A favorite game of Beatles fans has always been to speculate about what would have happened had the band gotten back together. A more interesting game is to speculate about what would have happened if they’d never broken up to begin with.
The Beatles generated 11 studio albums altogether, although most people count Magical Mystery Tour, even though it was more accurately an EP from the TV movie and repository for album-free singles. Yellow Submarine is sometimes listed, but it was even more a movie EP – Side Two is nothing but orchestral soundtrack by George Martin – and wasn’t even released in the UK until six years after the band ended.
We’ll call it 12 albums, either way, and play our game. What would album 13 have looked like? There was certainly material to spare; the four Beatles, as solo artists, generated almost twice as many albums as individuals as they had as a group, in half the time (between 1970 and 1975).
Alone Together
Neil McCormick of Britain’s Telegraph speculated in 2009.
“What if peace broke out after the harmonious recording of Abbey Road?” he asked, answering his own question with the following album track listing, culled from the early solo years:
Side One
“Instant Karma” (John, single 1970)
“Band on the Run” (Paul, from Band on the Run 1973)
“What is Life” (George, from All Things Must Pass 1970)
“Love” (John, from Plastic Ono Band 1970)
“The Back Seat of My Car” (Paul, from Ram 1971)
“Back Off Boogaloo” (Ringo, from Stop and Smell the Roses 1972)
“Mind Games” (John, from Mind Games 1973)
Side Two
“Gimme Some Truth” (John, from Imagine 1971)
“Let Me Roll It” (Paul, from Band on the Run 1973)
“Jealous Guy” (John, from Imagine 1971)
“Maybe I’m Amazed” (Paul, from McCartney 1970)
“#9 Dream” (John, from Walls and Bridges 1974)
“All Things Must Pass” (George, from All Things Must Pass 1970)
“Junk” (Paul, from McCartney 1970)
There’s a great deal to love and hate in these picks. On the ‘love’ side, there’s kicking the album off with “Instant Karma”, an uncharacteristically inspiring John song. Given that his immediate post-Beatles output was much more unsettling, this is an upbeat choice. “What Is Life” is similarly engaging, and including “Let Me Roll It” (a generally unappreciated McCartney gem) and “Maybe I’m Amazed” balances the album well against John’s “Mind Games” and “Jealous Guy”.
“All Things Must Pass” is a strong finale, “Junk” a bit of whimsical afterthought, but “Back Off Boogaloo”? Really? Five years of Ringo hits, and that’s the one he goes with? Nah. And “#9 Dream”?
“Band on the Run” - nope. Certainly one of McCartney’s very best, but there’s no trace of the Beatles to be found there.
Lots of great material here, though no cohesive themes emerge. Some of this is brilliant, some of it is meh, but overall it has the variety and quality of an authentic Beatles album.
McCormick called his dream album Alone Together, and felt it was a sure #1.
What Is Life
The staff of Paste Magazine took a swing in 2017, limiting themselves to the first round of solo albums, or the year following the release of Let It Be – the reasoning being that they contain songs that were actually in the Beatles’ heads at the time of the breakup.
Side One
“It Don’t Come Easy” (Ringo, single 1971)
“Another Day” (Paul, Ram 1971)
“Instant Karma” (John, single 1970)
“Junk” (Paul, McCartney 1970)
“Remember” (John, Plastic Ono Band 1970)
“What Is Life” (George, All Things Must Pass 1970)
Side Two
“Maybe I’m Amazed” (Paul, McCartney 1970)
“Wah-Wah” (George, All Things Must Pass 1970)
“Mother” (John, Plastic Ono Band 1970)
“That Would Be Something” (Paul, McCartney 1970)
“Working Class Hero” (John, Plastic Ono Band 1970)
“Teddy Boy” (Paul, White Album reject 1968)
“Instant Karma”, “Maybe I’m Amazed”, “What Is Life” and “Junk” are all back, and the rest of this more realistic take pulls from more cohesive sources – McCartney, All Things Must Pass, and Plastic Ono Band. As such, there’s more thematic integrity, and we can easily imagine more focused and nuanced performances, had these tracks been rendered by the four Beatles, rather than solo workmen.
