u/mistahwhite04

In February 1968, John, George, Klaus, and Ringo, alongside manager Brian Epstein, flew out to Rishikesh, India, where they joined a small band of western pop stars who had taken an interest in transcendental meditation. While out there, the band composed a number of new songs for their next album. Away from the far-out scenes of London and (mostly) free of substances, the band were prolific in the number of songs they wrote, narrowing the selection down to 12 tracks to record.

In the spirit of the moment, the Beatles began recording the album in India. In the initial sessions, the group aimed for a more stripped-down, acoustic affair, which yielded the songs "Julia", "Look at Me", "Revolution 1", "Sour Milk Sea", and "Cry Baby Cry". However, due to turmoil within the group - George was frustrated that they had distracted themselves from the purpose of their trip - and an eventual falling-out with the Maharishi over allegations made against him, the band left India in May, taking the studio tapes with them.

Sessions resumed in May 1968, with the group adding some overdubs to the songs they had already recorded and recorded the non-album single "Revolution" (c/w "What's the New Mary Jane") before proceeding with the album. The B-side reflected the influence of Lennon's new partner, Yoko Ono, with whom he had started to record sound collages and experimental home tapes. This was reflected in the album's penultimate track, "Revolution 9".

However, it was Yoko's influence and presence which was inadvertently responsible for the band's split. George was not keen on her, and had been told by a number of people that Yoko had built a bad reputation for herself in New York City. In one heated session George brought this up, which resulted in an altercation between himself and John. The sessions came to a halt, and when Brian eventually arranged for George and John to meet in the same room again, the best agreement they could come to was that they would record their parts seperately, in different studios.

The album was finished by September 1968 and released that November. Following the success of "Revolution", which peaked at #5, and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (c/w "Across the Universe"), which peaked at #3, the album was seen as something of a comeback upon its release, although many critics derided the inclusion of "Revolution 9". For a brief time, it seemed that the Beatles had found their footing again.

Track Listing

Side A

1. Revolution 1
2. Sour Milk Sea
3. Look At Me
4. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
5. Happiness is a Warm Gun
6. Isn't It a Pity

Side B

1. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
2. Julia
3. Don't Pass Me By
4. Long, Long, Long
5. Cry Baby Cry
6. Revolution 9
7. Across the Universe

Sadly, a follow-up never came. John and George's working relationship wasn't quite the same due to the animosity between George and Yoko, and with John mostly strung out and more focused on following experimental projects with Yoko, George took off to New York in 1968 to meet Bob Dylan and The Band, who had met the Beatles when they toured the UK in 1966. After co-writing with Dylan and jamming with the Band, George, who had become a prolific songwriter in his own right, built up the courage to quit the band. With one songwriter gone and the other more focused on the avant-garde scene, the band officially went their seperate ways in January 1969.

Klaus and Ringo remained good friends with John and George and performed on many of their solo albums, but a full Beatles reunion would not occur until the late 1970s when John and George finally put aside their differences for a concert tour. The original line-up recorded their final album in 1980. John, George, Klaus, and Ringo mainly worked seperately after this, with John and George pursuing respectable solo careers, Klaus becoming a respected record producer back in Germany, and Ringo becoming an in-demand live and session drummer. A reunion was held in 2002 after George Harrison passed away from lung cancer.

I saw someone make a comment about their workload over 1965-1966 and wanted to make a post about it...

6th August, 1965: the Beatles released the album Help!, which accompanied their second film of the same name (the film was first shown on 29th July in the UK, but was released in the USA on 11th August).

15th - 31st August, 1965: the Beatles play 16 shows across the USA, including their famous Shea Stadium concert.

12th October - 11th November, 1965: the band records the album Rubber Soul, along with the non-album single "We Can Work It Out" / "Day Tripper".

3rd December, 1965: Rubber Soul and its accompanying non-album single are released.

3rd - 12th December, 1965: the Beatles toured the UK, playing 18 shows.

6th April - 21st June, 1966: the Beatles recorded the album Revolver and the single "Paperback Writer" / "Rain".

30th May, 1966: the "Paperback Writer" single is released.

24th June - 4th July, 1966: the Beatles embark on their tour of West Germany, Japan, and the Philippines. They play a total of 13 shows across these countries.

5th August, 1966: Revolver is released.

A week later they embarked on their final concert tour, playing across the USA with two shows in Toronto, Canada in the middle.

Such an intense and remarkable schedule for all of these events to happen in just under a year. In total I believe they released 46 songs - 14 on each album, four across the singles.

The first was taken on February 2nd, after a dinner with Yoko and their friends.

The second was taken on August 7th, the first day of sessions for John and Yoko's album Double Fantasy. It would be the first studio album John released since Rock 'n' Roll in 1975, and the first by Yoko since Feeling the Space in 1973. It was also the first collaborative album they made together since Some Time in New York City in 1972. The sessions also produced songs for the posthumously released album Milk and Honey, which was intended as a Double Fantasy follow-up.

