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5.42am
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1 May 2011
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ABBA have reunited in the studio, recording new material (two songs) for the first time since 1982. I mention this as a BBC article on their return wonders if it will live up to expectations and, amongst other artists, covers the Beatles reunion in 1995.
“I’m half-thrilled and half-terrified,” says Kitty Empire, pop critic for The Observer.
“No matter what they produce, can it ever live up to this weight of expectation? But I’m cautiously optimistic.”
And herein lies the problem. Can any band reform 35 years after their peak and recapture what fans loved about them?
“I think a good parallel is when the surviving Beatles got back together to do Free As A Bird [in 1995],” says music writer Pete Paphides.
“Some people were sniffy about it at the beginning, when they first heard it, and I was one of them.
“I was in my early 20s and had that 20-something arrogance that you sometimes have. But, actually, I can barely get to the end of Free As A Bird now without my eyes watering.
“I think it’s just a beautiful song and I’ve lived with it over the years. My youngest daughter plays it on the piano. And that feels as valid and important a part of their legacy as any other Beatles songs.”
The Beatles aren’t the only ones who got it right, says Paphides, listing Blur, New Order and Take That as bands who bounced back from a break-up.
“The Take That album was really clever because they weren’t trying to be the band that they were before,” he says. “It was like they’d stepped back and asked themselves, ‘Who are we as people, and how can we credibly do this?’
“It was an album that honoured the fact that both their fans and they as people were older. So there was a bittersweet aspect to that record, which I think sort of touched people.”
I think this is the first article I have read where a critic is highly positive not only towards the reunion but also to ‘FAAB’ to the point where it lives up to anything that the Beatles did in the 60’s. Maybe I missed it.
Whilst I am here, it should be noted in this thread that in 2015 remixed versions of the two reunion tracks ‘FAAB’ and ‘RL’ with very notable differences to their original versions were included on the ‘1+’ Blu-ray/DVD. Anyone who hasn’t heard these should do so as they significantly improve both songs.
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Beatlebug"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
10.16am
22 December 2013
Offline paulramon1962 said
John was set to go to England a week after he was shot, reportedly to discuss the documentary project still then called “The Long And Winding Road .” Would there have been new material? Would it have even happened? Thoughts?
I haven’t heard about this until today, is there more information on the England trip? John was preparing to go back out on the road for 1981 and finishing up the ‘Milk & Honey’ album… I believe that if he was looking to reunite with the other three back then, it would’ve been for a live performance on his upcoming ‘One World, One People’ tour… One of the shows (Madison Square Gardens, I believe) was targeted to be broadcast worldwide via satellite (ala ‘All You Need Is Love ‘) and there are some who say that John was looking to make the reunion happen on this night… Unfortunately, this was not to be…:-)
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Vera Chuckandave5.29am
9 December 2017
Offline Can’t help but think that the world had shifted so much politically, culturally and musically (and not necessarily to a good place!!) in the early 80’s and society was generally not “feeling the love” so much anymore.
It also has to be said that John’s eagerly awaited music at this time was pretty average, contrived and reeked of “days gone by”. Paul was, arguably, also past his best and I feel that, regardless of how much the world wanted it, no fire would have reignited. The thought of them being a second rate parody of themselves is a sad one indeed. The magic will forever stay truly magical….
And my bird can't sing......!!
7.31am
14 June 2016
Offline sinco said
Im kinda glad that they didn’t get back together, because it secured their legacy as the greatest band of all time, and made their history so legendary because pretty much all of their albums are so good.A comparison I often think of when thinking about the Beatles’ legacy is Michael Jordan’s career. He could’ve left off on such a good note with his last shot being a championship-winning shot in Chicago (the equivalent of the Beatles’ Abbey Road ), but instead he attempted a comeback with the Wizards where he was only a shadow of his former self (which is probably how the Beatles reunion probably might have turned out like, although basketball is obviously not the same as making music).
Completely agree with all of this.
