For those not in the know, fan albums/album edits are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.
The recent release of the “final” Beatles single got me wondering how long of a Beatles “reunion” album you could make and if that could become a fan album. Considering that the John Lennon demos come from the late 70s or early 80s, ideally the other tracks would come from that same time period. That didn’t get very far, so I decided to include cases after the band’s breakup where there’s just three members together and extend the timeframe out more. This created two issues. The album is still too short and there’s a severe lack of Paul. Paul and George almost never seemed to collaborate after the breakup. Thus, I turned to some sources that might be too strange.
The best is an edit of “Grow Old With Me” by “Rarebeatles” that surprisingly effectively mixes John’s vocal, George Martin’s orchestration, and the backing track of the Ringo cover that featured Paul on bass. An edit like this may have been an ideal “b-side” to “Now and Then”. Another source was the mid-90s jam between everyone but John, for obvious reasons. These may be too informal, but I like them. Note that tracks that don’t feature all three Beatles or were originally from released albums are excluded, to not have duplication. Finally there are two tracks from the “Everyday Chemistry” edit, which takes stems from different solo Beatles songs. They were mainly included to give more length and I simply like them.
This edit is not very fluid, due to the different sources, but I found it an interesting listen. Other similar concepts for this lower the number of Beatles needed to just two or stay in one time frame. Those are indeed more cohesive, so this should be looked at as an experiment to be more Beatley in numbers than style. This is pretty much the closest we’ll ever get to a “true” reunion we can actually make. I also worked on this project months ago and only now got around to finishing and releasing it. For those that want a little narrative for this album, here is what I thought of:
After John Lennon returned to music in 1980, he decided to get the other Beatles together to record an album. After some resistance, he barely managed this. The band began recording, often not together, before John tragically died. The others were not terribly keen on continuing the project, so took a break before realizing John would want them to finish it. Thus, they decided to play by their own rules and do some informal jams, as they were prioritizing having fun, before the daunting task of adding overdubs to some unused John recordings. Due to knowing that he wouldn’t be on every track, and being more interested in their solo projects, the remaining three figured why bother being on every track if it was already fine by their standards? A 1973 outtake called “I’m The Greatest” that happened to feature everyone but Paul was dug up and included as “the imagined single that carried us to this point”. Its mocking lyrics of Paul were favored by George and Ringo due to him not wanting to contribute his own songs to the LP. The album was then named 40 in reference to John. The cover was a then-recent picture of the band. The record received negative reviews, with critics noting the severe lack of cohesion. There was more praise for the tracks that used all the band members and didn’t draw from many or informal sources. Some considered just releasing the singles, “Free As A Bird/Grow Old With Me” and “Now And Then/Real Love”. The remaining members were not new to such criticism and didn’t much care, having solo careers waiting for them.
The Beatles – 40 (1981) – YouTube
TRACKLISTING
SIDE A
- “Now And Then”
- “All Those Years Ago”
- “Real Love”
- “Raunchy/Blue Moon Of Kentucky/Baby, What You Want Me To Do?”
- “Grow Old With Me”
SIDE B
- “Anybody Else”
- “I’m The Greatest”
- “Thinking Of Linking/Mr. Gator’s Swamp Jamboree”
- “Free As A Bird”
PERSONNEL
- John Lennon – lead vocals (tracks 1, 3, 5-6, 9), backing vocals (tracks 1, 7), piano (tracks 5, 7, 9), guitar (tracks 6, 8b)
- Paul McCartney – bass (tracks 1, 3, 5-6, 8b, 9), lead vocals (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8a, 9), backing vocals (tracks 1-3, 5, 9), guitar (tracks 1, 3-4, a, b, 8b, 9), piano (tracks 1, 3, 9), electric harpsichord (tracks 1, 3), percussion (tracks 1, 3), harmonium (track 3), ukulele (track 4c), synthesizer (track 9)
- George Harrison – guitar (tracks 1-4a, b, 6-9), backing vocals (tracks 1-4, 9), synthesizer, lead vocals (track 2, 9), percussion (track 3), ukulele (tracks 4c, 9)
- Ringo Starr – drums (tracks 1-4a, b, 5-9), percussion (tracks 1, 3, 4c, 7), backing vocals (tracks 1, 3-4, 9), lead vocals (track 7)
- Neel Hammond, Adrianne Pope, Charlie Bisharat, Andrew Bulbrook, Songa Lee, Serena McKinney – violin (track 1)
- Ayvren Harrison, Caroline Buckman, Drew Forde, Linnea Powell – viola (track 1)
- Mia Barcia-Colombo, Giovanna Clayton, Hillary Smith – cello (track 1)
- Mike Valerio – double bass (track 1)
- Linda McCartney – backing vocals (track 2)
- Denny Laine – backing vocals (track 2)
- Al Kooper – electric piano (track 2)
- Herbie Flowers – bass (track 2)
- Ray Cooper – tambourine (track 2)
- Jeff Lynne – backing vocals, guitar, producer (tracks 3, 9)
- Joe Walsh – guitar (track 5)
- Jim Cox – piano (track 5)
- Allison Lovejoy – accordion (track 5)
- Rhea Fowler – violin (track 5)
- Bianca McClure – violin (track 5)
- Lauren Baba – violin (track 5)
- Isaiah Cage – cello (track 5)
- Billy Preston – organ, piano (track 7)
- Klaus Voormann – bass (track 7)
- Jérôme Leroy – conductor (track 1)
- Paul McCartney, Giles Martin, Ben Foster – string arrangement (track 1)
- Jack Douglas – string arrangement (track 5)
- George Martin – orchestral arrangement (track 5)
This is a passion of mine and if one person likes what I do, I’ll feel honored. I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!
The Filme Diary 