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Monday, November 22, 2021

An Alternative Beatles Discography - No Covers (1984-2009)

 Here's the fourth and final part of an alternative Beatles discography in which they recorded all original songs for Please Please Me and continued to do so from there (save for one callback album of covers in early 1976). I am posting this not only to mark the release of The Beatles: Get Back on Disney+ this week (finally!), but also to mark twenty years next week since we lost George Harrison to lung cancer.

So, we're now into the 1980s, and this is where things get interesting regarding John Lennon, because as we all know, in actuality, his life ended prematurely. And that just leads to two possibilities - Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr carry on as a trio, or they break up. The former wouldn't really work out with a founding member gone, and the latter would ignore a lot of great content post-1980, so what's one to do about it?

The answer: Julian Lennon.

A few years after John's death, Julian had begun a solo career of his own, beginning with 1984's Valotte, although since then, his output has been pretty sporadic, having put out no music between 1998 and 2011, and no music since 2011. Of course, Julian does sound a lot like his father, so he could almost pass off for John most of the time, and it's the only real way we can include anything remotely Lennon after 1980. I'm not the first one to try this out, nor will I be the last. For the sake of this scenario, let's pretend that Julian's songs were actually written by John and that his voice softened as he aged. Either that, or John still died and Julian replaced him in the group. Whichever works for you.

And now, onto the 1984-2009 output! Some of it might not be among the Beatles' greatest (with one possible exception, which I'm sure most of you can guess what), especially without John, but let's try to lower our standards a bit and enjoy these albums for what they are.

War and Peace (October 22, 1984)
Side A (24:32)
1. Tug of War - 4:04 (Wingspan: Hits and History)
2. Valotte - 4:15 (Valotte)
3. Wake Up My Love - 3:34 (Gone Troppo)
4. So Bad - 3:20 (Pipes of Peace)
5. O.K. for You - 3:38 (Valotte)
6. You Can't Fight Lightning - 5:41 (Stop and Smell the Roses)

Side B (25:48)
7. No More Lonely Nights - 4:47 (Wingspan: Hits and History)
8. That's the Way It Goes - 3:34 (Gone Troppo)
9. Say You’re Wrong - 3:25 (Valotte)
10. The Pound is Sinking - 2:54 (Tug of War)
11. Mystical One - 3:42 (Gone Troppo)
12. Pipes of Peace - 3:56 (Pipes of Peace)
13. Too Late for Goodbyes - 3:30 (Valotte)

1984 was a very interesting year for the Beatles, as it was the first time in three years that their fans had heard new material from them as a group. That same year, Ringo Starr had served as the narrator for a new children's show being produced by Apple Television, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, based upon a series of books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and adapted by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton. John Lennon had been previously asked to be the narrator, but he had told the producers to fuck off, a decision he later regretted when the show premiered. "But then again," he would also say, "a whole new generation of kids wouldn't have known who Ringo was. I got the intellectuals, Paul had the teenies (teenage girls), George the mystics and Ringo the mothers and babies."

Shortly after recording for Thomas, Ringo got back with the rest of the Beatles for War and Peace, once again co-produced with George Martin. Although it charted fairly well, even hitting #1 for a week in the United Kingdom, reception was rather tepid, and critics would call it one of their lower efforts, even though it contained the big hit "No More Lonely Nights", penned by Paul McCartney. The following year, the Beatles would make it big again when they performed at Live Aid, with their setlist consisting of "Come Together", "Back in the U.S.S.R." (with the guitar solo of "Revolution" in between, connecting the two tracks), "Something", "Yesterday", "In My Life" and "With a Little Help from My Friends" segueing into "The End". John would later appear performing a medley of "Imagine" and "Give Peace a Chance". Although the Beatles' performance was highly regarded in retrospective years, almost on par with Queen's, they were not out of the woods yet for the 1980s...

Singles:
  • "No More Lonely Nights" / "Wake Up My Love" - September 24, 1984
  • "Valotte" / "Keep Under Cover" - December 3, 1984
  • "Too Late for Goodbyes" / "So Bad" - January 28, 1985
Not much to comment on with War and Peace, although I will say that when it comes to Ringo's output, he didn't record a whole lot of quality material in the 80s, so that's why he has only one track per album for this one and the next two.

