Chapter 59: I Will Survive (June - December 1978)

June 16, 1978

Andy Gibb - Flowing Rivers

Released: June 16, 1978

Recorded: October 1976, December 1977 - February 1978

Producer: Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson

Track listing[1]

Side A

One More Look at the Night
Flowing Rivers
Dance to the Light of the Morning
Fool for a Night
Good Feeling
Let It Be Me
Starlight

Side B

Melody
I Go For You
Come Home for the Winter
Too Many Looks in Your Eyes
Waiting for You
In The End

Andy Gibb's solo debut album had initially been set for a release in 1977, but when some tracks ended up on the Bee Gees' Night Fever that same year, it was put on hold. Starting with December that year and lasting up to February 1978, some new tracks were recorded, along with some tracks co-written with his older brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice (and sometimes with just Barry) that would later end up on the Bee Gees' next album.

Flowing Rivers (#15 UK, #7 US) was finally released in June, backed with the title track as the sole single along with "Let It Be Me" as the B-side (#32 UK, #9 US). The album received generally positive reviews from critics as a solid first attempt from what many have dubbed "the baby Bee Gee". Andy's follow-up album, After Dark, would not be released until February 2, 1980.[2]

July 21, 1978

Peter Frampton performing at Oakland Coliseum Stadium, July 2, 1977.

Several weeks following the release of Andy Gibb's Flowing Rivers, the Bee Gees' film based upon their 1969 album Odessa had been released as a joint production between Apple Films and RSO Records. Directed by Lindsay Anderson, written by Henry Edwards and cinematography by Gilbert Taylor, Odessa was made on a budget of $13 million and made roughly $28.4 million in the box office, just breaking even and with a mixed critical reception. With Odessa having been released the same year as The Wiz (a co-production with Motown) and Superman: The Movie, both scheduled for release later in the year, 1978 was expected to be a big year for Apple Films.

Alongside the Gibb brothers, they were joined on the big screen by Sandy Farina as the love interest, George Burns as the kind-hearted captain of the Odessa, Donald Pleasence as the ambitious chief engineer, Frankie Howerd as the ship's cantankerous cook, Paul Nicholas as the jealous love-triangle rival, as well as guest appearances by Steve Martin as the slightly eccentric doctor (a role he would later repeat for Little Shop of Horrors) and Peter Frampton in a posthumous role as a crazed stowaway.

On June 29 in the Bahamas, Peter Frampton had been involved in a car accident that resulted in him being killed immediately. Prior to his death, Frampton had been in the midst of a commercial peak after having released the then-biggest-selling live album of all time, Frampton Comes Alive in 1976. After that, it was downhill from there; it had started when Frampton had taken a shirtless photo for Rolling Stone, which resulted in critics labeling him as a shallow teen idol. The commercial disappointment of his fifth solo album from 1977, I'm in You, further accelerated Frampton's fall from grace, despite reaching platinum.[3]

With Frampton's unexpected death at the age of 28, his solo career was given a critical reevaluation, and both Odessa and Grease (for which he played guitar on the title track sung by Frankie Valli for the soundtrack of the same name) were dedicated to his memory. His former band, Humble Pie, would later reunite the following year for a concert dedicated to Frampton.

September 15, 1978

Kiss - G.A.P.P.

Released: September 15, 1978

Recorded: February - July 1978

Producer: Kiss (all sides), Sean Delaney (Side Gene), Eddie Kramer (Side Ace), Vini Poncia (Side Peter) and Jeff Glixman (Side Paul)

Track listing[4]

Side Gene

Radioactive
Burning Up with Fever
See You Tonite
Tunnel of Love
Living in Sin

Side Ace

Rip It Out
Speedin' Back to My Baby
Snow Blind
Ozone
What's on Your Mind?

Side Peter

Don't You Let Me Down
That's the Kind of Sugar Papa Likes
Kiss the Girl Goodbye
Hooked on Rock 'n' Roll
I Can't Stop the Rain

Side Paul

Tonight You Belong to Me
Move On
Wouldn't You Like to Know Me
It's Alright
Love in Chains

By 1978, heavy metal rock band Kiss, consisting of Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, was at a commercial peak. Alive II had become their fourth platinum album in under two years, and the tour that followed had the highest average attendance of 13,550 to date, with the gross income being $10.2 million. So where do they go from there?

PAUL STANLEY: "We wanted to do a solo album each and put then them all out on the same day. Tensions were rising between us at the time, and so doing solo projects and exploring our personal interests in other music genres seemed like a good idea at the time." (2004)

GENE SIMMONS: "Somehow, Casablanca Records [Kiss' label since 1973] didn't like that idea, though we did have a contract that called for four solo records. I don't want to delve too deeply into what went on behind the scenes, but come September 1978, we got half a solo album each on a double album that was credited to Kiss. Not Gene, Ace, Peter and Paul individually. Just Kiss as a collective unit." (1994)

Kiss performing live in Tokyo, Japan, 1978.

ACE FREHLEY: "It just felt like some kind of marketing gimmick, as if they were copying what the Monkees achieved with The Monkees Present back in the late 60s." (1997)

G.A.P.P. (with each initial standing for the first names of the band members) managed to reach #22 in the United States and received divisive opinions from critics and fans alike, with some wondering what they would've been like as solo albums. Others tried to trim it down to make a single band album instead of a collection of solo albums packaged together.

