It's always like that, isn't it? You think something that you've finished up is definitive, but then somewhere, in the back of your mind, whatever you've been working on suddenly decides to take a left turn and go in a direction you weren't expecting. Yep, it's happened to me again, only this time, another Beatles album for Strawberry Peppers: The Second Coming, but coming out in 1991. An album titled Inclinations.
Consider this post a "patch" of sorts to the one I made regarding the 1981-2002 Beatles albums back in March, but with some retconning.
Side A (19:12)
1. Here We Go Again - 4:50 (Menlove Ave.)
2. Looking for Changes - 2:47 (Off the Ground)
3. The Light That Has Lighted the World - 3:31 (Living in the Material World)
4. Not for Love, Nor Money - 2:39 (unreleased John Lennon demo)
5. Cryin' - 3:18 (Ringo’s Rotogravure)
6. Put It There - 2:07 (Flowers in the Dirt)
Side B (20:22)
7. Who Can See It - 3:52 (Living in the Material World)
8. Hold On - 1:52 (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band)
9. Big Boys Bickering - 3:22 (Off the Ground: The Complete Works)
10. Rocking Chair in Hawaii - 3:08 (Brainwashed)
11. Well Well Well - 5:59 (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band)
12. Great Day - 2:09 (Flaming Pie)
The Beatles entered the 1990s with a dark cloud looming over them; it was just last month that John Lennon had narrowly avoided an assassination attempt, but at the cost of the life of their roadie Mal Evans, who had been working with the band for twenty-six years. John, feeling like it was his fault for Mal's death, had gone into seclusion, and it was this isolated period that would inspire his solo album Lost, released in January 1991.
The first release by the Beatles for the new decade was their fourth compilation album, The Best of the Beatles: 1976-1989, otherwise nicknamed "The Orange Album" due to its border, following after 1962-1966/Red, 1967-1969/Blue and 1970-1975/Green, released May 25. Two months later, this would be followed up by their first song of the 1990s, a re-recording of Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello's "My Brave Face", having previously appeared on their Flowers in the Dirt album from 1989. Subtitled as the "Nobody's Child Version", it made an appearance on the Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal compilation, which also included the Traveling Wilburys' version of "Nobody's Child". The song had also been recorded by the Beatles with Tony Sheridan back in 1961 in Hamburg.
Bolstered by the recording of "My Brave Face (Nobody's Child Version)", as well as the release of Lost, John Lennon had fully re-entered the spotlight, joining the other Beatles for an appearance on MTV Unplugged. It would be their second live album of the decade, following last year's Tripping the Live Fab, and it served to wet the fans' appetites for a new Beatles album, which would be released in November, close to the Christmas season.
That May, John Lennon had joined Apple Records' latest signing, American grunge band Nirvana, into co-producing their second album, Nevermind, which would come out in September and boost Nirvana into superstardom. John would see a bit of himself in Nirvana's frontman Kurt Cobain, even acting as a mentor to the young Seattle guitarist. Working on Nevermind would go on to inspire John in having the Beatles' next album take a more stripped back approach following Return to Pepperland, calling back to the acoustic sound of The Beatles I/White, but with influences from folk, country and punk.
The resultant album, Inclinations, would take around six weeks to record between July and August. Several songs were said to have been written many years ago, such as "Who Can See It", "Great Day", "Cryin'", "Not for Love, Nor Money", "Rocking Chair in Hawaii" and "Here We Go Again", with a few newer songs, mainly from Paul, like "Put It There" and "Big Boys Bickering", which was the second time that "fucking" would be used in a Beatles song, following "Working Class Hero" from 1971's Imagine. Since many of the songs on the album were leftovers, it was appropriate then to use a title that had never been used for a Beatles album; Inclinations was said to have been used as a working title for one of their 1960s albums, but it is not certain which one.
Inclinations was released on November 8, 1991 and only managed to peak at #3 in the United States, being beaten out by Nirvana's Nevermind and Michael Jackson's Dangerous, the latter of which also came out later that same month. That may be considered a failure by Beatles standards, especially since the album's sole single, "Put It There", just barely made the Top 20 there for a single week. Truthfully, though, it was just a case of unfortunate timing that hurt Inclinations' chance of success on the charts, but by its twentieth anniversary in 2011, it would be vindicated with many fans calling it one of the Beatles' more underrated albums, wishing that they'd done another like it.
1992 would see the release of Ringo Starr's Time Takes Time and Paul McCartney's Off the Ground, and the Beatles' follow-up to Inclinations, Cloud Nine, would be released on July 2, 1993, having a more polished sound, albeit reviews weren't as strong despite reaching #1. The album would be accompanied by a worldwide tour taking place up to 1994, and it would be regarded as the Beatles' biggest tour up until that point. 1995 saw the release of the Anthology documentary, and into 1996, six albums would be released in conjunction, each focusing on a different period of the Beatles' recording history. The next new Beatles album, Flaming Pie, came out in May 1997, and despite being kept off the top spot by the Spice Girls' Spice, it would receive many glowing reviews, with some calling it a true return to the classic Beatles sound.
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