Press to Play (August 25, 1986)
Side A (24:56)
1. Stick Around - 4:03 (The Secret Value of Daydreaming)
2. Tears of the World - 4:04 (Thirty-Three & ⅓)
3. Only Love Remains - 4:13 (Press to Play)
4. Space - 4:22 (Valotte)
5. We Got Married - 4:57 (Flowers in the Dirt)
6. Hopeless - 3:17 (Old Wave)

Side B (24:48)
7. Press - 4:43 (Press to Play)
8. This is My Day - 3:51 (The Secret Value of Daydreaming)
9. Unknown Delight - 4:16 (Gone Troppo)
10. Beautiful Night - 5:09 (Flaming Pie)
11. Let Me Be - 2:12 (Valotte)
12. Once Upon a Long Ago - 4:37 (Press to Play)

As a reaction to performing at Live Aid, George Harrison wrote up "Tears of the World", which became the first song recorded for the Beatles' next album, this time with Phil Ramone as co-producer, known for his work with the likes of Paul Simon and Billy Joel. "Tears of the World" became the first single off of what would become Press to Play, but the album would not receive a release until nine months after the single. The album received mixed to negative reviews, and it became the Beatles' album to not reach #1 in either the United Kingdom or the United States. Fan reaction was also negative, with some going to far as to blame Phil Ramone for "ruining" the Beatles. "If you're one of those fans sending death threats to Phil, fuck you," John Lennon said in an interview. "Honest to God, fuck you."

1987 saw no new Beatles content being released. However, that same year, George Harrison got together with Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison to form a supergroup known as the Traveling Wilburys, with their debut album Trembling Wilburys coming out that same year. The next year, they released Handle with Care and the three years after that, The Red Sky (1989), New Blue Moon (1990) and Runaway Train (1991), all three of which were released following Orbison's death of heart attack in 1988. Earlier that year, Paul McCartney had also put out a collaboration album with Elvis Costello, Flowers in the Dirt, featuring the hit singles "My Brave Face" and "Veronica". Even John Lennon got into the solo collaboration feel by playing a few live shows with John Entwistle, John Bonham and John Denver under The Long Johns, and even getting the title role for Beetlejuice, directed by Tim Burton and later released under Apple Films. (Michael Keaton could not take part due to his commitments as Iron Man for Marvel.) Ringo Starr, meanwhile, continued to narrate for Thomas the Tank Engine.

1988 also saw the release of Past Masters I, which contained all of the Beatles' non-album tracks from 1964 to 1976, essentially covering the EMI years, beginning with the German single "Komm, gib mir deine Hand" and "Sie liebt dich" and ending with the Roots B-side "Soily". With the success of these solo collaborations as well as a 60s renaissance taking place, the Beatles got back together in the studio again to record their next album.

Singles:
  • "Tears of the World" / "Only Love Remains" - November 18, 1985
  • "Stick Around" / "Hopeless" - May 12, 1986
  • "Press" / "Coward Till the End?" - October 27, 1986
"We Got Married" and "Beautiful Night" both have origins tracing back to the mid-1980s, being originally recorded in 1984 and 1986, respectively, and I figured that they would've fit in quite well on Press to Play. It's obviously not a great album by the Beatles' standards, but then again, every ongoing artist has to have at least one bad album at some point.

Fab (March 27, 1989)
Side A (28:27)
1. When We Was Fab - 3:57 (Cloud Nine)
2. This One - 4:10 (Flowers in the Dirt)
3. Sunday Morning - 3:27 (Mr. Jordan)
4. In My Car - 3:13 (Old Wave)
5. This is Love - 3:48 (Cloud Nine)
6. Distractions - 4:38 (Flowers in the Dirt)
7. Second Time - 5:14 (Mr. Jordan)

Side B (28:34)
8. Figure of Eight - 3:25 (Flowers in the Dirt)
9. You’re the One - 5:52 (Mr. Jordan)
10. That's What It Takes - 3:59 (Cloud Nine)
11. Love Come Tumbling Down - 4:23 (Flaming Pie)
12. Mother Mary - 4:56 (Mr. Jordan)
13. Put It There - 2:07 (Flowers in the Dirt)
14. Got My Mind Set on You - 3:52 (Cloud Nine)

The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger, and all four Beatles attended with their families. Feelings were very positive among the group, and this carried over onto the recording sessions for Fab, being co-produced with Electric Light Orchestra front man and fellow Traveling Wilbury Jeff Lynne. He would retain this position for the remainder of the Beatles' albums. Reception towards the album was extremely positive, with critics calling Fab the Beatles' greatest album since Band on the Run fifteen years earlier. Although the albums between Rock Show (1975) and Press to Play (1986) had flashes of artistic merit, Fab was a true return to form, hitting #1 in several countries.