PETER CRISS: "We then wanted to do a movie that would cement our image as larger-than-life rock and roll superheroes, almost like a cross between A Hard Day's Night and Star Wars [released last year on May 4, 1977]. But after hearing of a scrapped Bee Gees project in which they sang Beatles songs, Phantom of the Park never got off the ground. Now that I'm thinking about it, it was probably for the best we canned the project altogether; I dunno what the hell we were thinking trying to accomplish such a movie like that." (2015)

17 November 1978

The Sex Pistols - The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle

Released: 17 November 1978

Recorded: February - September 1978

Producer: The Sex Pistols and Chris Thomas

Track listing[5]

Side A

No One is Innocent
Just Another Dream
Religion II
Cheap Emotions
Silly Thing
Annalisa

Side B

The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle [ft. Edward Tudor-Pole]
Empty Words
1-2-3
Attack
Burning Sounds
Fodderstompf

In January 1978, Johnny Rotten announced that the Sex Pistols would return to the studio to record a second album. The first single off of their upcoming album, "No One is Innocent" backed with "Cheap Emotions", was released on 30 June and topped out at #3 in the United Kingdom. It had been recorded at an unknown 16-track studio in Rio de Janeiro and was among the first songs to be recorded for the Sex Pistols' sophomore album.

STEVE JONES: "By that time, we had become associated with Edward [Tudor-Pole] and his band, Tenpole Tudor. When we were recording for 'Swindle', Johnny's voice was not in great shape, so we asked Eddie if he could fill in for the recording, and he agreed. The track was credited to both the Sex Pistols and Tenpole Tudor, but we probably should've credited it to the Tenpole Pistols." (2002)

The members of Tenpole Tudor, 1979. Edward Tudor-Pole (stage name Eddie Tenpole) is on the far left.

Tenpole Tudor was later brought to the attention of Apple Records A&R Director Jake Riviera by Paul Cook, who would then have the group signed onto the label by the start of 1979 along with English ska band Madness. The former group would put out their debut single "Who Killed Bambi?"/"Rock Around the Clock" (#14 UK) in March and the latter their debut album One Step Beyond... (#2 UK, #128 US) in October.

The Sex Pistols' second album, The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle (#7 UK) was finally released in mid-November, and was backed with the second single "Silly Thing"/"Attack" (#6 UK), before being followed up by the third and final single "The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle"/"1-2-3" (#4 UK) in February the following year. While Never Mind the Bollocks would receive wildly critical acclaim in later years, Swindle would be seen as "a slight step down, but with an interesting look into what they could've done had they stayed together into the next decade."

Yes, with new directions the Sex Pistols was taking with their music, it looked as if they were destined to continue for another decade or so. But tragically, the actions of a mentally disturbed fan, as well as his equally disturbed girlfriend, would not only throw a wrench in their works, but shake up the world...

December 15, 1978

The Bee Gees - Spirits Having Flown

Released: December 15, 1978

Recorded: March - November 1978

Producer: Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson

Track listing[6]

Side A

Tragedy
Too Much Heaven
Love You Inside Out
An Everlasting Love
Reaching Out
Spirits (Having Flown)

Side B

Search, Find
Why
Stop (Think Again)
Living Together
I'm Satisfied
(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away

Following the modest success of Odessa, the Bee Gees' next album was pushed forward from the initial January 1979 release to December 15 for the Christmas rush. Spirits Having Flown was preceded that October by the double A-side "Too Much Heaven" and "An Everlasting Love", marking yet another #1 hit for the Bee Gees in the United States. This was followed up by two more #1 hits, "Tragedy" and "Love You Inside Out", and then "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away", although that reached no higher than #7.

Spirits Having Flown hit #1 in both the United States and the United Kingdom (their first album to do so for the latter country) and was met with positive reviews. Their next album, Living Eyes, would not come out until October 1981, and it would mark their final album for six years.[7]

Summary of Bee Gees releases, 1978 - 1979

• "Night Fever" / "Down the Road" - February 7, 1978 (#1 UK and US)
• "Shadow Dancing" / "Warm Ride" - April 17, 1978 (#42 UK, #1 US)
• "Too Much Heaven" / "An Everlasting Love" (double A-side) - October 24, 1978 (#3 UK, #1 US)
• Spirits Having Flown - December 15, 1978 (#1 UK and US)
• "Tragedy" / "Until" (non-album B-side) - February 12, 1979 (#1 UK and US)
• "Love You Inside Out" / "Desire" - April 30, 1979 (#13 UK, #1 US)
• "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" / "Spirits (Having Flown)" - July 9, 1979 (#16 UK, #7 US)
• Bee Gees Greatest - October 19, 1979 (#6 UK, #1 US)

