Beatles “reunion” discussion

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possible stages for a Beatles reunion
1982 - 20th anniversary of Ringo joining the band / 25 years of John and Paul first meeting
1984 - 20th anniversary of their first Ed Sullivan Show
1987 - 20th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's
1989 - 25th anniversary of their first Ed Sullivan Show
1990 - John and Ringo are 50

 

Had there been an 80s reunion, I fear the Beatles might of been very un-rock. George and Paul were very on the soft rock side of things in the early 80s. Johns last work leans toward soft rock. I'm quite glad there are no recordings of the actual band with early digital synth sounds and 80s production.
Now that said, it's the Beatles and Lennon and McCartney would of done something great, even if it was only a part of a single song....

 

But the mid-80s is when it probably would have happened. By that time, artists of the Beatles' vintage were struggling to remain relevant, but they had not yet quite achieved the god-like status that would come in the 1990s and beyond. They would have been artistically and commercially lost, so they would have given in to the Phil Collins drum sounds and bad synths. Just imagine the suits and crappy MTV videos along the lines of "Walk of Life," "Pressure," and "Hello."

Imagine the threads on this forum in that that alternate universe:

Poll: Do You Consider the Beatles' 80s albums Canon?
Did the Beatles' 80s Reunion Tarnish Their Legacy?
Could the Beatles' 80s Albums be Remixed to Sound Less Dated?
Would the White Album Have Worked Better as a Double Album?

 

I think this rift was only between Paul and Yoko. Paul was desperate in the mid-80s to buy back the Beatles catalog song publishing (Northern Songs) when they were going up for sale, but Michael Jackson was outbidding him! Even Paul could not outspend Jackson in 1984. So he went to Yoko and asked her to go in on the purchase with him. She said no. Paul was bitter about that for a couple years, but it wasn't long after the RRHOF that they patched things up and she gave over the "For Paul" cassette which they used for Anthology. I think it was when she gave over that cassette that Paul's "Give Peace a Chance" songwriting credit changed, and their tit-for-tat horse trading kind of deals began. The Hall of Fame seemingly didn't forgive Paul for his protest and it was 4 years after actually becoming eligible for the honor that Paul was inducted. Basically suggesting Band on the Run was his first solo recording and dismissing his 1970-73 work! Paul released the masterwork of "Maybe I'm Amazed" as well as the top 5 single "Another Day" in his first calendar year as a solo artist. Can you imagine the Hall doing that to Neil Young, or Bowie???

 

I couldn't agree more. The mid 80's would have been the absolute worst time for any sort of Beatles' musical reunion. Not only was the current music scene completely unsuited to the music style of the Beatles but the musical careers of the solo Beatles were at an all time low (well, for ex-Beatles anyway). George hadn't put an album out since 1982 (and that was hardly a big success); Ringo didn't even have a recording contract; and Paul's desperate attempts to be 'current' were not helping him.

However, despite the mid-80's shift into a new musical landscape, collaboration among the ex-Beatles never really stopped. 1987 was an interesting year in this respect. First both Paul and George (and Jeff Lynne) got involved with the recording of a new album by Duane Eddy - recorded partly at Friar Park and partly at The Mill. Then all three ex-Beatles got involved in the production of the Sgt. Pepper documentary 'It Was Twenty Years Ago Today'. In neither case a reunion as such, but a sign that closer collaboration was always possible. But I think what really made that happen, in the form of the Anthology, was the resolution of the Beatles' legal problems and the re-launch of Apple Records in the early 90's.

 

You know it would sell, picture the line at the Beatlefest table. Collect all four!

 

I came in through the porta- potty window....

 

I don't know.....who would produce them? George Martin might've been able to veer away from the 80's sound a bit, Spector probably would've been a hardsell after the r'n roll fiasco never mind pauls issues..... the mind boggles.

 

Talk of any new material is madness. It would have been lackluster and tarnished their image has having gone out on top.

