I was remembering how my dad used to wake us up on Sunday mornings by spinning a record. Sometimes it was something we didn't like but sometimes it was just good music. Wings was one of my favorite bands that he would subject us to.

I think dad had every Wings album. Wings at the Speed of Sound is probably my favorite but I'll have to listen again.

Unable to sleep, I've been listening to London Town. Great, great music. McCartney definitely kept his chops and some of that stuff, dare I say, bested anything The Beatles put out. Sure there was some cheese in the mix but it was fun. You can't help but sing along on every song.


That got me to thinking that I have no idea what John Lennon did after their breakup. I always thought Yoko was a talentless twit so, if he was going to keep including her, I wasn't interested. I guess I'd now be willing to give his stuff a chance. Is there anything good out there that he put out? Or is it one of those things that I should just let lay because it's going to suck?

Suggestions on what to check out welcome.

For me it's the opposite. I never cared much for Wings or Paul's other solo work. I have always thought John's solo work was far superior.

It's a quick and maybe too-easy answer, but his songs on Double Fantasy are some of his best work, ever. Ignore Yoko's tracks.

Hmmm. For me the Beatles stuff was always superior to the solo work. I think the synergy of the 4 together was greater than the sum of their parts.

For Solo stuff each Beatle had some good stuff and some cheese. Paul was the most prolific and Wings did have some good music.

Lennon's work was much more sparse than Paul's. Just get the greatest hits. Double Fantasy is probably the best standalone from John, as mentioned you have to ignore all of the Yoko tracks.

I was never a huge fan of Wings back then, to me the band never measured up to The Beatles at all. Oh I liked some of the songs and still do; Jet was great, same with Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five. But I felt McCartney changed his musical language a lot to fit a more commercial sound and at times it was unlistenable to me.

I would have to say the same for Lennon, but for different reasons. At the time of the breakup, he was into being a leftist counter-culture hippie and would put out some horrible records (remember Virgin #2? ) Like McCartney, he had the occasional great song, I liked #9 Dream a lot, and this version of Losing You with Cheap Trick is one of his best songs . But Wings was more polished and consistent than Lennon.

IMO, the best post Beatles work comes from George Harrison. All Things Must Pass is the best album from an ex-Beatle. And I love his Cloud Nine album he did before the Traveling Wilburys, another favorite of mine.

I too, found Wings a bit too "treacly" (a British word, look it up). Linda McCartney couldn't sing a lick (soundboard recordings of the band live isolated on her mic were just too painful to listen to). And McCartney kept trying to retain his "boyish good looks," in a manner of speaking.

Post-Beatles break up, I'd have to rank the solo efforts by the Fab Four as follows:

George Harrison. Came into his own when out from under the Lennon-McCartney shadow.
John Lennon. Didn't find his political posturing too enticing, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band rocked.
Paul McCartney. Every once in a while he'd write a song worth hearing more than once.
Ringo Starr. Other than "Photograph" and "You're Sixteen," I wish he'd done more that was memorable.

I didn't intend to leave out Harrison. His stuff is great and Traveling Wilburys is just the most fun thing to listen to ever.

I'll check out the suggestions but, so far, I'm just not digging the Lennon stuff. I think his unpolished production and bad vocals is turning me off. Still digging in though.

quote:

Originally posted by fpuhan:
... Linda McCartney couldn't sing a lick (soundboard recordings of the band live isolated on her mic were just too painful to listen to). ...

Yeah, she wasn't devoid of talent but singing wasn't her strength.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:
the best post Beatles work comes from George Harrison. All Things Must Pass is the best album from an ex-Beatle.

Absolutely fantastic album.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Orndorff:

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:
the best post Beatles work comes from George Harrison. All Things Must Pass is the best album from an ex-Beatle.

Absolutely fantastic album.

Have to agree on this. Best of the bunch IMO. Never was a fan of Paul or John post Beatles.

I wasn't a Beatles fan at all. They seemed more intent on being 'activists'.

^^^^^^^

I disagree with your assessment that the Beatles were "activists". Throughout the band's history, they hardly delved into political issues, certainly their music is pretty much apolitical. In their early touring years, they did speak out and refused to play to segregated audiences or stay at segregated hotels, but other than a couple of benign comments about the war, that is it. In fact, one reason for the ongoing mass appeal of their music is that it is rarely topical. After the band broke up, yes Lennon became political and decades later, same with McCartney, but otherwise that's it. George Harrison in the summer of 1967 took a trip to the Haight/Ashbury to check out the hippies and "counter-culture" and was appalled at the whole scene. He did not like the hippies.

They weren't U2, Green Day, or Springsteen, or a whole bunch of modern bands and singers who sing and speak out a bunch of nonsense.
With The Beatles, it was all about the music.

Many critics agree that Harrison was the most gifted of the group and I agree. He didn't have the publicity machine behind him that Lennon and McCartney did. As far as McCartney stuff I liked Red Rose Speedway album and some other stuff like the big production of Live And Let Die.

I liken the Beatles to the Bee Gees together was their strength apart they lost a lot of their musical punch. What tragic fate suffered by both bands.

I like both but it's funny you brought this up. I download songs to play drums to and two songs I recently downloaded were "Instant Karma" and "Nobody told me" by Lennon. Not difficult but fun to play along with.

I tried to get through Double Fantasy. I only made it to a few seconds into the 4th song. That's not my style at all. So far, I'm left cold by Lennon and Yoko can jump in a lake.

I'm with Mark on this. Although I think the Beatles together are hard to beat....probably the greatest rock (pop) band ever, after the Beatles, I'd take McCartney any day over Lennon. I think he covered all the bases. And was extremely prolific. I enjoyed lots of Lennon's songs in the Beatles, but after, I think he lost it and as Mark mentions, it was probably the influence of Ono.

I've never been into music theory and the whole so-and-so influenced so-and-so, so that must mean that they were great, thing. I just like what I like, and the Beatles ain't it (short of a few songs that I find good). I've never understood the fascination other than the commercial aspect of them being "the first" huge phenomenon. Bubble gum garbage 45s that millions of damp teenaged girls bought is all it is to me.

IMO, they all had better songs solo than as a group. Wings is probably my favorite, but I also like a lot George and Ringo's stuff. Lennon had one or two that I'll listen to but he generally sucked IMO, both with and after the Beatles.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lOzqg1Z8rTU?start=9" width="560"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

First song I think of; to me, the best John Lennon.

Lennon came out with Double Fantasy before he was killed. While Ono also has songs on that album, Lennon's songs were definitely Lennon. It sparked a hope that the Beatles would reunite.

I liked John Lennon's LP Imagine quite a bit, but I have not listened to it in years. I do not know now how it holds up.

Lennon burned out in the early 1970s. Between his drug habit, his legal problems with "Come Together," his unfortunate association with Phil Spector, and always being told that he was genius, but then has to rip-off Frank Zappa to make a record, and have it still turn out poor, it is no wonder he dropped out of sight for the rest of the decade.

Meanwhile, his former bandmate McCartney goes from strength to strength. He makes hit records and tours with a band of decent session players. His music is still played today on the radio, and it has aged surprisingly well, despite its cloying quality.

His song "Maybe I'm Amazed" has been covered by many other artists, which is itself a tribute to how accessible McCartney is as a musical composer.