The third was taken on the final day of John's life; December 8th, 1980. He had recently cut his hair shorter than seen on the Double Fantasy cover, where it looks more like the moptop style he and the Beatles were commonly associated with. He was gunned down hours after it was taken. A number of photos are available online from this photoshoot.

The Beatles were almost constantly changing their appearance, especially from the mid-1960s onwards, but John's appearance in this period has always fascinated me. They could be taken across years or decades, not 10 months.

A long wait followed the release of Magic Circle in 1966. The band took some time off after the conclusion of their summer tour and worked on some individual projects, with John at last publishing a book of his creative writing and poetry while continuing to indulge in substances he had been introduced to over the previous four years: marijuana and LSD. George visited India and Ringo and Klaus floated around, offering session work here and there while waiting for a call from John to come to the studio for the next Beatles album.

That call came in November when John presented his song "Strawberry Fields Forever". Recording took place over the following weeks as the song became one of the band's most ambitious projects. However, he had little else to offer at the time and George's contributions were deemed unsuitable, leaving them without a single for Christmas. A greatest hits album was issued instead, and the band returned to work in January.

Eventually, George's semi-recent composition "Art of Dying" was approved for the B-side, and the single was issued in March 1967. It received rave reviews for its psychedelic direction but struggled commercially - it peaked at #11, the lowest chart placement for one of their singles in years.

The rest of the year was spent with the band embroiled in aimless sessions. They made great experiments with sounds but nothing that was deemed appropriate for a single or LP. Eventually they managed to pull together ten tracks, including the previously-released "Strawberry Fields", to assemble an album.

Stream of Time received somewhat mixed reviews. Critics praised the sonic exploration but felt that it resulted in an inconsistent collection of songs. It was also criticized for its short length - although a number of the songs were far longer than anything the band had released previously, ten tracks was considerably shorter than the standard they had set themselves. No further singles were drawn from the album and it peaked at #24 on the British charts. In later years, it was regarded as a "hidden gem" mid-60s psych-rock nugget, but at the time it was the band's first flop and lost them a lot of the good will they had earned. Retrospectively it has been viewed as the "beginning of the end" in the band's history.

Towards the tail-end of the album's sessions, John and George began learning about transcendental meditation, a concept which they introduced to Klaus, Ringo, and Brian. A group trip to Rishikesh, India, where they would practice under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, was arranged for February 1968. They recorded the non-album single "Hey Bulldog" (c/w "The Inner Light") shortly before they departed, to be released while the band were away - it peaked at #18 in the charts.

Track Listing

Side A

1. Strawberry Fields Forever
2. It's All Too Much
3. Good Morning Good Morning
4. Only a Northern Song
5. Blue Jay Way

Side B

1. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
2. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
3. Within You Without You
4. I Am the Walrus
5. One of the Beautiful People (Baby You're a Rich Man)

A quick shitpost I threw together inspired by a recent post on r/beatles where OP spoke as if the Beatles broke up in 1966. I commented jokingly that sometimes I assemble playlists combining their solo material as if they never broke up. So this is a fan album set in a world where the Beatles broke up in '66, but continued to record seperately as solo artists, from the perspective of a fan wondering what their next album might have looked like...

We all know that the Beatles broke up in 1966, shortly after finishing their final world tour which followed their last studio album, Revolver. A number of people have tried to assemble what could have been the band's eighth studio album using songs from their solo projects from 1967-early 1968. I thought I'd take my own crack at it.

I've called it "The Inner Light", using the songs each member released on singles/EPs/LPs following the band's break-up. The only thing missing is a Ringo song sadly.

Track Listing

Side A

1. Strawberry Fields Forever [John Lennon - Living with Eyes Closed]
2. The Inner Light [George Harrison - The Inner Light EP]
3. Penny Lane [Paul McCartney - Penny Lane / When I'm Sixty-Four single]
4. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds [John Lennon - Living with Eyes Closed]
5. Getting Better [Paul McCartney - Pendulum]
6. Your Mother Should Know [Paul McCartney - Pendulum]

Side B

1. Blue Jay Way [George Harrison - The Inner Light EP]
2. She's Leaving Home [Paul McCartney - Pendulum]
3. When I'm Sixty-Four [Paul McCartney - Penny Lane / When I'm Sixty-Four single]
4. The Fool on the Hill [Paul McCartney - Pendulum]
5. Good Morning Good Morning [John Lennon - Living with Eyes Closed]
6. Across the Universe [John Lennon - Across the Universe / Hey Bulldog single]

The boys' 1966 album marked another change in direction. While there were some elements held over from their previous folk-rock endeavour, there were enough new sounds to keep things interesting, including tape manipulation and looping. It marked George Harrison's emergence as a songwriter, with four original songs on the album. Promoted with the lead single "Rain" (c/w "If I Needed Someone"), Magic Circle peaked at #2 on the British charts and reached a respectable #11 in the United States. The album was praised for the new territories it explored, and retrospectively received further acclaim for being one of the earliest "psychedelic rock" albums.

