The Beatles After 1970:
Band On The Mind Games!
Imagine This!

What would have happened if the Beatles didn't break up in 1970?

After the somewhat disappointing 1972 album "Up In Arms", Apple bounces back and releases The Beatles greatest hits compilations: 1962-1966 (The Red Album) and 1967-1970 (The Blue Album) in April, 1973. The month before, The Beatles begin working on their next album in Los Angeles under difficult circumstances. John's Immigration problem begins to get worse (the content of the "Up In Arms" album didn't help). He is ordered to leave the U.S. within sixty days; John formally appeals. The sessions bounce from L.A. to New York to Britain.

George Martin returns after three years to produce The Beatles' song Live And Let Die as well as the soundtrack for the new James Bond film featuring Roger Moore as the new Bond (replacing Sean Connery). In September, halfway through the making of the album, Paul, trying to prove to the world that he and the boys still have it, goes with Linda to Lagos, Nigeria for inspiration. Later on George and Ringo, who were caught up in the L.A party scene with John, join Paul in Lagos. John stays behind, fearing that if he leaves the U.S. he may never be able to get back in.

From the onset in Lagos the three were plagued with problems in the city, including monsoons, illness, Paul and Linda mugged at knife point and even plagiarism threats by local musicians. Meanwhile, back in New York, John and Yoko's marriage begins to take a turn for the worse. Paul, George, and Ringo finish in October and met John in New York with the tapes so he can lay down overdub vocals. Days later John and Yoko are separated and he gets banished to L.A. with May Pang, ever yearning to go back to Yoko in New York.

Despite the overwhelming odds including a near break up, The Fab Four return with a vengeance to produce a mammoth classic album in the caliber of Sgt. Pepper & Abbey Road. They release it in December '73 and call it Band On The Run. The band goes on to run away with 7 Grammys, including "Album Of The Year", "Best Engineered Recording", "Record Of The Year" (Band On The Run-single), "Song Of The Year" (for songwriting, Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)), and "Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists"-The Beatles "Live And Let Die". The Song also wins an Oscar for "Best Title Song For A Motion Picture-Live And Let Die".

These are all songs that were actually released in 1973 by John, Paul, George, and Ringo over the course of 5 solo albums and assorted singles & B-sides. There was John's Mind Games, Paul and Wings' Red Rose Speedway and Band and On The Run, George's Living In The Material World, and the self titled Ringo. There was of course Paul and Wings' singles "Live And Let Die" and "Helen Wheels". Due to the enormous amount of songs, particulary Paul's, only 5 songs are used from "Band On The Run" (if you count "Helen Wheels"). The rest get pushed to 1974, along with his two B-sides to the above mentioned singles: I Lie Around and Country Dreamer.

The double album was the norm for all the big rock acts in the '70s. The Beatles did this one better: the first four album "boxed set"! Of course, it is also possible that George Martin would have convinced the "boys" to release these as two double albums. However, knowing that The Beatles were often impatient to get their new songs out ("White Album", for example), it is probable that they would have gotten their way and started a new trend in rock indulgence. Can you imagine a four disc set of high quality new music from anyone else but The Beatles? Listen and enjoy!

Album 1

• Band On The Run
• Jet
• I Know (I Know)
• Sue Me, Sue You Blues
• You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful And You're Mine)
• Big Barn Red
• The Lord Loves The One (That Loves The Lord)
• Bring On The Lucie (Freda People)
• Helen Wheels
• The Mess (Recorded live at the Hague)

Album 2

• Don't Let Me Wait Too Long
• Only People
• I'm The Greatest
• Medley:
• Hold Me Tight
• Lazy Dynamite
• Hands Of Love
• Power Cut
• Live And Let Die
• Who Can See It
• Intuition
• Oh My My
• That Is All
• Outer Groove:
  Nutopian International Anthem

Album 3

• Loup (1st Indian On The Moon)
• My Love
• Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
• Out The Blue
• Little Lamb Dragonfly
• Bluebird
• Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)
• Be Here Now
• You Are Here