Footnotes

1. A straightforward compilation of songs from Flowing Rivers and Shadow Dancing that did not end up on Night Fever or Spirits Having Flown (see footnote 4 below).
2. On After Dark, "Me (Without You)" (from Andy Gibb's Greatest Hits) replaces "Desire", which is now a Bee Gees B-side. The song was worked on during the sessions for Spirits Having Flown, but it was left off for sounding too similar to "Too Much Heaven". Andy Gibb later added in his vocals in May 1979. For TTL, I simply pretended he recorded his vocals earlier.
3. In OTL, Peter Frampton narrowly survived his car accident. Because of the critical failure of the Sgt. Pepper film, he hit a severe career slump and never reached the heights of Frampton Comes Alive again.
4. Each side consists of an abridgment of the Kiss band members' respective solo albums from 1978. I arranged the album by picking out the solo tracks that were generally more popular among Kiss fans; your mileage may vary.
5. Tracks are sourced from the compilation album Flogging a Dead Horse, the Professionals' intended debut album from 1980, Public Image Ltd's Public Image: The First Issue and Rich Kids' Ghosts of Princes in Towers. In addition, for TTL, the tracks have Johnny Rotten primarily on lead vocals with Glen Matlock and Steve Jones occasionally stepping up to the microphone, and they have a more punk edge akin to Never Mind the Bollocks, although with a more experimental sound akin to their individual projects from the late 1970s/early 1980s.
6. All tracks are sourced from Spirits Having Flown, excluding "An Everlasting Love", "Why", and "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away", all sourced from Andy Gibb's Shadow Dancing. "Until" is released as a non-album B-side.
7. On Living Eyes, "Time is Time" (also from Andy Gibb's Greatest Hits) replaces "Soldiers", which also ends up becoming a non-album B-side.

Author's Comments

Not much to discuss here; the Bee Gees' story will more or less continue as it did per OTL, only with Andy Gibb as a member and surviving past 1988. Also, since the Sgt. Pepper film doesn't happen, the Bee Gees don't go through the commercial slump like they did in OTL.

I've been planning for Kiss and Yes to have storylines for Strawberry Peppers; in the case of the latter, Jon Anderson doesn't leave the band, and Vangelis will join Yes. I've even thought of having them sign up for Highway 61 Records. I was going to do something regarding their 1978 album Tormato, but I ended up cutting it because I couldn't think of something to do with it. Hopefully when I get to doing Drama (or its equivalent), I'll have something in mind. Other than Kiss having an album in 1978 and not doing Phantom of the Park, I don't know what else to do with them as a result of these changes, but I suppose that change isn't immediately obvious so it could be one of those cases.

Lastly, there's the Sex Pistols; since they've never run into Malcolm McLaren (and with Lord Beeching having told him to sod off like he did with Don Arden), they haven't broken up... yet. I don't think anyone's ever attempted to answer the question of what a follow-up to Never Mind the Bollocks would've sounded like had they not broke up, and if that's the case, then it looks like I might be the first. Your results may vary, and it'll be interesting to see what others can come up with. There will be more to do with them in a later chapter, and chances are it may not be pretty...

Chapter 58: Hotel California (February - September 1978)

February 10, 1978

Neil Young - Comes a Time

Released: February 10, 1978

Recorded: November 28, 1975 - November 21, 1977

Producer: Neil Young, David Briggs, Ben Keith and Tim Mulligan

Track listing[1]

Side A

Goin' Back
Comes a Time
Bite the Bullet
Lotta Love
Peace of Mind

Side B

Saddle Up the Palomino
Already One
Field of Opportunity
Motorcycle Mama
Four Strong Winds

Neil Young's latest album, Comes a Time (#42 UK, #7 US), was perhaps his most commercially accessible album in quite some time, marking a return to his folksy roots, including a cover of Ian Tyson's "Four Strong Winds" (#57 UK, #61 US) that was released as a single. Comes a Time received mostly positive reviews upon release. Young's last album of the 1970s, Rust Never Sleeps, would come out later in the year, for he would soon go on a lengthy tour with Crazy Horse of the same name.

Meanwhile, under the pseudonym Bernard Shakey, Young would co-direct a comedy film with Dean Stockwell called Human Highway, named for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's 1975 masterpiece, spending $3 million of his own money on production, but it would not be released until 1982 to negative critical reaction. Also starring in the film were Stockwell, co-writer Russ Tamblyn, famed actor Dennis Hopper, and newly-signed Swan Song Records band Devo, who would put out their debut album on August 28.

31 March 1978

Genesis - And Then There Were Four

Released: 31 March 1978

Recorded: September - October 1977

Producer: David Hentschel and Genesis

Track listing[2]

Side A

Down and Out
Undertow
Minute By Minute
Snowbound
Burning Rope

Side B

Deep in the Motherlode
Many Too Many
Scenes from a Night's Dream
Say It's Alright Joe
The Lady Lies
Follow You Follow Me

The following is excerpted from Kim Beacon's 2006 autobiography, Spotting a Night Bird, published under Apple Books:

"It was about a few hours before an official recording session for And Then There Were Four, that Phil and I were in the studio, and I was messing around a bit on a drum kit. I had played drums in the past, but I never really thought I was that great a drummer. Heck, I'd even told Phil that he was better at it than I was, even though we had dual drum kits when we toured as Genesis during 1976 and 1977. Mainly, I did percussion work like bongos, timbales, tambourine, cymbals, that sort of thing.

'How about a drum duet?' he suggested. 'Nothing all that serious, you understand; just something for a little bit of fun in the studio.'

