The Squire Presents

Here is the second part of an alternative history where The Beatles did not break up in 1970. Not wanting to repeat the mistake of the ‘White Album’ by going back to recording too soon after releasing a double album, The Beatles decide to take a break from recording and recharge their batteries, spend some time with their respective families and work on some new material. It is agreed that they will meet up again in June.  However, these plans need to be changed earlier than expected due to the fact that some of the outtakes from the ‘Imagine’ sessions have been released as a bootleg. The record is called ‘Imagination’ and contains rough mixes of ten songs that had not been officially released. 

Imagination Bootleg

Side A

1. What Is Life
2. I Found Out 
3. Isn’t It A Pity (Version One)
4. God
5. Art Of Dying

Side B

1. How?
2. Gimme Some Truth
3. Isolation
4. Crippled Inside
5. Long Haired Lady

No one is sure how these rough mixes made it out of the studio but suspicion falls on Ringo Starr who has been known to give friends such as Peter Sellers tapes of Beatles songs in the past. However, the band are in no mood to let the bootleggers make money off of their product so meet in the spring, listen back to the tapes and come up with another record to release as soon as possible. What the ‘Imagination’ bootleg shows is the dearth of McCartney material that was recorded due to the writers block that he had been suffering from at the start of the sessions. Since then, he had been writing constantly and says that if they use some of these newly minted tracks, they will have enough material for another double album judging by the quality of songs Harrison and Lennon left in the can. This would mean the fans that bought the bootleg would be happy as they will have more new material and won’t feel cheated for buying the same songs twice. The album could be ready by the end of the summer and there is enough quality material for a couple of singles to boot. 

When Starr says that having a second double album out after such a short space of time might rip off or at least annoy some fans, Lennon says ”It doesn’t seem to have hurt that band Chicago” and the matter is dropped. For an album that is mostly made up of outtakes from sessions to the ‘Imagine’ album, Lennon jokes that they should call it ‘Scraping the Barrel’. Feeling that this will be a bit close to the bone, it is agreed that the title should be called ‘Have You Heard The Word’.

Phil Spector is brought back in to oversee the mixing of the old material and the production of the new songs. The band agree that as he was the producer on the ‘Imagine’ album, the sound needs to be constant throughout. The first single release comes out in March and is Lennon’s ‘It’s So Hard’ backed with Harrison’s ‘Let it Down’. Neither of these songs were on the ‘Imagination’ bootleg and the single is eagerly snapped up by fans, sending it into the top ten the world over and the press is informed that the parent album will be released in June. The band work feverishly to finish off McCartney’s songs as well as work on Starr’s ‘Coochy Coochy’ before the deadline. 

Harrison has the busiest schedule of any of the band and once the sessions are over, he goes off to work with Badfinger on their album ‘Straight Up’. Taking a break from Badfinger just as ‘Have You Heard The Word’ hits the shelves, he starts doing some production for his friend and legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar and the soundtrack for the documentary film, ‘Raga’. It was during work on this album that Shankar tells Harrison about the humanitarian crisis caused by the Bangladesh Liberation War. Shankar wants to put on a charity concert in the hope of raising $25,000 for the cause. Harrison believes that with his involvement, and the possibility that he can convince the other Beatles to perform live at the concert, the amount of money that can be raised would be significantly higher. 

Calling Badfinger to say he cannot commit to finishing their album, Harrison contacts the other Beatles about the concert. Even though there is a reluctance to play live (due to amount of time it has been since they have played in front of a paying audience), they agree with the feeling being that they missed out on the late 60s festivals such as Woodstock and Monterrey, and don’t want to miss out here. Harrison then opens up his address book and manages to secure the likes of Bob Dylan, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, the whole of Badfinger and the Hollywood Horns. With the concert booked for 1 August, The Beatles arrive in Los Angeles for rehearsals. Harrison has also written a song that he calls ‘Bangla Desh’ and it is recorded at the beginning of July for release before the concert. When news gets out that The Beatles will be performing at the Madison Square Garden venue in New York, demand for tickets is high and the event sells out so quickly that an afternoon show is arranged to maximise receipts as well as to satisfy demand. However, due to the short notice of the concert, Harrison is not able to organise more dates due to Madison Square Garden being fully booked before and afterwards. 

The single comes out two days before the concert and is another huge hit all over the world. The concerts raise $243,000 and Harrison retreats back into the studio to mix the concert tapes for a potential release in time for the Christmas market, feeling that if it was left any later, people would forget about the humanitarian crisis and it will not make as much money as he hopes. 

After the Concert for Bangladesh, Lennon decides he is going to stay in New York. He wants some time to focus on not being a Beatle in a city he feels comfortable walking around without the hassle he would receive back in the UK. He has also started to become more involved in radical left wing politics and he starts to focus on collaborating with Ono. This leads to the ‘Happy Xmas (War is Over)’ single which the couple decide to release it under their own name. Unfortunately, he is in competition with himself because Apple Records have another ‘Imagine’ outtake on the singles release schedule with his ‘Gimmie Some Truth’. 

