My Evolution Revolution of the Solo Fabs (Or Imagine Living in the Material World, say London Town, with Beaucoups of Blues) Part 2

I think it’s interesting that the first solo single released by one of the Beatles is Lennon’s, Give Peace a Chance.  As simple as it is powerful, it shows Lennon’s amazing ability to come up with positive, life affirming slogans, á la All You Need is Love, and turn them into easy to remember and easy to sing anthems.  My first exposure to the song was from Lennon’s first “greatest hits” collection, Shaved Fish, which oddly only consists of the first minute of the song.  (There’s a “reprise” at the end of the album, from a version of the song performed live.)  That one minute excerpt was more than  enough for me to run down to the local Sam Goody and pick up the 45.

About a month after the release of Abbey Road, Lennon released Cold Turkey, one of my favorite, if not the favorite, solo Lennon tracks.  I’m not sure what the distinction is between pop and rock (although, akin to Supreme Court Justice Stewart’s definition of pornography, I knows it when I hears it), there’s no doubt that Cold Turkey is a balls-to-the-wall, guitar shredding, vocal chord-tearing rocker with a capital ROCK.  Play Loud indeed.

We’ll dispense with the Fabs solo soundtrack and “experimental” albums, all of which I have, but none of which ever made it through the rule-of-the-3.  Indeed, I’m not entirely sure I made it all the way through Life With the Lions.  The Wedding Album, however, I distinctly remember my father poking his head in the room and shaking his head in bewilderment as John shrieked “Yoko” and Yoko bellowed “John” for the entire album side.  But I only listened to that once.

Only a month separates the release of The Wedding Album and Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band/Live Peace in Toronto, half of which continues to prove that Lennon was a rocker at heart and half of which proves that Yoko wasn’t… Yet.  If there were a way to remove Yoko’s vocal “contributions” to Lennon’s side of the album, Plastic Ono Band/Live Peace in Toronto might rate as one of the best live albums.  But even as is, Lennon’s obvious nervousness in his introduction is as endearing as it is honest and funny.  As the concert progresses, you hear Lennon regain his confidence and, frankly, have a ball.  And that’s infectious.

Lennon’s Instant Karma is the next solo Beatle recording released.  (Don’t worry, the other Fabs’ will have their due.  It’s just that Lennon seemed to be particularly prolific in 1969.)  For a song written and recorded in one day, Instant Karma is pretty amazing.  Once again, Lennon has an instantly singable anthem (“we all shine on”), and he delivers an impassioned vocal that’s hard to beat.  Not that produce Phil Spector didn’t try.  Spector applies his heavy-handed wall-of-sound with aplomb.  The song is awash in echo, and Lennon’s spirited vocal is hollowed, which, in this case, actually works for the song because, added with the sing-along chorus, Instant Karma has a ‘live in the room with you’ sound. 

 First up on the solo Beatle releasing a traditional music album is Ringo.  If it were released now, Sentimental Journey would just be another one in the plethora of pop-star-assailing-the-Great-American-Song Book collections that would overflow the cut-out sections of record stores, if there were still cut-out sections and record stores.  But being released in April 1970, I have no idea what the unsuspecting Beatle-buying public could have made of Sentimental Journey.  All I know is that when I got it, probably sometime in 1975, I was hard-pressed to apply my rule-of-the-three.  Simply put: Sentimental Journey is awful.  And it’s pretty much the worst way possible to be introduced to some of the classics from The Great American Song Book.  As I was.  I’m still scarred.

Two weeks or so after Ringo released Sentimental Journey, Paul came out with McCartney.   It’s a good, if slightly uneven album.  It does sound like what it is, an album recorded with a single 4-track machine, with Paul playing all of the instruments.  There’s little in production, and many of the tracks sound like demos, which in and of itself is not a bad thing.  Essentially McCartney sounds like a basement tape.  Maybe I’m Amazed is clearly a standout track; so much so, that it feels a bit out of place.  As simple as it is, I love the guitar solo, which helps to catapult the song to near-classic status.  Another favorite of mine is Oo You.  Interestingly, upon hearing individual songs out of context, they seem to have more vibrancy than when sequenced on the album.  Check out the Jerry McGuire soundtrack album to see what I mean

A mere six months after releasing Sentimental Journey, Ringo returns with Beaucoups of Blues.  To say it’s better than Sentimental Journey is not saying much, but Beaucoups is considerably better, and ranks as one of Ringo’s best solo outings.  Admittedly I'm not much of a fan of country music, but it’s clear that the format, and song selection is right in Ringo’s wheelhouse, especially considering all of the C&W songs Ringo recorded with The Beatles.  (Act Naturally, What Goes On, Don’t Pass Me By).  I like the waltzing title song, which was released as a single, and it’s the flip side of that single, Coochy Coochy which is my favorite. (It’s included on the CD remaster as a bonus track.)

In our next, not-to-be-missed installment, George Harrison, finally, with his epic All Things Must Pass.