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9.22am
13 June 2011
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I hope people don’t mind me making lots of random threads. I am having trouble using the search feature to pull up anything other than all the most recent threads, so if there is a similar thread, I apologize. I was just thinking today about Beatles songs that would fit better in the individual member’s solo catalog rather than as a Beatles song. I’m guessing almost everything except for maybe a choice for Ringo would be White Album or later for various reasons, but I thought it was interesting to discuss anyways. For bonus discussion, what solo album would it be best on?
Paul – Probably the easiest to come up with since he did so much solo stuff at the end of the Beatles run. I was thinking if there was one song that would fit this the best, it would be “Mother Nature’s Son ” which to be crazy, I think it would fit really well on Flaming Pie . There are a ton of other choices here, from something like “Blackbird ” which would fit well on McCartney, all the way to even “Hey Jude ” which I could see working without the other Beatles.
John – A little more difficult because John’s sound seemed to change quite frequently. “Julia ” would fit on Plastic Ono Band, “All You Need Is Love ” would certainly fit in on the earlier albums. Something like “Because ” would work on Imagine .
George – I think most people fairly/unfairly associate George’s solo work with the first couple of post-Beatle albums, but I think clearly “Something ” would work well on ATMP , as would “Long, Long, Long “. I dont know I need more input here. I need to explore George’s solo work more.
Ringo – Poor Ringo. Wasn’t really given much to work with for the Beatles, and a lot of his most popular solo work was written by and/or featured Beatles, so its hard to really recognize a distinctive Ringo style with the Beatles vs. as a solo artist. Certainly “Don’t Pass Me By ” would work with his early solo work.
Looking for any interesting suggestions to add to this list.
10.25pm
10 August 2011
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All the Beatles benefited from each other, which is why most people will take any Beatle album over any solo album.
(That’s a GENERALIZATION; yes, I might take Imagine or Ram over Please Please Me ).
But in the end (literally), Paul needed the least help.
So, many of his songs could have seamlessly been transposed to a solo album. (Let It Be , Hey Jude , Lady Madonna , Penny Lane , Blackbird , Yesterday , Back In The USSR , Get Back , Birthday , And I Love Her , just about any of his White Album , Abbey Road or Let It Be songs)
John had a good number too (Across The Universe , Julia , The Ballad of J&Y, …)
George …. George really benefited from the others + George Martin. As nice as While My Guitar… is in its raw version, the White Album version is still far more spectacular.
We currently sharply distinguish between McCartney’s Beatle and solo career. But in a 100 years, people won’t see such a clear divide.
The divide will be between songs done essentially on his own and songs on which he had serious collaboration.
"Into the Sky with Diamonds" (the Beatles and the Race to the Moon – a history)
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