Lennon says that the message of his Christmas record resonates with the feelings generated by the Bangladesh Concert and says a portion of the profits should go to that charity. Both Lennon’s single and The Beatles release break the UK top ten, but are kept off of the top spot by Benny Hill and his ‘Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)’ novelty single. The live album of the Bangladesh Concert means that at the end of 1971, there is a lot of Beatles related product on the market. However, all of the band members enjoyed playing live together. This is put down to the fact that the audience is older and, therefore, there was not the screaming that was a constant at concerts during the height of Beatlemania. However, it is not only the press who are wondering if this is a one off or will they do more live performances in future. 

Side A

1. What Is Life – All Things Must Pass
2. Crippled Insid – Imagine
3. Monkberry Moon Delight – Ram
4. Behind That Locked Door – All Things Must Pass
5. Isolation – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
6. Eat At Home – Ram

Side B

1. Art Of Dying – All Things Must Pass
2. I Found Out – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
3. Coochy Coochy – Single B-Side
4. Long Haired Lady – Ram
5. The Lovely Linda (Mono) – McCartney

Side C

1. Apple Scruffs – All Things Must Pass
2. Oo You – McCartney
3. Well Well Well – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
4. I Dig Love – All Things Must Pass
5. God – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

Side D

1. If Not For You – All Things Must Pass
2. How? – Imagine
3. Run Of The Mill – All Things Must Pass
4. Hear Me Lord – All Things Must Pass
5. The Back Seat Of My Car – Ram

Singles

1. It’s So Hard – Imagine
2. Let It Down – All Things Must Pass

1. Bangla Desh – Single A-Side
2. Isn’t A Pity (Version 1) – All Things Must Pass

1. Gimmie Some Truth – Imagine
2. Man We Was Lonely – McCartney

What surprised me when I was listening to The Beatles solo albums once more, is how much great material was recorded for those early solo albums, that was not used on ‘Imagine’. I did not expect to be able to make another record, let alone another double with singles. They were releasing so many good records that there was even room for me to have Lennon have a solo release with ‘Merry Xmas (War is Over)’. What was most surprising to me when putting these first two albums together was the solo output of Paul McCartney between 1970 and 71. He released three albums where the quality of music on the grooves was varied. If a bit more quality control had been in place, there was enough material for one stellar album. A What-If project for the future methinks. The records of Lennon and Harrison during the same period are stone cold classics. Starr released his own classic single with ‘It Don’t Come Easy’, but I find listening to a Ringo album a bit much as I am not a great fan of his voice. I did debate whether I could use Harrison’s cover of ‘If Not For You’ as the group had not recorded a cover for a while (the bits and pieces on the ‘Let It Be’ album not included). I played with the order of the songs on the fourth disc but whatever I did with the order, it just did not sound right without it. 

Even though this would work as a CD (like the other playlists on the site already), this has been presented as though it was a double album with associated singles placed at the end. For the record, Sides A, B & C are CD 1 and Side D and singles are CD 2. The artwork has been ‘borrowed’ from http://the-reconstructor.blogspot.com/ and was the cover for their own Beatles mash up called Falling Rain. A brilliant use of the front cover of Paul McCartney’s first solo album and I hope that The Reconstructor doesn’t mind its use here. This would be only the second Beatles LP that does not have a picture of the band or at least an image representing them on the cover. The ‘White Album’ being the other one. The ‘Imagination’ front cover was based on ‘The Dream is Over Vol.1’ bootleg.

Today sees the release of the 50th Anniversary of their eighth album, ‘Lola Versus Powerman & The Moneygoround, Part One’. With that in mind, I thought it was time I brought out a what-if album but this great British band. 

The band had enjoyed some success in the USA in the mid 60s, but due to a ban on them performing in concerts that  lasted from 1965 to 1969, their popularity waned. It was during this period that Ray Davies moved away from the American infused R&B of the bands earlier records to something a little more English. The lifting of the concert ban in the US was just in time for the release of Lola which would give the band their biggest hit Stateside since ‘Tired of Waiting’ in 1965. Reprise, the record company that had released The Kinks since ‘You Really Got Me’ were no doubt expecting the band to be a good money earner for them from this point on, but this was not to be. That was because in 1971, the band left Pye, their British label for RCA and they also did not renew their American distribution contract with Reprise. Like a good many other labels that have lost a potential cash cow, they decided to delve into the Pye vaults to pick out some songs from the bands late 60s output including music that had not been released in the USA before.

First up was the compilation The Kinks Khronicles, which focused on the band’s 1966-71 output. Considered a classic of the genre, it contained ‘Did You See His Name’ which was completely unreleased beforehand and five other songs which made their US debut on this album. The rest of the songs were made up from singles and albums tracks. It most probably helped that Reprise did not release any old cash grab compilation, but asked music journalist John Mendelsohn to not only supply the sleeve notes but compile the record. Being a fan of the band, Mendelsohn showed a level of care and attention that would be sorely lacking from the majority of Kinks compilations released down the years. 

