Chapter 13: Wooden Ships (February - October 1969)

20 February - 28 June 1969

The cover for Cream's Wheels of Fire album, released August 1968.

The supergroup Cream's third album, Wheels of Fire, was the first album released on the Apple Records label on 9 August 1968. It topped the charts in America despite being a double album; one record of live performances, and the other studio tracks. That October, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker had recorded new material for a fourth album, most notably "Badge", a collaboration between Clapton and George Harrison (credited as "L'Angelo Misterioso").

JACK BRUCE: "At that point, we were kind of getting fed up with one another, what with the ego and all. My hearing was going bad, Ginger and I were at each others' throats, Eric was more interested in playing with Bob Dylan's backing group. But then there was this sort of battle of the bands going on with the Rolling Stones, the Who and the Monkees, and despite the frustration, we kind of wanted in. That was where Steve Winwood came in." (2007)

Steve Winwood was a keyboardist known for being a member of the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic. Clapton and Bruce had known him back in 1966 when they were part of a group called the Powerhouse, but only recorded three songs together, and Clapton and Bruce later formed Cream with Baker. Winwood agreed to provide the keyboards for Cream's next album, and by the end of February, they were back in the studio with producer Jimmy Miller to record the next Cream album.

28 July 1969

Cream - Blind Faith

Released: 28 July 1969

Recorded: October 1968 ("Badge"), 20 February - 28 June 1969

Producer: Felix Pappalardi ("Badge"), Jimmy Miller

Track listing[1]

Side A

Had to Cry Today
Theme for an Imaginary Western
Can't Find My Way Home
Weird of Hermiston
Presence of the Lord

Side B

Never Tell Your Mother She's Out of Tune
Badge
The Clearout
Do What You Like

"Badge" was released as a single four months ahead of Blind Faith, backed with a cover of Buddy Holly's "Well... All Right" as the B-side, becoming a Top 20 hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It was the only track from the October 1968 sessions that the group deemed salvageable, and overdubs were added to fit amongst the February to June 1969 recordings.

When Blind Faith was released, there was controversy surrounding the cover depicting a topless pubescent girl, created by Bob Seidemann, a photographer and personal friend of Clapton known for his photos of Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. An alternative cover in the United States depicted the band on the front.

Controversy aside, the album was still a commercial success, being Cream's first album to reach #1 in the United Kingdom, as well as their second to top the charts in America, the first being Wheels of Fire. Blind Faith, named for a comment made by Eric Clapton about describing everyone's self-belief that Cream would still be around, no matter the circumstances, is often said to have included some of the best music Cream have ever put out, being ranked by Rolling Stone as the 140th greatest album of all time.

It seemed as if for now, Cream was stable once again.

12 - 31 March 1969

The wedding of Paul and Linda McCartney, 12 March 1969.

Just a fortnight after the filming on Apple Films' take on Alice in Wonderland had wrapped up, Paul McCartney had married his new girlfriend Linda Eastman. Although the event had initially been planned to be a secret, much like John Lennon's first marriage to Cynthia Powell in 1962, onlookers and reporters soon caught wind of the newly-wed couple. Many girls cried because Paul had been the last bachelor Beatle. None of his bandmates attended the ceremony, but Mal Evans, Peter Brown and McCartney's brother Michael acted as witnesses. Four days after the wedding, Mr. and Mrs. Paul McCartney went off on their honeymoon to New York to spend time with Linda's family.

At the same time, John and Yoko had flown to Paris, France. Their initial wedding date was to be 14 March on a cross-channel ferry in Southampton, but due to Ono not being of English ancestry, that was not possible. The couple wanted to try again in Paris, but Peter Brown instead advised for them to marry in Gibraltar, at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. "We chose Gibraltar because it is quiet, British and friendly," John would later recall. "We tried everywhere else first."

John and Yoko's bed-in for peace in Amsterdam, 25-31 March 1969.

John and Yoko's marriage received a lot of press coverage, and so they decided to use this publicity to promote world peace. They stayed at room 902 at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam in the Netherlands for a week in bed. The press were invited into the room for twelve hours a day between nine in the morning and nine in the evening; rather than seeing them making love in public following a public image of Lennon and Ono naked, they simply sat in their bed talking about peace. For all the publicity it got, much of it hostile, their message was distributed across the world.

But what about George and Ringo? Whilst the latter was preparing for his role in The Magic Christian, the former along with wife Pattie had been busted on Paul's wedding day by Sgt. Norman Pilcher of the Drugs Squad. Pilcher had infamously arrested Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Keith Richards, as well as Scottish singer/songwriter/guitarist Donovan, John Lennon himself, and nearly managed to capture Eric Clapton.

GEORGE HARRISON: "They chose Paul's wedding day to come and do a raid on me, and to this day, I'm still having difficulty with my visa to America because of this fella [Norman Pilcher]." (Anthology, 1995)

George and Pattie Harrison being brought into Esher and Walton Magistrates' Court following their drug bust, 18 March 1969.

The Harrisons appeared at Esher and Walton Magistrates' Court on the 18th on the charge of cannabis possession. The trial took place on the 31st when they pleased guilty to the charge, but it was likely to have been planted in the house by Pilcher and his squad. They were fined £250 plus 10 guineas each and put on probation for a year.