1.The Beatles 2.Sgt. Pepper 3.Abbey Road 4.Magical Mystery Tour 5.Rubber Soul 6.Revolver 7.Help! 8.Let It Be
9.A Hard Day’s Night 10.Please Please Me 11.Beatles For Sale 12.With The Beatles 13.Yellow Submarine
Most Avid John Fan 2020 and 2021: 
1.06pm
13 April 2018
Offline I think even a band such as the Beatles was impacted by the trajectory of rock music fame. They were obviously top of the world during the 60s, and there was curiosity, goodwill and fans’ sense of loss that buoyed them during the early to mid-70s but by the late 70s early 80s I believe there probably would have been more downsides for them getting together. I have this gut sense that even the best bands go through a middle period where they’re no longer as revered, only to emerge later as eminent statespeople who then are received more warmly again.
I’m obviously generalizing and if anyone could overcome this the Beatles could. But I do believe that had they gotten together during the early 80s (assuming John living ) there may not have been unlimited goodwill toward whatever they did. They would have had to overcome a wave of skepticism rather than riding a wave of anticipation.
People smarter than me have noted that the Beatles were perfect for and defined a particular era in the world’s history and their very finite timeline contributes to their distinctiveness.
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Beatlebug, Vera Chuckandave, QuarryMan11.10am
9 April 2019
Offline The Beatles standards, the quality they held themselves to, was always extremely high. If they had just taken 2 years off or so, then reunited with the material they’d each written in the interim, sharing ideas about each others’ work, I have no doubt they would have come up with something that could possibly have eclipsed Abbey Road . If you think about the very best they came up with, it would be an astonishing work, with the best of each being Beatle-ized. They were always at the forefront of music, trendsetters, not followers. There never would have been a “disco Beatles” (particularly if the reunion were in ’73 or ’74). There was a time frame in the early ’70’s that was much like an extension of the best of the 60’s – even though psychedelia was long gone, it was replaced by tunes that were more solid in their songwriting “craft” as it were, such as Elton John or James Taylor. The Beatles I believe would have continued in the vein marked by the White Album , Abbey Road and Let It Be , possibly with slight forays into progressive rock (which was birthed by such pieces as Strawberry Fields, the suite on side 2 of Abbey Road and others) since that was already a form that they’d helped create. They would not have been gone long enough to be considered irrelevant. I think they possibly could have come up with one after that before the record-buying public would begin to skew younger, at which point they probably would become somewhat irrelevant. At that point they would be best to dissolve, possibly reuniting (if Lennon had lived) in the mid-90’s due to some of the alternative music influenced by the 60’s. Then that would be it.
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QuarryMan9.15pm
17 October 2013
Offline Actually, in a funny…..perhaps trite way……
This new film ‘Yesterday ‘ which envisages a world without any memory of the Beatles’ music, weaves a little dream of the impact their music might possibly, on a good day, with a fair wind make in the present.
I’m sure when I watch it I’ll fantasise about the real Beatles appearing from some forgotten place and conquering the world with their new undreamt of collaborations together.
I suppose I’m still a daydream believer…..
Oops maybe I should have written this in the Pre Fab Forum
9.17am
26 January 2017
Offline I pretty much agree with Wigwam.
Personally, I’m pretty glad they didn’t get back together since I like their legacy the way it is. If they had returned, there would have been a lot of pressure and while I don’t doubt they would have come up with something good, I don’t know if they’d have been able to immediately fall back into the groove and make something as good as Abbey Road . I guess my ideal scenario would have been this: sometime in the late 70s/early 80s (assuming John lived), they got back together in secret and recorded an art-rock ish album similar to Abbey Road but influenced by what had come since, preferably post punk and new wave. Given how gorgeous and tasteful the Moog synthesiser arrangements are on Abbey Road , I don’t doubt that they would have been able to work it into their sound creatively. Maybe they could do a tour or two after that, but I would rather not have a Rolling Stones style thing.
Interestingly, here is an album people at the time thought was a reunited Beatles releasing music under a different name. Check it out
I've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
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