Beatles In LA 1973-74 discussion

I don't remember now, if it was 73 or 74, but my parents came home one afternoon, & excitedly told me they'd just seen John & Yoko window shopping a mile away, on Ventura Blvd, in studio city, a suburban area in Los Angeles.

Turns out it was John & May Pang, but whatever.. this was a pretty common thing in LA in 73-74, the Beatles were in town ! Alright ! This lasted quite awhile.

The Beatles never quite managed a full reunion, but man, various combinations of Beatles were hanging out, recording, John played on 2 Ringo albums, & Nilsson's album, with Lennon producing. George is seen in various photos with John & also Paul at a party for Wings, was that 76 ?

All 4 were in LA during this period, John & Paul did the hideous toot n snore recording, with Ringo in the building ? All three were at John's beach house together.

As May Pang tells it, & others, Lennon was gonna go to New Orleans & work with Paul on Venus & Mars, but was missing Yoko badly, & Paul acted as an emissary shuttling messages, & John went home to Yoko, & according to May ( salt grains) Lennon wasn't allowed Beatle contact...

So it nearly, almost, didin't, but they were hanging out, how close did they come ? If Lennon had showed up in New Orleans, would the Beatles or just Len-Mac have recorded ? Was the failure to sit in on Venus & Mars the end ?

Are any of the 70s Lennon demos, Sally & Billy, Tennessee, written by Lennon as Venus & Mars material? Then aborted when Yoko took him home, is there evidence of any song, Lennon was going to play in New Orleans ? Here We Go Again ?

 

I dunno.. Yoko let John move to LA with May Pang for 18 months but she wouldn't let him take a call from Paul. I never understood that.

 

My feeling is that as long as Yoko was in John's world, there would have been no John/Paul or true, complete Beatles reunion. Yoko has "chosen" to take a different stance as the decades have passed since John's death. She's become, shall we say, very "Beatle friendly". But if I'm being realistic about it, had John lived and his marriage to Yoko remained intact, I find it very hard to picture any kind of reunion having taken place. I could be wrong and of course we'll never know....it's just my opinion.

 

She knew what he needed and what he didn't need, in her eyes

 

I think it could be said that yoko did not break up the Beatles but she did keep them from ever getting back together

 

But what about all the things, that did happen, while they were all there, at various times. John & Paul recording together. The I'm the greatest sessions, Goodnight Vienna sessions. The Troubador, the beach house with John Paul & Ringo hanging out. The Nilsson album. The plans for sitting in, on Venus & Mars.

 

It's easy to paint Yoko as the evil person here, but given John's mental state around '73-'74, I honestly am on her side here. The whole John/Yoko/May Pang thing isn't really anyone's business, relationships aren't as black and white as people want to think. But adding the chaos (both public and private) of a Beatles reunion to John's state of mind in 1974 might not have been the best idea for John's health and well-being. I don't believe that Yoko would have stood in the way of it later on, had John lived. The Lennon of 1980 was a much different man than the guy hanging out in LA in 1974 (as was his relationship with Yoko).

 

If the four Beatles themselves really wanted to reunite they would have, and Yoko would not have anything to say about it.

 

This is all well and good for the fans and May Pang. But John still said he felt he wanted Yoko, and to him it was a "lost weekend".

 

A meeting with McCartney as a Beatle was dangerous to Lennon's state of being in what way?

 

Paul was more of a threat, John could have gotten back with in the studio and toured and she could have lost control.

 

Lennon (1980) says:

PLAYBOY: "But what about the charge that John Lennon is under Yoko's spell, under her control?"

LENNON: "Well, that's rubbish, you know. Nobody controls me. I'm uncontrollable. The only one who controls me is me, and that's just barely possible."
PLAYBOY: "Still, many people believe it."
LENNON: "Listen, if somebody's gonna impress me, whether it be a Maharishi or a Yoko Ono, there comes a point when the emperor has no clothes. There comes a point when I will see. So for all you folks out there who think that I'm having the wool pulled over my eyes, well, that's an insult to me. Not that you think less of Yoko, because that's your problem. What I think of her is what counts! Because... **** you, brother and sister... you don't know what's happening. I'm not here for you. I'm here for me and her and the baby!"
ONO: "Of course, it's a total insult to me..."
LENNON: "Well, you're always insulted, my dear wife. It's natural..."
ONO: "Why should I bother to control anybody?"
LENNON: "She doesn't need me."
ONO: "I have my own life, you know."
LENNON: "She doesn't need a Beatle. Who needs a Beatle?"
ONO: "Do people think I'm that much of a con? John lasted two months with the Maharishi. Two months. I must be the biggest con in the world, because I've been with him 13 years."
LENNON: "But people do say that."
PLAYBOY: "That's our point. Why?"
LENNON: "They want to hold on to something they never had in the first place. Anybody who claims to have some interest in me as an individual artist or even as part of the Beatles has absolutely misunderstood everything I ever said if they can't see why I'm with Yoko. And if they can't see that, they don't see anything. They're just jacking off to... it could be anybody. Mick Jagger or somebody else. Let them go jack off to Mick Jagger, OK? I don't need it."
PLAYBOY: "He'll appreciate that."
LENNON: "I absolutely don't need it. Let them chase Wings. Just forget about me. If that's what you want, go after Paul or Mick. I ain't here for that. If that's not apparent in my past, I'm saying it in black and green, next to all the tits and asses on page 196. Go play with the other boys. Don't bother me. Go play with the Rolling Wings."
PLAYBOY: "Do you..."
LENNON: "No, wait a minute. Let's stay with this a second; sometimes I can't let go of it." (He is on his feet, climbing up the refrigerator) "Nobody ever said anything about Paul's having a spell on me or my having one on Paul! They never thought that was abnormal in those days, two guys together, or four guys together! Why didn't they ever say, 'How come those guys don't split up? I mean, what's going on backstage? What is this Paul and John business? How can they be together so long?' We spent more time together in the early days than John and Yoko: the four of us sleeping in the same room, practically in the same bed, in the same truck, living together night and day, eating, ****ting and pissing together! All right? Doing everything together! Nobody said a damn thing about being under a spell. Maybe they said we were under the spell of Brian Epstein or George Martin." (the Beatles' first manager and producer, respectively) "There's always somebody who has to be doing something to you. You know, they're congratulating the Stones on being together 112 years. Whoooopee! At least Charlie and Bill still got their families. In the Eighties, they'll be asking, 'Why are those guys still together? Can't they hack it on their own? Why do they have to be surrounded by a gang? Is the little leader scared somebody's gonna knife him in the back?' That's gonna be the question. That's-a-gonna be the question! They're gonna look back at the Beatles and the Stones and all those guys as relics. The days when those bands were just all men will be on the newsreels, you know. They will be showing pictures of the guy with lipstick wriggling his ass and the four guys with the evil black make-up on their eyes trying to look raunchy. That's gonna be the joke in the future, not a couple singing together or living and working together. It's all right when you're 16, 17, 18 to have male companions and idols, OK? It's tribal and it's gang and it's fine. But when it continues and you're still doing it when you're 40, that means you're still 16 in the head."