Album 4

• Single Pigeon
• Six O'Clock
• The Day The World Gets 'Round
• Photograph
• The Light That Has Lighted The World
• Mind Games
• Picasso's Last Words (Drink To Me)
• Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five

Liner Notes On Selected Songs

Albums 1 and 2/CD 1

• Band On The Run: Paul's favorite self-penned song recorded in the '70's. It's about the struggle to break free of interior and exterior boundaries.
• Jet: One of Paul's most lyrically complex tunes. Though he seems to be referring to a broken love affair with a highly independent woman (suffragette), Paul claims the song is about his puppy, Jet.
• I Know (I Know): John's open apology to Yoko for his infidelity.
• Sue Me, Sue You Blues: George gave this song to Jesse Ed Davis one year prior to release.
• You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful And You're Mine): Kazoo accompaniment by Paul. After hearing Ringo sing it, Paul recorded the kazoo bit, adding what he thought was the needed dimension to the song.
• Big Barn Red: This song first appeared as the intro to "Back Seat Of My Car" (on "Imagine/Beatles '71). Paul would return to this riff many years later on "Great Day" from the 1997 album "Flaming Pie", a song he wrote in this same period.
• Helen Wheels: Title refers to Paul's Land Rover
• The Mess: Recorded live at the Hague.
• Don't Let Me Wait Too Long: This song was written about the fans who wait outside the recording studio. After completion of the record George invited his fans inside to hear the recording.
• I'm The Greatest: John's biographical tribute to Ringo. John knew he couldn't sing it without being attacked by the cynics, so he gave the song to Ringo. Ringo liked the song so much he would be still be singing it 24 years later at concerts.
• Medley: Hold Me Tight/Lazy Dynamite/Hands Of Love/ Power Cut: The last part of this 4-song medley was inspired by the extensive power cuts Britain was experiencing at the time. Paul tries to duplicate the "Big Medley" from side two of Abbey Road by using up all his unfinished songs.
• Live And Let Die: Title song for the James Bond film Live And Let Die . Originally the producers of the movie only wanted The Beatles to compose the song, not record it. They preferred female voices for the movie soundtrack. Paul made it clear that if they (Lennon or McCartney) write it, they sing it. George Martin and his orchestra perform on the recording, which Martin also produced. A soundtrack album for the film was also released. After winning a Grammy Award for the song, Paul said he would have spent more time on the song if he knew it would win an award.
• Intuition: John sings about his songwriting.
• Nutopian International Anthem: Typical Beatles humor; four seconds of silence. Nutopia is a conceptual country created by John and Yoko during their immigration problems with the U.S. Government. John anounnced the formation of Nutopia at a press confrence at the New York American Bar Association. The country "has no boundaries, no land, no passports, only people." The Nutopian flag would be a tissue. The inclusion of it in the "outer groove" had fans checking their discs like mad, only to find out later that the hidden "song" was silence.

Albums 3 and 4/CD 2

• My Love: Paul's love anthem to Linda.
• Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth): Inspired by Pattie and his belief in religion, this is one of George's most beautiful love songs ode to peace and love.
• Out The Blue: Inspired by Yoko, this is one of John's most beautiful love songs.
• Little Lamb Dragonfly: Paul was first inspired to compose this song after the death of one of his sheep on his farm. Excellent production work, one of Paul's most beautiful love songs. This song went on to become a lost classic, shadowed in the wake of the "hits" from this era. Truly a classic.
• Bluebird: Paul first presented this song on a live New York radio interview in 1971.
• Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond): George wrote this song for Ringo after a pleasent day of boating in L.A.. Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm and Rick Danko, members of The Band, make a special guest appearance on the record. Once again it was George who brought in well known recording stars, often claiming to the press that these musicians were better players than the Beatles.
• You Are Here: Also the title of John's art exhibit at the Robert Frazier Gallery in 1968.
• Photograph: The most successful Harrison/Starkey composition, this song was one of the hits that got the most radio air play. Produced by Richard Perry.
• The Light That Has Lighted The World: A wonderful song from George about moving on and not looking back. Hypnotic slide guitar by George completes this gem.
• Mind Games: John reprises the peace and love anthem George set on "Give Me Love" and what he often sang about on earlier records.
• Picasso's Last Words (Drink To Me): Paul wrote this at the request of actor Dustin Hoffman, who was curious about Paul's songwriting technique. Hoffman suggested Picasso's last words "drink To Me, drink to my health, you know I can't drink anymore" as a topic for Paul to compose a song about.
• Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five: Like bookends, Paul's excellent production closes out the song and the album with and end coda of "Band On The Run".

