noise rock, krautrock, punk, no wave, Japanese psychedelic rock

kinda agree w this as long as you tilt the balance towards Yoko's solo work (which is its own thing v distinct from the Beatles imo). the albums with John's name on the title don't really go those places.

oh man totally forgot the Lennon-Bowie collabs. Lennon came to Elton and Bowie a bit late it seems.

these records seem to be off in their own pocket universes, just kinda making what they feel like making. That's a function of being rich and famous enough that you can do that, and moreover if the albums just seem disproportionately tossed-off and humble and non-"event," that too is because when you are an ex-Beatle, you can do that, and perhaps want to do that. The lack of "currentness" though is maybe trickier to pin down; I wonder how much of it is age and suburban living or whatever, combined with not wanting to get mobbed all the time - did these guys keep going to shows much? Seeing new bands as anything other than a "hey, it's been a while, we should go see what the kids are interested in?" They weren't part of a "scene" anymore, there was nobody they had to keep up with, nobody whose licks they might hear one night and try to incorporate the next. This just kinda happens, I think.

yeah this is how I see it too

also agree that the vastly different production styles make any kind of fakes post-breakup compilation album *really* jarring. I'm sure in some ways this is by design, none of them wanted to really do what the others were doing and this was the 70s was their first real opportunity to take advantage of that.

I think Paul just wanted to relax and have some fun after The Beatles, really. I mean, being in the Beatles sounded pretty fucking intense.

And the intensity was so much more than "We've gotta top that last insane masterwork!" I mean, a significant chunk of western youth culture was looking towards the Beatles ("THEY'LL tell us what to do!") and everyone was riding this massive cultural shift. I think Ian MacDonald made this point, that it seemed like the Beatles knew what was happening/what was about to happen/what should happen.

So after all that, yeah, Paul probably just wanted to chill and get baked on his pot farm and dash off some fun, inconsequential sketches.

xpost:

Yeah, and the musicians used too... 1970 is probably the most extreme year: ranging from a whole cast of people on All Things Must Pass to just Paul on his lonesome (and occasionally with Linda) on McCartney.

having slogged through McCartney, Ram, Band on the Run, Redrose Speedway, Venus and Mars and Speed of Sound yesterday Macca's tossed off semi-nonsensical approach to lyrics *really* begins to grate in large quantities. There are things I love on all those albums but his dedication to vapidity is some kind of force of nature.

McCartney and POB always seemed like flip sides of the same coin to me. Lets both go back to the most basic rock n' roll sound we can and vent. Both are emotionally raw in very different ways too. McCartney is trying to pick up the pieces of a shattered post Beatles life and John's trying to exorcise his demons.

and the musicians used too

yeah this is huge - it's not like all their albums were strictly solo affairs (a la Paul), it's impossible to tell how/what the other Beatles would have contributed to the others' works. I can kinda guess about Ram (always thought Macca used Linda as a sub for Lennon when it came to vocal harmonies) but what would Paul have done on "Imagine" - insert some even more cloying middle eight?

lol how is "McCartney" emotionally raw? Maybe I'm Amazed is standard Paul sap, etc. (not knockin it btw altho I prefer the Faces version)

Every Night, Man We Was Lonely, Junk lol

There's an outtake called Suicide!

and Maybe I'm Amazed? What's wrong with that? I'd like to know.

but what would Paul have done on "Imagine" - insert some even more cloying middle eight?

― Οὖτις, Thursday, October 23, 2014 7:20 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I can't picture McCartney's bass style on it, even!

As for McCartney's lyrics, I think he did make a little more of an effort with them from the late '80s onwards. If not from Flowers In The Dirt onwards, then certainly Flaming Pie onwards.