Wanting to bank on that momentum, the Beatles embarked on their first big tour since 1975, save for the odd one-off performance such as Live Aid, and many of the tour's highlights would be released under the 1990 live album Tripping the Live Fab (November 5). The following year, another live album would be released, called Unplugged (May 20, 1991), which originally aired on MTV, becoming the first artist to do so. Other artists such as Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton (his final live performance before his death in 1992), Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Bryan Adams and Kiss would also follow suit throughout the 1990s. Long and short, the Beatles were once again a huge deal in the music world. So much so, in fact, that Ringo had to drop out of his role as narrator for Thomas the Tank Engine after three seasons, being replaced afterward by Michael Angelis for the British dub while George Carlin took over for the American dub.

Singles:
  • "Got My Mind Set on You" / "Flying to My Home" - January 30, 1989
  • "You’re the One" / "That’s What It Takes" - March 27, 1989
  • "Figure of Eight" / "Sunday Morning" - June 26, 1989
"Love Come Tumbling Down" was first recorded in 1987, but not officially released until 1997, and then again in 2020. Admittedly, the death of Eric Clapton in 1992 might seem like a bit of a shock, but I don't think he really contributed that much to music since 1989's Journeyman, so perhaps not much is lost in the long run. But what do you guys think?

Help Yourself (October 2, 1992)
Side A (19:52)
1. I Can’t Imagine - 4:40 (Off the Ground: The Complete Works)
2. Saltwater - 4:07 (Help Yourself)
3. Don't Go Where the Road Don't Go - 3:20 (Time Takes Time)
4. Run So Far - 4:05 (Brainwashed)
5. Off the Ground - 3:40 (Off the Ground)

Side B (21:08)
6. Open Your Eyes - 4:22 (Mr. Jordan)
7. Big Boys Bickering - 3:22 (Off the Ground: The Complete Works)
8. Devil's Radio - 3:52 (Cloud Nine)
9. Runaways - 4:51 (Time Takes Time)
10. Help Yourself - 4:41 (Help Yourself)

Side C (18:25)
11. Hope of Deliverance - 3:22 (Off the Ground)
12. Listen - 5:04 (Help Yourself)
13. That Kind of Woman - 4:32 (Still Got the Blues)
14. Winedark Open Sea - 5:27 (Off the Ground)

Side D (18:38)
15. After All These Years - 3:10 (Time Takes Time)
16. Rocking Chair in Hawaii - 3:07 (Brainwashed)
17. Take Me Home - 4:26 (Help Yourself)
18. C’Mon People - 5:46 (Off the Ground)
19. Great Day - 2:09 (Flaming Pie)

Imagine being in the Beatles' shoes. You start off as a local band known as the Quarrymen in the late 1950s before you make it big in the 60s, and you singlehandedly transform music from a passing fad into an art form. Then you start to go through some rough patches in the 1970s and start taking longer breaks between albums towards the end of said decade, and by the 1980s, the rough patches become more obvious before you pick yourself up again by the end of said decade, ready to take on the world again for the 1990s and beyond. At this point, most people would pack it in after the final show of the tour, feeling like they have nothing else to prove.

Except this is the Beatles we're talking about. After making it big again with Fab, following their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and then going on a tour to support Fab, shortly following that with an appearance on MTV Unplugged, what can they possibly do next? The answer: whatever the fuck they want to.

With compact discs becoming more commonplace, especially as they could contain more music than vinyl records, the Beatles decided to become ambitious again and take advantage of the new format by stuffing in as much material as they could on their next album, Help Yourself. Although it wasn't released as a single, "Big Boys Bickering" caused controversy by being the Beatles' first song since "Working Class Hero" to contain the word "fucking" in the lyrics. John Lennon and Paul McCartney had co-written the song as a bit of a response to the Parents Music Resource Center and music censorship in general.

Help Yourself, despite selling well, received mixed reviews from critics, calling the album excessive and overindulgent. However, for the first time since Mind Games nearly twenty years earlier, Ringo had three vocal spots on an album, which critics and fans welcomed warmly. Also included in the liner notes was a dedication to Eric Clapton, who had died prior to the album's release; George Harrison had originally given "Run So Far" to Slowhand for his last studio album Journeyman in 1989, and so he recorded it as a tribute to his fallen comrade. 1994 would later see the release of the fourth Beatles "best of" compilation, 1977-1990, otherwise known as The Orange Album.

