{"id":1759,"date":"2008-04-07T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2008-04-07T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.net\/?p=1759"},"modified":"2014-07-25T02:47:49","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T02:47:49","slug":"on-another-imaginary-beatles-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=1759","title":{"rendered":"On Another Imaginary Beatles Album"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen Baxter created “God.”<\/a>
\nMaximum Bob created “Imaginary.”<\/a>
\nI created “Hot As Sun.”<\/a><\/p>\n

Imaginary Beatles albums. Had the band not broken up in 1969\/1970, what would their next album after Abbey Road<\/i> have been?<\/p>\n

Saturday, while looking for any sort of complete list of the solo #1 hits of the Beatles, I came across this article, giving the track listing by BBC Radio Merseyside’s Spencer Leigh<\/a>, for an album called “Finishing School” —<\/p>\n

Side One<\/b><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. “Come and Get It”<\/li>\n
  2. “Instant Karma”<\/li>\n
  3. “Not Guilty”<\/li>\n
  4. “Another Day”<\/li>\n
  5. “My Sweet Lord”<\/li>\n
  6. “God”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Side Two<\/b><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. “Power to the People”<\/li>\n
    2. “Maybe I’m Amazed”<\/li>\n
    3. “It Don’t Come Easy”<\/li>\n
    4. “I Live For You”<\/li>\n
    5. “Baby Please Don’t Go”<\/li>\n
    6. “The Lovely Linda”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      And since it’s a track listing by someone with the BBC — from Liverpool, no less — surely it’s a good track listing, yes?<\/p>\n

      It’s certainly not<\/i> “The Greatest Album Never Made?” as the headline suggests.<\/p>\n

      I have similar problems with “Finishing School” that I had with “God.” The album both looks forward and<\/i> looks back. Which is why it doesn’t quite work.<\/p>\n

      Let’s suppose for a moment that in March or April 1970, the Beatles went into Abbey Road studios and recorded a new album. And that’s actually the problem — to get to March 1970, you have to get through August and September 1969. And that’s something that “God” doesn’t really<\/i> account for (though Stephen Baxter’s story takes a stab at the idea). But it’s something that “Finishing School” takes no<\/i> account of.<\/p>\n

      What’s magical about August and September 1969 is that John Lennon was breaking away from the Beatles. He was recording as “The Plastic Ono Band.” He did a concert in Toronto with Eric Clapton and Klaus Voormann. Resurrecting songs abandoned in previous sessions, holding onto songs that Lennon felt strongly about or recording songs others had already done — these weren’t likely to entice John Lennon to stay with the Beatles.<\/p>\n

      In short, “Finishing School” fails as an alt-history Beatles album. Let’s examine the track listing, and you’ll see why.<\/p>\n

      Side One<\/b><\/p>\n

      “Come and Get It.” While it’s possible<\/i> that the Beatles would have done a “proper” Beatles recording of a song that McCartney wrote and produced for another band — and a song that was released before the Beatles even broke up — I very much doubt that “Come and Get It” would have been tackled in a 1970 Beatles session. There’s nothing about it that demands<\/i> a Beatles recording. The Badfinger recording is already<\/i> Beatles-ish. Placing this song on a 1970 Beatles album simply makes no sense.<\/p>\n

      “Instant Karma” is, frankly, a poor choice for an imaginary 1970 Beatles album. It’s not a bad song. It’s actually done tremendously well. The reason it’s a bad choice is that it is, in some respects, a fulcrum on which to turn an alternate history that leads<\/i> to a 1970 Beatles album. In short, you almost need to justify why it wasn’t done as a Beatles single<\/i> to keep John Lennon in the Beatles fold. Hold the song back for an album, and there’s no guarantee that Lennon wouldn’t<\/i> bolt. (Things get weird when you contemplate the possibility of “Cold Turkey” as a Beatles single — if McCartney could have accepted that<\/i>, then maybe “Instant Karma” as a Beatles album track is possible. Maybe<\/i>.) Essentially, keeping John Lennon in the Beatles fold is the trick — and alienating John by holding a song for an album six months to a year down the road that, in real-life, he recorded and released within a fortnight, isn’t the way to go about doing it.<\/p>\n