'Alright, Phil,' I said. 'I'm game.' It would be a while yet before Mike, Tony and David [Hentschel] would arrive, so I thought that a drum duet between me and Phil would be a nice time killer. Sadly, we never thought about recording it, because if we had, then I bet people would really understand the fun we had behind the scenes.

Mine and Phil's drum duet, what we humorously dubbed as 'Collin for a Beacon' (get it?), was kind of akin to what Ralph Humphrey and Chester Thompson did with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention for the live album Roxy and Elsewhere a few years prior. By the time the recording session began proper, Phil and I thought of switching things up a bit like myself playing drums on occasion - usually for one song at most - while Phil played on my set of percussion.

Phil Collins behind the drums, 1978.

The tour for And Then There Were Four, our first album as a quartet and with Daryl Stuermer as touring guitarist, began shortly before the album was released, lasting about eight months, and to say it was grueling would be a bit of an understatement. Especially for Phil. Of course, we did have breaks between legs, but I think he suffered more than the rest of us. His marriage with Andrea [Bertorelli] seemed to be faltering at the time, and he wasn't spending as much time as he wanted to with her or their baby son Simon.

It wasn't until after the final show of the tour in Osaka, Japan [3 December 1978] that Phil finally opened up to the rest of us.

'I'm sorry, guys,' he said, 'but my heart's just not into being part of Genesis anymore. I feel like I'm an absent father and I've recently offered my services as drummer to another band.'

Tony, Mike and I didn't know what to say at first, but after what felt like eternity, I walked over to Phil, my closest friend in the band, and hugged him. I'd noticed he'd been feeling distant for the past few weeks ago, especially when we began the North American leg at the end of September. It was a bit of a red flag in hindsight and we probably should've seen this coming. I was upset, mostly with myself for not noticing it sooner, but whatever Phil wanted to do, I was behind him all the way.

Eventually, Mike and Tony joined in the group hug as well. I can't remember how long it lasted, though there were tears in my eyes by the end of it. Some time afterward, Phil went to Vancouver to try and fix his marriage, though we still kept in close contact and even co-wrote a few songs that would later up either on Genesis albums or on solo projects either by me or by Phil. By the start of the new year, 1979, we soon discovered 'who' Phil was now the drummer for..."

Summary of Genesis releases, 1978

• "Follow You Follow Me" / "Minute By Minute" - 25 February 1978 (#2 UK, #10 US)
• And Then There Were Four - 31 March 1978 (#1 UK, #3 US)
• "Many Too Many" / "The Day the Light Went Out" - 30 June 1978 (#14 UK, #26 US)

May 2, 1978

Tom Petty & Mudcrutch - Terminal Romance

Released: May 2, 1978

Recorded: 1977-1978

Producer: Pete Ham and Tom Petty

Track listing[3]

Side A

When the Time Comes
You're Gonna Get It
Hurt
You Don't Care
Magnolia
I Don't Know What to Say to You
Too Much Ain't Enough

Side B

I Need to Know
Listen to Her Heart
Save Me
No Second Thoughts
Restless
Long Way from Home
Baby's a Rock 'n' Roller

The third album under Tom Petty & Mudcrutch, Terminal Romance, did better than their previous album, American Girl, commercially (#28 UK, #16 US), even reaching gold status (half a million units sold), although it was ranked a notch lower than the latter album. The album's two singles, "I Need to Know"/"No Second Thoughts" (#26 US) and "Listen to Her Heart"/"I Don't Know What to Say to You" (#33 US), were also Top 40 hits after being released in June and August, respectively.

18 August 1978

The Who - Who Are You

Released: 18 August 1978

Recorded: September 1977 - April 1978

Producer: Glyn Johns and Jon Astley

Track listing[4]

Side A

New Song
Had Enough
905
No Road Romance
Sister Disco
Music Must Change

Side B

Trick of the Light
Guitar and Pen
Say It Ain't So, Joe
Love is Coming Down
Who Are You

PETE TOWNSHEND: "Ever since this little battle of the bands with the Rolling Stones ended back in 1972, we were feeling kind of burned out, if Who by Numbers was any indication. The Tommy film did really well, as did the 1976 tour, but we needed a break." (1996)

The last few years were generally a mixed bag for the members of the Who. Pete Townshend stayed at home with his family, Roger Daltrey put out a solo album called One of the Boys, and John Entwistle was planning a science-fiction rock opera of his own; it would concern a man given the identity number 905 and living with another man named 503, and both were absolutely identical. No women existed in the future because that was what they were eating, but Entwistle eventually scrapped the project, deciding that the story seemed too similar to the 1973 dystopian thriller Soylent Green.

But what about the Who's very own Jekyll and Hyde, Keith Moon? To him, going on tour meant that he would be very physically active, but having not done so since 21 October 1976 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Moon was in a very unhealthy state, not helping that he had become obese. His drumming for a gig filmed on 15 December 1977 for a documentary was so lackluster that the footage remained in the vaults. To be fair to Moon, however, having not played as a group for over a year meant that the performance itself was weak overall.

The Who, 1978.