Reprise decided they were on to a good thing here and Mendelsohn came back to write the sleeve notes for the follow up which was called ‘The Great Lost Kinks’ album. I have not been able to find out what Ray Davies thought about the Kinks Kronicle, but it was clear that he was not happy about the songs on this follow up record. None of the songs had been released before and some would not see the light of day again on any official Kinks releases until 2014. Legal action was taken against Reprise who withdrew the album from sale by 1975 which lead to it being a collectors item. One of the songs was included in the 25th episode of the podcast http://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/podcast/episode-25-skeletons-in-the-cupboard/. 

Even though this compilation was left as one of the holy grail of Kinks collectors, Pye, did not compile their own version of this album. The aim of this What-If post is to think what Pye would have done if they had compiled their own Great Lost Kinks album for the UK market. Up until the mid-90s, the band’s back catalogue was treated quite badly. Any re-issues of material tended to focus on the hits from the Pye years and little else. This all changed with expanded CD sets of all of the Pye records in 1998, a three disc set of the Village Green Preservation Society in 2004 and then  a set of deluxe editions that were released between 2011-2014. There has even been a 50th set of ‘Village Green’ and ‘Arthur’ containing a number of demos and other hard to find or unreleased material (as well as the just re-released ‘Lola’). 

What all these showed was how much quality material was written and recorded by the band that did not see the light of day at the time. If Pye had raided their archives, there was enough rare or unreleased songs too compile a double album covering the same time period as the Reprise album from 1973. Not everything is top notch, as it does include a couple of studio jams but on the face of it, this would have been a rather good compilation. Would it have seen the light of day if Pye had thought about it in 1973. Unlikely, judging by Ray Davies reaction to the Reprise compilation of the same name. Time has allowed us to see this glimpse into The Kinks achieve and it is a shame that it took so long for their fans to hear the material contained on this record.

I have tried to keep the songs in a rough chronological order from when they were recorded, and also to keep the sides of the LP at roughly the same amount of time. All songs are stereo unless stated otherwise. I have shown where these songs were originally released under the track listing for Side 4. 

Side 1

1. Where Did My Spring Go (Mono) – 1
2. Rosemary Rose (Previously Unissued Mix) – 2
3. Lavender Hill (Mono) – 1
4. ‘Till Death Do Us Part (Mono) – 1
5. Misty Waters (Previously Unissued Mx) – 2
6. Afternoon Tea (Canadian Mono Mix) – 3
7. Mick Avory’s Underpants – 4

Side 2

1. Village Green (No Strings Version) – 4
2. Do You Remember Walter (French, Swedish, Norwegian Stereo Mix) – 5
3. Spotty Grotty Anna – 4
4. Berkley Mews (Stereo) – 6
5. Days (French, Swedish, Norwegian Stereo Mix) – 5
6. Mr. Songbird (French, Swedish, Norwegian Stereo Mix) – 5
7. Did You See His Names? (Stereo with Alternative Ending) – 2
8. People Take Pictures Of Each Other (French, Swedish, Norwegian Stereo Mix) – 5

Side 3

1. God’s Children (Mono Film Mix) – 7
2. The Way Love Used To Be #2 (Mono Film Mix) – 10
3. Dreams (Mono Film Mix) – 8
4. The Good Life – 7
5. Easy Come, There You Went (Stereo) – 4
6. Plastic Man – 9
7. Australia (Australian Single Mix) – 10
8. Moments (Mono Film Mix) – 8 

Side 4

1. The Way Love Used To Be #1 (Mono Film Mix) – 11
2. The Virgin Soldiers March – 12
3. Apeman (European Single Mix) – 13
4. Drivin’ (Alternative Mix) – 12
5. Soldier’s Coming Home – 12
6. When I Turn Off The Living Room Light (Mono) – 1
7. The Way Love Used To Be #3 – 11
8. Anytime – 7
9. God’s Children – End (Mono Film Mix) – 7

Key

1 – The Great Lost Kinks Album (1973)

2 – The Kinks Anthology 1964-1971 (2014)

3 – David Watts Single B-Side. Canadian Single Exclusive Mix (1967)

4 – The Village Green Preservation Society – Special Deluxe Edition (2004)

5 – The Village Green Preservation Society – Original European 12 Song Version (1968)

6 – Then, Now & Inbetween (1969)

7 – Lola Versus Powerman & The Moneyground/Percy  – Deluxe Edition (2014)

8 – Percy – Reissue (1998)

9 – Star Parade Mix (1969)

10 – Australian Single A-Side (1969)

11 – Percy (1998 Reissue)

12 – Arthur Or The Decline Of The British Empire  – 50th Anniversary Edition (2019)

13 – European Single A-Side Mix (1970)

The album cover was adapted from sheet music for Lola.