Singles:
  • "Saltwater" / "Don’t Go Where the Road Don’t Go" - April 6, 1992
  • "Hope of Deliverance" / "Rebel King" - October 2, 1992
  • "Devil’s Radio" / "Calico Skies" - February 22, 1993
"Great Day" and "Calico Skies" were both originally recorded in 1992 during the sessions for Off the Ground. "Run So Far" was written in 1989 and recorded by Eric Clapton that same year for Journeyman. "Rocking Chair in Hawaii" was first written all the way back to the All Things Must Pass sessions in 1970. Help Yourself was probably the most difficult album to put together, due to how much good material there was back then. If I was to reduce the album to fourteen tracks, the songs that I'd remove would be "Open Your Eyes", "Runaways", "That Kind of Woman" and "Winedark Open Sea", with "Off the Ground" being relegated to a B-side.

Album cover art by Auran on Discord.
Real Love (May 2, 1997)
Side A (26:58)
1. The Song We Were Singing - 3:55 (Flaming Pie)
2. Free as a Bird - 4:26 (Anthology 1)
3. Cloud Nine - 3:15 (Cloud Nine)
4. The World Tonight - 4:06 (Flaming Pie)
5. King of Broken Hearts - 4:44 (Vertical Man)
6. P2 Vatican Blues (Last Saturday Night) - 2:38 (Brainwashed)
7. Real Love - 3:54 (Anthology 2)

Side B (27:10)
8. Young Boy - 3:54 (Flaming Pie)
9. Stuck Inside a Cloud - 4:04 (Brainwashed)
10. Somedays - 4:15 (Flaming Pie)
11. I’ll Be Fine Anywhere - 3:39 (Vertical Man)
12. Flaming Pie - 2:30 (Flaming Pie)
13. Rising Sun - 5:27 (Brainwashed)
14. Grow Old with Me - 3:21 (Gimme Some Truth: The Ultimate Mixes)

The period of 1993 to 1995 was relatively quiet for the Beatles. Not because they were taking a hiatus, but rather, because they were being interviewed for a documentary series that would later be known as The Beatles Anthology. In between, John Lennon and his wife Madeline Kahn had provided voiceover work for The Nightmare Before Christmas as Jack Skellington and Sally, respectively, and John's oldest son Julian had begun dating his father's Beetlejuice co-star Winona Ryder, who had originally met John back in 1980, and by 1993, the couple had become engaged, marrying the following year with Julian's younger half-brother Freddie serving as the best man. Julian and Winona's first child, Sean Lennon, was born in 1996.

John and the rest of the Beatles were also recording for their next album based upon three songs he had originally written and demoed in the late 1970s, but had been rediscovered by Madeline in a box. "Free as a Bird", "Real Love" and "Grow Old with Me" served as the backbone for the album, and alongside Jeff Lynne, Real Love was co-produced with George Martin, who contributed strings to the closing track, "Grow Old with Me". This would be his final contribution to a Beatles album of all-new material. The resultant album, Real Love, received universal acclaim from critics and fans, being hailed as the best of their latter-era albums. "Young Boy", "Stuck Inside a Cloud" and "King of Broken Hearts" were also top ten hits, even competing with the Spice Girls' Spiceworld.

Sadly, not all was well in the Beatles' personal lives. Maureen Starkey Tigrett, Ringo's ex-wife, had died at the end of 1994 from leukemia, and Paul had written the B-side "Little Willow" in her memory. A few years later, Maddy had developed ovarian cancer, but she managed to overcome the disease, even starring in Pixar's second film A Bug's Life as Gypsy the moth while John starred as Manny the praying mantis. It would be a few years before Maddy would return to the stages. Around that time, George had also been treated for throat cancer. Many of these personal issues were part of the reason the Beatles did not tour a lot in the 1990s.

2000 saw the release of 1, a compilation album which gathered all forty-five of their #1 hits in both the United States and the United Kingdom, from 1962's "Love Me Do" all the way up to 1997's "Young Boy". It topped the charts worldwide and has since then sold over 31 million copies, becoming the best selling album of the 2000s.

