John Lennon had formally left The Beatles in September 1969, but had agreed to keep it quiet until all sorts of business deals had been finalised. Paul McCartney retreated to his farm house in Scotland and fell into depression. He took the ending of the band very badly and the situation was not helped by disagreements over who should be looking after The Beatles business affairs. McCartney favoured the family of his wife Linda, whereas the other three appointed the controversial Allen Klein. Luckily for us, Linda convinced him to write new material as well as to finish off songs he had been working on in the last days of The Beatles.
Returning to London, he started to work on what would become the ‘McCartney’ album. Apart from some backing vocals from Linda, everything else was performed by Paul. After working up the songs at his home studio, he then moved to the more professional environment of Morgan Studios. Wanting the keep the project under wraps, he booked the studio time under the name of ‘Billy Martin’. With further sessions completed at EMI, the album was scheduled for a April 1970 release. This lead to further conflict with other Beatles. This was because the Phil Spector produced ‘Let it Be’ LP as well as the film to go along with it were scheduled for released around the same time. Lennon and Harrison wrote to McCartney about pushing the release of the solo album back so The Beatles product could take precedence. Ringo Starr said he would take it around personally to McCartneys house. McCartney did not take kindly to the visit and the release date of his solo LP was not pushed back. As a consequence of all of this, his relationship with his three former band mates was now at an all time low, if non existent.
McCartney followed this by composing a Q&A press release in which he explained the reasons behind his solo LP and The Beatles spitting up. His former band mates were not happy about this also. It seemed to them that McCartney was using the breakup as a way off promoting his album. Lennon was especially displeased because he had kept his own departure from the group quiet the previous year.
The ‘McCartney’ album sold very well, especially in the US but it has come under some criticism for being under produced and lacking in quality material. McCartney soon returned to the studio to record the ‘Ram’ album, which used outside musicians and was more professionally produced. Criticism of the ‘Ram’ LP at the time was harsh, with some of The Beatles (especially Lennon) feeling that some of the songs were directed at him and his wife Yoko Ono. ‘Ram’ has received critical reassessment and is seem a lot more favourably in recent years. However, it is still a disjointed album with some fantastic songs mixed in with some lightweight material.
What if McCartney had not released his first solo album but had used it as a way of working up new material and getting used to recording without his old bandmates? Well, the ‘McCartney’ LP did have some excellent songs on it but overall, it is not very good. What if McCartney had kept the quality songs from the first LP sessions and used them on ‘Ram’ instead? Well, this is what I came up with.
Side A
- Too Many People (Ram)
- Maybe I’m Amazed (McCartney)
- Eat At Home (Ram)
- Ram On (Ram)
- Long Haired Lady (Ram)
- Junk (McCartney)
Side B
- Every Night (McCartney)
- Monkberry Moon Delight (Ram)
- Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (Ram)
- Smile Away (Ram)
- Ram On (Reprise) (Ram)
- The Back Seat Of My Car (Ram)
Singles
- Maybe I’m Amazed (Mono Single Mix)
- Singalong Junk (Mono Single Mix)
- Another Day (Mono Single Mix)
- Oh Woman, Oh Why (Mono Single Mix)
- Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (Mono Single Mix)
- Smile Away (Mono Single Mix)
For this, I need to change the history of the period a little bit. In this timeline, McCartney decides against releasing the songs he has been recording as an album. Therefore, there isn’t a conflict between his record and the ‘Let It Be’ LP. That means that there isn’t as much bad blood between McCartney and the rest of The Beatles. McCartney takes stock of the situation, listens to what he has produced and comes to the conclusion that what is in the can is not very good and goes off to write some new songs as well as finish off some of the ideas he brought to the ‘Let it Be sessions’ but where not ultimately used*.
With ‘Let It Be’ out, The Beatles offer a joint press release stating that the band is over and all four members set out to release singles. Each ex-Beatle releases an album before the end of the year. except Ringo who releases two. McCartney kicks off his solo career with the single ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ backed with ‘Singalong Junk’. Both of these song were recorded earlier in the year and is seen by McCartney as a stop gap to keep his name fresh with the record buying public especially as his ex-colleagues have released so much product in comparison.
McCartney takes time at the end of 1970 and early 71 writing new material as well as being in the studio with musicians David Spinoza (Guitar), Hugh McCracken (Guitar) and Denny Sewell (Drums). Enough songs are recorded for an album in their own rite but McCartney decides to include a couple songs from his earlier sessions (‘Junk’ and ‘Every Night’) as well as a stereo mix of ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’**.
Another outtake from the ‘Let It Be’ Sessions is released as a stand alone single at the start of 1971 (as it did in reality) but is not included on the parent album. The single is a top five single in all of the major markets and ‘Ram’ follows in May. For the US, Canadian and Mexico markets, ‘Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey’ is released with another ‘Ram’ song, ‘Smile Away’ on the B-Side. Both of these songs receive exclusive mono mixes for this release. The LP is a success with the public but not so much with critics who feel McCartney would benefit from a collaborator of the standard of John Lennon to make his work have a harder edge. McCartney goes back the drawing board and forms the band Wings, for which he would continue to have massive commercial success for the rest of the 1970s
Overall, I feel that this is a vast improvement on the original ‘Ram’ album. If this timeline had been followed instead of what happened in reality, the remaining tracks recorded for the ‘McCartney’ album would no doubt have seen the light of day on some sort of archival release. I used the cover of the ‘McCartney’ as think this is better than the one used for ‘Ram’.
* These songs are ‘Every Night’, ‘Junk’, ‘Back Seat of My Car’, ‘Another Day’
** The single version was released in mono.