Merry Christmas, everyone! To mark the occasion, I'm proud to present to you all the fourth post-Abbey Road album from Earth-130, Rainbow Falls! Again, to remind you all, this is a universe in which A Collection of Beatles Oldies is merely a compilation of non-album tracks, Yellow Submarine a proper Beatles album, and Let It Be was released in 1969 as originally intended. In addition to this, the Beatles don't break up, instead choosing to work on-and-off in the 1970s, releasing an album every few years when and if they feel like it. This strategy was agreed upon following Hot as Sun in 1970, and eventually led to Everest and Inclinations in 1973 and 1975, respectively. Rainbow Falls, the fourth album of six, is released in 1978, even with John Lennon in his househusband phase.
So imagine if you will...
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Side A (19:42)
1. Blow Away - 4:00
2. Waterspout - 4:45
3. Your Love is Forever - 3:45
4. One of the Boys - 2:39
5. Backwards Traveller - 1:07
6. Wings of an Eagle - 3:26
Side B (21:21)
7. I've Had Enough - 3:02
8. Not Guilty - 3:35
9. I'm Carrying - 2:44
10. Here Comes the Moon - 4:09
11. Interlude: 'Twas a Night - 1:24
12. Morse Moose and the Grey Goose - 6:27
1976 was largely quiet when it came to Beatles releases. On the solo front of things, Paul McCartney and Wings had put out their fifth album Wings at the Speed of Sound, backed by the big singles "Silly Love Songs" and "Let 'Em In", the former of which would go on to be the biggest selling single of the year, beating out Elton John's duet with Kiki Dee, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart". Meanwhile, George Harrison released Thirty-Three & 1/3, along with the singles "This Song" and "Crackerbox Palace", and Ringo Starr put out Ringo's Rotogravure, with involvement from all three of the other Beatles, even John Lennon, who brought forth the album's biggest highlight, "Cookin' in the Kitchen of Love". Rotogravure would be the only solo album in which all four Beatles contributed to.
This was not the only noteworthy walk-in, however, for on the evening of April 24, John Lennon and Paul McCartney (whom was visiting with Linda) were at the Dakota, watching Saturday Night Live on television, with Raquel Welch hosting. On screen, producer Lorne Michaels appeared to give a $3000 cash offer to the Beatles to perform three songs. Despite that it was a night off, John and Paul were enthusiastic about appearing together, even if it was just the two of them. So, grabbing a pair of acoustic guitars and hailing a taxi, Lennon and McCartney were at NBC Studios within fifteen minutes.
Michaels had not expected one half of the Beatles to take up the offer, to which John said, "We were just down at the Dakota, watching you on telly, so we thought, why the hell not? It'll be a lark." John Lennon and Paul McCartney appeared before the Saturday Night Live audience to an excited frenzy, playing a few classic Beatles songs in a stripped-back, acoustic arrangement, being backed by guest musicians Phoebe Snow and John Sebastian on guitar, SNL actor John Belushi (portraying Joe Cocker) and guest host Raquel Welch on backing vocals. Although the performance was short, this unexpected crashing of the show would be regarded as a classic Saturday Night Live moment, in which what was meant to be taken a joke had led to ten minutes of pure television magic. "We'll send George and Ringo their shares of the three grand in the mail, Lorne," Paul said in the midst of wild applause. (George would later make a guest appearance on Saturday Night Live in November alongside Paul Simon.)
1977 would also turn out to be another quiet year for Beatles activity. George, having finally divorced from Pattie Boyd, spent much of the year traveling with his new girlfriend Olivia Arias, even becoming a regular presence at motor races in the Formula 1 World Championship. He would also join Monty Python member Eric Idle in the TV film All You Need is Cash, about a satire of the Beatles called the Rutles. Meanwhile, Ringo would begin recording for a follow-up to his Rotogravure album in February, but the results were considered to be sub-par at best, and when he attempted again in both June and November, the sessions were also aborted due to the inadequacy of the material.
As for Paul McCartney, he began work with Wings on recording a follow-up to Wings at the Speed of Sound at Abbey Road Studios. Initial plans for a follow-up of their well-received Wings Over the World tour were abandoned when it was discovered that Linda was pregnant; she would give birth to James Louis McCartney on September 12, 1977. Wings would do further recording in the Virgin Islands aboard a yacht called Fair Carol, with the newer material finishing up what became their sixth album Purple Afternoon (after a lyric in the opening track "London Town"). The final track, "Mull of Kintyre", would be recorded in August, and be released as the first single off of the album, eventually becoming the biggest selling single in the United Kingdom, eclipsing the Beatles' "She Loves You" from 1963. To this day, "Mull of Kintyre" remains the largest selling non-charity single.