Paul doesn't write cloying middle eights. The rest of the song mitigates any sugary aftereffects

McCartney has always been a reflective and nostalgic guy, it seems... whether it's getting nostalgic about Penny Lane during The Beatles, or getting nostalgic about The Beatles and even his life before The Beatles at numerous points during Wings and his solo career. But the reflection has overtaken the wacky on his later solo records, and it suits him. You can't sing about putting the fucking butter in the pie forever.

right there

that's it

yes

Oklahoma was never like this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJBDcb7kq_g

I've got all the Beatles albums on shuffle play now, including Thrillington stuff, The Fireman etc. 'Sing The Changes' has just come on and the backing vocals sound like late '80s U2.

I think song wrote and recorded a song a day on that last Fireman album.

and by song I mean Paul lol

I don't even see it as a Fireman album, really. It has more in common with his "proper" solo albums than anything done under the Fireman name before that.

having slogged through McCartney, Ram, Band on the Run, Redrose Speedway, Venus and Mars and Speed of Sound yesterday Macca's tossed off semi-nonsensical approach to lyrics *really* begins to grate in large quantities. There are things I love on all those albums but his dedication to vapidity is some kind of force of nature.

― Οὖτις, Thursday, October 23, 2014 3:16 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is interesting, I have no idea what I'd think about Paul if I'd gotten to know his records like this tbh! Very much benefits from having only one CD bought every couple weeks, welp, gotta toss it on again while I play some more Civilization and get to know the ins and outs of "Mamunia." I do wish the lyrics weren't so tossed-off on the best compositions ("My Love" is just such a fucking wasted opportunity, every time). But the goofiness is part of the appeal of the deep cuts.

I think Paul could have improved "Imagine" quite a lot, not on bass but on piano. Heard it at the store for the first time in a while the other night and was shocked to notice just how roly-poly and "demo loop" the main riff sounded like. Get another idea! Also, just having it be more of a "group" song might really help undercut the JOHN LENNON IS HEAR TO SPEAK SIMPLE TRUTHS aspect of it - some backup vocals, some strumming, a solo from George, some energy in the drumming, and you've got something between Hey Jude and Revolution 1, something a little huskier ... rather than this preachy precious shithead inviting you to Imagine!.

tbf I had heard/purchased all those albums individually, was just on a binge yesterday and that struck me. I think my intro to Macca's solo catalog was initial childhood awareness of the Wings hits ("Band on the Run", "Listen to What the Man Said", "Live and Let Die" etc.) and then I never bothered with any albums proper until I borrowed Ram from someone and fell in love with it. Acquired the others in short order.

Ah, dig! That makes sense. I remember having a VERY carefully curated "recommended listening order" for friends interested in McCartney when I was a teen. You really had to work your way up to Red Rose Speedway and Back to the Egg, and I think I basically didn't mention Speed of Sound which I played all the time for "Wino Junko" and "She's My Baby" mainly.

Back To The Egg is the most underrated Wings album of them all, and I can never quite understand why it doesn't get more love.

the songs suck

"Arrow Through Me" excepted.

waited years for crate digging hip hop star to sample it until Erykah Badu came along

is Red Rose Speedway not well regarded? it was probably my favourite Wings album

BTTE doesn't have good hits anchoring the usual round of pantomime genre exercises, so even if it rocks a little harder than London Town and there are a few beautiful melodies ("Love Awake," "Arrow Through Me," "Baby's Request") the rockers feel like unearned attempts at climaxes, or just desperate stabs at whipping up energy. I say all this as a fan, and someone who does enjoy the record. It's just kinda thin, especially if you don't count "The Broadcast," "We're Open Tonight," and "Reception" as even really being songs. Anyway, it'd never be my first pick for "branching out beyond Ram? Well, have I got an album for you!"

Not sure what the c.w. on Red Rose Speedway is at this point.

xxxpost:

and 'Getting Closer', 'Again and Again and Again', 'Old Siam, Sir' and the whole of side two.

Oh, I'd totally recommend it after Ram, Band on The Run and Venus and Mars. Such a fun record.