When it came to the bands from the heyday of Britpop, Supergrass were the band I enjoyed the most. Between 1995 (when I first became aware of them) and 2010, (when they split before finishing their “Release The Drones’ album) I would soak up each and every release. Each vinyl single was released with different colours and the albums were geared to the playing time of the LP. Each record was different in style but always kept the Supergrass sound. 

I was therefore very excited to hear in late 2019 that there were rumours of the band getting back together. When this turned out to be true, I was hoping for three things. Some live gigs, the release of new material and finishing off of the unfinished ‘Realise The Drones’ LP. Only the first has so far come true, and I was lucky enough to catch them at Alexandra Palace before lockdown kicked in. 

What we did get (on 27th November 2020) was a live album taken from their 2020 shows, with all of the profits going to #saveourvenues. In honour of that release, I thought it was time to go into the Supergrass back catalogue to compile a live album of tracks from before the 2010 split. I was amazed that the band had not released a live album before. The nearest we got was a promo from 2002, which had been released to promote the ‘Seen The Light’ single and tour in 2003. There was also a number of live tracks released on the B-Side of their singles as well a number of gigs released on the ‘Strange Ones’ Box Set from 2020. 

With all this material at hand, I decided to proceed my own mix of Supergrass songs for a live album. This involved editing a number of these live tracks together so that it sounds like one continuous gig, even though you can see from the track list below, they come from a number of different source. The only time there was a fade out was when the sides finished, as this mix was based on the fantasy release being a double vinyl record. I must admit that some edits were work better than others, but this is down to my not exactly perfect skills as  down as an editor. I also decided to not only include the more well known songs, but some deep cuts as well.

Side A

1. Shane O’Donoghue Introduction (RDS Arena Dublin, 22nd June 1996)
2. Lenny (RDS Arena Dublin, 22nd June 1996)
3. Caught By The Fuzz (RDS Arena Dublin, 22nd June 1996)
4. Funniest Thing (Reading Festival, 25th August 2001)
5. Richard III (Reading Festival, 25th August 2001)
6. Melanie Davis (RDS Arena Dublin, 22nd June 1996)
7. We’re Not Supposed To (RDS Arena Dublin, 22nd June 1996)
8. She’s So Loose (RDS Arena Dublin, 22nd June 1996)

Side B

1. Seen The Light
2. Rush Hour Soul
3. Ghost Of A Friend (Shepard’s Bush Empire, 10th December 2008)
4. Outside (Shepard’s Bush Empire, 10th December 2008)
5. Late In The Day
6. Grace
7. Bullet (Pyramid Centre Portsmouth, 29th May 2005)

Side C

1. Out Of The Blue (Reading Festival, 29th August 1998)
2. Alright (Reading Festival, 29th August 1998)
3. In It For The Money (Reading Festival, 29th August 1998(
4. Jesus Came From Outer Space (T In The Park, 9th July 2000)
5. Sick (T In The Park, 9th July 2000)
6. Pumping on Your Stereo (Reading Festival, 25th August 2001)

Side D

1. Mary (T In The Park, 9th July 2000)
2. Cheapskate (Glastonbury Festival, 26th June 1997)
3. Time (Glastonbury Festival, 26th June 1997)
4. Odd (Glastonbury Festival, 26th June 1997)
5. Going Out (RDS Arena Dublin, 22nd June 1996)

All of the songs that do not have dates are from the ‘Live 2002’ album. I have not been able to find the dates that those recordings were made. 

The cover is based upon that aforementioned promo live album from 2002, but with some slight editing so that the date is no longer viable. 

“Listen to the music. Would George have ever flourished like that if we’d carried on with the group? No chance! There was no room! If people need The Beatles so much, all they have to do is buy each album and…put it on tape, track by track, one of me, one of Paul, one of George, one of Ringo if they really need it that much…the music is just the same only on separate albums. Instead of having ‘The White Album’ or ‘Abbey Road’, where I sing a song, George sings a song, Paul sings a song, Ringo sings a song, boom, boom, boom like that, we make an album each. That’s the only difference. And it’s far better music because we’re not suppressed…” John Lennon.  

If the second Derek & the Dominos is one of the many what-ifs from music history (see Bruno McDonald’s wonderful The Greatest Albums You’ll Never Hear book for a whole tome dedicated to the topic), what is the greatest music what-if? What if Buddy Holly and Jimi Hendrix had not died young? What if Peter Green and Syd Barrett not been waylaid by drugs? What if Brian Wilson had finished the ‘Smile’ album in 1967 or any of the other years is was rumoured to be coming out throughout the early 70s? It is doubtful that any of these would be a great as The Beatles continuing to make records together after 1970. Now, I am not the first person to give this a go by a long shot, but there really isn’t any harm in creating an alternative timeline for The Beatles going into the early 70s? I do feel though that there needs to be some ground rules before starting on this venture. 

