by Ed Masley
Mar. 21, 2010
It couldn't have been easy, being asked to follow "Abbey Road"
without the other Beatles there to tell a person which songs sucked
and which songs didn't.
But the Beatles somehow managed - even Ringo Starr, whose first big
solo album, "Ringo," sent two singles to the top of Billboard's Hot
100 ("Photograph" and "You're Sixteen").
The other three, of course, released a string of classic albums, the
best of which we've featured here, beginning with John Lennon's seminal debut.
1. "Plastic Ono Band" (1970)
John Lennon's dark night of the tortured soul sets the tone with the
ominous tolling of a church bell to ring in a song about how his dead
mother didn't want him anyway - a song that soon gives way to
desperate cries of "Mama, don't go. Daddy come home." No rock artist
had ever shared as much as Lennon shares on this, his undisputed
masterpiece, inspired by primal scream therapy, the Beatles' breakup
and the self-doubt he'd been struggling with, beneath the often cruel
exterior, since childhood. Two songs find him haunted by his mother's
death, 12 years after the fact, while "God" dismisses everything he
once believed in to declare his independence from the past. "I don't
believe in Beatles" he shouts, before returning with a hushed "I just
believe in me - Yoko and me. And that's reality."
2. "All Things Must Pass" (1970)
George Harrison's three-record masterpiece, "All Things Must Pass" is
a deeply felt spiritual manifesto with the great Phil Spector bathing
songs the other Beatles had to wish they'd written in majestic Wall
of Sound production. You can feel the floodgates being blown right
off their hinges after years of competing for album space with the
Lennon-McCartney juggernaut. The slide-guitar-fueled "My Sweet Lord"
gave Harrison the surprising distinction (and, no doubt,
satisfaction) of being the first Beatle out of the gate with a
chart-topping single. But the best track here, by far, is that song's
epic B-side, "Isn't It a Pity."
3. "Imagine" (1971)
The title track is Lennon's finest hour as a maker of big statements
- or a dreamer, as he puts it in this tender plea to just imagine
life without certain distinctions that tend to drive a wedge between
us, from nationalism and capitalism to religion. He's more
confrontational in advancing his social agenda on "Crippled Inside,"
the anti-Nixon rant "Gimme Some Truth" and "I Don't Want to be a
Soldier," while "How Do You Sleep?" takes the shine off his halo with
a vicious swipe at Paul McCartney.
4. "Living in the Material World" (1973)
Harrison no longer had the luxury of stockpiling songs while his
bandmates were hogging the glory by the time he started working on
this underrated follow-up to the chart-topping "All Things Must
Pass." But the best songs definitely live up to the promise, from the
darkly comic "Sue Me, Sue You Blues" (inspired by the Beatles
lawsuits) to Harrison's own "Imagine," the chart-topping "Give Me
Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)."
5. "Ram" (1971)
Having eased into post-Beatle duty with the homespun charms of the
"McCartney" album, the "ambitious" Beatle sounded more like he was
trying here. And trying clearly suits him. The chart-topping "Uncle
Albert/Admiral Halsey" was inspired nonsense of a type that would
have sounded right at home on any post-"Revolver" Beatles album. And
"Monkberry Moon Delight" was weirder still.
6. "Band on the Run" (1973)
There's a reason this became McCartney's biggest album since the
Beatles' breakup, spinning off three classic singles - the
chart-topping title track, "Jet" and "Helen Wheels" (which was only
included on U.S. versions of the album at the time). Even Lennon
couldn't help but say he liked it. Other highlights range from "Mrs.
Vanderbilt" to "Let Me Roll It," a gritty gem that would have fit
right in on "Let it Be."
7. "Mind Games" (1973)
A clear return to form in the wake of the overly topical mess that
was "Some Time in New York City," Lennon's "Mind Games" begins with
an anthemic title track that effortlessly picks up where "Imagine"
left off. As he sings on the fadeout, "I want you to make love, not
war. I know you've heard it before." Other highlights range from
upbeat rock and roll to soulful ballads.
8. "Back to the Egg" (1979)
McCartney and Wings hadn't sounded this feisty since "Band on the
Run," from the breathless psychobilly groove of "Spin it On" to "Old
Siam, Sir" and a leadoff single, "Getting Closer," that made the most
of his loopier lyrical sensibilities. And the slow songs are equally
solid, from the blue-eyed soul of "Arrow through Me" to "Baby's
Request," the "Your Mother Should Know" of the post-Beatles era.
9. "Double Fantasy" (1980)
It's impossible to hear this now outside the context of John Lennon
being murdered while the first song he'd released in five years,
"(Just Like) Starting Over," was making a run on the charts. But it
seems like it's held up surprisingly well (including Yoko's tracks),
delivering such highlights as "I'm Losing You" and "Cleanup Time,"
where Lennon brings the funk like David Bowie's "Young Americans"
with a shout-out to "Cry Baby Cry."
10. "Wild Life" (1971)
McCartney's first release with Wings was reviled at the time as more
meaningless drivel from a man whose greatest work had changed the
world. In hindsight, though, it's pretty damn endearing, setting the
tone with the raucous abandon of "Mumbo" and following through with
such off-the-cuff treasures as "Bip Bop" and the heartfelt Lennon
reconciliation track, "Dear Friend."
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Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495.
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