14 - 25 April 1969
The Beatles were now back in the studio. Well, John and Paul were, at least. George was looking for a new house to live in, and Ringo was on set for The Magic Christian. Inspired by the events of his wedding and honeymoon, Lennon wanted to get a song he dubbed "The Ballad of John and Yoko" on record as quickly as possible. "It'll be an instant single," he explained to Paul at the latter's home. "Write something up for breakfast, record it for lunch, and then release it to the public for dinner."

"Erm, well, it's a nice idea and all that," Paul admitted, "but shouldn't we plan it out first?"

"To hell with that," argued John. "Too much planning would ruin it."

"But George and Ringo aren't there," Paul pointed out.

"Well, you can do the drums just as well as Ringo can," John countered. "C'mon, this'll be great, Macca."

The cover for the Beatles' April 1969 single, "The Ballad of John and Yoko".

Eventually, Paul agreed to it, despite his concerns about the references to Jesus Christ and his crucifixion in the lyrics. With Geoff Emerick as their engineer, "The Ballad of John and Yoko" was recorded and mixed within seven hours.

JOHN LENNON: "Just as we'd finished up 'Ballad', Paul offered up the B-side, 'Two of Us', about his own relationship with Linda. I didn't have anything else on hand, so re quickly recorded and mixed it as well." (1981)

PAUL McCARTNEY: "I've a soft spot for both 'Ballad' and 'Two of Us'. It was almost like the peak of mine and John's friendship. As much as it was a love song for Linda, it was also a song of friendship for John. He shared his personal experiences with Yoko, and I shared my own with both him and Linda." (2000)

Eleven days after they were recorded "The Ballad of John and Yoko" and "Two of Us" were released as a single, being one of the fastest-released songs in rock music history. It marked their 22nd #1 single when it reached the top in the United Kingdom, but it only reached #8 in the United States, possibly due to the religious references. American radios preferred the B-side instead.

When asked for their opinions about being left off the single, Ringo admitted to feeling "slightly hurt about not being asked to play drums" (1982), George was indifferent. "It was none of my business," he said. "If they had been 'The Ballad of John, George and Yoko' and 'Three of Us', then I would have been on both sides." (1979)

For the next two months, the Beatles were either spending time with their families or helping to expand Apple Corporation alongside Brian Epstein, Derek Taylor, Neil Aspinall and Peter Brown. Their next release would come as a complete shock to many...

7 July 1969

The Beatles - Back in Your Safely Beds

Released: 7 July 1969

Recorded: 30 May - 21 June, 14 August - 16 September, 1 and 4 November 1968, 3, 24, and 26 January, 1 June 1969

Producer: George Martin, Chris Thomas, The Beatles, Yoko Ono

Track listing[2]

Side A

Give Peace a Chance
Los Paranoias
Wild Honey Pie
What's the New Mary Jane?
Suicide

Side B

Wonderwall
Song for John [w/ Yoko Ono]
Hot as Sun
Revolution 9
Taking a Trip to Carolina

The sessions that ultimately compiled Back in Your Safely Beds ranged all the way from the initial sessions of Beatles '68 and Alice in Wonderland all the way to John and Yoko's performance of "Give Peace a Chance" at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada on 1 June - an entire year. The album's most noteworthy track, outside of "Give Peace a Chance", was "Revolution 9", which began as an acoustic rendition of the Beatles '68 track "Revolution" before the coda delved into numerous overdubbed vocals, speech, sound effects and short tape loops. According to Lennon, the goal of "Revolution 9" was to paint a picture of a revolution using sound.

As for the remaining tracks, "Los Paranoias", "Wild Honey Pie", and "What's the New Mary Jane?" were outtakes from the sessions for both Beatles '68 and Alice in Wonderland; "Song for John" (featuring Yoko on vocals) and Harrison's "Wonderwall" were both recorded in early November; "Suicide" and "Hot as Sun" were jams both written by Paul McCartney back in the late 1950s, and "Taking a Trip to Carolina" was a short snippet written by Ringo, all three being recorded in January.

The Beatles, 1969.

Back in Your Safely Beds came off as a shock to both critics and fans alike. It was the first Beatles album to not reach #1 on either side of the Atlantic, stalling at #2 in the United Kingdom and topping out at #14 in the United States.[3] Reception towards the album ranged from mixed to negative, with the first lines of the Rolling Stone review being, "What is this shit?"[4] The motives behind Back in Your Safely Beds have been subject to wild speculation since its release, with some claiming that John Lennon wanted to kill the Beatles' almost-spotless legacy, so he relied on older, more experimental recordings to compile an album that made no sense whatsoever. Some defenders, however, believed there was indeed a concept to Back in Your Safely Beds that had some legs to stand on.

