Man On the Run: Paul McCartney in the 70s | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

DrBeatle said 

  
 
Abbey Road was probably the weakest late-period album from Paul, at least the one where his presence is least dominating. Other than Oh! Darling , he doesn’t contribute any great songs to it apart from his scraps and bits (and arrangements) in the medley. It was John’s strongest effort since the White Album (Come Together , I Want You, Because )

I have to disagree here, if one was taking attendance during the ‘Abbey Road ‘ sessions it would be generous to suggest that John was even there half of the time while Paul likely stayed for nearly every minute from start to finish.  If memory serves me correctly, John’s ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ was recorded back in the Spring before Paul even rang up George Martin to convince him “to make an album like they used to”.  True, John’s contributions are strong although, “strongest effort since the White Album ” is kinda misleading for it was the most recent album release by the group before ‘Abbey Road ‘ came out, his strong contributions are the “least dominating”, in my opinion, for his appearances are reduced to that of a session musician in many ways.  After ‘Come Together ‘, a song that John had originally intended as his latest Peace Anthem for a campaign that the others weren’t really that much involved with at the time, his contributions diminish pretty much straight away, is he even on ‘Something ‘?  He’s definitely not on the next track ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer ‘.  There’s traces of John on ‘Oh! Darling ‘ & ‘Octopus’ Garden’ by way of vocal overdubs, but how involved was he in laying down the bed tracks here?

Didn’t an acoustic version of ‘Because ‘ first appear on John & Yoko’s ‘Wedding Album ‘ in the Spring?  As great as ‘Mean Mr. Mustard’ & ‘Polythene Pam ‘ sound, the songs were written in India over a year before the ‘Abbey Road ‘ sessions even began.  It’s a testament to John’s genius that he can be so productive musically even when he’s simply going through the motions, but ‘Abbey Road ‘ wouldn’t have amounted to much more than another unfinished ‘Get Back ‘ had it not been for Paul’s enthusiasm for the project.  Not only did he kickstart the sessions by contacting George Martin, who has said that “after ‘Let It Be ‘ (‘Get Back ‘) I (he) really thought that that was the end of the road” and that he “didn’t really want to work with them anymore”.  It’s not a stretch to say that Paul’s own ‘McCartney’ album slightly suffers from him pouring so much of his creative soul into this classic last Beatles’ album, John on the other hand, was disinterested and it shows by his limited contributions here.

Had it not been for Paul leading the way here, as he’d pretty much done for the past two years, Ringo would have been waiting for a phone to ring that would never ring while George would’ve saved his two Golden Eggs (‘Something ‘ & ‘Here Comes The Sun ‘) for ‘All Things Must Pass ‘ while John’s life wouldn’t have changed much really, Yoko & his Peace Campaign were the recipients of his creative passions, he was done with The Beatles after the ‘White Album ‘ where his creative presence can’t be ignored, but on ‘Abbey Road ‘, you have to remind yourself that this isn’t a ‘Threatles’ album after ‘Come Together ‘ closes for most of the way.  If there was ever an example of Paul McCartney “dominating” on a Beatles’ album, it’s ‘Abbey Road ‘, even over ‘Sgt. Pepper ‘…:-)      

“For once”?!  Haha…

Look, I know the thread is about a book centering around Paul in the 70’s after ‘Abbey Road ‘s release so I won’t go on and on here but it’s the one Beatles’ album that always struck me as being more Paul’s show than John’s, and one of the biggest reasons for that is John’s lack of contributing very much to the sessions.  A big part of what makes John’s ‘Come Together ‘ so great is Paul’s innovative bass playing and the same thing could be said about ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ while you really have to search for John on everybody else’s songs, and in some cases you won’t find him at all.  Paul showed off just about every part of what made him such a “dominant” force in 1960’s Popular Music throughout this record, fabulous bass playing, impeccable melody and inventiveness utilizing classic technique with the aid of George Martin and that pretty much sums up the driving force behind ‘Abbey Road ‘ for me…:-)