nazz

I'm thinking of putting together a CD compiled of songs from the early solo careers of The Beatles.

I think they all did their best solo work shortly after the breakup
with songs that they probably started writing before they actually
split.

Would anyone like to suggest a track order for The Beatles album that could have been?

Jack Straw

First off, I would question your assumption about them doing their best work immediately after the breakup. Here's my take on what albums to focus on:

Paul
Band on the Run
Venus and Mars

John
Imagine
Walls and Bridges

George
All Things Must Pass
Cloud Nine

Ringo
Blast From Your Past

wendersfan

Not to be discouraging, but IMHO Plastic Ono Band, Imagine, and Band on the Run are all three so superior to anything else any of the four released post-Beatles that it would hard to find any kind of balance. And to be honest, I think Plastic Ono Band alone is better than everything else all four of them released, combined.

Geoffrey

POB is certainly a GREAT album;in my opinion only George's All Things Must Pass is the only real competition for it.

I wouldn't,however,dismiss the recent solo work of the Fabs.That is not what you're asking for,however,so...

Ringo- Photograph
It Don't Come Easy
Back Off Boogaloo

Paul- Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
Too Many People
Give Ireland Back To The Irish

George- All Things Muast Pass
Give Me Love
Who Can See It

John-Jealous Guy
Working Class Hero
God

The only problem with this tracklist is that J/P would NEVER have allowed equal division of tracks;thus the neccesity(sp) of solo careers.....this would have made a great Beatles record,though.

monkish

Cool concept, Nazz. I think it's particularly fun if you focus on songs that had a legitimate shot at becoming Beatles songs -- in other words, tunes that were written while the band was still together, and were either demoed during a Beatles recording session, or actually attempted by the full band.

Those would include, among others:

John -- "Look At Me" (from Plastic Ono Band), "Jealous Guy" (known as "Child Of Nature" during the Beatles days) and "Gimme Some Truth" (both of which ended up on Imagine).

Paul -- "Junk", "Teddy Boy", and "Every Night" (all from McCartney), and "Back Seat Of My Car" (from Ram).

George -- "All Things Must Pass", "Isn't It A Pity", "Let It Down", and "Hear Me Lord" (all from All Things Must Pass). You could also include "Not Guilty", even though it didn't surface until George's 1979 self-titled album.

There's no evidence that any of Ringo's solo songs were written or demoed before the band broke up... although tunes like "It Don't Come Easy" would certainly fit in stylistically with this concept.

Anyhow... that's one way of doing it, for what it's worth.

Hiro11

That's a great list. I would add "Wah-Wah" by George which has some storming guitar by Clapton and Phil Spector at the top of his wall-of-sound production game.

whaaat

Remember that Ringo's ST album had all 4 Beatles on it (though not all 4 on the same track) and as such is the closest to a reunion album as they ever came to recording...

majorjoe23

Wasn't "Give Peace a Chance" a Lennon/McCartney composition?

wendersfan

Only on paper. Lennon wanted to thank McCartney for helping out in the recording of "The Ballad of John and Yoko" (it evidently meant quite a lot to John that Paul did this), and he did it by giving Paul shared songwriting credit. It's wholly a Lennon composition, in truth.

Marvin

I'd add Paul's "Maybe I'm Amazed" John's "Instant Karma" and George's "What is Life" to the above lists.