ROGER DALTREY: "Because of Keith's state, we agreed not to make any live performances for the immediate future. Pete had this idea for a sequel to Lifehouse and John had his Soylent Green-esque sci-fi story, but it was decided instead to make a standard album instead. The sessions were pretty hellish, not helping by the fact I had throat surgery. I think our personal lives may have affected our performance." (2006)

Tensions between the band and production grew had grown so intense that Townshend had planned to fire Moon unless he cleaned up his act. Taking this threat seriously, Moon attempted to kick his alcohol addiction and take his drumming skills with greater enthusiasm. Once recording for Who Are You had finally finished in April, the Who filmed another performance that May for the documentary, The Kids Are Alright. It was a much stronger performance overall than the one in December, and what made this performance stand out was that it was the last gig Keith Moon would perform with the Who.

Who Are You was a fast seller in both the United States (#2) and the United Kingdom (#6), although in the former country, it was left out of the top spot by the soundtrack to the movie Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. The sole lead single, "Who Are You"/"Had Enough" (#18 UK, #14 US), was released on 14 July prior to the album.

7 September 1978

9 Curzon Square, formerly Curzon Place, 2012. Cass Elliot and Keith Moon died in apartment 12, a two-bedroom apartment, within four years of each other, both aged 32. Harry Nilsson also lived there before renting it out to Moon in 1978, thinking that the apartment was cursed.

KEITH MOON: "If you don't like it, you can fuck off!" (1978, his last words to girlfriend Annette Walter-Lax)

In mid-1978, Keith Moon had moved into Flat 12 at 9 Curzon Place, Shepherd Market, Mayfair, London, renting from Harry Nilsson. Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Papas had died there four years ago at the age of 32 from heart failure. Nilsson was concerned about letting Moon live there, believing it was cursed. Townshend dismissed Nilsson's concerns by saying "lightning wouldn't strike the same place twice."

How wrong he would be...

On 6 September, Moon and his girlfriend Annette Walter-Lax, a Swedish model, were at a preview of The Buddy Holly Story, and afterward dined with Paul and Linda McCartney, who had also seen the film, at Peppermint Park in Covent Garden. Upon heading home, Moon watched The Abominable Dr. Phibes and asked Walter-Lax to cook him steak and eggs, to which she objected too. He then took thrity-two clomethiazole tablets and when Walter-Lax checked on him the following afternoon, Moon was dead.

Keith Moon during his last tour as drummer for the Who, 1976.

Moon had been given a prescription of Heminevrin (clomethiazole, a sedative) to try and overcome his alcohol withdrawal symptoms, and because of his fear of psychiatric hospitals, Moon insisted on doing it at home. Physician Geoffrey Dymond, who was unaware of Moon's lifestyle, had prescribed a bottle of a hundred pills, instructing him to take only one pill when he felt a craving for alcohol, but no more than three pills per day. Six of the thirty-two pills Moon had taken were digested, and that was enough to end his life.

Pete Townshend was the first to be informed about Moon's death, and he soon let Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle (the latter of whom was being interviewed in France at the time) know about what had happened. Now that Keith Moon had died before he could get old, the three remaining members of the Who were left wondering, what next? Would they carry on despite losing their friend, or would they break up out of respect for his legacy?

PHIL COLLINS: "Shortly after Moonie's demise, I was working with Pete Townshend at Oceanic in Twickenham, helping on tracks for an artist from New York he was producing, Raphael Rudd, a brilliant pianist and harpist. At the time Pete was running around London clubs with New Romantic gadabout Steve Strange. He wasn't in great shape, partying all night and recovering all day. Pete was still sleeping when I arrived at the studio for the session. But once he was up I grabbed him: "Who's gonna play drums for The Who now? 'Cause I'd love to do it.' 'Oh damn, we haven't thought of that.' It was a serious offer, and I was a little surprised but also happy and nervous. This meant that I had to leave Genesis to join Pete, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle. This is The Who we're talking about, man! I grew up with that band. I just loved the energy and I know I could have done it and made it work. After Genesis finished the And Then There Were Four tour, I got to play with a set of childhood heroes full time. Meanwhile with Genesis, and now there were three." (A Stranger Like Me, 2011)[5]

Now that Genesis had been reduced to just Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Kim Beacon, the trio had planned on continuing despite Phil Collins' departure, with Beacon now taking the position as the band's drummer (as well as keyboards here and there). Beacon was initially nervous about becoming the new drummer for Genesis, but with encouragement from Banks and Rutherford as well as Collins' blessing, he gradually grew more comfortable with the position. Whenever the band would go on tour, Chester Thompson would be brought in to play the drums live. The now classic Genesis lineup was born.