Another Big collection, it marks a high point of the Beatles in the '70's. Paul AND Ringo are in their prime. On the Ringo songs you can hear the other three quite plainly. Of all the solo records, "Ringo" was the closest to an actual Beatles album. Mixed with the other three's albums, this really sounds like a Beatles album.

Listen to the sequence of songs in the beginning, middle and end. Particulary in the middle, album 3, we hit a nice groove of ballads and dreamy tropical songs. Note the songs "Band On The Run" and "Jet" open the album like it did on Paul's solo album. But they are also the first two songs that open Paul's greatest hits album "All The Best" released in 1987. So it's safe to say that Paul felt strongly about having them open any album they appear on.

"Band On The Run" or "Beatles '73", whichever name you prefer, is produced by John, Paul, George, George Martin, and Richard Perry.

The Blue Album has a few minor changes to reflect the fantasy of the Beatles not breaking up. The new lineup of side 4 brings us up to date.

Side 4

• Here Comes The Sun
• Come Together
• Something
• Octopus's Garden
• What Is Life
• Instant Karma!
• Let It Be (Let It Be album version)

Six months after Band On The Mind Games in June 1974, Apple puts out the 3rd greatest hits double LP to capitalize on their success for the holiday season. Paul, ever eager to please the fans, had convinced the rest of the band in January of '73 to line up one more time on the staircase to duplicate the cover art of the first two "best of" albums. John reluctantly agreed - as long as Yoko was also in the shot. This created quite a bit of tension at the photo shoot - you can sense the seething in Paul's face, who looks less than pleased that his plan had gone awry. In fact, only John himself looks happy during the session.

Upon the release of the "Green Album", John and Yoko has already split apart. Plans for another photo shoot were tossed around. Paul suggested they revive the Mt. Everest idea, but John pushed for the staircase shot to "prove" his love to Yoko. The others were just too tired to discuss it, and allowed John to have his way.

This became the original cover of the "green album". However, fans and radio stations were outraged over Yoko being included in the shot and insisted that the cover be recalled and redone. John, angry about the treatment of Yoko, insisted on a new cover of just Yoko in the nude that was shot years before, stating that it was "more honest than another posed shot of the beloved mop-tops". The other Beatles quickly vetoed the suggestion and allowed Capitol to simply airbrush Yoko out of the photo for the "new' album cover. John then dismissed the entire album as "rubbish" and refused to acknowledge it as an official Beatle album.

(NOTE: This famous "Yoko cover" has since become even more sought after than the "butcher cover", fetching thousands of dollars at Beatlefests over 20 years later. Rumors of the "nude Yoko" session have circulated for years, but no one has yet to find the negatives.)

The Beatles 1970-1973 (The Green Album)

Side 1 / CD 1

• Love
• Junk/Singalong Junk
• My Sweet Lord
• Across The Universe
• Maybe I'm Amazed
• Isn't It A Pity (version one)
• The Long And Winding Road

Side 2

• Another Day
• Beware Of Darkness
• Uncle Albert/ Admiral Halsey
• It Don't Come Easy
• Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
• Imagine
• All Things Must Pass

Side 3 / CD 2

• Angela
• Hi Hi Hi
• Band On The Run
• Jet
• You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful And You're Mine)
• Live And Let Die
• Intuition

Side 4

• My Love
• Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
• Little Lamb Dragonfly
• You Are Here
• Photograph
• The Light That Has Lighted The World
• Mind Games