You wanted the frat party to go on forever? It couldn't and didn't. Those days were over. The days when they had to sleep on top of each other for warmth or huddle in an elevator or car together to escape mobs and lock themselves away in hotel rooms were done. They were living miles apart now, and it showed up in the music. It's just life, which goes on, with and without us.
Art that is universal and not lowest common denominator or alienating is very difficult to achieve. The Beatles and John, with George Martin, were able to achieve it. For John, public bed-ins with Yoko in his pajamas was performance art. And a regression.
What's the SQ like on the "Child Of Nature" demo? A proper Beatles version would have been great but then no "Jealous Guy". The lyrics are quite pretty and typical of the era. On the road to Rishikesh I was dreaming more or less And the dream I had was true Yes, the dream I had was true I'm just a child of nature I don't need much to set me free I'm just child of nature I'm one of nature's children Sunlight shining in your eyes As I face the desert skies And my thoughts return to home Yes, my thoughts return to home I'm just a child of nature I don't need much to set me free I'm just a child of nature I'm one nature's children Underneath the mountain ranges Where the wind that never changes Touch the windows of my soul Touch the windows of my soul I'm just a child of nature I don't need much to set me free I'm just a child of nature I'm one of nature's children
My point was that the statement I replied to overstates the case. Look at what the poster said, and then look at what actually happened in the years that followed.
Well, it does have some great stories from the making of the White Album, but that only accounts for 10% of the book, so it’s up to you. Something I like about it is that Ken Scott, unlike some people (*cough* Geoff Emerick *cough*), confirms what he remembered with the other people who were there to witness the sessions, and even includes some of their personal accounts alongside his.
What a strange comment. First, I’m confused why you’re making this a personal issue. But more importantly, I’ve never heard the Sgt. Pepper sessions described as a frat party. If anything, isn’t John showing up with his girlfriend, high on smack, a lot less mature than John showing up to work specifically to focus on and collaborate with his coworkers? There is not a single instance I can think of, of any other artist saying, well, we all have to grow up sometime, so I’m going to replace my creative associates with my romantic partner, even if it changes many of the bonds and attitudes that make my working habits so successful. That’s just not “growing up.” It’s a symptom of a deeper issue, and it had the sad side effect of releasing the lightning from the bottle.
Where did Yoko lead John? Some say to heroin. Maybe they each met a kindred spirit in the other. And had issues they needed to work out via their somewhat radical...and thus somewhat alienating...street performance art. It was more about the two of them...although they did create an anthem together via War Is Over. Even with that, though, they had to X out...
Again, look at what the statement that I quoted asserted, and then look at the music---all the music---that John made in the years after 1968. Mostly pop music.
It's not personal inasmuch as we relate our own personal preferences to what the Beatles did or didn't do. You seem to have wanted them to stay within a working context that they had outgrown (you can outgrow things without necessarily maturing; pants, for instance) - a 1966-1967 format in which John admits he felt lost in (especially 1967). Or maybe you're just making those observations. John was searching. He didn't want to be in his marriage, he didn't want to be in the Sgt. Pepper band. He wanted to be naked and honest. He found an avant-garde artist/lover and went all-in, for better or worse, and decided that he was going to live by the art is life, life is art credo till he got burnt out on it. That affiliation upset the organization of men. But part of that artistic move was to blow up the band. Should we prefer the Beatles stay in their cocoon or that just outside the chrysalis, wherein the butterfly are still within flapping distance of one another? Or should the butterflies be free to fly, fly away? There is no right answer. We all must leave home.
I didn’t say John never made pop music again. I said he bifurcated his approach to music making. Compartmentalizing his pop music writing from his artier ventures was something John did in 1963-64, when he wrote In His Own Write with one attitude and Beatle lyrics with another. He had evolved past that, with the collaboration and support of McCartney and Martin. Then he replaces them with a collaborator whose disdain of the Beatles and rock music is well-documented, and he returns to writing pop music on the one hand, and making experimental art in the other. I contend that a Lennon who still looked to McCartney first would have found a way to fuse the two.
This is the Lennon myth, and I don’t buy it. Where did “leaving home” get John? What did breaking out of the palace look like? Buying that he “grew up” means that lying passed out on a mattress in Montagu Square with Yoko, smacked out, or non-communicatively derailing the Let it Be sessions, or virtually being a no-show for Abbey Road, it engaging in a series of publicity stunts he largely disowned, is somehow a more mature approach to life and work. I don’t agree.
No one is saying he 'grew up' like so-called 'normal' people do. He was a Rock star. It was natural for the guys to grow apart. And they did. No amount of red tape could keep them together.
Good to know at least that the demo will be included, after songs that didn't make Pepper ("Only A Northern Song") were left off that box. Some have held out hope that the Jackie Lomax session for "Sour Milk Sea" would be used somehow, as a "lost Beatles track" since it had George, Paul and Ringo on it (along with Clapton and Nicky Hopkins). There was speculation that there might be a George guide vocal on one of the takes, or that they might combine the Esher demo with the Lomax track (as fans have done on YouTube). That always struck me as one of those situations where the fans care WAY more about it than those in charge, and not a thing that was ever going to happen.
I think it would be cool to include the Jackie Lomax version (another George WA song where he decided to invite friends), especially if they still have the original session multis for new remix. I doubt this will happen though. While the outfake is fun listen on YouTube, I don’t think it deserves to be included on official box set.
I would have preferred they stayed together, while also pursuing solo careers. Never understood why it was a binary decision.
I checked it out from the library....was glad I read it...not so much for the Beatles stuff....but for Bowie and Elton John. Bern
It was natural for them to grow apart but it was not natural for them to break up. John engineered that.
I think the breaking up of The Beatles was a three way street.... Going to India was (I think) a last effort from George to save the unit and already there McCartney and Lennon couldn’t stop writing songs, Ringo couldn’t stand the food and left, McCartney got bored and left too and Lennon (I think that was boredom too) got involved in accusing the Maharishi from indecent behaviour... It was the starting point of George’s steady withdrawal from the Quartet. McCartney was having is own ‘lost’ weekend apart from trying to launch ideas at his collegues and John was, well, making a fool of himself.