“It Don’t Come Easy” as Track One, Side One is a bold and uplifting choice, the kind of surprise we got when Billy Shears turned out to be Ringo. Starting Side Two with “Maybe I’m Amazed” is similarly uplifting, especially with the upshift to “Wah-Wah” following – and Side Two steps into provocative substance with two Lennon paeans to angst. “Teddy Boy”, a bit of nostalgia, couldn’t be a more perfect thematic counterpoint.
Back on Side One, we have just plain felt good, with Paul (“Another Day”), John (“Instant Karma”) and George (“What Is Life”) each serving up their own crafty, major-key sunlight.
The name What Is Life, Paste rationalized, was a name all four Beatles could get behind.
The Twelfth Album
Counting from 11 (as one should), science fiction author Stephen Baxter gives us his own version of the magical missing album in an alternate universe he created for his short story of the same name, wherein the Beatles never broke up after Let It Be:
Side One
“Gimme Some Truth” (John, Imagine 1971)
“It Don’t Come Easy” (Ringo, single 1971)
“Every Night” (Paul, McCartney 1970)
“All Things Must Pass” (George, All Things Must Pass 1970)
“Child of Nature” (John, White Album reject 1968)
“The Back Seat of My Car” (Paul, Ram 1971)
Side Two
“Instant Karma” (John, single 1970)
“Isn’t It a Pity” (George, All Things Must Pass 1970)
“Junk” (Paul, McCartney 1970)
“Wah-Wah” (George, All Things Must Pass 1970)
“God” (John, Plastic Ono Band 1970)
“Maybe I’m Amazed” (Paul, McCartney 1970)
Baxter has concocted the best what-if album of the bunch here, an amazing album that keeps the sources tight (though there’s less Plastic Ono Band – not at all a bad thing), injecting substance yet keeping the musical invention up there.
“Instant Karma”, “Maybe I’m Amazed” and “Junk” each make a third appearance, testifying to their lovability, and we have second appearances by “It Don’t Come Easy”, “Wah-Wah”, “All Things Must Pass”, “Gimme Some Truth" and “Back Seat of My Car”.
“My Sweet Lord” and “Imagine” are mercifully absent, being (like “Band on the Run”) utterly non-Beatles in nature, and we might argue the same for “God” - but it seems oddly substantial here, nestled into Side Two between “Wah-Wah” and “Maybe I’m Amazed” (a perfect ending). “Isn’t It a Pity” is a strong George choice, perhaps the best for a Beatles album, and Ringo’s “It Don’t Come Easy” comes across even better as Track Two than Track One, a sharp tug into a warm and introspective Side One.
We can very much appreciate two White Album no-go tracks above, lending authenticity to the exercise in that carry-over tunes did happen among such prolific writers (we note that “Child of Nature” eventually surfaced as “Jealous Guy”, that “Isn’t It a Pity” was a Let It Be reject, as was “Junk” - which made all three of these albums).
We can also appreciate the core truth that this exercise underscores: the Beatles remained as strong, song-wise, after the break-up as before, despite the astonishing quality of the White Album and Abbey Road. As solo artists, they went on to generate almost as many #1 hits as they did as Beatles, a testimony to their unmatched craft.
We can only imagine how these songs would have sounded in their collective hands, with George Martin behind the board.
Uncle Scott’s 13th Album
Here's what I’d put on such an album, if it was up to me.
I’d limit myself to the solo albums released in 1970 or 1971 (excepting Ringo, 1973, since his previous two solo albums were filled with covers), as well as tracks rejected from the last few Beatles albums.