Footnotes

1. All tracks are sourced from Comes a Time, excluding "Bite the Bullet" and "Saddle Up the Palomino", both from American Stars 'n Bars.
2. All tracks are sourced from ...And Then There Were Three..., excluding "Minute By Minute" which comes from Kim Beacon's Ravenna. In addition, Kim Beacon sings lead vocals on all of the tracks
3. Terminal Romance was the original title for You're Gonna Get It!. All tracks from said album are included. "I Don't Know What to Say to You" is sourced from Playback and "You Don't Care", "Save Me" and the 1977 re-recording of "Long Way from Home" are all from the bootleg Mudcrutch and Solo Petty Outtakes, being recorded during the sessions for You're Gonna Get It!.
4. All tracks are sourced from the 1996 remaster of Who Are You, excluding "Say It Ain't So, Joe", taken from Roger Daltrey's One of the Boys, which features Keith Moon on drums and John Entwistle on bass guitar. "Guitar and Pen" is the Olympic 1978 Mix and "Who Are You" is the Lost Verse Mix.
5. The first half is verbatim from Phil Collins' 2016 autobiography, Not Dead Yet: The Memoir. The second half was re-written to reflect the events of TTL. In addition, Collins and Pete Townshend had played together on other people's records prior to Keith Moon's death, so they knew each other prior to that event. The autobiography also mentions the death of John Bonham and the break-up of Led Zeppelin in OTL.

Author's Comments

Quite a bit to unpack on the Genesis side of things, isn't there? This time around, Phil Collins has left the group to play with the Who following Keith Moon's demise, and this time, he gets the gig. How will this change things up for the Who? Probably not much; Face Dances and It's Hard would likely be unchanged bar the covers with Phil in Kenney Jones' place, and their trajectory continues more or less like in OTL, barring John Entwistle surviving. I don't think any Genesis songs Phil wrote during 1979-1982 would've ended up on either of the 80s Who albums.

And for those who are curious, here's the rest of the actual Phil Collins quote from Not Dead Yet:

"Oh damn, we just asked Kenney Jones to do it". It was a serious offer, and I was a little disappointed. I'd have left Genesis to join Pete, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle. It's The Who, man! I grew up with that band. I just loved the energy and I know I could have done it and made it work. Denied the chance to play with one set of childhood heroes, here's Robert Plant offering me another".

You'll find out soon enough why I chose to leave off the bit regarding John Bonham's death.

Not much to say about Neil Young or Tom Petty; the former will have his personal life affected when Ben is born this November, while the latter carries on like normal, except he and his band don't go into the legal dispute with MCA Records like they did in OTL.

Thanks to danielmartin273 for helping in writing the Genesis/Who portion of this chapter out, mainly suggesting ideas on what should happen.

Chapter 57: Wish You Were Here (October 1977 - September 1978)

28 October 1977 - June 1978

Pink Floyd pictured with Syd Barret (front-most member), 1967.

NICK MASON: "When we got the word that Syd Barrett had died after a bus accident in Germany, David, Rick and I spent a lot of time at home to reflect on him. Roger had just left Pink Floyd and now his best friend from his youth was no longer with us. I think Roger took it the hardest, though we were no less upset about what had happened. 1977 just seemed to be an annus horribilis for Pink Floyd. First there was the In the Flesh Tour, then Roger leaving the band due to stress, and now there was Syd dying." (2007)

Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright had taken a two month hiatus from the public eye following the tragic and unexpected death of Syd Barret, also a founding member of Hunky Dory, following the flipping of the band's tour bus in West Berlin, Germany. Pink Floyd was now in a difficult situation when Waters announced that he was leaving the band, and it was barely a week when he received a call from Rosemary Barrett about Syd's death. By the time he had re-appeared in the public eye again, Waters looked as though he had aged a few years, and he had grown out his facial hair.

The other members of Hunky Dory, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt had also taken time out of the spotlight following Syd's death. No one was planning to put out any solo works by the time of the event (although Pop had since put out Lust for Life and Bowie had composed various tracks waiting to be recorded), which gave them a lot of time to reflect on what they should do for the foreseeable future.

Lou Reed, 1977.

On 28 October, two months since Barrett's passing, it was Lou Reed who finally said something. He stood up and said the other surviving members, "I'm sorry, I love you guys, but without Syd, what's the point? He was very much the reason we got together in the first place, and if we recorded an album without him, it just wouldn't be the same."

"Well, we hear you, Lou," said Kevin, "but maybe Ollie could..."

"No." The tone of Lou's voice was a bit more blunt than he had intended, but it did get Kevin to stop with his suggestion of bringing in Ollie Halsall, a sideman to Ayers' own solo works and occasional producer to Hunky Dory, as a full time member. Lou didn't need to say anymore, but Kevin quickly understood the implication of his tone.

"How do you think Nick and the others are feeling about Syd's demise?" asked Robert. "He hasn't really been part of Pink Floyd since '72, but he was part of the band's history, even in the early days."

"Rob's got a point there, Lou," said David. "Perhaps one of us should call him or any of the others to see if we could do something to honor Syd and keep his legacy alive?"

IGGY POP: "I remember it was David who called up Nick about Syd. They talked for a bit, reflecting on the times they worked with him, even if he could be a bit of a pain in the ass for Roger and the others. David suggested that we hold a joint concert in Berlin to honor Syd and even donate the proceedings to a charity." (2017)

DAVID GILMOUR: "It was easy to get the rest of Hunky Dory to agree to this charity performance, but Roger was a lot harder to convince. It was Nick who got through to him, however, and assured him that this would be a one-time thing." (1994)

Roger Waters playing live at The Concert for Syd in West Berlin, Germany, 1 December 1977. It had been over three months since Syd Barrett's passing on 28 August 1977.

