The Solo Years | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Dredged up from deep in the archives, dust and grime removed, and given a bit of a polish to make suitable for use (there’s probably another thread on this but I dont know of it, i’m not looking, and I haven’t posted in here before).

Great question from @mr. Sun king coming together.

mr. Sun king coming together said
After reading many comments on Song Pages such as Free As A Bird and others, I have been inspired to create A thread asking “Who made the Best Music After the Breakup”? I don’t Own A majority of The Solo stuff, but I think McCartney And Lennon Are tied, With George Following Closely behind.

So what Do Guys and Gals Think? John, George, Or Paul?

My thoughts.

It’s hard with John as his catalogue and legacy is generally praised yet its always the same material with the rest ignored (not helped by the endless compilations which feature the same selection of tracks). To that extent its hard to really get a grip of where John’s should truly stand from that alone.

‘Plastic Ono Band’ is flawless in my opinion; ‘Imagine ‘ has a few of tracks that don’t work (‘Gimmie Some Truth’, ‘I Don’t Want To Be A Soldier’, ‘Oh Yoko’); ‘Sometime In New York City’ is abysmal; ‘Mind Games ‘ and ‘Walls And Bridges ‘ feature some amazing songs but are over-produced; ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll ‘ varies from the dull to the brilliant (the majority being dull) plus its all over-produced; ‘Double Fantasy ‘ and ‘Milk And Honey ‘ (the latter being outtakes but recorded at the same time as ‘DF’ and both sit well together) are generally very good; and there are a handful of stand-alone singles that are excellent. If only Yoko would sanction a mixed-down (not Stripped as ‘Double Fantasy Stripped’ didnt work for me) ‘Mind Games ‘ and ‘Walls And Bridges ‘ then John body of work might just match the praise it regularly gets (and then folk listen to it and often feel disappointed).

Paul’s been so prolific since the Beatles split and has tried so many different styles, genres, ideas throughout the last 46 years how on earth do you fairly evaluate it? Where do you even start? There are some massive disappointments and mis-steps along the way yet there have also been many moments of incredible brilliance that easily match John and George’s greatest achievements – and due to the sheer volume of work if stacked up both sides would outnumber his ex-bandmates. For every ‘Pipes Of Peace ‘ (two great songs, the rest forgettable garbage in my opinion) and ‘Memory Almost Full ‘ (i plan to never hear it again) there is ‘Wild Life ‘ and ‘McCartney II ‘ – the latter two often berated by most but both would figure highly in my favourite solo-Beatles albums ever (i’d odd so what ).

George is definitely under-rated with only a handful of solo tracks and the ‘All Things Must Pass ‘ LP generally getting a look in. Yet get into his canon and there is much to treasure if you enter in. Yes there are troughs (‘Dark Horse ‘ and ‘Extra Texture ‘ being the obvious*, tho the song Dark Horse ‘ is one of my favourites) but there are also many times of great rewards that you wouldn’t expect. ‘Gone Troppo ‘ has simply been painted with the general view of ignore as George couldn’t be bothered and it sold next to nothing and so its shit. Listen to it however and its amazing; George making music that he liked whilst not giving one crap if anyone (fans, music executives, critics, radio listeners) bothered to hear it or not (‘Wake Up My Love’ being the only moment that made any effort to be commercial for the time). ‘George Harrison ‘ is another that is often overlooked yet is fantastic. ‘All Things Must Pass ‘ is rightly highly acclaimed yet all the others have numerous moments of greatness that whilst might not always be instant classics given time easily get into your being and you appreciate far more. If anything if folk actually spent time listening to George’s work instead of immediately whining that it’s not as good as John or Paul’s they’d begin to appreciate him far more for what he gave us.

So to answer the question “Who made the Best Music After the Breakup?”, my answer is I have no idea how to come to a final decision let alone give a final answer. 

Oh I forgot why I came here in the first place.

Is there any solo Beatles album* that you have heard that is simple worthless, that is features nothing on it that makes you want to go back? For me the only two are ‘Memory Almost Full ‘ and ‘Driving Rain ‘. I get irked just at the thought of listening to them. As atrocious as ‘Some Time In New York City ‘ is you do get some great live tracks (e.g. ‘Cold Turkey ‘ and ‘Well (Baby, Please Don’t Go)’) and ‘Woman Is The N—r Of The World’ has got a really good feel to it, the live version from the 1972 ‘One To One’ concert being better than the studio cut.

*Ignoring ‘Electronic Sound ‘ and ‘Wonderwall’ as they were never intended to be fully commercial albums and I’d then have to take into account John’s ‘Unfinished Music’ collections.