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

I've always rated George highly as a guitarist - yes, he has his limitations but was always tasteful in his playing... like Ringo was on the drums! His playing seemed to take a huge leap forward between 1968-1971.

man "sister, o sister" is cool. also props to whoever upped the wonderwall tracks and "simply shady.". this playlist has been such a rewarding listen as a result of these and other such thread picks.

realized "oh yoko!" may end up top 20 for me.

also, the ringo tracks, even the ones i myself picked out, sound considerably better spiced into the mix, just like ringo on a beatles record. "snookeroo" is great fun, especially right after "ski-ing." (i've apparently had my playlist running in order by song title, which more or less amounts to shuffle in this case.)

one lennon-contributing cut i'm obliged to give a shout-out: elton's cover of "lucy in the sky." it gets a bad rap but imo it's a fun listen, and fascinating as it replaces the late-60s psychedelic investigation of childhood's forgotten mysteries and magic, with the mid-70s coke-fueled endless party....

I rate Harrison as one of the guitar greats. Even the most torpid solo song has a heartstopping solo. It's partly why Living in the Material World is a delight to listen to.

living in a material world grew on me considerably over the last few days, which previously i had always thought it was a slog. it is a slog but a really unfailingly lovely one

depressing to read the yoko slander in the comments of those YT videos, but what do I expect?

i have pretty successfully numbed myself to anything a comments section on the internet might contain except yoko hate. i always get mad

Yeah, Yoko hate is just ridiculous.

*sniff* totally, yoko hate is lame.

Living in the Material World has some decent stuff on it - 'Sue Me, Sue You Blues', 'Don't Let Me Wait Too Long', 'The Day The World Gets 'Round' ... I'm not taken with the production - I think Dark Horse (with the exception of George's voice) and Extra Texture sound better, even though as collections of songs they're hit and miss.

simply shady tho?

I like that one.

as far as what i'd save on dark horse, which is far from a perfect disc is :

so sad, bye, bye, love, dark horse and simply shady. seems to have a 3 overall on rym. Maligned album

i found dark horse really difficult to get through

why brad

idk. i don't actually hate his voice when it gets bad, that's not the issue, but the songs are just kinda... shapeless

i might be describing several harrison solo records at once here

my beatle super fan bud has informed me that GH did not play slide on any beatle record… the opening phrase of "something" isn't slide, just sounds like it; JL played lap steel part on "For you blue." It was the Delaney & Bonnie tour which found the former giving GH pointers as such, and he was off to the races.

I too think Living in Mat world is pretty neat; don't like "gimme peace" but like the grandeur without the wall of sound. his shit had a lot of weird chords, time signatures and structures. His singing is awful on Dark Horse.

^ whut

the slide revelation baffled me. dark horse singing is awful because he was sick with the flu - see also pussy cats by nilsson

It may have been better received if George had held off until his voice was back to full strength. George never really had the most pleasant of voices to listen to to begin with, but the croakiness makes the experience far worse.

btw playlist watch - we've got two "take it away"s and two "no more lonely nights"es. happy to hear either of those twice back to back, mind you...

Could they not put off vocal tracking for a month? Always seems a weird excuse for bad vocals.

Dark Horse is bad because the songs are undistinguished too.

ET is awful.

Oh hey Brad glad you like Getting Closer, I adore it and most ppl either haven't heard it or don't like it on the offchance they have

excited to dive into tug of war shortly

MY SALAMANDER

everyone knew this would happen but i'm excited to report i love paul mccartney

I'm curious to know what you make of TOW. The reviews of the reissue didn't do it justice.

his shit had a lot of weird chords, time signatures and structures.

Yeah, some of Harrison's chord progressions are quite interesting in a "I didn't expect it to go there" sort of way. Also the meter shifts on things like 'Run of the Mill' and 'Beautiful Girl' (a huge favourite of mine, btw)

yeah seems like they had to finish it in time for the disastrous tour. also at the peak of his drinking & snorting…

also Tom Scott's playing = the sound of the fuckin' 70s.

mccartney ii is more interesting than good but i did vote for three songs from it ("coming up," "waterfalls," and "summer's day song") and i'm considering voting for "blue sway"

it = dark horse album

"oh yoko!" may end up top 20 for me
one of the most contagiously joyful love songs

btw playlist watch
thx, fixed it

Tug of War at the time was probably the first time McCartney had deliberately set out to make some kind of "blockbuster" record in a very long time - it's all there: being reunited with George Martin, Ringo is on it, along with Stevie Wonder, Carl Perkins etc.

It seems strange to say this now, but McCartney never avoided The Beatles as much as he did during the Wings period, and Tug of War marks the start of him re-embracing all that.

yeah seems like they had to finish it in time for the disastrous tour. also at the peak of his drinking & snorting…

The weird thing is, Dark Horse didn't come out until they'd already played 33 of the 45 shows on the tour. And it's not like a George Harrison tour would've tanked if he didn't have a new record out.

(And on fourteen of the dates, he was playing two shows a day, not doing his voice any favors.)

Its sister record, Pipes of Peace, which is essentially the Tug of War offcuts, really should have been a series of singles or an EP of the best stuff. McCartney's worst album of the '80s, IMO - not counting Broad Street, of course. A handful of decent tracks, but a lot of filler. Even the hardcore rank it quite low.

i've been wondering about pipes of peace. my mom owned it when i was a kid. "say say say" will.... probably be on my ballot

say say say totally rules

'Say Say Say' and the title track are brilliant... I don't mind 'So Bad' or the other Jackson collab either.

I can't wait for Brad to get to Press to Play and Flowers in the Dirt...

Tug of War is so boring. Flowers isnt

i'm not a "girl is mine" fan, though i might like it better if it weren't surrounded by 8 of the best pop songs of all time.

Say Say Say is very good though

I was thinking about 'The Man', but I don't mind 'The Girl is Mine' either. It does stick out like a sore thumb on Thriller, mind!

I've got Tug of War on now and I'm reminded immediately of how much I fucking love love love 'Take It Away' ... the harmonies and the horn lines at the end, but also "you never can know who is listening to you"...

i like "take it away" a lot

also v surprised by how good "what's that you're doing" is

re: George's slide It seemed to appear fully realized on ATMP

a lot of the slide on that album is by well-established country slide guitar god Pete Drake. he had a novelty hit with proto auto tune "I'm Just a Guitar (Everybody Picks in Me)"

Oh fuck, I'd forgotten 'Ballroom Dancing' was on this. If I remember, Harrison is on record as saying he liked this one. I always felt like this was a bit of a Ringo-type song.

'The Pound is Sinking' = still amazing.

"Ballroom Dancing" a Ringo song in tone for sure, though he could never have sung it. "Get It" would have been a good fit for him.