Following a tour that summer, the band took some time off. A greatest hits compilation was issued in lieu of any new studio recordings for a Christmas release. The ensuing period would retrospectively be seen as the "beginning of the end" by many of the band's fans, with the next album taking almost a year to be produced as the band struggled to muster up enough material while personal issues began to drive them apart...

Track Listing

Side A

1. Rain
2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
3. Love You To
4. I'm Only Sleeping
5. And Your Bird Can Sing
6. If I Needed Someone
7. In My Life

Side B

1. Taxman
2. The Word
3. What Goes On
4. Girl
5. Doctor Robert
6. I Want to Tell You
7. Tomorrow Never Knows

The boys return to the studio again in early 1965. Unable to muster enough new originals to fill an album with, they once again rely partially on covers to bring the number of tracks up to 14. Accompanied by the lead single "Ticket to Ride" (c/w "Baby's in Black"), the album marks another success for the band. Critics note the folk-rock style of the album as a development in the band's sound, as well as some more introspective songwriting from Lennon as shown in "Help!" and "I'm a Loser".

The rest of 1965 is spent touring once again, with the Beatles selling out venues across Europe before playing a handful of dates in North America and Asia. The non-album single "Day Tripper" (c/w "Nowhere Man") is released that November. The sessions for that single also produce a number of songs for their next studio album.

Track Listing

Side A

1. Help!
2. I'm a Loser
3. You're Going to Lose That Girl
4. You Like Me Too Much
5. Words of Love
6. Yes It Is
7. Baby's in Black

Side B

1. I Need You
2. Honey Don't
3. No Reply
4. Ticket to Ride
5. I Don't Want to Spoil the Party
6. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
7. Rock and Roll Music

Curious to see what EPs people are listening to. It's something I've never seen discussed on here, probably because last.fm doesn't really distinguish them from albums. I know for a fact that I'm going to have a hard time finding 10 so I'll do my top 5, feel free to go further if you want.

Mini-albums are a similar kind of format so I thought I'd throw some of mine in too.

1. Attic Abasement - Don't Hate Fuck (#19, 219)
2. Alex Turner - Submarine (#32, 163)
3. Mac DeMarco - Another One (#95, 90)
4. Mac DeMarco - Rock and Roll Night Club (#127, 69)
5. Guided by Voices - Tigerbomb (#133, 66)

The sessions for the next Beatles album begin in October 1963, which produces the single "I'm in Love" (c/w "This Boy") which was issued as a non-album single that November. A number of songs were held over from those sessions, which resumed after the band's Christmas shows in December/January 1963. The lead single, "I Call Your Name" (c/w "You Can't Do That"), is released as the album's lead single and charts in the UK top 5. It also picked up some traction in the United States, inspiring a wave of garage bands; the band made a brief appearance on American Bandstand, where they performed the two songs from the single and sparking an interest in British music stateside.

The boys would spend the rest of 1964 touring and preparing for material for their upcoming album. They release a non-album single, "I Feel Fine" (c/w "Leave My Kitten Alone"), in time for Christmas. It reaches #1 and the A-side becomes historically important for being one of the earliest instances where feedback was used on a pop song.

Track Listing

Side A

1. A Hard Day's Night
2. I Should Have Known Better
3. If I Fell
4. I'll Cry Instead
5. I'm Happy Just to Dance with You
6. Tell Me Why
7. Any Time At All

Side B

1. It Won't Be Long
2. Don't Bother Me
3. Bad To Me
4. Not a Second Time
5. I Call Your Name
6. You Can't Do That
7. I'll Be Back

Sort of rounding out my recent series of posts (here are the ones for John and George) with Paul's progression throughout the later months of 1966. I don't know what Ringo was up to during this time in all honesty. I'll look into it.

Slide 1 is from 13th September, when Paul and Ringo attended the Melody Maker awards. They accepted awards on behalf of the Beatles - John was filming How I Won The War in Spain, and George was leaving for India the following day. Together, they accepted awards for the best group - both in Britain and internationally. Here you can see Paul is starting to grow his mustache.

As far as I'm aware, the second slide contains the only publicly-available images of Paul in October '66. Apparently this was a disguise he wore in an attempt to visit a night club unnoticed. It may also have been used as a disguise for his holiday the following month...

Slide 3 is a GIF taken from some film shot by Mal Evans in France. Paul flew to France on 6th November and met Mal in Bordeaux on the 12th. The film was stolen by fans who broke into Paul's Cavendish Avenue home.