1. All of the songs must be from a solo Beatles release. Therefore, no outtakes or demos from the later Beatles albums (especially as I have used these elsewhere) but a solo release whilst The Beatles were still a recording band is fair game in being made an official band release. However….
2. I will not be using anything from the more experimental works. I know that the ‘White Album’ had Revolution #9 on it but I don’t feel that Harrisons’ ‘Wonderwall Music’ or ‘Electronic Sound’ along with Lennon & Ono’s ‘Unfinished Music’ and ‘Wedding Album’ fit into what could be considered a Beatle record (Revolution #9 not withstanding). These therefore stay as solo releases in this alternative timeline. 
3. The sides of the records must not exceed the limited playing time of the LP. This first volume does have some long playing times with the longest side clocking in just under 26 minutes. Long for an LP but not unheard of. 
4. This might be called the Lost Beatles albums, but singles will also be included. Like the early days of the band, songs used on singles will not to be used on LPs. There was so much material to choose from, this proved to be rather easy to accomplish. 
5. Everything is available to use. This can therefore include songs from the early 70s where the band members openly criticise or at least mention one other. Would these songs have been written at all if the band had stayed together? Ringo’s song ‘Early 1970′ has been described as a sort of peace treaty to the other three members of the band after their official break up in April 1970, but this has been used. The same goes for tracks that have been included on the album in McCartney’s’ ‘Too Many People’ from his ‘Ram’ album, Harrison’s ‘Wah Wah’ and Lennon’s’ How Do You Sleep? I have had to take the view that these songs were already written or may have been written anyway (with different lyrics) so there is no reason not to include them. 
6. Taking all of the above into account, the following is an alternative history of The Beatles from mid-1969 until 1971. All the release dates are fictitious and for the UK only. 
7. There was another problem when putting this compilation together and that is Paul McCartney’s output in 1970. Even though he released his first solo album that year, that was it for the year and to be fair, it is not a great record. This is in marked contrast to Lennon and Harrison who were very busy that year. Lennon released one classic album and a couple of singles (depending on the territory). Harrison released a triple album and a massive selling single in ‘My Sweet Lord’. Ringo released two albums (the first all covers, the second consisting primarily of songs written with his voice in mind) and a single. In the archives there is at least one more record that Ringo has yet to release (as of 2020). To give McCartney more representation on the record, which may have occurred naturally as he was suffering from a depression caused by the breakup of the band, I opened up the scope of the record to what the band recorded as solo artists in 1971 as well. This is why there are a number of songs from the ‘Imagine’ and ‘Ram’ albums. The fact that some of the songs from those albums were presented during the ‘Let It Be’ sessions means that some of these songs may well have been ready to be recorded in 1970. As this is an alternative history, I feel that this is acceptable. It also makes for a stronger set of releases. I hope you agree. 

With the ‘Abbey Road’ recording session nearing their end, three of the four Beatles meet to record a message to Ringo (who is ill at the time) that outline the future of the band, with Lennon reasserting himself after his drug addictions and side projects with Yoko Ono distracted him from the task at hand. Namely, being in The Beatles. He proclaims that the band need a break, to take stock of where they are, allow the ‘Let it Be’ project to come out, warts and all, and that the next album will be more of a band effort. That means it will have more contributions from George Harrison as his song writing abilities have improved massively since the early years of the band and Ringo will have some space for anything he comes up with. McCartney has had reservations about Harrisons songs but decides to keep his own council on this as he does not want the group to split up. The band has essentially taken up his entire adult life and he doesn’t want to let that go just yet. Lennon also says how much his dislikes some of McCartney’s more anodyne efforts such as ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ and continues by saying that they should be given to other artists on the Apple label, in the same way he had done with previous efforts for the likes of Mary Hopkin and Badfinger. 

McCartney tries to defend the song but Harrison points out that no one else in the band liked it. McCartney leaves it at that and Lennon then says that the lead single from the ‘Abbey Road’ sessions should be Harrison’s song ‘Something’ which Lennon feels is the best song on the forthcoming album. It should also be released before the album comes out as a double A-Side with Come Together. He finishes the tape by stating that from now on, songs will be credited to whoever wrote it and not Lennon & McCartney. McCartney mentions that for this to work, the band dynamic needs to go back to what it was before hand where it is the guys in band working on material without outside influence. Lennon knows that this is directed at his new wife Yoko Ono, but he also knows that Harrison and Starr have not been happy with her being in the studio. He acquiesces to this knowing that he has been working on a side project with her called the Plastic Ono Band for anything he feels is not Beatley. With that, the band takes a break from each other until they meet up early in 1970 to sign off on the ‘Let it Be’ project. 