Singles:
  • "Free as a Bird" / "Cloud Nine" - December 4, 1995
  • "Real Love" / "Little Willow" - March 4, 1996
  • "Young Boy" / "Grow Old with Me" - April 28, 1997
  • "Stuck Inside a Cloud" / "The World Tonight" - June 16, 1997
  • "King of Broken Hearts" / "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" - August 4, 1997
"Last Saturday Night" and "Stuck Inside a Cloud" were written around the mid-1980s and "Rising Sun" around 1991. In TTL, "Young Boy" is a John/Paul duet, as I imagine Steve Miller's vocals being replaced with that of John's.

Album cover art by Auran on Discord.
Freedom (November 18, 2002)
Side A (26:38)
1. Eye to Eye - 3:19 (Ringo Rama)
2. Driving Rain - 3:26 (Driving Rain)
3. I’m Losing You - 4:06 (John Lennon Anthology)
4. Pisces Fish - 4:50 (Brainwashed)
5. Your Loving Flame - 3:43 (Driving Rain)
6. Kiss Beyond the Catcher - 4:00 (Photograph Smile)
7. Rinse the Raindrops - 3:14 (Twin Freaks)

Side B (28:04)
8. Now and Then - 3:02
9. Horse to the Water - 5:01 (Small World, Big Band)
10. Run Devil Run - 2:36 (Run Devil Run)
11. Love First, Ask Questions Later - 4:45 (Ringo Rama)
12. Never Get Over You - 3:26 (Brainwashed)
13. Way to Your Heart - 5:40 (Photograph Smile)
14. Freedom - 3:34 (Driving Rain)

Recording for the follow-up to Real Love had actually started back in 1999, but it had been put on hold due to John caring for his wife Madeline Kahn while she overwent treatment for ovarian cancer. "We'd been together for twenty-something years by that point," John said in an interview around that time, "and I can't really picture what life might be like without her." Although she had survived, that period had taken a bit of a toll on John and his family.

However, it was the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, that re-sparked something in John Lennon as he and Paul McCartney witnessed the attacks from their plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The pair co-wrote a new song called "Freedom" and became heavily involved in organizing The Concert for New York City, where they debuted the song with the rest of the Beatles. It was later released as a single with George's "Horse to the Water" as the B-side.

Freedom was finally released in November 2002, fourteen months since the 9/11 attacks, with David Kahne as co-producer alongside Jeff Lynne. Reception towards the album was generally positive, citing the variety of genres present across Freedom, ranging from rockabilly ("Run Devil Run") to hard rock ("I'm Losing You") to electronica ("Rinse the Raindrops") to psychedelic nostalgia ("Love First, Ask Questions Later"). The 2003 Freedom Tour was also well received.

The next few years saw the remixing of Love, a mashup album that was made for the Cirque du Soleil show of the same name, being produced by George Martin and his son Giles, being the former's final album as producer prior to his death in 2016. The premiere was attended by all four Beatles and their families as well as George and Giles. In between, Paul would record a solo album, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, with Nigel Godrich as producer, and the Beatles would perform at Live 8, opening the London concert with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Meanwhile, Alice Lennon would begin a music career of her own with her group the Spyders, with the first three albums being produced by Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, a close friend of the Lennons.

Singles:
  1. "Freedom" / "Horse to the Water" - November 5, 2001
  2. "Love First, Ask Questions Later" / "Really Love You" - November 18, 2002
  3. "Now and Then" / "Pisces Fish" - February 10, 2003
Let's imagine that for this scenario, George Harrison never got attacked by Michael Abram. That's very much why George continues to live past 2001. There's a kitchen sink feel to Freedom, and it differs a lot from Real Love the same way that Back to the Egg differed from Between the Lines.

Ever Present Past (June 18, 2007)
Side A (28:42)
1. Dance Tonight - 2:54 (Memory Almost Full)
2. Any Road - 3:52 (Brainwashed)
3. I Don’t Wanna Know - 4:04 (Photograph Smile)
4. Fading In Fading Out - 3:55 (Choose Love)
5. Only Mama Knows - 4:17 (Memory Almost Full)
6. How Many Times - 5:51 (Photograph Smile)
7. Looking for My Life - 3:49 (Brainwashed)