A still from Paul and Mal Evans' holiday in Kenya can be seen next, which took place later in November 1966.

Slide 5 is a picture of Paul with Claes Oldenburg, taken on 22nd November. Paul visited Oldenburg's exhibition at the Robert Fraser Gallery with John. Yoko Ono was also at the event.

The sixth slide is from 24th November, when the Beatles returned to the studio for the first time in months to work on "Strawberry Fields Forever".

Slides 7 and 8 are photos taken during the sessions for the Family Way soundtrack. These are from early December 1966. It was initially reported that John and Paul would work on this together, but it ended up being a solo Paul effort.

Photos 9 and 10 were shot at the premiere of The Family Way, on 18th December 1966.

Slide 11 is from 21st December - the same place where I ended my John and George posts. The image is taken in the same context. This seems to be the last image taken of Paul in 1966 too.

Hopefully there were a few things here you hadn't seen before. There is such a big change in Paul's appearance between September and October 1966, I wish there were more pictures to show the transition more smoothly but there don't seem to be any.

I thought I'd revisit this one. This was one of the earliest timelines I posted to the sub, way back in August 2024. In that version, the Beatles continue without Paul - Klaus Voormann fills in on bass - until 1974, with Billy Preston joining in somewhere along the line. Because I feel that a Paul-less Beatles lasting until 1974 is quite unrealistic - and because there were some truly horrifying artworks in my original post - I decided to take another crack at this premise and trim it down to six albums; one per year from 1963 to 1968. Without further ado...

For one reason or another, Paul is no longer in the picture. Maybe he decided he'd rather go for a more stable, traditional job. Maybe he fancied himself as a solo artist. Who knows? What matters is that John, the Beatles' fearless leader, is determined to prove to Paul - and to himself - that they can go on without him.

They bring in an old friend, Klaus Voormann, to fill in for Paul on bass. He's not quite as adept as Paul, but intense rehearsals and icy live performances - with Paul's distraught fans in Liverpool not taking to his replacement - get him to up his game a little.

The band are signed to Parlophone, with whom they record their first single, "Hello Little Girl" (b/w "One After 909"). It's a moderate hit, peaking at #12 in the UK charts. Their follow-up does even better; "Please Please Me" (b/w "Ask Me Why") peaks at #2.

The Beatles' debut album soon follows and tops the British charts for some time. The group tour heavily to promote the album. Their next single, "I'm In Love" (b/w "This Boy"), releases in November 1963 and tops the charts.

Track Listing

Side A

1. Please Please Me
2. Ask Me Why
3. Chains
4. Anna (Go to Him)
5. Boys
6. Hello Little Girl
7. One After 909

Side B

1. Some Other Guy
2. Do You Want to Know a Secret?
3. Carol
4. To Know Her Is to Love Her
5. Nothin' Shakin'
6. There's a Place
7. Twist and Shout

Robbie passed away three years ago today, on 9th August 2023. One of the most underrated songwriters and guitarists ever. "The Weight", "Fallen Angel", "It Makes No Difference", "Somewhere Down the Crazy River", and "Right as Rain" are some of my favourite songs he wrote. What about yours?

Went on a bit of a deep dive through pictures from George and Pattie's 1966 visit to India recently, and thought I'd share them here alongside some pics of George in November and December of that year.

I hadn't seen a lot of the pictures from India before. The first slide was one I found recently. I'd never seen George with a 'stache and the mop-top haircut. The fisheye lens selfies are iconic obviously, and the pictures with Ravi were nice to come across.

George was in India from 14th September to 22nd October I believe, and it seems that he scrapped the 'stache at some point between returning from India and returning to the studio with the Beatles to record Strawberry Fields Forever on 24th November. The next image I can find of him is from 20th December - the same time John was first pictured with a moustache - where we can see George has grown it out again.

I find the period between ending touring and starting Pepper quite interesting so I hope people don't mind me sharing these - I made a similar post for John a few days ago.

There was a post over on r/PaulMcCartney asking about what the set list for a Paul McCartney Tiny Desk concert might look like. If you're not familiar, Tiny Desk is a series by NPR Music where artists come along and play stripped-down concerts behind a desk in an office. Usually they last for about 20-25 minutes. Looking it up on YouTube will show you the number of high-profile artists that have performed at Tiny Desk: Charlie Puth, Sting, Tame Impala, The Cranberries, Cat Stevens, and many others.

This is the Sir Paul Tiny Desk concert I'd love to see. It's not stacked with hits, but it would make for a good intimate performance. Based on the lengths of the studio versions, this would run for around 21 minutes.

No artwork because I'm feeling lazy.

Set List

1. Ram On
2. I've Just Seen a Face
3. Rocky Raccoon
4. Down South
5. Bluebird
6. Here Today
7. Dance Tonight
8. I Will