‘Something/Come Together’ comes out in late August 1969 and reaches Number 4 in the UK Charts, their lowest placing since their debut, ‘Love Me Do’. Fans are used to the band not putting their singles on their albums so are surprised in September when the parent album comes out that these are the first two songs on the album. The press speculate that this, and the Side 2 medley show that The Beatles are running out of ideas, or at worse, are a spent force. The fact members of the band are seen doing everything they can to not to be The Beatles only adds weight to this suggestion. Lennon has been in Toronto to take part in the city’s Rock and Roll Revival Festival, accompanied Ono, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman and Alan White. There, Lennon introduces two new songs that he says will be released by The Beatles in the near future. These are ‘Give Peace a Chance’ (which Lennon had recorded in the June, but had kept back whilst trying to work out if he saw a future in The Beatles) and ‘Cold Turkey’. He takes the tapes from this show and releases an EP of songs, which includes ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, ‘Money’, ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzie’ and ‘Don’t Worry Koyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking For Her Hand in the Snow)’. The EP is released as the Live Peace in Toronto EP with profits going to refugees from the Nigerian-Biafran War. 

Lennon then finishes work on his third collaborative effort with Ono, which is called the ‘Wedding Album’. This comes out in November and is met with less than favourable reviews by the music press. Feeling that he needs to highlight the pain and suffering to millions around the world to the many wars that were occurring at the time, he digs ‘Give Peace a Chance’ out of the archive and releases it in time for Christmas. It is released under The Beatles name, even though none of the other Beatles play on it and has the song writing credit Lennon-Ono on the label. When asked why he did this by London based journalist David Wigg, Lennon felt that the message would reach a wider audience than if he had released it under his own name. He is also asked by Wigg about the song writing credit for which Lennon replies “Well, she helped me write it and Paul didn’t”. Energised by all that he has done over the previous four months and feeling focused once again after giving up drugs, Lennon retreats to his home in Ascot to write some new material.

Starr recovers from his illness and spends his time recording tracks for what will become his first solo album. Unlike previous Beatles solo recordings up to this point, Starr’s record would not be a soundtrack, live or experimental. Instead, it would be an album of standards that would be music his mother would like. Employing George Martin to produce, Starr asked a number of famous musicians such as Quincy Jones and band mate Paul McCartney to lend a hand arranging the records. As well as recording, Starr went to the premier of his film The Magic Christian, hanging out with his co-star in the film Peter Sellers and plonking around on various musical instruments trying to come up with some material for use when The Beatles re-convene in the New Year. 

Harrison spends his time in late 1969 writing songs, looking for a new home more suited to his need for privacy and going out on the road in December with Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. Harrison was still a bit annoyed that he had not been able to secure Delaney and Bonnie to Apple Records but loved the freedom of playing in their band. He joined them for the UK and Scandinavian legs of the tour before returning home to buy Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames. There he installs a recording studio so he can record when he wants and with whom he wants just in case Lennon’s insistence that Harrison have more of a presence on Beatles records does not amount to anything. He already has a massive backlog of songs due to his limited space on Beatles LPs but sets to work on a new batch for a possible solo LP which he had first thought about doing in early 1969 when he walked out of the ‘Let it Be’ recording sessions. 

McCartney on the other hand had taken the criticism from Lennon and Harrison badly and retreated to his High Park Farm on Kintyre in Scotland. He is suffering from depression and mostly drunk, which was not the best environment to raise his wife Linda’s seven-year-old daughter and his own child by her. After two months where McCartney believes he suffered a nervous breakdown and produced little to no music, the family returns to London. McCartney has a small recording set up in his London home and begins recording. These include tunes designed to test the equipment as well as songs that were put forward at the ‘Let it Be’ sessions, but not professionally recorded. On hearing that Lennon is preparing to release ‘Give Peace a Chance’ for a single release under The Beatles name, McCartney returns to Abbey Road to record some of these sketches by himself with ‘That Would Be Something’ finished first. Lennon, needing a B-Side for ‘Give Peace a Chance’ asks what is knocking about and instead of using a song from the archive, uses ‘That Would Be Something’. Lennon does feel a bit guilty that he has cut McCartney out of the song writing partnership that has been so profitable for the both of them throughout the 60s. 

McCartney feels the song is not one of his best songs, but will do for a B-Side and agrees not to take any royalties, instead donating them to the same charity as the A-side. However, this does inspires him to start working more seriously on his songs once more. His confidence takes a knock when he hears what Phil Spector has been doing in the studio when mixing the ‘Let it Be’ tapes. 

Starr finishes recording his first solo album and with ‘Let It Be’ still not ready, it is decided to put out Sentimental Journey in March of 1970 as stop gap. Whilst not as successful as a Beatles album would have been, his reputation as the band’s drummer is enough to ensure healthy sales, especially as he did not release a single to promote it. Feeling inspired by this success, Starr finishes off two songs (with a little help from Harrison who declines to take a writing credit) that he has been working on for the previous few months. It is when mixing his album that Lennon sends out the call for the band to get back together as he has two songs he wants to put out as a double A-Side as soon as possible. The result is ‘Instant Karma’ and ‘Cold Turkey’, which does well in the charts but fails to make the converted Number 1 spot due to Lee Marvin’s recording of ‘Wandering Star’. 