Side B (29:10)
8. Day After Day - 4:19 (Photograph Smile)
9. Choose Love - 3:07 (Choose Love)
10. Ever Present Past - 2:57 (Memory Almost Full)
11. Believe - 4:52 (Photograph Smile)
12. Liverpool 8 - 4:51 (Liverpool 8)
13. The End of the End - 2:57 (Memory Almost Full)
14. Brainwashed - 6:07 (Brainwashed)

2007 was the year that George Harrison turned 64 years old. At the celebration, the Beatles played a jam session that included a revised rendition of "When I'm Sixty-Four", titled "We're All Sixty-Four". That same year, Alice Lennon had come out as a lesbian and announced her engagement to Apple Records artist Amy Winehouse, who had just come out of a nasty break-up with her ex-boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil. The Beatles had begun recording what would turn out to be their final album in March 2006, and finished it in February 2007, coming out on June 18, Paul McCartney's 65th birthday.

Ever Present Past received universal acclaim upon release, with the title track being their final ever single to reach #1 in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Once again co-produced between the Beatles, Jeff Lynne and David Kahne, the group jointly announced that they would be undergoing one final tour after being together for almost fifty years. Later that same year, the Beatles released a live extended play, Amoeba's Secret. Their final ever single, "Liverpool 8", was released on January 7, 2008.

The most notable performances of the Ever Present Past Tour included the Beatles' final performance at the original Shea Stadium on July 18, 2008, immortalized in The Last Play at Shea, and their last performance as a group period at the new Wembley Stadium in November 2009. That September saw the release of Past Masters II, covering all of their non-album tracks from 1977 to 2007, as well as two new tracks - "Lucy" and "Walk with You". These would be the final ever songs recorded by the Beatles, with the former being dedicated to Lucy Vodden, the inspiration behind "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", who later died that same year from autoimmune disease lupus.

Singles:
  • "Any Road" / "I Don’t Wanna Know" - March 26, 2007
  • "Ever Present Past" / "Some People" - June 18, 2007
  • "Day After Day" / "Marwa Blues" - September 10, 2007
  • "Liverpool 8" / "Dance Tonight" - January 7, 2008
Originally, the tracks included were going to be a part of two separate albums - Choose Love (2005) and Ever Present Past (2010), the latter of which being a posthumous tribute to George Harrison, who would have died in 2008. However, as you'll soon read, I wanted to have at least one other Beatle surviving into 2020, and so I ended up making Chaos and Creation a Paul solo album instead. I think it's probably better this way.

After the Breakup (2010-present)
The Beatles being photographed for Billboard magazine to mark fifty years since the release of Please Please Me, November 2013.
Less than a year since the Beatles' breakup, there was the release of 1991-2009, otherwise known as The Purple Album, close to John Lennon's 70th birthday. It had also been released alongside The Red (1962-1966), Blue (1967-1970), Green (1971-1976) and Orange (1977-1990) Albums as part of a complete box set called The Best of The Beatles: 1962-2009. Although the Beatles did make occasional reunion performances such as playing on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2014, they have not recorded new music as a group.

John Lennon had retired from the music scene altogether in early 2010, although he did work on Ringo’s first post-Beatles album, and he made appearances on film and television until his death from complications of a stroke on February 6, 2021, at the age of 80. He lived a private life in New York with his wife of over forty years, Madeline Kahn, who, along with their children and her stepson Julian, jointly hold the rights to his share of the Beatles' catalogue.

George Harrison is semi-retired from the music scene, although he performed a string of charity concerts to have new schools built in India. At one of those schools, a statue of the Beatles had been erected in their honor, and the ceremony was attended by George, his wife Olivia and son Dhani, as well as Ravi Shankar’s daughter’s Norah Jones (also Dhani’s wife) and Anoushka Shankar.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have both carried on with their respective solo careers, although in 2020, they reunited to record an album called Zoom In. It was credited to McCartney/Starr rather than the Beatles due to the lack of involvement from John and George. Paul has been married to Jane Asher since 1968. Ringo has been in good health since the early 1980s and hopes to become the first active centennial rock star.

The Beatles may not have put out new music in over a decade, but their legacy will eventually outlive the four men who were part of the band that is still, to quote a song of theirs from 1973, the greatest. And you’d better believe it, baby!

3 comments:

  1. What would their setlists be for Tripping the Live Fab and Unplugged?

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    Replies
    1. Hadn't decided upon those; for one thing, I figure that TTLF would've included some of George's material from when he performed live in Japan with Eric Clapton in 1991, along with material from Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band from the 1989-1990 timeframe.

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