Supposing they had stopped with Revolver...??

Then they would have been as great as their other Freakbeat contemporaries.

 

SMiLE would have been an entirely different album, with better songs and more time and ease for Brian to improve the others. It would have been the touchstone for modern rock.

And then The Beatles would have reunited and put out an album called Get It Back. But, sadly, it would have been a poor attempt to compete with SMiLE, and they would break up again.

There.

 

We might have had a healthier Brian Wilson who may have been able to continue to write sonic brilliance had he been able to complete Smile.

 

Based on what?

We know most of the material that would have been on Smile. There simply was not another Good Vibrations on there. Heroes and Villains, Surf's Up and Cabinessence were great songs, but niche. They did not have the widespread appeal of the songs on Pet Sounds or Revolver, Pepper, or Rubber Soul.

Compare Jimi Hendrix's reaction to Sgt Pepper and Heroes and Villains. Smile was never going to have the impact that Pepper did.

This is not even based on the Beatles. The Beach Boys were trailing the Monkees in '66 and '67. This idea that the Beatles were the only thing stopping the Beach Boys from being regarded as the greatest in that era is flawed.

Pet Sounds is rightly regarded as one of the greatest of all time and yet it was not appreciated by the masses in its own time as much as it should have been. The idea that the weirder, more out there Smile would have done better is bizarre, especially not when they had released the stand out song almost a year before.

 

Yes. Before Floyd. It can also mean Baby Femonade and Bucifer Fam.

 

I shudder to think about that one.
That would never have been a viable proposition, not as long as sane people would be able to gain power.

 

Get Back has nothing to do with Smile.

 

There it was, the inevitable B52's comment. You can't seem to have a thread on this forum without someone mentioning them

 

They wouldn't have all grown moustaches

 

I hear if Boris Johnson wins the election on Thursday he's organising a burning of all John Lennon records. (Of course, this will only effect those too belligerent to embrace the great God that is streaming)

 

I’m always wondering who else has posted it...
In any thread.
Once I recall one member actually replying to me about, actually getting the reference.

 

The operative key word there is “ sane”.

 

Albums and concepts were there but in no way was it at the expense of great songs with highlights such as "Here Comes the Sun", "The Fool on the Hill", "All You Need is Love", "Fixing a Hole", "Mr Kite", "Two of Us", "For You Blue", Back in USSR" and " Whole My Guitar Gently Weeps" among many others. And then there were the monumental tracks - "Something", "Hey Jude", "Across the Universe", and "Long and Winding Road" songs which transcended much of what they done earlier IMHO.

 

Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Disbanded
Without Help From My Absent Friends
Lucy In The Sky With Coals
Getting Worse
Fixing A Hole That Will Never Be Fixed
She’s Left Home and Won’t Come Back
Being the Blame On Mr Kite

Without You Without You
When I’m Six Feet Under
Lovelorn Rita
Bad Morning Bad Mourning
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Disbanded (Retired)
A Day in the Life Ended

 

Next is Magical Mystery Home Stay

 

It is possible if The Beatles broke up in 1966 that Paul would have released the songs of his that appeared on Sgt Pepper on his own solo Sgt Pepper, with some added cutesy filler. Maybe Carnival of Light.

 

There would probably be no early/late Beatles separation in there material.

 

1. Paul would have continued to make music and have tons of chart success.

2. John would have made numerous experimental albums with Yoko. All failures. By the late '70s John would have begun to work with Clapton, Elton John, Ringo and he would have released an album of outstanding rock songs and wonderful pop songs. It would be called one of the greatest albums of all time. And just because The Beatles did not release anything after "Revolver" does not mean history would be altered. John would still have died on December 9th, 1980.

3. George's path would still be the same as it was. "All Things Must Pass" would have come out in '69. Paul would be jealous over its commercial and critical success.) Then George would have released some more of his hit singles and then got bored. By mid-70s he would have been heavily involved in Formula One racing. He returns to making music in late '80s, but by then no one would be interested.

4. Ringo would have pursued acting. Polite reviews, no hit movies, he would realize this movie stuff isn't working out and he would move on to playing on albums of his friends. He would not have married a Bond girl. Rather, he would marry a simple shop girl (in his case it would be a secretary at a music studio) and he would be happy.

 

Interesting to ponder...

Here's a quote from Justin Hayward and a small excerpt from the article:

"It was the mid-’60s, and a psychedelic influence was rapidly expanding the possibilities of pop music, as exemplified in June 1967 by the release of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

“... The Beatles had opened the door along with the Beach Boys, too,” Hayward says. “We were all pretty stoned and experimenting with different psychedelic things. Buffalo Springfield was a part of it, too, on the London scene. It was a wonderful time for everybody.”

The Moody Blues planned a concept album, a day in the life, to borrow a phrase from Sgt. Pepper’s, of the everyman...."

Casino Scene: 'Days of Future Passed' Remains Moody Blues' Calling Card - The Moody Blues

Without any further contributions from the Beatles... who knows? Two possibilities; either DOFP would have been the #1 album of 1967 or...there would be no Days of Future Passed and no Moodies.

 

And psychedelia already existed before Sgt. Pepper. The Stones had been dabbling in psych and baroque pop, too.

Maybe the Stones' late 1967 project would've taken more direct cues from Hendrix or The Doors, maybe The Byrds. Or maybe The Piper at the Gates of Dawn would've been a bigger deal. Maybe the combination of Are You Experienced? (recorded October 1966-April 1967) and Disraeli Gears (recorded in Spring 1967) would've really set a stronger blues-rock tone for the scene--like they were a greater influence on the Grateful Dead's ideas of psychedelic rock, anyway.

Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour are a couple of the most famous psych/art rock albums, but this doesn't mean that the psychedelic scene, or the very idea of an album as artistic concept, depended upon the Fabs to show the way. 'The Beatles invented the concept album and gave everyone the idea that a rock album could be Serious Art...'--that's just mythology, spun by the star-making machinery behind the popular song.

 

Yeah, I agree. Personally, I didn't get into the Beatles because they were first or best at anything, I got into them 'cos I like the music. That they set a few precedents is nice, and they're the best Beatles I know of, but it was a very creative time in general with lots of great contributions from all over the map.

 

Purdy good but "All Thinks Must Pass" would not include "Wah Wah" (one of it's best tracks) as the dissension that was fueled significantly by Yoko coming to Beatles sessions would not have occured.

 

There are many people who are divide The Beatles catalogue in half with Rubber Soul and/or Revolver being the split point between the two sounds (or simply the two four year periods 1963-1966 and 1967-1970). Personally I like them better in the second half. So if they stopped at Revolver, I would still like them, and they'd probable still edge out the Rolling Stones as my favorite British band of the 1960's, but would fall behind the Stones for their entire catalogue.

 

This is true. Over the years, I've noticed that early boomers who grew up in the 50's are most often (not always) ones to get off the Beatles boat at Rubber Soul or Revolver. Being a later boomer, I like all Beatles eras equally and for what they are - the best those time periods had to offer (IMHO).

 

Is that legal?