Station beak.

                                 

                 

For those playing at home, let’s pause a moment and take a look at the leaderboard.  Thru November of 1973, the former Fabs released a total of thirteen albums and fourteen non-album singles.  It breaks down like this:

              Albums    Non-Album Singles
Lennon:              4                  5

McCartney:      4                  6

Harrison:              3                  1

Starr:              2                  2

Of course this doesn’t entirely tell the tale.  While Ringo only released two albums thru November ’73, in December he’d release his third, RINGO.  Harrison released three albums, one being the live Concert For Bangla Desh, which, obviously didn’t contain any new material; but he’d also released a triple album of original material, (which I think is best considered a double album since the live jams were just that, jams).

In any event, all told, it’s a substantial amount of material.

Lennon had released two classic albums (Plastic Ono Band and Imagine), one so-so (Mind Games), and one not so (Some Time in New York City).  While the album quality ratio still works in his favor, from Give Peace a Chance to Happy X-Mas (War is Over), Lennon knocks each single out of the park.  This should come as no real surprise, as Lennon had often said that, as a listener, he preferred singles to albums.

McCartney checks in with one classic album (Ram), one near-classic (McCartney), one good, but not critically appreciated (Wild Life) and one so-so (Red Rose Speedway).  In singles, he’s got the iconic Live and Let Die, and the rockers Hi, Hi, Hi and Helen Wheels.  He has the “meh” Another Day and Give Ireland Back to the Irish, and the “what the ___?” Mary Had a Little Lamb. 

Harrison has the classic albums All Things Must Pass and The Concert For Bangla Desh, and the good Living in the Material World.  The only non-album single, Bangla Desh, while no classic, is still pretty good.

Ringo has one, truly dreadful album (Sentimental Journey) and one good to really good album (depending on how much you like country music—which I don’t), Beaucoups of Blues.  Like Lennon, however, he hits both non-album singles, Back Off Boogaloo and, his signature It Don’t Come Easy out of the park.

The interesting thing about the above break down is that Lennon and McCartney are just about equal in their output, with Harrison following and Starr close behind.  One should draw their own conclusions, but the break down is pretty close to many a Beatle album, but very little of the music released sounds very much like the Beatles.  (The closest would be the next album released in this chronology, Ringo, which, of course, featured all four Fabs, just not entirely together at one time.)

But it must be said that, while McCartney had the most material released, critically, his output was decidedly lacking.  (It was decades before Ram got a reassessment, although it has always been a favorite of mine.)  To date, again to the critics, nothing McCartney released matched Imagine (which is, essentially, Lennon’s Yesterday).  I’m not sure if the old Beatle fans at the time were keeping score, but when you add Lennon’s early success to the—for some—surprise and continuing success of Harrison and Starr, McCartney’s lack of bona fide hits must have been more than a little puzzling.   

“But Kev,”  I know you’re thinking.  “Why did you pause here, in November 1973?  Why not break at the end of the year?”

Well, that’s a great question. 

The summer of 1973 was when I discovered The Beatles, via the Red and Blue compilation albums.  While being immersed in the Fabs’, I was becoming more and more caught up with their history, particularly the breakup, which, at the time, was what most of the magazines, etc. were writing about.  I remember being particularly saddened when learning of the animosity the former Fabs’ felt for each other, and like most people on the planet, I hoped for a reconciliation.  Well, in late 1973, the stars were aligning…

(The "Beatleg" Alpha/Omega)

The success of the Red and Blue complications (and the bootleg Alpha/Omega) sparked renewed (or, in my case, “new”) interest in The Beatles.  By this time in their solo careers, Paul and John had made up.  And, best of all for Paul, Allen Klein was out of the picture.  The doorway was open…

In their solo careers, John had peaked early, but was now clearly struggling, in both his professional and personal life.  Except for a couple of singles, Paul had not yet had the success he, and everyone else, thought he’d have.  It’s reasonable to think that both John and Paul thought seriously about, once again, combining their talents.  

No question that Ringo would have been on board.  His film career wasn’t taking off, and he was once again interested in making music.

Only Harrison had any real reason to say no to a reunion.  But he also had every reason to say yes.  His success proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he was now in the same category as Lennon and McCartney.  For a reunion to occur, he could have dictated terms, such as equal representation on future releases.  

Naturally expectations for a reunion would have been enormous, probably insurmountable.  But it’s fun to speculate, even now.  Given the situations they were in, particularly for John and Paul, how close were they to getting back together?

Whatever the answer was in November 1973, in December the chances likely would have diminished by quite a lot.