The Best Beatles Solo Work?
It’s amazing the scorn for the Beatles solo work that the release of the new Live at The Hollywood Bowl has unleashed on the web. Okay, so the sum of the parts was undoubtedly better than the individual voices. But once the band broke up, the break was irrevocable. No matter how much anyone wished or still wishes, The Beatles were finished. No one’s ever said it better than George Martin in the original back cover liner for the original LP issue of the Hollywood Bowl record:
"Those who clamour for a Beatle reunion cannot see that it can never be the same again.”
So John, Paul, George and Ringo moved on, into solo careers, that despite some of the dismissive maligning now sloshing around on websites–often in the comments after reviews of the new Hollywood Bowl release–had more than a few highlights. To my ears, the masterpieces of the solo careers are obvious.
In John’s case, the raw intimacy of the Plastic Ono Band and the sweet tunefulness of Imagine are his solo masterworks. George Harrison’s initial solo release All Things Must Pass despite containing a record of jams that no one ever listened to among the three LPs that made up the set is still a fabulous collection of songs from the band’s most underrated talent. Cases can also be made for The Concert for Bangladesh and Living in the Material World.
To anyone who wants to disparage the Beatles solo records, one four word phrase defeats all arguments in that twisted direction: Band on the Run. Paul’s first album McCartney (the cherries record) and Ram are also excellent. And call me a sentimental wreck but I’ve always had a soft spot for Red Rose Speedway. Forget “My Love,” I like “Little Lamb Dragonfly.” Being a music fan is about guilty pleasures.
By: Robert Baird
Source: Stereophile