RINGO STARR: "When Brian [Epstein] first heard Back in Your Safely Beds, he called us into a meeting. He was absolutely furious, especially with John." (1992)

JOHN LENNON: "Eppy didn't really like the sound I cobbled together for Safely Beds, and he even chastised me for almost causing permanent damage to the Beatles' good name with what he called 'an antithesis to what the Beatles were made of' - his word, not mine. Feeling as if I was driving the band off the deep end, he put Paul in charge of the band, and said that we had to put out an album to bring back goodwill with the public... or else." (1976 Rolling Stone interview)

In the past, Epstein was lenient when any of the boys screwed up, but this time, he wasn't letting any of them off easy. He had booked studio time starting on 21 July and ending on 10 August, and the last thing he said to the Beatles at the meeting was, "Don't let that avant-garde bollocks be the last thing people will remember you for!"

October 3, 1969

The Monkees - Listen to the Band

Released: October 3, 1969

Recorded: May 10, 1968 - August 14, 1969

Producer: The Monkees, Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, Bill Chadwick

Track listing[5]

Side A

Little Girl
Good Clean Fun
If I Knew
St. Matthew
Smile
Bye Bye Baby Bye Bye
Hollywood

Side B

Look Down
Listen to the Band
French Song
The Crippled Lion
Pillow Time
Oklahoma Backroom Dancer
The Good Earth

The Monkees' Listen to the Band was the group's seventh album overall, as well as their first album recorded following the departure of Peter Tork. The album contained leftover tracks from The Monkees Present sessions, and the contributions were roughly split amongst the trio; three songs from Micky, five from Davy, and six from Michael. Listen to the Band was the final album by the group to reach Billboard's Top 100, barely managing to reach the bottom spot. Despite the tour with the backing of Sam and the Good-Timers with many performances lasting longer than two hours, it was still not enough to make the Monkees a commercial force once again, especially with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Yardbirds and Cream overshadowing the group's best efforts.

MICKY DOLENZ: "It seemed strange at the time; I mean, the Zombies had a bit of a resurgence in popularity, but why not the Monkees? The tour seemed like a waste of time in retrospect; it was as if we were kicking a dead horse... or a dead monkey, I suppose. It looked as though the phenomenon had peaked." (1994)

Footnotes

1. Tracks are sourced either from Jack Bruce's Songs for a Tailor or Blind Faith's sole self-titled album. "Badge" is sourced from Cream's Goodbye.
2. "Give Peace a Chance" is taken from John Lennon's Power to the People: The Hits. "Los Paranoias" and "Wild Honey Pie" are both from the 2018 remaster of The White Album, the former being the four minute version as opposed to being part of a medley with "Step Inside Love". "What's the New Mary Jane" is from Anthology 3 with the closing dialogue removed and the Spanish guitar intro from "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" included. "Suicide" and "Hot as Sun" are both taken from Paul McCartney's McCartney, the latter fading out before the "Glasses" portion comes in. "Wonderwall" is "Dream Scene" re-titled from George Harrison's Wonderwall Music. "Song for John" is from Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions. "Revolution 9" is from soniclovenoize's A Doll's House reconstruction that he made as an April Fool's joke. "Taking a Trip to Carolina" is from disc six of The Lost Album bootleg.
3. In OTL, "Give Peace a Chance" had the exact same chart positions when it came out.
4. These were the same words that opened Greil Marcus' review of Bob Dylan's Self Portrait.
5. Tracks are sourced from the 1994 reissue of The Monkees Present and the 2011 reissue of Instant Replay.

Author's Comments

First off, apologies to those who were offended by the cover for Blind Faith; I don't mean to cause any offense to anyone who may be reading this. Controversies in the world of rock music are inevitable, whether we like it or not.

Second, I feel like the Monkees' part of this chapter felt like an afterthought. Though then again, a double album version of The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees wouldn't have had much effect on their declining popularity either way. They would inevitably fall apart by the start of the 1970s, as they will in this story, though they last a tad longer than OTL.

And lastly, I've changed the tags so each will direct you to a specific story arc. Strawberry Peppers refers to the alternate universe as a whole, but for each of the smaller stories, they're as follows:

• The March of the Queen Beatle: This is the main story of the timeline. The bands being focused on are the Beatles and Queen; the latter will come in when we get to the 1970s.
• Jumpin' Jack's Knife: The Rolling Stones' portion of the story, featuring a certain Major Tom we'll meet up with in the next chapter.
• Villains and Heroes: Featuring The Beach Boys as the main players. Admittedly, their story is very short, and it serves as a sort of subplot to The March of the Queen Beatle.
• Interstellar Overdrive: Pink Floyd's story in this universe. Their story branches off from The March of the Queen Beatle.
• Happy Jacks: The Who's story which branches off from Jumpin' Jack's Knife.
• Through the Looking Glass: The Monkees' piece in the universe, though it does draw rough parallels to what happened to them in OTL, Tork's departure and all.
• Dazed with Confusion: The Yardbirds' story which draws parallels to Led Zeppelin's story in OTL.
• Seasoned for the Time: The Zombies' story in which they continue into the 1970s, taking the place of the band Argent and Colin Blunstone's initial solo career.
• Apple Badge: The newest collection that features Eric Clapton and his time with Cream, continuing beyond 1968, as we've recently just seen.

So far, that's nine stories taking place at the same time during Phase One. There is a tenth story being planned at the moment, but I'll reveal who it is in due time.