I’d expand on the general format of those last few albums – one George track per side, one obligatory Ringo track, the rest of the album divvied up between John and Paul – by awarding George a third track, well-earned by his strong contribution to Abbey Road.
I’d give thought to “My Sweet Lord”, just because of the musical possibilities: imagine that acoustic guitar orchestra on the actual track, rendered by George, Paul, and John – with Eric Clapton playing the slide part rather than George (Clapton did play on the real track, but he played acoustic and George played slide). But in the end, no; the other three would not say Yes to a hare krishna song.
I’d also give thought to “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey”, certainly a goofy song, but a stitch-together work in the tradition of Pepper’s magnificent finale that foreshadows the spectacular “Band on the Run” - and a known fan-pleaser, as the second solo Beatles track to go #1.
I’d open with it.
I’d for sure keep “Maybe I’m Amazed” and “Instant Karma”, and “Junk” almost won me over. “Isn’t It a Pity” would be one of the three George tracks. And I couldn’t say no to “What Is Life”.
The third? Not “Wah-Wah”; I can easily imagine George lobbying for “Beware of Darkness” instead, and having it rejected by the others for being, well, too dark. And I can’t imagine “All Things Must Pass” not finally making a Beatles album, after being turned down in the Let It Be sessions.
Ringo’s tune? On its merits, “It Don’t Come Easy” is hard to say No to, but it doesn’t feel like a Ringo track on a Beatles album, and neither does “Photograph”; “Oh My My” does, but is pretty
undistinguished. I’d go with the Lennon-penned “I’m the Greatest”, which totally feels like Ringo and adds a touch of humor to the album.
The remaining John and Paul tracks? We have room for maybe two more by each. Of the Plastic Ono Band tracks, only a couple suit the mood of this emerging album – most are too intense. I’d go with “Love”. And while I really like “Jealous Guy”, I agree that the rejected White Album version - “Child of Nature” - is better, as well as more likely to have been approved by the other Beatles.
Paul’s final two? McCartney is meager pickings, once you’ve already lifted “Maybe I’m Amazed”. “That Would Be Something” isn’t exactly substantial, but it’s interesting to listen to. All that’s left is Ram, and I’d agree with “The Back Seat of My Car”, cited above, worthy for its toggle between orchestral swell and rock kick.
And the sequence?
“Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” puts us on a feel-good roll, as Pepper did a few years earlier; we’d keep that rolling with “What Is Life” and “Instant Karma”, backing it down with the mellow “That Would Be Something” - in a beefier incarnation that features Ringo percussion and a George lick playing off the acoustic. Follow that with “I’m the Greatest” (Ringo does well in the next-to-last position of Side One), finishing with the expansive “All Things Must Pass”.
Give Side Two a big opening with “Maybe I’m Amazed”, followed by “Love” - recalling the “Back in the USSR”/”Dear Prudence” paring on the White Album – and keep up the Paul/John volley in the middle, a la Abbey Road Side Two, with “The Back Seat of My Car” and “Child of Nature”. Head into the home stretch with the earnest “Isn’t It a Pity”, and then...
How do we end it?
I’d go there. I’d bring in “Imagine”, and I’d close the album with it. I’m hearing a very different song, on a Beatles album, but not because it would be the Beatles; rather, because it wouldn’t. I can hear Paul insisting that this should be the last track, and that it should feature only John, per “Blackbird”, plaintive and melancholy (though Paul might have asked to play the piano part). I can also
hear George Martin lobbying for strings, and the others relenting over the inclusion of a string quartet, recalling “Yesterday” (in more ways than one).
That leaves us with...
Side One
“Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey”
“What Is Life”
“Instant Karma”
“That Would Be Something”
“I’m the Greatest”
“All Things Must Pass”
Side Two
“Maybe I'm Amazed”
“Love”
“The Back Seat of My Car”
“Child of Nature”
“Isn’t It a Pity”
“Imagine”
Far-fetched? No more than the others!
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