After some arranging and negotiating, the one-off joint concert between Pink Floyd, Roger Waters and Hunky Dory took place on 1 December in West Berlin, Germany. Titled The Concert for Syd, it consisted of songs performed during Barrett's time with Pink Floyd such as "See Emily Play" (with David Bowie on lead vocals), "Matilda Mother", "Apples and Oranges" and "Jugband Blues", as well as various selections from Hunky Dory's discography such as "Velvet Goldmine", "Speed of Life" and "Raw Power". All proceedings were donated to charity.

ROGER WATERS: "Doing the concert was quite enjoyable, and it really helped us to cope with the aftermath of Syd's death. Before we did the show, I'd been working on some lyrics to a song that became 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' and showed it to the rest of the guys. Then starting with David Bowie, everyone contributed some songs that they had leftover, and that resulted in a collaboration between Pink Floyd and Hunky Dory." (2015)

KEVIN AYERS: "I dunno if we were credited individually or as the Hunky Pink Sound, but either way, David [Bowie] really pulled us through, even though Roger and Lou got into a lot of petty arguing due to their clashing egos. It was pretty stupid if you ask me, but thank goodness Dave managed to keep the glue together." (2007)

The recording for the next album by Pink Floyd and Hunky Dory, jointly credited as The Hunky Pink Sound, would last beginning in January all the way into June of 1978, with all nine men bringing something to the table. Even Syd Barrett got a posthumous contribution with "Swan Lee (Silas Lang)", a song he had recorded towards the end of the Scream Thy Last Scream sessions, but it was left without 70s overdubs out of respect to his legacy. "He always liked his solo recordings raw," Nick Mason was heard to have said.

9 June 1978

The Rolling Stones - Some Girls

Released: 9 June 1978

Recorded: 10 October 1977 - 2 March 1978

Producer: The Glimmer Twins

Track listing[1]

Side A

Miss You
When the Whip Comes Down
We All Get Old
Some Girls
Lies

Side B

Far Away Eyes
Respectable
Before They Make Me Run
Beast of Burden
Shattered

The rest of 1976 and 1977 were mostly uneventful for the Rolling Stones following the departure of David Bowie. Controversy surrounding the Thin White Duke notwithstanding, Bowie had been feeling restricted by the confines of being part of a band, as if they weren't experimental enough for his liking. They had brought in Ronnie Wood on guitar hoping that he'd shake things up a bit. While Wood was a welcome addition, briefly making the Stones a sextet, Bowie that that he himself didn't add anything to the band anymore, becoming another factor that he decided to leave to pursue a solo career full time, though it was delayed due to the death of Syd Barrett and the subsequent project with Pink Floyd and the remaining members of Hunky Dory.

MICK JAGGER: "We knew it was nothing personal when David left the band. He wanted to explore new kinds of music, but we didn't. I suppose we were pretty conservative at the time about how we want to sound. *chuckles* Still, we parted on good terms, though it was years later when it was exposed to the public that me and Dave got a little too cozy with one another in bed." (2013)

The Rolling Stones, 1978. Save for Bill Wyman's departure in 1993, this lineup has remained unchanged since 1976.

Despite Bowie's departure, personal relationships outside of the band falling apart and the occasional bust and subsequent trial for drug possession, especially concerning Keith Richards on the latter point, the Rolling Stones were able to put out their live album Love You Live that September, and Mick Jagger was filmed for a cameo role in a Beatles parody film conceived by Eric Idle. This film, titled All You Need is Cash, would also feature Mick's wife Bianca as well as Ronnie Wood in other roles. The Stones were reunited in the studio that October to begin work on their next album, for which the sessions would last up to March the next year.

The Rolling Stones' sixteenth album (eighteenth according to the American discography) Some Girls reached #1 in America but stalled out at #2 in their native England. It was preceded that May with the single "Miss You"/"Far Away Eyes", which also hit #1 in America, but reached no higher than #3 in the United Kingdom. The follow-up single, "Beast of Burden"/"Respectable" (#23 UK, #8 US), was released that September.

Some Girls marked a return to form for the Rolling Stones following the controversial tour for Red and Black Blues, even being hailed as their greatest album since Ziggy Stardust. For the first time since Lazarus of England ten years ago, the songwriting was dominated by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, although Ronnie Wood would contribute one song to the album, "We All Get Old". The punk vibes on the album, as well as some disco influence, helped to reinvigorate the Stones' success and showed that they could still be a force to be reckoned with despite the departure of David Bowie.

CHARLIE WATTS: "The sessions were so productive during that time; we must've done about fifty songs and we could've easily done a double album with the material we had leftover. We decided to use some of the songs we had leftover to make another album out them. We were once again on a creative streak as the 70s drew to a close." (2006)

1 September 1978

The Hunky Pink Sound - Wish You Were Here

Released: 1 September 1978

Recorded: 28 May 1968, January - June 1978

Producer: Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, Hunky Dory and Brian Eno

Track listing[2]

Side A

Four Notes [The Hunky Pink Sound]
"Heroes" [David Bowie]
China Girl [Iggy Pop]

Side B

Shine On, You Crazy Diamond [Roger Waters]
Once Upon an Ocean [Kevin Ayers]
Coney Island Baby [Lou Reed]

Side C

Swan Lee (Silas Lang) [Syd Barrett]
Art Decade [David Bowie, Rick Wright]
Memories Membrane [Robert Wyatt, Nick Mason]

Side D

Subterraneans [David Bowie]
Wish You Were Here [David Gilmour]
The Farewell March [The Hunky Pink Sound]

Wish You Were Here marked not only Pink Floyd's eleventh album, but also Hunky Dory's eighth and final album as well (though still jointly credited to The Hunky Pink Sound). It reached #1 in both the United States and the United Kingdom and was released on both Highway 61 Records (North America) and Harvest Records (Europe). All profits made off of Wish You Were Here (including re-issues) would go to charity for mental illness research. The album received wildly positive reviews from critics and fans alike, the general consensus being that in the wake of Syd Barrett's untimely demise, Hunky Dory had gone out on a high note.