When Spector presents the final mix of ‘Let it Be’ to the band, McCartney is particularly unhappy with the way in which his songs have been drenched in strings and choirs, but the other three Beatles wanting to draw a line under this project and without any other new material recorded, decide to release the album as is. Even though not the strongest of Beatles records, the album is released in May of 1970 and reaches Number 1 around the world and gives the band some breathing space to get back to the studio to record the songs that have been stockpiled since the final sessions for ‘Abbey Road’. Booking out Abbey Road for five months, the band present their ideas and it is clear to all that McCartney does not have as many songs as Lennon and Harrison, and only ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ is up to the standards he had set himself in the 60s. The first songs recorded are ‘Jealous Guy’, an old song that Lennon has finally completed with a lyric he is finally happy with and Starr’s ‘Early 1970’, written when he was unsure if the band would ever record together again. 

Lennon has been writing feverishly and wants some of his songs to sound as though Phil Spector has thrown his Wall of Sound at it. Lennon feels that some of the other songs would benefit from as sparse a backing as possible; essentially, one guitar (or piano), bass and drums. This second set of recordings is inspired by Lennon’s Primal Scream therapy and deals with very personal subjects. The other Beatles feel these might have been better on a solo Lennon release, but on hearing the strength of the material, it is decided to use them. His other recordings are more spiritual in nature, dealing with his love for Ono and his continued message for peace. Spector is brought in to oversee these sessions, which annoys McCartney as he is still angry over what he sees as the over-production of the ‘Let It Be’ material. Harrison also likes the production techniques of Spector and supports Lennon choosing him as producer. 

With such a backlog of songs to choose from, the band record enough of his material to fill a double album of Harrison songs. McCartney realises that he needs to raise his game or he will just be a sideman with little input into the album, so he goes away and listens to his sketches and Let it Be outtakes to see what he can resurrect. One of the songs is ‘Another Day’ which the bands decides would make a good single and so is released as another double A-Side with Lennon’s ‘Power to the People’. With the album taking shape, Harrison presents ‘My Sweet Lord’ as a potential single in competition to ‘Another Day’, but the band decide that it would be better to release this as a Christmas single due to the spiritual message of the song. Harrison agrees to this and ‘Another Day’ reaches Number 2. The Beatles may not be hitting Number 1, but they are still selling a good number of records to show that they are still relevant to the music buying public. 

McCartney finally rediscovers his muse and starts bringing in some quality new material, meaning that he is well represented even though that did not look like being the case at the beginning of the sessions. Starr even brings in his first classic self-written song, ‘It Don’t Come Easy’. Recording sessions finish in October and the band agree that they have too many songs for a single LP, so it is decided to put out a double. The album is released in December 1970 and even though it does not receive as many advance sales as the ‘White Album’, they are still high enough that the album goes into the LP charts at Number 1. ‘My Sweet Lord’ also goes straight in at Number 1 and the band enters 1971 as they left the 60s: the biggest band in the world.  

Side A

1. Mother (Album Version) – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
2. Imagine – Imagine
3. Some People Never Know – Wildlife
4. I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier – Imagine
5. All Things Must Pass – All Things Must Pass

Side B

1. Wah Wah – All Things Must Pass
2. Working Class Hero – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
3. Heart Of The Country – Ram
4. It Don’t Come Easy – Single A-Side
5. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey – Ram
6. Love – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
7. My Mummy’s Dead – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

Side C

1. I’d Have You Anytime – All Things Must Pass
2. Every Night – McCartney
3. Oh Yoko – Imagine
4. How Do You Sleep? – Imagine
5. Maybe I’m Amazed – McCartney
6. Beware Of Darkness – All Things Must Pass
7. Singalong Junk – McCartney

Side D

1. Too Many People – Ram
2. Awaiting On You – All Things Must Pass
3. Smile Away – Ram
4. Look At Me – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
5. Ballad Of Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) – All Things Must Pass
6. Oh My Love – Imagine
7. Isn’t It A Pity (Version 2) – All Things Must Pass
8. Ram On (Reprise) – Ram

Singles 

1. Give Peace A Chance – Single A-Side
2. That Would Be Something (Mono Mix) – Single B-Side
3. Instant Karma – Single A-Side
4. Cold Turkey – Single A-Side
5. Jealous Guy – Imagine
6. Early 1970 – Single B-Side
7. Another Day – Single A-Side
8. Power To The People – Single A-Side
9. My Sweet Lord – Single A-Side
10. Junk – Single B-Side

Putting together this ‘What-if’ compilation was a bit of a revelation because even though I had played their music to death as a child, their solo albums passed me by until I was given a copy of Harrison’s ‘All Things Must Pass’ album in my mid 20’s. It was a revelation to hear how many good songs he had waiting for an airing. I must admit to not being a bit fan of his work within The Beatles. I then slowly pulled together all of the other members’ solo album and wondered what it would be like to hear if the best bits were pulled together for a lost Beatles album project. No doubt some of the songs on here would not have been liked by all the members of the band. I feel that Lennon and Harrison would have had a massive disliking for McCartney’s ‘Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey’ and has been noted before, some of these songs may well have not been written if the band had not split up with the amount of acrimony there was, especially in the early days of their separation. 