      And “Not Guilty”? A song that the Beatles worked on — and abandoned after 102 takes — during the “White Album” sessions? Would they really come back to this two years later? However, the Beatles did<\/i> come back to “The One After 909,” so it’s not impossible<\/i>. But of all<\/i> the songs in the George Harrison cabinet that he pulled out and worked on for All Things Must Pass<\/i>, why would he skip them for this?<\/i><\/p>\n

      “Another Day” is a song that would have annoyed Lennon to no end — because in “How Do You Sleep?” he took a swipe at the song. Paul McCartney writing and suggesting this for the next album is just asking<\/i> for trouble. Especially as this is a song that he would have insisted on beating into the ground, like “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” or “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.” This would not have been on a 1970 Beatles album. It just wouldn’t.<\/p>\n

      The pairing of “My Sweet Lord” and “God” is a nice contrast — but as I wrote when discussing “Hot As Sun<\/a>,” that’s a pairing better suited to the single — “My Sweet Lord” on Side A, “God” on Side B.<\/p>\n

      Side Two<\/b><\/p>\n

      We open with “Power to the People.” To be honest, this song annoys the piss out of me. I don’t hate it, but neither do I really care for it. Yes, it belongs — it calls back to “Revolution” in its first stanza — and I wonder at what a Beatles version of the song would have. Probably not the gospel-like choir in the background. Probably not the sax solo. George Harrison probably would have added some amazing guitar work. I’m actually not opposed to this making the cut.<\/p>\n

      “Maybe I’m Amazed” feels out-of-place sandwiched in-between “Power to the People” and “It Don’t Come Easy.” I don’t think there’s any way of doing a Beatles 1970 album without<\/i> “Maybe I’m Amazed,” but I fail to see any sense for why the song is here. It’s a magnificent song — perhaps McCartney’s best and most-heartfelt love song — yet it seems lost amidst the muddle of side two of “Finishing School.”<\/p>\n

      Ringo coming so late on the album is odd. “It Don’t Come Easy” doesn’t easily flow out of “Maybe I’m Amazed.”<\/p>\n

      “I Live For You,” the final George Harrison song on the album, is an overlooked gem. I put it on “Hot As Sun,” as well.<\/p>\n

      “Baby Please Don’t Go.” All I have to say is… What! The! Fuck! Seriously. What’s the thinking here? This makes no<\/i> sense to me.<\/p>\n

      And finally, “That Lovely Linda.” The BBC article justifies it, basically, as Paul being weird, like “Her Majesty” on Abbey Road<\/i>. Okay. Maybe<\/i> I can buy that. But it’s still a really<\/i> odd choice. Really odd.<\/p>\n

      The problem is this — nothing really gels<\/i>. There’s no sense of order<\/i>. There’s no sense of art<\/i>.<\/p>\n

      In short, “Finishing School” doesn’t feel like an album. It feels like a random smattering of songs. Except for the pairing of “My Sweet Lord” with “God,” nothing else on this “album” makes sense. These songs don’t fit together.<\/p>\n

      I’ll admit — I’m biased. I think my playlist, “Hot As Sun,” is superb. I look at other alternate universe, 1970 Beatles albums and find them lacking. Sometimes it’s a lack of cohesion. Sometimes it’s a song choice — like “Instant Karma” — that simply doesn’t make sense in a 1970-context.<\/p>\n

      So, no, I don’t much care for “Finishing School.” It’s certainly not<\/i> “the greatest album never made.”<\/p>\n

      And in other news, no, I never did find a comprehensive list of the solo Beatles #1 hits. :\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Stephen Baxter created “God.” Maximum Bob created “Imaginary.” I created “Hot As Sun.” Imaginary Beatles albums. Had the band not broken up in 1969\/1970, what would their next album after Abbey Road have been? Saturday, while looking for any sort of complete list of the solo #1 hits of the Beatles, I came across thisContinue reading “On Another Imaginary Beatles Album”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4097],"tags":[60,77,96,98],"class_list":["post-1759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beatles","tag-george-harrison","tag-john-lennon","tag-paul-mccartney","tag-the-beatles","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}