DAVID BOWIE: "It was fun while it lasted, but without Syd, it was for the best that we split up. We still have contact with each other and catch up on things, but will Hunky Dory ever reunite? Maybe we will, maybe we won't. Right now, it's very unlikely, but who knows what the future may hold? As Ringo Starr once said, tomorrow never knows." (1979)

So where did the members of Hunky Dory go from there? David Bowie stayed on Apple Records, continuing to put out solo albums, finally making a name for himself as a solo artist in 1979. Both Kevin Ayers and Iggy Pop would transfer to Swan Song Records, with the former putting out Rainbow Takeaway by the end of 1978, and the latter releasing New Values in 1979. But after 1980, Ayers would leave Swan Song Records and keep hopping between labels, putting out new albums "whenever [he] felt like it", with his last album, The Unfairground, coming out on LO-MAX Records in 2007. He died while sleeping in France on 18 February 2013 at the age of 68.

By contrast, Lou Reed stayed with Highway 61 Records, putting out Street Hassle shortly after the sessions for Wish You Were Here, and every once in a while releasing music that baffled fans and critics, culminating with Lulu, a collaboration with Metallica in 2011. Reed died two years later at the age of 71.

David Gilmour and Rick Wills on the latter's wedding day, 1972. Both men were members of Cambridge-based rock band Joker's Wild in the mid-1960s. Wills also recorded with Cochise (1970-1972), Peter Frampton (1972-1974) as well as on Kevin Ayers' 1976 album Yes We Have No Mañanas (So Get Your Mañanas Today). He played with the reformed Small Faces for Playmates (1977) and 78 in the Shade (1978) before they broke up for good due to poor reviews and sales.

As for Robert Wyatt, due to his friendship with Nick Mason and having nothing better to do in the meantime, he would leave Highway 61 Records at the start of 1979 to become a full-time member of Pink Floyd. Since Roger Waters would continue to pursue a solo career around that time, he was replaced in Pink Floyd by Rick Wills on bass guitar, an old friend of David Gilmour from the days of Joker's Wild in the mid-1960s, and they were also jointed by Snowy White, who served as backing guitarist during the In the Flesh Tour.

With the current lineup consisting of Rick Wright, Nick Mason, David Gilmour, Rick Wills, Snowy White and Robert Wyatt, what was going to happen next for the newest phase of Pink Floyd, now a sextet? And what about Roger Waters? Well, at the time, only we could think and wonder if time would tell heaven from hell...

Footnotes

1. All tracks are sourced from Some Girls, excluding "We All Get Old", sourced from Ronnie Wood's Gimme Some Neck. Wood had begun recording his album as early as January 1978, around the time of the final sessions for Some Girls.
2. Tracks are sourced from the following:
1. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" parts one through three from Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.
2. David Bowie's "Heroes".
3. Iggy Pop's The Idiot.
4. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" parts four through seven from Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.
5. Kevin Ayers' Sweet Deceiver.
6. Lou Reed's Coney Island Baby.
7. Syd Barrett's Opel.
8. David Bowie's Low.
9. Custom mix by Rusty Shackleford.
10. David Bowie's Low.
11. Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, but fades out earlier.
12. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" parts eight and nine from Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.

Author's Comments

Yep, this is pretty much the last chapter where I take influence from Auran's Gummaumma timeline, as well as the last time we see Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and Kevin Ayers in the story. But the stories for Pink Floyd, Robert Wyatt, Roger Waters and David Bowie are far from over! We'll be seeing more from them in the future, and I've thought of taking influence from Mass' So You Think You Can Tell timeline in which Roger Waters does leave Pink Floyd for real, with the major obvious difference being that Syd Barrett is no longer around. There's pretty much enough material from David Gilmour and Rick Wright, as well as Nick Mason, Robert Wyatt and maybe Snowy White and/or Rick Wills (depending on what material they had at the time would fit) for three albums, maybe even four or five! Roger Waters' solo career will include The Wall and The Final Cut, as well as the cancelled Spare Bricks project, but after 1985, his solo career carries on like in OTL.

Also, and I wasn't planning on it, but I think there's about enough material for the Rolling Stones to put out a 1979 album with the leftover material they had from Some Girls. This may end up having an effect on Emotional Rescue, their 1980 album, and if that's the case, I'll have created three albums from the 1979-1981 period! Since some tracks ended up on Tattoo You, and since I've some leftover material from Ronnie's Gimme Some Neck album, it'll be interesting to see what I can come up with.