 

This is a great thread topic. I've always wondered why the Beatles various activities in LA in the 1970's have never been the subject of a major book (Mark Lewisohn?). Until 1971 the centre of the Beatles world was London, and in particular Savile Row. In the early 70's that all changed. John and Yoko moved to the USA, Paul (after marrying Linda) spent an increasing amount of time there (they recorded Ram in NYC). George and Ringo weren't far behind. George opted for NYC for the Concert for Bangladesh - he could have done it in London - and by 1974 he was going out with a girl from LA. Ringo recorded in LA fairly regularly from 1973 on, and moved to live there in the later 70's. Throughout the 70's there were frequent meetings in LA, some for work some for pleasure, between different members of the Beatles extended 'family'. We know the closest they came to a formal 'reunion' was when John, George, and Ringo recorded 'I'm The Greatest' in LA in 1973. It's hard to believe they didn't contemplate repeating that experience, and bringing Paul back into the studio. I wouldn't blame their failure to do so entirely on Yoko Ono. That would be too simplistic. She may have seen a potential Beatles reunion as a threat to her relationship with John, but if we believe what John says in the above interview, she shouldn't have worried. There were many other reasons why the Beatles didn't get back together. And I'm sure they've all been discussed ad nauseam on the SH Forum.

 

How did this turn into blame Yoko thread ? She wasn't even there.

It's really more about, partial reunions, plans, aborted plans, & recordings they did on the west coast when Lennon lived there. He seemed to be the Nexus in LA. They all passed through there very publicly, while he was there.

I think they all had homes there, except Lennon

 

John made his point early on, then he kept on blabbing. Who was he trying to convince? Us or himself?

 

I completely understand John getting uptight about it, as he'd been dealing with that particular misperception for a long time by 1980. What I have always been thankful for is that even though we sadly lost John shortly after that interview, we at least have this middle-finger admonishment as an official living record of his side of it, since he's not here to defend himself any longer. The rather lengthy dialogue here certainly covers all the bases and underscores the point, including exposing the double standards. I'm so glad the interviewer asked.

 

Great thread, as I never really thought about the fact that members were in LA so much (with John doing guest DJ-ing on a radio station, right?).

I know this has been said 1000 times before here, but the fact that the Beatles never reunited, despite the offers, is one of the best things about the band. It couldn't have lived up to the standards they set and they probably knew it.

 

I think that's true. I think that of all the reasons they wouldn't do it during the '70s, this was most likely the main reason.

 

John's hot take captured above on the unlikelihood of a Beatles reunion is why I'm so dubious of talk lately that suggests John and Paul were days away from a collaboration at the time of his murder. John's contempt for the pop life as exemplified by Paul pours off the typeface. He couldn't have wanted anything to do with that guy by 1980 as I read his Playboy interview.

 

And despite the offers they wouldn't do it for the money. Unlike some other bands we know.

 

Nah, I think if you have read all the books you know she had a control over John especially when it meant coming back t her after the LA time, she may have been jealous of Paul and didn't want to lose John to him in some musical way

 

One sad thing about this period, is that the one time, Lennon & McCartney ever recorded again, that we know of. It's such a horrible recording.

I've heard, that some of that recording is better. Has anyone ever heard anything, beyond that horrible segment.

 

I thought there was a quote from John around then where he said he admired the McCartney II abum and that's one of the reasons he got back into the studio.

 

As I said in another thread- the Beatles quit at absolutely the right time.
The blame-game concerning Yoko was disgisting at the time- that grown men nowadays keepin on with that is extremely weird.
That a few of the Beatles hang out in LA
-well whats the big deal actually.
But to each their own
I guess

 

Tough to know what segment you are referring to. I have heard a pretty long stretch that is horrible - say 30 to 40 min -but I guess there is no way to know if there is more. Can't say it left me wanting more.