If all 4 were in agreement- one helluva tall order in any decade- and negative players backed off (Yoko, Klein), they could have done a great one-off concert. And they would have had to sound more or less like they did back in the day. That is the best I can imagine.

We're talking about 4 guys who would get emotional over just about anything. Album release dates, wives on stage, what was not said in a book, etc. In the 10 years between their break up and John's murder, were all 4 ever in the same room together?

Yea Paul and George hit some skids in the 80s, but they were both due for rebounds. John's final material was quite good. I doubt any of them saw the Beatles as an answer to their creative drought, assuming they even had one.

 

I see a low key reunion in the 80s, something to close out The Long and Winding Road documentary. Casually playing some oldies in a studio, remembering old stories, wearing Panama Jack shirts.

 

For all the talk of it perhaps being a Beatles "soft reunion," if you look at where the former Beatles were in 1980 when they helped Ringo with what started off as the "Can't Fight Lightning" album, the signs weren't good. The songwriting quality wasn't there and the production was limp.

Paul gave him "Private Property" and "Attention" and also produced a cover of "Sure To Fall" for him. George gave him "Wrack My Brain" and produced a cover of "You Belong To Me". He also produced the backing track of what later became "All Those Years Ago."

John gave him "Life Begins at 40" (and "Nobody Told Me"? I think?).

When it finally appeared as "Stop And Smell The Roses," it was disappointing, and I don't know that the addition of a a couple of Lennon songs/productions would have done much to help.

I don't know if it was Playboy or somewhere else, but there is a Lennon quote along the lines of "If you got those 4 guys in a room, it wouldn't be The Beatles" was on target and was certainly true in 1980.

 

Can't judge or predict the quality of a potential '80s Beatles reunion song or album based on songs that Paul and George, on an individual basis, gave away to Ringo to do. A quick glance at McCartney II and Tug of War alone shows that Paul was making much more interesting music than he gave to Ringo at the time. With the exception of "Photograph" perhaps, none of them ever really seemed interested in giving Ringo the best of their songs. They wrote and selected songs specifically for Ringo's voice and personality. "Life Begins at 40" is the perfect, country-inflected Ringo tune. Wish he'd have done it, but the dark irony of the lyrics was just too much. "Nobody Told Me" is a great pop-rocker. Whether Ringo would have sung it well we will never know. "Wrack My Brain" is pretty great, actually. Paul's contributions to Stop and Smell the Roses are more of head scratchers for me, probably just Paul drawing from his file labeled "B-side Material" and handing it over.

For the record though, I don't think, had John lived, that the Beatles would have done new songs in '80s as The Beatles. I think John and Paul would have played/sang together on a Ringo track or two (making the album a big seller) in 1981, and all four would have jammed together and played through a few old Beatles tunes for cameras for the documentary in '83/'84 ish. Maybe a short, five song in-studio set as the culmination of the documentary: "Come Together," "I've Got a Feeling," "Here Comes the Sun" and "Let it Be," to be somewhat equal to all the songwriters, then give Ringo "Honey Don't" or another fun cover as a fun way to end it on a light note. No Live Aid, no big charity show.

But they would have performed briefly with a host of friends joining them most likely at the Rock & Roll Hall of fame, and perhaps in the 90s John and Paul would have written a few news songs together for their respective solo albums, so one Lennon/McCartney composition going on a Paul solo album and the other on a Lennon solo album...which would have been pretty special anyway.

 

If John's alive, the Beatles in '87 could have produced a spectacular TV special together to celebrate 20 years of Sgt Pepper and the Beatles catalog arriving on Compact Disc. Perhaps cap off the interview segments with a special new performance of "All You Need is Love", also 20 years old in '87. Release the new version of "All You Need is Love" as a charity single perhaps backed with a new Lennon/McCartney song or some other previously unreleased Beatles track.

They could have also used the occasion to tease the entire "Anthology" project forthcoming, with mention of how this is only the beginning, and the band is going to be going all the way back soon to tell their entire story, etc.

 

Winston O'Heroin?