It was enjoyable experience though and even though this was meant to be a one off as I felt they would have split up after this record anyway. A few years later though, I was inspired to look further into the solo releases of The Beatles by blogger http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/ who took the story all the way up to 1980. I then decided to have another go at making some more Lost Beatles albums. I have shown where the songs were originally released in case you wish to put your own version together on a playlist. 

Even though this would work as a CD, this has been presented as though it was a double album with associated singles placed at the end. For the record, Sides A, B & C are CD 1 and Side D and singles are CD 2. The artwork is based on the picture taken of the band for the Get Back LP with the background changed to clouds which inspired the title of the album, Imagine. Found on the internet many moons ago, I have no idea who to acknowledge for this I’m afraid. 

To celebrate the last of 2020’s Record Store Days, I’ve decided to post another album that I would put out as an RSD release it I had the opportunity. It is a pet project that I have had on the back burner for a while now. That is, an album of songs by the legendary Caroline Munro. Munro started off in the mid 60s as a model, but by the end of the decade she had started appearing in films. Now, I didn’t realise until recently how many of her films I had seen and that I caught most of them on wet Sunday afternoons during my childhood. ‘The Golden Voyage of Sinbad’ and ‘At The Earth’s Core’ seemed to be on all of the time, and then there was her appearance in the Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me. She also appeared in two early 80s music videos. ‘Goody Two Shoes’ by Adam Ant and ‘If You Really Want Me To’ by Meat Loaf. She was even a hostess on the rather bizarre, but exceedingly popular British TV show ‘3-2-1’. Appearances in Hammer films and Italian Star Wars knock off Starcrash have cemented her place as a cult icon. However, it is with her music career that I am concentrating on here. 

Now we did feature Munro’s version of ‘This Sporting Life’ in the first of our Eric Clapton spotlight shows http://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/episode-75-eric-clapton-the-early-years-part-1/ but at the time, that was as far as  my interest went. However, after watching a number of  videos by YouTuber Brandon Tenold*, I found that she had performed a song called ‘Warrior of Love’ in the film ‘Don’t Open ‘Till Christmas’. After digging a bit further, I found that during the 70s she had released a number of singles with her then husband Judd Hamilton. I set pulling together all of these singles as well all the variations of the songs she recorded on Gary Newman’s Numa Record Label. What I was able to pull together was an LPs worth of material, with the instrumental, 12”, and Italian remix of the Numan produced Pump Me Up as a bonus single. This would be a complete collection of Munro single from 1967 to 1984.

There was also a single in the late 90s with Gary Wilson, but I have been unable to obtain a copy of this record. If anyone can help me out with this, please let me know. Warrior of Love is, as far as I can tell, still unreleased but thankfully the audio is available in the film so with a bit of careful editing by a YouTube user called Alex Nik (and a little bit more myself), a complete song can be heard. 

You will notice that “Love Songs’ is a retread of ‘Come Softy To Me’ with the additional of lyrics from other songs included during the middle section. These additional songs were ‘I Love How You Love Me’ and ‘In The Still Of The Night’. On the promo copy of the single I have, all of the songs and song writers are listed individually. On all of the photographs of the record labels on Discogs though list Hamilton and Munro as the songwriters, even though they did not write any of the songs. This might have lead to a course case if the single had been a hit, but as it wasn’t. ’Come Softy To Me’ had only been released in France so it is doubtful that the UK record buying public would have heard it before the ‘Love Songs’ variation was released in the UK. 

This is the sort of release that that should be picked up by a specialist reissue company for a limited release, especially on Record Store Day. Judging by some of the obscure releases that come out on RSD every year, there is no reason to expect this would not sell, especially with Munro’s status in cult film circles.

For the cover, I found a picture of Caroline Munro in her iconic outfit from the Starcrash film, looking every bit the Warrior of Love. The songs on this compilation are not available on Spotify so I have not been able to reproduce the complication here.

Side A

1. Tar & Cement
2. This Sporting Life
3. Come Softy To Me
4. Sad Old Song
5. You Got It
6. Where Does The Love Begin

Side B

1. Love Songs
2. Sound Of The Sun
3. Warrior Of Love
4. Pump Me Up (7” Version)
5. The Picture

Bonus 12”

1. Pump Me Up (12” Mix)
2. Pump Me Up (Italian Mix)
3. Pump Me Up (Instrumental Mix)

* (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC51tRQjet4Z45Of3n1Qxn8A – I would recommend his channel highly. All the videos are well worth a watch).