While Purple Afternoon would continue Wings' success in the United States and the United Kingdom, it was not all good news when guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Joe English left for various reasons, reducing the group to the trio of Paul, Linda and Denny Laine once again. In February 1978, the McCartneys would meet with George and Olivia in Maui, Hawaii, where both men talked about doing another Beatles album, and whether or not it could be done without John. By that point, George had written up some songs for a planned solo album, but he did agree to bring forth a few for said album, tentatively titled Water Works. It wound up becoming the only Beatles album to be McCartney/Harrison led.
"Blow Away" would mark the second time that a Beatles album opened with a Harrison-penned number, following "Taxman" from Revolver twelve years earlier. The song had been inspired by rain damage that had occurred to a roof at Friar Park, and George would turn the experience into one of positive thinking. "Blow Away" would be preceded by the sound of rain before fading into the song, and then followed by the sound of a water fountain, transitioning into Paul's first song for Rainbow Falls, "Waterspout". With a Caribbean rhythm, it added a reggae flavor to the album, talking about a bandit named Woody and a father's dancer meeting at a water park. In a similar vein to "Day Tripper" and "Drive My Car", there was a double entendre within the title and lyrics of "Waterspout", referring to sex between a man and a woman.
George's second song, "Your Love is Forever", transitioned out of "Waterspout" with the sound of a waterfall, and is a straightforward love song to both Olivia and God. This leads into a three-part medley, beginning with John's solo demo of "One of the Boys", suggesting acceptance of growing older, followed by Paul's fragment "Backwards Traveller" about going back in time, its lyrics juxtaposing with John's from the previous song, and then ending with Ringo's "Wings of an Eagle", a song he'd first worked in February 1977 for the planned Rotogravure follow-up. The first side then concludes with a flock of eagles calling out over the oceanside.
The second side of Rainbow Falls begins with Paul's punk rock-influenced "I've Had Enough", which John noted carried a similar structure to many of the Beatles' earlier songs and provided the guitar solo. And speaking of early Beatles songs, George had revisited "Not Guilty" from the White Album sessions from ten years prior, with its message about his frustrations towards John and Paul greatly toned back. Next was a Paul solo spot, "I'm Carrying", which had been recorded in a single take with orchestral strings overdubbed afterward. George spoke very positively about "I'm Carrying" by calling it "sensational", along with being his favorite from Paul's off of the album. George's fourth and final song, the most he'd ever had on a Beatles album since the White Album, "Here Comes the Moon", was a lyrical successor to "Here Comes the Sun", having taken inspiration for the lyrics from a psychedelic mushroom experience he'd had on Maui.
John's second contribution was a spoken word piece which the liner notes would call "Interlude: 'Twas a Night", referring to the first line of the track, which is as follows, spoken in a Scottish accent at points:
'Twas a night like Ethel Merman, not a sailor in the sky,
A kind of aged gentleman was giving me a try.
I remember it distinctly, as clear as yesterday,
I was excavating mucus, and I thought I heard him say:
"'O timorous beastly, what o'er the briney sea
The news oot the bracken, the mook lich dynadree
It's a long way to Tipperillo, och aye."
Mine eye was clouded o'er as I heard his mournful song
I asked him what the time was, he said it wasn't long.
Surrounded by sound effects courtesy of the BBC sound library, giving "'Twas a Night" a backing track, this spoken word piece would act as a linking track to the finale "Morse Moose and the Grey Goose". Recorded during John's brief time at Friar Park, it started as a jam session before evolving into a mad sea epic about those in peril on the sea, accompanied by sound effects of a blaring ship alarm, morse code, sea waves and stormy weather. "Morse Moose and the Grey Goose" wound up being one of the few songs to be credited to all four Beatles, as well as the third instance of an album of theirs ending with the longest song at over six minutes, following Everest's "Living in the Material World" and Inclinations' "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)", both clocking in at over five minutes each.
Released in July 1978, Rainbow Falls received warm reviews from critics, although much like Inclinations and Everest before it, they weren't as enthusiastic as those for the 1960s albums. One critic would even write that "The Beatles have gone from innovating and changing the music landscape to writing average music for average people." While most of the group would take these comments with stride, John would make his views quite clear, saying that "[The critics] don't know what the fuck they're talking about." Rainbow Falls would be backed by its two singles "Blow Away" and "I've Had Enough", both making the Top 10.
After finishing up Rainbow Falls, Ringo would go back to what he'd recorded the previous year and take some of the best material from the aborted sessions, along with a few new songs recorded with Russ Ballard producing, and put out It Beats Sleep. Critical reaction in general was that it was "no better or worse" than Rotogravure. George and Olivia would marry in September, one month following the birth of their son Dhani. Some time later, George would finally start work on his next solo album, which he intended on calling Flying Hour. Paul would also begin work on Wings' next album Back to the Egg, although John and George both felt that Paul could've saved some of his more electric stuff for Rainbow Falls. Back to the Egg would finally be released in June 1979.
The rest of the 1970s would be largely solo, save for a brief jam session at Eric Clapton's wedding to Pattie Boyd on March 27, 1979. As the decade drew to a close and the 1980s began, things would change once more for the Beatles, for better or for worse.