I have never heard that one - kinda skeptical

Bottom-tier Wings: Wild Life, Wings At The Speed Of Sound
Middle-tier Wings: Red Rose Speedway, London Town
Top-tier Wings: Band On The Run, Venus and Mars, Back To The Egg

And as if by magic, 'Old Siam, Sir' comes on shuffle play. Time to rawk!

Always been curious whether the lesser Wings singles like "Arrow Through Me," "Letting Go," "Sally G," etc got genuine radio play

consistently baffled by people's affection for Back To The Egg.

"Sally G" is great, haven't thought about that one in a while. "I never thought to ask her what the letter G stood for / but I know for sure it wasn't Good."

At least one thing Back to the Egg has going for it is being better-recorded than the last couple of records before it - shaking off some cobwebs there.

London Town has its highlights: 'Cafe On The Left Bank' (which would have fit snugly onto Back To The Egg, come to think of it), 'Girlfriend', 'With A Little Luck'. Fond of 'Backwards Traveller/Cuff Link' too. However, London Town's highlights show up the rest of the album to be not particularly that great. Remove 'With A Little Luck' from side two and what do you have left?

Back To The Egg on the other hand is consistently good to very good throughout, and is very much a start-to-finish, complete album experience (rather than a "individual tracks in isolation" deal).

I really love that very rare field recording of a horny panda skullfucking George Harrison's corpse spliced with a demented McCartney screaming in agony about his tax bill as he sheared off his own bollocks with a sthil-saw, it never quite garnered the rave reviews it deserved but it is a very important part of the post-Beatles albums canon.

otherwise known as "My Love"

that's the one!

I gotta rep for Back To The Egg as well. It just sounds much more crisp and lively than London Town or Speed of Sound plus has much better songs- Getting Closer, Arrow Through Me, Old Siam, So Glad To See You, To You. And Daytime Nighttime Suffering as a bonus track which is a top ten solo Paul song.

Of course it has it's share of filler but so does every Paul record...

Macca solo beard had nothing on George:

http://media.tumblr.com/453734071c6593abc64c2701a643c1e6/tumblr_inline_mt1rqxZrDw1qz4rgp.jpg

http://the-beardles.tumblr.com/

Paul McCartney is such a strange conundrum. How many other folks have written both several of the best songs of all time and several of the worst?

In the excellent "Tune In," Lewisohn recounts Ringo being made to shave before he formally joined the Beatles. Ringo: ahead of the curve.

beards are horrible

you're horrible

lol kj but i like beards

ringo's the only beatle where the beard seems really natural. paul looks like he forgot to shave, george looks like he's in his howard hughes phase, and john looks like he's about to pull off his fake beard and laugh at you.

Ringo obv. also kept the beard.

His hair migrated.

whereas with Lennon's solo stuff the arrangements and playing are only as interesting as what the musicians he's working with come up with

yeah this is definitely true, borne out by the superiority of his material with Voorman/Ringo/Keltner and Spector. Those guys all really brought strong, well thought-out supporting ideas to the table. Elephant's Memory might have been fine for Yoko's solo material, where something more conventional works as a good counterpoint to her very unconventional writing, but they were shit backing up Lennon imo. And after that it's p much downhill apart from Pussy Cats, which benefits (again) from Ringo, Keltner, Voorman, Kortchmar, Nillson etc.

god I love Pussy Cats

This is all super duper otm. Listening to Pussy Cats for the first time right now and its much better than I thought it would be!

No More Lonely Nights is mainly great because of Gilmour IMo. still .. great like.

"Bring on the Lucie" is such an underrated song, recorded sort of poorly though.

"No More LOnely Nights" has that descending vocal melody before Gilmour's last solo -- peak Paul.

I've always thought RAM would sit very comfortably next to 90s/00s indie pop. Not sure if that is McCartney "anticipating" that sound so much as his influence exerting itself on a new generation, but...

his best eighties song after "Press."

"Take It Away" is so good, though...

Would be cool to hear his current band do it.

I hate Paul's drippy shit and God knows I don't know any deep cuts (aside from "Temporary Secretary"?), but he's Paul goddammit.